February 2nd, 1974 (2)

There is No Such Thing as a Free Place to Crash
Last time, the gang was ousted out of their Club Hideout by the Silence Cult. To make matters worse, it has now been revealed to the world that people with powers have returned to the world. Incidents across the country have been reported by the media, it seems you weren't the only ones attacked that night. The group retreated to the new hideout of the Freaks, the abandoned tunnels of the LA subway system. After a brief time to catch their breaths they were sent on another errand. The feral, reptilian Freak known as Salamander hasn't been seen by his companions in over a week. They fear he may be unwell or worse, he may be running wild. The crew moves through the dark subway tunnels for the better part of an before they see a light at the end of the tunnel... Prodigy: The entire world knows now. Prodigy says as he walks along the tunnel. Doorman leads, his rifle ready with a flashlight taped to it. He holds up a fist to stop the procession. He doesn't look back at Prodigy. "Yup." Pulse is deaf. Prodigy stops. "How long until the superhuman arms race begins?" Pulse has so much to say on this topic, but is still deaf. Doorman: Don't know. Keep a lookout. Sal is pretty slippery when he wants to be. Pogo rolls her eyes. Doorman: Just be ready. He's gonna know we're coming, no way around that. Pulse: I won't be able to hear any answers to this, but I want everyone to consider whether Sal can be rehabilitated. I hope he can. Doorman keeps moving forward, walking towards the light. He seems awfully ready to greet his 'friend' with a bullet. You emerge from the tunnel into a large terminal stop. There are some very strong lightbulbs all facing towards one track and the abandoned subway cars on them. It's uncomfortably humid and warm in here. Pulse oddly didn't interrupt Ollie or anyone with that, despite his deafness. Like he can tell when people are talking, just not what they're saying. Doorman climbs up out of the tracks, offering a helping hand to anyone that needs it. He looks down at Pulse directly and speaks, drawing out his words a bit. "We're gonna try." Prodigy: ...Feel that? Pulse isn't rude enough to shine his flashlight in Ollie's face, so still pretty much misses that. The parts of the terminal not directly lit by the bulbs are virtually pitch black. Anyone without a flashlight might want to stick close to a friend. Prodigy: Good environment for a giant lizard man. Pogo gives Ollie a weird look, "Y'don't hafta dothat yknow." Pogo: Talk all sloow... Pogo floats up onto the ledge. Doorman: -Oh. Alright. Glenn raises a flashlight up and steps ahead of the others, "Stay behind. Keep Robert in the middle." Prodigy Climbs up off of the track. He checks his gauntlet. Pulse climbs up onto the ledge, then crouches and touches the floor tiles, like the hokey television indian feeling for a stampede. Ahead of you is a train stopped on the middle track. One the way are two washrooms. (Roll Perception) Glenn shines the light down the hallway ahead, looking at the tracks and the train. Doorman takes cover to the side casually. He glances at Glenn. Is he armed & ready? On the door of the men's bathroom and near the floor beneath it is a large pool of a dark-brownish, wet substance. Slumped against the women's washroom door are some women's clothing. Definitely not Sal's size. Pogo knocks into Ollie. "Whaps!" Glenn is holding his weapon in a ready pose and nods at Doorman. Pulse: Someone's in one of the subway cars. Doorman gives her a look and tries to delicately push her off of him. Pulse points, after a moment's consideration. "That one." Prodigy seems really fidgety, and a bit angry. Pulse: ...Well, maybe not someone, but there's movement. Doorman nods at Pulse. He makes some funky gesture at Glenn. Pogo seems offended to be moved, so she shoves Ollie and heads over to where Pulse is, asking loudly, "Yeah?" Doorman peeks around the corner, gesture for everybody to get out of direct sight. Pulse also seems a little fidgety. He's making broad, sweeping passes with his flashlight, moving it around a lot but keeping it low, to avoid shining it in anyone's eyes. Being in a super dark place when you're deaf is extra