4/30/13: IF IT WEREN'T FOR BAD LUCK...

PARTICIPANTS: SCOTSMAN, ZEPHYR, LOUP GAROU

DEBUT OF BRYAN AS GAMEMASTER!!!

After returning from the adventures in Sweden, the Scotsman returned to his apartment, exhausted in both body and spirit. When he got there, he realized that the door was ajar and his apartment had been ransacked. He searched the apartment and found only a voice surveillance device. After finding nothing else of significance and climbing in and then out of bed, he decided to examine his laptop. Suspicious, he threw his laptop in the garbage, pulled it back out, then decided to smash the voice recording device and get some sleep.

He was shortly awakened by a very large man pulling him out of bed (Manslaughter), while another large man in silver and blue armor (Cardiac) attempted to blast him with a staff.

The Scotsman managed to grabl and blow his horn to invoke the power of his ancestors. Upon seeing this, Manslaughter decided to try the horn for himself. He was able to wrestle the horn from Scotsman and blow it. Instead of giving Manslaughter power the horn took The Scotsman's power away (due to some Scottish luck and some bad dice rolling by the villains). The Scotsman still managed to escape unsacathed, while the attackers started fighting amongst themselves.

Fleeing from his own apartment, the Scotsman retreated to a safe distance and watched while his apartment was destroyed by the battle. After it was over and the police sirens where sounding in the distance he teleported into his apartment to retrieve his belongings, and then teleported to AlertForce mansion.

Loup Garou answered the door, and found a soaking wet Scotsman asking for a place to stay (with the theme from the Odd Couple playing in the background). The Scotsman the pulled out his alertforce communicator and asked what "this button" did, and pushed it, setting off the emergency alert. Zephyr came running down the stairs in her nightgown to find the emergency. After giving a little instruction on Communicator functions, Zephyr and Loup decided to return to the scene to find the supervillains. They where greeted, however, only by the police, who had Manslaughter in custody.

They all returned to AlertForce Mansion to get some sleep, once and for all.

Award 5HP to Scotsman / 2HP to Loup and Zephyr

4/28/13: FINALE

PARTICIPANTS: BANE, MANTIS, JURGEN, LOUP GAROU, SNOW ANGEL, SCOTSMAN, ZEPHYR, GREEN LANTERN

As the team plotted their attack on UMI's secret Citadel, UMI beat AlertForce to the punch, and attacked AlertForce Mansion. While Green Lantern stood in the living room in front of the large windows on the Pacific, a missile struck the side of the house, blasting him across the room and opening a gaping hole in the wall. AlertForce scrambled to react, and PAL and SOLOMON appeared from nowhere, in the middle of AlertForce's living room.

A lengthy battle ensued, which featured a number of interesting moments. Snow Angel used an ice mallet to smash PAL flat. SOLOMON used Elastigirl-like stretching powers to punch Scotsman, sending him flying over the kitchen counter and into the refridgerater, and Snow Angel, sending her flying through her own ice wall, into the hedge beyond. Green Lantern shook the cobwebs out of his head after taking a missile strike, then grabbed SOLOMON around the waist with a green energy hand, pulling at least part of SOLOMON outside, and wrapping him around the garage several times. While Green Lantern kept Solomon occupied (or at least part of him), the Scotsman rallied, and incapacitated the android with a swipe from his mystic sword.

Meanwhile, Zephyr flew outside and into the air, and attacked the three fighters with lightning. Mantis and Bane grabbed the PTA tank sitting in AlertForce's yard, and opened fire on the fighters, while Loup circled on the ground, awaiting his moment to leap and strike. Jurgen fired on the fighters from an upstairs window of AlertForce.

After one fighter was sent spinning into the pacific, the two others were zapped by lightning and Jurgen-fire, and their two Construct pilots leapt out and continued the attack, one zapping Zephyr in the stomach pretty hard. They then descended to 80 feet to attack the tank, and sent it rocking and spinning backwards, before Loup leapt up and tore one in half, and the other was destroyed by the combined efforts of Bane shooting from the tank, Zephyr, Jurgen, and Snow Angel taking the final shot, and knocking his head into the Pacific like a golf ball.

Mantis immediately ordered the team to prepare to attack UMI's headquarters. Shortly therafter, Green Lantern used his trusty energy bubble and hyperflight to take the whole team on a rough ride to UMI's sanctum sanctorum in Stockholm, Sweden.

As the green bubble descended over Swedish Ministry of Defense HQ, the team noted smoke pouring from one corner of the building. Sensing that something was amiss and that the moment for intense action was at hand, Mantis ordered the team into the building, and down the stairwell into the basement, abandoning all stealth efforts to get to UMI more quickly.

When the team arrived at the fortified elevator, Jurgen was able to activate the mechanism (if not conceal the approach), and the team soon found itself in the secret underground lair of UMI.

Near the base of the elevator, the team found signs of battle, and found several remains of constructs. Lying with them, unconscious, was none other than AlertForce's longtime nemesis, Casino. Bane again helped her medically, stabilizing her condition, and the Scotsman swept her up in his burly arms.

