UNITY 2010: A New Champions Campaign

[hooligan x]

I tried using Matchbox cars as props once. The players kept moving them and making "VROOM VROOM!" noises.

[teh bunneh]

Here's the latest recap. We introduce a new player (welcome Skippy, AKA Thich Nat Han!). Their latest job takes them to Mexico...

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When the team arrived home from Japan, they were greeted by Major Bec, who was leading an unfamiliar face. “Remember how you asked for a new mystic for your team, now that Simian has been reassigned?” he asked. “Well, meet Thich Nat Han, from Tibet. He’s you’re newest teammate.”

Far from giving their new guy a friendly greeting, most of the team wandered off on their own private agendas. New Man showed Thich around the place and introduced him to everyone.

Straight Arrow went to do some research. He asked Major Bec if there were any records of UNITY Team A’s current whereabouts. Bec told him that all that information was highly classified. However, Straight Arrow learned that there is only one ship that has ever left the solar system, and that is the Astra (UNITY Team A’s craft). According to classified records, they left Earth shortly after Yggdrasil was unveiled and the teams were reassigned. Team B is still stationed on Yggdrasil, having recently gotten back from a disaster relief mission in India.

To work off some steam (and to introduce the new team member), Straight Arrow had his team do a “live fire” exercise – Red Dragon, New Man, and Thich Nan Han against Aurora, Ifrita, and Tank. Aurora got bashed pretty good, and Ifrita disqualified herself (thanks to a little sensory manipulation by New Man), but otherwise the battle seemed like a successful training tool.

Shortly thereafter, Red Dragon lost an auction for a coveted 1932 World’s Fair spoon – again to his hated rival, BlueJay555. Moments after the auction ended, he got an instant message from her, which read, “Ha ha I win again. Man u r slo u suXXX0rz at typing. english not ur 1st langage huh?”

He screamed in frustration and vowed eternal vengeance on her, when another message popped up. “GRAB in mexico citty. u r prety slo , u fast enuff 2 catch them?”

Red Dragon took this “intel” to Straight Arrow. “Boss!” he said. “I know where GRAB is going to strike next!” Straight Arrow was skeptical, but agreed to check into it.

A quick look at the last week’s news told him that there might be two potential targets that GRAB could be aiming for in Mexico City. The first was a new display of priceless Aztec artifacts, including a newly uncovered solid gold Aztec calendar. The second was a goodwill visit by the President of the United States and a handful of US Senators – including Senator Goodkind. Straight Arrow also noted a series of minor tremors in Mexico City, but chalked that up to the fact that the city rests on a fault line and has frequent earthquakes.

Reluctantly, he called the team together and they headed to Mexico. They were greeted with much fanfare – apparently, UNITY is well-regarded South of the Border. Mexico has had two of its own sons on the team (el Picaro I and II), including a founding member! So the Mexican authorities were happy to work with UTC to prevent the robbery or kidnapping or whatever.

Captain Stefano Rodriguez was assigned to work with the team. He was a young, heavyset man with a thick moustache and dark skin, and was very eager to work with UNITY (and thereby make his name). He ensured they got whatever help they needed – by throwing his weight around and bullying everyone around him.

UTC first went to the most likely target – the Mexico City Museum of Cultural History. This museum proudly displays the heritage of Mexico, from the ancient times all the way up to the present day. They even had a replica of a Mon’dabi assault ship that crashed in the Yucatan Bay during the war. Their latest collection was from a recently discovered temple nearby, which was buried in a volcanic eruption over 500 years ago. The centerpiece of this collection was the solid gold Aztec calendar, nearly 6 feet in diameter and weighing over 5 tons.

The team wandered around to check out the security of the museum. Aurora and Straight Arrow checked the electronics and found them to be excellent for deterring normal thieves, but inadequate to stop super villains. Tank, Red Dragon, and Ifrita checked the grounds. There were many well-armed guards present – though again, nothing that would slow GRAB down much. Red Dragon noted the large skylights inside the Aztec collection, remembering GRAB’s penchant for coming in from above. New Man saw a number of bugs and was a little too freaked out by the whole thing to pay attention to their job.

Next, the team tried to contact Senator Goodkind and let him know about their suspicions. Goodkind was tagging along with the US President on a goodwill tour of Mexico, trying to foster better trade relationships between the two countries. It took some effort, but finally Ifrita got through to the Senator, who agreed to meet the team and pass their concerns along to the President.

