Dramatis Personae

• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Legerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened…”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress.”

Previously . . .

Threshold is confused by the fact that his teleportation failed to take him to where he wanted to go, twice, and double checks the coordinates that Wirerat sent him. Meanwhile, Wirerat has Legerdemain running computers while he’s trying to talk down MIA who wants to perform first strikes against the person that hurt Wirerat who insists that she can’t just hurt someone.

Nyx, noticing the disfunction, scouts out the entire Flushing neighbor with his Shadow View, locating the three explosions that have occurred recently and notices that there’s people responding to each one already. There’s lots of rubble, lots of injured people, but no dead. Nyx starts commanding the team to make sure that the rubble is clear so that emergency services can get them to the scene without problems. Next is for Legerdemain and June to get on the systems, get an emergency ticket system set up to deal with the reports coming in from the team in the case that something strange is happening. Last is to get Wirerat to get on the computer and get him the location of Whisper and SSR’s last coordinates so he can focus on them.

Threshold, not having been able to teleport there directly, folds space and finds the location at a subway underground.

Underground

Nyx, Threshold, Wirerat, and Whisper
The Flushing–Main Street station
Monday, May 4th, 2020, 2200 hours (EST)
Queens, NY 11354

Trying to open a portal back to the firehouse, he only finds that it connects back to itself instead of taking him where he wants to go, so he ventures below, barely noticing that he doesn’t get any response from the team. At the base of the stairs at the subway station, he finds M0le-Tr0ll on the subway platform holding a futuristic gun with a large number of duplicates cursing that there’s only one there and that normally heroes move in packs.

Threshold immediately moves to distort space and takes cover as Nyx pushes his Shadow View through what seems to be a wall trying to prevent him, and others, from seeing what is happening. Relaying it to the team along with the fact that there seems like there’s a large amount of LED light packages that aren’t on yet but are ready to go at a moment’s notice. Whisper and SSR are in a back hallway and there’s six different M0le_Tr0lls and a large, large number of mooks. He gets Wirerat into the hallway next to the rubble where Whisper and SSR are and then himself after suggesting that Nox back up Threshold non-lethally as they teleport in and the LED light packages go on automatically.

Whisper and SSR are covered in ceiling with SSR covering Whisper to keep the ceiling off of her. SSR is sparking and leaking fluids, she’s pretty sure that SSR is in power saving mode as it’s keeping her from getting crushed. Whisper starts to try to get out of the rubble using adrenaline and a lot of effort to start shifting the concrete on her and SSR with SSR pushing alongside her. At the last moment, part of the collapsed ceiling gives way and sees the ceiling fall onto SSR underneath right as she gets out of the way.

Threshold, manages to get shot in the leg with a lucky hit blowing it apart and dropping him to the ground as Whisper apologizes to Wirerat about not being to help SSR before heading towards the conflict. Nox moves in front of Threshold to try to protect him, her shadow preceeding her and the lights go funky. Nyx, in shadow form, slips through the rubble into lovely darkness and teleports SSR just a couple feet outside of the rubble to where Wirerat is waiting to set up a new body for SSR with a bit more combat focus using his technopathy to literally reform and rebuild SSR. Threshold, now a bit damaged, sets a singularity behind the group firing at him drawing a large amount towards the center of the singularity while dragging himself behind a pillar as more shots go towards him, barely dodging one while Nox gets hit with a crippled leg while they also manage to kill the M0le in their fire path.

Whisper appears behind one of the mooks and slashes into it with her tomahawk, causing him to bleed out painfully while unconscious and then throws it into the spine of another mook. Nox lets out a scream that sounds more animal than human and the lights start flickering as the M0les continue to get drawn into the center. In the light, they see the mooks are literally the same person, they look like street people but are wearing the same clothing, wearing their hair the same way, wearing the same clothing, carrying the exact same weapon. Not the same model or type, but the exact same weapon with the same crazy gleam in their eyes. Nyx, meantimes, uses his Shadow View to announce the passengers to be prepared to disembark from life and then summons some shadow tendrils to start moving amongst the mooks, dropping two of them. Wirerat is trying to figure out how they’re trying to communicate before using the third rail to electrocute the mooks that have jumped onto the tracks and are just a bit too close to the third rail, causing the rest of them to collapse and twitch.

Hospital. Again

Nyx, Threshold, Wirerat, and Whisper
Mt. Sinai Hospital
Monday, May 4th, 2020, 2230 hours (EST) 
1468 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10029

There are numerous bodies around, alive, dead, unconscious and Nyx tries to calm her down by getting her to some darkness to reattach her leg and promising her ice cream before he gets Threshold’s limb and Threshold to the hospital. Nyx fills out the paperwork as Threshold gets admitted while unconscious. Medevac is rather concerned over Threshold’s condition and Nyx is being a bit of a goof to get them to move faster by claiming that Threshold isn’t all right anymore due to having his right leg cut off at the shin. Medevac tells Nyx to keep them from operating on Threshold as she’s going to make some calls, so he watches them trying to stabilize Threshold before Medevac coming back with a blonde that comments that it’s going to be difficult and introduces herself as Elana and asks Medevac if Threshold is worth it. Medevac says he is as Elana, The Pusher, stirs some power into some water and then injects it into his stump causing the limb to regrow painfully enough for him to wake up and scream during the entire five minute process.

Aftermath

Nyx is impressed, asking if Elana does parties, to which says she does and asks what he’s looking for, x, cocaine, other hard substances. Nyx was thinking more along the lines of balloon tricks which she doesn’t do as she approaches Nyx only for Nox to get up in front of them as she’s already got a claim on Nyx. Elana tells Threshold to save his thanks as it was already paid for before stalking out of the room. Threshold isn’t sure what to say, Nyx suggests perhaps “thank you” or “I’m sorry for walking into a trap without backup” or “I’m going to buy everyone ice cream”, to which Threshold agrees to all three. Back at the subway, emergency services show up to deal with the aftermath, getting the bodies of the mooks and M0les out of the subway.

After Action Report (GM)

This was a short session filled mostly with action and combat. The players were not all together smart about their actions, but that did make a very realistic feeling game. Of course Threshold will go at something alone. He’s used to working alone and his first instinct is to just do it himself. Now, this is something I usually discourage on a meta-level, but I didn’t this time and it brought a bit of verisimilitude to the session. I’ll have to reconsider some stuff as a GM insofar as “stupid” actions on the part of the player characters. The players know something isn’t smart, but it might be what the character does. Just don’t need to let that go to far because that can lead to all sorts of chaos. Then again, my players are pretty top notch and likely already know that. It was otherwise a good session even if it did end in some murder of some clone people.

Some stuff did happen this session that the PCs themselves don’t know. First, there is some kind of null doing null-ish things – more on that later. Also, Fracture/Gemini has shown back up. Which should prove very interesting…eventually.  Also, M0le_Tr0ll got away because all the copies died. So more there.

Other Notes

Bonus Report from Rory.

Soundtrack

“Downtown Train” by Tom Waits
“Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden