A large ad appears in the newspapers a few days later:


Goodwill, White Lynx, and Cosmic Girl understand that Agent Delancey is offering to meet again at Conference House Park on Staten Island.

It feels like it probably isn't a trap, since one wouldn't think that Dr. Norwood would know where you met last time at first, nor Agent Delancey's na... well, the name he goes by...

One could probably call the Staten Island Police Chief again, just to confirm...? Or maybe the newspaper itself...? Or both...?

"You know, Scraps," Gil said, folding the newspaper and setting it aside, "The police and now Agent Delancey keep taking the chance that I'll see a newspaper ad... but they never try the telephone."

He took his dinner plate and put it on the floor for Scraps to lick up the last few bits.

"I mean, I don't keep a secret identity like the girls do. They might need to run an ad to get their attention, but you'd think someone would eventually think to hedge his bets and call me on the phone."

Gil got up from the table. He'd just washed his costume; it lay atop the laundry basket at the foot of his bed, waiting for him. Thinking of this inevitably reminded him of the strange trip to the laundromat that morning. He was used to the adulation of fans once they realized that he was Goodwill, even doing something as mundane as laundry, but that morning he'd felt something he'd never noticed was there before: a tinge of envy. He could feel it coming off some of the people there like it was written in neon letters. Sure they loved him, but some of them were a little envious of his immense powers as well. Funny how he'd never spotted this before.

"What do you think, boy? Squeeze in a little patrol before we go meet Delancey?"

Always a grumbler, Greg was complaining rather loudly about the large ad placed in the paper. It was simple enough to put in, but the assistant copy editor wasn't a fan of wasting space and had argued on end that the advertiser should've put their notice in with the Classifieds. His groans could easily be heard, even from Diana's position of looking over the upcoming crossword puzzle and double-checking the spelling for each clue and answer. Arm still in a sling from "a bad fall," most of her tasks this past week had been in the building.

Stretching her good arm, Diana took a glance at the clock and sighed. She'd be in there a little longer, but there was still plenty of time to make her "appointment" afterwards.  She'd been patrolling the area a little less often as of late, owing partly to the injury and partly to an odd happening she'd noticed. For much of the past week, whenever she'd fumbled a task or stumbled over something, her body felt different, more familiar. One time, she'd caught a look at herself in the mirror during one of these brief episodes and saw that her nose had been much paler and more purple.

Something was up. She had tried to shapeshift soon after and it had hurt so much. The most she'd managed on her own was getting her hair back to its natural pale pink for half an hour and that had taken her out of commission for nearly twice as long. She couldn't quite tell if it was a side effect of the electrocution she'd been through or something to do with the infection from the dog things. Either way, it had been quickly reducing and she could no longer even force her shapeshifting abilities to work. It would've been nice if she'd been able to keep those, but at least she could rest relatively easy now. She hadn't had that weird feeling or any noticeable "accidents" for the past two days, so it was hopefully over and done with. She would be in real trouble if something like that happened in the middle of her hero work.

Cosmic Girl barreled down the stairs and into the kitchen at breakfast time. Her parents were already there, and she was bursting with news! "Mom... dad... look!" She rose a foot off the floor... and then exploded! Well, almost. A corona of swirling green and purple surrounded her, looking almost exactly like the Aurora Borealis. This, of course, merely confirmed the scientists and their theories about how her powers worked, being essentially the same as the cosmic rays that bombarded the planet Earth, emitted by the sun. Which did make them wonder if she would have powers at all if she was no longer in the region of the Sun...

One thing the new aura also did was set off the fire alarm, deluging them all with water. It also caused someone in a Very Ordinary Outfit to dash in, gun in hand, to see what was going on. While being almost raised by the government and their scientists as some sort of freak experiment had many perks - good house, employment for parents, and no end of first-rate education and training opportunities - the constant presence of government minders around the family home was decidedly inconvenient at times.

After a moment, someone managed to turn the sprinkler off, and they all began cleaning up the mess. The toast, alas, was ruined.

While carrying the paper to the trashcan, the young Miss Peggy Potter noticed a post in the paper. She had been keeping an eye on such things, wondering if there would be another chance to do some good. Sure, the government could throw her things to sort out, but she was not sure she wanted to be some stooge. But this was a genuine case to help others out of her own desire to be useful.

She dashed back to the kitchen and showed her parents the paper. "Can I be out past my bedtime?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:01, Sat 10 Oct 2020.

At the park, Agent Delancey waited for the heroes... Listening for someone running at super-speed, watching the sky...

Having first made a once-around the park at blinding speeds, White Lynx stopped on a dime at the park entrance. With a flourish of her white coat, she made her way to Delancey’s position. Arm no longer in a sling but not feeling much better, Lynx crossed her arms upon reaching the agent.

“How was your week, Delancey? Heard anything about our dear friend, Dr. Norwood? Or is there something else happening?”

"I'm here because of Norwood. I'll tell you more when our other friends arrive..."

As if on cue, Goodwill dropped from the sky, carrying Scraps.

"I hope I'm not late," he said, setting down the Dog Wonder.

Her parents did agree that saving the world mattered more than a 10 PM bedtime. So Cosmic Girl spent the day in a state of distracted excitement. But when the time came, she got her game face on, and vwooorrppeedd!!! out of the sky swiftly, and bounced on her heels as she landed. "Do not fret, I am here!"

Taking a somewhat concerned look over the flyers (and Scraps), Lynx asked, “How have you all been feeling this past week? Any resurgences of that aggression stuff?”

Scraps answered the speedster by bounding over and sniffing her boots, before giving her a playful bark.

Squatting down, Lynx gave the pupper a good scratching. "Sounds like you're doing fine," she breathed out with a satisfied sigh, "That's good to hear."

"Yeah, Scraps and I are both doing okay," Goodwill confirmed. "No long-lasting effects that we can tell."

"Glad to hear it," said Agent Delancey. "We've got a new location for you to check out, based on the papers and notes that my team found in the lab, and some forensic tests we ran... You know the Harlem River Lift Span of the Triborough Bridge? Well, whether you do or not, we found a scribbled note that led us to check out underneath the bridge... And our engineers found a rusty old door there, like a door on a submarine, that wasn't on any of our records... It leads to a tunnel that opens up as it goes... somewhere. Somewhere under Manhattan. We got some strange chemical readings from the start of the tunnel... There's less than an inch of water in the middle of the tunnel, but it's slightly polluted with chemicals that shouldn't be there in any sort of normal pollution, not even normal industrial pollution... Some tests say it's very slightly radioactive, and some say it's not, so yeah, it's probably Norwood. Sorry to send you to yet another secret location that may or may not be trapped, but..."

Scraps jumped around and wagged his tail, then proceeded to mark Delancey's shoe.

"Dang it, Scraps! Sorry, Agent Delancey."

Cosmic Girl coughed to cover the smile behind her hand. "No need to apologise, sir. I think we all know that, if we are following this villain, we will definitely be going into places that are less than pleasant. And if he is in that area, we need to go. I dread to think what would happen if decent citizens went there - or the police. They are hardly equipped to handle this sort of thing. And if there is radiation - well, I am fairly sure I can deal with that. I mean, my powers are all cosmic rays. And that's all radiation, too. I don't know if it makes me immune to other forms of radiation, but I'm willing to chance it, if it will finally catch Doctor Norwood!"

“Ah, it’s no trouble, Agent Delancey. I’d prefer it if we could just take the fight right to Dr. Norwood, but it isn’t like we can just ignore these dangers. Besides, there’s nothing like a good base assault to get the blood pumping! I’ve gotta get this arm back in shape.”

Agent Delancey sighs. "I have a special budget for Clothing, Damaged In Line of Duty and another for Clothing, Diplomatic Purposes. I can double-file this one. Scraps is a hero."

He looks up. "When can you all be ready? Tonight? Tomorrow? Longer?" The look on Agent Delancey's face makes clear that he hopes that the answer isn't a lot longer than that...

"We are here now, and if the others are game, I am willing to go now. We can't give Norwood a moment longer than necessary to continue his plans!" Cosmic Girl also felt that going home now would be really dull. She had been prepared for adventure!

"I'm ready now," Goodwill replied with a shrug. He'd done everything he'd needed to do with his day, and didn't have anything planned except perhaps some more patrolling. It was late, but he often didn't get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning anyway. He didn't have a morning class tomorrow, either. He was as ready as he could possibly get. "Better sooner than later, right?"

“I’d honestly love to take some time to heal up a bit more, but it’s not like Norwood will patiently wait for us to be ready, right?” Plus, she didn’t have work tomorrow, so she could heal up as much as she wanted. “I’m in.”

Agent Delancey gives the heroes directions. "Also, I've got a couple of guys guarding the tunnel exit in case anything comes out of there... I'll radio them and have them watch for you... and give you any flashlights they have... Anything else I can do for you...?"

"I'd ask for radios, in case we get separated," Goodwill said after a moment's thought, "but what are the odds that they'll actually work in the tunnels...?"

"They will-- up to a point. But their range will be greatly reduced. I can give them, though... except to Scraps... we don't have a model that can be worn on a collar. But you three may have some. Anything else?"

Taking a moment to think over their options, Lynx spoke up. "Do you have access to any anti-chemical measures? Twice now, Dr. Norwood has used some form of chemistry in his actions or creations. Pre-empting that, in any way we can, could be useful."

"Umm, no, not really, sorry... So far, we're pretty unprepared for undoing the weird experiments he's doing... Just the notes he didn't consider important enough to take with him will be keeping our scientists happy and busy for months to come..."

"Well, then... let's go."

Soon enough, the three heroes (and Scraps) are under a bridge, being given flashlights (or miner's helmets with lights, if they prefer) and radios by a couple of agents who work for Delaney...

"Any other questions before you go in...?" they ask.

Scraps was already sniffing around the door in question.   The scents there were ... interesting ... to his Heightened Sense.
-  rolled 11 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 5,5.  Insight.

"Will you and your people be keeping an eye on the area? If Norwood's in there, he might try to abscond as soon as he notices us. Beyond that, not really, unless there's anything else you've left out thus far."

Cosmic Girl settled the helmet on her head, and clipped the radio to her belt. She wasn't sure whether or not the light on the helmet was needed, as she was her own light source. But something that prevented a brick being lobbed at her head was absolutely a good idea. She stepped in behind Scraps, and hunkered down beside him. "What you got there, boy?"

"Oh, sure, no problem, that's part of why we're here. If anyone suspicious comes out of there, we'll warn them first, but after that we'll shoot first and ask more questions later. On the other hand... no unknowns have come out of there yet..."

---

Scraps could smell all the humans who'd used the door... but there was something else, too. Something that wasn't human had used the door before the humans in black suits had arrived...

It didn't smell bad, exactly. But even though it was probably roughly human-sized, it wasn't human...

It seemed to Scraps that the whatever-it-was had avoided this door ever since the humans in black suits had arrived...

Goodwill snapped on the flashlight and headed inside. Although Norwood had managed to hurt him more than once, he still wanted to go first, to take the dangers upon himself.

Scraps whined a little, as Cosmos knelt beside him.  It was a natural response to the stimuli he was sniffing, and the Heroes could tell that something was unsettling him.

And, of course, as soon as Goodwill opened the door, the puppy pushed through immediately (almost tripping the hero, as dogs do) to better get at the scent there, and begin following its trail.

Going forward third and clicking her helmet-light to life, Lynx called behind her, "Good luck with the perimeter, Agent. Let's hope it's a quiet night."

"We'll be here waiting, in case you scare anything out," say the agents.

Inside, there are actually lightbulbs that work... sometimes. Then there are some stretches of tunnel, 50 feet or more, that have no working lights.

After the first hundred feet or so, there's an intersection... you can go off to the left, off to the right, or straight ahead...

(Scraps, feel free to roll Insightful again...

The rest of you may also roll Insightful, if you wish...)
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:18, Thu 12 Nov 2020.

Scraps had hurried forward to that corridor intersection ahead of his humans, and was now sniffing around trying to follow the 'strange human' scent that he was on the trail of.


- rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,2.  Insightful

Cosmic Girl remained quiet for the most part, not wanting to disturb Scraps and his truly remarkable snoot. However, as he came to a stop to sniff again, she knelt beside him, and whispered, "What have you got there, boy? I know this place is a warren, but please don't let it be rabbits!"

She studied the intersection carefully, even going so far as to hold up a glowing hand to add extra illumination, in case it gave any greater chance of producting results.

OOC:

16:03, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 10 using 2d6-1 ((6,5)).

I succeeded at a roll! Wonders never cease!!!

Three! I get to hold three!

I will spend one at once... Which way is most likely to lead us to the villain's base?

((GM arrives from the OOC thread...)

...HOWEVER, (he resumes,) you don't get to ask just ANY questions, if you do it that way. You have to choose from this particular list of questions:

--Why does this person want to help me?
--Why does this person want to get in my way?
--What is at risk if the plan as I understand it goes ahead?
--What pieces of the plan am I missing?
--How can I protect other people?
--How can I protect myself?
--What haven’t they taken account of?)

OOC: In that case, I will hold my questions three until an appropriate juncture!

(Not a problem.)

Scraps' nose tells him things... but not a lot.

