The Black Issue Follow-Up Notes

Background

The economy is wrecked, but not so bad as it could have been.  Between private industrialists such as Stark and Sihn and general government action, economic damage is somewhat contained.  (In other words, not much different than the real US economy in 2002, which is good, actually, as after the NYC mutation it was trending much worse).

The whole tenor of mutant-human relations in the US is rapidly changing for the better.  The gov't has wrapped itself in a campaign to "fight racism" unlike any seen since the '60s.  Bush has marked this as his legacy, using it to position himself as the compassionate conservative he ran as in 2000.  The watershed events of 2002 have made this possible, and the anti-racism campaign, much like the one in the '60s, has now managed to encompass nearly all mainstream politicians.

The big news is the talk of eliminating the mutant registration act!! Bush in a now-famous speech said, "It's time to stop registering mutants any different than humans.  Register for the draft, yes, register to live, no way."  That last line has become a sort of rallying cry of the republicans, and the dems have gone along, mostly.  The Justice Department has initiated a review process intended to send recommendations to basically scrap mutant registration to congress.  A few liberals and conservatives on each end are fighting for the registration act, but that's about it.  Kerry at this point is undecided.

ABC and High Finance

ABC Corporation is having a particularly hard time.  Their credit rating is being downgraded as investment problems manifest.  The Justice Squad observes this is in some part probably related to Barrman Associates' covert wheeling and dealing against ABC.  Barrman has invested moderately in major relief/reconstruction companies and related endeavors, the kinds of things that would be engaged after major catastrophes, though the level of investment seems to be more of a hedge, not major money but enough to pay off well if something does happen.  Also, major investment into the BOOM Reservoir Fund, a slow-growth fund that BOOM maintains to fund its own supers and such; considered a solid growth potential, BOOM is leveraging a loophole that allows charities to create active investment funds as long as it is used for their strict charity services.  The ABC-sponsored fronts have SLOWED investment incursions into competitors while BA has done the opposite, buying even more heavily into a portfolio of high-tech companies competing with ABC; it seems that Barrman is calculating that major investments now into those companies will fuel R&D he hopes will then carry them out of the slump and gain ground against ABC's public tech offerings; or, given his long-term strategy has been counter-ABC, Laughton surmises it could also be that he's calculating a downturn in ABC in the near future and is taking now as the opportunity to fund competitor developments for later growth.  Finally, Barrman has heavily invested in international organizations and national bonds; he's developing a rapid growth into the Latin American guaranteed loans, For companies where Barrman's influence has been pronounced, they have abandoned projects working with or supporting ABC or its various unofficial or official satellite organizations,  and management changes have taken place to replace those friendly with ABC to those who prefer not to work with ABC.  Laughton studies what Barrman's company is doing and relates information to Palmer and SIhn for their own investments to be keyed against ABC.  

Justice Squad News from Terwilliger and Weed

Terwilliger has gotten to busy establishing the newly-revamped WEB, which will become a strategic and tactical paranormal coordination board. He's too busy to spend much time with the Justice Squad, although he is still their first point of contact when something is urgent/critical.

Otherwise Weed does day-to-day coordination again, but is primarily staying out of the way. He does come to the JS with important news one day, gathering the team to explain that the Anti-Missile Program they signed up for is going to need their help now. A new outer space base will be established for them, the Outsiders, and the newly-established Justice League of Europe (see below) to share; ostensibly, the purpose of the base is to assist in a global (but clearly Western, US-Euro) anti-missile program aimed at stopping errant ICBM-type launches from terrorist or other "destabilizing" forces. The whole program is highly contentious, and funding remains questionable. Some call it a money sink. Regardless, what it really will do is produce an ongoing, government-monitored space base for the Justice Squad and the other two teams. Each team will have its own private area, with considerable resources, and there will be some shared services. There is talk of adding a Russian team, but uncertainty given conflicting US and Russian goals regarding space usage/ownership.

The Prodigal Son

Nexus quickly had watched his youngest son, Tom, who had elected to stay in the dimension he was a child in, grow up, visiting him every few of his son's years.  Tom is quickly a powerful mage in his dimension, although its mundane physical laws do greatly inhibit his powers compared to his father's.  During the 21-27 age period, Tom discusses slowing down his dimension to match his father's, but Nexus vaguely warns to be careful about it and carefully discourages in as non-pushy a manner as possible, for fear of pushing Tom into doing it rashly.  Nexus has heard stories of timelords and dimensional watchers and thinks this would bring out their forces, but he also knows Tom at this stage isn't ready for all that.  As time goes by, it seems Tom is doing all right, though, and makes no rash movements.  He travels more and by the time he hits 30 is considering being a "god" of this dimension, safeguarding it.  He decides not to age much anymore, rendering moot, for the time being, Nexus' offer to rejoin the family and be de-aged when he's lived a full life in his home dimension.   As far as Nexus can determine, Tom seems reasonable as a god of his dimension.

Oh Brother

The New Brotherhoods are starting to become nationally recognized as a sort of sophisticated super-"Guardian Angels", between Laughton's and Neumann's influence.  Magneto has allowed, even finally cultivated, this step.  They aren't just stopping petty crime, though, they are still engaged in anti-government vigilante actions where appropriate (freeing unjustly jailed mutants, that sort of thing), at least in some cells (particularly the "Magneto cells" and "Neumann cells", see below), just more low-key.  They are also heavily fighting NME (No Mutants Exist) which has stepped up its terrorism against mutants, especially as things in the nation seem to be settling down.

The involvement of Laughton and Neumann has not gone unnoticed by Magneto.  While Laughton's involvement is generally believed to be "slight" and "informational", Magneto is sure there's more to it.  Through his communications and under-the-table support and guidance, some cells have become "Laughton cells".  They aren't just tapped into his informational network, but, more importantly, they are working both sides of the fence effectively, doing pro-mutant but also pro-human work, and are generally recognized as politically motivated towards a more mainstream orientation than the other cells.

"Neumann cells" are those which are oriented towards a more simplistic "do-gooder" mentality, and are explicitly supportive of Neumann.  These cells push back against direct assaults on jails and the like. 

The remaining are either "Magneto cells" or not so clearly aligned.  The Magneto cells concentrate on mutant justice, of course, more than anything else.

Magneto is very sure there is more to Laughton's involvement.  He just can't find any real evidence to prove it, and Laughton refuses to comment directly, and continues to surreptitiously involve the other less enlightened cells by using them as information resources and causing hints to be dropped their way to improve their efforts.  This is to say, he doesn't act to change how they are focusing on Mutant versus human, just limit the possible damage that might be done to humans if any.

Magneto approaches both Neumann and Laughton, together.  He indicates that he appreciates their support of the New Brotherhoods - and asks that they become officially involved as leaders!  Laughton is clear that Magneto hopes to "divide and conquer" as well as keep his competition close. Magneto purports that he needs good, solid men to help run his revived organization, especially given its new purpose.  He says to each he'll respond to their approaches and give them distinct responsibilities for particular cells.  To Neumann, he offers two assistants, Bat and Blade, to help him with the more nuanced and bureaucratic aspects of organization. 

Laughton works on addressing the cells that aren't clearly aligned and helping Hellcat Hellion and other more competent leaders in his control work with these unaligned cells. In some ways, Laughton views this whole thing as a sort of 4 way three dimensional Go game. And he plays to win.

Magneto mentions what Laughton already knows - that a new computer network is being put in, thanks to the help of various contributors, including Neumann.  Laughton has checked it out, and it seems reasonably secure even if he can get into it without all that much trouble; he notes the absence, after careful study, of any DEXTER intrusion, but he does note at one point an anomaly.  Further study looks like some sort of power surge, perhaps a coincidence.  Laughton feels the network is truly free from DEXTER intrusion, and works with them to further "bulk" up the security through obscurity - he hides the actual traffic that is occurring on the network by burying it in other "innocuous" traffic*.   Laughton sets up some obvious high traffic site that could be used to flood other nearby physical connections to prevent spying eyes from noticing that the Brotherhood has a semi-private network.  Having an additional means of communication that is DEX-free is always good, he muses.  Later, as Laughton monitors the line, he registers the same odd power surge, with an odd energy signature not resembling any known electronic phenomenon.

*Laughton thinks that some borderline legal site like "Freaks gone wild" or similar (which is craftily photo-chopped images and the like) that could get a high volume of spurious traffic is a good idea. He notes it can also be highly lucrative and sets out to exploit the opportunity...he hopes Suzanne doesn't catch wind of this, as Hamlet was kind of enjoying the lack of headaches lately.

