You enter this room and before you stands impressively large desks, The Middle one has a large computer and impressive monitor on it.

The two on either side of the main computer have a digital flattop map of the world  on it with various icons lit up on them.

The last 2 end tables on either side of the room are as such ,
The one on the east wall as info on the Quinjet and you can literally see out the front window of the Quinjet in the hangar and is the filght simulator.

The system on the west wall is the camera’s and security system. You can see all the hallways and the main room, There does not seem to be camera’s in the bedrooms.

----> from Dining Room

Sword of Cup came into the room, seeking William Naslund as instructed by Jocasta's message.
The red man looked left, looked right, and then peered at the camera wall.

OOC: edited for harbinger :)


Harbinger sat still naked in the conference room with only her switchblade in hand her phones and laptop were on the table in front of her . ignoring Bloodrager, She wasn't ready yet to let it back out. And putting on a coat was not something on her mind. Her better self was her clothes. It was everything without utilizing it she was nothing. She closed her eyes and took a few breaths to steady herself

Looking away from the square crystal balls (as he thought of the camera wall), Bloodrager eyed the naked person uncertainly.

"Girl interrupted?" he asked quietly.

Harbinger turned to him. "If that's a reference to something I'm probably too young to know it. " she remarked from behind her curtain of hair observing the other person in the room carefully..

Kevin stumped into the room, yanked out a chair and plopped down it, slouching like a sullen teenager pissed at the world.  And Kevin was pissed.  Pissed at Naslund's dismissal.  Pissed at being lectured about respect.  Pissed that the fucking murdergirl was getting treated like a fragile little princess after she'd tried to kill him.  Pissed that she was here and seemed to be doing better instead of being covered with Naslund's viscera.  Pissed that the chair was a little wobbly.  And the monitors weren't 4K.  The overhead lights were a little too bright, as well.

"Fuck me," he muttered, unable to hold his angry mood despite his best efforts.

He wasn't pissed any more.  He couldn't be pissed right now because fucking Belial had scared all the piss right of him.

It was the dreams.  He finally got them.  The first dream was a threat or a scare-tactic.  The second dream?  The second dream might be an offer.  How could he explain that to the others?  How could he get them to understand that getting your neck broken by Harbinger was not such a bad outcome Belial-wise.  That things could get so very much worse than that.

That deep down he realized he was actually considering Belial's offer, because he'd seen how much worse things could get.  And he'd been trying so very, very hard to hold onto his anger because the alternative was to fully realize that the prospect of confronting Belial again had him scared right down to the depths of his soul.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:11, Tue 21 Aug 2018.

Bloodrager tilted his head one way and then the other, seeming puzzled.

He looked over towards Kevin when he entered. Then asked aloud (in Kevin's direction), "Strange girl in room. Is NPC?" He hadn't recognized Harbinger without her costume, and was operating under his all-too-common default assumptions of dungeons and adventuring parties again.

The question jolted Kevin out of one of his more depressing reverie, so he felt oddly grateful to weird red guy as he tried to process the question.  NPC, WTF?  Oh, right, Kevin thought recalling that the dude somehow always thought he was in something like Elder Scrolls or World of Warcrap or something.

"Yeah, uh, no, that is the lady Harbinger.  She is a PC," he told Bloodrager.

He tried to head off the next obvious question.

"Right now, she's just... uh, right.  Recharging her magical clothing," he concluded to Bloodrager, thanking God Andru had been so prone to spilling his nerd-juice everywhere.  "She's re-empowering her magical clothing and will don it when the time is right again."

Who knows? he figured.  That might even be close to the truth.

"Apparently , according to our teammate here." she gestured to K-fed who was explaining things."Someone called Belial has been getting in my head making me homicidal and suicidal lately. Tried to jump off the empire State building headfirst because of that asshole. In order for me to keep from killing anyone I took my other half into my body." she took her switchblade and cut open her wrists as her blood spilled it coagulated into the substance that covered her body once more. "See? It's just me" she replied with a wave.

Bloodrager puzzled over that. Unseen by others, his matrix shifted around him, and shifted again, trying to find the name Belial. But he couldn't read, only sense the concepts thanks to his accursed assignment as being a barbarian class. He had the feeling that it was mentioned somewhere, in one of his instances despite that limitation.

"Blood," he said approvingly, watching hers spill and change.

She let the suit slide back into her veins for the time being letting the skin heal back up and closed her eyes trying to focus herself. She was in an emotional ocean and the while she could tread water waves kept hitting her.  At least with them inside her they were shielded somewhat.

--> From Common Room

Entering the tech filled room, Galina took stock of those already gathered. When she noticed Harbinger, her smile slipped showing her concern. Approaching, she began removing her cloak, revealing that White Witch wore a fairly mundane green t-shirt and jeans under her costume. "Heavens, we undestand you are a strong, independent woman without the need for a stitch of clothing, but I don't think the rest of us are ready for this change." She said before trying to cover Harbinnger's nudity by using her cloak as a blanket.

Harbinger turned towards white witch. "I'll dress when I feel strong enough to not have a breakdown in the middle of the meeting. Until then deal with it we have bigger issues." she answered darkly the ooze shifting under her skin and in her eye fluid making her eyes appear pitch black. She was trying to emotionally control herself. She looked over at darkstar then back to the woman. "thank... you for offering..." she forced herself to say.

A steady rhythmic clanging heralds Otto's arrival. He enters, carried by two mechanical arms. In his hands he tinkers with a small mechanical device, too preoccupied to be bothered with his own mobility. The arms gently lower him into a chair across from the others.

With a satisfying click Octavius completes his work and pockets the device, finally looking up to take in his surroundings. He gazes dispassionately across the room from face to face, with no outward reaction until finding Harbinger's apparent nudity. He does a double-take and flushes a deep red. "What is the meaning of this?" he sputters with indignation.

The red man looked Doc's way, then followed his gaze to what was embarrassing him. And back to Doc.

"Girl interrupted," he said placidly as if he thought that he was explaining something.

Offer refused, Galina gave Harbinger a confused frown and stood silently for a moment, thinking about what to say or perhaps holding back some remark. During this time, Dr. Octavius entered and had the predicted reaction. Sighing, she held her cloak out towards Habringer and let go, letting it float in the air. "In case you get cold."

Taking a seat nearby, Galina relaxed back into the chair and crossed her arms, looking slightly cold herself. Settling down, she appeared fatigued, as she had in the common room, like she wanted to close her eyes and take nap where she sat.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:33, Wed 22 Aug 2018.

