[M&M 3e] Second Chances

[TooManySecrets]

Nate was of course upset to hear about Elizabeth and her family (Though, at least she's out of this alive, he thinks to himself) but that worry disappeared as he watches the footage. Something in his head clicks. Something. But just as quickly, it's gone and there's a moment of confusion. Nate waves it off.

"So, like, the zombie-man came back to life. Shoulda, uh, saw that comin'. Sort of funny really." Nate, seeing the expression on Agent Branch's face, hurriedly corrects himself. "I mean, not funny. Very not funny. Uh ... so, like, do you have any idea where this zombie guy is? I mean, dude looks like Frankenstein's Zombie. He doesn't exactly blend in with the crowds."

[Zelphas]

Agent Branch gives Lily a sympathetic look, but nods his approval to Howard's thought process. He looks surprised and concerned about the literomancer's news concerning the homeless shelter. "There are a lot of homeless shelters in and around Mesa City," he says. "Was there anything else that connected the two shelters?"

He looks back to Lily, his voice softening slightly. "I agree that Caesar attacking Greenwood's family is despicable, but I was more worried about how he knew who she was and where to find them. It isn't impossible that we had a security leak, but I've narrowed it down enough so that it seems unlikely. I think that this is was to blame." Agent Branch produces a folded-up newspaper clipping from his suit pocket, spreading it out on the table.

The newspaper clipping is the front page of the Mesa City Star. The top half of the page is taken up by a large color photo of your group, in the middle of taking down the four-armed gorilla from yesterday, taken from behind you and at a slight angle. Elizabeth, Michael, and Howard are presenting clear profiles to the camera, though Howard's face is shadowed by the mechanical tyrannosaur looming behind him and Michael's face is partially obscured by one of the gorilla's flailing arms. Lily is standing with her back almost entirely to the camera, her face hidden behind her hair and one of her wings, and Nate is facing the camera, but his NAB suit obscures his face from view. The headline of the paper reads "MESA CITY'S NEW SUPERHEROES: CONVICTS-TURNED-HEROES CLEAN UP THE ZOO".

Finally, Agent Branch turns to Nate. "The 'zombie' pulled his own disappearing act before any of the other morgue workers showed up," he answers, anger creeping once again into his voice. "Judging by the end of the footage, the poltergeist, 'Lucy', may have been responsible for that one, too. According to Elizabeth, Caesar had to leave her family's apartment before he vanished; this ghost might have a problem with thresholds."

[Anubis Dread]

Michael cursed. "Looks like I got my helmet a little late." It wasn't a good photograph, but it would be troublesome to move around incognito if too many people paid attention to it. At least there was no chance of them getting a better one now, and no loved ones of his own for them to go after. Elizabeth though... they'd gotten careless. They should have just slashed up all the journalist equipment before they went into the zoo, PR nightmare or not.

This ghost was going to be a pain in the a** though. The zombie would be fine. It would be tough, but he could see it. Heretic did have a weapon that could harm the ghost, but that didn't mean anything if he couldn't see it. "Has anyone worked out a way that we can keep a visual on the ghost while they're invisible?" Michael asked.

[TooManySecrets]

"Something ... doesn't make sense there," Nate mumbles quietly to himself.

"Has anyone worked out a way that we can keep a visual on the ghost while they're invisible?"

"Uh, what Mr. Furious said," Nate adds, a bit lamely. "Like, is Ringu there magically or something? Is there some way to detect that? There's gotta be some psychic residue or whatever. I don't know."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily eyed the article with concern. Okay, yeah, definitely need to get a costume. Although, if she were being invisibly followed by a ghost, a costume wouldn't necessarily do much...

She realized she was going to have a hard decision to make in the very near future, but decided to put it off for now and focus on the matter at hand.

"I wasn't able to smell her, so that's out. Mmm...in movies and stuff there's usually like...ectoplasm or whatever."