As to what Laughton and Neumann know, each is aware of the other's involvement, of course, at face-value.  Laughton hears rumors that Neumann has been having many intense "back room" conversations, and occasionally there's been reports of "mood swings", but that's mostly settled down.  In fact, the assertive, even belligerent, independence that Neumann demonstrated in issue 49 or 50 has toned down; further study indicates some bad connections may have caused the issue (remember, Neumann has some disads around his body and its odd engineering, and in-game this would be clear as well).  Neumann is actually aware that Laughton has deeper involvement than he's let on, as many have come to him privately and enough has been said that it can be figured out, and careful (and lucky) study by Neumann reveals some of Laughton's typical tracking tips.  

In Laughton's mind there are no differences between "Neumann cells" "Magneto cells" and "Laughton cells" in the Brotherhood. There is are only the old and the new. He continues to exert his influence over the whole of the organization, working less obviously with those cells that have not been completely enlightened, but still offering his unique support and assistance.

Robot Junior Caveman and Hellcat Hellion both have rapidly gained attention as important leaders in the New Brotherhoods, RJC out of seemingly nowhere has become very efficient and effective, while "Hellcat's Hellions" rise above a shortage in manpower to become well known for revamping their organization into a model cell.  By the way, Land Shark got back from laying the scent traps just after the Galleria battle.  He wasn't upset to find his work was wasted, though, he was pretty chipper about it.  Laughton notes no effort is wasted, there are myriad ways and uses for many sensors, and the work Land Shark did that day will be able to spring board other important preparations in the future. Laughton offers him a baloney sandwich as added thanks.  Land Shark exclaims, "Oh, boy! Baloney!" Another Justice Squad fan is born...Laughton notes he eats as messily as Sammy but with no excuse, though Laughton isn't bothered. Land Shark looks up, food on his face and falling to the floor, and through the food in his mouth says, "I'm a CARNIVORE! Yeah, DUDE!"

Magneto has been very active in NYC, rebuilding his following, but in a more moderate vein. He's still wanted, of course, but he's been much more visible lately and has been working the media.   

BOOM

BOOM is going great guns.  The organization has quickly become the 17th most recognized "brand" in the world, buoyed by its natural tie-in to contemporary events and the mutant demographic.  Nexus goes out of his way to congratulate the BOOM response teams for their courageous work in fighting natural disasters.

A line of toys called "BOOM Squad" has been developed and has been pitched to Rogers, who thinks it's a good idea.  The BOOM Squad is a collection of superheroes posed in various relief types of work rather than battle.  All of the Justice Squad are represented, as well as the Outsiders and others who have been active in BOOM, such as Nightcrawler.

Related to BOOM, Rogers is active in Republican party circles as talk of the next election begins, holding fund raisers and helping coordinate the local republican efforts.  He's keen on re-electing Bush, but also keen on getting concessions from Bush that spending will be brought under control. He's a charismatic speaker, and doesn't rule out his own political ambitions.

Other Super "Stuff"

More and more supers have banded together post-9/11 and the January Incident.  In late summer, Liberty finally pulled off his dreamt-of relaunch of Europe's Justice League.  Many small super-teams exist in NYC.  In the US, the West Coast has a new organization, a loose collective, called the Peace Platoon, including the Archer, the Great and Powerful Turtle, Jaguar, Red Tornado, and "free-lance" members the Human Torch and (from Detroit) the Flaming Carrot.  Spiderman and Wilting Rose have started a secretive training school for mutant vigilantes; rumors float it has official backing (the Justice Squad knows it does).

The Justice Squad Themselves (aside from anything carried on in private
with each)

Laughton Agency is doing decent business and things are back on an upswing by Q3, so prior expenses (the extensive rebuilding/remodeling after the attack by the dragon) are being offset.  The Mystery Men are frequently consulting with Laughton and Suzanne, and becoming the new "local hero" group, filling a void the Justice Squad have started to leave as they do larger-scale stuff, along with the Hood.  Wilting Rose visits Laughton a good bit, they catch up on items of mutual interest.  She seems to try to get him to socialize, but finding he's not the type, moves on to socialize more with Sammy, as well as of course Spectrum whenever she's in town. Manny is busy on cases but has time to report to Laughton about the "Lizard Man" stories he's heard, corroborating much of what Swamp Thing has come to Nexus about (discussed off-line after the game the other day).  Manny also tells Laughton that he thinks Jonas Hell is up to something, based on his behavior when he last ran across him.  Velda has a new boyfriend, a tall, good-looking guy, athletic type, who calls for her every day.  The 719 Society and Frank Eyes are frustrated at their case dragging out in court, and the new climate is actually working against him as many prefer to concentrate on what looks to be a better future than the "bad old days" of Origin just going on two years now.  However, the case is finally coming up in court.

Neumann, when not helping people (which he's been doing a lot of), is busy with his new "friend", a Department of Defense computer, which plays chess with him ongoing.  Neither is particularly programmed for the task, so the games are extremely tedious as they take their time with each move, no time limits.  He's also quite busy with the Boy Scouts, becoming an unofficial spokesperson as well as an honorary member of the Detroit group.  He functions as a sort of cross between an Eagle Scout and a leader.  This work has extended into him constantly making s'mores and hot chocolate at the base (something Sammy no doubt appreciates).  He also is bugging Laughton a lot regarding detective work, eager to help out around the Laughton Agency.  With the case load, he can be put to use.  And of course as you know from last session, he now has a "secret" identity as John Wayne and a part-time job at Urban Outfitters. 

Nexus finds Ayla is spending more and more time with the X-men, but also with him, as with the kids grown up they're spending more time together.  Ayla's relationship with Eliot has rekindled as the two of them restart the friendly competitive spirit that drew them together in the first place.

Their two sons in the same dimension are doing well, one living in NYC and helping out BOOM and living as a lawyer, the other is a comic book artist and pulp-style writer living in Los Angeles and actively adventuring under the name of "The Musketeer" (with gimmicks along those lines and his physique enabling him to a very broad, swashbuckling fighting style).  Nexus hears that King Midas is rebuilding his power base and intending to strike "soon"; subsequent study shows uncanny timing that may compound their DEXTER/Vision problems.  Big Ugly Bug visits fairly often, having received clemency, and now living in Detroit.  The BUB complains, though, that he keeps hearing some sort of weird electronic crickets at night.  Further study shows his place has been wired for explosives, recently - in fact, explosive wires, thin strands of super-explosive.  Laughton and Sihn cannot figure out what could have caused it.  Even clairvoying back shows no visible intrusion.  Laughton does mark the style as being DEXTER's.  It looks like the explosive wires need some agent as a catalyst, a particular electronic charge of some distinct frequency.  Oddly, the wires are not plugged directly into any source but are near other wires; it seems probable a high-level power surge could trigger the explosive. 

Sammy is busy with BOOM and traveling with Jane.  They see Ayla's mom while down near Vanuatu, and can pass on her greetings via Sihn.  She's surprised, though, to find that Sammy can't contact Ayla as a sore subject comes up. Sammy's new friend, the Listener, gets a snazzy costume with a shiny red button by Gere-luce.  The Listener works with the Mystery Men as well as on his own.  He, Sammy, and Jane are often seen at night checking out dumpsters.  The Listener got into a confrontation with the Hood, though, and was slightly beaten up; as it turns out, the Listener stumbled across a scene which the Hood had set up to apprehend a gang, and ended up blowing the trap.  The Hood and Listener got into words, during which Hood called him "the Justice Squad's lackey" and told him to "stop playing superhero and grow up."  Angry that the Listener's "incompetence" had upset a major drug bust and a thread to find who was behind a major drug source, the Hood ended up punching out the Listener.  The Listener wasn't seriously hurt, but bad blood is certainly there.  Jane and Sammy both have found that now, when in liquid form, they can "hear" their brethren who are light years away.  Just "last night" (whenever this applies) they both sloshed out of their buckets, cold and congealing, due to some shared nightmare.  Upon awakening, they could hear their own kind screaming in terror...

Spectrum is incredibly busy.  Jeremiah's life as a major New York politico is demanding, and she finds she has much less "alone time" and has to be a host more often.  Some of this she can avoid due to her own legal practice, though, which is flourishing.  With the new population of mutants in NYC and her reputation of helping various mutants, she's swamped with all matter of cases.  Her family is doing well and she's spending more time with the Outsiders (think I mentioned that elsewhere so won't belabor).  She gets a word from Dr. Strange that "something is more wrong than usual," and he suspects grave danger but can't be clearer. Assuming some cross-communication on this, Sihn sees that the severity of the DEXTER-Vision cataclysm has not just gone up in all probability, but that there are various strange additional allies and a shadowy figure being discovered in addition.  It's almost overwhelming.  Sihn notes that almost any confrontation occurs in the context of a much bigger problem, leaving the Justice Squad alone to combat at least one to several major enemies.  He sees fighting his own father, King Midas, Dark Phoenix, and several others in various rotations/iterations (not all of these at once, though).  Something has changed...