"My Emotions are tied to my other half. And thanks to some cowardly shit called Belial my emotions are making me near feral. So I'm keeping my other self inside my body. So unless you know how to become emotionally numb deal with it." she explained tapping her fingers on the table making her switchblade dance through her fingers on the opposite hand. She ignored the coat she knew her scars were ugly and nobody wanted to see them. But she wasn't going to cover up just for other's sensibilities.

Unlike before, Two appeared in her street clothes. It made her look even more tiny than she already was, as she sported red sneakers, jean shorts over floral leggins, a turquoise t-shirt with a much too large for her (but well worn) sweater. She felt much more comfortable this way, and it seemed like it was part of the deal for being here anyway. No uniform or dress code. So she embraced it.

After entering, she smiled at any who bothered to look her way and hopped up to sit on the edge of one of the desks/tables as her legs swung back and forth. She didn't know what to say, so kept it short. "Hello everybody." She offered a complimentary smile to go with it.

Spider-Man arrived, joining the gathered group and saying, "Time to see what this first job is." strange enough, he didn't feel too worried about whatever it could be, considering he already had something else bothering him.

---> From Common Room

Kent entered slightly after Galina and Spiderman. Seeing Harbringer in her state concerned him but that wasn't his problem...yet. He would wait to continue his conversation with the Witch. He didn't want to say it with so many other people around.

Kevin waved a greeting at those who'd entered and then looked over at Harbinger, hesitating a bit before addressing her comments and hoping she didn't go ape-shit on the room in general and him in particular.  "It's... probably a little more complicated than that and my reasoning is kind of thin."

"I came to see you in the shooting range, because of a dream.  Nightmare, I guess," Kevin explained her and the rest of the room. "The setting was kind of unclear.  You had your toothy, drooly aspect on.  Your, uh, other self had it's limbs around my neck.  Your human face appeared and you were trying to stop your other self from killing me.  During this I saw Belial and some other weird figure behind you.  I felt my neck snap and woke up.  That's why I went to see you despite our, uh, difficulties.  I wanted to see your face.  I wanted to know if the name "Evelyn" meant anything to you.  Especially about the name because it just appeared in my head.  I saw your human face and the name I knew it as in the dream was "Evelyn."

"It was like a telepathic thing.  Karin used to do shit like that sometimes.  She'd study a building layout and just put the layout into your brain like you'd known it all along."
"

He broke eye contact with Harbinger and addressed the room as a whole.  "Now, for the rest of you, something like that might be a threat, a warning, maybe a trick to sew distrust.  And that was part of it, I'm sure.  But coming from Belial, it was also maybe an offer.  On the spectrum of the bad shit that can happen with Belial, murder by neck-snap isn't such a bad thing.  It's quick and fairly painless.  In a dictionary for phrases, there should be a picture of that grinning motherfucker next to the phrase, "Worse than death."

Kevin turned his attention back to Harbinger.  "Dream aside, you fit the kind of project or "art" as he'd call it, that he'd make.  Abused.  Raped.  Tortured from a young age.  I don't know any details about how you and your, uh, other half got together.  But after ward you start going after pedos like the fucker who went after you.  And it feels kinda good to hit back.  Of course, you're not really healing or getting better.  You still have all that rage, guilt, fear and pain festering away inside and now the only thing you can really do to get a little relief from all that is to find a pervo and drag him into his own private hell with you as the Devil.  So, you're suffering and the only way to feel better is to make other people suffer even worse for a little while.  That's classic Belial.  He might not have done it or even been involved, but it's absolutely something he'd do.  When William gets here to do the briefing, you might want to think back and see if anyone resembling him entered your family's orbit.  Maybe he gave your abuser an encouraging word or two to kick things off."

"Plus, there's your other half being in a full-on killing rage about me," Kevin continued.  "Why?  I've never met you before I entered this building that I know of.  Hell, I've never run into anything like you two.  And I'm sure as shit not a diaper sniper.  Maybe Belial has a link to your roommate there and the link goes two ways, so it feels his emotions.  And Belial's emotions about me are probably gonna involve a shit-ton of rage.  Which gives me an idea."

He looked over at White Witch.  "There's this book series called The Dresden Files about a wizard.  One of things in the books is that if somebody draws a circle around themselves and empowers it with magic or for a human, a bit of their own blood, it cuts them off from magical effects and influences.  Can you do that?  Or do something like that?  Maybe see if you can break any links that are affecting Harbinger from the outside?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:29, Thu 23 Aug 2018.

Harbinger tapped her fingers on the table listening as he explained his information to the room. After he had finished that's when she decided to finally speak. There was no real Malice or rage this time just dark cold sarcasm. "How would I know who my father talked to when I was in diapers?" she scoffed. That was just stupid. Perhaps the boss would know something better and more useful.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:42, Thu 23 Aug 2018.

William wasn’t far behind the others in entering the room. Seeing Harbinger sitting in the chair naked and refusing  the offers William looked at White Witch and then back to Harbinger,  as heard Darkstar speaking/

Harbinger, Take the Cloak or get something on!  It’s time to get some answers and I need all of you to do that! he motioned the middle screen.
Darkstar is Partially correct in his assumption.

William said not waiting for her answer but instead raising a point that could possibly allow her to understand where a lot of these emotions were coming from.

On the screen came a picture of a Man he was completely Purple.
Meet Purple man. A super that can control emotions.   looking at the screen Harbinger realizes this was the same man that was causing trouble downtown he just wasn’t purple at the time.

We are heading to Laredo TX. For our first mission. Green Goblin will not be joining us on this mission. he says putting up a display of some of the streets in Laredo on the central PC

You can see that all roads in are blocked off by the authorities.  The video shows people laying in the streets, some building on Fire and people fighting amongst each other with various minor abilities like blasts of energy, one seems to be leaping real high and landing on people  many seem to have augmented strength.

You can see a couple of images of People dropping to the ground after using their abilities.

What we know so far is something weird is going down in Laredo Texas, I sent 2 agents to follow a lead on Belial,  A possible super or something more who is extremely twisted and has crossed path a few times with Darkstar and S.H.I.E.L.D. His Name is Belial. He is possibly directly working for or leading the cartel, Belial has a habit of kidnapping people with powers and killing them for their genetic material some reports have even gone as far as to say he could of cannibalized his victims also.  The genetic material left is the base component of a drug developed by him, The drug effects seem to  temporarily empower humans with super abilities it is called  Dextro-mutazine, AKA DMZ or simply, Demonz. Depending on the version that is given, This drug possibly give its users great strength, endurance and a sense of aggressive invincibility for a time.