spooky. Doorman gestures for everybody* Doorman looks at Glenn then nods at the women's wash. Glenn nods once at Ollie and then moves into the hallway, rushing to the end of the wall and assuming a low profile position against the edge. He pokes his head out to sweep a glance around the train car before quickly pulling back his helmet-less head. Pulse guides Pogo along with him, if she's not hostile to that idea. Glenn can't see anything from where he is, if only he were closer... Pogo doesn't seem concerned by Robert's actions, or in fact, any of the other things that are going on. Doorman moves quickly, poking into the women's washroom rifle first. The door swings open and bounces back. The smell is the first thing the others notice. The unmistakable musk of decay. Glenn holds his position, keeping an eye out at the train. Prodigy: This place is disgusting. Why did I come here. Doorman proceeds, confirming the worst. Inside of the bathroom is a mangled corpse. It's a few days old but decaying rapidly due to the temperature and humidity in here. The body was bludgeoned severely and scratched and bitten to death. Prodigy nearly pukes from the smell. Pogo shrugs free of Robert and walks around the corner. She opens the men's washroom door and looks inside for a light switch. Glenn puls his hand on Pogo's shoulder without turning away from the train. "Don't go in there, girlie." Doorman swears. He comes back out and gestures for Glenn to take cover. "I'm gonna call him. Be ready." Glenn nods at Doorman. "Got it." Pulse rounds the corner, leaning against the wall behind Glenn and Ollie and Pogo. He seems to be concentrating a lot. Pogo flips the lightswitch on the side of the door. The bathroom is bereft of the usual fixtures, it seems they tore out the sinks and toilets when they shut the terminal down. In their place are piles of dirty clothes and what look like various personal belongings. It doesn't seem like this could have all belonged to a single person. Pogo elbows Glenn's hand away, and goes into the mens' room anyway. Pogo blithely goes over and sifts through the clothes for identification, and more importantly wallets with cash. Doorman: steps forward out into the open and sighs, before shouting, "SAL!" Doorman steps forward out into the open and sighs, before shouting, "SAL!" Prodigy gets his gauntlet ready. Doorman: COME OUT! GAMES OVER! Pogo comes out of the bathroom holding a wallet, "Wat?" Doorman's shout is only answered by a slow and constant drip somewhere deeper in the terminal. This place seems far too quiet. Doorman: Son of a bitch. SAL! Something thumps inside the subway car. Glenn rushes up to the side of the train door and crouches down, "Get the fuck out of the car right now!" Pulse slides his watch gizmo into his hand, and turns his flashlight off. Doorman 's rifle comes up, aiming at that spot. "Look, Sal, if you're in there, get the fuck out. This isn't the time to be joking around." Pogo looks at the photos in the wallet, and then pockets it. She glances between the others as if bewildered with their actions. Thump. Thump. Thump. You don't see anything through the subway car's windows. Pogo flies over to the train, and goes through a window. HOW ABOUT NOW. Doorman: -- Jesus Christ- Glenn watches Pogo fly in and grits his teeth, "Fuck. Fuck!" He rushes along the side of the car and peeks in after her. Glenn moves along behind her if there's an appropriately safe position. Pogo smashes through the car's window. On the floor of the car is a woman stripped down to her skivvies. She's tied up and trying frantically to squirm away. Her mouth is gagged with a dirty rag. Prodigy: She can probably take on the Salamander herself, in all honesty. Prodigy looks at Pulse while saying this. Pulse considers this, and nods. Glenn: Quiet. Pogo lands and tries to untie the woman, forgetting all about Sal. Glenn holds a hand up in apology to Prodigy, "No time." Glenn rushes in behind Pogo and begins to search the car. Doorman: teleports inside, doing the same. Doorman teleports inside, doing the same. Pulse does his best to remain aware of environmental vibration, in case Sal is sneaking up behind them, or something. Prodigy just keeps an eye out, energy arcing off of the gauntlet.

