CHAPTER NINE...

The whole town seemed to be there. It was a light drizzle, but the weather report said sun would appear later in the day. Most people were carrying umbrellas, making the scene a sea of black domes, stretching far and wide.

The news crews were maintaining a respectful distance, even the national outlets. The local paper had tried to send someone in to get graveside pictures, but Grandma-Mom had nearly torn his head off and he'd run away spewing apologies. It was the first time she'd spoken in two days. Mom-mom and the girls were all crying, but Grandma-Mom had kept her stoic resolve as she had whenever else tragedy had struck the family.

The Bishop had offered to do the service, but they'd insisted on keeping the family preacher who'd known Gil since birth. (Sesides, they weren't Catholic. Amy, Gil's oldest sister, had referred to the Bishop as a publicity-hound.) Dressed in a simple suit rather than his vestments, the Bishop still attended, standing silently by the grave.

The funeral home had offered the Woods family one of their most expensive caskets, but they'd declined the offer, preferring to stay with a simple pine box. Gil had glowed, they explained, but he was never flashy.

At ten AM sharp, the Reverend cleared his throat and began to speak.

While she had wanted to attend as her everyday self, Peggy knew that this would seem odd. Nobody would know why miss everyday Peggy Potter was at the funeral of such a well-loved figure. On the other hand, as his sidekick and friend, the absence of Cosmic Girl would have looked strange. True, they had been friends for mere weeks, and done very little in the way of showy public heroics, but she had been at his side when he died. Literally. She had to be there when he was laid to rest.

So, there she was, in full costume. She stood amidst the graveside mourners, and tried to be the brave, stoic hero. She completely failed, of course, and sobbed into her handkerchief during the whole of the proceedings. Later, she fully expected that the press would hunt her down. She was fully prepared to melt their recording devices. Some people were even worse than the blatant villains.

Ch’rava thanked her lucky stars that she was able to attend as White Lynx as opposed to Diana. The paper had decided that only sending one person would be the polite thing to do, and they had chosen Greg for the job. Normally a bit of a grump, he had cleaned up well. If she hadn’t known him better, she might have thought it was for the sake of appearances, but considering how distraught he’d been at the news, she knew it was out of respect for the fallen hero.

Lynx herself sat off to the side of the other funeral-goers, covered in bandages and bruises, clearly still recovering from the fatal fight. As one experienced in pretending to be something she wasn’t, Lynx looked every bit as morose and solemn as the next. Inside, she fumed. She was ticked. At the villains who had done this, yes, but also at herself. She had had an opportunity to make sure there were more people at that stake-out, but she hadn’t. And in the fight itself, she had been beyond useless. There had to have been something more she could’ve done, but she had failed him. She knew she had to steel herself, let the mission come first. But still this failure consumed her.

Nearby, near the feet of Gil's mother, Scraps sat like a good boy ... but he was sad, and confused, occasionally giving a little whine.

Scraps had lost all his zest and playful energy since Gil had been killed, and even now he just sat quietly, occasionally giving a little whine.

He'd spotted White Line and Cosmic Girl, and he'd nearly got up to walk slowly over to them, but the sads meant he didn't have the energy.  So he just sat, occasionally giving a little whine.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:29, Fri 12 June 2020.

This message was deleted by the player at 18:51, Fri 12 June 2020.

The first thump was hardly noticeable, and anyone who heard it dismissed it as someone else's problem. Then came another, and even the reverend stumbled a bit mid-word as he was caught off-guard by the sudden noise. Murmurings of confusion began to spread through the crowd.

The third thump caused the coffin to jump in place. The crowd fell silent.

Gil's fingers popped through the wood and splayed in both directions, gaining a grip. He tore the lid open, bathing the scene in his signature golden glow, and stood up in his own coffin. Willing himself to fly, he hovered out into the empty space immediately next to the coffin and settled gracefully to the ground.

"He is risen!" shouted the reverend.

"I am?" Goodwill asked.

“Bark, Bark, Bark”, Scraps proclaimed, as he leapt forward.
Running towards Gil, the puppy leapt up into GoodWill’s arms in explosive excitement.

Cosmic Girl just stared, her jaw dropped. This was most definitely not what she expected. Back from the dead... She was absolutely lost for words. And actions. And almost everything else. She just let out a small, long squeaking noise as her brain and voice tried to synch up again.

Wait. What? But wasn’t he dead? Did...did humans not die? Wait, no, that was stupid. Humans died. She wouldn’t have just missed something that huge. Besides, Diana was dead. Unless she wasn’t now, but no, she was dead. But Goodwill was also dead! Did humans have several lives perhaps? Brin only had the one. If she died, would people realize she wasn’t human because she didn’t come back the first time?

Lynx’s previous stoic face now crumbled into a confused sort of twitching as she tried to wrap her head around this new discovery.

"Hey boy," Gil said, catching his best friend in mid-leap. "I missed you, too."

He was confused more than anything else — how had this happened? — but there was a wash of other emotions to also contend with. There was his mother and grandmother and his five sisters, his uncles and aunts, his countless cousins... and half the city of Lincoln by the look of things. Any number of women, and more than a few men, had fainted. News crews were getting antsy and pushing their way through to talk to the resurrected hero. It was a madhouse, and it was all because of him.

And there with his family... White Lynx and Cosmic Girl? That was really touching.

"Did we win?" he asked them.

“Uuuuuuuuuhm, kiiind of? Blackjack is in custody, we’re trying to look info that note, the chemical men went down, and now it seems like...none of us are dead? It’s more of a win than it felt like a minute ago.”

The press went wild.

...And Goodwill felt great.

Since his powers seemed to be connected to everyone liking him... It seemed like everyone feeling so sorry for his death healed him up and brought him back, and everyone hearing that he was back brought him from "not dead, but actually awake" to "perfectly healthy (even for him)!"

So now it was back to NYC, back to trying to use the note to track down this Dr. Norwood guy...

(How shall y'all proceed...?)

The sponsors hadn't cancelled his lease yet, and the landlord hadn't boxed up his possessions. Gil came home with Scraps and they could settle right back in as though nothing had happened. But something had happened, and it was beyond Gil's comprehension. He had come back from the dead. That had to mean something, didn't it? Immortality didn't just happen.

He'd given his address to White Lynx and Cosmic Girl, asking them to come by and discuss next steps. There was still a case to solve, and a mad scientist of some sort to stop. But hopefully there was time to take a shower before they arrived. He'd showered a lot in the couple of days since the abortive funeral, as though he needed to wash his grave off of himself. They hadn't buried him, but he still felt indelibly dirty by the experience.

Stripping down, he went and turned on the water, trusting Scraps to bark if someone came to the door. When the water was hot enough, he stepped into the shower and closed his eyes, letting the water stream down his face and chest.

Why was he immortal? Why did he have any powers in the first place? Was this an act of God? If so, was God telling him that his work wasn't done yet?

Was God telling him that his work wouldn't be done, ever?

In the days following the funeral, Ch’rava had gotten even better. There were still some sore bits here and there, but she was confident that she could do her night job now without any real impact on the work. She had to stop getting into so many painful dangers though. She wasn’t Goodwill, with his weird “coming back from the dead” deal. Luckily, she had also managed to spend those past couple days double-checking her research and yes, immortality, even limited immortality, was not a normal human attribute. Thank the gods for that!

Still, there was a job to do now that she was better. In full White Lynx garb, she headed on her way over to Goodwill’s address and gave his door a polite and firm knock.

He heard the knock over the sound of the water, shaking him out of his reverie. That was one good thing about the thin walls in this place, at least. He turned off the water and grabbed a towel. He wrapped it around his waist, grabbed a second towel, and started towards the front door while vigorously drying his hair.

Halfway to the front door, he eyed the clock in the living room. Was it really that late? He'd been standing in the shower for nearly half an hour!

He draped the second towel over his shoulders and down his chest as he reached the door. He opened the door to find White Lynx (whom he generally preferred to simply call Lynx).

"Hey," he said. "Don't mind the towels. I lost track of time in the shower. Come in and make yourself at home, and I'll go throw on some clothes."

Lynx professionally gave Goodwill a nod and strode into the fellow hero’s home, making a specific point to ignore the man’s state of undress. He was probably going through a lot at the moment and she had no business in criticizing someone upping their water bill for the sake of some thinking time, or whatever he was doing. Not her business. What was her business, on the other hand...

“Take all the time you need. Wouldn’t do to investigate this note in the nude. It might look like you were just here as eye-candy.”

This was, of course, said in perfect seriousness, making it difficult to tell if Lynx had been going for some sort of joke or if she assumed that would be a serious concern. That was half the fun.

The sudden appearance of a VWORPPPP!!! noise announced the arrival of Cosmic Girl, who landed outside the house, and rushed forwards... and managed to not tackle Goodwill to the floor with a hug, but only due to the application of a lot of willpower.

"Ahem. Well. You are looking well, all things considered."

And damp. Also looking damp.

Gil smiled at Cosmic Girl's arrival, and waved her in as well.

"I'm really glad to see the two of you," he said, closing the door behind them. He adjusted his towel, making sure it wasn't about to slip off, and then turned to his guests. "I was very touched when I saw you'd come to my funeral. You two and half of Nebraska. I gotta say, it's almost embarrassing."

But so was walking around in a towel, so he headed for his bedroom.

"Like I was saying, you two make yourselves at home and I'll be out in a minute. With clothes."

“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

As Goodwill went off on his quest for cloth, Lynx stalked around, looking for a nice, comfortable chair to relax in. Finding her mark, she plopped down with a satisfied sigh. It had been a long day. Glancing over to Cosmic Girl, she offered, “So how are you feeling? Certainly has been a shocking few days, hasn’t it?”

Cosmic Girl also took a seat. "It has been very eventful. I really hope we can catch up to that fleeing villain soon, before he can construct any more of those creatures. I do not like the idea of going through all this a second time."

She craned her head to watch Goodwill leave. He was very qualified for the job. And while she was a superhero with remarkable powers, and rigid training, she was also a sixteen year old girl. No power on earth could have stopped her looking!

Scraps* had meet got excitedly under everyone's feet as the gathering came together.
He bounced around happily, his usual rascally self, seeking to both claim as much attention as possible, and lick everyone to death.


He, of course, was completely non-concerned about Goodwill's return from the dead.  To a puppy, if it happened, it just happened.  It was easy playing a puppy-dog character who just took all this kind of thing in their proverbial stride.   No need for metaphysical confusions and contemplation here, no sir.   Just bouncing and excitement and LOVE FOR EVERYONE**.



* Who's player wasn't online yesterday way all this began   ;-P

** except Spite.   She was just awful.   No biscuit for her!

"Indeed. That was truly a frustrating encounter. Honestly, I'm still recovering from the last time. At least now he won't have Blackjack, right? In any case..." Lynx paused, a light smirk donning her masked face, "Got something caught in your eye there, ey Cosmos? Or is this some new-fangled neck exercise I haven't heard about yet?"

Shifting her attention a bit to focus on the four-legged member of their group, Lynx offered a hand to give the Wonder Dog some scratching. Apparently dogs enjoyed that sort of thing. She did not know exactly why that nugget of information popped up while looking into the existence of immortality, but pop up it had. And who was she to deny the dog his dose of scratching?

Gil re-emerged from the bedroom in a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt, without shoes or socks. His hair was still damp, but combed neatly. He hadn't shaved yet for the day, and had a bit of a five o'clock shadow.

"Can I get you ladies anything to drink before we start?" he asked, one foot already pointed towards the kitchen. "Or do you want to just get right to it?"

Pondering for a moment, Lynx asked, “Do you have any Pepsi? I’m feeling like thinking young at the moment.” It was rude to refuse someone’s gift, especially in their home, after all. And, for something as innocuous as this, following Brin tradition here wasn’t going to raise any eyebrows, right? Besides, the advertisements were entertaining and she wanted a taste.

Besides, wouldn’t it give Cosmic Girl something to look at?

Cosmic Girl could not help but blush, and the colour did not match her mask very well. "Nothing!" She said it just a little too fast, as well. "Um, yes, soda is fine!"

She bent down and fluffles Scraps. He was the best little wonder dog ever, after all!

The apartment being a converted loft, the kitchen wasn't exactly separate from the living room. It was just one corner of the cavernous space, partitioned off by a bank of countertop. Thus Gil and the others were still within line of sight and earshot at all times.

"Would Coke be okay instead of Pepsi?" he called back over his shoulder while peering into the refrigerator. He drank either indiscriminately, but he knew that some people were die-hard supporters of one brand or the other. He just bought whichever was on sale. (He also called them 'pop' rather than 'soda' but that was a Midwest thing.) He pulled out the iconic glass bottle and held it up. "It'll literally take me a minute to fly to the corner store and back if you'd rather have Pepsi, so that'd be no problem."

Lynx stopped to ponder for a moment. Would it be normal to insist upon Pepsi? She knew these “soda pops” were supposed to taste different, but she wouldn’t want to make the guy leave his place just to get her a particular kind. No, Coke, also known as Coca-Cola, she’d learned, would have to be fine.

With a nod, she replied, “Yes, Coke would be fine. My apologies for asking for something you don’t have.”

Leaning back into the seat, Ch’rava enjoyed the moment. Technically, they were all here on business, but it was nice to just sit and relax with comrades. Admittedly, they were likely only going to be together until this odd business concerning this Norwood fellow were over and done with. She had assumed they would all go their separate ways after the hostage rescue, maybe have some impromptu team-ups here and there, but this situation just kept revealing more odd notes and cowardly foes. Though, if she really wanted to get down to tacks, even this was ultimately business...not that Ch’rava could really send out any reports in the first place.

"Oh, Coke is fine!" Cosmos piped up, still a little embarrased. But starting to get back onto focus. They had work to do. Though she had to admit, Goodwill did have a nice loft. She only had a room, and anything she wanted in it requires strict parental scrutiny and approval. She rather liked the idea of a little freedom.

Gil returned a few moments later with three bottles of Coke and three glasses. Foregoing the use of a bottle opener, he popped the caps off the bottles with his thumbnail.

"Anyway," he said, "what was that note I found?"