In some it even triggered temporary random superpowers that more often than not kills the user and those around them.
There was an operation in New York but it was shut down, However Belial managed to escape. The 2 agents I sent out to follow up on leads have not reported back. They were last seen approached by the Purple man  and are now presumed dead.

To Make matters worse  the City of Laredo  is said to be going crazy. The citizens are either attacking and killing each other while others are suffering from mass hallucinations and severe Depression and fits of Despair causing them to commit mass suicide . Sound a little familiar? He let the last statement sink in a little.

  We are going in to see what help we can offer the town and deal with Belial and possibly The Purple Man. With comparing of some notes and some of the info that has come my way… I do not believe they are working alone. Some of what we have been feeling  may be in part his work but they are in Texas their powers are not strong enough to reach us here in New York. So we believe this is something bigger.    his tone was low.  William REALLY hoped he wasn’t setting this team up to get slaughter.

I know you guys have yet to work as any sort of team as of yet But whatever issues you have with your teammates or in your personal lives As of this moment you leave it behind!  I don't want any more disrespect to any of your fellow teammates.
Get your heads in the game or i will escort you out myself if you can't. The team does not need any liabilities for it's first mission he looked around to the group.
The last statement was not meant for any specific person... The group was up against something big. He wanted to be sure they were ready.

"Well, first off, I'm fine with Harbinger going au natural.  It's weird and making people uncomfortable, but that's a good thing.  Best get used to that feeling," he told William and the others.  "Because if you guys can't handle a cute naked girl, you sure as fuck won't be ready for the shit we'll encounter in Laredo."

"Meanwhile, you said Goblin isn't coming?  Okay, but can we still fetch along some of those knockout gas bombs of his?  They'd be useful in dealing with crazy mobs.  Especially crazy mobs on DMZ," Kevin told them his voice turn more serious and focused.  "Meanwhile, what's our entry plan.  I really don't think we should, like, land a fucking jet in the middle of town.  Belial wouldn't be this obvious without a reason.  It could be this whole thing is a lure to draw supers to investigate so he can and kill them for their raw material.  FYI, except maybe William here, that's everyone in this room.  If we really wanna help those poor bastards, the best way to do that is to find Belial and this Purple Freakazoid and shut 'em down."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:40, Tue 17 Nov 2020.

Evelyn toom her switchblade and cut her wrist open once more without hesitation letting the blood spill.turning inky black once more. She processed the information about their quarries and the drug. "Demonz? Where's Noodle when you need her." she remarked sarcastically. So there were two assholes behind this. Grape ape and Belial. Great the more the maulier. As her suit covered her she had to think how she could keep from turning into a rampaging beast in such a scenario. She let the comment about being cute slide obviously she hadn't realized she had been working with a blind man.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:19, Thu 23 Aug 2018.

"So that's what's been going on?" Spider-Man asked after he finished watching the screen  "Shit, no wonder my spider-sense has been keeping me alerted for a while now.  Let me think..." He crosses arms before adding, "If we're going to investigate and he expects a group of heroes like us to show up, then it might be smart to play it safe until we have an idea of what to do, which means some of us like myself should at first not be in costume. And that's if this Belial doesn't have a way to detect who has powers and who doesn't."

William looked around to the group, he seemed Happy that Harbinger seemed to understand the manipulation now and was refocused.

I'll double check if Goblin may have left a few bombs behind Darkstar. Unfortunately the entry plan is pretty much That, with the quinjet's stealth we can get close enough into the city undetected. He pulled up the map of Laredo Texas,

the last transmission came from  the
Southern Distributing
220 Guadalupe St, Laredo, TX 78040,
so for now this is the main focus point. This place is large enough for Belial to do what he needs.
And we will be landing Here just outside the Rio Grande.
Laredo Texas, 27°29'51.9"N 99°30'44.2"W

ooc: adding for google mapping to follow along.
BIC:
Spiderman I can't risk having you or anyone else wander in like that even with your spider sense, It is still not 100% clear if either Purple Man or Belial can sense Supers or not. our agents were the best of the best and were still somehow detected,and we have a feeling we are not the first to try to go in. We've been Told ...

He clicks the screen again and a picture of a Flaming Skeleton on a flaming Motorcycle appears.


Ghost Rider was last seen there and is now MIA. Our priority needs to be to subdue as much of the citizens as possible close to the Warehouse to allow us time to get in.

Bloodrager was listening, his ring still dim, and had been confused by the initial descriptions of the quest they were being sent upon. People in danger, a purple man with mind control magic, agent units missing, evil alchemy (drug), those he had grasped. Now they were being shown a picture of some kind of undead.

The red man scratched his armpit. "Is cure evil potion for?" he asked, unclear on whether or not an antidote for the drug was known.

Galina didn't answer immediately, she watched Darkstar and silently considered how much of his 'briefing' was knowledge and how much was paranoid fantasy. Her concerns  were validated when William came in and provided more information and less guesswork. The plan was a bit lacking, but the situation sounded urgent. Maybe it would evolve as they traveled.

Beginning to respond, Galina first answered Darkstar. "To answer your question, while it is possible to sever mental connections, that spell is currently beyond my ability. The best I can do is trace the connection, which I intend to do given the opportunity."

"Also you are mistaken. There is no unique bloodline or special trick to learning magic. Only time, dedication, and knowledge is required. That said, I assume the agents sent were similarly mundane, so I would not recommend us trying to scout things out without adequate force backing us up."

Galina then leaned forward and studied the map. "I can fly from Austin and get us a doorway there in about an hour.. maybe an hour and a half, winds depending. Wiliam, once we subdue those affected by this drug, where would you like them delivered? Also who is going to be in command? Are you going to join us in the field?"

William stood looking from team member to team member,

It took a second to register what Bloodrager was asking. As of yet no, there is no cure for the evil potion. Bloodrager.


He listened to Galina. An hour and Half? That is a lot faster than the Quinjet. But that would be a good option. A portal would be better than a large plane. White Witch you can use your trace connection to confirm if the warehouse Is the correct location. Once we establish it is.  Spiderman, Bloodrager, Darkstar to allow a clear path to our location, Yes I will be along for this mission I need to see firsthand what we’re up against, As for the affected. I don’t think any hospital is set to take on that many people at once That being said we will not use our own resources to move them, Our first priority are Purple Man and Belial.