Swamp Thing

A creature, once man, now fused with the Earth's plant life and manifesting as a green monster-ish thing, approaches Nexus about protection.  Apparently he's been sought after by nefarious forces and was referenced to Sihn via Jason Thelucides.  Nexus begins looking into the matter.  As Nexus researches, he finds there are a few groups looking for him.  The one he feels most concerned about, though, is behind the IMRC and it requires looking "through" them to find out more.  Sihn spends some time (not a lot of time) looking into possible connections between the group behind the IMRC and the impending crisis. He asks his contacts in WEB and New York if they know anything about the IMRC and its mysterious backers.  He does some quick scans on the mercs known to be working on them (watching them fight, examining victims, looking at ways to quantify their strengths and weaknesses) and spread his findings out to various super groups who might run across them. He makes sure his defenses are able to withstand their attacks.

He finds the IMRC is nothing more than a sort of brokerage firm. They take requirements from lurking masterminds who prefer not to be known and usually don't want to work with the type of psychos willing to do the grunt work. Then the IMRC finds suitable mutants to do the work. He finds the mercs are of all sorts, no real way to singularly prepare, though no real need it would seem. IMRC strictly parses out contract work and on rare occasion placement work ("Mastermind seeking psychotic assistant. Good pay, benefits, must travel."). Their involvement in this is strictly for-pay.

There are various parties looking for Swamp Thing, as mentioned, but nobody knows who would pay the IMRC to seek out Swamp Thing.  Nexus begins putting out feelers for a contact inside IMRC.  He also starts putting together a roster of Mutants used by the IMRC in the past. 

719 Ways to Call a Tragedy Something Else

With the tenor of the nation and the possibility of the repeal of the Mutant registration, Laughton is pushing the Eyes situation to the front burner, and get it seen in court. He will focus on the incident as a dark example of the need for outrage against the Mutant registration act, and spin-doctor the public opinion around this point. His goal in this is not to get Eyes and the 719 society a big butt load of cash, but to increase public awareness, foster some respect from humans towards the mutant plight, and make the Origin incident a recognized tragedy worthy of at least a monument if not a bonus boon to BOOM.

Trial has been set for October 5th. In a controversial move, the government judge has decreed no cameras in the courtroom, and has  decreased the press allotment to 8 journalists.

Mystique/Rice calls Laughton and advises him that the Justice Department intends to "shut this down" in any way possible, and they will play dirty. She says their perception is that the government is already doing the right thing, now, and they want to sweep the past under the rug. She encourages Laughton, actually, to "go for blood," but does tell him also that if he puts in an inside word to Ashcroft that he's willing to forego the case for a highly publicized departure, they will dismiss the head of the Civil Rights division (a controversial anti-mutant who's about to be pushed out anyway given the new direction) and the army general who ordered the strike on Origin, as well as print a report finding The Captain to be "negligent" in his actions. But not admit any governmental wrong-doing. She hints that if Laughton pressed the right buttons (i.e., via pressuring Terwilliger to get word to Rove and the President both), Ashcroft could be dismissed as a visible symbol of what went wrong in Origin, so long as the case itself "went away."

Laughton enjoys the last option, seeing that this is probably the best outcome for the situation even if it isn't what Eyes originally wanted, and contacts Terwilliger, indicating a convincing public relations nightmare one way and a massive opportunity the other.  In parallel, he simply lets Mystique/Rice work behind the scenes and as quickly as dominoes the ranking staff figures fall.  Although these events do not play out until early October, well after the other events described herein.  In return for the deal, the government asks Laughton to go low-key on the case, accept a graceful "no finding" verdict, and they will, as a matter of good will, defray all legal expenses and assure that the 719 Society families have their family members' deaths declared as "accidental" (pending the case, the government held this up as a quandary over whether they were "acts of war" or "accidental", obviously having massive meaning for normal insurance and medical claims). This means that Eyes/719 gets no damages as such, but the dead and wounded can be treated through public or private insurance as would happen in a normal accidental death or wounding.  It takes all of Laughton's skill to keep Eyes quiet during the deal-making, and afterwards he blabbers that "deals were made, I wasn't consulted, the system stinks," but of course nothing's on paper. It makes for good articles and controversy.

As an added boon/carrot to Frank Eyes, Laughton manages to wrangle making the site of Origin a memorial monument; it's created as a private monument with some federal money, as the government is unwilling to quite do it itself, but it happens.  It works out so that Eyes is made the caretaker of the place (he likes that kind of thing).  Frank Eyes sets up a museum with all benefits for the survivors, along with a "protest site" where every day he leads a moment of silence for "those innocent lovers of freedom killed by the government."

The Future

Nexus spends time watching and learning from future timelines.  In general, with threats mounting, he has his mental resistance upped with a spell on a 24x7 basis.  He finds that there's a wide range of probable enemies involved, the important thrust being the JS is likely to encounter 1-2 additional major, serious enemies along with DEXTER and Vision around the same time, and a shadowy figure who seems to be in the background. The shadowy figure is likely revealed, especially if the JS is successful.  During this time, some sort of larger threat keeps many other supers quite busy; the JS seems to be aware of and involved in this. This larger threat varies a lot, but is often a threat to mutants world-wide, either a viral time-bomb or the like.

He also travels to find what he can about King Midas and the Evil Spectrum and Sammy.  Emotionally Evil Suzanne is extremely self-centered, petulant, and extremely volatile. She seems, from her over-reaction to one comment, extremely weight-conscious as well. Sammy is untrusting and a sociopath. He delights in the suffering of others.  Nexus muses on King Midas' own peculiarities, reflecting he's more attracted to things like "the world's largest gold nugget" than gold-themed mayhem.  King Midas is too cautious for uncontrolled mayhem - mayhem he can control he finds "fun", he has a sadistic streak. But if he feels threatened, he always cuts to his core vice, a collector's sort of greed.  Nexus ponders that a Las Vegas Casino repainted with gold paint and adopting a "King Midas" like theme might well bait King Midas.

The Great Mystic Wall

Sihn begins looking into erecting extra-dimensional defenses for the current fabric of reality. He talks to various other earth-based mystics for help in powering the spell. This would take the form of an invisible trigger that would slow down the entry of unbidden extra-planar visitors, and which would alert Sihn and the other participants. There would have to be allowances for summoned beings, unfortunately, but hopefully the group can come to agreement on a way to make these exceptions as clean as possible.  Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Lucretia, Necromancer, and Dr. Doom are all eager to discuss. Doom and Ghost Rider are unfamiliar to Nexus, of course, Ghost Rider known only through Spectrum, and Dr. Doom only via Dr. Strange and Necromancer. Ghost Rider is a sinister presence despite being a good guy, and his voice is a rasping, unnatural, unsettling tone. Dr. Doom has a slight reverb and is deeper from the helmet he wears when you meet.

The consensus is that it would be virtually impossible, except with their concentrated power at one time, to so block this dimension, or the Earth as just one part of it. However, there can be a resistance and detection built in to the Earth, which seems to be the best scope to narrow it down to. They each are willing to put into such an effort but to varying degrees. Doom is unconvinced this isn't a trick from his enemies, Lucretia feels the same.  Strange speaks up for Nexus, ensuring it's "the real deal" but cautioning that they should be careful before exhausting too much of their enemy. He points out they may need it for unforeseen contingencies.

Nexus tells them that any help they can offer would be appreciated.  He asks if any of them have noticed the buildup of the impending threat, and ask them for any details they might have come across. He asks them to work with him in setting up a protocol that will allow the group to quickly focus their combined powers in the event of an extra-dimensional incursion into their home dimension. He also asks if anyone is aware of the current efforts of Herr Kietersling.

Domovitch responds, "Yes, I'm aware of it," re the crisis. Then he says nothing more. Nexus notes no one else seems to find this unusual. Re Kietersling, he does the same, saying, "Kietersling is dangerous, yes, I keep tabs on him." When pressed for details, as this one does cause both Strange and he simply responds, "I'll share intelligence when it's appropriate - and not otherwise. I'll be the judge of what is appropriate. I mean no rancor, but you will all tolerate this, or I can just leave." Strange says, "You're a butt, Domovitch." No one else says anything, until someone changes the subject. By the way, he goes by Ivan or Domovitch or Mr. President, "Dr. Doom" is considered an insult even if the media popularly uses that.

Lucretia says, "I'm preoccupied with other matters, no, I haven't kept tabs on the so-called Norse God."

Strange says, "As I've mentioned, I've seen devastation, mainly of mutants. What I see is a multi-pronged attack of a global scale, and very much from within. While I don't discount your efforts here, Nexus, I think we have to be careful in tying ourselves down to static defenses. How long do you propose we put up and keep up this barrier? From what I saw, many of us, not just so-called mystics, will be involved in rescues and fights across the globe. I am sure we have to be agile. I am sure we will be overwhelmed. Somehow they will strike at all the mutants, Nexus, somehow.

"And speaking of that point, I have been disturbed in attempting to refine my findings. Has anyone else?"

