"That does it-- attack!" says the increasingly-bogus-seeming Agent Delancey. His bogus-seeming men attack.

Delancey picks Norwood up, and starts carrying him toward the nearest cover.

(Each of you, there are rifles being fired at you!

Describe how you deal with this!

(Then I'll tell you what to roll, if applicable.))

Being largely bulletproof, Goodwill ignored the rifles for the moment. Cosmic Girl had a gravity field that was as durable as he was, and Spectre... well, he still wasn't sure what Spectre had. Goodwill moved in front of Spectre, and prepared to tackle the gunmen.

Well, it wasn't like it was unexpected!

Instantly, Cosmic Girl flared her aura of purple and green, and rocketed upwards at speed! A fast moving target was harder to hit. Moreover, she had been waiting for this. She was ready!

As she shot upwards, she launched the ball of light in her hand downwards, splitting it into multiple bolts of light, each zooming with sizzling fury at the spurious gunmen!

With a ghostly wail, Spectre dashed through the air towards the "Agent," blasting out a spread of ectoplasm in an attempt to ward off (read: dissolve) at least some of the bullets.

(Goodwill, roll Forceful please.

Cosmic Girl, roll Agile, please.

Spectre, roll Confident, please.)

Spectre rolled 10 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 3,5.  Goo, goo, what happens to you? Confident.

Goodwill rolled 14 using 2d6+3 ((6,5)).

10:00, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 11 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,6.  See how amazingly agile I am in a crisis situation!

I am amazed that worked... *8-O

Goodwill totally breaks the four rifle-toting agents-- they're robots!

"Bark bark!" Scraps barks in a See?! See?!? sort of way.

The few bullets that ricochet off Goodwill are rendered harmless by having to pass through ectoplasm, and "Agent Delancey" and Norwood lose their footing and fall as Cosmic Girl blasts the ground at their feet-- and they can't get up again quickly, as they're drenched in a torrent of gooey ectoplasm.

(Indeed, a trio of very effective rolls!

Amusingly feels like the heroes have gotten fed up and all snapped said OH NO YOU DON'T at the same time...)

"Where's the real Delancey?" Goodwill demanded of Norwood.

Another Agent Delancey comes out from behind a boxcar. "Over here," he calls. "Kid Dynamix is getting medical care... What--" He spots his double. "Well that's unnerving." He draws a pistol and prepares to shoot it. Then he hesitates. "Er, anyone mind if I shoot that thing? I could understand if you did... If you like, I could, say, call for backup...? Cut my arm and bleed to prove I'm not a robot? And that my blood is red, for that matter?"

Scraps runs up to the new Agent Delancey and pants happily at him, making pleased little yips. "There's one vote," smiles the newcomer...

"I would not mind if you shot him. The man is a clear fake, possibly a robot like the other heroes have mentioned."

Spectre floated over to the new Agent. "I would also very much prefer if you did bleed a little. Just to be sure, Agent."

Cosmic Girl remained airborne, keeping a watch for more sneaky Norwoodian strategems. She glowed, and swept her eye beams around the area, like some sort of bizarre co-educational lighthouse. But she added her opinion. "I'd trust Scraps' nose more than most other things. And I am glad the Kid got help. I did not like leaving him behind, but we weren't given a lot of choice."

Agent Delancey removes a medium-sized combat knife from somewhere in his jacket (you wonder what else he may have hidden in there), and cuts his left wrist in a non-artery/vein spot. The self-imposed wound starts bleeding a few drops of normal-looking blood at a normal-looking rate. "Red enough for everyone...?" he asks...

"If Scraps likes you, I'm good with it," Goodwill said with a shrug. "Part of me wants to verify that this is Norwood, but I think that it's just because part of me wants to see him bleed.

"Hardly charitable of me, though. I need to work on that.

"We may try it in a moment," says the Scraps-approved Agent Delancey. "For now, though..."

Then, just as Scraps-disapproved Agent Delancey snaps his own pistol up and points it, Scraps-approved Agent Delancey fires one shot directly into the center of his double's face.

The head of the Scraps-disapproved Agent Delancey explodes in a small shower of flesh-colored plastic and transistors and other electronic bits. So much for that, then...

"Satisfying, shooting one's doppleganger in the face," says the Scraps-approved Agent Delancey, "but also very unsettling. I don't recommend the experience."

"Noted. Thank you, Agent. Both for the blood and taking care of your robot clone."

Spectre floated back over to Norwood, staring at the man and raising his arms as if to say, "don't try anything or I'll melt your face off with ghost goo."

"I don't think Goodwill's idea is a bad one. I see no issue in watching the man bleed a little in the process of verifying his identity. It's hardly the worst thing he deserves."

Cosmic Girl bobbed down to the floor again. "Not unreasonable. Suffice to say, we cannot believe a word that comes from his mouth. Getting our own verification that this is not a robot is a start. Not that it could not be another clone, of course."

"I'll take the risk..." says Agent Delancey. He goes to Norwood, kneels down next to where Norwood is wearily trying to get ectoplasm off of him...

Norwood struggles a bit harder as Agent Delancey takes Norwood's right arm with his left hand.

When Norwood increases his struggling, Agent Delancey punches Norwood in the jaw with a right cross, knocking him out.

Agent Delancey starts to reach in his jacket-- for a knife, perhaps? But stops. "His lip's bleeding now. That enough, or shall I try his wrist anyway...?"

"Nah, that's enough," Goodwill suggested. The odds that a robot was designed to bleed from its lip were pretty slim, even for Norwood. "Let's just get this guy to jail before another giant animal pops up, or something."

"Sure." Agent Delancey gets out a small radio and calls for backup. "Anything else I should know? Or is this case pretty wrapped up for the moment?"

"Well, we have no clue what else is in his base here. If you want us to help clear it out, I am sure we'd be happy to. Otherwise..." Cosmic Girl looked up. "Otherwise, I'll take aerial surveillance for the transfer." She bobbed up a few feet. "I will be very glad to know the real Norwood is out of circulation. Once he is gone, dismantling his network will be a labour of love, not a chore."

She was too idealistic and naïve to know that it would be anything but, of course...

"I suppose I too am pleased enough to know that this man will no longer be on the streets. And that White Lynx will be able to heal in relative peace." The ghostly Spectre glared at the doctor's bleeding face, disgust clear in his shimmering green eyes. "Perhaps we could split up? One of us goes with the Agent to keep an eye on Norwood, while the other two keep watch over this base to make sure nothing gets in or out before we are all able to clear it from top to bottom."

"Good idea. Why don't you go with Delancey and Norwood, and Cosmic Girl and I will check his base?" Having Spectre go with Norwood was a tactical choice; if Norwood made trouble, Goodwill trusted Spectre to do what was necessary to put him down. "Sound good?"

"My people will do that, but if you want to stick around and stand by, I have no objection," said Agent Delancey.




"I'm all right with that too," said Agent Delancey.

(I have no plans for any boogey-monsters to jump out of anything else here at the trainyard. Let's wrap this chapter up, yes?

Anyone got any additional role-playing you want to get out of the way here first...?)