Having brought the note with her, Lynx laid the envelope out on a nearby table.

“On one side,” she gestured with the opened Coke, “Some sort of chemical notes. There’s formulae, combinations, reactions, whatever. I don’t really have an understanding of this stuff, but... I think it’s safe to assume this entails those Chemical Men that...we fought.” She certainly wasn’t going to say, “that killed you, Goodwill, and tried to do the same to me.” That’d be too much.

“On the other,” Lynx flipped over the paper, “we have the actual letter. For our new friend, Dr. Norwood, this is a bill. For, like, expensive lab equipment from ‘SciLabCo.’ The full itemization is missing, along with the bad doctor’s mailing address, but it looks like he needed some transistors.”

Summary over and done with, Lynx took a sip of the cool, supposedly refreshing beverage...and had to stifle a small cough. Wow, that was fizzy. Good though. Somewhat sweet.

Cosmic Girl frowned at this news. "I do not like the sound of that! I do not really know anything about this sort of thing, but transistors... that's for electronics! Machines! Do you think he is building some sort of terrible death machine? If it is anything like what he did with chemistry and biology, I think we are all in very big trouble!"

She rose, and took a drink from her bottle, before starting to pace. It made her cape swirl. Dramatic, but distracting. "I am pretty sure I could blow it up if I were close enough, whatever it is!"

With a raised bottle, Lynx smirked, “And I just might be able to overload his mechanical crafts with electricity. Still, we should be careful. It sounded like last time was some sort of research project for Dr. Norwood, so anything he makes here might be made specifically resistant to our abilities.” She paused for another swig. With a satisfied grin, she exclaimed, “This soda pop’s pretty tasty! Aaanyway.,.if there’s anything I know about science types, it’s that, even when someone’s got a specialty, they tend to try different inventions, experiments, et cetera. Dr. Norwood’s most likely doing something technological, but we should try to be ready for anything. Of course, we have no real way of knowing whether or not there’ll be more Chemical Men. On the one hand, we’ve seen them before, so they’d be less effective than when we knew nothing. Although, they were pretty effective last time...”

"Maybe we should check out this 'SciLabCo' and see if we can get a look at their customer records," Gil suggested. It was the only thing he could think of. They probably had a policy of not sharing that sort of information, but it wasn't as though it was protected by a legal privilege or anything. They might be able to convince the SciLabCo folks to give them a peek. "If we have their return address on the envelope, it should be easy enough to go check them out."

He didn't know where SciLabCo was, but two of them could fly and the third had super-speed. They could get anywhere in the country in a matter of hours.

Hopefully, though, they would be in the tri-state area.

With a nod, Lynx explained, “Good plan. As it happens, we do have SciLabCo‘s return address. It’s in New Jersey, so it shouldn’t take too long to find the place. I just hope it’s a real, normal company and not some villainous supplier or something. I’m not keen on running into a trap, after all!”

Lynx took another swig of her Coke. She’d have to consider getting some in the future for herself. Maybe even some Pepsi too, if it was really something that people might insist on over this. “So, should we head on over right around now, or should we do some more planning first? I can’t really think of anything in particular that could help yet myself, though. Hopefully, we’ll be able to simply have a chat and get those records.”

"If we're going out, I ought to change into my 'work' clothes," Gil said with a slight laugh. He had just gotten dressed. Clearly he should have just opted for his uniform in the first place. "Give me another minute."

He headed into the bedroom again.

Cosmic Girl stopped her pacing and nodded. "It is a good start. I wonder, though. Maybe we should do a two pronged approach? Two of us go in the front, all obvious and making a fuss, and the third tries to get in covertly? While they are busy dealing with the noisy ones, the third might be able to find something out. If they are spooked, they might try to hide some evidence, and I absolutely think we want to know about that."

"I'd like to think that they'll be on the up-and-up," Gil called from the bedroom, perhaps demonstrating a bit of naivety. "I mean, they sent the guy a letter in the mail, they didn't send guys to break his legs."

Maybe he was being too trusting, but he was known for his belief in the inherent goodness of people. Apparently a trip to (and from) the morgue did nothing to darken his preconceptions.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Mon 22 June 2020.

“Maybe they’re using some sort of strike system? Like, ‘forget your payment the first time, and we’ll send a letter. Forget it again, and your legs are mine!’ or some other such threat? Still, you’re probably right. After all, it was addressed to Norwood, as opposed to some sort of villain name like Doctor Mischief or Mr. Chemical or The Fountain-Overflower. They might not even know the guy’s a baddie,” Lynx called back, standing. Gesturing her half-emptied bottle to the other heroine in the room, she continued, “Still, that’s a good plan, Cosmos. We don’t know if they’ve anything to hide, but if they do, we’d have better odds at finding it. Probably shouldn’t have Mr. Famous over there do the sneaking though.”

"Yes. Actually, we might be better off if they did see Goodwill and panic. People who are nervous and in a rush tend to make mistakes. It would be easier to catch them doing something nefarious in those circumstances. And if they are not up to no good, a visit from someone famous might turn enough heads that they won't spot someone poking around inside." Cosmos was warming to this idea, clearly.

She took another swig of Coke, and started pacing again. "Okay, so. If Goodwill and I go in the front, it means that Lynx here can get inside and do the really devious part of the task. She's the fastest, after all. And I am not really designed for sneaking. My costume is almost as loud as my powers!"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:44, Mon 22 June 2020.

"It's settled, then. Cosmic Girl and Goodwill will walk in the front door and make a polite, direct inquiry, while White Lynx sneaks around and finds out if there's any dirt to be had on them." It was as sound a plan as any, Goodwill thought as he emerged from the bedroom again, in full uniform. He even had on the cape, which he didn't always wear. It made an impact, though, and they wanted that impact.

He held out a hand to Cosmic Girl, and added, "I believe the expression is 'Come fly with me'?"

“Sounds like a plan! I’ll make sure to keep out of sight.” Downing the rest of her Coke, Lynx let out a subdued burp. “Apologies.” That was moderately annoying.

Securing her mask, she said, “I’m all set! Thanks again for the beverage.”

Soon, not far from Lakehurst, New Jersey... Right on the edge of the Pine Barrens...

At the business address of SciLabCo...

...It looks like a perfectly ordinary office building/warehouse...

Cosmic Girl gladly took the hand, and as a result enjoyed the flight. But she did manage to get her head in the game. What was about to happen required professionalism, and a fair amount of brass neck!

She landed with a swirl of her cape, and looked the building over. Not much to see. Still, they were fools if they had not spotted two people flying right up to the door!

So she strode forwards, radiating heroic poise!

As the rest of the group flew their way over, White Lynx sped off to the location, careful to make her final approach once the others arrived. Staying out of sight, she made her way to the backside of the building, keeping an eye out for any other persons.

Goodwill reached out and opened the door for Cosmic Girl, as a gentleman ought to do. He followed her inside and walked with her to meet whoever was in charge of public reception.

"Hello," he said, keeping things simple. He was currently one of the most recognizable faces in the country, if not the world, having made big news by coming back from the dead. He wasn't as recognizable as the last guy who'd done that, of course... but that guy had better family connections. Even so, anyone who'd seen a newspaper in at least the last few days knew who Goodwill was.

"Gah!" says the receptionist at the front desk. "It's you!" She's obviously addressing Goodwill, although having Cosmic Girl right there by his side (and Scraps, presumably?) only enhances the dramatic effect.

https://www.dissolute.com.au/t...ast/receptionist.jpg

The entry area of SciLabCo is clean, with off-white linoleum and various displays of scientific equipment here and there on shelves, like a little Museum Of Science Equipment.

It's all pretty mundane and not incredibly exciting.

Okay, they were probably in by now. It was time to make her move. Making her way to a back entrance, she looked it over for locks and sensors before silently infiltrating the building. Odd that there weren’t anyone outside, but perhaps that just meant they were confident in their inside security.

In any case, if felt somewhat good to sneak into someplace. Course, the goal wasn’t exactly “find and replace a member of the staff and then figure out how people lived and behaved in this environment, taking careful notes on all the amazing equipment,” but she still had reason to look over everything.

"It is," Goodwill confirmed. "This is my friend and colleague, Cosmic Girl... and this is Scraps the Dog Wonder. We were hoping you would be able to help us with a bit of information."

Scraps had enjoyed the flight over ... his tongue and ears flapping in the wind like he was hanging his head out the car window.

Now, he was fully engrossed in researching the scents and smells of this ... pristine and sanitised ... foyer.
Disappointed with the olfactorial asthetics, he proceeded to add a wee-mail to yonder plant pot for others to enjoy.

"Yes? What sort of information?"

---

When White Lynx first approaches the back of the building, there's a heavyset guy back there having a smoke break.

Approach him and try to chat?

Wait until he goes in and then try to zip in before the door closes?

Wait until after he goes in and then try to break in?

Something else?

"We're investigating someone we believe to be a customer of SciLabCo," Goodwill explained. He put one elbow on the reception counter and leaned in. "A Doctor Norwood. We were hoping to get a look at his customer records, and see what he's bought and where it was sent.

"I realize that this sort of thing is generally kept confidential, but there could be lives at stake."

Hmm. I’d be better at talking, stat-wise, but that’s not really in the spirit of sneakery. I’ll wait for him to go in and quickly zip through the door.

Cosmic Girl beamed her brightest smile, and tried to be as winning as she could. She was usually pretty good at this part of the job. A pretty face was as good as a skeleton key, if you knew how to use one! "It is an important case. I am sure someone in management would be very happy to help us. For the common good. We would not dream of asking unless it was a matter of some urgency."

The receptionist brightens when Cosmic Girl mentions management-- here, clearly, is an opportunity to kick the issue upstairs (figuratively and perhaps literally).

She gets on the phone and makes an in-building call... Soon Goodwill and Cosmic Girl lay eyes on Herb Tarlington, the general manager of SciLabCo.




"...I suppose I should need a warrant or something, but since there can be no question who you are, young man, and since Dr. Norwood owes us money, and has a disagreeable sort of character, I don't think one would say that he's exactly a customer in good standing..." Herb gets some papers, and shows that the address they have for Dr. Norwood is on Staten Island... #7 West Arden Avenue, Staten Island, New York.

Dr. Norwood used to buy all sorts of equipment for a chemical laboratory, then he started ordering some very high-end electronics and lasers and so on... Lately, though, he's been extremely reluctant to pay his bills without threats of legal action, and SciLabCo wishes he'd take his business elsewhere, although every time they're tempted to tell him so, he'll make a back payment that calms the accounting department down quite a bit (until the next time)...

---

(Roll Agile, White Lynx.)

"Thank you very much, sir." Goodwill was familiar with the area in question. It was on the west side of the island, by the heavily polluted Arthur Kill waterway that separated the island from mainland New Jersey. It was not heavily developed along there, and isolated enough for all sorts of secret shenanigans. "We'll leave your name and SciLabCo out of the official record wherever possible, so none of this should reflect back on you."

"I wonder, sir - might we request a full list of everything Doctor Norwood has ordered from you? It may be important." Cosmic Girl was appropriately polite. But she knew that there were very clever people working on behalf of truth and justice and so forth. If one of them could look at what was on that list, and work out what it might be used for, it could give them an edge. After their last encounter, she wanted to go into battle forewarned.

White Lynx rolled 5 using 2d6 with rolls of 3,2.  Agile. To slip in through a door.

I guess I won’t be just swoocing right in, now will I.

"Yes, all right, here you are," says Herb, and he hands Cosmic Girl a few sheets of paper.

---

White Lynx isn't quite fast enough. (White Lynx gets 1 new xp, but does she:

A. Get caught by the smoke-break-guy, leading to embarrassment and who-knows-what-else, or

B. Just get spotted as a white streak streaking into the back of the building, leading to an alarm going off?)

While it’d be nice to avoid getting completely seen, it’s probably better than setting off alarms otherwise. Could potentially keep it contained. This way, I can at least try to avoid having this affect the front team. Option A, final answer. I hope I win the million.

White Lynx waits for the right moment... waits for it... NOW!

WHOOOSH...!

...OOP. Wrong moment. She's not gonna fit through the closing door. The jerk guy didn't move through the doorway fast enough as it was closing, and now she's got to stomp the ground and brake to a stop just in time.

The guy turns. "...Hey..." he says, taking in the sight of White Lynx in costume, "...who th' heck 're you...?"

"Thank you very much for your time and information, sir," Goodwill said, shaking the man's hand. "Now we'll just get out of your hair and be on our way."

With a nod to the receptionist, he started away towards the door.

Drat. Probably should’ve just waited and tried something else. Wiping the frustration from her face, Lynx responded to the man.

“Oh, uh, I’m a superhero investigating a villain that tried to murder some people who happened to buy some stuff from y’all. Y’know, just trying to get in through the back in order to check details before you all have a chance to destroy them. In case you were actually in cahoots. Just a precaution.”

Hopefully, he was either low enough on the totem pole to accept that or he’d give her another shot at explaining herself afterwards.

(Charming roll, please...)

Cosmic Gurl was completely taken aback by how helpful the man had been, and his willingness to hand over paperwork. As they headed out, she whispered to Goodwill, "Wasn't that too easy? Found the paperwork so quickly, were happy to talk to us about him...? Almost like they were expecting someone to show up and ask questions. This smells like old fish!"

"If so, then we should expect a trap when we get there," Goodwill replied, keeping his own voice down as well. It had seemed a bit easy, but people often had this degree of helpfulness when Goodwill showed up. It was a by-product of his reputation, which could only be growing now that he'd been resurrected. People just wanted to be part of the solution when he made an appearance. However, it wouldn't make sense to rely upon that reasoning. Sometimes people were treacherous, even if they came across as friendly. "But that's probably a good idea, any way you look at it."

White Lynx rolled 4 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,1.  Charming. To convince a guy about something that is true and maaaaybe plausible.

Guess it didn’t sound that plausible.

Scraps followed along with Goodwill, happily taking in the new surrounds and all.

(White Lynx gets 1 new xp.)