Doorman and Glenn move up and down the car. There are signs someone has been living here. As well as a small pile of feces at the end of the car. Pogo gets the gag and ropes off the woman and she gasps for her first clean breaths.

Doorman: Clear. Doorman walks over to the woman checking on her and Pogo. Pulse and Prodigy can't see or feel anything out there in the darkness. Still it spooks them to be so close to it. Glenn stands over the others, keeping watch.

Pulse steps fully into the light because fuck not being able to see, seriously. Pogo helps the woman up and out of the train car, careful to avoid glass from where she flew through the window.

Pogo glares at any of the guys if they get close to the woman, even though she herself is probably tarty enough to be unconcerned about being half-naked. Doorman follows. "Ma'am, can you tell us what happened?" Lily: Are you guys cops or something? Pogo: Giver a moment, yeah? Doorman: We're workin' with them, heard about some trouble down here, just looking out. Doorman displays his jacket rather prominently. Between that and the rifle, he atleast has SOMETHING to do with the army. Pogo: Oy, Ollie, piss aff a moment, yeah? Pogo leads the woman into the bathroom with all the clothes, "I know it's shit, but put somethin on, at least shoes." Lily looks to be in her early twenties, she seems well fed, sort of clean. She's wearing fancy makeup as well. Definitely not the kind of girl who hangs out in places like this. Pogo stands outside the door, giving Ollie the Samuel L Jackson stare if he tries to intrude. Lily lets herself get taken off to the bathroom, she doesn't know what the eff right now. Doorman watches them go and scowls. He looks at Prodigy. "Fuckin' Sal." Prodigy: Who let him just wander off? Prodigy: Isn't he the one who was -drowning people-. Doorman looks around again, rifle ready. "It's a free country. Orc told him to get rid of them, look--" The other subway car's metal panels groan faintly. Pulse turns sharply. Doorman 's rifle snaps up at the subway car. Prodigy grumbles. "Free for you, white man." Pogo: Whoa, haynao. Pulse isn't joining this argument, he's foreign. Something leaps from the subway car into the darkness. Pogo: If only lightbulb tits was here. Doorman yells, "SAL, GET THE FUCK OVER HERE RIGHT FUCKING NOW!" Glenn: Get out here and we'll talk. Just talk. Pogo rolls her eyes and goes in the room to check on Lily. Those assholes can deal with the lizard guy. Prodigy looks over at Robert. "Feel anything? Pulse slinks across the way to the women's room corner, touching the floor again. Salamander voice echoes out, throaty and loud. "Ollie?" Doorman: SAL! Doorman is definitely mad, bro. Pulse glances back, murmuring to Caleb: "Please keep Ollie quiet, if it's possible. He's throwing me off." Glenn shakes his head at Doorman, "Get him out first." Prodigy nods, turning to Ollie. "Keep it down a little. Pulse can't get a fix with the shouting." Doorman teleports over to where he saw him, flashlight shining in the darkness. Doorman shines his light down the terminal but doesn't see a trace of Salamander where he thought he'd run off to. The voice comes from behind them now. "I know what this is, Ollie. You're here to kill me." Pulse: He's very fast. Very quiet. I get him here and there, but.. Doorman: No, you stupid bastard. You're scaring everybody else and you need to come back and talk, alright?

Salamander: Bullshit. Things are changing out there. They know about us. How do you think it'll be for me from here on? The voice keeps moving. Where is that freak? Doorman: Same problems, different day, Sal. What we've got works, and it'll keep workin'. Doorman calls this out, sweeping his flashlight around trying to find Sal. We're not even human anymore. Why play along? It's going to be survival of the fittest. Kill or be killed. Don't tell me you've never killed, Ollie.