Following rounded hallways over bright plastic floors, our heroes soon encountered the sound of battle, and a series of doors with smoke streaming from beneath them. With a frightened laugh, the Joker and NOMAD appeared, running around the curving hallway, pursued hotly by five constructs. NOMAD was blasted by a barrage of laser fire, while Joker dodged through AlertForce and friends. Bane pulled out the Vision's anti-construct device, and deactivated the constructs quickly, but not before a few blows had been exchanged, and the Joker made good an escape.

At this point, Snow Angel collapsed, and Bane finally got to examine her. She found that Snow Angel's injuries from several days before had been more serious than everyone thought, and Snow Angel had been operating on pure adrenaline. She was going into shock. Green Lantern reluctantly left his teammates to take her to medical help.

At this point, things got a bit chaotic. The team found a room holding a set of computer banks that housed PAL's programming. While Joe whipped out his pistol and opened fire on the computers, Loup ran on ahead into another room, Mantis went invisible and started searching the facility, and Bane opened one of the doors emitting smoke, while Zephyr, Jurgen, and the Scotsman stood guard.

Soon Bane pulled from a central computer room two seemingly lifeless bodies: one was the Black Canary, and one was unfamiliar to the team -- an older man with thousands of wires buried into his scalp. The man was emaciated and near death, and Black Canary was unconscious, apparently having succumbed to smoke inhalation. As Zephyr used her air power to hold back more smoke, Bane set to work on her new patients.

At this moment Mantis, not far down the hallway, was confronted by Loup running full speed back towards him, pursued by three constructs. Mantis called for Bane to throw the Vision's device to him, which she did, without missing a beat in helping Canary back to consciousness. As Loup lured them on, Mantis quickly zapped the constructs with the device, sending them clattering to the floor.

At this moment, Black Canary came back to consciousness, pulled herself to Bane's ear, and croaked through coughing "chain reaction in the computer core... place going to blow... got to get out of here!"

Bane screamed the message over the continuing sound of fire, explosions, and distant laser fire, and started dragging people quickly back to the entrance. While Mantis grabbed the old man and Loup grabbed NOMAD, the Scotsman swept up Black Canary, now hauling her over one shoulder and Casino over the other as the team ran for the elevator.

When they arrived at the elevator, parts being falling from the ceiling and the temperature was rising even more, as an explosion seemed immanent. Loup went full feral, and tore the elevator doors to shreds, while Zephyr threw caution to the wind (no pun intended) and summoned a fiery vortex to propel the team with air pressure right up the empty elevator shaft.

Despite these heroic efforts, the team did not make the top of the shaft before the explosion brought the building down around them. Each teammate said a silent prayer as ten million pounds of steel, stone, and brick came down upon them.

In instand before the team and their charges were crushed beneath the falling building, a green energy field flashed into existence around them, pulling them up and through the destruction, into the sunlight above.

Green Lantern had returned in the nick of time.

Epilogue:
Several hours later in the hospital, Bane was feverishly defibrolating the old man, whom Loup had identified as former AlertForce member Spexx. She managed to keep his heart beating, by the tiniest of margins.

Shortly thereafter, the team was congregated in Black Canary's hospital room, where she was recovering from her breathing problems. She pulled her oxygen mask off to thank Bane for saving her. She apologized to AlertForce, and explained that the Watchmen had been in hiding, monitoring UMI, and knew at some point AlertForce would make a move. The Watchmen knew UMI was poised and waiting for AlertForce to attack, so the Watchmen could not share their knowledge with AlertForce without exposing themselves as well. So they waited for the Hammer to fall, hoping to strike UMI while it was unprepared for them, as a wildcard. She said that is exactly how things played out (also explaining that the Joker and NOMAD were taken into their confidence and used for transportation, just as AlertForce had intended to do). She had gone with the remnants of the DOA into the heart of UMI's citadel at just the moment when UMI had attacked AlertForce Mansion. They had found SPEXX, wired into a computer array, nearly dead. Apparently UMI had used his power of interface to effect UMI's plans. She released him, and set a series of charges in UMI's computer core to lead to a chain reaction to destroy the whole complex. After Canary was overcome before she could get out of the core, NOMAD, Joker and Casino had left them to die. Only AlertForce's timely arrival had saved Canary and Spexx.

Mantis went out and gave some interviews to the world media, declaring the UMI crisis over, thanks to AlertForce (and friends)!

4/27/13: A VISIT TO UMI

PARTICIPANTS: ZEPHYR (KIND OF), SCOTSMAN, MANTIS, BANE, GREEN LANTERN, SNOW ANGEL (NPC)

Mantis and GL waylaid Guzzler in the foyer while Bane rushed Lassiter back to her own room. Mantis and GL had a rather strange conversation with Guzzler, which ended with him storming out of the mansion, dropping his communicator on the porch, and leaping away into the night sky.

The team then went to the hospital to visit number 10 and attempt to get information from him. A brief but intense altercation occurred between Snow Angel and Mantis, over whether Bane should examine and attempt to awaken the comatose Number 10. In the end, Snow Angel said she could provide as much information as Number 10 had, and Bane did not risk Number 10's life by attempting to revive him to consciousness.

Snow Angel returned with the others to AlertForce Mansion, and pointed out the location where she and Number 10 believed the UMI Secret Citadel was hidden. Mantis asked Green Lantern, Bane, and the Scotsman to accompany him on a reconnaissance mission (to provide a diversion while he tried to infiltrate UMI's security).