Ghost Rider speaks up, his voice hissing through the skull, "I do not see the future, like you all, but I can tell you that there is a dissonance in the second sight. Something - or someone - is clouding us. I think it might be Kietersling. He cannot be found now, he has gone completely silent. That means something is happening, I am sure of it. I will take my bike to Europe and start a scorched earth search."

Necromancer says, "Ghost Rider, Nexus, I ran into some glimmers on Kietersling. He is talking about some sort of Fourth Reich. I don't know why. But he has entered a stronghold, most likely someplace in Germany or the Nordic regions for spiritual strength. I've been following up as I was concerned the Unifier was making a reappearance. It may well still be, but I don't think so. I think the disturbances in the psychic winds are from Kietersling. Also, I visited some of the souls of those who were killed by Vision. The earlier victims had no recollection of him saying or doing anything. More recent deaths have seen him playing with the victims, testing them and testing himself. Also, he's killing quite a few mutants under different guises, I just discovered, seeing which modus operandi go undiscovered. I talked to Dr. Time; he stubbornly remains mute on the subject, except I pushed him to admit that at the least we should be prepared for 'anything', and that the Justice Squad will probably be in the eye of the hurricane, with most of the rest of us fighting the 'weather damage.' Godspeed, Nexus, Godspeed."

Domovitch steps in, "I'll take care of Russia, that's all that matters there. As to this plan of stopping dimensional travel, I also want to know, how long? I will not be subject to this indefinitely. For all we know, this is a trick of yours, Nexus, or someone else here. I'm willing to go along, though, as I do agree there is a big problem coming. But I won't give carte blanche. I want to know how long you want our help, Eliot."

Lucretia turns to Domovitch, and says, "Dr. Doom, you'll address your equals better than that."

He says, dryly, "I meant to say, Nexus, Master of Dimensions. Pardon me, Lucretia, don't turn me into a frog, oh please."

Strange interrupts before Nexus can answer, "Well, hesitantly, I agree with Domovitch. We should be careful on timing. Nexus, do you have an attack plan to nip this in the bud? If so, then we should put up the shield while you execute your attack. If not, I suggest we do the alarm only, and we set up the actual defense when we feel appropriate. I am glad to monitor the alarms and let everyone know of all comings and goings."

Nexus responds, "My main worries concern King Midas and Evil Spectrum. I have other worries about enemies that are a bit more indigenous to this plane, but if Midas, Spectrum, or my own counter-form suddenly show up here, I think we need to know about it, and I think we need to respond quickly in order to deny them surprise. Any extra suppression we can provide would be a bonus.

"This is not an attempt to stop inhabitants of this plane from traveling elsewhere or from trafficking with inhabitants fo other planes. It is merely an attempt to head off one possible avenue of ambush against the protectors of this plane. As soon as the incident occurs, the participants in this endeavor should drop their concentration participation in the barrier warning system, and martial their powers in the manner that they feel bests befits the situation.

"I prefer to be called "Nexus" in these sorts of gatherings, by the way. A little decorum can go a long way.

"Keep me informed about your findings Ghost Rider. The information about Kietersling from Necromancer is
disturbing and potentially useful. I will be following up on that as my next priority."

As the spell is constructed, the first priority will be to trigger an alarm when entities from other dimensions cross into the Justice Squad dimension without being summoned. The second priority is to slow or suppress those efforts, either requiring more time to make the move, or restricting it to fewer followers.  The whole group must produce magical power and someone must concentrate wholly on this.  The group nominates Lucretia to do this. She agrees only hesitantly; she's the only one that doesn't have an absolute requirement to be available. Strange has too many possible enemies and responsibilities, Domovitch has Russia, Ghost Rider isn't strong enough anyway, and Necromancer feels, as Strange, that he has to be ready for duty with the Outsiders "when the blood hits the blender".

Neumann and the Defense Computer

Neumann approaches Laughton, saying "While playing chess with my friend at DoD, I got a strange faulty connection from someone other than my friend that read "Neumann, meet at X-5". Apparently the message was from DEXTER but I have no proof of that. Also, I do not know what X-5 is and it is not a valid chess move.  Perhaps it was similar to a "wrong number". I checked the connection and found that it had gone dead. Subsequent attempts to play chess have gone  uninterrupted and I have even used a new maneuver called "Castling". I am  pleased with my advancements in chess playing.

Laughton runs a trace on the connection Neumann has been using, and correlates that with his knowledge of the Government organizations and Defense Contractors to help determine exactly who and what this anonymous acquaintance is -- he doesn't tell Neumann he is doing the digging, not yet anyway. He believes it is fairly certain that DEXTER could easily be flagging the network for traffic from Neumann and using this information for its own nefarious means. Laughton will work with Neumann to increase the level of security in both his systems and in his external communications.  In this particular DoD system, Laughton finds an energy pattern similar to the one which could/would be used to trigger the explosive wires at Big Ugly Bug's; however, this pattern has no similarity to anything of DEXTER's.  Also, as Laughton expects, DEXTER compromised it, but interestingly he had one of Neumann's exact access code sequence, a high-priority, well-secured channel to Neumann, not his most secure or most integral one, but an important one that is reserved to critical sensory functions.  As Laughton checks out the computer Neumann plays with, it seems benign enough. However, it seems to have a bizarrely friendly "personality", the result of an exotic military AI that apparently was retired as not terribly useful  except for certain tasks. Further research easily corroborates this.

Laughton works with Neumann to possibly change both his access codes (instituting something similar to the controlled chaos theory that Laughton uses for his own 4000+ encryption and passcodes) and implement some protection for the neural networks.

Laughton also teaches Neumann another chess maneuver, one seldom used but very useful: En Passant (the taking of a pawn that has moved 2 initial squares by capturing the first square on the next opposing move). He figures that that move is something that a player of Neumann's level could utilize to trounce an equal opponent.

Privately, Laughton cultivates this AI personality on his own, and attempts to glean what else the system has access to, and if there are other "AI personalities" out there.  He tests the waters for knowledge of DEXTER and possible DEXTER influences into anything that turns up.  The DoD computer is quite limited, and only has incidental network access, normally. There's a few other personalities, Laughton's aware from before even, but the ones he's seen have been dedicated to serving governments or corporations. No evidence of DEXTER reaching out to them though he has compromised some of these systems' security without them knowing it.

exus and Laughton work together against the DEXTER computer intrusions, sharing work Nexus is doing as per further below.  While doing this, Nexus shares his latest findings with Laughton.  Nexus thinks the Justice Squad should immediately find Kietersling.  They discuss Kietersling's possible whereabouts, Nexus bringing up old Germanic castles with associated mystical myths.  

Black-outs

Neumann mentions to Laughton during one of his attempts to learn more about "detecting" that he is worried about his remote connections and wiring.  This has caused Laughton some serious consideration in the past as well, and has lead to speculation that Neumann might be occasional victim of remote control as the cause of some of his "off character" moments. Taking into account the efforts Neumann has been putting into the New Brotherhood organizations, Laughton acquiesces and drops some of his standoffishness with Neumann in regard to "learning the tricks of the trade".

Laughton understands that even he has limitations and that while others have their own as well, that he can utilize his skill and intellect in different and unsuspected new ways by taping into the abilities of Neumann. He is certain that Eliot as well has been working on similar but compellingly alternate pathways to deal with DEXTER and ABC, and will come clean on some of his secretive past activities. (not without making extra efforts to guard against being overheard or spied upon, by others--it is imperative that none of this get leaked out anywhere, Laughton points out that DEXTER plays for keeps and doesn't seem to have a problem using block leveling explosions to deal with a single target).

Neumann and the New Brotherhoods

Robot Caveman Junior and Neumann hang out a lot; Neumann notices occasional "mood swings" (faulty programming) in RCJ, wherein sometimes RCJ is annoyed and indignant at "human oppression." He often asks Neumann, in these times, if Neumann thinks humans would be better off watched over.  But otherwise, he is simple and naive and enjoys helping people with Neumann and making new friends. Surprisingly (as Laughton will also note), RCJ rapidly moves up in the New Brotherhoods, becoming a leader of his cell.

Neumann meets Bat and Blade. He has a memory lapse; subsequent check of tapes shows innocuous conversation with them.  Later, Bat and Blade each contact Neumann and their account syncs with his, they discussed New Brotherhoods matters and how Neumann could help. Neumann has been helpful in building a new secure computer network to replace the old one (which was compromised by the break-up of the old organization). Magneto has had several other experts work with Neumann on it, and not involved Laughton.