First, he has to filter out people who he figures work for The Man In The Black Suit. Scraps understands that they're just humans who started exploring these tunnels, and got this far, but that someone-- probably The Man In The Black Suit-- decided it was maybe too dangerous, so he sent for Gil and Scraps and their friends.

So. That leaves...

...Straight ahead... danger, maybe?

...To the right... worse danger, maybe?

...To the left... that not-bad thing that used to use the door under the bridge to go down to the water. Maybe it would know what Gil was searching for...?
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:29, Sat 14 Nov 2020.

"Hmm, three paths..."

Looking down each route, Lynx squinted her eyes, trying to make out anything that could help. With a shake of her head, she huffed, "I've got nothing. Want me to quietly and quickly rush down each way and back? If it takes me too long to get back, you'll at least know that something's down there."

"We split up last time. It didn't go so well," Cosmos rose, and dusted her hands down. "If there's a trap, you could run into it before you know. I don't want to risk losing you, not a second time. We're a team. We should stick together."

It was at time moment that Scraps began to bark, as he looked down the left tunnel that he knew led to the water.
And he began, nose to the ground, tracking the 'not-bad thing that used to use the door'.

"Scraps says left," Goodwill observed. Splitting up seemed like a bad idea, but Cosmic Girl had said that pretty well already. "Let's go left."

"You're right, that's fair," Lynx muttered, rubbing her arm. It felt weirdly nice to hear someone putting her life ahead of the mission, even in a hypothetical. As a scout, it was her job to act as the canary in the mine. Still, she supposed that, since they had someone as immortal as Goodwill with them, it probably didn't make that much sense to split off.

"Roger that. Left it is." With a nod, Lynx began heading down the left tunnel, following behind the Wonder-Dog.

It's a long way, and there's an intersection at one point-- offering the choice of going straight or a sharp left again-- but Scraps goes straight. He wants to find out what's down this path-- what sort of creature is down this way... because it's not human... but it's not... not... bad? Necessarily...?

Finally, the tunnel opens up into a 20-by-20 area... and it's clear that someone lives here. There's a bed-- well, a very messy bed, more of a big nest made of very dirty blankets and old clothes-- and an old chair with the back broken off, and an old crate that's been used as a table or desk, and some bookshelfs, with old dirty books, and some lamps and lanterns and candles burning...

And the alligator.

It's about a six-foot alligator (not counting the tail and the fact that its head is bent downward).

It's standing in the middle of the room, between the desk and one of the bookshelves, and it's poring over a book.

It's wearing some sort of wire thing on its face, bent to resemble glasses frames, and it's holding a large meerschaum pipe (that isn't lit).

It's also wearing a couple of large, stretched-out sweaters (the top one is an old Christmas sweater with a reindeer on it), and some ill-tailored black slacks.

The alligator looks up and sees the heroes and Scraps walk in.

It's hard to say if what comes out of its mouth next counts as speaking, but if written down, it would look like: "Uhhhhhhhh..."

The alligator's eyes dart back and forth around the room suddenly, as if it's thinking I have a rational explanation for all this-- quick, what is it?
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:38, Wed 25 Nov 2020.

"Holy mackerel," Goodwill said, stunned by the appearance of the human-ish alligator. "Um... hello?"

"Ummmmmmmmmmm... hi?" says the alligator.

Blinking a couple of times, Lynx stepped forward and offered, “So...what’re you reading?”

The alligator brightens up. "Oh! This? This is The Shadow Puppet, 1932. Do... do you read Maigret? ...Georges Simenon...?"

Looking down at the book and then back up to the alligator, Lynx shook her head. "My apologies. I, uh, haven't read many books yet. Trying to get through the library's selection still. Would you recommend The Shadow-sorry, I mean The Shadow Puppet?"

The alligator nods at White Lynx. "Oh, I understand, I understand! I remember when I hadn't learned to read yet! And then when I realized how many books there were to read-- it was somewhat overwhelming!"

"As for The Shadow Puppet, well-- any Maigret is worth reading... Is it Simenon's best? No. It's just one that I haven't re-read for a little while."

The alligator seems less flustered and therefore more comfortable talking about his favorite topic.

With a nod, Lynx soon followed the avid reader into the comfortable conversation. “Absolutely. A...good old friend of mine introduced reading to me through those hero comic books, but the few actual full books I’ve read have been quite the good reads. I recently made my way through one called The Murder on the Links, which was quite entertaining.” Sure, she’d thought it was going to be much more relevant to her superhero life when she’d heard the title out loud, but she certainly didn’t consider reading it a waste of time. Either way, Lynx mentally patted herself on the back for a half-truth well-told. She had actually been introduced to reading, both in Brin and English, through similar picture-based texts. Her commanding officer thought it made for faster learning. But going by the well-worn comic books in Diana’s apartment, she assumed the human had a similar experience with Lewis.

Breaking out of her brief reverie, she continued, “I suppose I’ll have to find The Shadow Puppet at the library and check it out then, among the other Maigrets. Is there any one that you’d recommend to start with?”

"I haven't read that... is it about golf? It sounds like it's about golf." The alligator gestures at the bookshelves. "These are all the books I have, I'm afraid... it's a little hard for me to get more..."



"Oh, good question! I would say... Maigret and the Burglar's Wife, 1955. It just happened to be the first one I read, but you know, I wouldn't have it any other way. It'll definitely give you the idea of what a good Maigret is like, and it'll make you want more..."

“It’s a murder mystery around a golf course, yes. Interesting stuff!” Following the gesturing gator’s gaze to the shelves, Lynx let loose an impressed hum. “That’s more books than I actually have, to be perfectly honest. How have you gotten them, if you don’t mind my asking?” she asked quickly. Lynx had almost forgotten that she was talking to a talking alligator, an act that was probably supposed to be weird.


“I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for a copy! Thank you very much...I’m sorry, I don’t believe I’ve asked you your name yet. Hello, I am White Lynx. What is your name?”

"Um. Well. Ah. Well. Mostly, I ah... adopt them... from people's trash. You might be surprised how often people throw books out. Early on, someone threw out a lot of Maigrets... I could hardly believe it!"



"Oh. Ah. Um. Well. I-- I call myself Jules. After Commissioner Jules Maigret. No one's ever really named me, as far as I can remember. And, um..." Jules blinks a couple of times, and really looks at you again. "Um... aren't you, ah, Goodwill?" Blink. "And... Scraps? The... Wonder Dog? You two are in all the newspapers..." Jules waggles some claws at Scraps in a hesitant little wave. "...He doesn't talk, does he...?" he asks, referring to Scraps...

"Yes, I'm Goodwill," replied Goodwill, putting out a hand to shake. He wasn't too worried about claws, although if Norwood had something to do with Jules, maybe he should. Still, he'd put the hand out and so he left it there lest he come off as incredibly rude. "And this is Scraps. If he talks, it will be a surprise to me.

"And last, but by no means least, this is Cosmic Girl."

Boy, did Goodwill have a ton of questions he wanted to ask the talking alligator!

Jules shakes Goodwill's hand. "Oh... Cosmic Girl... White Lynx... I might've heard your names on the radio... I don't really get good reception down here at all... But sometimes in the middle of the night I can get a station or two..."

Scraps, meanwhile, had shown great interest in sniffing the scaly man-amal a few times, then continued on to investigating the rest of the residence.

If animals can sense evil, it seemed that Scraps sensed none here.
Currently, he was most interested in the next of material.

The sleeping nest is a little damp and roomy for Scraps, but he can see how it might be pretty all right for a six-to-eight-foot (depending on how one counts the snout and the tail) alligator.

With a wave of her hand, Lynx professed, “Oh, don’t worry if you haven’t heard much of me. I’m not incredibly well-known as of yet. Just had a couple of recent capers with these big league heroes. Is your reception issue based on your environment or your radio?”

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it's being down here."

Cosmic Girl cleared her throat politely. "I do not want to intrude too much, but we do have some rather pressing business. I am sure we can all have a coffee and a chat afterwards. Tempus fugit, and that sort of thing..."

She was proud of that little smattering of Latin. It was what her tutor said to her all the time when she was being slow with her studies. It didn't help much, admittedly...

"Ah, that's Latin, right? Something about time? Or... about a storm...?" Then Jules thinks about the English part of what Cosmic Girl has actually said, and he gets shyer and flustered again. "Um, ah... what... is it... you're... here to do...?"

“We’re simply investigating the area. We have a possibly radioactive reason to believe a villainous doctor’s around here or setting up something nefarious. Have you seen anyone around here or in the tunnels?” Lynx asked, gesturing to the tunnel they had entered from with her good arm. “Can’t help you much with the Latin though, I’m afraid.”

"'Radioactive? Nefarious?' I thought those were just words that only people in comic books use...? Oh... but you are heroes with powers, huh... --So wait, are comic books about real things...?!"



"No, not really. Just those men in black suits near the river. But no one in the tunnels. I mean, you know. No people."

"I'm sorry," Goodwill said, hoping he wasn't sounding impatient but feeling as though he maybe was just a little. "But I have to ask a rude sort of question here. How are you... you? I mean, talking alligators aren't the norm. We're looking for a guy who... well, he makes creatures that don't otherwise exist. So I can't help but wonder if he made you.

"I mean, there are legends of alligators living in the sewers, but none of them suggest highly intelligent alligators who walk upright and read books that I've never even heard of."

Jules looks even more flustered and embarrassed.



"Oh, him." This is said with scorn. "Yeah, I think so too."




"No, no, I think you're right. On both counts, I mean. I mean, as far as I can remember, I was just some boy's pet... But then his mother found me, and she sent me down here. Then the guy-- I think it's the guy you're talking about, probably-- found me, and he fed me all kinds of strange things. That's when my memories start getting clearer. As I got smarter, he wanted me to call him Ra. He said that Ra was the god who created humans from his tears. I think it was a crocodile joke or something, which is dumb, because I'm not a crocodile. I didn't really get it. Anyway, he was really kind of a jerk. You don't even want to know. I escaped and ran away when I could. He sent a monster or two after me to come fight me, but I won, so they didn't report back. So I guess he gave up on trying to find me. So are you guys going to fight him and his monsters, like in comic books? I did like comic books, when I was first learning to read. They were good for expanding my vocabulary, though they are aren't as deep as book books..."

"Yes, we're going to fight him and his monsters," Goodwill confirmed. It still felt a little weird to be talking to an alligator, but the guy was too personable to treat as anything other than perfectly normal. "He's being especially dangerous, and we think he might be building a nuclear bomb. So he's got to go.

"Could you possibly lead us to him?"

"Or draw a map, at least. It sounds like he has been doing a lot more than we realised. I wonder what other experiments he has been doing?" Cosmic Girl bit her lip thoughtfully. "It goes against our usual methods to risk an innocent civilian, but it sounds to me like you have good reason to want him stopped. And this is hardly paradise down here. At the very least, we should offer to get you somewhere nicer to stay."

She had faith that the government would help him. Then again, she was young and hopelessly naive.

"Really? A bomb? I mean, a nuclear bomb? That... doesn't sound like his... style... I think he uses radioactive elements in a lot of his experiments, but it's all just chemistry and biology, usually..." Jules thinks. "Well, usually... Anyway, I understand why you feel you've got to check it out, either way. And yes, I'll try to help you find him..."




"Mm, my hands aren't very good for drawing. Better I just try to show you."



Flustered again. "What, um, like, you mean, among people? Um, n-no, I don't think that would work out well. People get really upset if they ever see me on my trash-diving trips up top. And, um, screamy."

"If you'd rather stay down here, it wouldn't be fair of us to push you to live elsewhere. Still, there may be other options. Though I can't really think of any that wouldn't hamper your ability to move around if I'm being honest. Maybe you could become a superhero?" Lynx muttered, doing a kind of half-shrug with her right arm. "In any case, your help in this is greatly appreciated. Thank you."

"Oh! Is that a thing that... people... who aren't like other people... do? That's... very interesting... I'll have to think about it... Let's see how today goes, I suppose, eh...?"




"Aww..." Flustered. "Um, thank you... So... are we ready to go...? Now...?"

"I guess we are," Goodwill said after pausing to see if the girls had anything else to say on the subject. They hadn't. "Please, show us the way."

Jules the alligator leads you on a circuitous route, often muttering "not this way..." and "we don't want to go this way, see, there's monsters there" and "this way would be too wet for you guys..."

Scraps' nose agrees with half of these statements... The other half of the time his nose's got nothing, so he's glad to have a guide...

Jules finally whispers-- "Okay, this next part, just follow me... stop when I stop, go when I start going again. It's okay to use flashlights, but don't make any noise otherwise, okay? BUT... I need you to watch and listen and sniff for anything unexpected. Anything. So if you sense something like that, um..." Jules makes a short hissing noise. "Can all of you do that? Can Scraps? I need a signal."

Scraps had been happily running along with the team ... a little behind, a little ahead, and at time a little under foot.

And Scraps was ALWAYS 'sniffing for anything unexpected'.   His Extraordinary Senses make his nose (along with his eyes and ears especially) awesome at detecting things unexpected.

Not yet having tested all of the weird noises that the human mouth could possibly make, Lynx went to work trying to mimic the sound. Would the tongue be up, down, further in? Would it be like an “e” sound or an “a”? After a few quick tests, she managed to get something that sounded close enough to Jules’ hiss.