Spoiler

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Can I maybe roll Expertise (Superpowers) to know if Lily's heard about means for detecting ghosts and such? She had actually done some research into powers in the past, kinda a side-project studying the biological ramifications of them. (1d20+13)[22] after the Recall Fact bonus from Eidetic Memory.

[Arcran]

"Not that I could tell, but I'll try to check it out more later," Howard says, looking over the paper. "I had to leave a little earlier than I would have liked to," he quickly adds, still scanning the image, thankful for the small miracle that had kept his face obscured. "The reporter wants an interview," Howard quickly adds, figuring now is as good a time as any to bring it up. "If you're willing to allow it, I think it may be worth our time. It would at least let the city know we're the good guys," Howard states, waiting as the conversation shifts to ghosts.

"Couldn't I just read something out of Ghostbusters?" Howard says half-way seriously. "I mean, it should work, right?"

[Zelphas]

Spoiler: The Front Page of the Mesa City Star

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By Tanner Dickson

The rumors are true: five of the prisoners from the already-infamous Doctor Proxy MCCF Attack are free on the streets. There’s nothing to fear, however; these former inmates prove the old saying that anyone can be a hero, if given the chance.

The five superheroes were seen at the Mesa City Zoo at noon yesterday, hunting down other former prisoners. The convict they found did not share their view of their power as a calling to be more than they once were, however; this Ape-man used his newfound power to enslave the simians of the Zoo and attack zookeepers and innocent families who came to see the gorillas.

In a quick fight, the five new heroes not only subdued the great Ogrillan (seen in the photo above), but also managed to do so without permanently harming any of the poor gorillas under the Ape-man’s control. Soon after the Ogrillan was defeated, this reporter approached the quintet of heroes with questions.

While coordinated and effective in battle, it seems that the heroes were less prepared for the approach of the press. While polite and courteous, most declined to give names, with only the tall, fiery redhead nicknamed “The Fighting Redwood” and the smooth, sophisticated “Silvertongue” having pseudonyms prepared. Silvertongue himself promised to give this reporter an exclusive on the group and their situation for the next issue, so until then, I leave you with the assurances of the new superhero team: “You…can rest assured…that everything that can be done to keep them safe is being done.”

Rundown of new supers and observed powers on Page 3.
The Mesa City Variety Show’s statement concerning the new supers on Page 5.

Spoiler: Lily's Expertise Result

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From your studies, you remember that ghosts don't technically exist; people who develop ghost-like superpowers, however, definitely do. No matter how these powers manifest, the "ghost" is always tied to some sort of corporeal object. This object can be as small as a lock of hair or a favorite doll, or as large as the person's entire (comatose) body. Anything that affects that object affects the ghost as well, and vice versa.

In regards to tracking the ghost: ghost-like powers almost always include supreme concealment abilities, of at least two of the senses. There has yet to be a recorded case, however, of a ghost being able to completely hide all five senses at once; there is always a "tell", one sense that is not blocked by the "ghost's" power. The most common is touch (a cold shiver as the powered individual passes by), but hearing and smell are a close second. The "ghost" may be able to hide their tell by more mundane means (moving quietly to hide the sounds they make, for example), but it is usually not concealed by powers.

"As I said before, I have no objection to you talking with the reporter," Agent Branch replies to Howard. "I don't need to remind you again to be careful what you tell him."

Agent Branch looks thoughtful for a moment. "Tracking by residue might work, especially if this 'Lucy' gained her powers the same way you all did. The techs are still having difficulty isolating the gas from an affected person's blood; something about near-instant mutation when contacting genetic code, or something, but I'll see about sending one of the more refined samples over to Slapdash to see what he can do. Or you, Stone, if you want to give it a try. Silvers, that might work, too; I never really sat down to watch that film, but from what I've heard they're pretty good at catching ghosts," he finishes.