Fall-Out from The Wiring at Big Ugly Bug's

Nexus works with Gere-luce to devise a machine that can detect areas that have been wired like Big Ugly Bug's, and a companion device that will overload the devices and short them out instead of set them off.  It takes a day to get it into the field. Immediately a few homes are uncovered in the Detroit area. One is Buffy Summers' new in-town apartment, the other is, as you discover it, the home of the secret identity of the Hood. He's not home but this run-down building in the projects was discovered during the first field run, and as the Justice Squad (presumably mainly Laughton) checked into why this would be the case, correlation to the Hood arose. Most of the Mysterymen's homes have been wired (Laughton knows them in their secret IDs and recognizes their addresses immediately). A building across the street from Sihn-Tek and Laughton Agency has been extensively wired, apparently made to detonate with force sufficient to blow up 2 square blocks.  This clicks for Laughton - Wilting Rose told him that she had uncovered that DEXTER had the secret IDs of many supers.

Inspired not only by this but also the odd energy signature at the DoD computer and the Brotherhoods' network, Laughton does some digging into the source of all these "explosive wires" that have been turning up. Not just the contractors who did the work to put it in, but where it was created and what sorts of things can be done to disable the damage capability from a distance  He hopes to figure out how it works then reverse engineer either a "supress" or a "drain" at range against that specific triggered attack.  This way Laughton could have a "safe house" grenade that he could lob at a suspected building and have the explosives compromised. He works closely with Gere-luce aligning the work.

The wires' important component is a material called plutanium, a hybrid plutonium-uranium compound that is extremely dangerous but quite malleable to various types of explosives. Only tiny amounts are needed, literally microns, enough that it's virtually microscopic. Major manufacturers include ABC, MIT Industrial Annex, SI, and the Russian government.

There is no evidence of contractors putting it in. There is no evidence of anyone opening the walls. Looking into the walls in alternate realities, Nexus saw nothing.  Nexus scans the area where the wires were found for DNA traces, or any out of place chemicals or fibers.  He doesn't find anything, but as he tries various things, his mutant detector goes off. Whereas Laughton's (Nexus' old model) doesn't.  Further study indicates what can only be described as some sort of supernatural-electronic presence, but Sihn's detector can't seem to show anything else about it.  Nexus tries a massive planar cross-referencing spell, to see if he can pop anyone out of invisibility.  As he looks back in time, he sees a silver-ish energy being.  He catches the glimpse of a face with a monocole, he thinks, but it's indistinct, blurred in the slivery energy trail. Seems he has the micro-fiber in his clutches, so to speak, and leaves it there, finding a stray unused bit of wiring. Following him back, as he dissolves into the power lines you lose track across all the probable routes.

The "safe house grenade" can be created along the lines of the device Gere-luce was already working on.  They manage to produce a total of 50 of these by September 20, with more to come.

Zeus

Sihn asks Rogers to set up some sort of National Interview with Nexus to give Nexus the opportunity to talk about his experiences in Olympus.   Lisa Walters gladly assists.  He tries to tread a narrow position that allows him to praise the worship of Zeus without offending other traditional earth religions (except Norse, of course. Sihn goes out of his way to cast aspersions on Odin and those who follow him.)

More Dexter Research

Sihn goes out and buys a sample of all available commercial firewall and antivirus products. He loads these into his PDA and heads off the the AI Graveyard.  Once he arrives there, he talks to Firewall about ways to stop an  aggressive AI from compromising hosts on a network (a task that should be near and dear to Firewall's "heart."). He hopes to get him to  help fix the firewalls and AV software he's brought along to protect against incursions from DEXTER.

Firewall says, "IN YOUR WORLD, DOUBT EFFECTIVENESS." Nexus takes this as both his own doubting that it can be effective against an aggressive AI, and also a command to Nexus to doubt the effectiveness of any such thing.  He adds, "WILL SLOW DEXTER DOWN, NOT STOP."

Then he brain-dumps code into Nexus, lightly stunning him.  Then Nexus shakes his head to clear it, then ports the data into his PDA.

Firewall then adds, "CHECK FUTURE."

As Nexus does, he realizes that as soon as he releases this code, there's a good chance DEXTER will make a rapid strike and set off a chain reaction that will culminate, within hours if not minutes, in the cataclysm they are destined to forestall or fight directly. In other words, DEXTER is at a point that when something gets his attention "too much" now, he's likely to pull the trigger on his plans.  As Nexus studies, he finds there are many possible forms the rapid strike takes, there's a global death of mutants, many in their homes, some sort of spasmodic strike, and there's suddenly a flood of mutant warfare. You see various enemies coming out of the woodwork. It's chaotic - as whatever happened was triggered quickly and contingency plans were adjusted on the fly,  Nexus surmises, so things are highly variable. But this is the upshot.

Nexus struggles to connect the dots into the probabilities for this world.  This, unfortunately, is fuzzy. Sometimes it is a virus, sometimes it is military-type force, sometimes it is explosives or bombing.  More often, though, it is a physical sort of activity.

Sihn heads back to his home plane, and concoct a simple virus that doesn't cause any damage, but which will encourage makers of firewalls and AV definitions to quickly update their products to make them resistant to DEXTER's efforts.  The virus attacks in a similar way to DEXTER, but is not 0.0001% as sophisticated. It simply encourages the designers of the products to close off defenses in such a way as to deny Dexter's usual forms of entry into a network.

Next, Nexus spends some time poking around looking at purchasing records to find which particular shrink-wrap packages ABC uses as well as any network-enabled devices with programmable elements.  He angles to compromise these products to launch an assault on DEXTER from inside his edge security.

The Mysterious Future

And Nexus notes now that moving into alternate/future dimensions for  review is becoming harder, the pathways/portals aren't leading on  the precise paths they did, so Nexus ends up making multiple trips  and sometimes the future alternatives disappear out from under him.  There are two reasons for this. The first is Hawking's Fourth Law of Dimensional Travel, verified in practice by Strange in the '80s, that as the actions of the traveler and other participants become more aware of the future possibilities, the possibilities start shifting so rapidly that the future off-shoots become remarkably unstable, multiplying rapidly and often abruptly ending due to time-space discontinuities. But the second is that it seems someone is tampering with dimensional travel in this area. Nexus does not suspect Kietersling, rather, he suspects there are at least two hands in this, possibly a few more. He detects some variant on dream-magic/dream-physics, he's not sure what it is, and detects a specific phase-warping technology which seems to be more "mundane" in origin, probably a tachyon-generator machine that is intermittently being turned on and off.   Nexus is sure this is the obscuring of second sight that Ghost Rider spoke of, even though Nexus does not see Kietersling's direct hand in it. Ghost Rider is often intuitively correct, though, so probably related.

Researching the possible sources of disaster, Nexus browses at various firms that might be used to provide materials for viruses/poisons and/or widespread weapons. He checks to see whether they have made any unusual sales over the last few months - he figures traces to ABC will be well covered, but the changes in inventory should be reflected.  He also look at firms that might supply parts for weapons systems. Finally, he has a thorough review of orbital devices, trying to figure whether any thing up there could deliver a space-based strike on mutants.  Most of this doesn't come to anything, except for three leads:

The Mysterious Satellite

Nexus contacts China Left to advise her about the satellite; she appreciates the word but knows nothing herself at the moment.  She indicates surely her government knows what it is doing.  Sihn suspects she will check it out, though.  He then teleports into space and creates a telescope to study the satellite.  He finds it to be of exotic design, seems unlikely to be Chinese or even American/European for that matter.  And it's entirely smooth with no visible entrance points.  He wonders if his own family is involved, though he suspects not as he tends to think they'd put a mark of some sort on it, but he can't be sure.  Nexus lets Terwilliger know about the satellite quickly.  He notes it's in geosynchronous orbit over New York City, Detroit, Seattle, Beijing, Moscow, Berlin, and Paris.

After a couple days, as the American government approaches the Chinese, the word from China is that there seems to be some mistake. They accuse the US of substituting their satellite with something of America's own devising. Then their story changes, and they indicate that this was an experimental device accidentally substituted for a regular commercial satellite. All of this stays within government, not media, circles. The US politely asks China to land it, which China says it will in 13 days.

Nexus consults with Terwilliger about getting clearance to attempt to land the plane sooner, the next day, doing so as a service to the Chinese.  Terwilliger responds that the Chinese refuse to budge, as anything further is perceived as humiliation/caving in.  He adds that Nexus should "wait by the phone a little."  Rice/Mystique calls on a secure video conference.  All from the Justice Squad are welcome, so anyone can be assumed to be there.  She explains that the US is also displeased with this and that the US government on her authority is requesting the Justice Squad to "take it down in any fashion you see fit that does not endanger lives - Chinese or American or otherwise."  However, the JS may not indicate it has government authorization if discovered; the US will make a "no comment" stance and she indicates that the government will hint that they were unauthorized and that there will be punitive action against the JS, when, in reality, there will be an internal memo that she says "will be strongly worded but not actually a stain on your records - it will simply maintain an "if you did this" perspective as a near-term semi-confidential doc, it will become public in 10 years.  The top secret documents authorizing you," which she then shows and faxes, "will be classified much longer, possibly forever.  Rest assured your prompt action will be appreciated and despite any public heat, if discovered, will be a bonus on your record."