“There we go. I’m no good at sniffing, but I’ll keep my eyes and ears out. Should we stop when one of us gives the signal or just keep following you?”

Goodwill tried the sound. It was kind of like a whistle, but by a person who couldn't whistle so it came out as kind of a wet hiss. It took a few tries to get it somewhat close to being right, but it wasn't that hard, overall. Getting it exact would probably be next to impossible, though.

"Close enough?" he asked.

"Yeah, stop when someone gives the signal, because I sure will... Everyone ready...?"

Cosmic Girl readied a tiny little piece of cosmic energy, in her hands, and kept it covered so as not to alert anybody by glowing. But it might mean she got first shot against whatever horrors lurked down here, and after the last couple of encounters witn Norwood, that could be the difference between life and death.

"Ready!" she whispered.

Massaging her arm, Lynx looked down at it and back up ahead. Nodding to herself, she muttered, "Ready as I'll ever be." She was probably going into a fight still injured and the fact that fighting Norwood had already killed Goodwill, almost killed her, and had even nearly blown her cover was not unknown to her. If this became a doozy, it would be a real doozy.

"Ready," Goodwill replied. Since they were trying to be sneaky, he lowered himself to the floor and walked, rather than continue to fly at a height of a few inches. This turned off his signature golden glow. "Let's do it."

(Okay, each of you roll Insightful plz)

Goodwill rolled 6 using 2d6-1 ((6,1)).

White Lynx rolled 9 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,6.  Keeping an eye and/or ear and/or nose out. Insightful.

OOC:

20:14, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 5 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 3,3.  Hmmmmmm Insightful!

As susccessful as always...

Scraps scampered about, and ahead ... always sniffing and looking and listening.

- rolled 11 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 6,4.  Insight ... with Heightened Senses.

The heroes follow Jules the alligator, slowly, watching, listening, silently sniffing...

Jules stops, and holds up a forepaw. Everyone stops.

There's a whoosh as darts shoot out of holes in the wall. They harmlessly strike the opposite wall.

White Lynx heard something getting ready to happen, and had been just about to make a noise, but Jules heard it first. Okay! Now she knew what to watch for!

But then, after another twenty yards of walking, Scraps makes a noise, and Jules stops.

An arc of electricity ZZZZZZZZAPs up ahead. Yikes. So there'll be multiple types of traps. Good thing Scraps sensed something...!

Jules shows Scraps a gesture with his forepaw that is probably meant to be a grateful Thumbs'-Up.

Then, another forty yards ahead... Cosmic Girl sees something-- a thin red beam of--

Oops. It must have been an electric-eye beam, right about the height of the top of Goodwill's head (well, maybe half an inch lower). Jules, who walks in a sort of hunched-over posture, didn't trip it, and neither did White Lynx, but Goodwill didn't see it, and Cosmic Girl didn't realize what it was in time-- Goodwill walks right through it, tripping it.

A wall panel slides back, and...

Q: What do you get when you cross a rat with an octopus?

A: You get the things that're attacking you, that's what.

They're rodents of unusual size, but they also have tentacles sprouting out of their backs and sides. That's not good.

(Goodwill and Cosmic Girl get 1 xp each, but they are the first to be attacked. Roll Agile, you two. After that, everyone may attack the Octorats...)

Goodwill rolled 4 using 2d6 ((3,1)).

21:11, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,4.  Agile!

The tentacles reach out...

(11:29, Today: The Grandmaster rolled 5 using 1d6 with rolls of 5.

11:29, Today: The Grandmaster rolled 2 using 1d3 with rolls of 2.

Goodwill takes 4 damage (because he's tough.)

Cosmic Girl takes 2 damage... but so does her attacker octorat, because as I recall, she's got a Cosmic Power Defensive Aura now.)

Ouch! Those suction cups are barbed or toothy or something! Yikes!

Trying to slap Cosmic Girl means her octorat took Cosmic Energy damage, too, though-- it squeals angrily at the pain.

Time to lay some smackdown on these aqua-rodents! Attack!

Cosmic Girl let out a yelp as she was slapped by a surprisingly spiky tentacle. But as the monstrous appendage hit her hard, there was a sudden flared of swirling and purple-green light! In the relative gloom of the dank domain, it was a surprisngly bright discharge. And it did not fade. In a literal flash, she was surrounded by a glowing nimbus, which resembled very closely the Aurora Borealis. It made sense - after all, her powers were essentially cosmic rays, and those self same rays hitting the magnetic field of the earth caused the Northern Lights. Here she was, generating the same rays, within the same magnetic field. There was a scientific sense to her powers, albeit a very strange one.

She did not wait for the rattopuses to get a second swing. She glared at them, and strafed the corridor with a vigorous pewpewpew from her eye beams!

OOC:

00:51, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 8 using 2d6+2 ((2,4)).

Using the ability AREA OF EFFECT Cosmic Girl attacks all the octorats at once.
Her dice roll success adds +1 stun.

Not wanting to give the strange creatures a moment, Lynx thrust out her good arm, electricity coursing along it and zapping out towards the octo-rodents, pushing them back. If they wanted to get another shot at the group this time, they'd have to head on through her electricity. Though, considering who likely created these beasts, Lynx wasn't exactly confident this would completely stop them.

White Lynx rolled 12 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 3,6.  Hold Them Off, to push back against the octo-rodents. Confident.
--They can’t act as effectively (-1 Stun ongoing until your actions are countered)
--Give them a choice between backing off or be stunned

Goodwill was fast, by any normal means of measuring these things. His legs were even stronger than his arms, and could propel him at ridiculous speeds for a human being. And if he was flying, he could move at vastly higher speeds than that. He was fast.

None of that mattered, standing between Cosmic Girl and White Lynx. They put speed in a whole different context. Cosmic Girl could blast something at the speed of light as easily as look at it, and White Lynx could hit it with a lightning bolt even quicker, with her super-speed reflexes. It made Goodwill's responses look like those of a statue, by comparison.

Even so, he leaped forward and punted one of the octo-rats as hard as he could.


Goodwill rolled 9 using 2d6+3 ((3,3)).
--Hit Hard

And while Goodwill took to the little bastards ... Scraps ran around snapping and yapping and biting at the tails of any he could reach, in an effort to hold 'em off, and keep and he could from attacking anyone but himself.

- rolled 15 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 6,6.  Hold 'em off.

Wow! The team does a great job of making sure that the horrible octorats aren't a problem anymore--

--including help from Jules, who turns out to be quite an effective fighter, in spite of his nice and meek personality. His jaw does a sort of mousetrap-like SNAP thing that severs two octorat tentacles (and provides Jules with a snack).

Soon, the octorats are no more.

"Oh, dear (chomp chomp slurp yum), is everyone all right?" Jules inquires (trying and failing to hide his epicurian delight). "I hope none of you got hurt very badly (chomp gnash yum chomp)...?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:32, Sat 23 Jan 2021.

"I took a pretty bad bite," Goodwill replied, checking his leg. "If this one is anything like that last creature, I'm going to start sprouting fangs any minute."

Somehow he doubted that this was the case, but it was definitely worth mentioning.

"I think I'll be okay, though. Worst thing that happens is it'll kill me."

Was it too soon to make jokes like that?

"I do not think the wounds they gave you should get worse nor cause further problems nor changes," says Jules... "(Chomp lick slurp chomp) it doesn't taste like it, anyway... But good news, everyone: we are almost to the destination I had in mind! If everyone is prepared to continue...?"

Scraps was already beginning to sniff ahead.

Ahead, it smells less like a sewer or normal tunnel, and a little more like the laboratory space that had been under the building that was next to the gas station that the man in the black suit had driven Scraps and his friends to...

Keeping her eye on Goodwill and Cosmic Girl, Lynx nodded and said, "I'm all ready to keep going if you all are."

On the one hand, she wanted to offer to take point. Goodwill had taken a rather bad hit right then and after that attack, she was suddenly the least damaged non-dog, non-alligator in their group. But at the same time, Goodwill was immortal and Cosmos had that shining aura that seemed to hurt the strange creature. Tactically speaking, weren't they the best people to tank hits? The fight from the fountain and the following funeral flashed before her eyes.

No. Those two knew what they were doing and had been in the heroism business longer than she had. There was no point in insisting on taking an objectively worse course of action just to coddle them. They would probably be insulted if she even asked.

"Ready," Goodwill confirmed, following Jules and Scraps. He was clenching his fists hard enough that his glow had returned, even though he was walking. "Let's end this."

Up ahead is a large room with many machines, tables and counters with chemical experiments going, and electronic equipment. Good lighting has been set up overhead-- the room is well-lit.

There is no Dr. Norwood visible, however.

On the other hand, there are no monsters visible.

There are many exits from this area-- five doors, and four other open passageways, not counting the one by which the heroes (and Jules) have just come in.

(Feel free to
--roll Insightful to explore...
--talk to Jules about this place
--something else)

Scraps went about exploring this new room, but somewhat half-heartedly.
Mostly, he seemed intent on leaving Wee-mails for any other puppy's that might come this way.

- rolled 6 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,1.  EXPLORE (not Explode).

Entering the room, Lynx started giving it a once-over. She wasn't exactly skilled in making those quick understandings of alien technology and scientific advancements like her superiors would've liked and she was cursing herself for that now. She wasn't even all that focused on what the techies back home worked on. It was easier to just use the things she was assigned. Maybe they should've sent a researcher.

White Lynx rolled 6 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,1.  Taking a look around for clues. Insightful.

Same roll. Fun.

"There's too many paths to check them all," Goodwill said, putting a label on the obvious. "We need to figure out which way he's gone."

He began examining pathways, looking for some hint as to where Norwood might have slipped off to.

Goodwill rolled 6 using 2d6-1 ((4,3)).

(Each of you gets 1 xp, and takes -1 forward.)

Scraps accidentally knocks over a trash can.

"...Coming...!" calls a voice from a passageway on the right.

It's a female voice, but it also sounds sort of mechanical, so everyone's expecting maybe a robot...

What comes in instead is some sort of horrible giant spider-thing... with a little speaker around its neck, and all sorts of cords and wires running from its head and body to the speaker box.

"What-- why-- who-- Jules! You've returned! How dare you bring intruders into the doctor's laboratory!" says the mechanical female voice from the speaker-box...

Some sort of stinger comes up over her head, and sprays the room with thick, sticky webbing...

White Lynx, Goodwill, and Scraps are stuck to the floor.

Jules ducks in time, and the spray misses Cosmic Girl...

(Gonna have to be a FORCEFUL to break free of the webs, guys...)

With a start, Lynx began struggling with her new, rather sticky, bonds. Caught to the floor and with only one good arm at her present disposal, every moment she stayed in place made her feel like a sitting duck. As she struggled, the heroine began to calm down. This wasn’t a great situation, but maybe the spider could be reasoned with? They seemed to know Jules, but she didn’t know if that was going to hurt them or help them. Even then, trying for a polite conversation, or even some banter, could give her and the others enough time to regroup.

“Sorry to drop in like this. We didn’t know anyone was home, Miss...?”

White Lynx rolled 7 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 2,6.  Breaking free from sticky webs. Forceful with -1 Forward.

Goodwill tried snapping his bonds, but remained silent, and otherwise motionless. If the spider could be reasoned with like Jules, then maybe it would be best just to let Lynx talk.

The goo refused to break, though. Unbelievable.


Goodwill rolled 4 using 2d6+2 ((1,1)).

White Lynx breaks free-- but the spider-thing stings her!

...Or it WOULD have stung her, if not for Cosmic Girl flying in to get stung instead!

Cosmic Girl cries out, and floats to the floor, unconscious...

"Ow!!" cries the spider-thing. "Putting that girl to sleep actually hurt me a little! I can see I'll have to clean up the rest of you quickly!"

(Goodwill gets 1 new xp, but is still stuck...)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:25, Mon 01 Feb 2021.

With a desperate wriggle and a whine, the Super Pup tried to get free from the yucky webs that stuck him the floor.

- rolled 5 using 2d6-2 with rolls of 1,6.  Wriggle Free.

"Hey! Miss Spider person, if we're not welcome in your little 'doctor's laboratory,' just say so!"

They were already a heroine down and none of them had even been able to attempt a hit on the talking spider. A quick glance confirmed that, yes, Goodwill and Scraps were still stuck to the webbing. How had she gotten out and not them? Bah, there was no time to consider that frivolity. It was her and Jules against this spider, and she only had the one good arm. A tactical retreat sounded nice, but they were past the point where words alone would be enough.

Pushing herself back to full height with her good arm, she continued, "And didn't anyone ever tell you it's not very polite to knock someone out without introducing yourself first?!" Left arm outstretched, bolts of electricity danced alongside her, meant to pressure the large spider to back up. From there, it only took a second for Lynx to realize that she was still using her right arm to support herself...

White Lynx rolled 6 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 1,2.  Hold Them Off, to play keep-away with the spider. Confident.

But a second wasn't exactly fast enough.

Holding back a snarl of annoyance, Goodwill tried to rip free of the webs again.

Goodwill rolled 11 using 2d6+2 ((6,3)).