One note that people remembered was that Senator Goodkind has been very vocal in recent weeks about the need for PRIMUS, UNITY, and EuroGuard to work more closely together – the incident at Yggdrasil demonstrated the need for better coordination between the teams. The President has so far resisted any such thing, and has even threatened a veto on the bill that Goodkind is trying to pass.

At their meeting, UTC asked the Senator what the President’s schedule was. “First thing tomorrow morning,” he said, “we’re going to visit the museum to see the new display. After that, dinner with Mexican President Lobos. The next day, the President meets with President Lobos for their Summit.”

They told the Senator about the possibility that GRAB might try something, and he was shocked. “Those murderous thugs!” he cried. “Luckily,” he continued, “Paragon is here as the President’s personal bodyguard. However, due to treaties and whatnot, Paragon wouldn’t be allowed to protect Mexican property – he can only act if the President’s life is in danger.”

Certain that GRAB wouldn’t act unless there was a big audience for their crime (since they tend to go for bold, flashy crimes), UTC figured that they had until tomorrow to plan…

TBC!

Some notes:
Paragon:
Paragon is one of the oldest heroes, but he is still going strong. He was a member of UNITY, back when it was first getting started. He is considered one of the greats, an all-American hero – brave, virtuous, loyal, clever, and inventive. Even people in Europe and across the rest of the world know him; he is an American emblem.

UNITY took it as a great blow when the US began their own Super Soldier program and recalled Paragon to head it up. This was the time when UNTIL decided it needed to step up recruitment for its team (when Dr. White and Dr. Black were retiring, and when Mentiac was already withdrawing from the team).

Paragon is superhumanly strong and fast. Though not the strongest or fastest superhuman on the planet, he has decades of experience and a mind for brilliant tactics. He is also possessed with a “never say die” attitude which he refers to as the “American Spirit.” He has the ability to keep coming back for more, and never ever giving up. He has defeated foes many times more powerful than him.

He is tall and broad-shouldered. He wears a red, white, and blue armored costume that is reminiscent of the US flag. He has a square jaw, steely blue eyes, and tanned skin. He is an all-American kid, a corn-fed Midwesterner with an “aw-shucks” attitude and a little boy’s smile (despite his craggy features). He is slow to speak, but when he does it always silences a room. In America, he is idolized by nearly everyone, and his very presence is a symbol of patriotism.

The Aztec Wing of the Museum:
The Aztec Building is two stories high and well lit by large windows and skylights. Gallery C and D are exhibits of the daily life of the Aztec people and are filled with the tools and whatnot that they used. Gallery B has exhibits dealing with the royalty and nobility, and has several artifacts made of gold, silver, jade, turquoise, and other precious metals and stones. Gallery A is an exhibit of their religious life (including a miniature version of the famous temple). There are also gold and silver artifacts in here. The special Exhibit display contains a nearly life-sized version of the temple, at the foot of which stands the golden calendar.

[Red Knight]

The story continues and I still am hooked

[teh bunneh]

As long as people are enjoying, I'll keep posting the write ups.

Bill.

[TheRavenIs]

ohh you can just keep on writing them up, bc they are a good read.

Raven

[Libra]

Sounds like a good idea to me. The adventures of Straight Arrow - I mean U.N.I.T.Y must continue.

[Scifi_Toughguy]

As long as people are enjoying, I'll keep posting the write ups.

Bill.

One of my favorite threads!

[teh bunneh]

Ask and ye shall receive! Part two of the Mexican Shuffle...

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The team arrived early in the morning, before the politicos and the press showed up, in order to scout the museum out and to set themselves up to ambush GRAB. Ifrita and Aurora, in their civilian identities, got some press passes and joined the press corps, staying near the back and keeping an eye on things.

New Man positioned himself in the men’s room (filthy, filthy place!). For some strange reason, the Secret Service men who came to check the room and make sure it was clear didn’t seem to notice him. The heroes threw a tarp over Tank and told him to stand very still, right outside the side entrance. They posted a sign nearby that said “Display under repair.” Straight Arrow, Red Dragon, and Thich Nah Han stayed outside, hiding in a rented van parked nearby.

The President and his entourage arrived at the museum. The President gave a short speech on the importance of friendship between Mexico and the US, and then went into the museum to take the grand tour. Everything was going smoothly until the very end, when the President was examining the solid gold Aztec calendar.

Suddenly, the skylights shattered and Lady Blue, Howler, Hummingbird, and Blue Jay flew in. They quickly incapacitated the security guards, but were careful to avoid attacking the President. Paragon grabbed the President and rushed him out of the room. Ifrita and Aurora threw off their disguises and joined the fray. Tank rushed in, as did Red Dragon, Straight Arrow, and Thich.

