Summary - Game 12

Friday, June 2, 2000

It's still raining, for the third straight day. Parts of the city are flooding.

Angie, upset over the death of Archangel, has left the team, and has rented a shabby one-room apartment in South Chicago. She's extremely fatigued due to lack of sleep caused by trying to avoid the horrible nightmares, and near hallucinatory. She heads over to see Slash, with Jasper pecariously strapped to the back of her motorcycle, hoping that Slash can somehow make the nightmares go away. The bike dies out on her again, tempermental in the never-ending rain. She loses it, and begins bashing garbage cans with a pipe, and ends up by blowing a hole through a dumpster with a blast of electricity.

Slash, attracted by all the noise, finds here there and takes her back to her gang's hideaway in some abandoned buildings. The young women talk. No, Slash has never tried to make nightmares stop, but she can put someone to sleep for hours. Normally, it's a dreamless sleep...but there's some question over whether or not Angie's dreams are natural. Slash casts some exploratory magic on her, and informs Angie that she's got a really weird aura...like there's two of her there. She offers her a place to stay if she'd like, which Angie declines.

Angie heads back to her apartment, and on the way, the bike stalls again. She's in a commercial district, and spots a store with an awning. "Chicago Collectables", the window says. Sports cards, comic books, and superhero pictures. The propriator helps her with the bike, but they can't get it working. He offers for her to come inside and call a cab, and she can store the bike out back in his storage shed. Inside, she spots a photo of Team America 2, with herself in the background. Also, photos of the original Team America, with young versions of Blackjack, Liberty Belle, Dynamo, and Archangel. A photo of Belle and Angel battling Captain Nazi. And a photo of Dynamo carrying a young woman out of a burning building...a woman who appears to be Angie's mother. The picture was taken in November of '82...nine months before Angie's birth. The owner wants $150 for it. Angie takes a cab home, gets the money, and comes back for it, then goes to see her Aunt Connie. On the way back, Jasper, sitting beside Angie, puts his paw on her shoulder. As he brought his paw down, his claws caught her necklace, breaking it. Dynamo's ring fell to the cab floor. Angie retrieved it, played with it a bit...it has lightning bolts on it, and an inscription inside reads, "To thine own self be true". She shrugged, and put it on her thumb.

Connie tells her that yes, that's her mom. Sarah had some down to help Connie out when, as a rookie cop, she'd been shot. Shortly after she arrived, she'd gone to the bank for Connie. While there, the bank was robbed, and the robbers took hostages. Dynamo was in the area, and rescued them, but a bomb had gone off, and set the building on fire. He ended up carrying Sarah out. A brief romance followed, with Sarah supposed to go back to Detroit to get the kids, and then move to Chicago. But she never came back. Connie said she'd tried to drive up several times, but always found herself turned around and coming back to Chicago, without really knowing why. And phone calls to Sarah did no good...when she answered, she'd say that everything was fine, and that she was staying there with Ben for the rest of her life. Hank (Dynamo) himself had tried to go after Sarah, but decided it just wasn't worth it, that he'd lost her. But Connie agreed, Dynamo was most likely Angie's biological father...strange that she'd never thought of that before.

Connie and Angie discussed her father, Benjamin Preston , who recently escaped prison with four other men. The security guards had violently mutiliated themselves. Investigations after the fact show that the men had been mind controlled into it by a powerful mentalist, even though no mentalists were incarcerated there...it was a medium security prison for normals. Since then, there have been manhunts for the escaped prisoners in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. Rumor has it that they have fled to Canada or Mexico, but another has them in New York City. Angie spends the night, and is amazed when she wakes up the next morning without having suffered a single nightmare.

Wraith visits Burnam Marina, where Dr. Thompson, dean of the school of meteorology at Chicago University, kept his live-aboard sail boat. The Doc hasn't been seen at the marina since Monday, and on Tuesday his boat wasn't in it's berth. Wraith questions the manager and security guard of the marina, but doesn't come up with much. The doc has visitors from time to time...young people from the college, and his secretary. She discovers that the doc got in a car wreck on Monday coming home from the college. Upon visiting the hospital, she finds that he is indeed a patient there.