This time it came free, along with small chunks of the floor. Goodwill tossed the web aside before wiping sticky goo from his fingers on his shirt. He made no aggressive move, as Lynx made her play for a peaceful resolution.

(Scraps gets 1 new xp, but is still stuck...)




The spider-person rakes out one of her arms/legs at White Lynx with blinding speed...

(White Lynx takes 2 stress...)


Meanwhile, Goodwill manages to get himself unstuck...

(Goodwill, you are free to act next round, but I'm going to let White Lynx post again first, and let Scraps have another chance to free himself...)


Jules attacks the spider-person...

(GM rolls dice...)

He manages to tear off one of the spider-person's legs (arms?), but since she's got 7 left, it doesn't seem to be a gamechanger...

(Mabel takes 1 stress...)

Scraps continued wriggle and waggle, and even began gnawing at his sticky bindings, but to no avail.


- rolled 6 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 6,1.  try again to wriggle free.
Go on without me, friends.   I am done for.   Save yourselves.

Crying out, Lynx backed away from the spider. Taking a quick moment to look herself over, she was glad to see that her arm wasn't in much worse shape than it was before, barring a new, ugly gash on her shoulder. It seemed like the electricity had just refused to fire off and had merely dissipated into the air. For a moment, she worried that the arm might not be able to properly handle her powers for a long time, but she decided that wasn't a rabbit hole she needed to pursue at the moment.

Taking stock of the situation, it seemed as though Goodwill had managed to break free and Jules had torn a limb off of the spider-person. She'd hoped that they'd be able to get through this relatively peacefully, but if they had reached the point of taking limbs off, it may be better to try and finish this quickly. Reaching out towards the spider with her good arm, Lynx shouted, "If that's how you want this to go down, Miss Seven-Legs, I can oblige!" and fired off a burst of electricity.


White Lynx rolled 9 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,4.  It's Clobbering Time, for payback against a spider. Let's go, worst stat! Forceful.
--You hit hard (+1 Stun)

Scraps is just getting himself stuck worse. There's sticky stuff in his fur and it smells like spiders and mad science and he hates it and it's really getting him upset.

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



"Oh!"

(Mabel takes 3 stress.

GM rolls dice... Mabel fail!)

The spider-person tries to counter-attack White Lynx-- she certainly left herself open enough-- but only for an instant. White Lynx is too fast to get hit again, at least this time...


(Okay Goodwill, go for it)
This message was lightly edited by the player at 16:01, Sun 07 Feb 2021.

While he hated to hit a lady, the giant spider didn't really qualify. Goodwill really leaned into this one, and let fly with his best punch...

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

...and missed.

"Oh no you don't!" says the female voice from the speaker-box, and Goodwill instead gets a face full of webbing. In fact it covers his ears, too.

(Goodwill is now operating without being able to see at all, and only able to hear things in a very vague way.

He also can't breathe... but... does he need to breathe...?

Either way, if he attacks this way, on a result of lower than 10, he might hurt an ally...)

He does hear Jules, though: "Mr. Goodwill! Fly over here, and I can try to help you get that off...?"

(Attacking in this condition is Forceful (with -1 penalty).

Attempting to remove the face-webbing is Forceful.

Flying over near Jules (or White Lynx, for that matter) is Insightful (as in, remember where in the room they are.

Will Goodwill try one of these, or something else?

Either way, he's got 1 new xp...)

"GDDMTT!!" Goodwill shouted behind his faceful of webbing. This was really getting on his nerves. He grabbed a double handful of the gunk and tore at it.

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

If came free, but actually managed to pull some hair out when it did. That really hurt. Goodwill had almost forgotten what that felt like.

"Now cut that out!" he snapped.

Scraps  wasn't sure what to do now, this was starting to hurt.
So instead of struggling more, he simply hunkered down ... and whimpered.

Noting Scraps' whimpering and Goodwill's growing frustration, Lynx backed off and sped over to Scraps, shouting out, "Goodwill! Fight defensively and don't let up! It looks like she'll go down soon! Scraps, I'm coming to help you out of there! Just hang on!"

White Lynx rolled 6 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 1,2.  Inspire the Team against the spider. Confident.

Wait, did she forget to give Jules instructions? Did he even need instructions? And maybe shouting when there's a dog whimpering was a bad choice. Whatever, she would stick with it. Crouching in front of Scraps, Lynx set to work tearing the webbing away.

Scraps just waits for someone to help him, or to at least destroy the scary bug-person.

Goodwill is now free to act. (Goodwill takes 1 new stress, though.)

While White Lynx is trying to talk, the spider-person attacks her...

(GM rolls dice: Mabel fails!!)

...But White Lynx notices just in time, and dodges!

Jules isn't sure what to do... so he tries to free Scraps.

(GM rolls dice: Jules rolls an 11!)

Jules tears up the tile on the floor while doing it, but who cares! It's not our floor! It's the floor of a nasty ol' bad scientist! Scraps is free!

Scraps was so grateful, that he let out a howl of joy ... designed to bolster everyone's spirits.
- rolled 5 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,2.  Inspire the Team.
But it probably came out a little worbly and uncertain, as Scraps was still a little intimidated and unsure of the whole situation.

Backing away from Scraps and Jules, Lynx charged at the spider, sparking the ground around her. She seemed to be focused on getting a hit on her and Lynx was not going to pass up that opportunity. No one else was going to go down tonight. Except maybe the spider.

"You know, you're being quite rude to your guests, Miss Spider! How about some practice, one on one?"

White Lynx rolled 8 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 1,4.  Hold Them Off, to wear down the spider. Confident.
--They can’t attack anyone they weren’t already attacking

This was taking too long, and doing way too much damage to his friends and puppy. Goodwill needed to end this, and end it fast. Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing just how much damage the spider could take.

Goodwill rolled 9 using 2d6+3 ((2,4)).
--Hit Hard

(Scraps gets 1 new xp and takes 1 new stress)

The spider-person seems rather hurt by Goodwill's attack-- but she also doesn't seem to feel that it's safe to stop dealing with White Lynx yet, either.

(GM rolls dice for Mabel: FAIL)

She attacks White Lynx, but in her distracted state, she misses...

(GM rolls dice for Jules: FAIL)

Jules tries to attack, but he just gets knocked backwards... the spider's pretty strong, if you come at 'er wrongly...

Punching the spider seems to be working, and it's still pretty much the only trick Goodwill has in his playbook for this sort of thing.

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

... but he's far from infallible, especially today.



(I swear, the RNG gods hate me.)

Trying to take advantage of the spider's focus on her and their subsequent failure to strike her, Lynx whirled into the spider with an electricity-reinforced kick, her leg sparking up a storm.

White Lynx rolled 2 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,1.  It's Clobbering Time, to take down the spider. Forceful, ugh.

A kick that had completely whiffed.

(I hear ya, Goodwill.)

The spider-being ducks under Goodwill's punch, and then back-limbs him across the room, to smash into the far wall.

(Goodwill takes 1 new stress.)

White Lynx attacks the spider-being, misses, dodges the counter-attack, and then backs off for a second.

And then... her eyes fall on an object on the wall that she hadn't had a chance to notice before.

It's a device, probably a weapon, in a state of disrepair... it's been about 30% disassembled.

But she recognizes it... it's the trident-shaped device that she first encountered on that first night that she hit the New York scene, as it were... the first night she was forced to start being White Lynx...

So that thing... was made... by Dr. Norwood? Or...?!?

(White Lynx is so astonished and amazed by this unexpected revelation that she can make no actions for her next turn that involve Forceful nor Agile...)

They were going back and forth, not quite trading blows. Not the worse course of events, but they didn't have a lot of time to play out a war of attrition. But Lynx just couldn't land a hit! And if the arachnid wasn't keen on talking, her taunts were similarly useless. Goodwill getting knocked away wasn't helping matters either. Partially out of concern for the immortal's well-being and partly for the sake of finding something in the environment to help take the spider out faster, Lynx spared a glance at the far wall.

Wait... Was that?

For a moment, Ch'rava flashed back to her first night on Earth. A crashing ship, glass shrapnel, a warehouse, shattering lightbulbs, a mess of flesh, her phylactery pooling on the ground, one last shapeshift, and...

A strange trident on the wall. The spider had said this was 'the doctor's laboratory.' Those words crackling from her little speaker-box reverberated in Ch'rava's head. Norwood had seemed interested in heroes, transforming and copying them with that strange chemical and those odd chemical men respectively. It might make sense for him to have been involved that night, if that partially destroyed trident had truly been meant to take or copy over the real White Lynx's powers. That meant...he might know. In that case...

Dr. Norwood could not be allowed to live.

Brought out of her reverie by an approaching spider, Ch'rava tried to pull back and focus on keeping her attention, but found that her legs would not move as fast as she wished and her arm had much less power behind it. She was still reeling from shock and, as the spider made her way toward her, Ch'rava knew she was running out of options. If the spider got a good hit in, she'd lose the advantage. If the spider figured her out (because of course, she would. She was working with Norwood, right? She'd know everything he'd know, right? Obviously!), the others would freak out and cause an interstellar incident because she couldn't keep her cover straight. If only she could seal the spider's lips. Ch'rava's eyes spotted the speaker around her neck once more and a plan formed.

Thrusting her good arm out at the encroaching arachnid, Ch'rava aimed for the speaker-box and let loose a bolt of lightning with a cold sneer on her face. It careened through the air with a sickening sparkle...

White Lynx rolled 13 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 6,4.  Hold Them Off, to silence the spider, Confident.
--You take away useful items (the speaker-box and related cords/cables) from them
--They can’t act as effectively (-1 Stun ongoing until your actions are countered)

And the spider's bark lost all of its bite.

(GM rolls dice...)

The spider is clearly very upset-- incensed.

But all it can do is sort of click and chitter.

It attacks White Lynx... but its attack is weak compared to before.

(White Lynx takes 1 new stress... but also takes +1 forward toward her next roll...)

Cosmic Girl had managed to drag herself out of the mire her brain had been plunged into. She quickly took stock of things. She did not even bother to stand up. She simply looked at the huge arachnid, and with every iota of power she could muster, she unleashed her eye beams with a titanic VVVWWWOORRPP!!!!

OOC:
19:22, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 10 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 5,3.  Spider Flambé time!

That'd be Hit hard. x2. For a total of 4 very delicious Stun!

Scraps, unsure what to do, but feeling a pack compulsion to attack this big thing, launched himself at a nearby spindly leg, in the hope of getting its    ankle(?)   in his jaws.
- rolled 4 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 3,2.  Forceful attack.

The spiderish thing is hit hard by Cosmic Girl... it doesn't look like it has much more fight left in it.

On the other hand, it shakes off Scraps like he's barely a distraction.

(Scraps takes 2 stress, and gets 1 xp.)

This spider had webbed him to the floor. She had webbed him in the face. She had beaten him hard and made him look like a fool in the process. Goodwill had had enough of this crap.

With a snarl, he charged... prepared to throw the final punch, at any cost.


Goodwill rolled 15 using 2d6+3 ((6,6)).
--Hit Hard
--Avoid retaliation

There's a mighty CRACK, and the spider is knocked back into the tunnel through which it first emerged, shudders (upside down), and grows still.

"That was Mabel," says Jules. "Works for the doctor. I won't miss her."

Cosmic Girl climbed to her feet, and dusted herself down. "I am sorry, I do not know what happened. I guess flying and shooting cosmic rays from my eyes is a useful skill, but I apparently only have normal lungs. They seem rather susceptible to fumes, or gas, or something. I let you down. I am sorry."

Staring entirely at the presumedly deceased spider, Ch'rava spoke coldly and unfocused, "It is alright, Cosmic Girl. You can never know when you'll be struck down. The human body can be frail." As she muttered her half-hearted speech of sympathy, the masked heroine approached the corpse. Kneeling down, she began to look over the body, trying to make sure that Mabel was well and truly gone.

Mabel is no more.

Standing up from the fresh corpse, Ch'rava began looking around the room, her eyes repeatedly catching on the strange trident. Oh, how she wanted to look into that, or better yet, just tear it apart and keep it from ever working again. But that would be suspicious. She could ruin her reputation in the eyes of the other heroes. That'd be an issue, partially because she didn't really have a good reason for Lynx to do that, partially because she didn't want to have to kill Cosmic Girl or Scraps, and very much because she couldn't actually do anything permanent to Goodwill. None of them really deserved it besides.

"So, this is Dr. Norwood's laboratory, Jules? Do you know anything about it? Where he might keep his more dangerous projects?"

"Well I mean... they're..." Jules has never exactly thought in these terms before. "...Well... this way, I guess..." he says, gesturing toward a northward passage...

“That way, huh?” Wheels were turning in Ch’rava’s head. She stood differently, slightly hunched, as though she were entirely on guard. “If we’re set to continue on that direction, I can take the rear. We might be able to catch him this time.”

If she could take the rear (and hang back a moment), Ch’rava would have a chance to take a quick look at the trident, possibly destroying it too.

Scraps was feeling rather sore, and sorry for himself.
With a slight whimper, he trotted over to be with Goodwill, and stayed close now ... rather than scampering about as he often did, looking for cool smells and the like.

Something inside him discouraged him from rolling around in anything in this place.