The battle was fierce. Aurora blinded then dropped Hummingbird before being KO’d by Black Diamond (who had been disguised as one of the press corps!). Thich and New Man mind-blasted Howler into oblivion, but then Cheshire Cat showed up to put the hurt on Thich. Ifrita and Red Dragon double-teamed Blue Jay, but Tank got taken down by Lady Blue (with a small assist from Aurora). New Man mind-controlled Black Diamond into retreating (“This caper is a failure; bug out and regroup elsewhere”), which seemed to be pretty much in-line with what she was thinking anyway, so she grabbed Hummingbird and split.

Just then, Armadillo showed up, tunneling into the museum from below and grabbing the calendar. “I got it!” he yelled. “Mission accomplished.” Lady Blue demanded to know where he was back *before* the order to scrub was called. He insisted that the mission was salvageable, but the rest of GRAB bugged out. He was left alone, facing a very angry UNITY Team C who proceeded to mop up the floor with him. At the end of the fight, UNITY captured Blue Jay, Howler, and Armadillo and managed to save the gold calendar, though GRAB did manage to steal quite a few other priceless Aztec artifacts before they bugged out.

After the attack was over, the press clamored around UNITY, asking for a statement. Straight Arrow gave a rousing statement about the friendship and assistance that Mexican authorities had given UNITY, allowing them to capture these robbers without any loss of life or serious injuries.

Shortly thereafter, the President announced that he was prepared to make his own statement. He praised UNITY for acting so quickly and decisively in stopping the criminals from stealing Mexico’s priceless heritage. “And in light of recent developments,” he said. “I have re-thought my opposition to Senator Goodkind’s proposal to allow UNITY and PRIMUS to work more closely together. It has become clear to me that in this age of super-powered terrorism, we need a unified, global response. America has always been proud of her ability to go it alone, but perhaps this is no longer the wisest decision. As the old saying goes, “He walks safest who walks with friends.” That’s all I have to say. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

The President and most of his entourage (including Paragon) headed off. Senator Goodkind looked like the cat who ate the canary – smiling and smug. He walked over to congratulate the heroes on their successful mission, and thanked them for everything. “I always figured UNITY Team B were going to be the ones to change the world,” he said, smiling broadly. “But it couldn’t please me more that it was you. Congratulations.”

The team did a little research into GRAB’s plan and figured that Armadillo was to have snagged the calendar while the rest of GRAB distracted the heroes. He was to have taken it back down his tunnel (which was apparently the cause of some of the recent tremors) to an airstrip where they would take a plane elsewhere. The rest of GRAB had, by this time, already escaped, and Straight Arrow wasn’t interested in trying to pursue them.

As UNITY was loading its prisoners into Mjolnir to take them back to Midgard Base, Red Dragon noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and spotted a tall man, dressed in black and wrapped in a black cloak – one of the mysterious supers that UTC had fought on Yggdrasil! Red Dragon turned to call Straight Arrow over, and when he turned back, the man was gone.

Straight Arrow walked over to see if there was any sign, and he spotted a small piece of paper on the ground. He bent over to pick it up and found that it was a plain white business card with a large black “omega” symbol on one side, and a phone number on the other…

[hooligan x]

Ah-HA! The old omega-card-on-the-tarmac trick! Works every time!

[Red Knight]

Ah-HA! The old omega-card-on-the-tarmac trick! Works every time!

That's almost as good as the note the note that says, "Don't read explosive runes".. <followed by a loud BANG!!!>

And yet again... the plot thickens

[teh bunneh]

A new UNITY adventure! Hope alls y'alls are still enjoying. Following up on the silly Japanese and less-than-serious Mexican adventures, we have a serious theme close to home...

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The powers that be decided UTC needed more training, and assigned them additional "danger room" testing – both against robots and one another. This was routine (and boring) work.

Meanwhile, out in the Atlantic, a huge storm was brewing. A combination of the remnants of Hurricane Bob and a norther coming in from the Arctic has created a ferocious storm that was blowing eastward across the ocean. The storm was predicted to hit Midgard Island that night, so all non-essential personnel were being sent home before the seas become too rough. This left UTC alone at the main base.

Of course, Hel Ultimate Security Prison (on the same island) still had its full complement of troops and intel officers (though again, non-essential personnel like cooks and cleaning staff were sent home). "Hel" is the unofficial nickname of the UNTIL Ultimate Security Prison. Built at the same time as Midgard Base, Hel houses some of the fiercest super-criminals captured by UNITY.

