128

Megastar investigates Shock's disappearance

Awesome and Xo's absence is hand-waved

New guy; Shift

He is attacked by the Sonic Soldiers

Megastar helps him defeat them

Moo-Vel gets Un-Goo-ed

Then they meet the Holy Fist - Renegade Grailers

Tanks!

 

 

129

I help coordinate emergency response with AEGIS

Emergency calls start coming in from near the police station

Tanks and armed soldiers moving through the city: the bad!Grail

Megastar and Some Dude are fighting them

Xo is working on Danny

Bear alerts her to the attack

Fighty fighty fight fight

Raphael has a bad day

Being next to the police station makes it easy to secure the prisoners

Shock hasn't used her credit cards in 24 hours

AEGIS tracked Shock to Sydney and then she disappeared from there 8 hours ago

I leave an email on Daphne's account

There are bands of bad!Grail soldiers attacking metahumans across the city

Apparently Some Dude whose name we still don't know is a concern to AEGIS

They want us to keep an eye on him

And for me to talk to Templeton

 

 

130

Bear is monitoring multiple situations

Some Dude is there

AEGIS want a meeting.  I say OK.  They seem keen to have it quickly

Some Dude's name is Anderson

He can manipulate reality in some manner

AEGIS are investigating the source of the Silver Storms

Some Dude is weird

And a stoner, it seems

I try to track down info on Simulacra

Let's start by visiting Dr Cairo

Destroying the Simulacrum would likely be dangerous

He has no idea why anyone would split a soul in two

A closer, in person examination might help him learn more

Apparently there's a prophecy of Doom centred on Pacific City,

Because of course there is

Some Dude may be the Breaker of Worlds mentioned in this prophecy

I put in a call to Katana about the souls thing

Oh hey missile attack

 

 

131

I remonstrate with the missile-launching dudes

Father Ethan is behind it

Meanwhile, Xo is working on Danny

Megastar and Moo-Vel bond again

Some Dude talks nonsense

Wright would like Shock's help

She'll have to make do with Some Dude

Meanwhile, Some Dude is helping Xo

And Moo-Vel is a black hole, basically

Some Dude is willing to help.  I let Wright know

Templeton calls me: I need to go to Geneva to read the Apocalypse Cascade

Valkyrie turns up.  She seems cranky

 

 

132

"We prefer a tea and crumpets kind of berserk around here."

"No one throws Chiko in a corner"

Well actually, Valkyrie does

We calm her down

She leaves in search of Shock

In the course of buying pot, Some Dude gets a lead on illegal activity

It's probably Doomsquid

Xo needs to talk to a shapeshifting villain (Shifter)

Naturally, he has escaped from custody

Mars may have a method of tracking him

Some Dude tracks the phone of probably-Squiddy

It's definitely Squiddy

I call Xo and Megastar for backup

Enter ... the Shock Revenge Squad

 

 

133

More like Suck Revenge Squad

Then I jump through a portal to Hell

 

 

134

Megastar and Some Dude defeat some aliens

 

 

135

Megastar and Chiko (The Artist Formerly Known As Some Dude) are in the AEGIS Dome

Awesome has not been seen for 24 hours (because he is in Hell)

I am now Anna Blackwell, AKA Azimuth

I am being questioned by AEGIS for being superpowered in a public space

"Ohhhhh yeeeeeeeeah" Bonesaw suddenly turns up

He tries to escape but runs straight into me, which brings him up short

Megastar shuts him down pretty fast

Gunshots!  We investigate

Weirdness happens

More supervillains!

They're here for "The Alien"

That goes poorly for them

Meanwhile, there's a mass jailbreak

Courtesy of some lady named Getaway

This doesn't go well for her, either

We exchange contact details.

I head home

Back at the lab, there is uproar - lost track of Awesome's signal

Next week: the search for Awesome begins

 

 

136

The team figure out Awesome is in Hell

Lacking a way to follow him, they try to help Danny

They track down a shapeshifting villain named ... Shifter

They trick him out of his DNA and Xo starts working on it

Meanwhile, Bear is trying to track the alien Skoviaks

The Skoviaks may have something to do with the Silver Storms

Wright alerts Xo to AEGIS's issues with Chiko

And also to fact that in Shock and Awesome's absence, Xo is team leader by default

Based on positive word from Chiko and Megastar, Xo decides to call Azimuth

 

 

137

I am a bit taken aback at being invited to join the team

But I accept, of course - no more barista-ing at Java Hut!

Xo fills everyone in on what she knows about Shock and Awesome's disappearances

There is discussion of how to find Shock and/or Awesome

The newly-christened Shift (Chiko) does some research in the seedy end of town

There are rumours of people who can give you superpowers in exchange for cash

Also, the Demons bikie gang had lots of its members disappear after the latest Silver Storm

Finally, Shift gets a darkweb link for "The Circuit" superpowered fighting tournament

Xo goes to Gould's book store

He suggests taking to more powerful wizards - e.g. Eldritch

I tell Angie about my parole officer -  Mike Keller

Shift tells Xo about what he found out

And then Xo's mum shows up ...

 

 

138

Shift and I are going on patrol.  This will end well, I am sure.

We get tips and gear from Gabe.

We take the SMAX-branded SUV out on patrol so people know who we are.

We stop a robbery but aren't sure what to do with the perps

Rampage fills us in

We go check out Eclipse King's

We tail a couple of his boys to near the Mexican consulate

A guy in a suit & wearing an ear piece hands them a package

We follow them to their delivery destination

We head back to the car and see what we can learn about the address

Nothing - Shift gets shut down by countermeasures

We decide to follow up on that later

Later in the CBD, we come across a jewelry robbery

It's Adonis - the cad! - and some mind-controlled ladies

We put a stop to it

Then we're told to wait for Wright, for some reason

 

 

139

Wright's all Blah Blah Blah and making no sense

Xo and her mom are still arguing

Mom storms out and leaves Xo upset

There's a big slime dude who calls himself Scuzz, and he's ripped off the nearest TAB

Xo decides to speak to a metahuman psychologist

And has a bit of a freak-out in Angie's office

Shift persuades Xo to go look for Scuzz.  I have class.

They track him to ... the university campus where I am.

 

 

140

Scuzz is all "Rah!"

We're snot having it

It doesn't take too long to wipe him out

I get an interview request from the university paper's reporter

Pause is an odd kitty

Rampage wants a private word with Xo

There's bad stuff from his past coming to bite us

In other words, Wayland Talos Round 3

 

 

141

We have trouble reaching Xo

We make a plan with Megastar to meet where Xo should be

There's a lot of electronic interference

Oh hey bad guys

I use swallow whole on a gaseous woman.

Buuuuurp

We round up Minotaur and his posse

We rescue Rampage's kid

We call Bear to help find Xo, Rampage and Rampage's wife

Rampage is here, badly beaten

We know where Xo is, but it's a fair way off - she's chasing the bad guys and the wife

We need to go after her

 

 

142

Team up with Jenny Rocket

They beat up Wayland Talos and his dudes

And get back Rampage's wife