Once inside. If we can see where these drugs are being made. Two, will be used to shut down the computer and machines with   Myself, White Which  to back her,  while Harbinger , Doc Ock, Barbarian would be joined by Bloodrager, Darkstar, and Spiderman on the offence inside.

"Yeah... no, I think we'd better go with Plan A and just taking the jet," Darkstar stated.

He looked from William to White Witch.  "As I understand it, White Witch's idea is that we fly in the jet to Austin.  Then she flies alone into Laredo to set up the portal, with the flight and setting up the portal taking 60 to 90 minutes.  Except what if Belial and his tools can detect you coming in and they're waiting for you?  Trust me when I saw you do not want to be this fucker's prisoner.  Especially if this Purple freak can screw with your mind and emotions.  They'll pull any info you have and might even be able to brainwash you into joining them against us."

"Not quite." Galina replied. "I already have a doorway in Austin. If we were in Austin with a jet, it would be quicker to just take the jet. It is only a timesave since I can travel the bulk of the distance instantly."

"While I appreciate your concern, there is always going to be risks. We could sit here all day and ask what-ifs. What if they know we are coming and mentally assault the jet pilot, shoot us out of the sky with a laser, wrap a building in illusion causing us to crash. What if we land and immediately take sniper fire or step on a landmine. What if we enter the warehouse only to find it is filled with bombs or poisonous gas."

"We will be in serious trouble if they know when and where we can coming and the best way to mitigate that risk is to surprise them as much as we can. Everyone just learned how quickly I can get us there, so unless they can see the future or are listening now, they will be not expecting us for hours. If they have any plans in motion, arriving hours before they expect us is our best chance at surviving them."

"I am not planning on getting too close, which means we will have to do some walking. However it's unlikely that will monitoring that wide of an area. If they can predict our movements beyond that, they wouldn't need to lure us to the other side of the US and let us be on guard."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:42, Mon 27 Aug 2018.

"I didn't use your, uh, moving service here, so I don't know what setting up a portal really involves," he told White Witch.  "But I'm guessing it requires some level of focus and concentrate so you won't be focusing and concentrating on your general area while you're doing it."

"Could you expand the portal to include the jet?" he asked.  "If not and if the exit point in Austin wouldn't work for the jet, how about if you took Spider-man and me with you to Austin?"

"Spidy has that danger/spider/whatever sense that would kick in to warn us about ambushers or just random shit in Laredo.  And I can teleport fast, taking you and him with me since you two are small enough and light enough for me to carry you both."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:09, Mon 27 Aug 2018.

"So our plan is. Run in, kill the bad guys, get out, and let the chips fall where they may? I have experience in that field. Stop the criminals but don't do enough for the victims. but I understand I saw Jesus Christ Superstar. " Surely youre not saying we have the resources to save the poor from their lot. there will always be poor pathetically struggling look at the good things you've got." right? " she understood the necessity if taking out the source of the problem but there didn't seem to be a solution to dealing with the victims.

Bloodrager was looking from speaker to speaker in confusion. That the Witch wanted to do some sort of Way magic to get them there faster was easy to grasp, but the strategy was going over the head of his human side and the alien hive mind wasn't doing anything to help this unit deal with it.

William looked at Darkstar and White Witch

If we can get there faster with the portal we will do it that way.  Where in Austin does your portal lead? And can the opening be 12.5 Meters wide, Large enough for the jet to fly though?

William asked White Witch.

He turned to harbinger immediately.

our mission is priority one Purple Man and Belial, not the civilians. he told Harbinger.
Seeing poor Bloodrager William would have to condense the plan in 2 syllable words to him it seemed once they were done discussing.

In reply to William Naslund (msg # 31):

"Got it, beating up bad guys is what I do best," Spider-Man says in response to the plan. "I'll make sure to keep an eye out for anything else once I'm done making an opening." He had a feeling that he should definitely count on being careful enough to not let anything catch him by surprise if he can help it.

"I don't think William is saying that," Kevin said, looking at Harbinger.  "Think of Belial as one of those asshole pedos you like to kill, which probably isn't too far off the mark all things considered.  The first step to helping the abused is stopping the abuse, which means stopping the abuser."

"That said," Kevin continued, looking at William.  "I want us to take some care and try to take his lab as intact as possible so we can figure out what he used and how best to help the civilians and anyone else."

She looked to Markey Mark. "Oh no I get the plan completely. We go in stop the baddies and pat ourselves on the back and go home. That's the entirety of the plan. "keep the lab"? not the plan. Someone else will handle cleanup we're just wetworks. We're the killers not the Heroes. We should consider the civilians like zombies in a zombie Apocalypse. no cure just avoid or kill Not our problem. We close our eyes after we kill our targets. I'm not saying I'm against it. But unless the boss knows weve got a cure in the works  maybe Shield handling civilian containment We don't care about civilians only the mission their just Collateral damage. That's why they have a killer, an amoral scientist , and more mercenary types. We're not going to be heroes. We're mercenaries. " she said dripping with cynicism then she forced an fake upbeat tone. "Not complaining I just figured we should have it understood for the more sensitive types."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:57, Tue 28 Aug 2018.

"No," the big red man stated firmly in a quiet protest.

"Am barbarian, but am cleric too. Healer." Several concerns with what Harbinger had said were coming to a rapid boil inside his head. Humans were single-unit beings, one body one mind. Well, normally one mind. Kill that body and you were losing an imagination, someone with their own dreams and artistic potential. The hive mind was against that, now that it understood the situation better.

There was plenty of information being thrown at Kent currently. "How strong does the serum make the civilians? I don't want to harm them too much and I can't pull my punches very well when transformed"? he said to William.

Galina looked hesitant at the new expectation being set upon her. She still managed an uneasy smile. "While a jet would be possible, it would require quite a bit of preparation and be stretching the limits of my shortcuts. The spell that links doors is much easier than freeform portals, but I doubt we'd be able to find a similarly sized hanger door to link ours to. My door in Austin is near the top of the Austonian."

Looking around at the others, Galina considered the idea of bringing along teammates. "It would be slower. Spiderman would be aerodynamic enough. You on the other hand would fly like a tarp in the wind. Unless you can manage yourself for.. three hundred thirty some kilometers?" She asked as she squinted at the map, trying to estimate the distance.