That evening, just after sundown, as the storm was rolling in, a fantastic lightning storm lit up the western sky. The lightning played over the earth, sea, and sky like a symphony of light and sound. The hurricane-force wind whipped the waves up into a frenzy, crashing on the rocky shores. Aurora was a-tingle with the energy of the storm and could barely control herself – she wanted to go outside and play.

Inside Midgard, it was very quiet. The hallways were empty and dark and the base felt big and lonely. Aurora was sitting in the library trying to concentrate, Red Dragon and Tank were playing video games, Straight Arrow was working in his lab, Ifrita was reading in her room, Thich was meditating, and New Man was hiding from the thunder down in one of the sub-basements.

And that's when they heard a series of five explosions. Instantly, the lights went out.

Straight Arrow assembled his team. He sent Ifrita to the Comm Room to get hold of LOKI and Hel. He sent Tank, Thich, and Red Dragon outside to see if they were under attack. He and Aurora went to see about the power.

Straight Arrow and Aurora found out pretty quickly that the base's generators had all blown – a direct hit from a huge lightning bolt took all three generators off-line. Midgard still had battery power, but that was only enough to run emergency systems (communications, some lights, and the defense grid) for 12-18 hours or so.

Luckily, Red Dragon's team reported that the lights from Hel were still on, and there didn't seem to be any sign of an attack – it was a freak occurrence of nature that caused the power outage.

Ifrita found that communications with LOKI were completely off-line. Not being an expert on the system, she decided that there was probably too much electrical interference. She recalled that the Bifrost system won't work in heavy electrical fields, so it stood to reason that neither would comms.

And that's when the alarm sounded. There was an emergency at Hel! The team scrambled. Ifrita took Red Dragon and raced across the island, while the rest of the team jumped into a Mjolnir and rocketed off, right behind the fiery speedstress.

When they arrived, they found UNTIL Intel manning the control room. It was Major David Corinth, New Man's old rival from when he was in the Intel division. The Major informed them that he had sent all the combat-ready troops down below and was trying to coordinate things, but he'd lost communications and sensors. When they asked him what happened, he informed them that Eurostar had escaped. He was unsure about the status of the other prisoners or of the personnel stationed down below; he did know, however, that there were 30 UNTIL troops and about a half-dozen Intel Officers still down there.

New Man didn't entirely trust his old rival to tell them the whole truth (the two of them were always butting heads, and he knew that Corinth was always trying to make him fail), so he tried to read the man's mind. However, the incessant thunder and lightning just outside kept making the team psychic lose his concentration, and he failed to get a lock on the Major's head.

UTC got into one of the elevators, told Corinth to seal the main locks on the elevator shaft so no one could get out, and keep trying to contact LOKI. On the way down, the team reviewed what they knew about the prison.

Hel is a small base on the rocky north shore of the island (opposite of Midgard). An elevator shaft leads several hundred meters down to the main part of the prison itself. There are also stairs to be used in an emergency. The prison has four wings. Prisoners are housed separately in small cells. It is staffed by 3 full squads of UNTIL's finest troops, who are all armed with powerful experimental energy weapons. Only super-powered criminals are kept here; those whose powers come from technology are housed in maximum security prisons elsewhere (usually in Europe), with two exceptions – Scorpia and Scarlet Specter are considered too dangerous (and too interesting) to be kept elsewhere.

Before UTC lost communications with Corinth, they asked him for a roster of the prisoners. He gave them the following list: Durak, Scorpia, Killer Frost, and Kriegsmadchen (A Wing), Howler and Blue Jay (B Wing), Slug (C Wing), and Scarlet Specter (D Wing).

Ifrita thought to ask what Corinth was doing when the jailbreak happened, and he said that he had been down below, questioning a prisoner. "Which prisoner?" Thich asked. There was a long, long pause, and then Corinth answered, "Scorpia, of course. That's how I knew it was Eurostar that had escaped." And then the heavy steel doors above them slammed shut, effectively sealing the prison off from the outside world.

When the heroes got off the elevators, they were met by a unit of haggard-looking guards in full riot gear. They looked like they'd been in a fight; several of them have blood on them (though they insisted it wasn't their blood when Thich offered to heal them). "It's a genuine Charlie-Foxtrot in there, sir," the sergeant told Straight Arrow. "Durak got out and went Alpha-Sierra. Killed a bunch of guys before they even had a chance to sound the alarm. He broke Scorpia, Killer Frost, and Kreigsmadchen out; we don't know about the rest. We fell back to this position to regroup. Thank god you've finally made it!"

The sergeant told Straight Arrow that he was sure Eurostar wasn't in A Wing anymore, but wasn't sure where they would be. Neither did he know the disposition of the other prisoners. He did, however, say that the entire prison had been locked down – all the doors were sealed.

