Freedom City Issue #2: Time of Vengeance

[fireinthedust]

Without looking up, he starts to speak. You're probably... no you are right. I let my own guilt blind me, and it almost destroyed me. Alright, let me out and I'll help you end this... chaos. I never wanted anyone to be hurt. Maybe I can use my powers for good instead of vengeance! He looks up, and as he says those words his Flea-man form vanishes like smoke; before you stands only a simple older man with a mocha-colored cardigan with leather patches on the elbows. After a quick pause, he realizes his forms has reverted to that of a human. Oh. Um... well then.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Don't sweat it," Fireblade says. "Honestly, I think you can do just as much good without superpowers as with, as long as you pay attention to where your money is going. And at least this way, you're not, you know, a gigantic flea."

Wait a second.

Fireblade turns to the Frogboy in the next cell. "I think I know how to make you not-a-frog, little guy," he says. "Why did you become this way? Was it to punish Harry Smilac?"

[sun_tzu]

Wwwwwwhaaaa....?
OK. Fireblade looks like he got the right idea here, and this definitely fits Mr Infamy's modus operandi...One more reason to believe he was behind this.
"We might still need your help, professor. Let's have a word..."
Soul tries to have a talk with Almond away from Tsfardea's earshot. "Professor, as the current League's expert on the arcane, I've been studying this case, and I suspect that your powers were given to you by the entity known us "Mr Infamy". I don't know how familiar you are with the subject, but Mr Infamy is a...ludicrously powerful individual of mysterious nature, whose modus operandi consists of giving superpowers to people likely to misuse them. Ever heard of White Knight, the fire-controlling Klansman? One of Infamy's recipients.
What worries me is that this time around, he seems to have taken ten hospital patients - including yourself - with the intent of creating modern versions of the ten plagues of Egypt. That means that there are seven more to go, and any single one could have disastrous consequences.
So, we're going to need your help. We'll need you to tell us everything that's happened to you from the moment you were taken from that hospital, and everything you know about the other patients - because the only known way to undo what Infamy does to people is to get his 'clients' to willingly reject his 'gifts', the way you just did."

[fireinthedust]

Tsfardeia gapes innocently at Fireblade, then holds out his hand as a frog crawls into it. He looks sad, then (in the first instance of recognizing what you said) croaks while shaking his head. harries mile... ack. With that he turns away and cringes into a corner.


Prof. Almond rubs his chin. Incredible. Yes, I see what you mean. When my hatred left, so did my powers. What do I remember... well, frankly not much. I remember a man in a suit who I suppose was Mr. Infamy. I've heard of the White Knight, and now I'm feeling rather sick that I shared any sort of connection with him. I just faded out in the hospital, woke up in a dark room surrounded by several other people with powers. We didn't talk much, I was simply handed the task of destroying the Atom Family and away I went. The only one I really got a look at was a woman. She was... well, dark, and terrifying. I... I can't remember much else until I got to the Goodman building. Is that helpful?

[sun_tzu]

Tsfardeia gapes innocently at Fireblade, then holds out his hand as a frog crawls into it. He looks sad, then (in the first instance of recognizing what you said) croaks while shaking his head. harries mile... ack. With that he turns away and cringes into a corner.


Prof. Almond rubs his chin. Incredible. Yes, I see what you mean. When my hatred left, so did my powers. What do I remember... well, frankly not much. I remember a man in a suit who I suppose was Mr. Infamy. I've heard of the White Knight, and now I'm feeling rather sick that I shared any sort of connection with him. I just faded out in the hospital, woke up in a dark room surrounded by several other people with powers. We didn't talk much, I was simply handed the task of destroying the Atom Family and away I went. The only one I really got a look at was a woman. She was... well, dark, and terrifying. I... I can't remember much else until I got to the Goodman building. Is that helpful?

"Well, I'd like you to go over the pictures of the other ten patients, tell me if you can recognize what an of them turned into, including if one of them was that woman...and maybe help talk our amphibian aquaintance into letting go of Infamy's poisonous gift. Just knowing his name might help."

[SuperMuldoon]

Apex gets up and walks next to Fireblade, looking in on the frogman. "What did Harry Smilac do to you that would make you want to become what you are now? We have him here now, if you can help us, tell us what he did that would make you accept these powers, we can be sure justice will be served. Please, we only want to help you!" Apex says, almost pleading with the frogman.

[fireinthedust]

The Frog man sniffs, shaking his head at Apex' plea to tell him about Smilac. Gra maw. (ribbit) Gra maw.

Smilac, who's cell is nearby, straightens his jacket. hey, I never seen this guy before in my life! I been good to frogs.

[SuperMuldoon]

Ignoring Harry's comments for the moment, Apex brings up the list of missing patients. "Alright, now I'm going to read off this list of names. If I read your name, give a big croak ok?" Apex begins reading the names off one by one with a pause in between each to see if froggy has any reactions. Of course, Ernest Almond will be ommitted.