At Harbinger's remarks, Galina gave her a questioning look before glancing at Two and Spiderman. Mercenary types? "I can't speak for the others, but I am not getting paid to be here, risking my life and future to help others. I am here because I believe in William and the work he intends to do. And while I understand that force is going to be required to subdue those going on a rampage, I would rather avoid violence if at all possible. If you are planning to use lethal force against people that have lost their senses, you'll have to take the jet because I am not going to bring you to Laredo."

Kevin looked at Kent.  "DMZ is kinda like PCP on Crank.  It boosts adrenal level and cuts pain sensitivity to near nothing.  An actual normal human person can potentially rip the door of a locked safe off its hinges.  They'd tear their arms out of their sockets and probably break their backs doing it, but it's technically possible.  The reason they don't is pain.  Try to push your body outside certain limits and you get pain.  The further outside the limits, the more pain.  So, they'll effectively be pretty strong.  And a lot of normal disabling techniques like tasers, kicks to the nads, etc, won't work very well on them because they're literally feeling no pain."

"For my part I can fly well enough and long enough to reach Laredo from Austin in maybe an hour," Kevin told them.  "I don't like to do a lot of long-distance flights because they tend to attract attention, but I can do it if I have to."

"That said, how about if some of us get to Austin via the door and then go to an airport, find a quiet hanger and use that hanger's doors for a portal to get the plane to Austin and use it to fly from there to Laredo?" Kevin suggested.

"And for the record, I'm not down with wanton slaughter either," he told White Witch.  "For one thing, these people are victims.  For another thing, Belial isn't nice or ethical like HYDRA, AIM or that metal-masked fucker in the Balkans that keeps trying to start shit up with the Fantastic Four.  You'll see teens and even little kids on DMZ.  The best way we found to deal with them was to avoid them or distract them.  Noises, lights, flash-bangs.  They tend to have really poor impulse control so they're pretty easy to distract.  That said, you do need to be prepared to go lethal if you absolutely have to.  If one of these guys is about to smash a baby's head into brick wall, and a killshot is the only real way to stop him, then yeah, you need to take the shot."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:06, Tue 28 Aug 2018.

"Idiots" she thought to herself. Apparently she wasn't very good at articulating her thoughts. They seemed to think she planned on killing her way to the targets. When in actuality she was saying William expected them to see a crazy civilian about to blow a kid's head off and say "Is that civilian purple guy or belial? No? Then keep walking" that whatever happened to the people didn't matter they could a drink Poisoned Kool Aid as long black as Belial and Purple Man. But it was fine. She'd do what was necessary. Both to kill the monsters responsible and protect those in need. "Let me know if you have any ideas how we can do crowd control" she thought to her partner unconsciously making part of her suit split off onto the table forming a mass of humanoids the size of army men and a man on one side of the mass with herself on the other trying to figure out non-lethal tactics..

Kevin pursed his lips in thought for a long moment and then suddenly laughed.  "Oh, Jesus," he said, at least partly to himself.  "That's so fucked up it just might work."

"Okay, DMZ blocks pain and surges adrenaline," Kevin said, looking at the others.  "It doesn't block pleasure.  So, how about we hit them with heroin?  High-grade, china white heroin.  It can injected with tranq guns loaded up woth doses.  Hell, put some explosive charge in kilo bags and they'll inhale it.  The DMZ will keep their systems pumped up so they won't die from overdosing.  I think.  Figure they'll need medical help later and the comedown is gonna be a stone bitch for them, but that's the only thing I can think of that's likely to cool them out without outright maiming or killing."

Kevin looked over at William.  "Of course, this is gonna require a good deal of smack.  I don't suppose you're got a really good friend in the DEA who could help us out, do you?"

"If not," Kevin said, looking over at Spider-man.  "As I recall from one of your vids, a couple weeks ago you helped NYPD bust a boatload of smugglers.  So there's several million bucks worth of H sitting in their evidence lock-up.  Hopefully they won't mind too much if we, uh,  "borrow" it for a good cause."

"Doors vary by centimeters, hangers by meters. We aren't going to stumble into one that will work." Galina replied.

She face-palmed when Darkstar explained his idea. "You've convinced me. We should stick with William's plan and leave the victims to qualified people."

In reply to Darkstar (msg # 46):

"Okay, I don't think I even have to tell you why that's a terrible idea I'm not going to be a part of," Spider-Man says. "I'd rather try to find the time to get the victims handed over to wherever they need to be."

"Because we actually have "qualified people" to handle them. Stupid as it is at least his plan is more then. "kill bad guys and hope everything else works itself out. " she muttered focusing on her little display before her.

Kevin gave a nod of acknowledgement to Harbinger and the looked between Spider-man and White Witch.  "Do you think I want to enact what Harbinger rightfully calls a stupid plan?  Do you think I'd weaponize fucking heroin if I'd thought of anything safer and easier that would still work?"

"You wanna hear some other "nonlethal" options?" he asked them, hooking his fingers into quotation marks around the word, "nonlethal," his voice tight with frustration. "Okay.  Break the bones in their limbs.  Hit their heads so hard it bounces their brains around their skulls like racketballs.  Suffocate them until they pass out.  Hit them with multiple tasers and hope they don't get electrocuted.  Back in Dade we'd call people on this shit DMZombies.  Except they're not zombies.  Not dead or undead.  When the DMZ wears off they become people again.  Except they'll be people with broken arms and legs, fractured skulls with maybe brain damage.  Electrical burns.  And in case you didn't notice, the point of the heroin is to cool these people out and subdue them so they won't hideously murder the "qualified people" they're turned over to."

"If anyone here has an idea better, safer whateverer than my stupid, dangerous one, then please for the bleeding love of Christ share it with the rest of the class," he told them all.  "Because right now I got nothing else."

William Looked at the group getting frustrated. Too many assumptions going on. It was time to get these people to do what was needed!


I agree Spiderman,  Darkstar We are giving people Heroin or breaking bones! What’s the matter with you?! Harbinger I never mentioned anything about killing anyone and yes we are Wet Works!  This is why S.H.I.E.L.D. Asked me to form this group!

Again the priority is to stop Belial and Purple Man, Now You unless anyone here is a doctor or a psychologist then we can not deal with the civillians ,There is not a whole bunch we can for them except subdue and let emergency personnel do what they need, As for Cleanup this is why there is Damage Control.