Prodigy: Sal, was it? You're being silly. Of course, there will be a period of confusion and alienation, you're mutants. However, given time, a decade or so, people will begin to accept that -this is how it is-. Just be patient. Doorman: Listen to the Doc, trust me, Sal. Just get out here and come back. Salamander emerges on the other side of the subway cars. Prodigy powers down his glove, raising his hands. No weapons here. Pulse can't hear Sal, but does stand up and rub his forehead a bit. He's been concentrating a lot. Doorman looks at him. The anger is plain on his face. He teleports right next to him and looks him in the face. "Sal, what the hell have you been doing?" Salamander: It's too hard, Ollie. I can't stop now. I don't even know who I am anymore. The hunger. You don't understand how hard it is.... Prodigy moves on over to the edge of the tracks, listening in. Doorman: Christ, Sal. What did you -do?- Prodigy: Does anyone know a psychologist? Prodigy asks to the rest of the group. Pulse squints, trying to keep an eye on the proceedings. "Yes, there was an old man with us for a bit. I've also been doing some reading on the topic." Salamander 's lips curl upwards. "It was so easy after the first one. It tasted so good. So right." Pogo walks out of the bathroom, and shuts the door behind her. She signs something to Robert. Prodigy nods. "We can help him, then. Sal, please. I can understand. It's not the same, but I understand. All great minds do. We can do brilliant things with them, so brilliant it's awful. A lot of us choose not to, through our own will. I can help. We can help." Pulse nods at Pogo. Pogo walks back in the room and stays in there with the girl. Doorman has this look of abject horror on his face. He's so repulsed he steps back from Sal. Salamander's expression twists as he watches Ollie back away. His posture seems to change. His chest heaves up and down heavily. Doorman: Sal... Prodigy: Damn it. Robert, get ready. Prodigy activates his POWERGLOVE. Glenn fires off his rifle behind Salamander, the shot finds his shoulder and pierces his flesh. Sal screams in pain, turning toward the shot.

Pogo is in another room

Salamander ducks low quickly, avoiding the blast. He hisses angrily. "So much for friends."

Doorman doesn't reply, instead letting loose with a volley into Sal's back. He teleports downwind into cover, regardless of the result. The bullets hit Sal on the hard, leathery armored plates running up his back. They don't seem to penetrate.

Salamander leaps across the tracks toward Caleb, but fails to grab at him. He roars defiantly.

Prodigy: brings his gauntlet up to Sal's face, almost unflinching. "I'm sorry, Sal." He fires off a blast at the lizard dude. The gauntlet's blast rings out, lighting the terminal for a moment. It hits Sal directly in the stomach and sends him tumbling across the ground. He quickly brings himself down on all fours.

Glenn: Prodigy get Robert down! Ciaran, get the nine! Go! Glenn pops another Glenn into existence next to him, he emerges from Glenn and stumbles forward. Glenn moves into the subway car and gets low near the windows. Duh Glenn: Hey wait, what? Glenn moves up towards Sal, keeping cover. "Ciaran in the shit. Fire for effect!"

Lily looks ready to run, she has a determined expression. Pogo holds Lily's hand and guides her out of the room. She leads her toward the opposite side of the train from where Sal is now, but keeps to where there's light. Pogo and Lily dash towards and then behind the train, she makes great time for a girl with no shoes on. "I don't remember which way leads back up."

Pulse's blast hits Salamander and it seems to disorient him he blinks rapidly trying to get his bearings again.

Doorman teleports ober to Pogo and Lily, quickly taking her by the hand. "Close your eyes, okay?" He glances at Pogo, before the two suddenly disappear. Lily does as she's told. The dude has a gun after all. She and Ollie vanish in less time than it takes to blink.

Salamander, still dazed, swings his tail around wildly towards Robert. The tail hits Pulse in the side and knocks him into the wall. (Roll toughness Chris)

Pogo seems relieved when Ollie teleports the two of them out of there. Robert hits the wall hard and slumps down onto the floor. That looks like it hurt bad, even from all the way up in the cheap seats.

Prodigy blasts that sucker, the shot much more intense than the previous.

The gamma blast hits Sal in the neck and he lurches away from the downed Pulse.