His eyes remain faraway in thought for a long moment, before he fixes his gaze on Nate. "What do you mean, 'something doesn't make sense there'?" he says, his gaze intent. "Follow up on that thought, Stone; anything strange that you might have noticed could give us info that we're sorely lacking at the moment.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"If you can do that, and it works, I will totally bake you a cake," Lily said with a slender grin to Howard.

"I did read a study or two about people with ghost-like superpowers, a few years back. Weakness-wise, they usually have some sort of object that they're connected to; anything that affects that affects the ghost. Probably not useful for our purposes - if I'm Doctor Proxy, I'm keeping my ghost minion's, eh, phylactery on my person so others can't use it against her and so I easily can if she gets uppity. Maybe if Caesar gets uppity too..." she speculated. He had seemed rather angry when she had been damaged by the others. It was possible there was a relationship there.

Getting back on track, she added, "And either way, we don't know what it is. Hunting it down isn't practical. The other main thing is that they usually can't conceal themselves perfectly; they're apparent to at least one sense. Usually smell or touch, but given the whole creepy laugh thing, I'd bet Lucy's is hearing. Nate, could you rig up something like the SAEV-BP that detected sounds rather than heat? That might at least let us pin her down next time. But it'd also have to be able to tell between real sounds and false, if she creates illusions."

[Anubis Dread]

"I've tested my powers, and I do have a weapon that can hurt something that's made of gas or goop or something. It should also work on a ghost," Michael puts out. "The problem is I can't f***ing see the damn thing when it goes invisible. Can't we all just get infrared goggles or something? Would those work? Or would that cut into the budget the military uses on whores for the people of captain rank and higher or something? If those don't work that sound idea could, but it'd probably take longer to hook up than picking some goggles up off of a shelf right?"

Heretic lets out a grunt of frustration. "I WANT to be able to say that this is off topic and we should be focusing on tracking down this walking corpse. But these three were all together the last time we rumbled. They could all well be together this time as well. They could be part of a three man team or something, the same way we're part of a five man one. If we want to live we should assume all three are going to be there when we track this guy down, and work out a way to live through it when we barely scraped through fighting them when they were all divided up rather than working together."

[TooManySecrets]

"Uh, yeah, I'll do some follow up, uh, chief," Nate says.

Spoiler: OOC

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I've got some in-character stuff for Nate to do after this meeting ends, but I don't think that Nate will really have to say anything else in the meeting itself (so if I don't post anything else during the meeting, that's why).

[Arcran]

"I like chocolate," Howard says to Lily, momentarily forgetting how she had nearly killed a man earlier, leaning back in his chair slightly.

"Should I wear a mask for the interview?" Howard can't help but ask, a look of concern crossing his face. "I'm not sure if linking me to the team is going to do much for our public image," he says somewhat sheepishly.

[Zelphas]

Agent Brach's eyes flash with irritation at Michael's off-color comment about the military, but he nods in approval concerning his comment on the three other supers being together. "Good thinking. You know more about the three's relative strengths and weaknesses than I do, but I'll talk to your instructors to see if we can rig up some general team fighting exercises. It's possible by this point that some of the other convicts are grouping together now as well; it's been surprisingly quiet on the streets so far.

"As for the goggles... I doubt infrared will help, since ghost-type powers rarely give off heat signatures. Part of the whole 'ghost' effect. Even if it could, I'm afraid you're out of luck; the budget for this little 'community service project' is stretched tight as-is, and the classy whores are expensive," he finishes with a completely straight face.

He glances over at Howard and sighs. "You didn't wear a mask last time you met that reporter, so it's your call if it'll actually be useful anymore. Still, extra precautions never hurt." With that, Agent Branch nods to you all and closes his laptop, picking it up. "I think I've just about exhausted my use here. The morgue is at the corner of Harrow and Brookfield, if you want to look for clues; otherwise, the day is still yours. Oh, one more thing," he says, stopping on the way to the door. "Ms. Brennan contacted me and said that she'd be coming by tomorrow, for an update on your case. It shouldn't take too long, I think. Good work at the warehouse." With that, he leaves the cafeteria.