Darkstar if you are sure you can handle the travel then you White Witch and Spidey start the preparation, and see if you can get us here The camera panned to a football field next to J W Nixon High School, That would allow them to be close enough with the Jet. That will cut down the time.

Scanning some cctv Camera’s The route to the warehouse was mainly civilian housing, and not too many people seemed to currently be roaming the streets. There were a few bodies in the streets here and there and it was hard to tell if they were just unconscious or already dead, Scanning the streets it seemed most people were concentrating on heading to the downtown area a few Miles south of them. Looking at Bloodrager and his cleric comment William nodded to the big red man.


Yes Bloodrager you have healing like abilities,  This is why you,White Witch, Spiderman and Darkstar and Two will be on the front line to make a path for us. Two can draw some people to her Bloodrager can actually heal as he fights , Spiderman can web up as many as he can and Darkstar can make Barriers to disperse or block any crowd we run into from harm’s way.

2nd line at or near the entrance I want Doc Ock, Harbinger and Barbarian at the ready inside there will probably armed guards.
 Once inside this is where things would probably get messy, Not being to see what was what or even if Belial and Purple Man were inside.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:33, Fri 14 Sept 2018.

"What's the matter with me?" Kevin responded.  "The matter is that I've dealt with people on DMZ before and as far as I know, the rest of you haven't.  Subduing them is way, way easier said than done.  Spider-man using webbing is a good idea, but he'll need to be thorough with it.  Just shhoting up a web and tossing them into it, won't work as well because they'll pull free even if it tears the skin off their bones to do it.  Hell even Goblin's knockout gas will be iffy.  I doubt it will knock them out because they'll be so hyped up on adrenaline."

Kevin looked at Bloodrager.  "Okay, you're the, uh, cleric, in your adventuring group, right?  So along with healing, can you, you know, cure poisons or disease?  Because DMZ is a drug so it'd probably be a poison."

"So we get in subdue his guards and then rip his yellow spine out of his purple ass? I'm guessing we want him "alive" to clean up his mess but with this bellyall character skulking around execution might be best" she suggested tapping her claws on the table.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:56, Fri 31 Aug 2018.

In reply to Darkstar (msg # 52):

Listening to Darkstar, Sword looked confused. "Is poison? Not potion? Different status ailments. Needs different cures. What kind poison is?"

The idea of someone tearing their own skin off their bones sounded... kinky, to the big red man's mind. He wasn't sure if that was how humans normally viewed it, though, from the context.

"Uh, I mean, I'm not really sure what the difference is between a potion and a poison, but best guess, DMZ is a poison that causes... madness," Kevin told Bloodrager shrugging a bit helplessly at trying to explain a truly nasty bit of advanced biochemistry to somebody with pretty much the opposite of a scientific background.  "There's probably a little more too it than that, but madness is basically what the stuff does."

In reply to Darkstar (msg # 52):

"I'm pretty sure that if my webbing can handle stopping Rhino in his tracks then they can handle these guys too." Spider-Man explains, knowing exactly how strong his webs are.
"But the problem is that they won't hold forever, though they will stay just long enough until someone else can properly contain the people safely."

"Dude, I'm sure you're webbing is tots rockin awesome," Kevin snidely assured Spider-man.  "That's not really the issue.  It's like with an animal trap.  It can be the best trap in the world, but still not be great against something willing to cut or chew its own leg off to get out of the trap."

"Look," he said his gaze sweeping over the table.  "Maybe I've been coming off as the Belial expert, but I'm not and I know I'm not.  Because I lost.  We lost.  The people, the superbeings I was with, they're dead or at least gone.  If you want to find some superpeople, you may as well scratch Florida, especially South Florida, off your list.  I only survived because somebody smarter than me called in SHIELD.  To this day I don't know if Belial left the area because of them, because his forces were weakened dealing with us or just because he'd got what he wanted and was going somewhere else to do to them what he'd done to us."

"Since I'm in a sharing mood, here's something else," Kevin told them.  "I'm not a hero.  Really.  I'm a criminal.  And not one of those Robin Hood/Leverage/vigilante criminals like William wants us to be.  No, I was a selfish, asshole criminal.  The kind that might deal drugs to high schoolers, sell a hot gun to your kid brother or 'jack your grandmother's car while she's visiting friends in the hospital."

"You know," he told Spider-man, "one of those fucktards you like to hang up by their heels from a streetlamp.  I was that guy.  And yeah, part of the reason I'm not is I want to nail Belial for the friends he killed, but the other part?  I like human civilization.  Not just the Internet or Tivo, but basic shit like the rule of law, civil rights, the shit that makes us as people better than rabid fucking animals.  I think Belial honest-to-God puts that in peril.  From what I've experienced of him.  He doesn't want to rule the world or even destroy it.  He wants to ruin it.  Ruin it and everyone it.

William looked around the room. Looked like they were as ready as they could be.


Darkstar Until we know for sure how strong that DMZ is making them This is the option we have. Harbinger I’m hoping it doesn’t get to that point.
Bloodrager, Darkstar is right, it is a potion of alteration of sorts not sure how your powers adapt to that but do your best.

 OK Spiderman, Darkstar and White Witch, Get the portal ready for us to travel.

Doc Ock, Can you double check on the Knock Out gas and see if Goblin left some behind grab what you can.

Harbinger, Barbarian, Two and myself will prep the jet and advise the authorities we are coming.

He said getting the last folders off the table and headed towards the hangar.

Galina showed little reaction to Kevin's confession. She either already knew or simply wasn't surprised to learn of his past. At William's dismissal, she rose and plucked her cloak from the air, putting it on as she moved to the door.

At the door she closed it, then then a second later opened it to her apartment to grab her broom and satchel before closing and reopening the door to the hallway. She then paused and turned to Darkstar and Spiderman. "Flying at speed gets noisy, lets see if there are any radios we can use."

Harbinger left the room. There was nothing else to say. And she didn't need for William to finish up with a Go Team and trust falls. She had a mission to complete and a demon to sodomize with an katana.

To: The Hangar

Kent followed William to the Jet. He didn't have anything to say to the group.

More than a bit bewildered by this 'DMZ' stuff, Bloodrager ambled after William once he realized that he hadn't been told where to go.

"Radios are good," Kevin said the nod.  "Especially to talk to the others or if I get separated from you two."