"So yer sayin' we're crooks? We run a legit business, here! Maybe yer the crook, tryin' t' sneak in here! Maybe I should call Mistah Tarlington an'-- an' th' cops! Yeah, see what they have to say about soopah-hero-ines tryin' ta' sneak inta places widdout no warrant er nuthin'!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:32, Wed 01 July 2020.

Drat. This was going awfully poorly. Should she go for the flattery option? Might scare him a bit, though.

“Oh, my apologies, kind sir. That was certainly not my intention. I just thought that would be a perfectly reasonable explanation. Me being on secret hero business. You see, in truth...I’m a very important person, in disguise, from a very secretive organization that is invested in your scientific growth. I just wanted a chance at looking over and exploring what you’ve got in there. We would be so very pleased for such a chance to see how you’re doing. If you’d be so kind?”

White Lynx rolled 10 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 6,3.  Charming. To convince a guy of something that is technically true, but also probably not plausible.

Wow. I wasn’t expecting a ten!

"Wait... wait..." The man stares at White Lynx for a moment. "You... you... I know you...! I seen you inna papers or on th' tee-vee...! You were at Goodwill's funeral what he came back from! You know Goodwill?! An' Scraps?! Are you helpin' Goodwill...?!?" His tone is reverent now, impressed, very pleased...

“Well, yes. I was there when we thought he had passed. It was a very...trying situation. And the person we are investigating here is the one who tried to do him in, as a matter of fact. Or, well, it was his scientific creations, to be exact. I’m sure you have nothing to hide, but I really don’t want to see another colleague, another friend, dying in front of me. Hence, we investigate. I apologize for the gruffness and the sneakery.”

"Oh, yeah, a bomb exploded er sumthin', wasn't it? So... so yer sayin' that the bomb-maker is some egghead buyin' lab equipment from us? Well it's nothin' t'do with us! What kinda proof do you need?!?"

“Indeed, he is. To be honest, we weren’t particularly familiar with your lab or business prior to the event, and so we didn’t really know what to expect from you all. Since it’s the case that you aren’t actually trying to hide anything from us, could you tell me if you remember a Dr. Norwood, or anything about him?”

White Lynx rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,2.  Insightful. To gauge the verity of this guy’s claim. Or a Figure Things Out with a Hold 1, if you think that’s more appropriate.

"Oh, sure, Norwood. Big spenda... not quite so big on bein' a big payah. Nasty attitude. Thinks he's better than everyone, a real know-it-all. D'd he try t' blow up Goodwill? Somebody ought'a put a bum like that away poimanently."

As far as White Lynx can tell, the man seems to be sincere.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:54, Fri 03 July 2020.

“That sounds about right from the last time we saw him. And that’s correct. It was one of his chemical creations. It just..blew up. Not a fun thing to watch. In any case, I guess I should just leave then. Get out of your hair and all. And thank you, for your assistance.”

Lynx started in the opposite direction from the door, but stopped before getting too far away. Turning around, she added, “Do you know if Dr. Norwood said anything when he made his most recent purchases? Anything you may have heard could make all the difference in catching him.”

"He never does it in person... it's all ovah th' blower with him. You ought'a ask 'roun' th' front of the building, they gotta put up with 'im a lot more. Only time I ever talked to him fer long was one time when he was mad about something he thought we'd forgotten t' send. We hadn't, though-- it was just somethin' that hadda be sent in its own separate crate."

“That certainly sounds...pleasant. What was this purchase that had to be in its own crate, if I may?”

"Aw, jus' some big ratemeter-scaler thing. Monitors fer c'ntamination wit' halogen quenched tubes, does calibrations, that sorta thing. Yer gonna wish y' had one if yer doin' practically anythin' wit' radioactive nucl'ar physics."

“Hmm. Well, thank you again for your time, but I should probably get going. Have a pleasant day!”

Lynx stayed just long enough for the guard to return a goodbye before running off and out of sight. Taking a look to the sky, she waited for the others to start heading off.

Scraps enjoyed the feel of the wind and air in his nose, ears and cape, as Goodwill soared with him over the rooftops.

Back in downtown Manhattan, Goodwill opened the skylight to his loft for Cosmic Girl and said "Ladies first."

Skidding to a stop in front of Goodwill’s loft, Lynx gave the door a couple of firm, sharp knocks.

Cosmic Girl gave a comical little bob of a curtsey. "Thank you, kind sir!" And into the apartment she went. She made straight for the kitchen, and proceeded to lay down fresh water for Scraps. Being a wonder dog was thirsty work. And being kind to animals was one of her better qualities.

She was unkind to villains, buildings, and any landscape that got in her way. But dogs? She was always nice to dogs!

Hearing the knock, Goodwill entered his apartment from the skylight and went to the front door to answer it. It was no surprise to find Lynx there.

"Hope you haven't been waiting long," he said, letting her in. "I don't know what you might've found out, but we've got an address for the bad guy. We're going to get this guy."

Nobody killed Goodwill and got away with it, even if it didn't stick.

Entering the home with a nod, Lynx said “Oh, no trouble. Just got here myself. Thanks, Goodwill.”

“Regrettably though,” she continued, “I wasn’t able to get in. Tried slipping in through a closing door, but I got caught by the guy closing the door. Still, we had a chat about our new friend. Gleaned some info, but it’s probably not anything you all didn’t find. Dr Norwood’s a bit of a prick and a self-important know-it-all; he’s a big spender but doesn’t like to actually pay for things; doesn’t usually come in person; and he might be going nuclear.”

Scraps enthusiastically lapped at the water that Cosmos put out for him.
It was, as was previously stated, thirsty work being a wonder dog.

Then, once the humans were talking, Scraps contributed to the conversation by keeping that rascally, tasty bone in the corner occupied.

"So... should we go and get the guy?" Goodwill asked. Like with much of their super-heroing, they were entering another gray area of the law. Just bust into a guy's home and grab him? That was a job for the police, and only with a warrant. On the other hand, they had good information that suggested Norwood was creating something massively dangerous. Wasn't it the point of a super-hero to stop that sort of thing? "Or do we try to get the police involved?"

Lynx gave a soft “Hmm” as she thought over their options. Dropping in on the guy’s address was certainly a step up from rescuing a hostage, intercepting a meeting in a public area, or even trying to sneak into a lab. They’d be breaking in specifically to take the guy down. Even though he was definitely a bad guy, the doctor still had rights, right? She’d have to take another look through the library. But still, he could be doing anything in there and they might not have a lot of time to stop him. Still, what were the odds that time spent doing things officially could actually screw up everything?

“I think it might be worth it to go to the police. Make sure we’re on the up-and-up and all that. Besides, won’t it be harder for Norwood to run away again if we bring them as backup?”

"We should be able to find the local Staten Island precinct in the phone book," Gil suggested, walking over to the telephone and looking in the cabinet underneath. Sure enough, the phone book was there. "We should head over and introduce ourselves and..."

...and what? The police probably weren't going to see the heroes' information as actionable. Maybe they'd want to see a judge about a warrant, but they didn't have proof of a clear and present danger that would allow for a warrantless entry. This was going to take a lot of time that they didn't even know if they had to spare.

"...and we tell the police that Norwood might be building an atomic bomb. We could get laughed out of the precinct, and have to go it alone, but I think that's the best we can do with what we have."

Cosmic Girl sighed. "You are quite right. They wouldn't believe me no mater what. I'm just a girl, and a young girl." One day, feminism might amend that sentiment, but it was not today. "It is the right thing to do, but we might have to be prepared to go in alone. And I am itching to drag that man back to justice. Someone with his skills shoud be making the world a better place, not trying to hurt people. It's so... unamerican!"

“And hey, it’s not like anyone can say we didn’t try to do this the right way.” Lynx gave a slight huff at Cosmic Girl’s mention of her own believability. The age thing made some sense, as most societies she’d seen were big on having longer life imply greater experience and wisdom. It was an often annoying facet of life to deal with, even in the Monarchy. But all the gender inequalities here felt so alien. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen such things before, but as someone used to being able to be in whatever body she pleased, it just felt silly to dismiss people for being ‘girls.’ Especially the ones who could fly.

“Hopefully, there’ll be enough proof on-site that we won’t end up arrested ourselves though.”

Gil spread out his city map on the counter and located the precinct. Flying there, one had to know precisely where to go, because landing to look at street signs was time-consuming (and embarrassing). Fortunately, it would be easy enough to spot it. At the very least, it would be the building with all the police cars parked around it.

Satisfied, he copied down the address and passed the paper to Lynx. The runner would need to get there via a different route than the flyers, obviously. He handed her the map and pointed out the building.

"Are we ready?" he asked after a few moments.

(IF AND WHEN the team is ready...

(Is it time to form a team yet? The Samaritans? The Lynxes? The Cosmic Three? Scraps and his Amazing Human Friends?))


...The Staten Island building of the 123rd precinct was small, but pleasingly... looking-like-what-it-was. On the way to it, Goodwill and Cosmic Girl had passed the precinct building at the north end of Staten Island, which looked more like a small, boring apartment building or maybe a small school annex than a police department... It did have several police cars out front, though...

This building, though, definitely looked the part, just like a police station, or maybe a former fire house... The sight of it sent thrills of genetic happiness through Scraps...

The Amazing Scraps and his educated and well-trained humans?

As Goodwill flew him, Scraps let his cape and ears flap in the wind, as usual.
One day, he might learn how to fly himself.

Goodwill (and Scraps) landed on the sidewalk outside the building's front entrance. He let Scraps down.

"No piddling on their floors," he admonished the pup quietly. "We want them to like us."

Not that there was much chance of it being otherwise, it seemed. Since Goodwill's miraculous return from the great beyond, it seemed that everyone liked him. And everyone always liked Scraps.

The Unsuspicious Earthly Defense Force?

Having ever-so-slightly overshot the building, Lynx made a quick u-turn and skidded to a stop near the man-and-dog duo. Shaking off some stray sparks, she approached the two.

“So, do we just say, ‘Hey, we have reason to believe the doctor that tried to kill Goodwill here might be building a bomb? Can we have a warrant?’ or something?”

"They won't give us a warrant, because the Police don't issue warrants," Goodwill explained. This was the sort of thing every super-hero should know, but he suspected a lot of them didn't. "The courts issue warrants. But if they decide that we're convincing enough, they could possibly go warrantless and hope for the best. Or they might insist on getting a warrant.

"Or, sort of in-between those, they go and ring the guy's bell, making up some story about neighbor complaints or some such. They ask if they can look around, Norwood says no, but in the meantime they hopefully see something that allows them to act on a 'clear and present danger'.

"Finally, there's the possibility that these are really bad cops, and they tell us that if we're so sure of things, why don't we just go knock the place over ourselves."

Cosmic Girl vwoorped her way to land by Goodwill's side. "I am not really sure how else to approach them. Give them the information, then ask if they take issue with our going to take a look, maybe? Ask them to be ready to swoop in if we call them... in that situation no warrant should be needed? We do not need one, as private citizens. And they do not need one if we find probable cause, right?"

"As long as you overlook the whole 'Breaking and Entering' aspect of what we'd be doing, yeah," Goodwill semi-agreed. "But we're not allowed to just barge in there. If we do, we'd better find something very incriminating.

"Maybe when this is all over, we should talk to the police commissioner about some sort of special deputy status."

Anyway, they had all arrived, so Goodwill started towards the door. Opening it, he held it for the others.

The officer on duty has a Hello, I am a helpful if slightly bored public servant what can I do for you face on when you walk in the door.

Then he sees who it is and his face changes to Oh-wow delight-- and then, as he thinks about it, to Oh-no-why-are-you-here-is-something-scary-happening-nearby.

"Hello," Goodwill said. "This is White Lynx and Cosmic Girl. I'm Goodwill... and the little guy sniffing your shoes is Scraps the Dog Wonder. We're here to report a dangerous situation here in Staten Island."

"Wha-what kind of dangerous situation?!"

His expression simultaneously says Oh no if Goodwill says it it must be true and also Here?!? In Staten Island? The most boring place on Earth?

“We don’t want to alarm you, but we have reason to believe one Dr. Norwood may be building something, ah, what’s the word...nuclear. Also dangerous again. Can’t really overstate that part. Seemed like that was something you’d all like to know.”

Cosmic Girl could recognise someone looking a little out of his depth. So she gave her biggest, brightest smile! "We should probably speak to someone in charge. This could be a very serious issue for the city. Might even get... political..."

That was a deadly word, when youw ere down the food chain. If things went sour, someone was going to get stuck with the blame. Shoving it further up the line was a very good way to avoid that sort of career-ruining nonsense.

The problem is immediately kicked upstairs to the captain on duty. Once again, the four heroes find themselves in a police captain's office...

"The desk sergeant said something about someone secretly building an atom bomb... here in Staten Island? What's this about, exactly?" His tone is respectful, very serious.

"To be truthful, we don't know that it's necessarily a bomb," Goodwill said, even while knowing that the truth might harm their chances of getting police assistance. He just didn't want to mislead anyone. If they got a warrant to search for a bomb, though, they'd better find an actual bomb. "But we have good reason to believe that some nuclear-powered device is being constructed here on Staten Island."

From there he explained, in as small a detail level as the Captain preferred, the entire series of events leading up to that day: the kidnapping attempt of Captain Liberty's grandson, the note that led them to the park, Doctor Norwood's gelatin-monsters, and so on.

"A SciLabCo said that the only reason Doctor Norwood would need that device would be for something nuclear," he said, finally coming to the end of the long story. "So while it's possible he's building, say, a submarine... odds are it's something more directly destructive, like a bomb."

"...Mad scientist doing nuclear things in Staten Island. Mad, hero-killing scientist-- never mind that you got better." The captain thinks. "...Of course, if he realizes that that envelope he dropped had his name on it, and who it was from, he might have had time to clear out by now. Which means this could be a trap. Then again, enough time has passed that... Well, no, seeing you come back to life all over every television will probably have him on the alert again. I guess we'd better... I think I'll start by calling the governor, and let him kick it upstairs from there..." The captain reaches for his phone.