Spoiler: OOC

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Like Agent Branch said, the rest of the day is still yours. I'm fine with moving quickly through the rest of the day or taking it slower, whichever works best.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily nodded, and looked to the others. "I want to stop by the morgue. Get a sample of some of the ash this guy leaves when he destroys stuff. Maybe see if I can pick up a scent trail, although I don't know if it would hold until tomorrow and I have some ideas I'd like to try before going after him, in case we do run into Caesar or Lucy." She kept her voice brisk and professional, but she had a melancholic cast to her gaze and a hint of tears in her eyes as she said so. "Anyone want to come?"

Spoiler

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I'm good to skip ahead if no one else has anything to do. Lily has a few things she wants to do yet today/tonight, actually, but they're all things that can be covered in a timeskip post I think, with the possible exception of a quick check of the morgue, and even that can be kept somewhat limited today and done more thoroughly tomorrow.

[Anubis Dread]

"I'm not really as good at picking up a trail as you are, but it can't hurt for us both to go down and give it an attempt," Michael offered. He didn't have any technical skills or anything, so having him play bodyguard was probably the best use of his skills.

[Arcran]

"I'm going to contact the reporter, see if we can't get a meeting put together," Howard says, standing up from his seat. "Hopefully we can get everything set straight before the public gets any bad ideas about us but, at this rate, we should be alright," he says, picking up the paper and tapping the cover.

"Radio in if there's trouble, although I don't know how much help I'll be," Howard adds before beginning to leaf through the paper to pages three and five, trying to figure out what the city knew about them as well as what the Variety Show thought of them.

[TooManySecrets]

Nate watches with interest as Agent Branch goes. He's fidgeting a lot. His hand goes up to brush against his hair and the teleporter band a bit too much.

"Uh, hey," Nate says. His voice is a bit unsteady before he stops stops fidgeting and looks at the others. "Uh, how 'bout, uh, before we do any of those things we all go out to, like, uh grab a bite to eat. Y'know, to like celebrate that we survived, uh, another one, right? Like, it'll just be, uh, fast food but it'll, uh, be my treat."

"I would, uh, I would really appreciate it."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily's face became a forcibly neutral mask as Nate made his suggestion (she might have been just a bit territorial). But, you know, what the heck, she hadn't had a burger and fries in ages, and she doubted the evidence would go away over the time it took to eat a meal. "Um, sure. Why not."

[Anubis Dread]

Looks like Nate was trying to pull something behind Branch's back. Heretic wasn't really interested, but willfully ignoring something wasn't his style. "Sure," Michael replied with a shrug.

[Arcran]

"I'm free," Howard says, smiling slightly as he says that, momentarily replacing the questioning look he was giving Nate. "As long as you're the one buying."

[Zelphas]

January 9th, 2015
2:07 P.M.

There is a McDonald's within easy walking distance (normal human walking distance, that is) of the converted school. It's as clean as a fast-food place can be, and there aren't many people at the restaurant at this time of the day. You are all easily able to place your orders and grab an empty booth.

[TooManySecrets]

Nate had only grabbed a soda for himself. He finds a booth for everyone, as far anyway from any other customer as possible.

As soon as everyone is seated, Nate speaks. "Look," he says, without any small talk, "I don't trust Agent Branch." He chuckles, but it sounds forced. "I know, I know. He's the authority and I'm, like, uh, the rambling spirit that refuses to be like caged. We're, uh, supposed to be natural enemies but it isn't that."

He takes a drink from his soda, the straw scraping the plastic top. "Y'have to look at the facts. What do we know about Proxy? I mean the dudes a frickin' ghost. We, uh, don't even know if he's a dude at all. What we do know, however, is like what you can tell from his, uh, actions. Mind control powers. A control freak. Uh, he never gets his own hands dirty. Like the song says, 'treating people just like pawns in chess'. And, uh, whatever his plans are they have to be long-term plans."