(White Lynx, roll Charming.)

Cosmic Girl frowned. Frail. It was not a word she liked, in this context, and definitely not applied to her. But every hero had their weakness. Maybe this was hers.

But she would be ready, next time. She readied her hands, and filled them with swirling balls of green and purple energy. And around her, the aura flared, in the same colours. Her eyes glowed vividly, and she rose a foot off the ground, to float, not walk. When she spoke, her words crackled with cosmic force.

"This time, we WILL bring him to justice!"

White Lynx rolled 10 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 5,3.  Oh me? I'm just lagging behind a bit. Don't worry. Charming w/ +1 Forward.

White Lynx acts winded and tired, and wanly smiles and waves her colleagues on ahead, like she just wants to lean against a cabinet and rest for just a few seconds more...

(White Lynx has time to do stuff in this room uninterrupted for no more than 59 seconds (although if she chooses to attempt to use super-speed, she could possibly do a lot more in 59 seconds than a normal person might). Longer, and someone will wonder why their super-speedster hasn't caught up to them yet, and they'll turn back to check on her.)

Waiting until the others were just out of view, Ch'rava panted against the wall. She was actually a fair bit winded. How did they all do this every day? Whenever she teamed up with those three, she always felt like she was barely making it out alive. She felt like a fraud, and not just because she was. If she ever found a way to make contact with home, she'd have to make sure the Brin knew Earth's heroes were not ones to mess with.

But that didn't matter right now. Ch'rava zoomed over to the trident. She'd had plenty of time to think as everyone recovered. There was a benefit to looking around and doing some basic investigation, but this was a priority. Or rather, making sure it would stop existing was a priority. She tore the partially disassembled machinery from the wall, breaking in half over what she could and overloading the rest with bolts of electricity. She felt especially weak as she worked through the trident. If she could just use both of her arms or grow a couple of new ones, this would've been over in a few seconds. With one arm, it took upwards of 30 seconds to reduce the blasted machinery to scrap parts. Ch'rava figured she had roughly the same amount of time left with the room, so she ran about the room, looking for some sort of blueprint or document on the machine, but perhaps due to the fight, there was nothing immediately obvious in clear view. She'd have preferred to look everything over and take anything mentioning the device, but she would be out of time soon. She was a speedster, but even then, she doubted she'd be able to snag anything else. With one last look at the room and a smirk at the trident's remains, she sped to catch up with the others.

She doubted what she grabbed would be very useful to her, but it was better in her hands than Norwood's. Not that he'd be using his for much longer.

No, no, Ch'rava. Tone down the murder. Act natural. You're supposed to be human now.

Skidding to a stop as she approached her compatriots, Ch'rava quickly spat out, "My apologies, everyone. I suppose my arm is just affecting me more than I had previously assumed. I really hope this is the last we see of Dr. Norwood. How are the rest of you holding up?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:55, Sat 10 Apr 2021.

"Are you all right, miss?" Jules asks. "Smelled like you were zapping things with electricity again? Mabel was really dead, wasn't she? No other threats back there behind us?"

Great, apparently alligators have a good sense of smell, who knew? And here's an alligator whose hero is a detective...

“Just a bit tired, sorry Jules. I thought I saw her twitch a little bit and, seeing as we’ve learned recently that some people don’t stay dead, I double-checked, if you know what I’m saying.” To punctuate her implication, she raised her right hand and sparked a few arcs of electricity between her fingers.

Jules sort of nodded. "I can't blame you. Ready to keep going...?"

(Presuming the answer is "yes,")

Jules led the way into a new large chamber... "Damn," said Jules. "He's done a lot of work here since I was around."

The new area was once apparently a subway terminal, but now almost every inch of space along the walls is filled with cylindrical fluid-filled tanks. The heroes recognize smaller versions of the sorts of blobby creatures they fought in the park not far from Washington Irving High School...

No one seems to be around, and even the blobby creatures seem unaware of the intruders.

There are various other scientific worktables and benches set up in the middle, with all manner of chemical and electrical experiments...

"Darn," Goodwill said, looking around. He had been hoping to have finally caught up with Norwood. But this lab didn't seem as hastily abandoned as the last one. Maybe he wasn't aware he had company, which meant he might return at any moment. "Nobody touch anything."

He looked down at Scraps, for whom that wouldn't necessarily be enough of a warning.

"That goes double for you, pal. Don't touch anything."

"Are you sure?" Lynx asked, glaring at the blobby chemical creatures, "Even if we catch him by surprise, what's stopping Dr. Norwood from activating these abominations again?"

Not to mention the fact that there were just so many tanks full of them. Stiffly staring at them, Ch'rava felt a tinge of curiosity, wondering if they were even functional at the moment, or if the fountain, as a body of water, was necessary for their activation. Or maybe they were only transformed in such a way that made them easier to transport and they'd be powerhouses right out of the gate. They'd killed one of them once and got pretty close to ending all four of them. Even if she wasn't out for blood, Ch'rava imagined that would be enough to snip the monstrosities in the bud.

"We should pull their plugs now at least," Lynx snarled.

Scraps, feeling a little disheartened and unfun right now anyway, stayed close to Goodwill.
But he was observing the area intently, his ears, nose and eyes alert for any danger or impending doom - rolled 7  with his Supernatural Senses.

Cosmos was not going to get caught napping (literally) again! She floated upwards, close to the ceiling, so she could have a decent field of view, such as the subterranean quarters would permit it. It would have been much better to be in a high vaulted ceiling of a cathedral, but even a few extra feet in height could help her see what might be waiting in a trap.

Scraps didn't sense any impending doom exactly. But there was something over behind a large plywood CONSTRUCTION AREA KEEP OUT sign that was leaning sideways against the wall. It smelled like that bad man... not that he was back there, but that he'd been back there a lot, or been doing something back there not long ago... it smelled like those little holes in walls that humans plugged lamps and things into...?

Scraps, cautiously, padded over to the plank of wood leaning against the wall, sniffing.

Seeing Scraps' interest in the plywood, Goodwill decided that there must be something behind it. Making sure not to hit anything else with the large piece of wood, he moved it aside.

Ooooooh. This no-longer-hidden control panel set into the wall has various switches and knobs that control the tanks.

Each tank has controls that control:
--FEEDING from one of three different FEEDING TANKS,
--TEMPORARY PACIFICATION controls,
--PREPARATION controls (hard to say exactly what those do),
--DEFEND LAB controls...
--and controls for DESTROY ALL EVIDENCE (clearly marked DO NOT TOUCH!!!)

Cosmic Girl bobbed over to look down at the controls. "Oh. Wow. You know, I don't think we should push anything until we get some experts in to look at this. Firstly, because we are not science people. And also, because Doctor Norwood would definitely rig the controls to do something horrible to us. My expertise is really in the property damage area. If you want me to blow this place up, I'm happy to. But I think that's probably a little way down the line."

Well, that proved she had been learning. A few months ago, she would have been right in there, yanking levers, and turning knobs, without a moment of reflection.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:16, Sat 01 May 2021.

"I'm a big fan of the 'Don't Touch Anything' school of thought," Goodwill agreed. Touching things meant things blowing up. Or biting them. Lots of biting had gone on lately, and he was tired of being bitten. "As much as I'd love to break everything here, I'm going to keep that impulse in check. The only thing I want is Norwood himself."

One of the controls really did just say, 'DESTROY ALL EVIDENCE', didn't it? It was incredibly tempting to just rush over and pull it. What could the others even do to stop a speedster? But putting aside how easily something like that could be a trap, did she actually want all of the evidence destroyed? Knowing her luck, the others would probably manage to stop the beasts before they got to anything pertaining to the trident or the Brin. Besides, evidence meant Dr. Norwood would be more easily captured. There was, of course, a risk in that he might spill the wrong information under interrogation, but if he were able to prove anything conclusively, he probably would've done so already or otherwise blackmailed her.

Looming over the controls and making sure to avoid eye contact with the oh, so tempting 'DESTROY ALL EVIDENCE' buttons, Lynx muttered, "It could be risky, but I have to admit that I like the sound of those 'TEMPORARY PACIFICATION' options. I don't think we can really get through another fight unscathed, especially if it were against all of these monsters."

Bored now, because there was nothing behind the wood panel to eat or sniff or roll in or mark, Scraps moved on; never straying from Goodwill too far, but his nose and ears (and eyes) looking for the aforementioned.

- rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,3.  Look Before You Leap - with Heightened Senses.

Down one set of tracks... and to the left... that bad man who tried to blow up Gil went recently. Or... not recently? A day ago? Several hours ago? Less? Or... was it just... someone wearing the bad man's clothes...? Not sure... Was here... and went that way, though... North...

Looking to Goodwill, Scraps barked to get his attention ... the looked pointedly down that northbound corridor.

As always, Goodwill knew better than to dismiss Scraps' ability to sniff out trouble. If his nose said that there was something down that passageway, then that was the way Goodwill would be going.

"This way," he said to White Lynx and Cosmic Girl, jutting his head in the direction Scraps had picked out. "The nose knows."

"Roger."

Turning to Jules, Lynx asked, "Anything you want to do here before we head on, Jules?"

"Nice work, Scraps!" Cosmic Girl bobbed back down to the floor, and gently ruffled the pooch's ears. And then, she makes to start down the route after who - or what - ever may lie there. She holds up a hand holding a cosmic energy ball, casting an eerie aurora borealis like light. "You want to go first, anybody? Or shall I draw the short straw this time?"

She was all too aware that her friends had been given a good pummeling earlier, while she was uselessly asleep. She felt it was only proper that she should at least try to take point, in case another trap lashed out.

"Hmph. I'm tempted to destroy all these things... they shouldn't be in anyone's hands. But I also don't trust that control board not to be booby-trapped. So... no, I suppose not..."

Cosmic Girl had volunteered to go first, and it was in Goodwill's upbringing to let the lady go first... expect when danger was involved.

"I'll go," he offered, stepping into the passageway Scraps had indicated. "I'm the one who comes back from the dead."

Yet, it was Scraps who scampered forward, nose to the ground ... eyes and ears open ... leading the way.

Scraps' nose leads him to a door, and the door leads to a new intersection.

To the right, Scraps smells people, barely. The regular subway system, the part that's in use, must be down that way.

Straight ahead, the bad man (or someone wearing his clothes?) went, recently.

To the left... the bad man himself goes that way a lot, including recently... but it also smells like a trap. Danger. An ambush maybe? (How Scraps communicates this danger is up to him. I presume through the languages of barking, growling, whining, and maybe interpretive dance.)

Scraps sniffs to the right:  but discounts and ignores that path almost off-hand.
Scraps sniffs to the left:    a small growl elicits, as he hunkers down a little and gives a whine.
Scraps sniffs, then, ahead:  and his tail straightens in that way that Goodwill recognises 'on the trail'.

He then begins to move forward, following the scent trail in that direction.
     - rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,5.  Insightful;  with Heightened Senses.

"Scraps says he's this way," Goodwill said to Cosmic Girl, White Lynx, and Jules. Scraps might still piddle on things he shouldn't, but Goodwill trusted the pup's nose with his life. Rising a few inches off the ground, he began to glow, filling the tunnel with a warm, golden light. "Follow that nose."

“No arguments here,” Lynx stated, following after the hero and wonder-dog duo. That Scraps sure seemed to come in handy sniffing out danger and the like, even in his current state. She thanked the skies he hadn’t sniffed her out yet, but that was likely due to how complete the shifting process was. “I wonder what made him growl down the other way?”
This message was last edited by the player at 23:08, Sun 30 May 2021.

"Scraps has a wise nose, for one so young. If he thinks there's something bad enough to growl at, I'm inclined to believe him!" Cosmic girl floated up a foot or so again, and collected cosmic energy to her hands, her aura glowing around her like someone in a coffee commercial - all full of energy! "I just hope there's nothing down that way, waiting to come up behind us. We'd best be extra vigilant."

Straight... curving slowly to the left...

It's dark and quiet and creepy down here.

https://rb.gy/jrqel8

Ah. Now down... Down some stairs...

--Stop. Scraps senses... something. There's... Yes. Something about the third step. That one's bad.

The rest of the stairs seem okay though... and this is the way the trail leads...

(Pausing to see how Scraps communicates what he knows to the party members who speak English...)

When Scraps sensed the threat, he reacted as usual … the way he’d been taught in his ‘Fire and Rescue’ training … he froze.
He stared intently at the threat, and growled.
Then, he checked that Goodwill was watching … and repeated the process, once he was sure he had his human’s attention.

Then, he leapt deliberately over that step, and continued down.

At first it seemed that Scraps was afraid to go further downstairs... then he stepped over one of the steps. And again. And again. He was afraid of that one step, then, and not whatever was further downstairs.

"Let's avoid this step," Goodwill said, hovering past it. "If Scraps is on his game today, I'd say it's booby-trapped."

The party of heroes continues downward.

It's even quieter down here. Unnerving. No echoes. The walls, ceilings, floors just seem to soak up whispers and footfalls.

https://c.pxhere.com/photos/e1...bway_dark-2767.jpg!d

You realize that that also suggests that almost anything might be moving down here with you.


And then, after

There's... a figure of a man up ahead. He's just standing, as if waiting.