Wraith and Cyrus visit the CPD empoundment lot. It seems the good doctor's brakes failed him when he was coming down an offramp. He plowed into a yellow mini-school bus. The driver of that vehicle, a dark haired hispanic woman, was killed when she went through the wind shield as her vehicle slammed into the one in front of it. Wraith and Cyrus suspect foul play. Further, they think this woman is the same that had been seen driving out of the Portal several days ago. Amongst her possessions were ring, with a faint magical aura about it.

Wraith contacts the Coast Guard, and alerts them to keep an eye out for the sail boat, "Weather Witch".

The team (minus Angie), discusses the blackmail attempts against Speed Demon. Is it such a big deal if his secret ID is made public? Speedo feels it could endanger his brother's family, but agrees that he'll wait to see what happens. Cyrus also shares with the team what he knows about El Muerte and Azroth. Wraith is going to look up which Columbian firms have holdings here in Chicago.

Sunday, 3 June 2000

Another day of constant rain.

Angel's funeral is held. A large public service is held for him, followed by a private burial. Mayor Daley, the Chief of Police, Capt. de Silva, several politicians, diplomats, high society sorts, and mass of the general public are there. Eventually, Francis Solomon gets up to speak, and has a few words. "He was formed like an angel, and he always strove to behave as such. Many in Chicago, and indeed, the entire US, came to call him their own guardian angel, always there to lend a hand, to protect the weak from the wicked. Never did he ask for anything in return. David always felt it was the duty of those with special abilities to use them for the common good of society."

There entire team was publicly there, except for Angie, who was lurking about looking for the demon. The same goes for the burial. Wraith moved off into the misty rain, looking and calling for her, saying that the team needed her. Wraith couldn't see Angie in the misty rain. Angie heard, but said nothing. After the burial, Solomon tries to put his arm around Belle to console her, and nearly got slapped for it. She was not in a mood to be near him. She told him this was his fault, and if he hadn't insisted on putting the team back together, David would most likely still be alive. She stormed off, followed by most of the team. Cyrus hung back and offered some kind conciliatory words to Solomon, who thanked him. Solomon then sat down on the bench, and as soon everyone was gone, he looked right at where Angie was hiding, then motioned for her to come over, and patted the bench beside him.

Angie sat down, and after a short while, asked him if Dynamo was her father. Solomon confirmed that yes, he was indeed. Dynamo had known for some time that Angie was in the city, especially after her powers had manifested and she had gone on a rampage against the local drug dealers and gang bangers. But he hadn't been able to locate her. He had, however, extracted a promise from Solomon to look after her if anything ever happened to him. Angie expressed doubt that he was her father, as her powers had to be triggered by electrocution. Indeed, said Solomon, so had Dynamo's. In the early 50's he had been a golf caddy, and on a summer afternoon on the golf course, had been struck by lightning while handing a club over to a golfer.

Angie demanded to know why she hadn't been told earlier, why was it kept from her that he was her real father, and that she wasn't related to that monster, Preston. Solomon appologized, asking if she would have believed it if he had told her? He'd meant to tell her, but so much had happened, the time never seemed right.

After speaking with Solomon, Angie realizes that she feels that she's not alone, that someone's watching her, and following her. When in town, she tries ducking down an allyway, but the presence stays with her despite the fact that she can't see or hear anything. She thinks maybe it's Wraith, but Wraith doesn't answer when she calls out. Nor did any invisible footsteps show up in the puddle filling the allyway. Angie gathers up her stuff, and returns to HQ.

That afternoon, Cyrus holds a press conference, sharing with the public what little they know about El Muerte and Az'roth. He portrays both as nothing more than psychotic paranormals...NOT as supernatural killers. A artist's rending of what Az'roth looks like in human form, taken from descriptions by Zeb Johnson. A 1-800 number is set up for the public to call if they have any info on Az'roth or El Muerte. It seems to be well received by the public.

Also that afternoon, Ray (Titan) is at home working out. His girlfriend, Jess, has left for the afternoon to teach her Women's Self Defense class. Just as he's finishing up, the doorbell rings. Standing in the hallway is a soaked Allie. Ray and Allie were going to stake out ex-CIA agent Greene's alleged apartment in an hour. Allie had come over early to grab something to eat from the restaurant downstairs, but her car stalled two blocks away...she had to run for it in the rain. Could she please use his drier? Ray agreed, and gave her a shirt to wear while he went to shower. While he's washing his hair, he suddenly realizes he can hear voices...and yelling..no, make that screaming.