Then he stops, his hand frozen as if he just spotted a scorpion waiting on top of the phone. "...You... made this Dr. Norwood sound very smart..." he says. "The... sort of guy who thinks ahead... and plans ahead... He... He couldn't have the phone tapped, could he...?" The captain looks at your faces with a Please say no and be confident about it look on his own face.

"I think it would be foolish of him not to cover that option," Cosmic Girl said seriously. "And for all his wicked intent and misdirected goals, he is no fool. It might be safer to make the call from somewhere less likely to be interfered with. There must be a public payphone here - or outside, perhaps?"

"Ye-- yeah... yeah... Let's try that."

The governor is reportedly notified, and then higher-level persons.

The heroes are asked to relocate to a nearby park, called Conference House Park.

There, in front of an historic old house, they meet with someone who is familiar to Goodwill and Scraps-- the Man in the Black Suit, from the adventure at the prison on Plum Island.

"September 11th," he says. "1776. This house is where the American and English representatives held talks to try to negotiate the end of the hostilities of the American Revolution. I thought it would be the most fitting place to have a little conference of our own-- and I figured it would be hard to bug, too, especially if we're standing out here."

“How very...historic. You hoping we can take Dr. Norwood in without any more hostilities?”

Who was the guy again? A government man? Police detective? He had a nice suit at least.

“Sorry, I don’t think I caught your name. I’m White Lynx.”

"The operatives I work with the most know me as Agent Delancy, which is not, of course, my real name-- my real name is highly classified. I'm hoping that Goodwill will vouch for me..."

(Note: Agent Delancy//The Man in the Black Suit both looks and smells the same to Scraps as when he and Goodwill previously encountered the man.)

"Agent Delancy is legit," Goodwill said. Delancy was a little on the shady side, obviously, but Goodwill was convinced that he had the nation's best interests at heart. "If he says we're clear to go take care of Norwood, then we're clear to do just that."

"And you are," says Agent Delancy. "I have no one I'd rather trust this to than you three... and Scraps." Having seen Scraps in action before, in person, Agent Delancy seems quite sincere. "We're going to quietly start evacuating people nearby the target site-- not that it will matter much in the worst scenarios, but you never know. Just, please-- try to be careful of traps, or of setting anything off... And try to keep any element of surprise for as long as you can..."

"We shall do our best to prevent any unnecessary risk to anybody - and catch the fiend in his lair, unawares." Cosmic Girl assured, with all the earnestness of youth. It was reassuring - but not, perhaps, entirely believable. So far, she had destroyed a house and a public fountain in the quest to bring these villains to justice. It seemed unlikely she would stop now, just when she was getting into her stride.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Sat 25 July 2020.

“Pleased to meet you, Agent Delancy. We’ll try to avoid pushing any large red buttons.” Though with her luck, she’d probably get thrown against a couple.

She had to find Delancy’s supposed trust in her a little humorous though. Lynx supposed, though, that no one parading around as a hero would really try to set off a nuke. Even if they had other loyalties. No one wants a world to die.

"Thank you for your support in this matter, sir," Goodwill said to Agent Delancy. It was a gratifying to know that his word carried so much weight with government agencies that he could count on them backing his play with just a few phone calls. It was also a little disconcerting that Due Process was that flexible, but fortunately it was for all the right reasons. "I don't know about the element of surprise, though. Once we hit his perimeter, he'll probably know we're there. Our best option is probably to hit him simultaneously from three directions, hard and fast.

"I figure I could go through the front door first, and attract his attention. Then Lynx could go through the back, and Cosmic Girl... well, I don't know if he has a side entrance or not, but you could always make one."

The grin on the face of Cosmos was rather too keen to be reassuring. "I am sure I could! Indeed, I think we owe him a little repair bill, after what he did to Goodwill!" She ponders. "I wonder... if we know what building he is in, could we look at blueprints? It might give us some idea of where to hit it."

Scraps had gleefully greeted Delancey, and now was sniffing around the nearby for any interesting scents
This message was last edited by the player at 09:51, Mon 27 July 2020.

"Mm. That'll take time-- well, no, we could send White Lynx to get them, just as she got the Silver Streak costume from the garment district-- I got a full report on that little adventure... But for now, how about we go over and just look at the place, what do you say?" suggested Agent Delancey. "From a distance-- from down the block."

“I mean, sure. But, even a block away, aren’t you worried that’s a little too close? Though I suppose it would be easier for us to see a building than him to see us.”

"I'm here in a very unmarked car. And it's not you I'm worried about-- It's girl and/or a man holding a dalmatian flying overhead getting spotted that I'm more worried about. But I think four people in a normal-looking car will be as fine as 'fine' is going to get... if we can keep Scraps' head near the floorboards temporarily... So, shall we...?"

"I'm game," Goodwill agreed. It sounded like a good enough plan for the time being. They didn't know what they were going to encounter, so one plan was very much like another: probably doomed to go completely off the rails in minutes. But it never hurt to try.

Agent Delancy turned out to be driving a '61 Chevy Impala, a not-terribly-eye-catching almost-bronze brown.


Soon, they were down the block from the address that the heroes had been given. "...Inconspicuous, I admit," nodded Agent Delancy.

The address was home to a warehouse-sized building with signage that read:

Southside Concrete Buffers

Commercial - Residential - Floor Polishing - Grinding - Densifying - Sealing - Basements - Mechanical Rooms - Garages

A gas station was next door.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:22, Tue 28 July 2020.

"Maybe you should take a quick lap around the building and check out points of entry?" Goodwill suggested to Lynx. This was a much bigger building than he'd expected, and all of his notions as to what the encounter would be like were probably already wrong.

Cosmic Girl considered the tactical options. "I would feel a lot happier on the roof. Or up high, at least. A clearer view, and a chance to surprise them from above... though he probably knows that is what we might do. I just like a wider field so I don't hit any innocent bystanders."

“Floor polishing and mechanical rooms? This place has everything.”

Nodding, Lynx replied, “Sure thing. Might take me a little bit, just to make sure it looks more like speedster traffic if he’s got some kinda super-speedy camera.” With a quick mock salute, she was out of the Impala and speeding off this way and that.

"I imagine that part's just posting that they polish the floors of mechanical rooms. Physical plants, that sort of thing. But who knows what he's really got in there..."



White Lynx discovers only two obvious doors to the place-- one normal-sized front door, and a large garage-door-sized-entry in the back, presumably to facilitate large deliveries or to let the company's own vans or trucks in or out.

Slipping back into the car, Lynx made her report. “Two points of entry, one for people our size and another for vehicles, probably also deliveries. Anyone see anything else notable from here so far?”

When White Lynx left the car, the spotty pup looked at Goodwill and whined a little.
Gil understood this ... it meant that Scraps needed to either to wee really badly, or put his nose to the local wee's that existed there.
Either way, to the pup at least, it was urgent.

"Darn it, Scraps... don't go far."

Goodwill opened the door that was farther away from the building, hopefully shielding Scraps from view with the car itself as he hopped out.

"I say that two of us hit the loading dock door while one of us goes in the front, to avoid bottlenecks," he said quickly. With Scraps getting out of the car, they were already on the clock. "Maybe Cosmic Girl at the front door and me and Lynx at the back?"

“That sounds good to me. At that point do you think Scraps would be better off with us or Cosmos? Or should we just wait for him to finish his business before deciding that?”

Cosmic Girl smiled rather viciously. "Go in the front and make a huge amount of noise to distract the villains from the rear attack? You could say I was born for it. They won't know what hit them!"

She was getting a taste for property damge. It was a bad habit.

Scraps happily jumped from he confinement of the human-wagon.

He did, indeed, need to wee ... but of course, one did not just wee anywhere, and he began sniffing around to find a perfect spot.
Along the way, he was checking for wee-mails from any other puppy's in the area.  He scented for scraps and food also, and anything good to roll in.

And if he came across any scents that seemed ... intriguing ... well, he was a curious puppy.   Luckily, it was 'the cat' that curiosity had it in for, and so Scraps would happily follow any scent trail he found that might lead to something interesting.

Along the way, as he nosed his way through the vehicles, garbage bins and human refuse that littered the streets and nearby streets and alleyways, he certainly would leave several 'markings' for other doggo's to find and read.

But, as always, he erred to keeping a low profile, sticking to the shadows and narrow, hard to be seen, routes through the human world.

- rolled 9 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,5.       Insightful: to find anything interesting.
- rolled 11 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 4,4.     Agility: for sneaking and staying stealthful.

Scraps checked out the area.

The place smelled weird. Dangerous. The closer Scraps got to the place where his human friends seemed to be going, the more it smelled like there are dangerous predators nearby.

So there were fewer and fewer wee-mails to be found, the closer he went...

But Scraps couldn't tell what kind of predator animals there might be...

Still, no one stopped Scraps nor his human friends from walking right up to the building in question...

Mr. Smells-Like-A-Fancy-Office stayed back at the car...

"Sounds like a plan. Cosmic Girl goes in the front, and Lynx and I will go in the back." Goodwill began to get out of the car. "And we'd better hurry, before Scraps sets off any alarms."

Cosmic Girl adjusted her domino mask. She rubbed her hands. "All right then! I'll give it thirty seconds, and the hit it with everything I have. That should give you enough time, yes?"

White Lynx slipped out of the vehicle, cracking her knuckles. “Sounds good to me. I’m certainly fast enough.”

With a clap on Goodwill’s back, she added, “Don’t leave me waiting, Goodwill!” and sped off near the building’s rear.

Goodwill wasn't fast enough to keep up with Lynx when she moved at top speed, even though he could fly a couple of hundred miles per hour. She was just that fast. But over short distances, that amounted to only a couple of seconds' worth of difference in getting from Point A to Point B. More importantly, it meant that any cameras that might be watching the building's surrounding area would only see a couple of blurs speed past.

He didn't see any cameras, though. Was security that bad, or was it that good?

In his head, he was counting down from thirty, just in case they couldn't hear Cosmic Girl's frontal assault. He didn't think that would be a problem, though.

Cosmic Girl counted carefully in her head as she stepped out of the car and poised herself for action. As she came close to thirty seconds, she took a deep breath, rocketed upwards...

SHe let rip with a cosmic blast... of course, she tried not to destroy everything, but perhaps she was too cautious, and underpowered her attack. On the otherhand, the sound of a cosmic blast hitting the building was still a distraction...

18:48, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 6 using 2d6+2 ((1,3)).

I HATE MY DICE!!!

VWORPPPP!!!

"I think that's our cue," Goodwill said, unaware that the front door had possibly withstood the attack. He leaned down and dug his fingers into the metal of the loading dock door and yanked it upwards.

Goodwill rolled 7 using 2d6+3 ((2,2)).

Wow. The doors here were tough.

OOPS, Cosmic Girl's blast blows the front door open, but it also knocks the tall sign on a pole over... toward the gas station.

Also, the electric-because-it-lights-up-at-night sign is sparking a lot of electrical sparks.

Hope none of those sparks hits any stray pools of gasoline lying around near the pumps anytime soon...

---

Goodwill tore the garage door at the back of the place open, but a loud alarm is now going off from inside the building.

Inside the garage, there's nothing unusual-looking-- boxes, machines that look like different kinds of industrial-strength floor-buffers, a truck, stuff like that. Nothing super-science-y nor illegal-looking jumps out so far.

Hmm...nothing obviously sciency or nuclear. Lynx has a bad feeling about this. Quickly, she scanned the garage once more, just to be sure.

White Lynx rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 5,1.  Looking Before “Leaping” into a garage, Insightful.
--What should I be on the lookout for? (Or would this fall more under “what is the biggest danger?” I’m not sure)

There's something about this place...

But what? It's very hard for White Lynx to put her finger on.

Something about... the alarm itself...?

“I...don’t see anything here. I mean, nothing bad. Still, does that alarm sound...weird to you? What if...what if it’s not for us? Maybe it’s some sort of...overload or explosion warning?” Lynx paled. If that was the case, they had to find it, whatever it was. “We should find the alarm. As good a place to start as any. And...if we don’t come across anyone, maybe we should split up too? If something terrible is imminent, we might not have enough time to look everywhere as a pair.”

Running around the back, following Goodwill, Scraps ran into the place with everyone else ... his ears and nose and eyes open for whatever clues and excitement he might spot with his Enhanced Senses.
- rolled 10 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,5.  Insightful, for Looking while everyone else leaps.
Did I mention his Enhanced Senses?

There's a lot of oily smells in this place, but it takes more than that to fool Scraps the Wonder Dog. ...This time, anyway.

Scraps notices that the truck in the garage smells perfectly normal... but there's also a space under the truck. It smells oily and dirty. But it also smells interesting, in a my-human-friends-would-be-interested-in-this-down-here-if-only-they-knew-about-it way... It smells like an oily, dirty, grimy garage, but not JUST like an oily, dirty, grimy garage.

Also, that loud alarm coming from the bell ringing on the wall is really annoying to Scraps... but he can hear the same thing coming from down below, too. That probably means something!

It's a good thing Scraps the Wonder Dog was here to help!
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:26, Sat 08 Aug 2020.

"Oh, popsicles!" Cosmic Girl came very close to actually cussing. That was how bad this whole situation was! So she rocketed down in an attempt to catch, or at least divert, that sparking sign. Of course, fate had other ideas...

15:56, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 5 using 2d6+1 ((1,3)).

At least I am racking up the XP...

Cosmic Girl is temporarily blinded by the sparks sparking right into her face.

Is she doing it? Is she pushing the pole the right way? She can't tell...!

(Cosmic Girl gets 1 new xp but can't see anything until further notice... Maybe if White Lynx checked on her...?)

Scraps knew he couldn't get to the annoying loud thing* up here ... but maybe he could get at the annoying, ringing thing down in the ground, if he dug it out.

Wo with a whimper and a whine that comes so naturally to dogs when they are both excited and impatient, Scraps began trying to scratch and furrow his way down into the icky, sticky ground  ... his little spotty bum sticking out from under directly below the truck.

He knew that Goodwill was much stronger than he, and would probably be better at digging up this hard ground.
So he turned briefly, coming out from under the truck, to "Bark Bark" to Gil for help ... then scampered back under the truck to continue digging for the the toy down there.