Each of you notices something different.

Without a growl, as silent as the walls around him, Scraps froze ... and crouched down in an attack stance.

Then, as silently as possible, he began to stalk forward.
He was trying to discern if the human there had spotted them yet, or not.
- rolled 11 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,6.  Insightful ... with Heightened Senses.

The figure of the man clearly reacts as if he's spotted Scraps and his friends.

Goodwill clenched his fist tighter as he once again rose off the floor. His glow increased with the slight effort, bathing the tunnel in its warm golden light.

The man — Norwood? — held something in his hand that Goodwill hoped was a darkened lantern, but could just as easily be a severed head, for all he knew. The man was obviously not in his right mind, if his experiments proved anything at all.

"It's time to surrender," he said, emphatically. Then, less so, "You, I mean."

“You are Norwood, correct? It’s very important to get these things in order. Would be such a shame to come all the way just to take down some random thing,” Lynx offered as she slowly approached. She was hesitant, worried that she almost recognized something in the way the man stood. He was still, almost like a statue and she couldn’t help but feel like the being in front of her wasn’t human, in some way. She was having trouble placing what else he could be exactly, but human did not seem right. If Norwood were another Brin...she didn’t know what she would do. She still very much wanted to kill Dr. Norwood, thank you very much, but if he were Brin, then perhaps he wouldn’t be any threat to her cover?

Still, he may have been some other sort of human impostor. And if that were the case? Well, Ch’rava didn’t think she would have to worry about any threat of being labeled a traitor for tearing his head off of his shoulders. Her good hand burned with excitement as sparks flew between her fingers.

"...Surrender?" says the figure. "...Take down? ...What do these things mean? If I were to surrender... then what? Then what would happen? To my works? To the future? To mankind? To my mind? You are like animals. You do not plan. You can't, not like I can. You live in the moment. You can't look ahead. Who would complete my projects? My experiments? Who would initiate the next stage? And the stage after that? How would anything ever progress? My creations can't do it for me... I can't create a being with a mind equal to mine... I must lead my orchestra of life in person. I cannot do so in prison, nor executed..."

This person was talking about their little pet projects, so they pretty much had to be Norwood. But what was with their speech? All those pauses, it was like they were...choosing their words carefully or something. But if they were speaking that quickly, their thoughts had to be fast, as least as quick as hers. What was behind their words? An analysis of the situation and the five of them? An escape plan coming together? Whatever it was, Ch'rava knew it wouldn't be good. Maybe engaging with their words, offering a rebuttal, might knock them out of that, possibly get them to feel moreso than think? But then, they were definitely in speech mode, so going directly into a fight without warning could be better. But...if Norwood was Brin, she'd rather not be labeled a traitor.

"Come on, Doctor Planner, didn't you leave a bunch of notes out? I'm sure some other egghead will find them and continue the future of mankind. They might even reach the brink of innovation without killing people! I mean seriously, I get that you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette, but if you're cooking to feed eggs, maybe make something other than an omelette."

That's what that weird food metaphor was about, right? Murder for some end goal? Either way, Ch'rava just hoped her little clue was subtle enough to be missed by the rest of the team but blatant enough that Norwood, if they were who she thought they were, would understand.

(Hmmmm... White Lynx, I think I want you to make a Charming roll at this point...)

In reply to The Grandmaster (msg # 190):

White Lynx rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,2.  silence is golden. Charming.

"No one is like me! No one! I am unique on this planet! I kill because evolution demands it, to say nothing of self-defense! It is science, as well... as well as freedom...!"

He falters near the end, there... He keeps looking behind him, maybe like he's thinking of making a run for it...? Or... something else...?

'On this planet'? Most pre-spacers would say 'the planet' or something like that, but that slip-up wasn't enough. Probably-Norwood was still talking like no one could match them, so leaving open the possibility of those from outside of this world actually being a match for them seemed uncharacteristic. She needed to keep them talking and to stop turning around. Whether that was an escape route or a weapon, it couldn't be good if this doctor kept looking at it.

Carefully stepping towards Probably-Norwood and beginning to encroach on their space, Ch'rava offered her rebuttal.

"Why bother with evolution if you're already the best, mister 'unique on this planet'? If neither your creations nor the common people can ever hope to match you, then there's no point in either killing to make your creations the best or in culling the weaker common people. What's more, if that's not a good cause for murder and you don't go around hurting people for it, I don't think 'self-defense' would come up nearly as much. If you can't make something better than yourself, 'science' and 'freedom' are just false fronts to keep you from having to make an argument. Enough with the buzz words. Say what you mean."

Cosmic Girl was not going to get caught napping - literally - a second time. She was sure she had seen something down the tunnel, and the way their suddenly very nervous "friend" was behaving, she was pretty sure that this was not a good thing. For them, anyway. And maybe for him - if he was afraid of whatever was behind him, she did not want to give it a chance to let it kill him before he talked. Alternatively if he was relying on it as his last line of defence, that had got to be a truly dreadful thing for them. Given how badly the previous Norwoodites had hurt them, she did not want to let the big daddy get the drop on them.

And so she let instinct drive her, and hoped like hell she was right. Of course, while he destructive powers were really first class, her performance so far as a spy had shown her intellect was not always able to grasp things...

But that was not in her mind. Not when she glared down the tunnel and unleashed a particularly powerful eye beam. It might illuminate whatever was lurking. And, if necessary, singe a decent sized chunk out of its hide, too! Or at the very least, take it enough by surprise that it couldn't immediately attack...


OOC:

01:17, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 9 using 2d6+2 ((2,5)).

Hold Them Off roll.

Result: They can’t attack anyone they weren’t already attacking.

The plan being that the light from the cosmic ray should illuminate the tunnel, and hopefully either hit, or blind, whatever is down there. And I really hope it is not an ally, because, between mocking schoolgirls, and explodingbuildings, I have already done enough damage to my reputation!
This message was last edited by the player at 00:25, Wed 23 June 2021.

Scraps, meanwhile, was following his animal instincts, and hunkering down into the darkness.

The human's were focused mainly on each other, as the puppy tried to blend in with the darkness.

"It's not about humanity! It's about what I can achieve if I just have the--"

Cosmic Girl's blast fires past the man, into the darkness--

--OH. There's a lot more Norwoods back there.

Some have only one arm. Some have spider-like metal struts instead of human legs. Some have cameras instead of faces.

It's an army of robot Norwoods (well, a couple dozen)-- misshapen, unfinished, half-disassembled as if created but then some parts were needed for another project or a better version.

The blast goes over their heads, but they are all visibly shaken for a moment.

The man White Lynx has been talking to jumps back as well. "--You-- you-- you fools! You don't understand!" He's clearly growing increasingly upset. "He built u-- built these-- I built these-- because-- because..." He (it?) trails off, but he (it?) is extremely agitated.

It's a delicate moment. The mob of Norwoods (Noroids? Norbots?) seems likely to break into hysterics, fight, flee, or just all start crying based on what the heroes do next.

(Time for one new Charming roll from someone... Roll, and say what you want to have happen...)

White Lynx rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 5,1.  Calm down the doctor? Charming.

Before the man can get another word out, Lynx has closed the distance and found herself standing before him. For a moment, she decided to end it now, fill what is likely a machine with electricity and short-circuit the lot of them. But Lynx could see the fear and tension in his eyes and could feel the numbing pain in her arm from her own recent electrical accident. She can't kill him like this. Not only because he might be a Brin creation or possibly a Brin himself. Her right hand, previously arced and poised to strike, softened and reached up to offer a supportive grip on the man's shoulder.

"We're all made for a reason. A previous generation or a genius inventor wants someone to be better than they were. Or someone needs a few extra helpers. Heroes and soldiers to face threats. We all are only here because someone else once wanted something from us. Now, that's all a tad high-concept, but what I mean is, you don't have to abide by the wishes and needs of those who made you who you are. You can be your own being. What do you want? Take your time to explain. Or explain why you were made, if that's what you want. It's...It's a hero's job to listen to monologues, after all."

With a brief pat to the shoulder, Ch'rava slowly backs off, still positioned between the Norwoods and her fellow heroes, thinking on the odd feelings surrounding her statement. It was foolish of her to make that brief little speech. The others were veteran heroes. They could've just put some fancy words together and calmed everything down, but that little show of speed and supposed virtue probably just made up the Norwoods' minds against them.

The various robots behind the man in front run away, back farther down the tunnel, into the darkness.

The man in front, though, seems moved by White Lynx's words. "...I don't... I don't know what to say." He seems defeated, dejected.

Jules steps forward. "The doctor created me, as well. I well know how he is... a neglectful creator."

The man nods.

(Anyone wanna chase the Small Army of Misfit Norwoods, or shall we let them scurry away?)

Cosmic Girl let the Pseudo-Norwoods go. She stepped up to the one who was still with them, and with great sympathy, rested a hand on his arm. "Nobody is defined by what people think they should be. You are defined by who you think you are. You have free will now. We will never force you to do something you think is wrong. Norwood abandoned you. He does not seem to care what happens to you, or to any of your fellows. We do care. We never wanted to hurt you. We just want to make sure that Doctor Norwood stops hurting everybody else. He hurt you. If you could tell us how to find him, maybe we can make sure that nobody else is hurt by him, ever again."


OOC:


23:59, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 3 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,1.  Charming the Norwood! (Talk Things Out!).

SEE?????!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!? and also ! This is what I mean about my dice! The worst possible roll! And that speech was GOOD!!! I swear, I am going back to just blowing up buildings. When the pretty girl starts screwing up Charming rolls, we're in serious trouble!

"I'm going to follow them," Goodwill said of the other robots, retreating down the tunnel. He was just going to see where they went, and hopefully not engage with them. Fighting a cadre of weird robots was not Goodwill's idea of fun. Neither was getting separated from the others, but there was little he could do about that right now. The robots could not be trusted. "I'll see where they go, then come back."

He rose into the air amid his usual golden glow, and flew after them.

Scraps took off after his human, running along as best he could to keep up with Goodwill.

"Good luck, Goodwill and Scraps!" Ch'rava shouted after the man and dog duo. Quickly turning her attention back to the man in front of her, she shot him a supportive smile.

"There's time enough for whatever you want to say or do here. Even if that's just letting yourself catch your breath and figure things out. Don't feel like you have to tell us anything either. Still, if you need a place to start, where the Doctor might be isn't a terrible one. But if that's not what you want, maybe just talk to us about your day or about any good books you've read lately? I hear Georges Simenon has some good ones."

(Cosmic Girl gets 1 new XP.)

"But... but... I am Doctor Norwood-- I-- I--"



"I d-- I do not-- I do not have time for-- I must return to my experim-- I must rechar-- I mean-- I am Norwood-- He-- He-- CRITICAL LOGIC CASCADE FAILURE... WARNING-- THIS UNIT WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 5 SECONDS--"

As the man began his meltdown, Lynx's eyes widened. With a wave of her good arm, she shouted "Get back!" to Jules and Cosmic Girl before grabbing the man and attempting to pull him further down the hall, counting every second.

One

"Stay with me, Norwood! You are you!"

Two

Ch'rava studies the man quickly, but she's never been a scientist and there's just no time. For a moment, she imagines that knocking him out might stop the self-destruct, but she has no way of knowing if that would actually help or make things worse. But she doesn't know what else to do and-

Three

"I'm sorry."

Four

She reels back her fist and decks the man in the face,

White Lynx rolled 6 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,5.  Knock out the doctor? Forceful.

Five

but it was the wrong fist.

BOOOOM

(White Lynx takes 3 stress and gets 1 xp.

This is not White Lynx's day week month?)




Meanwhile, Goodwill and Scraps find that the other robot Norwoods all stay together, running/rolling/lurching as a herd, always taking the largest tunnel available. If there's a choice between multiple tunnels, they always choose whichever one leads down instead of up-- if that's a tie, they choose whichever one seems less well-lit.

A loud BOOM is heard, distantly, and they come to a stop, finally, waiting to see what this may portend.

Goodwill and Scraps also stop when it seems the herd up ahead has stopped... they seem clearly nervous, though, and liable to flee again if provoked.

Cosmic Girl knew that White Lynx could get away from the problem better than anybody else could. She was mostly interested in her own safety. It was therefore with consierable urgency that she chased after Goodwill and Scraps, flaring up her aura shield, and hoping like heck she could get out of range of whatever nastiness she had just caused the Norwood to inflict upon them. When would she learn? Talking was not her strong suit!

She almost flew into the back of her friends, and came to a stop a foot or so from doing so. Which was just as well. Slamming into people with her aura up was a very good way to ruin their day.

She peers over Goodwill's shoulder. "What are they doing? They don't seem very dangerous right now?"

Or so she hoped...

Following a pack of insane androids through the sewers had begun to get so creepy that Goodwill nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice behind him. He counted to five in his head before he responded.

"No, they don't," he agreed. "But we don't know that they don't — I don't know — explode? Shoot rays out of their eyes?"

He sighed. There was nothing he could do except try to communicate with them, and hope for the best. It was either that or just start smashing... and that seemed particularly wrong, somehow.

"Hey, guys," he said, slowly approaching the pack. "Can we talk?"