The four of them travelled via GL hyperflight to a spot in Estonia across the Baltic Sea from Stockholm, where they dropped off Bane at a rendezvous point. GL, Scotsman and Mantis then flew in a green energy bubble across the Baltic, and penetrated Swedish territory. GL immediately experienced a reduction in his ring's power, and three missiles shortly appeared. GL Dropped Mantis, and he and Scotsman dodged the missiles by teleporting on Scotsman's horse.

Mantis entered the Ministry of Defense building and attempted to discover UMI's lair, while GL and Scotsman flew conspicuously above the city, creating a diversion. Two sets of missiles later, and the Scotsman was teleporting away while GL created a hyperflight to escape the missiles.

Mantis had discovered a basement elevator, surrounded by intense security. Whether due to bad luck, or to Green Lantern's hyperflight shockwave, Mantis was unable to penetrate the security around the elevator. As the building shook from the shockwave, Mantis dispersed again and retreated with the information he had managed to gather. The three of them rendezvoud with Bane at the check point to compare notes.

AWARD: 4hp

4/26/13: HOMECOMING

PARTICIPANTS: ZEPHYR, SCOTSMAN, BANE, LOUP, MANTIS, SNOW ANGEL (NPC)

The Scotsman, while walking to work, was suddenly stunned to see a giant dirigable appear in the sky above him, aflame and crashing. He quickly found a darkened alleyway to sound his ancient horn and assume the visage of THE SCOTSMAN. He summoned his magic steed, and flew up to the crippled airship. Inside he saw a strange white-haired woman fighting the controls, with a man lying next to her. They both looked seriously injured. Scotsman used his horse as leverage, and was able to support the failing craft, and keep it aloft until it cleared populated areas, and reached the shore of the ocean. Just as it plummetted into the surf, the woman pulled the injured man to a shattered window and leapt out. Scotsman reached for the pair, thinking they would fall, but the woman was able to fly/flutter to earth without injury.

Scotsman immediately landed and assisted the pair, and woman insisted he take her to AlertForce mansion. Scotsman protested, and said he wanted to take the man to the hospital, and the woman agreed. On the way there, Scotsman realized that he recognized the man, as Iceland's greatest superhero, number 10. They dropped him off at the emergency room of the nearest hospital, then winged their way to AlertForce Mansion.

As they arrived, HAL was briefing AlertForce on the suddedn appearance and crash of Number 10's airship not far away. AlertForce was heading out of the danger room to investigate, when Scotsman and Snow Angel appeared on the lawn.

Introductions were made all around, and after Snow Angel was attended to medically by Bane, she told her tale. She related the story of how she, Number 10, and TRIAD had attempted to slip at high altitude in his airship across the Swedish border, in order to infiltrate what they believed was UMI's inner sanctum in Stockholm. Just as they passed over the border, each member of TRIAD collapsed, catatonic, as if they had passed through some invisible force barrier that shut them down. The airship was immediately attacked by drone fighters, that set it aflame. During the battle, a number of constructs appeared aboard the dirigible and grabbed TRIAD, the disappeared again. Just as the battle was nearly lost for Snow Angel and 10, their airship was sucked into some kind of energy wave emitted by one of the fighters, and somehow emerged in the sky above southern California.

Just then, Joe appeared, and announced he had successfully reactivated an earlier version of PAL from the computers siezed from the Arizona bunker. The team re-entered the Danger Room and interrogated the PAL backup copy. PAL told them he vaguely recalled having been awakened by UMI, but he knew little else. They showed him recent events, and PAL voiced an opinion that UMI was not acting like a computer, but like a man. They asked PAL to posit how to stop UMI's plans, and PAL said there was only one way-- to kill UMI. The computers began to overheat, and Joe shut down the simulation at that time.

Mantis told everyone to get a good night's sleep, and that tomorrow the attack would begin. Later that night, Bane stumbled onto Dr. Lassiter leaving Mortimer's room in a state of semi-undress. Both looked embarrassed. The situation deteriorated further when, a couple hours later, a loud pounding at the door and deep voice echoing through the mansion announced the return of... GUZZLER!

AWARD: 5 HP, 7HP Scotsman

4/25/13: PAL'S PLACE

PARTICIPANTS: BANE, LOUP, MANTIS, GREEN LANTERN, ZEPHYR, JURGEN

** First official use of Ventrilo for gaming

The above-referenced team travelled to the coordinates of PAL's not so secret Arizona bunker/hq, which was an old government missile silo that PAL had purchased in 2001.

The team split into groups to infiltrate and search the facility. There were no security systems active that the team could find. After a thorough search, Bane found a set of computer consoles, with a dead body in a wheelchair sitting before them. Mantis, Zephyr, and GL found another set of unidentified computer consoles in a different part of the facility. The team brought Joe Hicks to the site to look over the computers, and he told them the systems were a unique design, both advanced and primitive, in that it was using actual iron core memory elements, but had a very sophisticated control system. After some additional study, Joe indicated that he thought the system was a holographic projector. AlertForce reasoned that this might actually be a control system for PAL (or an earlier version of PAL) and decided to take the whole system back to the danger room in LA, and set Joe to work on getting it operative in a controlled environment.