* No Karen, I'm not talking about you.  Not everything is about you.

If Scraps was digging in the ground while all that noise was going off, he had a reason for it. That dog had a nose for trouble, bred over generations of firehouse dogs. Goodwill trusted it implicitly.

Goodwill shoved the truck out of the way, making sure not to disturb or harm his best buddy. Then he took to digging in the floor with Scraps.



(Roll forceful?)

“I’ll be back in a sec. Cosmos should know what’s up.”

And with that, White Lynx was gone.

Instantly, she was at the front of the building, skidding to a stop. Just as she began to open her mouth, she saw that things were not going that well. Further heading over to assist, she shouted up, “Hey Cosmos! It’s Lynx! I’m going to help push and guide you and so on, okay?”

Given scientific facts, her pushing from the ground wasn’t really going to do much good...but it should help slightly and having a pair of eyes to help figure out the right way to go would be invaluable.

White Lynx rolled 9 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 1,6.  Inspiring the Team (read: Cosmos) to push thing.

-No one got distracted or missed something important
This message was last edited by the player at 21:25, Sat 08 Aug 2020.

(Nah, no roll needed this time.)

Since the truck was still parked, Goodwill probably stripped some gears, at the very least, when he shoved it. But it worked-- the truck nearly tipped over on its side, but it didn't, and just barely managed not to go through the back fence of the area behind the garage.

Yeah, there was an oil pit down there for changing the oil on vehicles etc. This building may very likely have just been an auto shop once upon a time.

But if Scraps felt whatever was down there was important...

(Insightful roll, please... for Goodwill... and Scraps may do one, too, if Goodwill helps him down there...)

---

(Cosmic Girl may now try again to do something to make the pole safe. Her temporary blindness will be offset by White Lynx guiding her, so there will be no extra penalty.

If White Lynx rolls to help do this in some way, too, you each get +1... but that's also twice the chance one of your two rolls might come out badly, too...)

Goodwill rolls a 6 (modifier corrected).


He wasn't sure what Scraps was digging for but he trusted that dog with his life. So Goodwill opened up the service pit.

Goodwill climbs down into the service pit, sees nothing unusual nor helpful.

That alarm is getting really annoying. (Goodwill gets a -1 on his next roll, but he gets 1 new xp.)

Well, maybe Scraps can help figure out what's important down here. Goodwill helps Scraps down with him into the service pit...

(Waiting for a new Scraps Insightful roll...)

Lynx stole a glance up at the sparking sign. That was going to be an issue, even when it got pushed away. If that got into the gasoline, bad things would happen. If she redirected the energy into some of the gas station’s equipment, they could potentially overload. Maybe...maybe she could use herself as a sponge to soak up the energy? She didn’t know how well it would work, but she could control electricity now and that seemed like a logical consequence. Still, all that excess energy probably wouldn’t be great for her, so she’d have to back off and release it elsewhere. Still, it was worth a shot.

“I’m going to try and absorb the electricity, Cosmos! Don’t worry and keep pushing!”

Carefully...

White Lynx rolled 4 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 1,1.  Redirecting energy and absorbing it with Confidence because superpowers.

Oh no, too much too much!
This message was lightly edited by the player at 06:03, Mon 10 Aug 2020.

Scraps waited impatiently as Goodwill stripped the grating back to open up the service pit.
And he jumped down into said pit alongside Gil.

But the oils, the grease, and the lubricants!  All those noxious, overpowering scents were really beginning to overwhelm Scraps' nose.  And here in this semi-confined space, the aboveground alarm was reverberating and echoing .... Scraps wasn't enjoying being in here.

But he had to focus.  Had to try to find that annoying toy under the ground, so that he could bite it and shake it and break it.
- rolled 6 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,1.  Enhanced Senses.
      +1 if I am getting any appreciable help from Goodwill

(No no, I just meant Scraps could roll if Goodwill helped him down into the pit in the first place.)

Uh-oh, too oily and greasy down here. Scraps can't smell a thing. He sneezes.

(Scraps gets +1 xp, and -1 on his next roll.)

That alarm bell is getting really annoying.

Goodwill sunk his fingers into the hardened concrete at the bottom of the service pit and began to dig it up. Scraps had detected something down there, and Goodwill wanted to know what it was. It seemed like a good place to hide a secret passageway, he thought. Maybe that was why they weren't seeing anything out of the ordinary on the ground level.

(Hm. Because of what you're doing, I will allow you a new Insightful roll.

Scraps, because of your Enhanced Senses, I will also allow you a new Insightful roll.

The extra -1 penalty you each just got will apply, though, of course.)

"I'm blind!" Cosmic Girl sounded rather alarmed by this. But, true heroism never gives up at the first little setback! So, with a mighty HEAVE!!! she turned and tossed the sign in the opposite direction. She was pretty sure of her aim, and that the area was clear. She had to get it away from the gasoline. For once, she was desperate to not make something explode!

OOC:

16:08, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 12 using 2d6+2 ((4,6)).

YAY!!! Finally, a decent result! So, let's say: avoids retaliation (signs are vindictive!) and all bystanders are kept from harm!

The pole snaps off at the base. Wires snap, too, and circuits (not electronic circuits, but paths of electricity) are broken. The pole stops sparking, and the base doesn't either. A good electrician should deal with it (later), but for now, it's not a problem.

The problem is now White Lynx. She's way overloaded with electricity-- she's dangerous!

(White Lynx, you need to deal with the energy overload right away.
--If you do it by attempting to run somewhere else and discharging the energy safely (you know, away from any gas stations), roll Agile.
--If you try to do it purely by using your electrical powers, roll Confident.
--If you try to think of some other genius way of dealing with it, roll Insightful.

However, you have -1 on this roll... although you do have one new XP.)

Backing up in shock, Lynx screwed her eyes shut. There was just way way way too much energy! Had Diana been able to do this? Did these humans have a higher pain tolerance or something? Gods!

She’d thought running away would’ve been better, but in order to use her speed with sparking everywhere, she’d have to be under control already! So all that was left to do was struggle to get it under control.

White Lynx rolled 5 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,2.  Using powers to control the personal overload. Confident with a -1.

Goodwill rolled 5 using 2d6-2 ((4,3)).

Whatever he was digging for, he was doing it blindly. Hopefully it wasn't a booby-trap.

White Lynx struggles to control the energy...

...She fails.

(White Lynx takes 2 stress, but at least the threat is nullified now.

Describe how you managed to do this without
1. blowing up the gas station next door
2. causing a power blackout for all of Staten Island
3. running anywhere.)

---

(I'm waiting for Scraps' roll...)

Continuing to back up, Lynx ran through her options. There was simply too much energy and she couldn’t release it. There was a gas station right there and she could hardly aim it into the sky. It would be impossible to guarantee that the bolts wouldn’t hit anything, not to mention how many sparks were liable to hit the station. She’d never experienced this much electricity before. So that left her body. Maybe, just maybe, she could store it someplace inside of her?

Another blind step back. It had to be something that could handle a lot of energy, like a large body part or her brain or the shapeshifting gland. The gland seemed like a nice option. After all, it was capable of managing the warm and enveloping energy of a phylactery...but...if all this electricity in one place did it’s worst...the gland was liable to be destroyed. No, she couldn’t do that. That would mean giving up any hope of being in her body, or any body beyond this one, forever. That was not a risk she could take.

Yet another step. Her brain? Yeah, right, like that would be any better than her gland. Maybe a leg? Considering that her super speed depended upon her energy getting focused in her legs, they were probably best suited to storing that energy? But the potential cost would still be severe. If she couldn’t manage the energy properly, she could maybe lose a leg. Certainly curable if she got a new phylactery, but that was hardly going to happen any time soon. Perhaps an arm? She could live witho-

Step. Whump.

Suddenly, Lynx found herself flat on her backside against the outer wall of Doctor Norwood’s building. Eyes wide, she lost all concentration and the electricity raged inside of her. With a blood-curdling and almost inhuman screech, burns surfaced across the heroine’s skin as she convulsed. Her inner left arm popped open, red blood spilling out and sparking on the ground, just far enough away to avoid any unwanted explosions.

Soon after, the energy subsided, having dissipated throughout the living battery. Slumping against the wall, Ch’rava found herself unable to move a muscle in the borrowed body. Finally, her eyelids dropped and she fell into unconsciousness. Miraculously, what looked almost like a corpse still breathed, only slowly.

Scraps was becoming almost manic and panicky.  All this overstimulation; and the apparent need to find whatever was below was belong almost obsessive.

Being just a mortal pup, his claws, of course, couldn't dig through the concrete here ... but he was whining and whimpering madly as he tried.


- rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 3,5.  Followup Insight  with the penalty

Scraps notices that there's a different smell over to the left side. Gil is tearing up the wrong spot... but the way he's tearing it up has torn away some of the oily smell.

Scraps is driven to bark at the middle of the bottom of the south wall of the automotive pit.

(Meanwhile, Goodwill gets 1 xp, but a -2 on his next non-Forceful roll.)

Cosmic Girl landed and rubbed at her eyes. How long would it take to clear? Was this permanent? That would be inconvenient to say the least!

And what happened to her fellows? "Lynx?" She said, urgently. "Are you there?"

Had White Lynx rushed off to do more deeds? Or something worse? Being unable to see was really frustrating!

Goodwill turns and focuses his attention on the spot where Scraps is barking. He digs quickly, but carefully.

Cosmic Girl's vision begins to clear... Things are kinda blurry, yet, but... there's the sign pole... there's the gas station over there... there's the building she blasted the front of...

Ooh, and that slumped-down figure in white must be White Lynx...

---

Goodwill tears up the area that Scraps is excited about...

...Yeah, okay, it's a metal door. There must be some trigger to open it that Goodwill and Scraps didn't find... But this is it-- this must surely lead to the mad-science stuff...

Cosmic Girl felt relief that her eyes were clearing, and then almost wished they had not done so, when she saw her friend clearly badly injured. She immediately vworped down to check on Lynx. But while she was very good at blowing people up, she had no real skill at dealing with someone who had been on the receiving end of that experience. She checked for a pulse, at least, and gave a very small cosmic zap - little more than a sharp nudge - in the hope it might bring White Lynx back to the waking world. Yes, their mission was important, but she was constitutionally incapable of leaving a friend and ally down and unprotected!

Another jolt, but it felt different. Less overwhelming too. Slowly, Ch’rava came to, eyes blinking open with a vague emptiness. The leftover pain woke her the rest of the way up. Her blasted arm was all she could feel. Rolling over, the agent cradled the tenderized appendage, consumed.

“skrintskrintskrintskrintskrint!”

After a few moments more, the sensation in her arm began to plateau and even subside a little, allowing her the awareness and concentration to feel the rest of her body and get a sense of her surroundings. Beyond the arm, Ch’rava just felt numb and tingly all over. That was probably not good, but she could deal with that. Testing her limbs, she found that she was able to push herself up with a combination of leaning forward and pressing her right arm down. Looking up in front of her, she saw Cosmic...

Girl?

Losing her balance, Lynx fell back down against the building. That was right, she was on Earth, playing hero. What a thing to forget. They were on a mission to maybe stop bad nuclear crap from happening, so she had to get up. There was something in the back of the building they had to go deal with or something. She wasn’t sure what, but it was probably bad. Rubbing her head, she looked down at herself. Still Diana, still in costume. Both covers were safe. She was slightly disappointed that such an overload hadn’t allowed her to return to her real body, but that probably would’ve been a very bad idea. Hopefully she hasn’t said...anything...incriminating...

That wasn’t English she’d been speaking before. That...made things difficult. Maybe she could pass it off as some other human language? Maybe Cosmos would just ignore it.

Picking herself all the way back up, Lynx stuck her good hand out against the wall to rest for another moment. “Thanks-s-s, Cos-s-smos-s. I’m st-till feeling jitt-t-tery, but I think I’m doing okay. Just-t this arm should probab-bly get checked out.” Slowly, Lynx managed to keep herself from tripping over her words. “A little light-headed though.”

Goodwill sunk his fingers into the metal of the door and pulled. If he'd been thinking a bit more clearly, he might have asked Scraps to check for booby-traps, but that infernal bell was driving him nuts.


Goodwill rolled 8 using 2d6+3 ((2,3)).

There is a mild zap as Goodwill rips the metal door out of his frame, but he's tough enough that it doesn't bother him.

The now-ripped-open stairway leads to a stairwell leading down...

There's an alarm bell ringing down there, too... (Not sure if Gil can hear it yet, but Scraps can...)

Proceeding slowly, Goodwill heads down the stairs.



[OOC: Sorry for the one-liner, but I otherwise got nothin'.]

Goodwill comes out into a dimly-lit room, about 30 foot square, with signs of having been evacuated recently.

The light sources, in fact, are from glowy liquids in beakers and bottles and jars of different colors.

There's enough light for Gil to spot a bank of four switches on the wall near the door that look like light switches...

Not being that stupid, Goodwill wasn't about to throw all four switches. He couldn't imagine that many would be required for the lights in a room that size. Even if one of them was for the door, three switches still felt like one of them ought to be labeled 'booby trap'. He examined the switches to see if any of them showed signs of being used more than the others. That would probably be the lights.


Rolling Insightful at a -2 penalty... ought to be fun.
Goodwill rolled 0 using 2d6-3 ((1,2)).

Yep. Fun.

"Scraps...?" he asked the Dog Wonder, his hand hovering over one of the switches. "What do you think?"

(Goodwill gets 1 new xp. I'll decide how the immediate future is problematic soon.)

Scrape had, of course, followed Goodwill down into the basement.

But unlike the human hero, who was looking for extra light, Scraps was looking immediately for scents.
His vision was good in this glowing-beaker lit room, after all.
But his first instinct, as a good firepup, was to seek out anyone who was in the area ... and so his Enhanced Nose went to work.
- rolled 9 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 5,3.  Insightful.

Cosmic Girl looked at the devastation she had wrought - unintentionally. "Are you sure you'll be all right to go ahead? I can take you back to safety if you wish. And... well, we were hoping I would cause a distraction. I think I have done that. Should we go and help Goodwill and Scraps? I worry about them."