They retreat a few steps, but not very far. One with a robotic, inhuman-looking face slowly asks: "...What do you want, meddler?"

Lynx was blown back from the man, crashing into the floor. Covered in bits of robotic Norwood, she stared at the ceiling.

Why? She felt like she had just gotten through to him. How was it that, just after she failed to kill the man, he just went and died anyway?

Ch'rava didn't feel right here. She hadn't felt right since she'd landed on this planet, but now she just felt useless and broken. Trying to sit up, she found herself with not nearly enough strength to support herself with just her right arm. The best she could manage was raising her back slightly above the ground before falling back down. Gingerly trying to move her left in a sorry attempt at giving herself just a little more push, she found that she couldn't move the arm at all. Looking down at the arm, she found it hard to believe the blood-soaked appendage was really hers. To be perfectly frank, it wasn't. Here she was, a proud Brin scout, stuck in a human shell, lying on the ground.

If she couldn't kill a soul or save them, what good was she?

Trying her legs, Ch'rava found that she could move them well enough and began pushing against the ground. Inch by inch, she pushed herself back into a wall. She didn't have enough in her to stand, but if she got to the wall, she might be able to lean against it. Finally, she made it, using the little leverage she had to pull herself into a leaning position. With a heaving breath, she took in the room around her.

"We want Norwood. The real Norwood." Goodwill  hoped he was going to be able to have a conversation here without it turning to violence, but these robots certainly seemed antagonistic. "Beyond that, we want everybody to be safe."

(Ooh, time for a (new) Charming roll...)

Charming: Goodwill rolled 9 using 2d6+1 ((4,4)).

"...He-- I mean I... I..." The robot frowns. "...The person you're looking for isn't down here right now as far as we know. We-- we do have other bases of operations, though... Do you know about the facility on Staten Island...?" The robot's final tone is smug, like Ah-ha! Bet you didn't know about THAT, did you?!?!?!

"Actually, we've been there," Goodwill said plainly. Smug robots. Who knew? "It was a bust.

"Where else can we try?"

"Oh." They seem sad about not getting to be smug about that, but they also seem at least as sad about realizing they're out of the loop. "Hold on."

They all huddle together and whisper amongst one another (and beep and boop and click and whir and stuff).

Then the one Goodwill's been talking to comes back to the forefront. "...All right, we'll tell you another place that's likely," he says. "But first... you have to promise to let us go after we tell you. We don't want to be disassembled nor destroyed. You're do-gooders, so we know you're the type who always have to keep your promises..."

"You're right. If I make a promise, I keep it." Goodwill was raised better than to lie. And he had a reputation to uphold, even if it was with a group of semi-defective androids. He didn't know if these machines were truly harmless, but they seemed to want to be left alone more than anything else. Norwood, on the other hand, was a clear and present danger to everyone. So the decision was an easy one. "And I promise I'll let you go if you help me out now. Where else can we look for the real Norwood?"

"Too right!" Cosmos said, quietly. She really did not fancy taking on all these androids in this small confined environment. One misplaced cosmic blast, and they could have tons of masonry down on their heads. And while some of them were functionally immortal, she was pretty sure being crushed flat would not do her any good whatsoever...

"...Up in Inwood, at the very top of Manhattan, near 10th avenue and 207th street, in the trainyard, there's a train. The official papers say the engine is defunct and that it's slated to be scrapped but that legal and financial issues have delayed that. But it's really a mobile laboratory... I worked on preparing it."

"Well so did I!" "So did I!" "So did I!" "It's not like I didn't!" the other Norwoods complain...

Looking around the room, Ch'rava saw a mess of blood and machinery. There was nothing that particularly resembled the man that she had just punched. She hadn't been able to stop the self-destruction even one bit.

Slumped against the wall, she looked down to judge the condition of her own body. Bruised and battered on the whole with more than enough gashes to make physical contact sting, but it wasn't anything that Lynx couldn't recover from with good care. Her right arm felt somewhat weak, but she could still manage to move it well enough. Her already injured left arm wasn't doing so hot, as she couldn't even feel it, though that may have been a blessing in disguise. That arm's hand looked especially mangled, with a couple of fingers bending the wrong way. Ch'rava was never quite sure what the right way was to deal with the human body, but she assumed that it would be a bad idea to leave it like that. Carefully, she bent each limp finger roughly back into its proper position.

Once her task was complete, she set about trying to get back onto her feet, but she could only seem to manage to get her back partway up the wall. With a good push, she might be able to stand long enough to regain her footing, but if she failed, it would be back to lying on the floor. Her right arm was still together enough that she could grab a hold of something and raise herself back up, but it didn't look like there was anything in the immediate vicinity to do so with. Well, it wasn't like she even felt like she was all together, so maybe she missed something? Or perhaps there was a good pipe buried underneath some of the parts and blood?

White Lynx rolled 11 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,6.  Look Before You Leap/Try to Get Up. Insightful.
--Where is something I can use to help?
--What should I be on the lookout for?
--Who is in danger?

White Lynx sees no indications of danger to herself nor anyone else.

(Go ahead and find some mundane object to help-- something that would make a good crutch, I suppose...?

As for "being on the lookout for" and "danger," I've got nothing in particular right now, but give yourself +1 in dealing with danger or clues the next time they come up...)

On the one hand, there was no one around to help. But blessedly, there was no one around to finish her off either. Slowly, Ch'rava ran her eyes across the room, looking for something that could help her up or support her, but it seemed like anything that could work was too far up. Shifting around to get a better look at a nearby pile of scrap, she felt it. Right under her legs, there was a long, metal rod. It was somewhat thick and looked as though it was meant to be held in two hands. The rod also looked very much like the one that had served as the handle to the trident from before. Maybe a spare, or another attempt at recreation? Or perhaps it was just a similar pole. Ch'rava was too tired to let herself get caught up in the possibilities.

Using the impromptu walking stick as leverage, Lynx managed to push herself up onto her feet in a standing position. Holding onto it for a moment, the heroine steadied herself.

Good. She was on her feet again. Lynx still felt like she could collapse from exhaustion at any point, but she could move around again. Technically, she didn't really need the pole any longer, but there was no telling whether or not she'd fall down again. Not to mention how she might've misjudged the strength in her legs. In any case, she needed to head on. If the others needed to backtrack to find her, they might lose their chance at finding the Norwood replicas. She just hoped that Cosmos and Jules had managed to make their way ahead without too much pain.

"Thanks!" Goodwill said with obvious sincerity. "Is there anyplace else I should possibly be looking, or is that it?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh... scatter!" says the spokesrobot, and the robots make a run for it again.

(They don't really scatter very well... they seem to have a herd mentality, being most comfortable amongst their own kind.)

Were they running from Goodwill, or did something spook them? Goodwill tensed for an attack, looking around in all directions.

He clenched his fists super-hard to make sure his glow lit the tunnel as well as possible.

Cosmic Girl, also came alert, looking around, her eyes glowing, ready to unleash fire. "What on Earth...? I wonder what caused that to happen? I must say, this is about the creepiest place I have ever been. And I went to the haunted house on Coney Island!"

"I felt that they simply felt that they'd upheld their part of the bargain... and also, they fear reprisal from their creator if he learns that they told of where he might be found."

Even in her sorry state, Lynx's body was that of a speedster. And while her arms seemed to be failing her, her legs kept moving. Still, in an effort to avoid falling over, she worked to slow herself to the point of someone that was just very fast. Surprisingly, Ch'rava felt very slow at this speed. Had she already gotten so used to moving as Diana once had? She felt like something of a parasite, stealing all that the dead woman had been for the sake of her reconnaissance. It was unwise to get more in-tune with this body that wasn't her's, she thought. It had been so long since she'd been able to even look at her own face. It wasn't even that long ago that some of Norwood's strange serums had caused her change to foul up. Couldn't she have indulged that chemical a bit? Just to see a reminder of who she was?

Bah, she was indulging in pointless worries and self-pity. So what if she was screwing up everything? She had to keep living. For the mission. Even if she never found a way to make contact again, it was better for her to be there than to die.

Seeing a light ahead, Lynx slowed her approach. It was good to be around people again and away from her thoughts. Still, she had no way of knowing whether these were her comrades or another Norwood invention. Getting closer, she began to hear their chatter. Relief poured over her and left a wave of exhaustion. Needing it more than she had a moment before, Lynx used the pole to help herself move towards the group.

Between coughs, she put on a brave smile and spoke out, "Hey, everyone. I'm back. Where...Where did the Norwoods go?"

"They ran away again," Goodwill explained with a shrug. "But not before they gave us one more place to search. It's in Manhattan, near 10th avenue and 207th street, in the trainyard."

"I guess having a lead is better than nothing. Weirdly, it's nice to hear that they were able to get away. It seems that these Norwoods have..." Lynx hesitated. What was she supposed to call it exactly? He was ultimately a machine made to self-destruct, but all she had seen was a man freaking out and spontaneously exploding. "They have a kill switch. The one I was with... He exploded in front of me. He's not there anymore."

This day just wasn't going well, was it? She couldn't keep going like this.

Shaking her head, Lynx moved on. "I'm sorry Jules, but could I talk to the three of you in private?" she asked, gesturing to her fellow heroes with the pole-turned-cane. "I've got something that I need to tell you. Before we meet back up with Delancey."

"Hm? Yes, certainly," says Jules. He seems a little anxious about it, though...

Cosmic Girl looked aghast at the condition of White Lynx. "Oh golly... I am sorry! I did not realise you didn't get out of the blast zone! I should have helped you! I just thought... being fast, and all..."

Contrition!!!

But they had work, still. She followed along, curiously. What had her fellow hero to reveal? They had work to get on with, too!

"Oh, it was my own fault. I was trying to stop him from exploding, but I didn't really have any idea what to do. There was nothing I could have done. It would have been the smart thing to do to just get away." She couldn't look at them. It was a hero's job to save everyone, wasn't it? Ch'rava supposed that just went to show just how much of an impostor she really was.

Watching as Jules gave her and the heroes space, Lynx nodded. "But enough of that. I apologize for this indulgence, but it is important. I saw something earlier in here that has convinced me that this Dr. Norwood has, well, discovered a particular secret about me. I've been feeling quite frantic and worried about this, needless to say. I stayed back to destroy that thing that I saw and, what's more, I had resolved to kill Norwood once we saw him." A small part of her worried about the almost casual delivery of these secrets, but if she just pretended like she was delivering a report, it felt more natural. That part also paled in comparison to the side of her that was shouting at her to keep her cover from blowing. But it was too late for that. "I couldn't do it though. I mean, this wasn't the original Norwood, of course, but I just...couldn't. I feel shameful and relieved all in one. But that doesn't change the fact that Norwood likely knows this secret and, if that goes unchecked, he may reveal that secret at an inopportune moment to shatter trust between us. And so I have resolved to tell you three now. Forgive me if it sounds odd or hard to believe. Furthermore, I will understand if you can no longer work with me on this investigation or anything else going forward."

Lynx stepped back from the group, swallowed, and forced her head up to face them.

"The fact is: I am not White Lynx. Frankly, I am not human either. My name is Ch'rava, a scout sent by the Brin Empire. Our mission was to transform into human forms and discretely enter human society to judge technological and social advancement and as to whether or not humanity could make for a good ally. However, I got separated while in flight and lost control of my craft. My crash landing killed the real White Lynx and what appeared to be another person. There was also a strange trident there that this other person seemed to have been wielding. It was this object that I noticed in the other room. Likely a replica. As for White Lynx, after the crash, I had just enough left in me to transform into her, but I am no longer capable of shifting my form. I have not been able to make any contact with my superior officer either. That is all."

Her piece said, Ch'rava looked away from the heroes and back down to the ground. It seemed as though she had been rolling her makeshift cane back and forth for some small sense of comfort during that whole ordeal. It was hard to believe that she had resolved to kill only a few hours earlier.

Goodwill looked at White Lynx Ch'rava. It was a lot to take in, and much more to actually believe. But the way she told the story was extremely convincing, and it didn't seem like she was making things up. If she was joking, she was doing so very badly. If she was insane, there would have been signs of it earlier.

No, she was telling the truth. She was an alien.

That would be so cool, if it wasn't so darn creepy.

"Okay," he said eventually, having taken the story at face value for the time being. She wasn't the real white Lynx. He'd never even met the original White Lynx, it seemed. (Although he might have? The timeline was vague.) But he'd known Ch'rava for months now, had her in his loft, even... and she felt real enough to him. It was just so darn weird. "What happened to the original White Lynx?"

Ch'rava shook her head. "She didn't make it. White Lynx was killed in the crash. I believe the other person had been trying to attack her with the trident, but I don't know how far they had gotten in their attempt or what they had hoped to achieve. Either way, I buried the two of them, alongside the remains of the crash."

Cosmic Girl looked very troubled by this news at first, but after a moment, she came to a decision, and laid a hand on Ch'rava's arm. "It does not truly matter who you are. What matters is what you do. You have laid your life on the line for people many times. What happened to White Lynx is tragic, but you cannot be held responsible. You took up her mantle, and you did what she would have done, to protect others. And I like, and respect you. Ever since we met. Since you have always been Ch'rava, then it is Ch'rava I respect. And will fight beside you."