"You two are not to get separated from each other," Kevin told White Witch and Spider-man before focusing on the web-slinger.

"As of now you have one job and one job only, because you've got the danger sense and the reflexes to exploit it," Kevin told Spider-man, pointing at White Witch.  "You keep her safe, alive and functional no matter what.  If that means leaving me or anyone else to die or get caught, you fucking do it.  She is your only priority."

"And no, you don't get an opinion or a protest," he told White Witch.  "Once the mission starts and especially once we're in Laredo, you become irreplaceable.  Because as far as I know, you're the only one of us with the ability to quickly transport groups of people over long distances to safety.  Wounded team-mates, scared children, et-fucking-cetera, you're their ticket out.  You're our ticket out, because the very last place any of us wants to be is trapped in is a city that's become Belial hunting grounds."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:20, Fri 07 Sept 2018.

"Alright, I got this," Spider-Man says. "Between having a radio and what I can do, we shouldn't have any problems unless the big guys themselves decide to show up. Then things will be a real challenge."

"Maybe," Kevin muttered.  "But the 'big guys' you're thinking of might not be the 'big guys' you actually face."

"Apparently Ghost Rider was spotted in and around the Laredo area and has since vanished," Kevin told the two of them.  "I know that one of the things Belial was working on was a way to steal and transfer powers and abilities.  So, we might end up going up against Ghost Rider.  Or at least somebody who now has his powers, anyway."

<To Chapter 2: The Twist in Texas>
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Fri 07 Sept 2018.

"Ah yes, I'll need to completely changes plans. Here I had been intending to fly to Laredo and keel over dead. How shortsighted of me." She deadpanned. "You truly do worry about everything. I wonder when something goes even remotely right, does it catch you off guard?"

"Plans of retreat are always tenuous. Even with a jet or teleportation, there is no guarantee that you can out maneuver your enemy. If you don't think you can win, not engaging is typically the correct response." She stated.

Not looking for a response and yet knowing she'd get some dreary reply, Galina continued. "Unless you two need anything, we can leave immediately."

--> To <To Chapter 2: The Twist in Texas> ?

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William entered with CK and as everyone arrived he turned the floor to Kevin.
Team Before we start, let me introduce Clockwork Knight, I’ll fill you all in later, but seems something urgent has come up?

He said looking at Kevin and giving him the floor.

<====== From Shooting Range

After William gave the floor to him, Kevin in turned made a beckoning gesture to Aurora.  "Tell the rest of them what you told us about your, um, origin story."

Spider-Man arrived, interested in hearing whatever news there was that needed everyone to be in the room. Crossing his arms, he stated, "Alright, let's hear it."

OOC-   Sorry....   Was out for the holiday --  did not realize this was waiting on me!. 

Alison was slightly surprised to have the group's attention directed her way.    Figuring that most of this data was already in Jacosta's banks, and that it would be presented as some sort of holographic dossier, or the like.

"Yes.   Well.    It was a stormy, stormy night...   haha, just kidding!   Actually, the weather was clear, almost pristine.   But, my life had become pretty screwed up.    Rescue came in the form of a confidential project that, supposedly, based upon my medical records, had determined I had some sort of 'optimum genome' that would be of high value in medical research to treat certain diseases.      The pay they offered was enough that I didn't question things that I should have.   Anyway, 'Sovereign Six' as it was called, turned to out to be a front for an obsessed biologist's ambition to bring out latent powers in certain people.    Changing my mind wasn't an option, once I learned what it was....I was first imprisoned, and then sedated.   Just as well, because I was spared the terror of knowing that this was a beta technology, with some bugs yet to be worked out."    Alison's tone lost the humor, and she frowned as she remembered...

"The first four they used it on were horribly mutated by it ---  and died in agony.    But, they were making corrections each time it happened, and by the time they got to me, the process worked, and I got the powers I have now.    It worked for the next candidate too - a good kid from a rough life I wanted to help --  but wasn't in any position to.    Fortunately, his powers manifested as technopathy, by which he was able to free us at a choice moment.    As most of the installation's guards were robotic, the odds were all of a sudden in our favor.    We beat the bad guys is the short of it. We sabotaged their labs, and the biologist --  Dr. Strauss --   and some of his key people were apprehended and put away.     But, they didn't get them all.   And, I've little doubt that somewhere, Strauss had backups of his databases and systems.     It would make no sense for him not to."   

"So there it is," Kevin said.  "After five iterations of trial and error, this Strauss guy has apparently created a process for turning latent super-powered people into active super-powered people."

"Now, before we get to any kind of planning or action about this, let's think some about the implications of this," Kevin told them continuing and speaking in an oddly authoritative tone.  "There have been legends about people with super-powers for centuries.  Gods.  Demons.  Wizards.  Monsters.  The whole thing came close to breaking into public consciousness during WWII with our boy, Captain America.  And there have been flirtations with this stuff in the years following.  MKULTRA in the 50s and 60s.  Bionics in the 70s.  DARPA in the 80s and 90s.  The Secret World of the 00s.  Nothing provable to the public came of it that we know of.  But Supers are here now.  Hell, one of them has a fucking You-Tube channel.  BTW, good show last night Spidey."

"So now we're here in the present and people are aware of super-humans.  For the most part they're okay with it," Kevin continued.  "There's the usual crackpots, racists, sexists and other "'ists" but most Supers are looked at as a weird combo of god, celebrity and professional wrestler.  The comic book syndrome."

"And that's okay as far as it goes, but the problem comes in the fact that Super represent a qualitative alteration in the nature of humanity," Kevin said and indicated William.

"William is a trained SHIELD agent.  He's familiar with most guns to an expert level.  If we both took the time and effort, William could teach me his skill.  He'd still likely be better at it than me, but with patience and dedication, I could learn to shoot approaching his level of skill," Kevin told them and then raised his right hand, causing it to burst into Voidfire, throwing flickers of anti-light through the room.  "However dedicated William is and however good a teacher I am, there's no way for me to teach William to do this.  He either has that capacity or he doesn't.  And as far as I know, he doesn't."

"And therein lies the rub.  Because if Strauss's process is as effective as it appears to be and it gets out, suddenly it's not a few dozen "really special people" who have Super-powers.  It's hundreds or thousands.  It stops being a lucky few and starts looking more like a race that's separate from and perhaps superior to, humanity.  And humanity's track record dealing with different versions of itself does not give me the confidence to believe that they'd deal with that kind of development with anything less than "Kill it!  Kill it with fire!" Kevin concluded, adding.  "So yeah, handled wrong this thing could jump-start a war of extermination between humans and Supers.  Who ever won that war would have to celebrate their victory in the ruins of what used to be civilization."