Even if Goodwill was able to come back to life, she did not want to see him get killed - again. Their foe was clearly both capable of killing a hero, and more than happy to do so. A degree of caution and teamwork was essential.

Most of the numbness and tingling started to fade, and Lynx’s balance began to return to her. Pushing off from the wall, the heroine wobbled for a moment before finding her footing and planting her feet on the ground. “Thanks, but no. I’m...I’m good. Definitely going to get some rest and see a doctor after all this, but for now, I agree. Goodwill and Scraps need our help. I...I actually came over here because I thought that there might’ve been some sort of imminent dangerous overload or explosion or something. The alarms sounded weird. I don’t know. Let’s head in.”

There's something bad behind a big shelf of chemicals! Something that deserves a BITE! Except that it might have a very bad taste, from the smell of it! Scraps barks at the big piece of shelves standing against the wall... Maybe there's some way in there, just like there was up above...

Goodwill's hand hovered over the switch he'd selected when Scraps barked at a bank of shelves up against the wall. Given where they'd found the entrance to the lab in the first place, Goodwill's mind immediately went to 'secret door' as a possibility.

He dropped his hand. Better to trust Scraps' nose than his own wild guess. And while one of the switches might control the supposed secret door, there was still a chance that one or more triggered a booby trap. And besides, why would a hidden door have an obvious switch? It would have a hidden switch, right?

Leaving the wall switches behind, Goodwill went to examine the shelves.

Goodwill rolled 5 using 2d6-1 ((3,3)).

...and found nothing.

---

With this failure, Goodwill levels up again!

(Goodwill gets 1 new XP, and the Bad Thing Coming increases...

Leveling up will have to wait until the end of the chapter, though...)

Gil sees nothing special about the shelves, nor the stuff on the shelves (there's not that much, just a few random beakers and bottles, some with liquids or powders or whatever, some empty) nor the wall behind it....

Scraps, as always, helped Goodwill look around the shelves.
He knew that something Bad was coming, and was ready to run for cover if/when it emerged.
But till then, he was now sniffing around trying to better identify what it was, and how to help his human get to it.
- rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 5,2.  with Enhanced Senses of the Wonderpup.

Cosmic Girl nodded to White Lynx. It was time to form up. After the noise outside, blowing the front of the building off seemed a little superfluous. She set off to circle to the back of the building. On foot. Flying around was impressive, but far from stealthy, and she did not want to alert anyone that Goodwill was going to have reinforcements.

There was a strong scent of human-- that odd human at the park with the fountain, the man who got away-- over at the light switches. But Scraps wasn't sure which one would be best to flip so that Gil could get at the Badness behind the shelf...

Goodwill wasn't sure that one of the switches on the wall would open the secret door (if there really was one), but he was sure that flipping switches in a Mad Scientist's lair was a bad idea. His best up-close analysis of the switches showed that they were switches. He couldn't figure out of one was used more or less than any of the others, and felt that he was guaranteed to screw something up if he flipped one. Dr. Norwood had already killed him once. He wasn't going to get a second chance.

That said, how many other choices did Goodwill have? What else was there to do?

He decided to do what he did best. When in doubt, right? And what he did best was move heavy objects and break things.

Trying to be careful not to spill anything, Goodwill worked to move the case of shelves aside, so he could get at the wall itself.

Quickly and quietly, Lynx made her way back around to the back of the building and inside. Ideally, Goodwill would have gone down to check out where the other siren was coming from, and...it looked like he and Scraps did. Cautiously, she began to make her way downstairs, searching for the two as well as anything sinister.

Doing this didn't set off any new traps-- nothing bad happened... so far so good...

---

As the stairs are descended, Goodwill is found, moving a large section of shelving. Probably has something to do with how that section of wall obviously makes Scraps tense. (Logically, Scraps was probably how the two of them found their way down here in the first place...)
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:26, Sat 29 Aug 2020.

Cosmic Girl followed White Lynx, keeping her eyes and ears open. It had been a rough day. She was going to do all she could not to cause any more catastrophies. Still, now they were back together, they might get this done without any more cosmic created craziness!

Now that they were here, Lynx could just rest for a little bit longer, stopping and holding her arm. Giving the numb limb a light massage would hopefully both help it improve and get more feeling back into it. Looking back up, she stepped toward Goodwill.

“What’s the situation? Found anything yet? Beyond a heavy shelf of chemicals, I mean.”

"Scraps is antsy about something over here," Goodwill said, indicating the wall. It looked like any other stretch of wall in the room. "So I figured I'd bust open the wall and see what's going on behind it."

Obviously happy that Goodwill was focusing on that nasty bit of wall, Scraps began sniffing around for any other clues and hints that might be around ... being the curious kind of pup he is.
- rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,4.  more ‘Look’n before Leapin’.

When Lynx and Cosmos arrived, however, Scraps too a moment away from his investigations to bound over for a pay and a lick.

“Oh, uh, is that the only option? I mean, time is of the essence, but if we just knock it down, that might set off whatever’s on the other side.” Lynx took a look over the room. “Do you know if there’re any secret switches on that shelf, or if these ones over here might work open that door?”

Seeing the approaching pup, Lynx carefully bent forward to give her comrade a pat on the head, scratching behind the ears. “Apologies, Scraps the Wonder Dog. I’m a little beat at the moment. I’ve had a shocking day.”

"There's just that bank of switches over there, as far as I can tell," Goodwill pointed to the row of innocuous light switches on the wall by the door, which Lynx had already seen for herself. "I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary about them, but I'm a little worried about hitting the wrong switch and blowing up the entire block. So I haven't touched them.

"If there was a hidden switch over here, though," he waved, indicating the case of shelves "I haven't seen one."

Cosmic Girl studied the switches, and scratched her head. "This sort of thing is beyond me, I am afraid. Still, I could take a look, or hunt for something hidden. But if Goodwill cannot find one, I am not sure I stand much chance. That said, if you want the wall removing, that is far more in my price range, so to speak!"

She had caused chaos and property damage already. What did one more wall matter, one way or another?

"Ah, why waste the energy, when a punch will do just as well?" Goodwill asked. He didn't know if Cosmic Girl had a limit to how many times she could blast. He didn't know if she knew. But punching was free. Also, it had to be safer. Punch the wrong spot and he's put an extra hole in the wall. If Cosmic Girl blasted the wrong spot, she'd probably bring down half the ceiling and set fire to the lab. Her power was just that destructive. "Besides, I've literally been wanting to punch something for my whole life."

It was a skewed perspective, sure. But Goodwill had been thinking about what he might do to Doctor Norwood since he'd come back from the grave. He wasn't the sort to inflict injury, much less kill a man... but breaking his stuff was something he could do in spades.

With that thought, he turned and punched the wall where the case of shelves had been.


Goodwill rolled 9 using 2d6+3 ((1,5)).
--Avoid collateral damage

"Makes sense to me!" Cosmic Girl gave a wry smile. Even the best people needed to let off a little frustration now and then. Still, she wanted to be prepared, so stepped back, and raised her hands, holding two balls of cosmic fire. If something bad came out of that room behind the wall, she wanted to have the drop on it, just for a change.

Scraps didn't really discover anything that he wasn't already vaguely aware of with his additional sniffings-- that there was something bad behind the wall, maybe more than one bad thing, that it (or they?) knew Gil and his friends were on this side of the wall, that it (they?) wanted to get at them... Scraps'd had a pretty good idea of that already. He went to say hi to the electric girl. She she smelled strange, but she seemed nice.

When Gil punched the wall, though, Scraps got excited again! Now there'd be action!

And there was. A...

Wow, what was that thing?

https://64.media.tumblr.com/91...G1a1r8l7mno1_500.png

It was like a wolf with giant claws and head and maw, but made of old tires. And wrapped in an oil slick. But scarier than that description sounded.

It leapt at Gil right away, since he was closest to the hole in the wall.

Now Gil would probably punch it! Good! Scraps barked at the bad thing.

(Goodwill, roll Agile to try to avoid having this Bad Thing do bad things to you. If you roll 10 or better, you can go ahead and do whatever you want next. If lower than 10, wait for me.)

Goodwill rolled 2 using 2d6 ((1,1)).

Surprised as he was, Goodwill fell on his ass.

(Goodwill gets 1 point of xp.

14:17, Today: The Grandmaster rolled 6 using 2d6+1 ((1,4)).)

The monster chomped right where Goodwill had been half-a-second before. Thank heaven, they'd both had bad luck.

Two more of the Bad Things entered the room, snarling... They crouched right before leaping to attack...

"Holy cow!" Goodwill shouted as the thing's teeth clamped shut on the space where he'd been only a moment earlier. Those teeth! What were these things? And what sort of diseased mind could come up with such a thing in the first place?

Snarling himself, Goodwill drew his knees up and kicked out with both feet, looking to drive the lead creature back towards the others.

Goodwill rolled 14 using 2d6+3 ((6,5)).
--Hit hard
--avoid retaliation

"Blast them!" he ordered. "Uh, please."

"Well, now, you only have to ask once!" Cosmic Girl willingly unleashed both barrels of cosmic fire at the creatures, inwardly praying that they had not been enhanced with some sort of awful resistance to her attacks, like they had experienced with the monster at the fountain. If she hit them and they grew stronger as a result, it would be the crowning shame on an already less than laudable performance this day...



22:34, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 6 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 2,2.  Blast those Bad Things!!!

It's official. I am cursed...

Immediately the threat was upon them, Scraps burst into action to protect his human/s.
These creatures were big and scary, for sure, but the Wonderpup HAD to keep at least some of them away from Goodwill and the Hero Ladies.

He began barking and growling and snarling and carrying on in a way he'd hoped would draw the evil things' attention to himself.
- rolled 8 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 2,3.  Hold 'em off.
-- You draw them away from people you choose

With a slight groan, White Lynx dropped her bad arm and raised her right. "Roger that, Goodwill. Here's hoping I won't be the only one getting electrocuted today!" With a crackling burst, a bolt of electricity zipped away...

White Lynx rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,3.  It's Clobbering Time, against weird dog things. Forceful.

--You hit hard (+1 Stun)

Careening directly into one of the weird dog things.

POW! Goodwill hits the thing hard! He almost knocks it back through the hole it came out of!



Cosmic Girl's blast barely grazed the Bad Thing's head. It didn't seem hurt at all, just mad.

(13:46, Today: The Grandmaster rolled 5 using 2d6+1 ((2,2)).)


On the other hand, at least her shot had made it miss biting her. This was apparently going to be a day of all highs and lows for the (as-yet unnamed) team of heroes, with no middles...

---

Meanwhile, Scraps drew the Bad Thing away from poor Cosmic Girl...

...But toward himself.

(GM rolls dice)

The Bad Thing attacked Scraps... Ow!

(Scraps takes 2 stress.)

---

THUD! White Lynx slams into the third of the Bad Things! She really seemed to hurt it!

...But not so badly that it didn't counterattack...

(13:54, Today: The Grandmaster rolled 3 using 2d6+1 ((1,1)).)

SNAP! Its jaws close on nothing, as White Lynx manages to get out of the way of its slavering maw...

With the Bad Thing's attention on him, Scraps began to back away ... barking and growling as he maintained eye contact, in that way that drew the predator away with him.
He knew, as always, all he needed to do was keep this one busy until his humans finished off the others ... then they would be right here to save him from this monstrosity.

- rolled 11 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 3,5.  Hold 'em off.
--They can’t act as effectively (-1 Stun ongoing until your actions are countered)
--They can’t attack anyone they weren’t already attacking

"Hey!" Goodwill shouted at the critter that attacked Scraps. He jumped across the room and smashed into it with his full strength. "Lay off the dog!"

Maybe when Scraps got older, he'd be able to bite back, but for now the pup was far from combat-ready.


Goodwill rolled 14 using 2d6+3 ((5,6)).
--Hit Hard
--Avoid retaliation

“Close one there! Let’s see if you can take another!”

For a moment, Lynx shifted her torso, hefting her left arm forward, before a spark of pain froze it in place. In a moment of quick thinking and blind adrenaline, the heroine swept a charged up leg to slam the dog-thing in the stomach.

White Lynx rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,6.  It’s still Clobbering Time! Only now my arm hurts. Fortitude.
--You hit hard (+1 Stun)

Hey, that weird dog thing tried to BITE her? That was ridiculous, Cosmos was usually so friendly with animals! Well, that was it! Today was the very living end, and she had definitely had enough of the monsters that Doctor ExceptionallyBadMan kept devising.

So she pulled out her big guns. No, nothing lewd! Tsk, do not even think it! No, she let rip at close range with an eye-beam, designed to vwoorrpp!!! the rancid pooch far, far away!


OOC:

11:11, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 6 using 2d6+2 ((3,1)).

For the sake of all that is holy, GAH!!!!!

(GM rolls dice for disadvantaged Bad Thing...

...oops.)

The Bad Thing snarls at Scraps, and attacks. Ow. (Scraps takes 2 new stress.)

---

The Bad Thing bothering Scraps takes damage that would destroy a less-tough being-- so much, the Bad Thing in question is stunned for a second, and does not immediately counterattack.

---

The Bad Thing is quite hurt. It counterattacks, but with more difficulty than before...

(GM rolls dice)

CHOMP. (White Lynx takes 1 new stress.) Ow.

---

The Bad Thing does a sort of sudden duck/sidestep, successfully dodging Cosmic Girl's blast.

BITE.

Oww, her leg! (Good thing she can fly, because owww!)

(Cosmic Girl gets 1 new xp, and takes 2 new stress.)

---

(Summary so far:

Two Bad Things have been hurt hard-- the third (I think White Lynx's? Right?) has been hurt Extra Hard.)

The Bad Thing was almost down, but couldn't be counted out just yet. Goodwill grabbed for it and pivoted, intent on throwing the one he'd been fighting in the direction of the other two. He'd always been a fan of killing two birds with one stone.

These things weren't birds, but what the hey?


Goodwill rolled 6 using 2d6+2 ((3,1)).

(Crap. I would have had a success if it was a single target.)

(Goodwill gets 1 new xp...

GM rolls dice...)