Spoiler

Show

Ernest T. Almond II, age 47, Freedom City University Prof; recovering from shock

Bert Gordon, 16, high school student, treated for broken nose.

Albert Hedison, 37, unemployed; hospitalized for severe alcohol poisoning.

Constance Mason, 15, high school student; treated and kept under observation after suicide attempt.

Rey Milland, 17, ward of the state; awaiting transfer into the care of social services.

Virginia North, 78, retired; hospitalized with terminal cancer.

Arnold Quigley, 31, Delphic Industries employee; being treated for meningitis.

Casandra Starling, 19, unemployed; being treated for severe anorexia.

Jerimiah Johns, 55, custodian at the Lincoln Youth Center; broken finger.

Susanna Whiteacre, 19, artist; complained of dizziness.

((OOC: Haha I have such the mental picture for Smilac! "'ey, I been good ta frawgs!"))

[Da Beast]

"Gra maw? Do you mean Grandma? Did Mr Smilac do something to your Grandma?"

[fireinthedust]

Tsfardeia's head twitches with a brief glance up at the mention of the name "Rey".
When Aesir says "Grandma", his throat bulges with a croak and he tries to push further into the corner.

[SuperMuldoon]

"Good thinking Aesir! Now, the listing here for Rey Millard has him as a ward of the state...meaning he has no legal guardian... Apex turns to Harry Smilac, "Now Mr. Smilac, do you know a Rey Millard, and perhaps his grandmother? Tell the truth now, as I can just run upstairs and search every database available to find out if you're lying."

[fireinthedust]

Smilac shrugs, and says in an exasperated voice geez, I told you I never met this guy before. I'd remember a giant frog family!

((and because it kinda fits, but not exactly: "Eh-oh, oh-eh!"))

Searching the database, you find Rey's listing: a ward of the state for a while, he was originally living in Detroit with his very abusive family. He has severe mental and physical (for lack of a better word) deforities, something one social worker says led the family to mental and physical abuse. He was taken away and placed with an elderly aunt (likely what he calls his gramma) in faraway Freedom City. However, you find that she was recently murdered by a stray bullet during an armed robbery; Rey was taken back by the state, and looking forward to years of being shuffled around the system. He was hospitalized due to self-harming and a possible suicide attempt.

and that, you theorize, is where Mr. Infamy arrived.

[Da Beast]

"But where does Smilac fit into this? He's kind of unpleasant, but hardly seems like the armed robbery type."

Aesir returns to the holding cells to ask Tsfardeia a few more questions.

"Hello Rey, I want to help you but first I want you to tell me something, can you do that? Can you tell me why you attacked Mr Smilac?"

[fireinthedust]

Daaark... Laaaady.

Almond pipes up. I think he means the woman who gave us our assignments. I do remember her. Tall, and frankly frightening. She's the one who told me to go after the Atom family, and likely sent him after Smilac. I doubt it's anything personal for him.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Guess I wasn't quite on the ball then..." Fireblade says.

*

Well, when you say it like that, it's kinda cheesy, but good idea.

Kneeling down to look at the frog kid (who's not actually that much younger than him) on the same level, Fireblade draws his sword and lays it flat across his knee. "Rey, right? Listen...you don't have to be afraid any more. I'm a superhero, see, and I promise that my friends and I will help you find a place to stay. Find somewhere safe for you. I just need you to do three things for me. I need you to trust me, I need you to stop being afraid, and I need you to think very hard about how you don't need help from some smelly bad guy in a suit when you've got the Freedom League looking out for you, okay?"

[fireinthedust]

The Frog-man looks up at the fiery hero and croaks out Joooin Leeegue?

[sun_tzu]

The Frog-man looks up at the fiery hero and croaks out Joooin Leeegue?

"Er, let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now, Rey, you just need to know that the League will protect you...
But, you need to understand something, Rey. The ones who turned you into a frog, and asked you to hurt Smilac? They're bad people. They tried to make you do bad things, just like Professor Almond here. We want to help you, Rey, but you must stop helping the bad people."

[fireinthedust]

Rey deflates when Soul tells him not to get ahead of himself about joining the league. He smushes back into the corner, muttering something along the lines of nothurtpeople...

Rey, it'll be fine, I'll be your friend. If I can't help anyone else, I'll help you.

((okay, that's enough of this for now.

So: what is next? anyone have something they wanted done?))

[sun_tzu]

Rey deflates when Soul tells him not to get ahead of himself about joining the league. He smushes back into the corner, muttering something along the lines of nothurtpeople...

Rey, it'll be fine, I'll be your friend. If I can't help anyone else, I'll help you.

((okay, that's enough of this for now.