On arrival in LA (courtesy of a GL flight) AlertForce placed the computers in the danger room, but were surprised to see Harlee Quinn (a longtime danger room guest/prisoner?) walk over to them -- right through the Danger Room illusionary walls. Loup, reacting before anyone could stop him, dropped Harlee like a bad habit, with a single chop to the neck. GL and Mantis immediately attacked Loup (doing no damage) and Bane grabbed Harlee and pulled her out of the Danger Room, while Joe ran for cover.

The situation quickly diffused, as Mantis and GL lectured Loup on treatment of guests, and HAL revealed that apparently Harlee, after months existing 24/7 in the danger room, had developed an immunity to the illusion generators.

AWARD: 6hp

4/24/13: O Canada

PARTICIPANTS: LOUP GAROU, MANTIS, BANE

Bane continued following the convoy of trucks through the Canadian countryside, until it reached a campus of buildings inside a fence, and the trucks pulled in and parked. She returned in her aircar to the train station, and used a land line telephone to call Joe at AlertForce Mansion. After several miscommunications with Joe as to the appropriate level of secrecy on an open telephone line, she managed to instruct him to call Mantis and Loup and tell them she was at the location they had sent her to, awaiting assistance.

Mantis and Loup eventually got the message and joined her there. The three of them flew in the aircar back to the remote site, where Bane strayed slightly too close with the aircar, and penetrated an invisible force barrier, which dactivated the car's engine. The three occupants quickly abandoned the car, and it crashed to earth, in a heap.

Mantis, Bane and Loup then crossed the fence and used stealth to examine, the disable, the contents of the trucks. A security guard appeared in the area, and was quickly disabled. Bane took his keycard and assumed his visage, and went to the warehouse door. Using the keycard, she opened the door, and noticed a moment too late that the door and a scanning plate just above the knob, that she had touched, setting off alarms. As she entered, she was confronted by two constructs, and the sound of several more approaching. Mantis knocked the constructs down, giving Bane time to point and fire the Vision's disabling device, incapacitating the two constructs, after which the sounds of the others approaching quickly faded, and it became apparent on inspection of the premises, that they had ported away.

Instead of retreating, they team decided to use the disabling device on all of the stored crates in the warehouse. During this process (much to Bane's chagrin) approximately 50 constructs appeared and attacked. A short, desperate battle ensued, in which all three teammates were riddled with laser fire. Their toughness saw them through, however, and the three were able to get out a window before the second volley finished them off.

Loup poured on the speed, and for the first time in anyone's memory, outstripped Mantis by a long shot. Mantis later explained that Bane hanging on his back was messing with his aerodynamic profile. The three teammates beat a hasty retreat, all the way to AlertForce Mansion, where they conferred with Zephyr.

AWARD: 5hp, Zephyr 1

4/20/13: South of the border, and the Great White North

PARTICIPANTS: MANTIS, LOUP, GL, BANE

Mantis and GL recovered some of the STAR LABS equipment from the sunken vessel Bogus, then tracked down the other three vessels they believed had additional equipment, and found that they had also been sunk by the Joker. After lengthy rescue and recovery operations by Mantis and GL, they eventually were able to bring most of the STAR LABS equipment back to a warehouse under their control in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Loup learned in Portland that the materials shipped there had already left the country by plane. He was asked by Mantis to run from Portland to Mexico to follow up on the other train shipment. He picked up the trail in Mexico City, and followed the scent trail to a warehouse, which he found contained a large number of cargo containers. While looking in the skylight, he was surprised by two constructs that appeared behind him. Combat ensued. Initially, they pummelled loup with lasers, knocking him through the skylight and down into one of the cargo containers. Loup took heavy damage, but was able to regroup, go feral, and turn the tables, when he focused his attack on one of the constructs, tearing it in half. The other warped away through dimension travel. Loup found the office, and telephoned AlertForce Mansion, and told Joe of his situation. As he was hanging up the phone, 50 more constructs appeared. Loup immediately set off running at top speed, which was matched by the flight speed of the constructs, heading towards LA. Joe managed to contact Mantis and inform him of Loup's situation. Mantis and GL used a hyperflight jump to get to Mexico, where they first recovered the warehouse materials (leaving Loup to his fate), and then tracked Loup down, managing to sweep him up with a green lasso, and again use hyperflight to escape the onslaught of the constructs, in the nick of time.

While all this was going on, Bane was asked to go to Canada (Quebec) and track down the final railroad shipment of STAR LABS equipment. After some initial rudeness by a train station cargo officer, Bane found a friendly Japanese conductor, who told her the cargo containers had left by truck an hour before. She jumped in her flying car, and scanned the highways, eventually finding a convoy headed north, into the wilderness. When last seen, Bane was following the convoy at a discreet distance.

AWARD: 5hp

4/19/13: Loose Lips and Jokers sink ships

PARTICIPANTS (GREEN LANTERN, MANTIS, LOUP GAROU, BANE [KIND OF])

Green Lantern, Mantis and Loup discussed the recent revelations about the extent of the UMI threat. They devised a plan for Loup to travel to Portland, ORE to attempt to gather the scent and pick up the trail of some of the missing STAR LABS equipment. GL and Mantis would go to the port of San Diego and attempt to follow some of the other shipments of STAR LABS material, which was apparently appropriated by UMI through Ulysses Ingram's sales of certain STAR LABS divisions, which were discovered by the Mantis.

