Inferno had took a seat toward the back and was listening to the various conversations going on around the room. He watched the feed closely as the Crusaders and apparently Shocker had been found. From the lady reporters reaction at least Enforcer was still possibly alive. "Dr. Patrovich, please continue."

Dr. Patrovich walks up to the wall with the screen, turns to face the room, and says, "Hypno-ray satellite."
After a moment or two, he follows up with more words, "Doctor Destroyer".
Finally, he smiles at the assembled heroes and says, "decaying orbit".
"Ah know ya 'all have other things on your mind, but you need ta hear what I have ta say."
"Albert Zerstoiten was as brilliant as he was evil, but the first superweapon he deployed was humane. The hypno-ray satellite wouldn't have killed anyle. It was designed to bend the will of all humanity, so that Dr. Destroyer could be supreme. No one knows what he wanted supremacy for, he never said."
"When the erratic group of citizens that responded to the military's call for help managed to defeat the doctor's standing army, derail his plans, and almost capture the doctor, himself. No one was more surprised than Albert Zerstoiten. Maybe it was this surprise that led to his abandoning the satellite, but it was the humanity of the weapon that prompted what happened next. They reported the satellite destroyed, and they lied about it."
"We've been studying the thing for decades, several of the more interesting algorithms and circuits have found their way into other devices. You wouldn't believe the number of cell phone antenna designs that are based on the hypno-array. Many of TEACHER's higher functions were engineered by reversing the designed data flow in the hypno-command sequencer. In fact, almost every AI on the planet can trace some heritage to the satellite. Almost."
"Unfortunately, some AI's were built by technicians with random components that have nothing in common with the hypno-ray. These rare systems achieved sentience by accident, and have no connection to the hypno-ray's circuitry. Those AI's that have some sort of connection, and any disconnected computers that haven't achieved sentience, are completely vulnerable to the satellite's circuitry. MOCKER must have discovered this."
"The things these yahoos stole can be used to connect a non-connected sentient AI to the hypno-ray data flow, so that the AI can suborn it and take over all connected electronics on the planet. You have to find these guys, and stop them. They really will have the power to take over the world, if they can make their tech work."

Hatter made a T with his hands, "Time out." He took the white helmet off and set it beside his chair. "A giant world covering hypno ray? Are mentalist super heroes rare? It is never humane to suppress the free will of another person without consent. Speaking as someone who has the ability to control a mind it is far more in honor of the human person to just lie to them."

He was clearly at odds with the fact they held onto a giant world controlling hypno ray. "Not to mention it was made by the king nasty himself. The number of passive hypnotic defenses are mind-numbing."

"Consider this my formal request to review that thing once we settle the issues its produced." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. If you mind control someone you needed to stay with them for a moment. Some people react very badly to mind control. If someone turned that thing on it could very well cause untold bloodshed as some people go into a blind rage. In other cases, it could be a replay of "The Happening". He had no doubt they would be researching with caution but for something on that scale they should have every mentalist with tech on it.

"Do the circuits use any kind of unique material? If it is the size of a cellphone with no real indicator we are kinda borked as its just plug and play at that point."

Darryl says "Let me guess. MOCKER is one of those non-connected AIs. What other materials would they need, and where in town can they get them?"

Obsidian flew to the police station after receiving the call for "heroes". He then entered the building. This would be his first real mission so a good first impression was necessary. After locating the detective he approached him. "Hello, I'm here regarding the call for heroes".       

As Obsidian enters, Patrovich says, "ah told you ah wasn't sayin' it all twice, but ah made arrangements."
He presses a button on the remote and it plays a video clip of the speech he had just made. When it has finished, he looks at Darryl and says, "At least you paid attention. Yes, Mocker would be capable of the reverse hypno-path ah've lined out. That's probably his end goal, but what he does in the meantime depends on you all. Ah wouldn't know what to do, it's outside my bailiwick."

Arms crossed over her volutptuous chest, Knockout gaze was still glued to the pictures of the protagonists. Crushers, crusaders, Dr Destroyer...

"What is the link between this hypno-ray and the death of the crusaders ? I'm sorry, but I don't catch it. And two of them are still MIA. If they are alive, we should focus on finding and rescuing them."

Hatter blinked at a thought spawned by Knockout, "Do any of the teams heading out to round them up have mentalists on their teams? If the two are linked they likely had been forced to fight one another. Pure speculation on my part. I was able to pick up a mental block put there by a mentalist on Shrew, it's not far fetched to assume they have been messed with."

Darryl gazes out, clearly thinking. "I think we need to go see those Crusaders that will be in the hospital soon. Shocker as well. Maybe they can tell us where the Crushers are located, since Shocker is with them they must have encountered the villains.

Detective Broyko takes his cell away from his ear and addresses Knockout, "Three, miss. Manta-Man, Laserfire, and Blizzard are unaccounted for. Shocker's a Crusher. And none of them are dead. Shocker's in the worst shape; he appears to have almost bled out. The others appear to be sedated."
"As far as it goes, only Shocker will be receiving treatment, the others will be brought here and placed in protective custody. At the very least until they wake."

Hatter laced his fingers over his stomach. "So, whats next? Loiter here till they show up or do we head out the first inkling that Mocker pokes his... her? ... It's head out? I don't want to sound like an eager beaver but at this point, we are sitting on our hands. Every nickel and dime super villain is going to hit the streets as this broadcast goes out. Anyone who thinks they can take on a few cops is likely putting on his game face."

