They're still in the car when Roger receives a call that nearly sends him swerving off the road. It's Ben McCrow, his youngest son. He pulls off the road to talk and shushes Fanboy and Tiffany as they ask what's going on.
They have a little small talk and Roger learns that his boy's graduated college, it's a bit of a shock since he hadn't realized it'd been so long, but he hasn't seen Ben since before the boy started highschool. Ben tells his father that he got the number from Franklin and just wanted to say that he's glad to hear things are looking up for the elder McCrow; he always knew things would turn out alright for Roger despite what his mother said. Ben then asks if that was Roger he saw on T.V. the other night in the crowd when that guy was trying to jump.
Now McCrow can't remember if he did anything incriminating but says that he seems to remember something about that. Ben asks if that meant he got to see the Fanboy in person. Roger's a little dismissive but asks what Ben thinks of these new 'superheroes' and Ben replies that they're definitely different; if they turn out to be real it would be amazing. McCrow gets a little smug as they say their goodbyes and tells Ben he'll see him next month at Franklin's wedding.
Back at the warehouse Fanboy checks in on Prophet and asks what their resident conspiracy theorist has turned up concerning those names. Prophet says that it's short notice, but he's been checking payroll records and has a list of doctors that have been drawing a government check under the names Marcell, Heiner and Gupta for the past five years.
Spoiler: Names
Show
Marcell (Greggory Marcell: Physician, Laurinl Marcell: Botanist, Joseph Marcell: Radiation Specialist)
Heiner (Henry Heiner: Surgeon, Frank Heiner: Ceullular Biologist)
Gupta (Henry Gupta: Engineer, Jennifer Gupta: Psychologist, Sarine Gupta: Anthropologist)
Prophet mentions that it's not much to go on, but Fanboy assures him that it's more than they'd have without him. Fanboy suggests focusing on Heiner and seeing if they can't eliminate one of those names; he wants to cut to the heart of this organization and see if he can't get some straight answers for once. Prophet says that he'll get right on it and Fanboy excuses himself to take an incoming call from Parks.
Parks explains that he thinks he's got a bead on a new superhuman, but the reports don't seem to match up. He says that there is considerable activity in a local apartment building and they've evacuated the place under the guise of fumigation; but none of their teams have been able to bring the thing in. He asks that Fanboy take a look since there's not much that can get past a telepath and Fanboy agrees to help their only friendly contact in the government out.
Fanboy heads downstairs to inform the rest of the team and meets McCrow on the stairs, still on the phone with Chavenski about handling a succession issue with the Russians.
They quickly decide that the best thing to do is to split up and each handle a different contact's problem by themself. Tiffany decides to go with Fanboy; half because he was very adamant that he wasn't babysitting her and half because she thinks it might be fun to get a chance to fight and/or kill a different kind of superhuman.
Fanboy and Tiffany arrive at the apartment and find it pretty well tented, but otherwise perfectly normal. They search the first floor thoroughly and find that while the whole place is pretty much a s***hole, it's no different than any other cheap apartment building. Tiffany however eventually notices what appears to be a fresh blood stain seeping through the ceiling.
Fanboy projects his vision to the floor above and sees nothing out of the ordinary, so Tiffany does the next logical thing and sprays a barrage of crystalline shards into the ceiling to see if something's there. Blood rains down out of the new opening but seems to dry and dissipate shortly after making contact with them. Fanboy decides that the next floor might be worth checking out so he starts looking for the stairs leading up, Tiffany decides to just cut her way through the ceiling to save some time.
As Fanboy steps out onto the 2nd floor he sees a glowing orb bouncing around inquisitively (hilariously, his first instinct was: "Wait, is it some kind of hard light construct type of orb? Because if this is some kind of Luvless trap then f*** this, I leap out the window and go home.") and attempts to make contact with it. The thing immediately bolts away from him and slams directly into a wall, disappearing on contact. He projects his vision through ESP to begin searching the apartments, but doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. Although once he looks through his own eyes he does begin noticing the orbs out of the corner of his vision again.
Meanwhile, Tiffany is following a growing trail of blood that leads towards the 3rd floor, where she meets up with Fanboy on the stairs. After taking her eyes off the trail to acknowledge Fanboy however, neither of them can see evidence of the blood having been there in the first place. As they approach the third floor they begin to hear vague whispers but can't make out the words.
Tiffany sees one of the orbs bolt across the hall in front of them and into an apartment and though Fanboy tells her to ignore it she decides they should give chase. So they wait until the orb bolts across the hall a second time and then throw open the door it entered and rush inside.
They're greeted by a twisted green skeleton bathed in an eerie green flame that shrieks and reaches for them. The fear is suddenly so powerful that the PCs trip over themselves to race back down the stairs and it isn't until they're nearly to the 1st floor that the feeling leaves them and Fanboy realizes he recognizes that technique. It's Emotion Control and he uses it himself sometimes.