"So, a guy, uh, like that — a dude like Proxy — is he gonna let his flunkies just run around doing whatever they want? No way, no. He's a controller. The, uh, only way that he could trust someone is if, uh, he knows that he can control them. If he can make them his puppet. Ringu, Pygmalion, Zombie Guy — his squad of flunkies — they've gotta be controlled by him."

Nate looks around at the others. "Do you see what that means? What it implies?"

[Anubis Dread]

"...no?" Michael frowned as he looked down at his burger. "So Proxy has a big plan involving spraying gas around, collapsing a homeless shelter and scaring us off. All seem to be pretty normal stuff for a grand scheme. I can't think of anything he's done that doesn't fit our model of him. I guess you could claim Branch isn't really immune and is controlled too. But he's never outright lied to us, otherwise my power would have picked it up."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily sat down with her burger and fries and considered Nate's concerns. "Honestly? No. Or, I don't see how it ties into Branch. I mean, sure, odds are good that that crew is under his control, or easily can be - although from what I've seen so far, my bet is that the zombie is under his direct control while Caesar is either personally loyal or has a reason to be working with him, and Lucy could go either way. But how does that link to Branch?"

A moment's more thought, and she added, "No, wait, I think maybe I see what you're getting at. You're saying why would he create us, meaning, all the supers from the prison, if he couldn't control them outright. Presumably the escape wasn't intended, and your theory is something along the lines that our task force is basically meant to bring in all these escaped subjects so they can be controlled. Right?"

[TooManySecrets]

"Oh dang, I didn't even think about that, Lily." Nate leans back. "I mean it, uh, makes sense. I hadn't even thought about what, uh, Proxy's end game was. Huh. Maybe."

Nate leans forward again and looks at Michael. "It's not just about being controlled or not. It's how. Like, remember the prison, with the controlled guards? They were all zonked out, right?" Nate looks at the others. "I didn't really see 'em but I know you guys did. But, like, the, er, Proxy proxy wasn't out of it. And I think that Mike, you said that one of them talked to you directly? What if Proxy had different levels of control?"

Nate holds up three fingers. "One," he points to the first finger with his other hand to emphasize, "he turns you into an, eh, avatar, let's say? Like, you become like, uh, a meat suit for him. He just turns you off and steps into your body. Total control. Two" - point to the second finger - "he turns you into a puppet. Group control but without any, like, uh, subtlety. He can tell all of his puppets to do something like 'Bring the prisoners to the, uh, yard' but it's harder to give individual orders. We know for, uh, a fact that he has these two, uh, levels of control but what if, what if there was another level of control?" He wiggles his third finger a bit before putting his hands down again.

"The third level would be subtle. We've all fought Proxy's goon squad and we've had our little, uh, chats with them, too. They're not zonked out and they're not copies of Proxy. Well, Zombie Guy probably is but the rest? No. But what if they're, uh, controlled anyways? Like, a little subtle change in them. Maybe Proxy made them just a bit more violent, a bit more greedy, a bit more willing to obey Proxy's commands and afraid of crossing him. Like, from their, uh, perspective, they're following his orders, right, but they think they're doing it of their own free will. The, uh, truth, though, is that maybe it isn't personal loyalty. Maybe they've actually been modified to obey him."

Nate takes another sip.

"Lily, you said it yourself: 'all the supers from the prison'. 'The prison'. Why the prison? Proxy doing his, uh, civic duty to keep the prison population down?" Nate says the last sentence with heavy sarcasm. He rubs his face. "Heh, no. Why not like a hospital? Or a stadium? Or a school? It doesn't make sense, really, unless I'm, uh, right about this third level of control. 'cause if this third level exists, then Proxy will find it easier to, uh, modify people who are already closer to what he wants. It would be, uh, easier to, uh, push a criminal into committing a crime than it would be to, uh, push other people into it. And, uh, I think it's safe to say that whatever Proxy wants an army of supers for it's, uh, not going to be legal. Uh, that's for sure."