Loup successfully found and gathered the scent trail of the equipment that passed through Portland.

Meanwhile, Mantis and GL found information at San Diego regarding the travel paths of four ships onto which other STAR LABS cargo was apparently loaded. They followed one ship, called the Bogus, and found it approximately 400 miles out into the Pacific. GL approached from underwater while Mantis went invisible and boarded the vessel to locate the STAR LABS cargo. While he was searching, GL spotted a large dark shape approaching underwater, and was surprised to see a purple submarine firing torpedos at the cargo ship. Before he could react, one of the torpedoes struck the Bogus and dealt serious damage. Mantis located the STAR LABS cargo just as the Bogus began to sink. Quick work by GL and Mantis save both the STAR LABS cargo and the Bogus' crew.

As the Bogus slipped beneath the waves, Mantis and GL had a confab with the Joker and NOMAD, who had brought their submarine to the surface. They arranged an uneasy truce and cooperation agreement between AlertForce and the remnants of the DOA, to face the UMI threat.

Award: 5hp

4/18/13: Manslaughter!

The Scotsman, fresh from his triumph in saving many lives at LAX from a terrorist plot, headed to his new apartment, where he watched a news report by Linda Ross, questioning where the Supers are, in this time of need, and suggesting that they could "step up" and really overcome a lot of the negative stereotypes of supers. Of all the supers, Linda Ross points out, only AlertForce, and particularly Loup Garou, are "putting it on the line" to help. She also reported on a military buildup in Sweden, and questioned the connection between this and the UMI conflict.

The next day, the Scotsman (in his normal form) went to work at his new company. That evening, when he was walking through the parking lot, he was attacked by a large thug/supervillain named Manslaughter Marsdale, who was dressed in a black leather outfit, and wearing two huge sets of brass knuckles. He began the encounter by smashing the hood of a taxi, and stating:

"You're the guy the sent to tear up this company. I'm the guy they sent to tear you up."

Marsdale was mildly surprised when his quarry did not back away, and this momentary surprise gave Dougal O'Fian the moment he needed to pull out his family's ancient war harn from his travel bag, and blast a note that magically transformed him into the warrior spirit of his great great great great great great grandfather, known as "The Scotsman."

Marsdale seemed shocked at this, but regained his composure, and attacked. The Scotsman's mystic shield protected him from the onslaught, and one swipe from the Scotsman's mighty mystic sword felled the attacker.

The Scotsman grabbed a small notebook from Marsdale's pocket, and escaped on his magic steed before the police arrived (but not before they saw him). He later examined the notebook and found the impression of an address on an earlier page, which led him to the CFO of the company he has been hired to take over.

At the close of the adventure, O'Fian was contemplating what to do with his newfound clue...

AWARD: 6hp

4/17/13: Casino Flashback

PARTICIPANTS: BANE, MANTIS, JURGEN, ZEPHYR

Bane and Mantis called in Jurgen and Zephyr to help investigate the Jacoby suite in the Lyonne hotel. Bane and Zephyr flew up the outside of the building to the 52d floor to scope out the situation. When they peered in, they saw a dead guard pinned against the window with his throat slashed. Zephyr quickly went to the window to see more, and spied another corpse on the floor, also slashed. She spotted a razor sharp playing card in one of the wounds.

Bane called down to Mantis and Jurgen to alert them that something was up, and Mantis said for everyone to meet on the roof. Once there, Jurgen found an air shaft in an architectural gargoyle, and as he was pulling of the grate, the team heard gunfire from within. Mantis said he was going in, and that the others should run down and come up the elevator shaft. Bane and Jurgen headed down, while Zephyr hovered in the sky at roof level, keeping watch through the windows for disturbances.

Mantis dispersed down through the roof into the 54th floor, and heard whimpering from the bedroom beyond where the force field was the last time Mantis was here. He ran into the room (noting the absence of a force field now), and found along the way more slaughtered guards. When he arrived in the room, he saw the shimmering after-image of a blue portal disappearing before him. He found more dead guards in the bedroom, along with a decapitated Ingram, and the decrepid invalid Jonathan Jacoby whimpering in his bed for someone to tell him what happened.

Bane, Jurgen and Zephyr joined Mantis in the bedroom, and the four investigated for clues as to what had occurred. Eventually, Mantis, while attempting to reactivate the head of the Ingram android, spied a small hidden camera across the room, that he figured would have captured whatever occurred. The team found the security room, and Bane managed to activate the camera playback, and AlertForce watched in amazement as the scene unfolded on the small screen before them. What they saw was Casino, NOMAD and the Joker materialize on the 53d floor, and Casino slaugtering all of the guards relentlessly and ruthlessly, using her sharpened playing cards as both daggers and darts. When the three made it into Jacoby's bedroom, Casino decapitated Ingram with one fluid motion, before he could even speak. NOMAD then attached a small computer he was carrying to the head of the Ingram android, and he and Joker watched as information (apparently regaring UMI) passed over the screen. Judging by their reactions, NOMAD and Joker were apparently stunned by what they saw on the screen. NOMAD commented with surprise as to how things had "gotten this far" and "how they had not been detected."