They still hear the skeleton shrieking upstairs so he decides to ambush the bastard and see what it's made of. They go to the apartment directly under the shrieking and Tiffany shreds the upstairs with a hail of crystal shards while Fanboy uses all of his mental might to pull down the entire upstairs. The skeleton tumbles amid the rubble, but seems to dissolve as it leaves its point of origin. As they watch it melts away and is replaced by a glowing orb that dances off once again.
They determine that the closer they get to the source, the more paranormal their experiences will become so they head up through the new hole, genuinely intrigued. They continue searching the 3rd floor and learn to ignore the orbs and avoid the skeletons as best they can. They discover that skeletons only appear on the northwest side, so they assume that there's something there that they need to see.
They find the stairs and head up another level and as they do so, Fanboy hears a voice say plainly in his ear "This is where you die."
Fanboy spins around, searching for the source and Tiffany says that she neither saw nor heard anything, so it must be in his head. He decides that it's nothing more than a trick like he'd play, so he focuses his telepathy to find the source of the message. Surprisingly he finds that Tiffany is the only mind he can make contact with.
They exit the stairwell into the 4th floor on their guard and they each hear a whisper say "We will wear your flesh home." accompanied by a rush of air that leaves two inch deep claw-like scratches along everything it touches, namely the walls. Their protective powers kept them from real injury, but they watch as the scratches along the walls begin to bleed profusely and a sound that alternates between a mournful sob and a manic laugh begins echoing down the corridor.
They press on to the northwest portion of the building and as they approach apartment 4C they begin hearing something moving and scratching inside the walls, accompanied by more sobs and laughter. 4C itself looks as though there is something massive living in its outer walls and they bulge obscenely as whatever it is moves and shifts around, growling threateningly the whole time.
Fanboy and Tiffany stare at each other for a moment and Tiffany kicks the door off its hinges with a single mighty kick. They enter the apartment and are surprised to see that it's pretty intact, though obviously abandoned. There's a noticeable film of dust over everything and a neighbor has been piling bills and other mail up by the door. They start going over the place when Tiffany points out the family picture on the wall and Fanboy stops in his tracks at the sight of a little girl and her parents smiling for the camera. "Oh....s***. It's one of THOSE ghosts." he says with a groan.
Tiffany asks what he means and Fanboy says that he recognizes the family or at least the little girl. Her name is Maria Lucerta and she was on the bus with the rest of them, but unlike the others; she never woke up from her injuries. She was brain dead for months and then the serial killer snuck into her room and made her just regular dead. He decides to call out to her and no sooner does he say 'Maria' then a horrible roar echoes through the building like thunder and seems to originate from a nearby bedroom.
He pulls open the door and finds a six foot skeleton similar to the ones he saw below, only this one still has meat hanging off the bones and the flames are real enough to cause immediate discomfort all the way from the doorway. "Maria, I'm here to-"
Before he can finish his sentence a burst a flame flies from the skeleton's hand and knocks the wind out of him, he notices that his skin is bright red like he's been scalded but the Force Field holds and he survives. Tiffany steps into the room and averts her eyes, several small objects that have begun to spin about the room are harmlessly deflected by her diamond skin but the skeleton doesn't seem to notice her as she snoops around.
It only takes a quick sweep for her to step out with a movie poster that depicts the very same skeleton that's in the room now; she shows it to Fanboy and he looks at it puzzled.
"Hell on Earth 3?" he asks noone in particular. "So she's a cheesy horror fan. The hell is this then, some kind of solo LARP?"
Tiffany just shrugs and points out that movies are sort of his thing. He agrees, rolls up the poster and hands it to Tiffany before taking a deep breath and heading back into the room. "I see you're a fellow cinemaphile." Fanboy says pleasantly. "Surprised you go for something like Hell on Earth though, my favorite was always-"
He's ejected from the room by a pillar of green fire and lays groaning on the carpet trying to make sure his eyebrows are still intact.
Meanwhile...
Roger sits down with Chavenski at a nice, if low-key, restaurant and the wheezing crime lord admits that the Russian Syndicate may have outgrown him. Chavenski explains that his organization is currently in the middle of a restructuring/civil war and that three of his most valuable lieutenants have decided to challenge him for power. He admits than in his current state any one of them may be more than he can deal with.
Roger apologizes but explains that they're legitimizing themselves and can't afford to be associated with Chavenski's business any longer. Chavenski points out that he's been more than fair when dealing with McCrow and Fanboy in the past and that he's been there when they needed him the most. Roger says that they've went beyond the call of duty for the Russians as well and Chavenski replies "Oh, I'm sorry. Which organ did you lose coming to save me?"
Roger's (and his player's) mouth keeps moving for a second, but no sound comes out and he finally decides to concede the point that maybe Chavenski HAS gotten the shorter end of the stick in this relationship. He agrees to help but says that the Russians have to stop with the murdering and mutilation and the selling people and so on. Chavenski points out that he doesn't tell Roger how to run his business and Roger settles on asking that Chavenski stop dealing in human trafficking at least.
Chavenski agrees and points out that it's one of his men that has caused the notable spike in white slavery in order to impress the bigshots back in the motherland. Sergei Reschkov has an honest to God army at his command thanks to his cutthroat dealings and more clout with the Syndicate's Russian contacts than anyone, himself included.