[Arcran]

As Nate describes the prison guards Howard nods in agreement, remembering their strange behavior immediately before the attack. That level seemed fair and, from what Branch had said, the other seemed fair as well. The third, on the other hand, was a bit more concerning, especially to Howard.

"Stone, there's plenty of other reasons he'd target a prison," Howard says, almost more to comfort himself than actually convince the man. "It was isolated, probably easy to cut communication with and, frankly, him dosing a bunch of criminals won't warrant nearly the reaction from other supers as if he had dosed some suburban development," Howard says somewhat cynically. "Still, what can we do? If we can't trust Branch we literally have nobody we can work with. His power should make him immune to Proxy, but there are far less difficult ways to control a man than superpowers," Howard adds, a fact he knew from perhaps a little too much experience.

"Do you have something in mind Stone?" Howard asks. Hopefully he'd have some sort of plan for action if he had taken the time to call the meeting, but what could you do?

Spoiler: OoC

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Zelphas, a summary of what the paper had said on pages three and five would be much appreciated!

[Anubis Dread]

"Proxy outright said why he targetted the prison - he figured fewer people would care about the death tole more than the powers if the people who were killed were all criminals. He was right," Michael noted. "Of course he could have been lieing out of his a**, but from my experience guys like Proxy love to tell the truth whenever they can. It's like bragging - they tell you the truth to show off that they don't even need to lie all the time to manipulate you."

The mind control thing made sense though. That said... "How does this change things?" Michael asked. "We can't exactly get loose from the government without things getting hairy. We can't stop hunting down Proxy or the criminals, because they'd both cause way too much damage if we just let them run free. All it means is that we need to be more paranoid, but I was pretty paranoid to begin with."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Yeah, I mean, it's a solid theory." It actually made her wonder if she might use her own powers to "nudge" people like that. "But I don't really see how it leads to the conclusion that Branch can't be trusted. I mean, I'll certainly allow that Branch would be a useful asset for Proxy to have, but that doesn't mean he is one, and I imagine it wouldn't be hard to check that his powers are what he says they are. I could probably even confirm it myself, in theory, if we really had to be sure. What makes you think that Branch specifically might be under Proxy's sway?"

[TooManySecrets]

"C'mon, man," Nate says to Howard, "listen to yourself. Isolated? The dude flew a freakin' giant canister of gas through the sky in broad daylight and, uh, like announced himself on a megaphone with some, uh, classic megalomaniacal speech about how awesome he is and how he's, like, doing us a favor. Dude doesn't seem concerned about, uh, keeping his activities all that secret, right? It's not like he'd be worried about, uh, response time. He did what he needed to do in, like, 15 seconds. Wasn't worried about being caught, either, since Proxy was using an, uh, avatar."

"I mean, I'll agree that the, uh, average person on the street is going to care less about, uh, what happens to some criminals in jail. That's more or less what I, uh, said back when we were being recruited. I'm sure, uh, some people, thought that, uh, the victims had it comin'. But Proxy isn't running for election ... uh, as far as I know. He doesn't really, uh, care about public opinion. He's a supervillain. What he, uh, does care about is like how much of a threat the authorities think he is. And, I can't think of, like, one single place that he could attack that would get the authorities on him any quicker. Uh, maybe attacking an army base or City Hall? I mean, uh, like think about it: you break into somebody's house and the cops will send like one or two patrol cars, right? You break into jail, and they're gonna send a dozen cars and a SWAT van. Maybe call up some supers as well."

He turns to Michael. "Mike, I know that, uh, you can tell if somebody is lying, but that doesn't mean you can't be fooled. If Proxy is subtly pushing Branch, Branch could be telling you things that he thinks are true, but, uh, they ain't. As for Proxy, what exactly did he tell you? I mean, uh, really. As I said, all I remember was some megalomiacal claptrap that, uh, was like big on generalities and short on specifics. I mean, I'll agree that, it's uh, in the interest of supervillains like Proxy to develop a reputation for honesty but that's not the same thing as being honest. And it just makes the lies they do tell, like, all that much more better."