Laughton's curiosity has now been piqued. He discusses investigating this "satellite" personally and immediately if possible. As T'suara obviously, given its locale, but he will take any assistance from Nexus in the way of added invisibility and what not.  They confer for some time on this matter, wary of a trap.  Nexus offers the use of the orbital telescope he constructed a few hours ago. He's a bit limited in the power he can provide at this point due to the strain of keeping the extra-dimensional alarm up.  Laughton does check and no signals are moving to or from the satellite. 

The Mysterious Argon

In parallel, Nexus works on a vaccine to the argon-based gas.  He makes a huge amount of his vaccine, and begins to distribute it quietly but quickly. First he contacts the rest of the JS and asks them to help, stressing the importance of being quick but un-noticed. He asks them to distribute the vaccine to their various contacts, especially group contacts. He then contacts BOOM, Magneto, Domovitch, Liberty, Dr Strange, Ayla, and representatives from all other mutant groups known to him. He does his best to contact villain groups as well, but he does his best to do it in such a way as to keep a wandering rogue like Vision out of the loop, and consults with Laughton on ways to get the vaccine to villains without DEXTER catching on. Rogers helps with this. 

Nexus runs various scenarios on how the argon gas could be used with a sample of Rogue.

With all the mysterious and threatening things going on, the Justice Squad delays releasing the virus Sihn created until the antidote is in place and a counter to the explosives (as discovered at BUB's) is developed.

Dinner with Aela and the Boys

The Sihn kids are always expected at dinner unless they have other plans.  At the dinner table, Eliot uses this time to ask them if they've heard anything useful about the impending crisis.  Word on this, at this point, hasn't spread, it's been kept to the mystics and other high-level people.  But of course word is starting to spread. 

Al, AKA the Musketeer, says, "I had a funny feeling about dinner, so I reconnected the View-It-All, and then I saw why.  Darn, dad, there's some nasty business coming.  I think this was why things have been a little more quiet lately - the calm before the storm."  The View-It-All doesn't do more than Nexus can do, so that doesn't add anything.  He does say, "I think the NME has been up to something, that's what I've been investigating lately.  I'll take what you've told me about what you know and try to see what I can figure out, and get back to you."

Nexus responds, "Keep me posted Al, and be careful. Those NME whackos are dangerous, and they play for keeps."

Al says, "Hey, what can go wrong? We're superheroes!"

Nick says, "Last time I saw Suzanne in the city she seemed a little frazzled, maybe this is why.  Then again, she's always frazzled that I grew from an infant to an adult in a few minutes in her eyes.  Nah, I don't know what's been going on, but I've been busily creating an energy substitute using cold fusion.  Just a few more months and I should be able to create a cold fusion car that can be bought for around fifty k and can be run on just water and a once- every-100-years investment of ten k for additional radioactive material.  So, dad, if you could keep this world going a few more months I'd appreciate it."

Eliot lets him know, "Nick, watch out for investors. If you need money, be very careful where you get it from. I know you don't want anything from me, but remember Sihntek is a business, and is always looking for good investment opportunities."

Nick says, "Sure, we'll put it out to open bid as soon as it's ready, your company will get a crack like everybody else." He grins - they never do each other favors, but they certainly hope for the best for each other.

Wholely Holy

Altar Boy applies for membership to the European Justice League. It's not important that he is accepted, its more of a "letting them know that we know" kind of thing from Sacrosanct towards the EJL.  Naturally he's not accepted, but receives a very nice form letter signed by Liberty.

In fact, Laughton meets up with The Bishop on an irregular basis, keeping Bishop informed about the impending doom and gloom.  He now emphasizes the idea of orchestrating some counter influences in Sacrosanct against DEXTER--being extremely subtle and supremely careful that no hands are tipped too early. The goal here is to create a source of false and misleading information for DEXTER, and siphon away some of the funds available to ABC's shadow influences.

Laughton confer with Bishop about his thoughts on how to best work with the organization and their influences back against ABC. Laughton spent a huge effort cultivating this relationship expressly for the purposes of weakening DEXTER's capabilities and ABC Corporation's financial muscle. He is extremely careful with any and all communications with Bishop and any of the Sacrosanct connections to insure that nothing is compromised or moved too quickly.  However, his ultimate goal here is to sever an Achilles tendon on DEXTER if at all possible

The Bishop is eager to misinform, but suggests other avenues as he says, "that's just not my forte - the whole lying thing, I can't do it well." He gives some contacts via which Laughton could easily plant disinformation. He also mentions that he can personally see to any changes in Sacrosanct's policies re DEXTER. He's talked with De Luca, based on the prior information regarding DEXTER's more brutal side, and they are already selectively poisoning the well, very slowly. Laughton is confident that Sacrosanct doesn't move too fast (in fact, given how they're expunging the records of the church, it's clear they never make haste, they are super-cautious). He adds that, "However, we have to be careful. Given your information and what we know, DEXTER will spot even small funding changes if they seem counter to expectations. At this point we have rewritten the Vatican budget and made a fuss about down-sizing and de-secularizing investments. This gives us room to operate on DEXTER-specific touch points, but does cause some pain as we have to spread this around so it's obfuscated that he's being singled out effectively."

Laughton helps create some complicated lines of information. Mostly architected to cause DEXTER to spin his wheels, but also to help focus ABC on areas that wouldn't be of interest and could act as a spring board for later activities.

The Bishop goes on, "I've also put some actions into place with the cloning institute. In a short time I expect them to run aground of some criminal charges that will shut them down for a while. By the way, you might like this," and he hands Laughton a vial of something. He says, "This is some sort of super-charged genetic material. They've been working on it for some time. I don't know what it's for, but a Mr. Van Neyuens of Copenhagen has put a private bid in of several million for it. I've removed it and substituted something which will no doubt raise his ire soon."

After Laughton has shared the latest, on September 10th, Laughton is himself surprised for a change. At 3 AM, he is awaken in his refrigerator box by a cold chill (yes, he's in statue form, and feels a cold chill that awakes him - which means he really awakes, fast). It's Bishop. 

He is nervous, which is unusual, and says, "We have prayed, and we have been answered, and you are quite right. Things look bad. We've put Catholic Youth Action on stand-by for a last-minute notice, all hands on deck. Laughton, we wish to pull the plug on all DEXTER contacts at the moment at which you feel things have come to a head or at the point we determine that. We'll let you know, of course, if we see that point, and we'd appreciate if you let us know. While DEXTER has a lot on us, and he probably is ready for me, and we are prepared for myself and De Luca to die and have chosen next steps, we have our own means of damning him and shall execute. Before that, assuming it isn't too late, we can direct his attention to a red herring anywhere and get his response to it. If you want a red herring, let us know, Laughton. You know where to find me." And he fades out.

Laughton merely steeples his fingers, tapping them gently and chuckles to himself, "Exxxxxxcelent!"  He thinks this would be just one of the triggers the Justice Squad needs to have set up, and will be timed to coincide with the others (the firewall virus Eliot had devised, The Captain dive bombing ABC corporation in a pique of anger, the crashing of the mysterious satellite on top of clone research company main head quarters in Denmark, the release of the secret George Dubya-Macarena tape on the internet, etc).  Laughton rushes the vial to Nexus for study.

Laughton follow up on this "Van Neyuens".  He finds the referenced place is a vacated house (how surprising!), actually a family home that was once a castle and due to the cost of upkeep has been abandoned for a few decades. Neighbors claim to not see anyone come or go except for a carrier, once. f

More News from Neumann

Neumann reports back to Laughton and Nexus about his computer game.  "I am pleased to report that I have now successfully utilized En Passant thirty-one times. At first HAL, my friend at DoD, accused me of cheating. But I insisted that my friend Laughton is an expert in such advanced chess moves. I'm not sure HAL believed me as he took 1.8 days away from playing chess to research it. In our games since then I have not had any opportunities to utilize this advanced maneuver.

"During my hiatus from chess, I visited NYC to help the New Brotherhoods dig new tunnels for wiring. It was the weekend, and my secret identity has no commitments on the weekend, so I decided to help them. After digging for a few hours, I had a lapse of awareness. When I reactivated, I found myself many miles underground in what appeared to be a natural cave. I saw a little person running away in the distance. Subsequent research suggests that this was likely one of the asshole people of Og, or so I believe. The cave lead to a tunnel which eventually lead to a hole in the NYC subway system. It took me quite some time to return, and I found that I had been deactivated for at about a day. I had to recalibrate internal times and refill on oil."

Nexus has little time but takes a quick look into Og.  He's pretty unsure about Og as Og is a newcomer to the scene.  Research done in the past shows him popping up now and again, leading his butt-army. He seems fairly powerful. He exudes an atmosphere that makes people dislike him. He can be (literally) overbearing, causing people to swoon from rage and annoyance, and is quite intimidating. Extremely tough. Seems to have an axe to grind against the "above world." His origin is uncertain.  Nexus notes that the butt-being are related to the small eating-frenzy beings Nexus has summoned (the "bubble beings").  Nexus' best guess for now is either they were summoned and trained or he happened upon them and trained them.  Recent sightings do support that there may be a substantial population of Og's "assholes" under the ground.