He leaps out of the shower still covered in shampoo, and wrapping a towel about him, runs out to see what's going on. There stands Jess, with Allie, in one of Ray's shirts, backed up against a wall. Jess is calling her a hussy, tramp, whore, and is accussing her of making time with Ray. She then spots Ray, and really loses it. Veins pop out on her forehead, and she's near panting in anger. Ray's called a two timing bastard, who's about to be a dickless two timing bastard... and Ray is shocked to hear the sound of seams splitting, as Jess gets bigger..and bigger, and ripping out of her clothing. Jess moves quickly, and shoves Ray. He goes flying backwards, and out the 13th story window.

Falling, Ray turns into Titan on the way down, and manages to avoid taking any damage when he hits the pavement. A split second after 800 lbs of spitting female fury lands next to him, determined to do him great bodily harm. All the while cussing him and calling him by name. A huge battle ensues, with Titan doing his best to block her punches and kicks, and Jess doing her best to Bobbetize him. A crowd forms around them, at a respectful distance, as the two giants duke it out. Cameras come out, as to video cameras.

Evenly matched, the fight lasts nearly 10 minutes before the two combatants are exhausted and panting on the ground. Jess keels over, and passes out. Titan scoops her up, hustles through the crowd, and bolts up to his apartment before she reverts back to her normal form. While there, Allie looks at him wide-eyed...she'd seen the entire thing, including his transformation on the way down. She promises she won't tell anyone. Titan calls up Becky O'Rourke, the TA2 pilot, who jets out to pick him up.

At HQ, Steve Goslin (Speedo) analyzes Jess's blood chemistry. There's something very odd about her hormonal balances, and he theorizes that extreme stress or anger will cause the kind of transformation that Ray had witnessed.

Wraith gets a call from the Coast Guard...they've located a boat that could be the "Weather Witch", after getting a tip it was last seen near a possible "chop shop" for boats. Wraith thanks them, then calls the CPD Shore Patrol, and gives them the address. In the mean time, she heads to Chicago University, and breaks into Dr. Thompson's offices. She finds large portions of his computer storage has been encrypted. She copies those files off to a blank data cube. She also finds mention of a weather modeling program some grad students have created under his guidance. And lastly, she finds a blank pad of paper on the desk, with impression of something written in it. She shades it with a pencil, and finds the name "Michelson", and a phone number.

While she's riffling through Thompson's office, she gets a call that the shore patrol cops have come under heavy fire at the chop shop. The cops reported that there appear to be commandos there. Wraith heads for the chop shop, and is met by most of the rest of the team. Three cops are dead, one is hanging on. He reports that they hand come into the building, guns ready, and slowly snuck in. As they came around the sailboat's berth, they saw five men in black body suits, unloading some equipment from a sailboat. They ordered them to freeze, and the men opened fire on them with machine pistols. The cops went down, and the commandos road a small enflatable speed boat out into the lake. About 100 yards out, something big rose up out of the water, took them aboard, and resubmerged. The police officer passes out after telling them this, and Cyrus flies him to a hospital.

Monday, 4 June 2000

Cyrus and Wraith visit the surviving cop, who hands them a patch that he managed to grab off one of the commandoes during the fight. It's a black cloth patch, with gold embroadary of a mans head, with two faces. Wraith recognizes it as a symbol of the god Janus. But she comes up with zip when trying to associate that name with any known organizations.

After another peaceful night's sleep, Angie's fixing a late afternoon breakfast in the kitchen when Belle walks in. Belle says there's something she wants to get off her chest. She lifts up her mask and a wig, and underneath it is Mary Drake, the judge who sentenced Angie to 500 hours of community service with the Team as part of a plea bargain to keep Angie out of jail. She explains that it was Solomon's idea, and she didn't know why, but it was important to him, so she went along with it. She appologizes for her part in railroading Angie onto the team, but always strove to make her feel like part of the team, not just some paranormal kid doing time.

Mary then asks Angie about Dynamo's bike, which is only supposed to work for him. It's also supposed to be hot-wire proof. So how can she ride it? Angie explains that it seems she's Dynamo's daughter. Floored, Mary sits down and starts eating pancakes with Angie, and the two spend a few hours getting to know one another better. Angie still feels like someone is watching her.

Cyrus shares knowledge of the portal with the team, and states that he feels he can activate it. A group discussion dealing with making a raid through it is discussed. Supplies will be acquired, and the team plans on making a little jaunt down to Columbia to pay the compound there a visit.