BITE. Ow! That hurt!

(Goodwill takes 1 new stress.)

Goodwill starts to feel... strange... He feels hot... but chilled at the same time... The blood rushes to his head, and he starts to hear his own pulse pounding in his ears... He feels hungry... and angry...

It's not affecting his combat so far, but he begins to grasp that there's something wrong with him...

OUCH!

Oh, that was the pits! She was getting really quite cross now! Cosmic Girl threw her hands out, and hurled fizzing cosmic blasts, even as her eye beams did their thing once again! She could see her friends were getting gnawed on, just as she was, and she wanted to do what she could to give them all a little help!

OOC:

20:10, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 7 using 2d6+2 ((2,3)).

FINALLY a hit! Using AREA OF EFFECT power to hit each target, Clobberin' Time effect: +1 stun!

Take that, you pesky pooches!

Arm stinging and still feeling the odd creation's bite, Lynx stepped back away from the dog-things and the blast hitting them. "Alright! Great job, Cosmos! They're on the ropes. Focus fire on the survivors and don't let up! Keep those punches coming, Goodwill! Stay safe and don't let up on your barking or biting, Scraps! We've got this."

White Lynx rolled 10 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 2,6.  Inspire the Team, to finish the fight. Confident.
--No one got distracted and missed something important
--Everyone else on your team takes +1 Forward

Cosmic Girl gets mad-- really mad.

BZORRRCHHHH...

The Bad Things all get hit hard.

The one that was throwing down with White Lynx collapses into an icky blob of foul-smelling yuck. But at least it's not moving.

The other two are hurt badly, but are still capable of fighting. The one nearest Cosmic Girl counterattacks her:

(10:19, Today: The Grandmaster rolled 4 using 2d6 ((2,2)).)

It chomps at her, but she flies out of reach at the last second.

She snarls at it, a guttural sort of screech.

...Did that noise come out of her?

Her heart pounds, and she feels hot, almost feverish... But she's in control for now...

It was just a little too much to hope for that Cosmic Girl's wide-angle blast would take them all out, Goodwill supposed. But at least she actually hit them all (for a change). It wasn't the most charitable thought, but he was feeling strangely angry. Best to put that anger to good use, he supposed, as he turned and attacked the nearer of the two remaining critters.

Goodwill rolled 7 using 2d6+3 ((1,3)).
--Hit hard

Goodwill puts down the second of the remaining Bad Things, turning it, like the other defeated one, into a Bad Inert Blob.

The remaining one leaps at him, though...

(GM rolls dice)

Ow. (Goodwill takes 1 new stress.)

In addition to the odd sensations he was already having, Goodwill feels a sort of itchy feeling all over-- including in his mouth and throat. This probably isn't good...

Cosmic Girl got REALLY upset, and raged against... well, everything generally, but the remaining monster in particular. So she shot out an especially searing bolt of cosmic fire from her eyes!

OOC:

18:11, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 14 using 2d6+3 ((5,6)).

WOW!!!

Clobberin' Time:

Hits hard for +1 stun

Avoids collateral damage. For a change.

The final Bad Thing is destroyed. It feels good to be so destructive... very good...

...But, for now, Cosmic Girl is able to calm herself down, since the immediate threat of the Bad Things has ended.

Well, she's mostly able to calm herself down. Her heart's still racing fast. But that's just to be expected, after such a scary battle, right?

...Right...?

The alarm bells are still going off... overhead, and in the room the heroes are in... and one can also be heard in the area beyond, through the hole in the wall that the Bad Things emerged from...
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:20, Sat 05 Sept 2020.

It was dark behind the hole in the wall, but Goodwill glowed when he used his powers. Instead of walking through the opening, he lifted off the ground and flew through, carefully.

It was taking all his strength not to scratch at his skin, his throat, his eyes. Something was happening to him. He felt like he was having a Lon Chaney Jr. moment. Those creatures had poisoned him with something, and it was getting worse. He felt angry, so angry.

So very, very angry.

The last room had looked like a chemistry lab that someone had mostly moved out of, but not finished.

This new area is much larger-- it's about 100 feet square-- and the ceilings are high, too, a good 15 feet high, because there's a ramp that leads down to the floor from the hole Goodwill enters. (There's also one light switch, by the hole at the top of the ramp.)

This new area looks like a mad science lab that someone has only halfway moved out of. Various equipment is still around, and there are many books and papers lying around on counters, shelves, and desks, too.

Cosmic Girl followed Goodwill immediately, and once in the room that resembled a lab, she whirled around rapidly, wired on adrenaline - and maybe more. When she saw the alarm box, still making that incessant and highly intrusive noise, she shot another blast out of her eyes, doing her level best to melt the darned thing to make it shut the hell up!

And why weren't there more monsters? She was just in the mood to burn some more things to the ground!

The bell stops ringing.

Forever.

In fact, the other bells stop ringing, too-- she must have overloaded the alarm system.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:47, Sat 05 Sept 2020.

Following along behind the two fliers, Lynx looked around cautiously, waiting for something to jump them. It had been misfortune after misfortune up ‘till now, but maybe things were looking up. If three weird guard dogs were all Dr. Norwood had protecting his base, then they would have an easy time looking around the place.

Yeah, there had to be something more. That man brought at least four just-add-water soldiers that could absorb superpowers. There was something else to this whole deal, she just had to puzzle it out. But either it wasn’t plainly visible or the pain in her arm was distracting her more than she thought. Briefly, she switched gears and focused on the arm a little bit more. She’d almost used it in that last battle and that gave the weird thing a chance to bite her. Should she tie it behind her back? But while it wouldn’t get in the way anymore, it would probably wreck her balance or up the pain she was already feeling. Maybe she co-

“Yah!”

Startled by Cosmic Girl’s eye blast, Lynx ducked over to the left, losing her balance and landing on her side. Clutching the stinging appendage, Lynx muttered various obscenities as she picked herself up.

“Sorry about that, Cosmos. You just kind of surprised me there with that. Uh, thanks for getting rid of the alarm though. Those make me rather paranoid.”

Ch’rava wasn’t really a fan of alarms, especially when there wasn’t an obvious danger. Sure, in a building, it could mean someone was trying to steal something or that you were in grave danger, but you could still leave. In a ship though, your fate was at the mercy of that danger. If there were a fire or an overload or there was someone attacking the ship, it might just go down. And in space, abandoning ship was never a good option. Up there, an alarm meant you would be lucky if someone found your body. She still remembered the deafening ring as she plummeted toward this little blue planet.

Shivering, she decided to try and put that behind her and actually take a look around the lab, catching a look at her fellow heroes. They seemed...off...

“Hey, are you two feeling alright? You look very...upset.”

"It's the bites," Goodwill replied, speaking both of himself and Cosmic Girl. His own was burning, and he was invulnerable. He couldn't imagine what it was like for Cosmic Girl, but he supposed it was much worse. He was itching and trying very hard not to peel his own skin off in large strips. "Those things did something."

And yeah, he was seething with a barely suppressed rage. He was angry at himself for screwing up a fancy maneuver when a simple one would have sufficed. He was angry at Cosmic Girl for having lousy aim. He was angry at White Lynx for not being bitten.

And he was so angry at Doctor Norwood, it was a good thing the man wasn't actually there. Because Goodwill might not be able to restrain himself from murder right about now.

"Look around for something that might be an antidote," he said, feeling stupid at even suggesting such a thing. "I don't know. Look for anything useful."

“Ah,” Lynx spoke flatly, “The...bites.” Suddenly very aware of the bite mark on her leg, Lynx began walking over to the more sciencey-looking tables, careful to hide the mark from view. “Don’t worry, friends. I’ll take a look. There’s...gotta be something around here. I’m not going to let this get worse.”

Carefully, Lynx began to scan the tables and shelves, searching for something, anything that might help. She wasn’t entirely sure what was happening to the two of them, but maybe she could figure something out. She felt rather scared about how long they had left before her comrades got...worse. But if she didn’t look carefully, she’d have wasted time. Besides, if anything jumped them beforehand, the aggressive people would take care of it. Probably.

White Lynx rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,5.  Figure Things* Out. * A cure. Insightful.
--How can I protect other people? (I think this one works best for what I want to look for? Looking for something to help friends.)

"I hate those things!" Cosmos replied, and then took several deep breaths, trying to keep her cool. The bites had infected them? Well, that was inconvenient! Technically, her energy was a form of cosmic radiation, which could probably zap away germs and the like, but it might also kill everyone in the room if she tried it. So that plan was a non-starter.

SO, there she was, hunting in cupboards and the like, looking for a nice big bottle marked "Mutant Dog Monster Drool Antidote."

This was not her forté.

OOC:

Figure things out: 12:13, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 6 using 2d6-1 ((2,5)).

This is not a surprise. Cosmos is powerful. But not especially bright!

White Lynx finds a large journal that's filled with scientific notes of experiments that seems promising... One page reads IF BITTEN, DO THIS.

If bitten, it will get hard to think, says the handwritten notes. So these instructions are simple.

It says to mix certain liquids with one another in a certain order, and then drink (and that three tablespoons' worth should be enough) right away (the antidote apparently loses its efficacy fast, which is why there's not a bottle of it already made up just sitting around in case of emergency).

White Lynx finds the bottle of red stuff right where the instructions say it's supposed to be (and it's been very helpfully labeled THE RED STUFF), and the bottle of yellow stuff, and the jar of green stuff (each appropriately labeled)...

But...

The bottle of blue stuff doesn't seem to be where it's supposed to be.

Could Norwood have taken it with him when he abandoned this place?

Or did it just get misplaced when he took some of his stuff with him...?

White Lynx feels her heart starting to race... she feels just a little panicky... Are the bites starting to affect her, too, or is this normal panic?



Meanwhile, Cosmic Girl is getting even more frustrated. She and her friends need that missing ingredient! Where is it?

The others notice that Cosmic Girl's eyes are starting to glow red...

Is she on the verge of losing her powers?

Or are her eyes just going to glow like this all the time now...? (Are ALL their eyes going to start glowing...?)

(Cosmic Girl gets 1 new xp, but her eyes are glowing red and she can't make them stop.)

“Okay, alright, okay, alright, okay, alright, blue stuff, blue stuff. It’s either here, somewhere upstairs, or with Dr. Norwood. If you three think you’re alright enough to look around in here, I’m going to see if there’s any indication as to where our good doctor friend went. Look around a little bit more in here, but if it’s just not here, take a look upstairs. And stay together. None of you should be alone with your thoughts right now. This is all going to turn out alright and things aren’t going to go bad or worse or whatever.” Of course, she was planning on going it alone, but she had to. No one else had super speed. She could look around faster and then get to Dr. Norwood as soon as possible.

White Lynx rolled 13 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 5,6.  Inspire the Team to cool off and chill and stop panicking I’m not panicking you are. Confident.
--No one got distracted and missed something important
--Everyone else on your team takes +1 Forward

Then she got to work. Maybe there was some other note around here or upstairs or something. A horrifying thought occurred to her that maybe he had actually lost it in here, maybe even dropped and broke it. Perhaps the note was easy to find because he had already gotten it out. Maybe it would turn her friends and maybe her into those things and maybe one of the ones they fought was Norwood and maybe it was too late and they should be looking into how to recreate the blue stuff, whatever it was. Whatever. She needed to look.

White Lynx rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 6,1.  Figure Things Out, again, but this time to look for Norwood. Insightful.
--What haven’t they taken account of? (This seems like clues to someone’s whereabouts would fall under it? I dunno.)

Scraps had, of course, followed the team into this second underground room.

And as he always did, he immediately began sniffing around with his Enhanced Senses to find anything of interest ...
- rolled 11 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 3,5.  Figure things out
Which includes the 2x +1 forwards from Lynx in msg218 and 233.
--What pieces of the plan am I missing?
--How can I protect other people?
--What haven’t they taken account of?  (If the GM/Editor can’t answer this you are allowed to make anything up you like)

He could smell that something bad was going on with them ... even without getting close enough to smell their bottoms.  They were all suddenly becoming very sick, and that bothered the pup immensely.
And so he was determined to find something to help them out.

As super-speedy woman seemed most distressed about something (a vial) NOT being on a shelf next to some other ones, he immediately focused on trying to follow any scent trail from that location ... to wherever the 'missing thing' had gone.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:24, Mon 07 Sept 2020.

Looking around furiously, Goodwill begins rifling through all remaining notes, vials, and what-have-you's, looking for some clue to the missing ingredient. His ability to restrain his anger was wearing thin, but he was keeping enough of a leash on it so that he wasn't breaking and throwing things... yes.

Insightful, +1 bonus
Goodwill rolled 7 using 2d6 ((3,4)).

Goodwill and White Lynx each independently came up with a good idea-- the same idea: watch to see whatever Scraps did next.

Scraps understood that the situation was still tense-- even though the Bad Things were all destroyed, he still really wanted to bite something... or claw at something...

But he followed his nose. His human friends were very upset about something in one spot. They stood near the spot, pointed to the spot, but there was nothing there. They looked elsewhere, read from a book, but kept looking at that same spot, more than once.

Scraps understood: they got colored liquids and put them by the book, but the last one they wanted was missing.

Scraps sniffed around the lab... No... no... y... ye... yes... Up the ramp. Back to the smaller room where the Bad Things got destroyed.

He followed his nose to a cabinet near the ground... In there! He barked and whined to show his friends where to find what they wanted.


(When the cabinet is opened, there will be a corked beaker labeled THE BLUE STUFF. It must have gotten moved at some point...)


(It's getting harder to think. Whoever attempts to mix the formula will have to roll an Insightful roll. (No extra penalty... having to roll for it is enough.))

Goodwill ripped the door off the cabinet, as much by accident as intent. He was starting to lose it. When he saw THE BLUE STUFF, he nearly jumped for joy.

"You'd better do the mixing," he said, handing it to White Lynx. "You're the only one here not losing her mind.

"I have total faith in you. You can do this." At the moment he didn't really have faith in anyone or anything, but the lie was an important one to tell.

Inspire the Team
Goodwill rolled 6 using 2d6+1 ((2,3)).

Unfortunately, he didn't tell it very well.