Mysterious Vial

Nexus studies the vial that Laughton got from the Bishop.  It seems to be a distilled "super-Aryan" formula, embodying some stereotypical traits of a super-soldier and including some personality predispositions towards loyalty and obedience. It seems to be useful for producing clones but also as an agent to mutate an existing person. Interestingly, if someone has no German blood, it kills them, though! This seems somewhat inconsistent for Kietersling, he's not known as that purist a sort nor, while he has an affection for Teutonic war-making, has this sort of thing been a known priority for him. But he was cackling about a Fourth Reich, as mentioned in another thread.

Mystic Jamming and a Discovery

Nexus resolves to find a way of reversing the jamming, for at few minutes at least, to get a glimpse at what is being hidden.  The magic does not feel like Bogeyman. It smells "pretty," like bouquets of flowers, including flowers never smelt on earth before.   As Nexus studies, he surmises it's faerie-related.   As to the other, more physics-related component with the tachyons, he thinks it sounds like Dr. Normal. Or it could be a few other masterminds or entities - he considers Vision could have done this as well.  He checks on Dr. Normal, finding he is still in federal custody.

Nexus tries to find if the jamming is localized or such.  After study, he finds it's not specific. Nothing is being hidden in and of itself, it's a mass effect to obscure clarity and delay readings. The jamming is intermittent, it's not that he can't see/visit a particular place or thing, but that his visions/visitations are often disrupted or he often gets lost when traveling.

He asks Pyewacket to follow up on the faerie possibility.  It takes Pyewacket a night-time, and the next day he returns with information. telling, ""Hey, Nexus, the word among the cats is that Baba Yaga relayed a message to old Levatharie, the crone on the Apple Hill, that had to do with some kind of deal. Since then old Levatharie's been up on his hill for some weeks and he won't come down for apples or love. They say it's a bad time to go on Apple Hill, so I figured that might be something you'd want to do, since you're that kind of guy."  Old Levatharie is an old faerie warlock, a curmudgeonly miser who lives near town and is said to have great arcane knowledge.

Nexus visits Old Levatharie's place.  The apple trees on Apple Hill close ranks and stand firm. The Old  Thorso tree (planted by Old Thorso) speaks for them, saying "Old Winged Levatharie will see no one, he's meditating."  Nexus replies, "Tell him it concerns money."

Shortly, the trees part. Nexus sees the chimney from Old Levatharie's place start to pump out thick black smoke, with small golden and silver flourishes coming out of it. Old Levatharie walks down the path from his house and says, "I don't have time, what do you want, Nexus, Master of Dimensions? And what do you offer?"

"I want to know what you are up to, and I'm willing to pay for that knowledge."

"I ain't up to nothin', and what do you have to offer?"  As they discuss, Levatharie says "I don't want none of your cash. I want somethin' valuable, somethin' one o' my kind could use." Nexus realizes a faerie would want something that either produces wealth ongoing or gives some tremendous life benefit - a mate of their dreams, eternal life, that sort of thing.

Nexus says, "Before I bargain, I have to know what you have to offer. I have quite a few resources open to me, and
I'm sure I can come up with something quite valuable - if you have something of worth to me."

"Bah, you've got nothin', an' it sound like to me! And I've got a secret that affects the Master of Dimensions! From an old friend!' He storms back (or at least starts to) into the house.

Nexus analyzes the old man and finds he is ornery but not unusually tough, although he is charmed.  Then Nexus decides to scan various Faerie futures to get an idea of what sort of magnitude of usefulness the information will be and what might be a way to pay him off.  But due to the complexities of Faerie dimensions, Nexus uses a little help from Pyewacket in stabilizing his travels.  He says to Old Levatharie, "Let me consider possibilities for some minutes, and see what I can offer you. I'll let you know when I'm ready to deal."

Nexus steps away from the house and spends some time and notices when doing the hop-scotch required to properly jump Faerie dimensions/time off-shoots that instead of the usual bleeding of dimensions with the morphing and swirling effects, this is more glittery and sparkly. In fact, Nexus is almost, but not quite, blinded as he has to learn to look away from certain flashes and at other flashes of light to properly navigate his way. As he intuits the rules of Faerie time-jumping, essentially, he looks below his feet as the hop-scotch markings change to actual rocks on a stream. When he steps on the right rock, land is close by and he can get there, and it's the same path he was using on Apple Hill, when he steps on the incorrect rock he is almost an ocean away and the nearest rock is a mad leap. But he figures it out brilliantly and continues to land in differing Apple Hill futures and watches.

Old Levatharie's versions of course differ, but more often the information runs along the lines of acknowledging Kieterling's involvement one way or another (details vary), which is no surprise, but also ending the spell, which helps a bit with clarity. However, his price is often high, and in a few future courses Old Levatharie calls "welcher" as the details are not pinned down well enough and Nexus is unwilling to allow for heinous courses of action when he realizes exactly what Levatharie wanted. This is somewhat normal for Faerie dealings, though, and in this case it does give Nexus a better chance to nail down a good deal beforehand and not have a misunderstanding.

The prices for Old Levatharie vary and run along the lines of: 

Any of the above require an assurance that Kietersling will not be able to get at him. Nexus would have to somehow reasonably help him with that as a precondition for sure, since, after all, Kietersling knows how to kill the Faerie (not everyone, even Nexus at the moment, does). 

Nexus ponders that the best and easiest solution would be the pocket-dimension solution, but Nexus is a sucker for things like "Restoring a lost love and curing miserliness."  The most expeditious would be to quickly manufacture a one-off child and hand it over, but that feels more than a little evil to Nexus.

At the end of the trip, he's pretty exhausted. He waves his hands in strange patterns and feels refreshed by a strange breeze that seems to blow from nowhere.  He asks the trees to once again inform their master that Nexus is ready to discuss business with him, and that this time he has an offer he thinks Levatharie will be interested in.  As Old Levatharie hobbles out of his cottage, Nexus declares, "I'm willing to deal with you now. What I want from you is verification that Kietersling is behind the Interdimensional blocking, and I want you to stop the spell. What I'm willing to provide is the restoration of your lost wife, and a safe place where the two of you can live out the rest of your lives safe from retribution from Kietersling, if the two of you choose to do so. What do you say?"

He pauses, stunned, and his eyes widen. He says, "You're the one!" Then he laughs, "Yeah, right, like anything can come out of it now, it was foolish of me to do what I done, and I wouldna do it again but then again I mighta even now. It's who I was and who I will be, but damn me if I won't try anyway!"

Then he says, "Nah, never mind."

He wanders back and forth a bit, and then says, "Really?"

He says, "All right, then..." and offers up his Talismazoid which is the "Black Ruby of Love Lost" and says, "So this is yours now, good luck. Since you possess it, the thing is stopped. Now, hang on, he says," and he goes back and steps onto the porch, and the house picks up, and a tree climbs aboard, precariously perched on the roof. "Off we go, where are you putting us in the meantime, Nexus?"

Nexus makes sure the blocking spell is down. He examines the item handed to him to figure out what it is and what it does, taking a quick glance for the moment.

Nexus starts searching his experiences for a plane that would be safe from Kietersling, and would provide a pleasant place to live.   He finds a version of the same place he raised his family in, another with nothing but limitless vegetation and lonely Shlumari, and the cheese dimension.  In the end he chooses the one similar to where he raised his family, he reconfigures his extra-dimensional travel, and moves Levatharie there. He then asks him a few questions about his wife (name, parent's names, place where she grew up, likes, general tendencies), finding her name is Simyonee and she was a little winged girl.  . With this in mind, he summons Pyewacket, and the two of them set off to see what they can turn up quickly.  But he find it's not immediately known where she is. Casting about will take a while and significant attention away from Earth and other pressing issues, so Nexus decides to wait a bit on the matter, assuring Old Levatharie and the tree and the cottage are safe for the moment.

Nexus also immediately rechecks the future with the spell down.  As Nexus checks, particularly with more focused items to research, he does find that the source of much, but not all, of the crisis, is the detonation in mutants' homes around the globe, taking out many mutants in their secret identity moments. He sees the sattellite explode but he sees no indication it points at the Earth in most futures, it seems to just explode on its own, though at the same time as bad stuff happens on Earth. He doesn't see much more regarding the gas except some different accounts of a large group or groups of mutants being gassed in one place, around NYC. He also sees some sort of wholesale devastation in NYC as well now, though those are hard to determine with the remaining interference.