"Sooo... Assuming that they are being brought here Ill loiter long enough to get a solid mind scan on the heroes as they are brought in. If there is an active mind control I should be able to pick it up. Ill also hit shocker with a bit of feel good to make sure he recovers faster."

"Does anyone have a means to keep an eye on the city that is not otherwise known the rest of us? Or will be need to rely on nine one one calls?"

Darryl addresses Petrovich. "Dr, I believe you helped develop TEACHER. I haven't met a programmer yet who hasn't designed a back door into anything they've written. Can you get us access to the Tower? Not only do the Crusaders have equipment to detect problem areas, but their medlab might be as good as any hospital, and TEACHER can monitor the Crusaders' recovery. Can you get us access?"

Obsidian took in all the heroes and others in the meeting. "I hope I'm not too late to the party. I can move fast and hit hard if necessary." Hitting his right hand shaped as a fist into his other hand.

Goodguy looks at Obsidian and smiles, "hey, can you pick up a subway car?"
Regardless of Obisdian's answer, Goodguy follows it with another question, "really? What line did you use?"
While everyone is either pondering or ignoring his quips, Goodguy approaches Detective Broyko and says, "which hospital did they take Shocker to? I can 'blip' Hatter over there so he can innoculate the guy, and then blip back here while we wait for the other three to arrive."
After he gets the information from Broyko, he walks over and puts a hand on Hatter's shoulder and says "we're off" before the two of them vanish.

Goodguy and Hatter are gone no more than ten minutes before the two pop right back into the task force area.

Once Hatter was vorped back in he took his helmet back off and covered his mouth for a moment. He sat down and tried to relax. "Shocker is good now, his acid blood was burning the EMTs. Pressured the wound and I healed the veins and arteries that had been damaged."

"Good call, he will make it now. And good job GG, fast as hell and well done."

"As long as he stays in bed and keeps his blood pressure down he will have a solid recovery." He left out the part that Shocker was not going to have made it otherwise. "His mind, however, was interesting. There was nothing in there about Crusher plans. But Shocker did plan to bleed all over EverGreen's stasis tube. How the other two escaped, where they escaped from, and just about anything else was either blanked out by trama or someone really skilled did a scrub job on his brain."

"Keep in mind that such cannot be presented in court without a warrant."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:57, Thu 21 Feb 2019.

In reply to Darryl Starre (msg # 48):

"That's part and parcel with what I was sayin'. If I'm right about what Mocker has up his sleeve, the first place they would've had to pilfer is Crusader Citadel. TEACHER isn't on the fritz 'cause the AI went buggy; it's shut down so they could make off with some of the circuits."
"I suspect when you get to talk to the sleepers, they'll be tellin' you about bein' lured away with fake distress calls, and then waylaid when they returned. They may know where they were bein' held, but only based on what they saw when they escaped."

"In any case, we'll be using our secure holding cells in the lower levels. If we could all move down there we'll be ready as soon as they arrive."
"Starre, I know you want to file a story, but if you could hold off until we're sure the details won't give anything away I'd appreciate it. See you downstairs."
The detective walks off towards the elevators.

"If there is such a mentalist blocking their minds, is there a chance you can.. compare the work done in their minds with the one he put me under ? I mean, if there is a way it gives us a hint or clue on who to look for ?"

Hatter was still having a bit of an issue. He suffered from minor teleportation vertigo as all the minds looked like little stars and someone just tilted the sky sideways on him. "Not without knowing the mentalist. I would have to deep dive each person one at a time and that breaks a few legality issues. If you suspect someone has done something at all, trace back your steps, replaying all events that lead you to that moment in time is often the best way to catch any fuck ups."

"A mentalist is a devil for details but we can't think of everything."

"Wish I could give more details but the best mentalist can frag your brain through a proxy mind link. There is an amazing reason why they have strict laws and a long list of mentalists."

He thought for a moment, "Common indicators of someone using mental powers is extremely calm in a fight without doing much. Most of us require a line of sight at the very least. Mental powers are also slow to work, they build up and overwhelm anyone."

"Next few fights I'll keep my eyes out. However even I wont show up to a mind scan, Ill have to wait till their mentalists do something, very hard to hide active power use."

"If you stop by the house later tonight we will go over some things. I think they mindblasted you to put you under. But it would be extremely easy to start training you on how to have mental defenses."

In reply to Detective Broyko (msg # 54):

Darryl nods. "I understand operational security. If Teacher is shut down, the Tower's defenses are compromised. We might be able to get into the tower and get some clues about the Crushers whereabouts. Goodguy, you think you can get me inside the Citadel?"

"I can take you to the lobby. I've been there before. Since I haven't been inside the Citadel, it would be a blind leap. Probably not a good idea."

Detective Broyko looks a little pensive, then addresses Hatter. "You mentioned Evergreen being held in a stasis tube. They've got something like that at Crusader Citadel. As soon as they get here, we'll wake one of them and ask. If they were being held in Crusader Citadel, those guys would have recognized it. They might have an idea on how to get in."
Turning, Broyko addresses a uniform, apparently asking for maps of the citadel. The officer complies quickly, and Broyko puts the maps up on the wall.

"personally I like Rippley's idea from Aliens.  Nuke them from space.  Anyone happen to be carrying a spare tac nuke?  No! Oh well there goes that idea. :)"
With a heart felt sigh Drifter turns his attention back to cleaning his MiniGun.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:02, Thu 21 Feb 2019.