"So them's the stakes folks.  We need to drop a lid on this thing fast or we'll be wishing to Jesus we had," Kevin told them.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:31, Thu 20 Aug 2020.

Lois listened to Alison's story and seemed appropriately moved.

"It must have been horrible.  Did you ever discover what Sovereign Six's real goal was, Alison?  Creating superpowers sounds more like a first step than an end goal.  Maybe the staff talked about a place or nation.  Or worse, a religion.  And if they had a sizable amount of capital, it had to have come from somewhere."

Lois was beginning to think that Darkstar was onto something bigger than SHIELD or the Taskforce realized.  However a thought also occurred to her.

"Is it possible this research could be used for good?  I mean in its current form it sounds pretty dangerous to the patient and that's unacceptable."

William looked around to everyone gathered.
Shield was aware of Sovereign Six and it’s rumored project, Though they had not been aware of any survivors. When they original compound went to hell, Shield was not able to gather too much intel on the projects as it seems the technopath’s power fried a few of the Systems and most of the databases. But yes Strauss we’re also sure had back up’s somewhere. Shield had tried a few locations via interrogations of some of people that had been caught and investigated them throughout the US but have come up empty. With this information now looks like it will be time to re-open this Sovereign Six case and see what we can come up with. He says to the group.

Darkstar, Spiderman, Focus on training for now. The rest of you finish setting yourselves up, I’ll work with Jocasta on the Sovereign-Six case files we have and do some cross referencing for something that may have been missed. With this technopath and Aurora, we may be able to connect a few extra dots.

"Yes," Alison concurred with Lois, regarding it having been a horrible experience, while she digested everything Darkstar and Mr. Naslund said. She had wanted Sovereign Six to be a part of her past. But obviously, it wasn't going to stay there. 

"It was.  I was lucky to have gotten away from them."   

The faces of the four who didn't would always be with her.

She further added- "No, they didn't elaborate on the big picture to us. Whatever it happens to be.   Plainly, we were considered to be property, not members or recruits.  I suppose, in the right hands, the technology could be used for good ends.   But, who is the 'right hands'?  Who is truly qualified to decide whether someone deserves to become a super being or not?"   

"How long ago did all this happen?" Darkstar asked Aurora.  "How long it's been could give us a bit of an angle on how long we theoretically have to figure this out?"

He also looked over at William.  "Do you think you can set up a call to Dr. Strange.  Something occurred to me about the Laredo mission that I want to ask him about.  I think there was more going on there than met our eyes at first."

CK took in the information like the machine it was. "I've seem this before, my creators augmented people long ago for reasons that I can not remember. It often created many problems". 

"Who were your creators?" Kevin asked, hoping William and the Doc already knew this and hadn't somehow invited a killer robot from AIM or HYDRA onto the team.

"About eight months ago," Ali supplied.    She glanced toward the heavily armored figure she'd assumed was a human in armor, now no longer so sure, based on the 'creators' remark.

"They were known as the Eternals to some. Based on the updates given by your computer they were like human but had different DNA". CK said bluntly.

"Yeah, the one I met looked human," Kevin put in and actually shuddered slightly as he recalled the encounter.  "But 'different DNA' was the freaking least of it."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:32, Wed 28 Nov 2018.

Deedee sprawled on the table, a tawny eared lynx. She rolled her head to look at each person as they spoke, but for the most part just lounged there. This wasn't her strong suit. She'd never really had to make decisions or anything, she just was supposed to smile and look pretty. And since no one here seemed to care if she indulged in her animal side, she did so.

Her tail lashed a bit in agitation at the mention of the scientists and Alison's treatment at the facility got a low growl, but otherwise Deedee just lay there and watched.

As far as the animal side was concerned, she just needed to be pointed in the right direction, get some scents, and indulge in a little hunting. Sounded simple enough.

William nodded.

OK let me gather some intel and see what we can find out. William told them as he dismissed the meeting.
Darkstar when Bloodrager and Taskmistress return fill them in on the info Aurora presented. In the meantime let's get everyone settled in.
he told them as he headed out.

In reply to Darkstar (msg # 81):

"So, let me get this straight," Spider-Man asked, making sure that he heard correctly. "There's a guy out there that's making super-powered people? Because if that's right, then we're going to have more than one Texas situation if things get even slightly out of hand."

William nodded. Yes that seems to be the trend right now. I'm sure it won't be the last one we hear about either. Hence why we'll try to look into this. With the info Aurora has it's already a big lead.
He told Spiderman.
And we will shut them all down as we find them.

Alison was heartened by Mr. Naslund's last statement.   It had all been too much for her to try and take on by herself.  Now she no longer had to.

Having been a cat owner, she recognized Dee's lashing tail as the sign of an irritated feline, and wandered over to gently pet her head.   Lynx was a superb choice too --  great ears!

"Yes, that's right in essence," she affirmed for Spider-man.

"As far as I was given to understand, though, not everyone is suitable for it.  Certain people have latent meta-genes, or something to that effect.   They've got to find such people to make it work."    She considered a moment.  "If we could devise a way to find them, it would be a good thing.  In order to protect them.   And, maybe even trick Strauss' organization out of hiding?"

"We have to find it to trick it," Kevin responded.  "It'll be hard but not impossible.  The very fact that they exist causes their activities to leave a trace."

"Let's start with you," he told Aurora.  "They knew about you.  Knew your medical profile well enough to target you for recruitment.  They also knew your problems well enough to offer a possible solution.  You were scared and desperate and they used that against you."

"So we use that to hunt them," Kevin told her and the others.  "You can't see the lioness in the tall savanna grass, but you can tell where she'd been by the antelope corpses.  So, let's look for people in financial trouble.  Home foreclosures, bad credit, maybe in trouble with loan sharks and check those who've recently gone missing.  Especially if they maybe seemed to have some good news about their money troubles right before that."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:25, Tue 17 Nov 2020.

"That seems smart.   It was more or less what I was saying from a different angle;  home in on their likely targets, and monitor them. I'd love to know how it is they're sorting out who has suitable genetics, and who doesn't.  Whether it's by clues found in a person's general medical records, some piece of technology, or even some supernatural sense.   But unfortunately I can only make guesses."