Glenn stands from his position and shoots his rifle at Sal again, "Stay down, mother fucker! Ciaran, get Robert out of there!" The shot bounces off of the plates on Sal's back but seem to catch his attention and turn it from Pulse.

Duh Glenn snaps out of his stupor and runs towards Glenn, ducking beside him. "Do you have any Gum?"

Pogo flies up to where shit is going down, since Glenn was yelling for them to get Robert out, that's her priority. Pogo moves in hot and scoops Robert up off the floor and into a blanket of darkness.

Pulse recover from stagger?

Pulse manages to pull his head up. He still feels like he got hit by a truck though. His head is pounding. He needs to take it easy.

Doorman reappears back in the subway, propping himself up on the pillar, taking a deep breath. The color is drained from his face. Sometimes this shit is draining.

Salamander bellows and puffs his chest up, inhaling deeply. When he exhales again his breath shoots out into a cone of flame towards Prodigy. (Roll Dodge and Toughness) Caleb leaps behind the pillar the second he sees the flames, taking cover. He just barely got away from that. When the fuck did he learn to do that?

Prodigy looks around the corner at Sal, trying to spot some sort of weakness in the armour, even anything that might be the gland he's using to do that fire shit. Prodigy: aims his hand out, squinting. He charged up the glove, blasting for Sal's neck. Attack [27] -> [AUTOMATIC HIT] [CRITICAL THREAT, CHECK DEF] Caleb's blast hits hard against Salamander's neck, burning through his thick skin and singeing the flesh beneath. Sal grasps the wound, howling in pain. HOMERUN.

Duh Glenn: Am I having a bad dream? I'm usually naked in these. Glenn: Shut the fuck up, meatbag. Duh Glenn: Who pissed in your cornflakes, Glennda? Can I see your gun? Glenn hits Duh Glenn with the blunt of his gun. Hard. Pulse is kinda glad he's too dazed and def to experience the glenn on glenn crime.

Duh Glenn gets butted in the nose with the rifle. He falls backwards, yowling in pain. "Okay, not a dream. Jesus christ!" Glenn stands up and shoots through the window of the train, "Someone call the Arty, we got live fire. Repeat. LIVE FIRE." Glenn hits Sal in the arm, the shot perforates his limb.

Pogo slaps Robert, "Wake up!" Amazingly, yelling Wake Up at Robert doesn't seem to make him get up any faster. He's deaf, after all. Pogo flies Robert over to Ollie and shouts, "Gittim outta here, damn you!"

Pulse is yanked away toward Ollie. He still feels like garbage. Pulse: What? No, I can help, I just n--

Doorman looks Pulse over and grabs him, warping away. He's back a second later and proceeds to aim at... Nothing. Well, it looks that way, except for a tiny portal opening up before his gun. Ollie's shot zips through one tiny portal and out another, hitting Sal on the other side of the terminal. The bullet hits his already injured arm through the elbow. That was HIS FAVORITE ELBOW.

Pulse will take a moment to gather his senses and tend to Lily, if he's been ported to the same location. Better to be useful wherever you are, right? Pulse is now back at the Freak's hideout, everyone is rushing to him. Lily doesn't seem to be here. Pulse has the mental werewithal to check himself for internal injuries but finds nothing serious. Just a huge bruise on his side. Salamander puffs his chest back up and blows out a blast of flame, spewing it in every direction he can but at no particular target. When the flames subside, he's no longer standing where he was.

Pulse does his best to explain the situation to the strangers back at the hideout, in a non-panic-inducing tone. Doorman ports around rapidly, looking all over the terminal for Salamander. Pulse: Everything is awful. Glenn rushes through the train and over to the others, "Regroup. Do we need a dustoff?" He seems to be in hardcore mode. Prodigy: ...And now we have a superpredator on the loose. Glenn: We'll take him down with egg beaters later. Gotta fall back. Secure the base. Doorman ports in next to the two of them. "Agreed. C'mon, we're heading back." Pogo looks bewildered. Prodigy: What about the lady? Duh Glenn walks out of the car, pinching his nose. "I dink i deed a ndocta." Doorman: Hey, uh-- Pogo? C'mon. We gotta make sure he's not going for everybody else. Doorman: I took care of her, she's fine. Prodigy moves on over to Doug. Prodigy fixes his goddamn nose. Pogo: Where'd shegoo?