So: what is next? anyone have something they wanted done?))

((Well, as stated earlier, Soul wanted to attempt to contact any leader figure of the Jewish community she can, and ask if they have any idea what's going on (after explaining the plague thing)...Also, call the police for information on the ten patients.))

[Green Bean]

Tempo goes out and tries to gather more frogs. This time, he's wearing heavy work gloves.

[fireinthedust]

Tempo: well done on the frogs. You clean them up real good, no more frogs, nope. And you're not high. woo sobriety!


Soul: Contacting Jewish leaders is easy, but getting them to respond is hard: first you must answer a number of questions about obscure topics like philosophical arguments and interpretations of various texts. Naturally, you pass with flying colors, but still!
The Jewish leaders know nothing of value to your current dilemma, but you can tell they're happy some big, famous super hero of a person is there to see them at such an important time.

Contacting the Police is likewise fruitless. I mean, you know there's fruit there, but it involves running up against a brick wall (so, like, squishy fruit). Det. Boyce gives you a response like "why not use that big fancy computer, ya big shot", and proceeds with the brick-walling.


Anything else before we move on? Was someone going to go find Mr. Infamy and beat him up?

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Shouldn't we be finding Mr. Infamy and beating him up?" Fireblade asks. "Any idea of how to find him? Or even this 'Dark Lady' sidekick-person of his."

[sun_tzu]

"I'm open to suggestions. But, well, records would suggest that Mr Infamy is...well, let me put it this way. If my powers are the school bully beating you up for your lunch money, Infamy's powers are the freight train rushing in your direction while you're tied to the train tracks. We don't really know what the limits on his powers are, if any.
Not I would even know where to begin looking for him. It's not like you just say "Infamy, Infamy, Infamy!" and he shows up..." she looks around half-expectedly; "...I think. Then again..."

[SuperMuldoon]

"So this Mr. Infamy is a pretty tough customer eh? Well, if we're looking for him, or this 'Dark Lady' maybe we should do some scouting? I could take a quick flight around the city and see if anything strange is going on. It's logical to assume that the rest of the people on this list were granted powers and are probably in similar situations as the two we have here. They could be out there getting ready to cause some havoc."

[fireinthedust]

Scouting: frankly, you don't see much happening today. As the sun sets on the first day, the entire city seems to be settling in. Still, with frogs running rampant and the city's water supply made of blood, Freedom is settling into more of a troubled simmer like reactive chemicals that can explode on a moment's notice.

So endth the first day.

The next morning you all wake fairly easily. Prof. Almond has made some progress with Rey, who's agreed not to let the frogs run rampant through Freedom Hall. Smilac is cussing and banging on the door to his cell, and threatening law suits and legal action, then to take you individually out back and beat you once he gets outta he-er.

[sun_tzu]

Having checked to see what the next three plagues were (savage beasts, livestock-destroying plagues, and skin diseases), Soul is mostly trying to warn medical authorities and farmers that something may be up, and ask that the Freedom League be warned at the first sign of trouble.

[Green Bean]

Tempo grabs a shovel and scouts the nearby countryside, looking for uncontaminated rivers or lakes. The city would need water, and Tempo was willing to try his hand at one-man aqueduct construction.

[fireinthedust]

((ooc: sorry about the extra delay time; I've been looking for the module for the last few days, and I can't find it. gah! Well, while I keep fumbling around my apt (with the massive gaming table I used acouple night ago for a DnD game using M&M; it worked great) I'm going to introduce a game element I was going to add some time ago))


Tempo: You go digging but find little usable water at first. There are springs for bottled water, but they're not big enough for a whole city.

Everyone (including Tempo, if you swing by for an update):

A shadow moves across the walls of Freedom Hall, finally choosing a spot. Two arms made of solid cement push out of the wall by the computer monitor, followed by a dispassionate face and body also made of stone. A massive necklace in an egyptian style hangs on his chest, and and he wears two bracers and a warrior's skit of the same material, made of what looks like metal from cars and street lights. A green cloak and hood cover the rest of him. You immediately recognize the famous yet mysterious member of the Freedom League reports say is a "city spirit".

You are the Freedom League, I presume. I am Dr. Metropolis.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Fireblade starts in amazement. "Oh! Doctor Metropolis! Hey! Where the hell have you guys been? People have been wondering, I mean. And other people have been causing non-politcally-correct-themed trouble."

After a moment processing what the elemental man said, Fireblade continues, "Wait...we are also the Freedom League, if that's what you mean. You all just hired us a couple weeks ago, remember? Where's the rest of the League?"

[fireinthedust]

I did not arrive with them. I waited for the League in a nearby city, but they never arrived. I have been searching the world for them for the past weeks... I can find nothing. I am strongest in Freedom City, so I decided to return here.
Yet wherever the senior League members are now, the City is more important. What is going on here?