She then gave a small, rather impish smile. "My parents are going to go bananas about this. They've always said that there must be life on other worlds. They have spent their lives trying to find ways to prove it. And you've been here all this time. When this is over, you have got to come and meet them. They'll have so many questions!"

It did not occur to her that perhaps Ch'rava would prefer not to be paraded around in the open. But Cosmic Girl was such a good person inside, the fact that it could have a very bad outcome genuinely had not featured in her chain of thought.

Ch'rava was confused by Cosmic Girl's response. Cosmic Girl respected her? Sure, she'd done her best to try and save people, but that was the position she was in as someone pretending to be a hero. Even then, it wasn't like she was great at the job. She'd just failed to save a man's life so badly, it placed her in a sorry state.

But there wasn't much time to think about that.



"A-About that!" Tell the hero's parents?! Her head snapped back up in front of Cosmic Girl. Ch'rava was expecting some sort of severe 'We'll have to tell the government' statement or a solemn 'The people have to know.' But Cosmic Girl seemed almost excited at the prospect of revealing that an alien empire was secretly watching humanity to her parents. The alien scout didn't want the general public or the planet's governments to be aware of her little excursion to their world, but would it be as bad for a couple of parents to know? Of course, she had no idea who these people were and whether or not they might let loose this information either. "I know that I don't have the right to ask this of you, but could you keep this secret of mine? Perhaps I could meet your parents first and then decide whether or not to tell them?"

"I'll just leave this out of my next call home to Mom," Goodwill said with a shrug. He couldn't see any reason she needed to hear it, really. It's not like he'd share any other secrets that Lyn— Ch'rava — told him in confidence. "In fact, I'm just going to treat everything you said as 'Need to Know.'

"Mom's still getting used to the idea that I come back from the dead, anyway. 'Aliens walk among us' might just push her over the edge."

What? Did he not have a problem keeping this secret? All this talk of telling their parents, as though her duty to investigate humanity was little more than an incredible curiosity. Weren't species supposed to get all paranoid and frightened when faced with some kind of 'alien invader'? Had she read too many Brin spec-fi novels and op-eds? Was this a quirk of humanity? Or...them being heroes? Goodwill was right. Here was a literal immortal man. That alone would be an amazing find on most any planet. She'd been reading old papers too. Both right in front of her and around Earth, there were amazing people that, while usually within an acceptable amount of oddity for a space-farer, were incredibly different in capabilities from the average human. And that didn't even stop at the planet's primary species. By necessity, they were all very unique. Perhaps it would be a different story if she could actually make contact with her commanding officer, but she had no way of reporting to anyone. She hadn't even gained much of the sort of sensitive information that a government would need to be concerned about. It felt wrong, but if Goodwill and Cosmic Girl didn't see a need to tell people (with the possible exception of their immediate family? Cosmos seemed very pumped at the prospect of revealing alien life to her enthusiast parents), then she certainly wasn't going to press the issue.

Wiping away the shocked look from her face, Ch'rava replied, "Thank you, Goodwill. You don't know how much I appreciate this. And, well, I'm not sure how to say this, but...are you all sure that it is alright to keep working with me? Despite my, how to put it, allegiance to a third party?"

Cosmic Girl sighed and nodded. "You are right. I won't tell anybody, not even my parents. Maybe one day it will all come out. Until then - I shall keep your secret."

The concerns their newly revealed alien chum was harbouring were valid, and in her shoes, Cosmos might feel the same way. Still, she wanted to provide reassurance. "You have been brave, heroic, and a good friend all this time. I think that is all I need to know. I would gladly fight by your side - and stand with you, if someone takes against you!"

"Yeah," Goodwill agreed. "Your actions are how you should be judged, and your actions are those of a genuine hero. So what if you're from a different planet? I'm from Nebraska. New York still feels like a different planet to me."

So they were just going to stay beside her? Here she was, all worried the others were going to get her indefinitely detained and interrogated about her mission and she was still a "genuine hero" in their eyes?

Ch'rava started laughing. She couldn't help it, her frame rocked with guffaws and chortles so hard she had to hold herself up with her makeshift walking stick. It was almost hard to believe that she'd been so worried and distraught over what they might do only a few moments before. She was sure she'd be filled with doubts again later, but the day's emotional whiplashes were too much right now.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she stood up straight.

"Thank you both. I am grateful for all this faith you have in me. I apologize for keeping us away from work for so long. I can answer more questions for you all later. And then hey, maybe someday, you can show me Nebraska. Even if it only feels like it, I would love to see another planet."

So what if she was terrible at being a hero? At being Lynx? She didn't have to be on her own.

"Nebraska is a very dull other planet, by comparison to New York," Goodwill said. Lynx must not have looked around much before or after his funeral. "I mean — don't get me wrong — it's a great place to grow up and all that. It's just... there's not much to see, other than endless cornfields.

"Anyway: Norwood. He wasn't here, and we've got another place to try, so I guess we're done here. We'll let the Feds take apart the lab. Does that sound about right, or am I forgetting something important?"

"I don't believe anyone thinks their home is the most interesting place. You're used to it. Still, maybe that can wait until your next funeral."



"I didn't have a chance to fully look through the previous area with the trident, but I think I'll just hope there's nothing that will link anything to me. I'm in no position to tear that place up as it is. Beyond that, we just have to help out Jules, right?"

"Yep." Goodwill waved Jules over to rejoin the group, as it wouldn't be polite to talk about him while he was standing right there. "Jules, buddy, there are going to be a lot of Federal agents tromping through these sewers in a little while. Some of them are probably going to go right through your Home Sweet Home. I don't think there's anything we can do to stop them, either.

"We can tell them that you're friendly, and to leave you alone... but even if they listen, it won't be alone alone. They're going to be all over the place down here.

"I was thinking that maybe you could crash at my place for a little while, until they've cleared out."

Jules appears alarmed... and then frightened... and then touched/moved. "I'd be honored, if it wouldn't cause any special difficulties for you. ...Do you have any books at your home...?"

"Some. Not a lot. Most are for school." Goodwill felt a little sorry that he didn't have more to read. Jules was obviously more well-read than he was... and he lived in a sewer. So that was no easy feat, but he'd done it. "But I'm not that far from the public library, and then there's the school library, too. So I can probably get you darn near anything you can think of.

He'd nearly suggested that Jules could go to the library himself but then realized that the alligator-man would probably cause a panic if he did. So he offered to get Jules the books instead.

He didn't address the question of 'difficulties'. Jules could potentially cause a panic anywhere he went on the surface, but Goodwill didn't want to force him into hiding, either. Still, he'd probably be content to hole up and read, as long as Goodwill kept the books coming.

"I can certainly bring as many as you want," Cosmic Girl reassured. "My parents are at the cutting edge of modern science. They have a huge library. Not much in the way of art or literature, I suppose, but certainly all kinds of journals. They won't notice. If they do, they'll just be very happy I am interested in the reading. They tend to be very wrapped up in their work and do not notice a lot of things outside of that."

She then considered options. "I am a little concerned that we have precious little time. Norwood surely must have some sort of surveillance down here, or maybe one of his rejects was bugged. We do not want to give him time to escape."

"How recently was he last here, though?" says Jules. "I think that robot that exploded was simply wearing his creator's clothes... perhaps to fool bloodhounds and other dogs..."

Cosmos frowned. "I am sure you are right. But we would be naive to assume he did not have SOME sort of tracking device or a camera or something. If they're wearing his clothes, it is not a big step. I don't know. I wasn't paranoid before I started goofing around with you guys!"

Her judgement on such things was generally skewed, but her friends would not know this. She had spent far too many years being developed as a top secret project by the government to really knows what was going on, and her trust for them was almost certainly going to prove misplaced, sooner or later. Perhaps a little healthy paranoia was exactly what she needed, right now.

"Still, this new location could still give us more information on his whereabouts. Though it would be very nice if he didn't know we were coming. Either way, getting there faster should be better. Though it couldn't hurt to rest and recover first, if I may be so bold. Better to miss Norwood by a hair than to catch him at the cost of a friend."

"Uh... let's go?" Goodwill didn't know what else to say to the matter at hand.

"Er... going... to your... home, yes?" Jules inquires. "...If so, might I just stop by my lair? I'm in the middle of re-reading Maigret's Little Joke, and so I'd like to pick up my copy..."

"I don't see why not. Let's all go. That way, we can carry more than just the one book."

And also keep the alligator safe. More than enough people had died that day and Ch'rava wasn't about to let Jules get blindsided by a random exploding Norwood or a gas leak. Though at the same time, she didn't really know how useful she would be at the moment, her arms as useless as they were.

"Sure," Goodwill agreed. "We can take as many books as you like, as long as we can carry them."

"Ah, excellent, I can get The Shadow Puppet, too..."

When the heroes and Jules emerge from the tunnel exit, the agents stationed there draw their guns. "Hey there's a big alligator walking behind you...!"

"Yes, there is," Goodwill said with a single nod of his head. "His name is Jules, and he's a friend."

Cosmic Girl made herself useful, carrying books for their new friend. "He's been very helpful! Please put the guns away! As alligators go, he's incredibly charming!"

The agents, with a little reluctance, holster their guns again. "A friendly, eh? Well... what else'd you find in there?"

"There was a spider. She was less friendly. We also found Dr. Norwood. A lot of Dr. Norwood, in fact. It seems he's been trying to clone himself or create a perfect lifeform. Something like that. We might also have a lead."

"A lead?"

"We have an address," Cosmic Girl volunteered. "But like all the other addresses we have checked, it may just be a link in the chain. But we're getting closer. This time we found a lot of his rejected clones. And they seemed very bitter about being abandoned, so it seems pretty likely they would give us accurate intelligence."

She wanted to get a move on. Giving this villain any time to prepare or run was firmly off her agenda, forever.

"That about covers it," Goodwill concluded as the agents looked to him for anything he might have to add. Between Lynx and Cosmic Girl, the story had been told... save for one private detail. "So we'd like to move on to the next location, if there's nothing that needs our attention here...?"

"What... happened to the clones? What are they... did they seem dangerous...?"



"...Our boss is really going to want to know the next location... he might have a new operative he may want to send along to help. Are you comfortable telling us the new location...?"

"Also, is the alligator going, too...?" the other agent asks.

"The clones ran away into the sewers," Goodwill explained. "There were too many of them for us to catch them all, and they seemed harmless, so we traded letting them alone in exchange for the next location."

When one of the agents pulled out a pad and pencil, Goodwill recited the location for him.

"Jules is welcome to accompany us if he wants to," he added, "but you can just ask him directly. He talks."

"I don't want to go if my new friends think I should stay away," says Jules, "but... if you just want my opinion... Well, I'm not sure if I want to make a habit of fighting crime in this way, but... I do think I could be helpful in this particular endeavor..."

"Adding to that, one of the Norwoods self-destructed when pressed on being a clone. Could have been an identity crisis or a failsafe. Judging by that explosion, it's more to destroy that Norwood than to injure others around them, though being too close is still...not advised. Just, if you find any Norwoods, don't pressure them too much."

Internally, Lynx let out a sigh of relief. The others had said that they would keep her secret, but it was another thing to see them avoid bringing up that topic with the government altogether. Still, this talk of a 'new operative' seemed worrisome. True, adding in another person could help speed up the process of taking out Norwood, but was this going to be a government plant or just another concerned hero? Ch'rava perfectly understood the irony in worrying about someone else being a plant, but she felt it could be justified. Not to mention how tossing another person into the mix could be an issue if Norwood revealed her secret to them. And she wasn't sure she could just trust a brand new hero with that information herself.

At the very least, this would keep her on her toes.

"I think we would accept anything you could do to help," Cosmic Girl said to Jules. "You have been invaluable so far. I do not want to put you in any more danger, but if you can help us bring Norwood to justice at last, we would owe you a condiserable debt of gratitude. When I see how he has caused suffering to you - and all those poor clones... I dread to think how much more he will do if we do not act at once."

Never one for introspection. She left the complex plans and the moral maze to those better suited to that sort of work. Her forté was blowing things up. And if anybody deserved that, it was the evil Doctor Norwood!

"Okay, then..." One agent is jotting things down in a little notebook. "All heroes survived... picked up friendly talking alligator... Lead on Norwood... Trainyard... Far north end of Manhattan..." He flips the notebook closed again. "When do you plan to check out this next location... Right away? Tomorrow? A few days...?" He looks at White Lynx. "Ah, do you need medical attention, ma'am?"

Quickly glancing down at her condition and back at the agent, Lynx replied, "I would very much appreciate medical attention. I...my arms don't feel right. I can't move my left arm at all." She felt like she was barely on her feet and she was sure that she looked the part. Either way, she didn't really want to look at her arm right now. She'd already looked herself over a bit earlier, but Ch'rava wasn't a medical professional and probably knew the least about the human body out of anyone present, maybe even including Jules. "I think we were hoping to get a move on Norwood as soon as we can, so I don't want to hold us up, but anything you can do would be quite welcome. It hasn't exactly been my week, you could say."

"I've had more first aid training than he has," says the other agent, "let me take a look."

He comes and takes a look. "Um, wow, uh ma'am, you do need a doctor... maybe one night in the hospital. Shall I call an ambulance...?"