Boarding Call
(
Previously)
I wake up in the passenger seat of a mail van. The man to my left is wearing a black-and-gold uniform that reads 'United Delivery', and the road sign we're about to pass says Great Falls, Montana. There's a folder on my lap, and a pamphlet in my hand - or actually, it looks like a letter addressed to Santa Claus.
...It's asking for any kind of assistance with hunting the Slaughterhouse Nine, who the sender is sure will attack him soon, and signed by Nonstop. That's a lot less whimsical than it started. I guess he's worried about Mannequin? And probably kind of desperate for assistance. It's postmarked July 27, which I think means the Swedish containment zone just broke and drained most of his support. Oof.
Okay, so that's my excuse for being here. What's in the folder? Ah, a summary of known and suspected Nine members. Looks like they have most of their Brockton members, which does
not bode well for Nonstop, but they're missing Burnscar, Hatchet Face is still alive, and there are three 'maybe' entries - Miasma, Belabor, and Jungle.
I'm pretty sure Miasma showed up in the Nine Squared arc, sort of an earlier version of Fog like Nice Guy was an earlier Imp, but this says he's a reactive Breaker - explodes into toxic mist whenever he's injured. There's speculation that he can possess people killed with his mist, but that could just be Bonesaw's spiders. Fortunately, Nice Guy is
not on the list.
(Oh, there's a list of believed-dead members with reasons to believe said deadness, attached to Bonesaw's dossier. Looks like he and Winter killed each other. Huh.)
I glance up at the driver, but he's focused intently on the road. I don't think he
wants to know who I am. In the circumstances, I'm okay with that.
Belabor's a touch-range telekinetic whose power spreads through solid objects, and he's got kind of a chain-gang aesthetic - long shackles on both arms, brown pants and suspenders, white Oxford. Was a vigilante down in Chicago, suspected in two deaths, vanished six weeks ago alongside rumors of the Nine being in the area. The file calls him a Striker/Blaster 4+, and I'm not inclined to argue.
Jungle is a roving villain from Kansas who is
known to have met the Nine, but may not have been recruited. His powers are less clear, but appear to be based on warping his surroundings into a primordial forest and then jumping around it Tarzan-style. He's listed as a Shaker 3 Mover 3, but those aren't useful to me - I have no idea which of his powers are modal, if either is. I'd guess Cloaker if he's as mobile as stated, but maybe he's a mobile-home sort of Shaper, like Velvet.
(Speaking of Velvet, I think she and Prancer were somewhere around this part of the country? Probably not relevant, though.)
Anyway, in-depth psych-profiling the Nine is going to have to wait, because it looks like we've reached the trainyard. The driver tells me it's my stop, which I was expecting, and asks if I want help unloading, which I was not.
I recover quickly. "Yes, please."
In the back, we grab... (Select
one:)
[ ] Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Two suitcases, containing identification papers, full-body armor, several large firearms, and five million dollars. The guns
appear to be registered to 'Horatio Von Becker' - my name, while I'm here - as is an official-looking mercenary charter.
Oh, and there's a flip phone with a note saying it's got lawyers on speed dial. I recognize the name Quinn Calle, although I thought he was the PRT costume guy? No, that was someone else.
*I don't know how to use most of the gear, but it shouldn't be terribly difficult? Not worse than learning combat in the first place, and my Element should help with that.
*Sets me up for the medium term, and gives me something to pay for tech with.
*Can you really afford to focus on the future right now?
[ ] Power Now
A metal crate that turns out to house a fusion reactor, built to Nonstop's tech donation specs (no silicon), stamped with a Toybox logo. (That boxing-glove-on-a-spring is a cute touch.)
It also comes with a Toybox catalog, informing me that a reactor like this is worth two and a half million, or three with one-week delivery. Discounts available for tech barter or "interesting data".
*Nonstop's train will be faster and have
much better fire-rate while connected. Significantly improves his chances of survival; may pay for itself if it means more of the Nine's bounties can be collected.
*Doesn't include ID for me, making some things harder. You guys wanted me to work with Cauldron, apparently? I might have to.
*Reliant on other donations for personal enhancement.
[ ] Pale Horse
A zebra-like Nightmare with a mouth dripping blood; my first Evil Elemental. Presumably based on the Siberian. It's wearing a collar that timelocks it when the switch is flipped, and it pretty-much-certainly wants to eat people when that's turned off. I have never ridden a horse before.
*Fantastically powerful, but major control issues.
*I will not get
any other tech from Devil's Toolbox, and I won't properly awaken the Third Gate until this arc is resolved. But hey, if you still prefer Go Further, this is your option!
*Like seriously, it may be quite difficult to keep it from eating people. This is not a joke. (And kill-ordered corpses are valuable on several grounds, so, like, keep that in mind.)
(Vote call was
here. Also, 940 words.)