"And paranoia," Nate smiles humorously for a moment, "dude, weren't you just ambushed by a group of thugs and, like, a super-leech when you walked into their clubhouse?"

"Now, about Branch," Nate says, looking around, "it's, uh, like forewarned is forearmed. Even if we don't do anything or, uh, have a way to find out one way or the other, I think it's better, uh, to be careful about what we tell 'im. Why Branch, though? Well, like, it's first 'cause he's the weak point of this whole thing. It all, uh, hinges on him and if he goes down then, like, the rest of us go down like dominoes. Checkmate. The second is 'cause of that story he told us, how he found out that he was immune. Uh, am I the only one who didn't quite believe it? If it was any more spotty, like, it would be a dalmatian. If it was any more vague, it would be a mirage. If it was ... well, you get the picture. He just assumed it was Proxy. Well, put yourself in the, uh, shoes of a sociopathic supervillain with control issues who thinks long-term and wants to control someone bit by bit. What is the first, most useful thing you could make someone believe? Make them think they're immune to you. You're pushing them, right? The biggest danger is that they figure out that they just did something that, uh, that they wouldn't normally do. But if they think they're immune, then they just write it off. The human brain is, like, really really resilient but it's that way 'cause it bends under pressure instead of breaking so the person being controlled will just rationalize it away if they don't think they're being controlled. So, like, push by push Proxy could use this hypothetical third control to, like, turn you into anything. He just needs time and making a dude think he's immune is one way of getting that time."

"Confirming this, well, that's a bit more difficult. Most direct route would be to just try to, uh, well there's no way to put this delicately, just try to mind control Branch. For, uh, obvious reasons that is likely to piss him off. We also like can't let him know that he would be a guinea pig since, if he is being controlled, that would, uh, just tip Proxy that we're onto him. The second way is trying to dig into Branch's story, try to find out who exactly tried to control him. That's a, uh, that's a problem, too. I mean, just getting the info is going to be difficult but following up on it is gonna be harder. Like, if it was Proxy, then by trying to dig into what happened, we might expose ourselves to him. I dunno 'bout you guys, but, uh, heh heh, I want my mind to be own."

Nate leans back and holds his arms wide dramatically. The moment is ruined a bit when he immediately goes in to get another sip of soda again. "So, uh, that's the situation," he says after finishing the sip. "At least that's how I see it. Uh, if anybody else has a plan, that would be great."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Nate...you might be focusing a bit too much on the 'Proxy' and not enough on the 'Doctor'. This gas is...huge. It is a game-changer. We're pretty early into the 2000's and even considering the current rate of technological advancement it stands a very good shot of being the single most important invention of the century. I'd give it fair odds of claiming that title for the millennium. And that is taking into account everything I plan to do when we're done with this community service project, only partially because his achievement is going to be a major impact on my own. He found a way to artificially induce super-powers, and all evidence we have so far suggests it's permanent."

"Now, Proxy is completely freaking insane, or he would have tested it thoroughly and either eliminated the risk of death or at least reduced it to a statistically acceptable percentage before even considering human testing, and then when he ran human tests he would have conducted a proper double-blind study with a good sample size lasting several years to measure potential long-term side-effects instead of flying into a prison and dosing all the inmates and then following suit with a homeless shelter. That's what's wrong. That's what's evil. But it doesn't change the value of the invention itself."

"But back at the prison, he wasn't talking about what people would think. You're right that he probably doesn't care about public opinion. He was talking about what history would think. My guess? He wants to go down in the books as one of the greatest scientists who ever lived. He doesn't just want to be the local mind-controlling supervillain whose schemes get foiled by the Variety Show on a weekly basis Tuesdays at nine, eight central. He's not going for popularity, he's trying to secure his legacy."