Aurora asked what happened, and the sergeant said that the power flickered out for just a few seconds. Apparently, Durak used that time to break down his door and kill the guards that tried to stop him. After that, everything fell apart.

New Man did a quick scan of the entire prison. He found a number of hostile minds in C Wing, so the heroes headed there as quickly as they could. They didn't want to take the UNTIL troops with them, but the sergeant insisted – he knew his way around the maze of the prison, the heroes did not – so they finally relented.

The door to C Wing was wide open and had been damaged by someone with incredible physical strength – obviously, Durak had come this way. The team hurried in cautiously, hoping to catch Eurostar before they accidentally (or purposefully) released the alien horror Slug.

They entered an administrative room, and heard the sounds of someone going berserk in the next room. Cautiously, they approached the door, when all of a sudden the members of Eurostar popped out from the other doors around the room! It was an ambush – a well-played one. New Man went down in a barrage of energy fire from Scorpia (being without her usual weapons, she picked up some UNTIL armor and guns off of a guard's corpse).

The fight was hard. Eurostar were desperate and willing to stop at nothing to get out. Seeing the people who captured them only helped fuel their rage, and they attacked without mercy and without hesitation, working as a well-oiled team. But the tide was against them. Tank, Red Dragon, and Ifrita took out Durak (after Durak got a couple of good hits in on them). Kriegsmadchen took Ifrita, but was then slapped down by Red Dragon, Tank, and Thich. Scorpia and Straight Arrow went several rounds, neither gaining the upper hand, until New Man managed to "turn off" her optic nerves, completely blinding her and leaving her helpless. New Man also put the illusion of a squad of battle-hardened UNTIL troops shooting at Killer Frost, which distracted her long enough for Ifrita to lower the boom on the icy villainess (but not before the Romanian nearly froze Straight Arrow's blood in its veins).

The UNTIL guards stayed out of the fight completely, scattering into the room while the fight was going on. However, as soon as UNITY appeared to be winning, they opened fire on Aurora and Straight Arrow. "Looks like yer goon squad needs a little more trainin'," Scorpia quipped. Straight Arrow ordered the guards to stand down, but a group of them rushed him and tried to tackle him.

It was then that he noticed the hideous scars on their necks (heretofore covered by their armor) and the rat-like fangs that filled their mouths (formerly covered by their opaque visors). "Good lord, they're vampires!" he shouted. The rest of the team rushed to help and soon made short work of the bloodsuckers.

"What the hell is going on?" Red Dragon demanded. "Major Corinth didn't mention anything about vampires!"

"Typical of that bastard," New Man sighed. "He always hated me."

"Inter-departmental rivalry is one thing," Straight Arrow said. "Failing to tell us that Blutegel is also imprisoned here borders on the criminal. But we'll deal with him when we get done with the current job."

The heroes picked up the unconscious vampires and terrorists and put them in C Wing cells (turns out it's awfully convenient to fight villains in the very place you're planning to incarcerate them!). They also figured out how Eurostar had ambushed them. The villains had used a simple tape recording of Durak smashing things to lure the heroes into the room, where the terrorists were lying in wait.

UTC also found a map of the prison, and learned that Blutegel and Supermarine were both imprisoned in B Wing – not far from Scarlet Specter. "Good god," Straight Arrow thought to himself. "If the Specter was granted vampiric powers..." The idea was too horrible to contemplate.

Straight Arrow, Aurora, and New Man went to check Slug's cell to see if he was still there. He wasn't. Straight Arrow and New Man began to panic, but Aurora noticed the cell block's log sheet nearby. It said that Slug had been checked out by Intel and had been taken to the Interrogation Wing. There was a chance that the horrible alien was still there. The team saddled up and headed in that direction...

TBC!

[hooligan x]

"Good god," Straight Arrow thought to himself. "If the Specter was granted vampiric powers..." The idea was too horrible to contemplate.

I'll bet it wasn't too horrible for the GM to contemplate! MU-HAHAHAHA!

[Red Knight]

MY GOD MAN.... DON'T MAKE US WAIT!!!!!! TELL US MORE....

<slaps self> Sorry.. I got caught up in the excitement. Awesome job so far!!!

[teh bunneh]

I tried using Matchbox cars as props once. The players kept moving them and making "VROOM VROOM!" noises.

D'oh! I keep forgetting to take photographs of the battlefields for you guys. Sorry, I'll try to remember next game.

Bill.