While the security screen was not large enough for AlertForce to discern exactly what data NOMAD and Joker were viewing, Mantis commented that he believed that with video enhancement, the image might be restored.

Meanwhile, Bane was checking the many guards, and actually found two still alive. While she summoned paramedics to help them, Mantis rifled the room and found financial records for Jacoby. Mantis quickly fashioned some documents transferring ownership of STAR LABS to himself, and forced Jacoby to scribble his signature. He then summoned CIA agents and directed them to obliterate the crime scene before police arrived, which they set about doing, as AlertForce departed with Jacoby, whom they deposited in a local hospital, before leaving Las Vegas.

AWARD: 7hp

4/16/13: Mad Dogs and Englishmen

PARTICIPANTS: Loup Garou

Loup Garou patrolled the city, and noted that the rate of petty crimes, assaults, robberies, gang activity, bar brawls, and other violent crime is way up. The police are struggling to maintain control of the streets, and have a massive presence of officers at many key locations. It looked to Loup like the whole police force is working with no time off, little rest, rudimentary communications (they are using old style walkie talkies and relaying messages to command points across the city) and poor morale.

After breaking up many fights, dealing with some petty robberies, and helping with a rescue, Loup came across the PTA tank AlertForce had given to the Police, tipped on its side, with two officers firing lasers at an unknown assailant. Loup approached, and as he did, a dark form fell upon him out of the night sky, sending them both tumbling to the ground. He was attacked by a large, muscular man, black hair and beard flailing in the darkness, and foam flying from the corners of his mouth, open to reveal fangs. With insane eyes and the strength of a feral dog, Loup was attacked by...

THE MAD DOG!

Loup and the Mad Dog faced each other for numerous battle rounds, and were evenly matched. Mad Dog tried to use his weight and canine intimidation to establish his position as top pack dog and get Loup to back off. Loup's long experience (and a few hero points) fended off this intimidation attempt. Loup, meanwhile, attempted to martial kick Mad Dog into oblivion, without success.

In one attempt to throw himself at the foe, Loup slipped and smashed headlong into the upturned tank, almost tipping it back over onto the officers behind it. With time passing, Loup knew he had to take some action to change the balance of the fight, or risk the fight going on for hours, and endangering more people. Reaching deep into himself, he called upon the spirit of the wolf to take him, and the feral form of the full wolf emerged.

With new power coursing through his veins, Loup sprang onto Mad Dog and smashed him into unconsciousness relatively quickly. He then had to convince the police to come out and take the insane man into custody, which was no mean feat, looking like he did. In the end, the Mad Dog was apprehended, and Feral Loup loped off into the night to regain his human form.

He then visited Mike Samuels and explained his new form. Samuels wondered if Loup was in full control, and also reported that Loup's new terrifying form might put into jeopardy Samuels' ability to cooperate with Loup, if more reports from officers were lodged, indicating doubt as to whether this new wolf could be trusted.

AWARD: 6hp

4/13/13: Jurgen Does a Sneak

PARTICIPANTS: JURGEN

Jurgen hooked up with his partner, Joe Hicks, who had lined up a job for Setec, evaluating the security systems at the Commerce Bank of Beverly Hills. Hicks smiled as he handed Jurgen the folder, indicating he had been able to hack into the security company that installed all the bank's building security, and gain a complete schematic of the security layout and a list of codes to deactivate the system.

Armed with Joe's dossier, Jurgen made the infiltration a cake walk, using his grappling hook to the roof, entering via an HVAC duct, finding an access panel for the security system, jump-wiring a keypad to enter deactivation codes, waltzing down the stairwell to the Bank President's office, and leaving a pithy note:

"Dear Mr. Drysdale. You have a lovely bank. Thanks for letting us visit.
-Setec Associates"

Jurgen then visited the security office on the first floor, and noted the guard (one J. Bodine) reading a comic book instead of watching monitors. Jurgen then backtracked his way up to the roof, and left the premises. He and joe laughed all the way back to AlertForce mansion, while drafting their report for the Bank about the dismal security at their multi-billion dollar facility.

AWARD: 5hp

4/12/13: Spontaneous Combustion

PARTICIPANTS: Mantis, Bane (GL kibbitzing)

Mantis and Bane went to the Los Angeles home of Ulysses Ingram, business manager of Jonathan Lucius Jacoby, the eccentric billionaire who clandestinely purchased almost all of STAR LABS stock, and now has complete control of the company. They entered the home, and found that other than some furniture near the windows to give the appearance of occupancy, the home was completely empty.

They then travelled to Las Vegas, to attempt to gather information directly from the Penthouse home of Jacoby himself, located on the top three floors of the Old Fashioned Casino Hotel called the LYONNE.

While Mantis tailed Jacoby's business manager Ingram to a meeting at a bank, Bane located and broke into Ingram's apartment across town, and found that it, too, was completely empty.

Later that day, Mantis and Bane split up, and attempted different methods of entry into Jacoby's penthouse suite in the LYONNE. Mantis took the direct approach, and climbed the building and phased through the windows, while Bane located the secret elevator and climbed the shaft.