"And, you know, maybe doing it this way is helpful to his process somehow, lets him cut through the regulations and procedures that most scientists have to follow. Or maybe it's just for the narrative. The maverick and maybe a little mad doctor who will see SCIENCE! accomplished despite the risks or costs is just a more interesting character for the history books than the guy who spends years in a lab diligently working and testing everything a hundred times until he gets it right. History's full of people who got credit for great achievements that someone else beat them to or that they didn't actually accomplish at all just because they were the more interesting character. This could all be just an effort to make sure he's the one who gets the credit."

"Now, that doesn't mean we shouldn't take precautions, because we're dealing with a mind controller and it pays to be cautious. But I think the best move would be to confront Agent Branch directly with your suspicions. Ask for proof about his powers, maybe even test them ourselves. But there is such a thing as being too paranoid. Withholding information from Branch if he isn't under Proxy's influence could be just as damaging, if not moreso, than giving him information if he is. And really, it might be a moot point anyway, because Proxy doesn't need Branch to get information from us. Lucy could be floating in a comfortable reclined position five feet above our heads listening to every word we say right now and none of us would have a clue. To say nothing for the possibility of Proxy stealing into any of our heads. Or having access to someone who can project their senses. Or see the future."

"All of which is to say, that a mind-influenced Branch is only one security risk, and in my opinion neither the most probable nor most serious one. Yeah, let's check him, because we can do it pretty quickly and easily if we're just straight about it and there's no sense in not. But we should also start working on other ways to protect ourselves from Proxy's spying. Methods to discern if each other are being influenced. The Lucy Detection things we were talking about earlier. And so on as we can figure them out. And even then, if you really want to be properly paranoid, we should still probably go into things working under the assumption that Proxy does know our movements and is preparing a response for them himself, and step up our tactical game significantly enough that we can deal with whatever responses he throws at us. Which in itself would be just good sense anyway."

[TooManySecrets]

Nate shrugs. "I don't think that Proxy is actually a doctor. It's an, uh, affectation. Dude's smart, no doubt, but, uh, there's no reason to think he's, uh, some sort of genius. He doesn't get his hands dirty, and, uh, he's got quite the ego, and from everything we know I, uh, don't think he takes criticism well. Can't really see a person like that being able to get a doctorate. Maybe he has some sort of, uh, intuitive understanding like I do or Slapdash does or whatever, but then he would have two major powers that are, uh, I guess you could call it 'thematically unrelated'. Two powers that aren't from, like, the same place. And if he's got two, why not more? Nah, it's like you said. He probably has access to some people to, like, build his suits and make his gas and whatever else."

"As for Lucy and future-telling or whatever, it's, uh, possible that he has stuff like that. Why stop at there, though? Like, he could have entire armies of people working for him. Going against Proxy would be like trying to fight a nation. But, though, it's like, even if all of that is true (and I don't think it, uh, necessarily is), that doesn't mean that, uh, like I'm not going to look both ways before crossing the street. Y'see what I mean? There's only so little that a person can have control over. If Ghost Girl and, uh, a future-sight sasquatch and the aliens from Area 51 are all mind-controlled by Proxy and spying on every move we make, well, uh, there's not much we can do to stop them. So, uh, let's focus on the things that we do have control over."

"Our only advantage, right now, is that, uh, we're mostly under everyone's radar but, uh, that isn't gonna last for long. Not with that news article. Not with the flunkies we keep taking down. Caesar already went after one of us and we can only hope that it, uh, was his own idea and not Proxy's, 'cause if it was Proxy's then Elizabeth is only gonna be the first of us personally targeted. If I'm right and Agent Branch is being pushed, then, uh, we'll only have one chance to prove it. One chance. 'Cause after we tip our hand, I don't think Proxy is, like, going to keep the kid gloves on. I think telling Branch is the wrong thing to do, but if you guys want to do it, I'm not going to stop you. You just, uh, better be ready to reap the whirlwind."