[teh bunneh]

Didn't run UNITY this weekend (went to see a Shakespeare play instead), but since I'm posting these on a 2-week time delay, you still get a recap!

'Cause that's just the kind of guy I am.

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UTC entered the Interrogation Wing, moving cautiously and expecting trouble of the worst kind. They soon came across two guards, both dead. Straight Arrow and Thich examined the bodies and found that there wasn't a mark on them, though their eyes were clouded. They determined that it was probably a brain hemorrhage that killed them... obviously the work of the telepathic Worm.

They moved on and soon came to the cell in which the Slug had been taken. The door was open. Red Dragon entered cautiously and found a couple of chairs, a laser-grid force dome, and a computer. He also noticed how warm and dry the room was – probably the result of the large heating lamp hanging just over the force dome.

He signaled that the room was clear, so Straight Arrow entered and checked the computer. It was a translation device – it could read the Slug's telepathic broadcasts and translate them into English. This was definitely the room, but what had happened? The archer tried to check the recordings of the interrogation session, but found that they had all been erased.

"We have to go check on Scarlet Specter," Straight Arrow said. "If either the vampires or the Worm got to him..."

They hurried to D Wing. When they arrived, they found Scarlet Specter still in his cell watching them curiously, as if he had been waiting for their arrival. "So good to see you again, Simon," he said, smiling fondly. "I've been wondering when you'd finally pay me a visit."

"We have nothing to talk about," Straight Arrow snapped. "The only time I want to see you again is at your trial."

The Specter only smiled again. "But I've so missed our battles – both the physical and the mental kind. You know, you are perhaps the only person I know who can present a decent challenge? I could always just drop the barest hint of a clue, and you would pick up on it instantly. Britain's current lack of heroes is rather disappointing to me. Have you met the new Union Jack? He calls himself Albion, but really, he has no connection with the great history of our land. He's little more than a football hooligan."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Straight Arrow demanded.

"I can see you've been having a spot of trouble," the fiend said, changing the subject. "I think you need my help."

"Not even on my worst day," Straight Arrow said, fighting back the urge to just put an arrow into the murderer.

The madman shrugged. "You know, that's exactly what Major Corinth said when I first arrived here. And you see where that's gotten him."

"What do you mean by that?" But Specter only smiled enigmatically.

While the two of them were talking, New Man attempted to read Specter's mind. If the prisoner really knew what was going on here, then UTC would need that information. However, he found the Specter's thoughts to be so fast, so slippery, and so ... untidy ... that he could get nothing other than the fact that the Specter was certain that the heroes couldn't figure out what was going on by themselves.

The team left to go check out the vampires' cells. As they were leaving, Specter called out. "I'll be seeing you again soon, Simon. Very soon."

"Yes, at your trial," Straight Arrow sneered.

"No," Scarlet Specter smiled. "Much sooner than that, I fear."

Somewhat shaken by this encounter with his old enemy, Straight Arrow lead the team to Blutegel and Supermarine's cells. The hallway leading up to the cells was splattered in blood, though there were no bodies to be found. The vampires' cell doors were ajar, and cautiously Tank, Straight Arrow, and Ifrita entered the first. They found it to be a charnel house – the bodies of at least five UNTIL prison guards had been horribly mutilated and left here. They checked out Supermarine's cell and found the corpse of one guard, decapitated and drained of blood.

"There's nothing else we can do in here," Straight Arrow said grimly. "We'd best lock this area down and move on to the next Wing."

The team moved to B Wing, where Blue Jay and Howler from GRAB were housed. As the heroes moved to the villainesses' cells, they heard shouting. "Hey!" Blue Jay called out. "Who's there? What the heck is going on? Where are the guards? And what are you guys doing down here?"

UTC quickly explained the situation. "Eurostar escaped from their cells."

"Great," Howler grumped. "We're stuck down here alone while super powered terrorists and murderers stage a prison riot?"

"Oh, it gets worse," Ifrita said. "There are aliens loose in here as well."

"Aliens?" the two girls demanded.

"Also vampires," New Man told them. "But, since we see that you two are still locked up all safe and sound, we need to get back to our jobs."

"Wait!" Howler said. "Don't leave us alone here!"

"Yeah," Blue Jay agreed. "Everyone knows that when vampires are loose, they always go after the beautiful, helpless, virginal young girls! Don't let them get us!"

"We'll help you catch Eurostar if you protect us from the vampires," Howler said. "We hate those terrorists – they give honest thieves like us a bad name."

"There's no way in hell we're letting you out," Straight Arrow said. "We've already got a jail full of escapees, we're not adding to the list."