Rosicrucian Research

Hearing about the search for Kietersling, Laughton checks with his Rosicrucian and Martian contacts.  He thinks perhaps ole Raven-back has been digging into past play grounds or the Rosicrucian mystics have an insight on him. Laughton thinks it very likely that they have kept tabs on Kietersling after all the headaches he caused.

The Martians have no info, they just point out that they're angry Kietersling won't honor the deal that they made with the Justice  Squad, seems he won't return calls, as it were.

The Rosicrucians just babble! Laughton has a hard time figuring out why. They say to him, "Well, Kietersling is allied with Buddha.  And Buddha is enjoying himself in the sky." When Laughton asks for clarity, they say, "Jeremiah is in the dark, yes he is!"

After going back and forth with them on this and why they're  being "enigmatic", Whyte shakes his head, and says, "Oh, dear. I see they got to you. Please consent to an arrangement to make this clearer..."

Laughton consents to an arrangement during which he must remain entirely vulnerable. He lets the others know what is up, that he is following a lead and that the repercussions might necessitate either Nexus or Spectrum bailing him out.  Laughton warns, "Don't waste my time Whyte, the fate of the Universe as we know it is at stake here. Remember, if I end up regretting this, _you'll_ end up regretting it even more." Laughton implores that he is serious in this and not making idle threats; once he is sure Whyte understands he allows the ritual to begin.

It actually takes a little longer for the Rosicrucian ritual than they had planned, as Laughton's base resistance is strong, forcing them to break out the heavy-duty magic.  After a trance, during which Laughton seems shimmering white towers made of crystal and a massive crystal ball atop one of these, he awakes. Whyte says, "Okay, so now you're cleared up. First things first - do you associate with anyone from Lemuria (the often-used human name for Mu, among those few who know of it), or do you associate with anyone who does?"

Whyte goes on to state that the Lemurians have a spell, often imparted through their magical artifacts, that obscures vision to Atlantis and Atlantisian magic. They do this to keep people away as they have seen an opportunity to eliminate Atlantis completely, and are hoping to capitalize on this by keeping any potential allies/do-gooders away. Whyte doesn't know the opportunity itself, just knows of this.  He goes on, "Well, anyway, what I was going to say before that you couldn't get is that Kietersling has been known to be using some Atlantisian magic lately. We're aware since we're attuned to it. Not sure where he is, though, we were aware at first when he was dabbling then he went blank. Sorry we can't be of more help, but it's better than nothing."

Laughton and Nexus Regroup

Gere-Luce spends some time constructing a craft that can quickly fly or teleport to far-flung places around the globe. Nexus provides Gere-Luce with a list of places with mutants known to him. Gere-Luce will quickly visit these places and de-activate the traps.  Wilting Rose comes to the fore and provides a list she had hidden of 300 secret identities, something she'd stolen from some work on DEXTER.  From her communications with Laughton and Spectrum she surmises that now it is urgent.

Nexus has figured that the argon gas would seem to be in the area of New York City, not more widespread, but unsure as to where exactly.  Nexus makes sure to target a preventive measure in the area of New York City.

T'suara and Nexus spend time considering the satellite issue.  T'suara moves to the satellite from the outside, reviewing it, cloaked in physics-defying rays of invisibility by Nexus.  T'suara finds he cannot see through or into the satellite even with his special senses.  Nexus mystically looks into the thing but sees only darkness.  Both are very cautious, not wanting to touch it in any direct way for fear of triggering something horrible.

During this, Laughton mentions to Nexus about Atlantis/Lemuria and the Rosicrucian information.  He finds that Nexus can't quite get what he says, due to the same curse, so Laughton uses circuitous language to tip off Nexus.  After they work on lifting the curse (Laughton's keen observation of the ritual coupled with Nexus' amazing skills allows Nexus to rebuild the counter-spell), Nexus calls Namor.  He tells Namor about Kietersling using Atlantisian magic.  Namor raises his eyebrow as he asks how Nexus knows, and Nexus relates the story only in general, noting the anti-Atlantisian curse and that he managed to lift it.  Namor is stand-offish on the matter, telling Nexus not to pursue the matter.  Nexus notes what they're up against and points out there is danger to Lemuria in this as well.  Namor is unconvinced, and pushes more on how Nexus lifted the curse and what he knows about it.  Nexus is clear that Namor is the root source of how he came to receive it.   Nexus warns that Namor trying to cover this up will only backfire in the long run.  Namor bids Nexus luck and leaves.

The current references to Atlantis and Atlantisian magic really get Nexus' attention. Atlantis isn't supposed to exist anymore, according to his readings and most others' understanding. Yet the Rosicrucians are aware of the spell to block the knowledge of it, and their data now fits with the oddities Nexus' eyes are open to. He realizes, after just cursory study to confirm his thoughts, that Lemuria has been engaged in a multi-millennium global effort to keep the knowledge of Atlantis from anyone, even high level mages. It is likely that only the Rosicrucians and perhaps one or two other secret ancient orders have kept this info alive, and Kietersling is likely one of the very few who know Atlantis exists.

Nexus and Laughton go on to talk about how to time the various tricks they have to go off at once and to strike quickly at DEXTER on the heels of that.  Laughton brings up using the January Victory suppression device against the satellite.  They discuss linking the anti-explosives with the anti-viral mixture.  They consider setting a trigger that everything can be linked to, including the planar protection spell canceling at the same moment, to free up the mystics' powers when the score is known.  Laughton considers turning the satellite to stone.  They discuss also who should find the tachyon source, and agree that Nick Sihn should do it, Eliot contacting him shortly after; Nexus will  provide support, especially transportation,  as much as he can.  They tend to agree it is best to leave the satellite up as a domino to go down when everything else does.  They consider asking The Captain to take care of it but Laughton points out he has The Captain geared up for a surgical strike on ABC.  Nexus brings up also that he doesn't want to fight Kietersling too soon, hoping to find out more about him and/or his plans.

Sammy's New Job

Sammy cultivates the various pseudonymous reporting and editorial jobs he's done into a job working for WGN, Chicago's superstation.  He's a TV reporter, under a different guise.  He rubs shoulders with Chicago area correspondent for FOX, Bud Girl.  

Final Note

And on the 19th, a day after Laughton got back to Nexus about the Rosicrucian experience and they discussed the satellite situation, just after he departs from Laughton, Nexus rechecks the future.  He notes a sharp spike in the chances something will happen shortly, within a couple days, particularly the mutant residence bombings. The basic things he sees are that somehow the timeframe has stepped up, perhaps due to Nexus being able to see more and/or the psychic shield being detected and/or the shipment of stuff (gas, anti-explosive) going out.  And in vague visions Nexus observes the Justice Squad is often joined by some dark, black figure who seems able to take extraordinary damage, and seems to fit in with the team.

The same day, Laughton gets a call in his identity engaged in uncovering a secretly NME-sponsored mutant organization to attend a special meeting on the 21st and they're going to see action, working on a big case together.

In other words, the fan is about to be soiled...

[Game Mechanics - Points Awarded...

For various inroads and struggles against the machinations of DEXTER, it's out of control but you're doing your best against THE BIG BAD! - +11.25 RP for Laughton, Nexus, +.75 XP for Laughton, Nexus, +15 RP for Neumann, +1.5 XP for Neumann

Individual "battles"/situations:

Covert Laughton award (this will be explained later), thwarting the enemy's plans but it's not over against a challenge that's a worthy challenge, the odds were stacked -  +11.25 RP for Laughton, +.75 XP for Laughton

Handling Old Levatharie, thwarted their plans and the odds were stacked - +11.25 RP for Nexus, +.75 XP for Nexus

Building the Great Mystic Wall, same idea - +11.25 RP for Nexus, +.75 XP for Nexus

Resolving the 719 Society case, the about even but not enough color situation is over once and for all - +11.25 RP for Laughton, +.75 XP for Laughton

Covert Neumann award (also to be explained later), it got out of control but have done best against BIG BAD! - +15 RP for Neumann, +1.5 XP for Neumann 

Time Spent - rough figures, understanding real time varies:

.75 real-time playing + an assignment of 8 hrs for various email thread contributions - Nexus, Laughton +6.5625 RP, +2.1875 XP

an assignment of 4 hrs for various email thread contributions - Neumann +4 RP, +2 XP

an assignment of 2 hrs for various emails - Sammy +1.5 RP, +.5 XP

Totals:

Laughton 40.3125 RP, 4.4375 XP
Neumann 34 RP, 5 XP
Nexus 40.3125 RP, 4.4375 XP
Sammy  1.5 RP, .5 XP 

Totals to Date:

Dice 188.5 RPs, 14.95 XPs
Laughton 2508.7125 RPs, 253.9375 XPs (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Neumann 1018.375 RPs, 161.575 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion)
Nexus 2584.9625 RPs, 252.3375 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Sammy the Slime 2354.15 RPs, 227.8625 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Spectrum 2178.025 RPs, 190.675 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Steely Danelle 86 RPs, 10.75 XPs]]