McCrow gets the address of Sergei's storehouse and decides to make an example of this guy himself. He thanks Chavenski for the meal and tells the Russian that he won't have anything more to worry about after today, he'll make enough of a mess out of this guy that the others will fall into line.
McCrow drives out to what basically amounts to a barn on the outskirts of town and watches the place for several minutes. In that short amount of time he sees nearly three dozen heavily armed guards moving about the perimeter and quite a few large men in overalls unloading and opening crates from a truck. He nods as though this is about what he assumed he was getting into and walks back to his car, opening the backdoor and tapping loudly on the large aquarium housed inside.
"Wake up boys. Wake up now. Daddy needs some help." McCrow says with a knowing smile.
Back at the haunting...
Fanboy is sitting out in the hallway on the phone with Parks. "I can't read it's mind dammit, it doesn't have one! It's a f***ing ghost Parks, what do you want me to do? Do I look like Dan Akroyd? Do you have a proton pack hanging around somewhere that I don't know about?"
Tiffany has been pacing the halls with a large bag for the past twenty minutes and Fanboy's learned to tune out her, the apparitions and the voices that keep getting more and more vivid while he tries to convince Parks he isn't crazy.
"Look, the thing is disruptive as hell but it looks pretty stationary. Give us some time and I'm sure we can come up with something, I mean from what you've said it's been here for a week or more; I doubt it's going anywhere." Fanboy explains. Tiffany excuses herself as she steps over him and he ignores her, annoyed.
"Don't worry, things are under control. I'll run it by Prophet at..." Fanboy stops and starts sniffing the air. "F***, s***, dammit! Parks, call the fire department!" he shouts as he bursts into the room and sees Tiffany shimmering amid the roaring fire she's created. Fanboy can't even summon the words but Tiffany looks so proud.
"Let's see how SHE likes it!" Tiffany beams. Fanboy manages to snatch her up with his telekinesis and the two of them burst out the side of the building, leaving behind a growing wall of flame and a horrible moan that can be heard from blocks away. He knew bringing her was a bad idea...
Back to McCrow...
The barn is very nearly destroyed. Half-eaten corpses litter the yard and are piled eight high to form a barricade within the barn itself. Only five men still live besides Sergei and as the Droplets batter their way past the bodies of dead Russians they waste what little ammo they have left on the smiling, bouncing abominations.
McCrow pushes past the corpses himself and stands before the terrified criminals, who are all the more terrified as the Droplets begin rubbing up against the stoic hydromancer like attention starved kittens.
"Do what I say and you might survive." Roger says plainly. "Put your guns down."
Three men immediately drop their weapons and attempt rush out the back way however the Droplets cutt off their escape and immediately latch onto their screaming victims, bringing them down and silencing them; taking far, far too long to finish the job.
"McCrow didn't say run." Roger says sternly. "I just said put down your guns."
The last guard drops his gun and holds up his hands to show they're empty. Sergei suddenly produces a pistol from his jacket defiantly and fires at McCrow who responds by holding out his arms and flooding the barn from a well outside. Roger takes a couple of bullets but is soon covered in a protective sheen of water and stands about 10ft tall.
Sergei stops firing and begins shaking so hard he drops the gun. He tries to retrieve it, but Roger snatches him in one hand and crushes him against the wall.
"What do you want?" Sergei manages to squeak out.
"Not much. Just told my dear friend Nikolai Chavenski that I'd swat a bug for him." McCrow growls, applying a little more pressure and watching Sergei turn purple.
"I didn't mean anything!" Sergei sputters, "It's just the way things work! It's the same way HE got his place!"
"Are you sure?" McCrow asks. "Because I don't remember being friends with the guy he killed, and I know I'm not friends with you. Know how I can tell? You shot at me. Friends don't do that. Chavenski for example, has never shot me. So Chavenski doesn't know what it feels like to crushed into a fine paste and fed to my Droplets."
Sergei looks like he's about to pop and just starts begging for his life with no regard for position any longer.
Roger ***** his head. "You want to deal? Is that what you're getting at? Okay, how's this? You go and you tell the other a**holes that think they're going to take away what me and Chavenski have worked for what happened here today. You convince them with tears in your eyes that Chavenski's word is law and that their only chance at surviving another night comes from getting on their knees and apologizing and I'll let you go."
Sergei nods his head but makes no sound. He ran out of oxygen for that long ago.
Roger releases Sergei and the man sucks air violently, gulping like he'd forgotten the taste.
With one massive, watery hand McCrow lifts Sergei back to his feet the the collar of his expensive suit and leans down to eye level. "Get this straight Sergei: Tried is not in my vocabulary. If the succession talks don't end TONIGHT I will personally take the three of you and shove each of you up the next guy's ass to make the scariest f***ing Russian doll the world has ever seen. If I ever see your face or hear your name after today in ANY context I will break your legs and leave you for the Droplets. Is all of this clear?"
Sergei doesn't even respond, he just pisses himself then and there.