Neither found anything other than emptiness, until Mantis found Ingram sitting in an office staring into space (while Bane was shimmying through a ventilator shaft on the floor above, towards a set of oak double doors). Mantis attempt to look inside Inram, but found he was unable to phase through him, and alerted Ingram to his presence. Ingram set of the alarm, then moved to the elevator, and said that "Mr. Star" should reveal himself. Apparently, Ingram had somehow recognized Star (notwithstanding the fact that he was invisible and dispersed) from earlier in the day, when Star had introduced himself.

Finally, Mantis appeared (dressed in black) to Ingram, and Ingram muttered "most unfortunate" and promptly rolled his eyes back into his skull, fell forward, and burst into flame, for no apparent reason.

Mantis and Bane both made their exit from the scene (Mantis carrying a small charred finger as a sample for analysis). They later larned, to their surprise, the Ingram himself had made a report to the police regarding the break in, appearing totally unscathed.

Award: 5hp

4/11/13: GL in a business suit

PARTICIPANTS: GREEN LANTERN, (Mantis, Bane, Loup essentially as supporting chars)

Green Lantern followed through with his efforts to set up a space tourism business. He and Mantis developed a business plan with the eventual goal of colonizing the moon. GL attended a business meeting with potential (rich) customers regarding his Moon day trip proposal. He quoted a price of $50 million for 1 hour on the moon. The potential customer, named Greg Olson, counter-proposed that GL rent him his power ring for 3 hours, for a fee of $10 million. He also expressed concerns over GL's safety history and the levels of insurance needed for the project.

No agreements were reached and the meeting ended cordially (if coolly).

Loup lounged on the beach at Belize while the meeting took place at a nearby conference room.

AWARD: 4hp (1 to Mantis)

4/10/13: Scotsman in the sky

Zephyr took a helicopter ride to the Pacific Northwest and videotaped the status Mount Saint Helens, but saw no trace of fire spirits there, although she did see some magma pits with active flows beneath the mountain.

On her return to California, her chopper started making a strange noise, so she went to drop it off at the airport for servicing. When she arrived, she saw a plane with landing gear up and spewing jet fuel circling the airport in clear distress. She flew up and after assessing the situation and communicating by written messages with the pilot, she was able to pry/pull the landing gear doors open, allowing the crew to manually crank the gear down. She also (after being doused with jet fuel) was able to wedge the fuel door closed and stop the fuel leak. She then accompanied the plane down to the runway, and assisted their landing with her air control, taking a harrowing ride on the"prow" of the aircraft as it landed hard.

Meanwhile, a new visitor from Scotland, while debarking from his plane, noticed a number of other aircraft circling in distress, and massive movement of security forces on the grount. While walking along the tarmac, he spied someone tied up in a luggage cart, and stepped in to check on him. When he revived the man (who was concussed and tied), he mumbled something about a man climbing the tower and using the device). The visitor from Scotland, who by sheer happenstance had with him the ancient horn of his ancestors, whic would summon the spirit of his warrior clan, headed for the tower to put things right. When he spied two thugs guarding the ladder up the tower, he blew his horn and magically transformed into the super-heroic warrior known only as "The Scotsman." Summoning his magic steed, he charged over the two thugs, and transported himself instantly to the top of the tower, where he leapt from his steed, and pinned a man holding a rigged laptop and antenna on his back, with a sword to the throat. The Scotsman demanded that the man set things striaght, which the man did with a whimper.

Zephyr soon appeared to the strange scene of a Barrel-chested scotsman standing on top of the conrol tower at LAX with a man pinned to his back and whimpering. The Scotsman explained that the man had been scrambling signals to all the incoming aircraft, and was the source of the danger. He then leapt on his mystical steed and flew off into the clouds.

AWARD: 6hp

4/9/13: FRIENDS IN PTA PLACES...

PARTICIPANTS: BANE, MANTIS, (later Loup and Zephyr)

Bane and Mantis visited the Los Angeles office of the PTA. After an argument with the gatekeeper, they were (inexplicably) allowed to enter without incident.

After winding around office hallways unopposed, they reached the Director's office, and a sealed, airlocked, camera-watched door. A voice asked them to submit to retina scan, which they did (and Mantis' eyepiece was damaged). When the door opened, they found, much to their surprise, that the Director's office was occupied by none other than Stanley Mortimer, former New York Information director for VIPER, who told them he had infiltrated the PTA as a means of protecting himself from UMI, since he figured it was the last place they would look (and UMI already hit the PTA anyway). The three argued and went through some misunderstandings about what Mortimer should do, but eventually reached agreement to use his position to supply the LAPD with some armor and weapons, in order to assist them in taking on increased super activity, in the absence of any help from the PTA.

Mantis asked him what VIPER knew about UMI, and he said that they knew UMI was in fact a computer intelligence, although they did not know whether it was actually a collective or just one or a small number of machines exerting control. VIPER also believed that the UMI consciousness could take control of any of the 5000, at least for brief periods of time. He also expressed the belief that anyone wishing to end the threat from UMI needed to devise a plan to take it out all at once, because VIPER had a suspicion that UMI had access to people or offices that could control nuclear weapons (either of the United States or otherwise).