Pogo walks over, giving Prodigy's nose fixing a glance. Glenn jabs a finger in Duh Glenn's chest, "You fucked up out there." Caleb checks his nose over, it looks broken. He gives Doug a hanky to help with the bleeding. It's not bad, he could fix it later in surgery.

Doorman: Police, she's safe. Duh Glenn: I fucked up? You hid me in da face? All I did was ask for gum! Prodigy: Lets go. Doorman: Guys, c'mon. Prodigy waits for Magicbus. Doorman just grabs Prodigy and poofs with him. Then returns a moment later for the Glenns, providing they don't fight back. He appears last for Pogo, offering a hand to her. Pogo has her arms folded. Pogo just looks at Ollie. Glenn: I ordered fire for effect, mister. Now we gotta hot hoist out of here, they're on the move. You had a chance for a clean shot. You're lucky a friendly didn't wipe your ass off the mat. Glenn: Let's move out. Doorman: Look, if you're playing some game we don't have time for it. Take my hand or fly back. Duh Glenn keeps arguing after being ported. "I dun have do dake dis shit. I'm leabing." He starts off in a direction but then realizes he doesn't know where he is. "How do i geddout?" Pogo frowns at him, and takes his hand. Doorman teleports them back to home base, amongst the Freaks. He's all grim and finds Orc to share the news, abruptly ditching the others. Glenn takes his hand skeptically, "This is irregular." The others are back at the Freak's place. A few of them have laid Robert out on the couch to rest. Massima seems to be pestering him. "Did you vomit?" Pulse: No. Pulse: But there WAS poop everywhere. Orc seems upset to hear about Salamander. He slouches and takes a seat, not saying anything at first. Prodigy: Robert. What did you make of all that? The transformation must have literally brought out the triune brain in him. Duh Glenn tries to yank his hand back but fails. "Dun duch me!" Orc looks up at Ollie. "You think he's too far gone for us to save him?" Glenn grabs Duh Glenn by the shoulder and throws him against the wall. Pulse sits up, studying Caleb for a moment. "I don't like that model of intellectual development. It implies things happen and then stop, and something new grows around it. That doesn't make sense." Doorman: He was eating -people,- man. Pulse: Initially it seemed like he was wanting us to kill him, like some sense of guilt was leading him to antagonize Ollie. He settled into a typical adrenal response when actually threatened, but I think on some level he acknowledges he's sick. Glenn yanks Doug toward him violently, suddenly Doug is being absorbed back into Glenn's body. He tries to wrench loose but ultimately vanishes to wherever whores go. Pulse watches Glenn and Doug merge, for a moment. He nods.

Prodigy: If that is the case, he will need something more than a psychologist. Glenn releases his grip, "Looks like your orders came in. Time for you to piss the fuck right out of Nam, FNG." Pulse nods. "It's become an addiction for him, and..." He squints at Glenn, trying to make some sense out of the phonemes his mouth is making. Doorman smoothes his hair over. "We gotta be keeping watch to make sure he doesn't try to take us. Nobody is allowed out alone, everybody sticks to the station. Got it?" Prodigy: If we run into him again, we'll need a means of restraint. Glenn turns back to the others, "If we run into him again, suggest rapid fire. Full mike mike. No chatter." Pulse pinches the bridge of his nose. "It's not an if, it's a when. He's been watching these people sleep. Their relationship is some complex merging of family and prey to him." With the world now aware of the Strangers and the sobering experience of dealing with Salamander. It seems clear to the group that this won't be the last act of aggression from either side. For now, they could just use some rest. It's been a hell of a night. TO BE CONTINUED!