"Please?" they whined. "You've got to! We can't use our powers in these cells. If someone comes to kill us, we'll be helpless!"

"You know," New Man suggested. "They had a point about the young, helpless victims thing. Maybe we could use them to lure Blutegel here..."

"No, don't!" they shrieked in genuine horror.

Straight Arrow called his team up the hall for a quick conference. He was reluctant to leave them here alone – as they said, they were helpless if the Slug or Blutegel came down this way. He also thought they could help capture the fiends. Members of GRAB had a good reputation for their loyalty – and really, the crimes they were guilty of were nowhere even in the same league as Eurostar, Blutegel, and Slug. Plus, the entire prison had been sealed off with heavy steel doors. Even if Blue Jay and Howler tried to run, they wouldn't be able to get very far. Some of the team had a problem with letting them out, but Straight Arrow made an executive decision – he would take responsibility for them.

"OK," Straight Arrow told the thieves. "Here's the deal. We'll let you out if you swear to help us capture the vampires. If you keep your word, I will personally speak at your trial and plead for leniency. Is that fair?"

Howler and Blue Jay thought about it for a moment, then agreed. "We don't want to fight the vampires, but better to fight them out in the open than to sit in our cells and wait for them to get us," they said.

Straight Arrow opened their cells and the newly enlarged team headed for A Wing, where Eurostar had been held before they broke out. On the way, Red Dragon struck up a conversation with Blue Jay. "Did you get the comics I sent you?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "I've been reading them. They're pretty cool, but the one where you guys fought the giant jellyfish was just ridiculous. Who could believe such a thing?"

Red Dragon changed the subject. "So are you enjoying those spoons?" he asked.

"What spoons?"

"The spoons you sniped off of me from E-Bay," he reminded her.

"I never go on E-Bay," she said. "I got ripped off when I bid on a 1929 Roadster a couple of years ago, so I don't even try anymore."

The team arrived at A Wing, where Eurostar had been kept. The door was wide open – the closing mechanism had been wrecked by someone with incredible strength. The heroes approached Eurostar's cells and found the bodies of 5 guards – crushed, frozen, and beaten to death. One guard's armor and weapons were missing (taken by Scorpia to replace her own missing weaponry). The vampires were not here, which left only one place they could be – the Power and Maintenance Wing.

The Maintenance Wing was dark. The power had been shut off. Straight Arrow switched to low-light, and Tank activated his passive sonar. Ifrita generated a little bit of light, but it only seemed to make the shadows darker and more menacing. They could all hear the sound of machinery pounding away, and Aurora sensed electrical activity ahead and realized it was the generator room. The team approached the room; at the very least, they could switch the power back on to this Wing.

Howler stuck close to New Man. "So," she asked him. "Does this UNITY gig pay well?"

"So-so," he shrugged noncommittally.

"I'm pretty rich," she said flirtatiously. "Back in the real world, I mean."

"Have you checked the seam-strength of your clothes lately?" he asked cryptically. She took that as playful banter, and kept flirting with him.

Aurora watched this with jealousy. "Everyone around here is dating a supervillain except for me!" she fumed. "Red Dragon is getting friendly with Blue Jay, Howler is flirting with New Man, and who knows what Straight Arrow and Penny Dreadful have been up to! That's it. When this is all over, I'm going to ask Durak out."

They saw the door to the power room had been partially barricaded with old fuel barrels. Straight Arrow and Red Dragon moved up. Then Red Dragon realized that the two of them were standing in a huge puddle of gasoline. "Straight Arrow, look out!" the samurai yelled, trying to shove his commander out of the room, but it was too late. An energy discharge from inside the room set the fuel off. The explosion hurled most of the team back down the hall.

Red Dragon rushed through the flames and into the room so he could cover his companions while they recovered. Suddenly, through the smoke and haze, a figure appeared – it was the vampiric Supermarine, moving at incredible speed. He punched Red Dragon, but amazingly the samurai's armor held together.

Ifrita rushed in to help, but Supermarine was too fast even for her. The once-hero continued to pummel Red Dragon, laughing all the time through his hideous, shark-like teeth. Straight Arrow fired a halon arrow into the heart of the flames, putting most of them out and allowing the rest of the team to enter the room. Ifrita was about to rush Supermarine, but something in the shadows caught her eye – it appeared to be two pinpricks of red light... so very beautiful to look at. A voice whispered in her ear, "Finish the samurai... he's the weak link of the team... finish him..." Ifrita shook the voice out of her head. "No!" she said, clutching her temples. "I won't do it, he's my teammate!"