The three then waltzed out of PTA headquarters with two tanks and a truckload of weapons and armor, and drove to AlertForce Mansion, where Loup and Zephyr were enjoying an afternoon tea. When the ground stopped shaking, Loup called Mike Samuels, and AlertForce graciously gave the LAPD ONE of the tanks, and the whole truckload of weapons and armor. Bane and Zephyr went with Loup to the LAPD and trained Mike Samuels and some of the other officers to drive and/or use it.

AWARD: 5hp (Mantis, Bane), 3hp (Loup, Zephyr)

4/6/13: Loup vs. Machete

SKYPE SUPLOT NIGHT: LOUP GAROU
PARTICIPANTS: GM (CHAD), LOUP GAROU

Loup called Mike Samuels to ask about the street situation, and was informed that there was an altercation with officers down right at that moment. Loup drove to the scene and found three police officers on the ground with massive blood loss and stabbing wounds. He summoned an ambulance, then tracked their assailant to a warehouse, where he saw a large black haired man, with a cigarette in his mouth, unloading bundles of opium from crates. Loup approached, and the man grabbed a machete, and attacked. Loup dispatched the man relatively swiftly (3 battle rounds), and called the police to come pick him up. Shortly, a van arrived to take custody of the criminal, but Loup realized they were not actually police, and quickly dispatched them as well (multi attack). Just as he picked up the phone to call the police again, a second van arrived on the scene. Loup demanded ID, and then gave custody of all the prisoners and the opium to the officers.

He then called Mike Samuels and volunteered AlertForce to respond to calls that the PTA would normally handle.

AWARD: 5hp

4/4/13: Return to London

SKYPE
PARTICIPANTS: BANE, MANTIS, GREEN LANTERN

Mantis and Bane travelled to London England, where Mantis checked in with MI6 (and got no useful info) and bane checked in with Heloise Drucker, who eschewed the opportunity to work for AlertForce. They then travelled to Detroit, where they stumbled on an armored car robbery, being perpetrated by two supervillains called Lunatik and Madcap. They jumped in to help the police, and battled the villains for several phases. Bane used her poison touch effectively (at last). Mantis split, and used his Mantii to attack. Halfway through the battle, Green Lantern appeared, and joined the fray (but not before slapping Bane on the arse).

When the dust settled, the villains were unconscious on the pavement, Mantis was in the process of attacking GL with one of the villains' staffs. This is where this issue ended.

AWARD: 5hp

4/1/13: The Constructs Attack(ed)

LIVE GAME
GM: CHAD
PARTICIPANTS:
IN PERSON:BANE, MANTIS, JURGEN, LOUP GAROU, SNOW ANGEL
BY SKYPE: GREEN LANTERN, ZEPHYR

Jurgen infiltrated STAR LABS with a note from Mantis asking for devices to track the Constructs. When he arrived, no one answered the door, and he found that they had been attacked by UMI. He was able to enter the building, and found many dead STAR LABS employees. He also found a janitor hiding, and helped him out of the building. He was not able to get the tracking devices, but he did steal some ID badges and uniforms and lasers. When he left the second time, the police were there, and GL had brought him back, but had to visit the rest room. At that time, Jurgen went to the roof, and thinking gL had abandoned him, called for evac. Zephyr brought the chopper, and had to engage in a quasi-battle with the police chopper to get Jurgen out.

The team then assembled their various people and others into the relative protection of the danger room. This included Lassiter. Snow Angel also arived at this point. Iron Maiden and Afterburner (pregnant) also were retrieved and brought to LA.

After formulating a plan? the team went to the SD STAR LABS facility, with the plan to attack and destroy the UMI constructs. Mantis had used his STAR LABS tracking device to find that CASINO's artificial hand was still there. The team had several battles with constructs, which continued to appear in increasing numbers. After Loup was almost swarmed under (but saved by Zephyr) and GL was overwhelmed by 10 constructs, GL used his hyperflight to destroy the facility, with the rest of the team (barely) making it out of the path of destruction.

GL ended up back on OA with his ten pursuers. He was able to shake them off in space with a pulse of his green force field, and hyper flight back to earth.

As the team attempted to excavate the ruins at SD, 100 constructs appeared on the horizon and attacked. The team was in grave danger, and at that moment Number 10 arrived in his airship, with the members of TRIAD. The Vision had created an attack device that could destroy the Constructs. However, the onslaught of laser fire prevented him doing so at first. Mantis threw himself in front of a number of laser blasts meant for the Vision. As a result, he was riddled with laser fire, and came within a hares breath of death from the wounds. Bane (ducking lasers herself) was able to inject a healing serum at the last possible moment before Mantis expired. With the moments of protection Mantis bought for the Vision, he was able to deploy his weapon, and along with Red Tornado, turn the tide of the battle, and with the assistance of the rest of the team (including Snow Angel's protective wall of ice, GL's and No. 10's blasts from the airship's lasers, the battle was finally won.

Vision explained that his device exploited a flaw in all STAR LABS equipment, which was why the AlertForce communicators also exploded when he used it. Loup's head was quite messy when his implanted communicator detonated.

AWARD: 12hp