“Thanks Goodwill. Don’t worry. I got this.” She didn’t, but much like his faith in her, there was no harm in the lie. She couldn’t really say she trusted them either. If they found out who she was, she assumed they would consider her an enemy as well.

With a gulp, she accepted the blue stuff and brought it back to the table. She hadn’t been great at chemistry back in the placement assessments, but this had to be simple enough if angry-fied people were supposed to be able to mix it, right?

White Lynx rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,5.  Mixing the stuff. Insightful.

So, she just had to mix this with this? Then mix them together for this long before slowly mixing in that stuff? Okay, steady, steady...

Cosmic Girl was more or less useless when it came to hunting the bottles. Besides, she had other problems to deal with. She rubbed her eyes and ground her teeth. Something did not really feel great. Why was everything going a funny colour?

Even as Goodwill speaks, his body starts to change, and a reddish haze comes over his mind...

(Goodwill gets 1 new xp... But also, his teeth and nails grow longer and sharper, and it's hard to think... he gets -1 ongoing to all Insightful or Charming rolls...)


White Lynx does her best to follow the instructions, which seem much more complicated than they did just five minutes ago... Still, she does her best...

The different chemicals, added in, as far as she can tell, just the right amounts and just the right order, fizz and hiss and bubble... and when she's done, the resulting liquid is a sort of amethyst purple, just like the instructions said it would be...

...But there's not MUCH of the resulting purple liquid. A lot of it seems to have vaporized in the process...

According to the notes, there's only enough to dose two people (or one person and a dog)!

There IS enough of the four colored liquids to try one more time... But maybe two people (or one person and a dog?) should take the antidote first...? But whom...?

Taking a quick look around, Ch’rava knew someone had to take the concoction. They would need someone with a clear head to make the other batch, but there was the question of who. Goodwill and Cosmic Girl seemed the furthest along, with Scraps and herself only starting to show early symptoms recently. So maybe those two should take their new medicine. But, on the other hand, she had been essentially hiding her own injury and so what if they didn’t make enough for her? She couldn’t really hide how much she was panicking anymore, but, especially in their more addled state, if she took one of the potions now, she could just keep pretending that nothing happened to her. Besides, why would they want anyone else to make the stuff? She’d already succeeded once. It would simply be best if she took one of them. But what if they caught her? Why would someone that wasn’t bitten have to take it? Maybe she could just come clean, make up some nonsense about how the excess electricity that wore her out so completely had also slowed down the process of whatever poison was coursing through their veins.

No. No. Goodwill and Cosmic Girl needed it most. Taking it for herself would be too selfish and noticeable. She could handle herself a little longer.

“Hhhere. I’ve managed to make two. There should be enough left to make some more. It looks like Scraps is feeling something too and maybe we should make some more. Just so we don’t screw up the recipe or anything! In any case, in any case, here you are, Goodwill, drink up. And here’s yours, Cosmos. Just drink. Yes, now. Quickly.”

Yup, things were going great.

Goodwill took one of the two test tubes that Lynx was holding out. The liquid inside seemed to be fizzing slightly, and it smelled foul. Of course it did. Nothing that Norwood did was pleasant. The man needed to be caught and killed.

Wait. Killed?

That wasn't right. Since when did he think about killing people? He was in bad shape if he was thinking about murder. There was no time to play the chivalry card and let Lynx go first. He needed this stuff now.

Ignoring the stench coming out of the test tube, Goodwill slammed the liquid back and swallowed hard.

It tasted about as bad as it smelled.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:15, Mon 07 Sept 2020.

Cosmic Girl did not waste time. She was not really firing on a logical cylinder at the moment, she was increasingly losing her grip, and sooner or later, instinct would take over. No a good thing. Not for her, and probably not for any nearby occupied buildings, either. She was destructive enough as it was. Without her rationaliy to keep ehr in check, the end result might be distinctly expensive.

And so, as instructed, she drank. Quickly. It was not what one might call appetising fare, but medicine was never meant to taste nice, was it?

Still whining and scratching at the ground, Scraps had never felt like this.
He wanted to go crazy, and he was wanting to do things to the world around him that made him both sad, and even more agitated.

He even thought of biting Goodwill for one moment.
But he knew, deep in his pup-heart, who he really wanted to bite, and so he went about trying to find Norwood's scent ... that he could follow it to where the horrid man had gone.  Then, then he could bite the blighter.
- rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 5,1.  Insight, with Enhanced Senses.

The not-perfect news:

--Cosmic Girl's eyes don't go back to normal.

--Gil's teeth and claws don't go back to normal.

The good news:

--Or... do they? Do her eyes glow just a TINY bit less brightly? Do Gil's teeth and claws feel just the TINIEST bit less sharp than they did moments before? It's hard to say for sure...

--More importantly, though, the fog in their brains DOES clear up right away, as does the bloodlust. It's almost incredible to realize just how hard it was to think just 60 seconds before... It seems that the physical symptoms will just be slower to reverse themselves...


--Also: Scraps' investigation of the smell of the Bad Man leads him to a sink. He jumps up on the counter and sniffs at the spigot that the water comes out, a curved shape sort of like an umbrella handle. He nudges it with his nose...

Ah ha! A new doorway in the wall opens up, on the far side of the room from the ramp leading from the last room into this one.

This new doorway leads to a very long, dimly-lit tunnel... It's too far to say what might be at the other end right now...

Scraps gets very excited... he wants to BITE the Bad Man! And CLAW him! Tear him to bits! And eat the bits, maybe!

Scraps can't stop growling...

"Whew. Thanks." Goodwill felt a lot better than he had a minute ago. Far less murder-y, for one thing.

"Mix another batch for yourself and Scraps," he told White Lynx. She was the fastest, so she could do this in less time than either Goodwill or Cosmic Girl could, and she had some experience doing it now. That had to count for something. "We'll see what's down the next hall."

Before he continued, though, he knelt next to scraps and put a hand on the Good Boy's head, skritching behind the ears.

"Stay calm, boy," he told the pup. "We'll make you all better in just a minute."

Cosmic Girl let out an explosive breath of relief - but only metaphorically. She did not explode anything literally. For once. "Thank you, Lynx! What was I thinking?" She was definitely alarmed by her destructive urges. Still, that was done with. Hopefully.

She beamed at Scraps. "Very clever dog! Well done!" She peered down the tunnel, frowning. "Well, I suppose we had best do this. You want me to make some light? And... do you want to go first?" Goodwill was far more resilient than she was, after all. And they had to do this swiftly. By now, anybody in the building was likely to be making a hasty exit.

"I'll go first," Goodwill agreed. He drifted up to about a foot off the floor, glowing brightly, and zipped down the hall at a brisk speed.

“Yes, no problem, you’re welcome, it’s allgoodglad to help, couldn’t let you sufferanymorenosiree.” It took a moment to stop, but with some breathing, she managed to stop blabbering for a moment. Starting after them, Lynx tried to ask for one of them to give it a go, but they already seemed incredibly focused on trying to catch Norwood. This...was a golden opportunity to prevent them from realizing she’d been bitten too, wasn’t it? But wait, Goodwill has said “yourself and Scraps,” so they already knew that part. Had she not hidden that as well as she’d hoped. Her anger rose at both herself, for letting her guard down, and at Goodwill, for noticing her bite.

No, no, no. She had to head back over and just make another batch, quickly. It wasn’t helpful to lose herself in the anger and rage. That would just exacerbate the problem. Sterling herself, Lynx began preparing more of the antidote.

I’m assuming this is gonna take another Insightful roll, ya?
White Lynx rolled 4 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,1.  Mix-a, mix-a, mix-a. Pour-a, pour-a, pour-a. Insightful.
Well I sure hope that it was necessary and I didn’t just botch something that I would’ve auto-succeeded on.

Eager to bite Norwood, Scraps scampered off after Goodwill as fast as his little feet could take him.

White Lynx mixes the new batch of antidote, and gives it to herself and Scraps.

White Lynx and Scraps each lose their bloodlust, and can think more clearly again.

(White Lynx gets 1 new xp... But from now on, when she fails a roll, her true form will start peeking out for a little while (not this time, though)... That could be inconvenient...

What does White Lynx's true form look like?

I figure that the mis-created antidote will affect Scraps strangely, too... either he'll get a new power, or he'll get stronger/tougher or faster or smarter (or maybe he'll just learn to talk?) or more charming or more confident... we'll see the next time he levels up...)


Meanwhile, Goodwill and Cosmic Girl reach the other end of the tunnel, where there is a steel door... It's got a round handle to turn, like doors in submarine movies.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:36, Fri 11 Sept 2020.

Goodwill's clawed hands grip the wheel and turn it. His bloodlust was gone, so any urge to kill Norwood was purely his own....

The door is not locked. The wheel turns extremely easily.

On the other side of the door is a bare, uninteresting room, like a storeroom, lit only by a couple of florescent lights, except someone has used plywood and crates to make a crude sort of desk.

Sitting there, in a cheap folding chair, is Dr. Norwood, with various papers in front of him. "Ah," he says. "I knew you'd come eventually. And I expected you to come through that door, not the other one." He nods at a closed door on the other side of the room. "Gratifying as always to be right... So tell me, how did your meeting with my little pets go?"

Lynx began hesitantly gulping down the concoction, worried that it might only make things worse. Considering how rancid it tasted, this was a mistake on her part. Still, as she hacked and wheezed, she felt the effects fairly quickly as her boosted panicking and aggression began to subside. With a deep breath, she tried to help herself cool down. Looking down at Scraps, she was glad to see that he too seemed to be doing better. It was odd though, looking back on the mixture. She'd accidentally added in too much of one chemical and too little of another. Maybe the requirements weren't very strict? Or was the sinking feeling in her gut warranted?

Either way, Lynx and Scraps would have to catch up with the others. If Norwood were still here, it would be better to face him together. Dropping to a knee, she offered her arms to Scraps, intending on racing off to follow Goodwill and Cosmic Girl.

"Ready to meet up with the others, Scraps? Fair warning, I'm going to head over there as fast as we can."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Ch'rava's true form is a thin and lanky humanoid, slightly shorter than the average human male. She's got two arms and two legs and she walks with her legs. However, her skin is a pale greyish-purple, with equally pale pink hair cut down to a managable, almost militaristic shape. If allowed to grow out, it would be a wavy, but limp. (Other common hair colours include yellow, grey, brown, and blue). Her 20 teeth are all flat and equally sized, though they are only slightly larger than a human's. She has two eyes, much like a human, but they are more spread apart, somewhat closer to the sides of her head, and larger, offering more peripheral vision. Her sclera is a somewhat more vivid purple, with grey irises. Ch'rava also lacks eyelids, not normally needing to naturally avoid dust or particles in her eyes. She still has eyebrows though. Ch'rava also possesses webbed fingers and toes, with five digits on her hands and three on her feet.

---

"About as well as could be expected," Goodwill said with a shrug, trying to sound nonchalant when he really wanted to just grab Norwood's head and twist until he heard the pop. "Are you going to come quietly now? Or do you plan to continue with the unnecessary dramatics?"

If Norwood had more monsters up his sleeve, Goodwill might just make Norwood eat them.

"I assure you, the dramatics, as you call them, are somewhat necessary, quite beyond any entertainment value they may possess. I will continue with them until it is time for me to stop. They serve certain purposes you simply do not have all the information to begin to comprehend."

He looks at Cosmic Girl. "What about you, miss? Have you anything to add to the discussion? I value your companion's words, but I know so much more about him-- garnered from interviews he's done for quasi-journalistic purposes-- than I do about yourself..."

Cosmic Girl planted her hands on her hips and glared at Norwood, her mouth a thin line of extreme annoyance and disapproval. he wanted them to keep talking? He was doing something that required it? Well, she definitely was not going to do that! Anything Norwood wanted was the exact opposite of what she planned to do!

So she shot him, instead.

A searing beam of magnenta and lime green laser-like energy flashed from her eyes, and it was aimed right at the villain's chest, where his evil black heart was in need of a darn good roasting!

VWOOORRRPPPP!!!



OOC:


14:43, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 12 using 2d6+2 ((4,6)).

At last, I managed to hit what I aimed at!

Effects:

+1 Stun

No collateral damage

Cosmic Girl kills Dr. Norwood.

...Nnnnno, wait a minute-- she doesn't. It just LOOKS for a second like she does.

She DESTROYS him.

Because this isn't him.

It's a robot.

Coils and wires and bits of blackened metal are now visible from the robot's metallic chest. "Mm, inconclusive. Was this a result of the bloodlust my pets can pass along, or did you simply deduce that you were talking to a robot, and not the real me?" the robot asks in a perfectly calm voice.

"Wow," Goodwill says. He's as interested in the answer to Norwood's question as Norwood is, if not more so. Did Cosmic Girl know that it was a robot? Or did she just try to murder the man? "Just wow."

Slipping into the room, Lynx spied the charred machine speaking to her comrades. Looking between the semi-smoking robot and the other heroes with a moderate amount of confusion, Lynx took in the room, spying another door on the other side of the room.

"A decoy...? Dr. Norwood's not in here, I assume? Have you checked that door over there too?"

Scraps ran into the room close on Lynx's heels.

Cosmic Girl scowled. "As I thought. He had time enough to escape, and there is no way he would leave himself open to our abilities unless he knew he was immune. He's too good at planning to be caught in this situation." She rounded on the damaged robot. "Where is Doctor Norwood? Isn't this when lunatics like you start monologuing? Let's get to that part, we do not have all day, you know!"

Perhaps there were lingering effects from the toxin. Or perhaps she was just a teenager in a very bad mood...

"I-- that is, the true 'I' --am already at another location. This robot 'I' is broadcasting our interaction by special radio signal-- one-way, and so impossible to trace. We will doubtless meet again some other time-- at which time, the more knowledge I have of each of you, the better." The robot's head tilts to the side-- too far, farther than any human neck could snap (and the head still keep talking, anwyay). "Ah, and White Lynx and Scraps the wonder dog survived as well! Anything to say, White Lynx?"

Goodwill knelt next to Scraps and made sure his best buddy was feeling better.