Blaster bolts erupted from the shadows, peppering the team with fire. Straight Arrow entered the fight, ordering the team to concentrate fire on Supermarine, instructing Blue Jay to provide cover, and telling Howler to guard New Man's back. Tank charged in, helping his friends against the undead speedster. Straight Arrow was lining up a shot on Supermarine when Blue Jay suddenly shouted, "Die, bloodsucking scum!" and let him have it with a double blast, sending him to the floor. Tank tried to cover his friends from the gunfire while they attempted to corner Supermarine.

The former British hero was rushing about the room like a whirlwind, nearly unstoppable. New Man entered the room and used his TK to pin the speedster to the wall while the others pounded him, but he left himself vulnerable. While he was paying attention to the main fight, the real threat – Blutegel – leapt from the shadows and eviscerated the mentalist. New Man screamed and dropped to the floor, trying to hold his intestines in. Howler, who had been too stunned by the brutality of the fight to do anything, suddenly screamed.

Blutegel was blasted across the room like he'd been shot from a cannon. He hit one of the generators, which exploded in a ball of flame and sent him staggering. Howler kept up the pressure, following the vampire and hitting him as hard as she could... but it still wasn't enough. The 400-year-old beast climbed to his feet and hissed in fury. "Go help Howler!" Red Dragon told Ifrita. "We can handle this old guy." The Jordanian hero rushed off on wings of flame while Tank, Thich, Aurora, and Red Dragon hit Supermarine with everything they had. The vampire finally dropped to the ground.

"Finish him!" the ancient samurai spirit in Sango's armor told him. "Take his head!" For once, the young Japanese hero didn't argue against the voice. A flick of his sword was all it took.

Red Dragon was suddenly hit by a withering hail of gunfire, and dropped to the ground. Thich also took fire from the darkness and fell to his knees. Aurora moved to help Ifrita and Howler against the ancient vampire. Ifrita, moving as fast as the desert wind, pounded Blutegel again and again and again until he finally fell to the ground. The heat of battle burning in her veins, she poured all her power into him, incinerating the horrible creature.

The few remaining vampiric UNTIL agents sporadically fired on the heroes, but they were easy to mop up once their masters were dead. Blue Jay managed to break from the monster's mental domination, and she apologized to Straight Arrow. "I have no idea what happened," she said. "I just... for a minute there, I just thought you were him."

Straight Arrow shook his head. "No apologies necessary," he said. "I'm the last person who can fault someone for being mind-controlled into making a stupid mistake."

Thich Nat Han climbed to his feet and ran to New Man. He used his Tibetan sorcery to mend the mentalist's wounds as much as he was able. He stabilized his teammate, but New Man would still require hospitalization. Red Dragon moved quickly and efficiently through the room, decapitating each of the vampires, until he came to Ifrita and Blutegel. "Move aside, Ifrita," he said darkly. "I will take care of this."

The vampires dead, and the guards accounted for (all dead), the heroes took New Man's still unconscious form back upstairs. Major Corinth, as they knew he would be, was gone – he took the Mjolnir that they had parked outside the prison. While they were prepping New Man for the short trip to the infirmary, Straight Arrow deliberately turned his back on Howler and Blue Jay. When he turned back around, both of them were gone. Despite himself, he smiled. They had done good work, and in a way, they were right when they had said they didn't deserve to be lumped in with the likes of Eurostar and Blutegel.

Over the next few hours, the team managed to reconstruct what had happened. Major Corinth and his Intel team had taken Slug out of its cell so they could interrogate it. It had been very resistant to conventional techniques, but Corinth determined that the creature was not covered by Geneva Convention restrictions on torture. He brought it to the Interrogation Room and set up the heat lamps to slowly dry the creature out. But there was a problem – the lightning storm. One of the Prison's generators went down, and that shut off power for just a few seconds.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but the Slug was ready. When the force field dropped, it snaked out and touched Corinth. Despite his training, he was no match for the alien creature. The two became one, and now the Worm had access to everything the man knew. It went to Blutegel, sensing a sort of kindred spirit, and freed the vampire. It went up to the control room and ordered all the men down below, then turned off the prison's sensor system and freed Eurostar, knowing that this would bring UTC running. He also shut down communications between Midgard and Yggdrasil, not wanting reinforcements to arrive in time to help.

Once Team C arrived, it hopped into their Mjolnir and headed for more southerly climates – leaving Blutegel, Supermarine, and Eurostar to their fates. LOKI tracked the plane and found it abandoned in the heart of Africa. As soon as the team is able, they are to head there and find the alien.

Lethal force in the apprehension of Slug has been authorized.

To be continued!