Read our previous chapter here.
[Begin a Session: Seemingly unrelated situations are shown to be connected]
Thread: Coup at the Academy & Time Cops on Patrol
Oracle: Initiate Bond
Aiden Bell attends a midnight meeting with Police Commissioner Jeremiah Maxwell at Forge City Central Police HQ. They will further develop their secret plans for the EOD (Enhanced Operations Division), the task force that the Victory Academy will funnel super-humans into. Maxwell greets Bell with a firm handshake, almost an attack, a check to see which man is stronger. Bell half smiles, half grimaces, and squeezes back until Maxwell relents.
Taking a seat in Maxwell’s office, Bell reveals he has yet to inform the faculty & students about the big changes at the end of the year. Maxwell shouldn’t worry, though; Bell has complete control of the school. Maxwell brings up the recent scuffle with Silver Sentry on the front lawn. Bell bristles at this. He’s not worried about Sentry; the relic is on his last legs anyway, and they are barely holding together.
A knock at the door. Maxwell explains that it must be his new liaison, who will be the bridge between Forge City PD and the Victory Academy. In walks Tempus Wright; however, he’s not wearing his Time Cop uniform, instead decked out in a three-piece suit more befitting this period. He introduces himself to Bell as “Thomas Wright,” he’s looking forward to working with him.
Main Story Thread: The Machine Collective
Oracle: Surrender Authority
Kismet can’t sleep since his powers dramatically evolved the ability to go back through time and change his choices. It’s so powerful it is terrifying. He walks downstairs from his dorm room to the school’s kitchen and finds Nano sitting at the table, staring off into space. Kismet clears his throat to let her know he’s there. She turns around slightly.
“Oh, hello, Kismet,” she says in her electronically generated voice. Kismet grabs a bite to eat from the fridge and sits with her. He asks if she feels recovered from the fight with King Korg (see Issue 1). Nano says the technicians at the Academy healed her quite well. She was able to guide them on how to navigate her alien circuitry. A beat. Silence. A shooting star crosses the night sky as teenagers look out the kitchen windows.
Kismet explains he’s feeling his powers change, and it scares him. He’s glad to be at the school. He misses his parents, but he will get to see them next weekend for the Exemplar Day festivities. Kismet asks if Nano has anything equivalent to a parent.
Ask the Oracle: Odds: Unlikely. [Ask the Oracle: No]
Nano responds that she does not, She was built in a factory on Zerth VII and loaded with a set of programs. There were trainers who put the robots through development exercises and were as close to a parent as she ever had. Kismet says he’d love to have Nano meet his parents when they visit next week.
Hearten – [Weak Hit: 3 + 3 + 0 = 6 vs 6 | 1] – +2 Spirit, -1 Momentum
Develop Your Relationship w/Nano – [Weak Hit: 5 + 1 + 0 = 6 vs 10 | 5] – +2 Momentum
Nano says she would like that, but the two are interrupted when the double doors into the kitchen swing open and Grail enters with Silver Sentry. They both look like they have been in a hurry. Grail speaks, “Children, something has gone very wrong.”
Interlude – Alien Tech Aftermath
Oracle: Uncover Phenomenon
That was no shooting star the two Academy students witnessed. On the outskirts of Forge City, a smoking crater has been formed by an object falling from the sky. The farmer whose property this has occurred on has pulled on a coat and pants, grabbed his shotgun, and headed out to investigate. He slowly approaches the massive hole, his hands shaking.
A large red fist emerges, grabbing the rim of the crater. A large figure pulls himself up and calmly scans the area. “No sign of the invasion fleet? Have they failed?” he says to himself. The farmer steadies his hand long around to aim his shotgun and get off a shot. It wasn’t worth it. The blast bounces off the figure, who turns and smiles at the poor old man. “You have chosen this day to die. And by my hand. What an honor for you.”
He moves closer towards the farmer. We cut to a wide shot of the farmlands, and a pained cry cuts through the quiet rural night.
Back to our Main Thread – The Machine Collective
Kismet and Nano trust their mentor, Grail, who leads them and Silver Sentry to a secure room in one of the Academy’s sub-basements. Grail has Sentry ensure no one can hear them and she lays out what she and Amaya discovered regarding the EOD. With the next graduating class, Headmaster Bell will have the grads involuntarily enrolled as part of this special task force. Bell and Maxwell have come to the conclusion that it’s time for the United States to stop trying to form alliances with the meta-humans in the USER (United Socialist European Republics). This militarized program is set to be the first of many across the country. They want the skies filled with heroes wearing the insignia of a new nation that will spread worldwide.
Kismet asks when and how this information should be spread to the rest of the school. Sentry explains that he will take control of the Academy and alert the rest of Forge City’s heroes. Kismet isn’t sure he likes the idea of Sentry overthrowing the headmaster. Bell is an asshole, but he’s still the one chosen to be in charge. A few days ago, Sentry and his lackeys attacked the school to try and get Nano to join with the Machine Collective (see issue 2). He makes his voice heard on this.
Silver Sentry Disposition: Unfriendly.
He grabs Kismet by the collar. “Listen here, kid. You haven’t seen what I have. There’s way more to the universe than you humans can comprehend. Machine life has been on this planet longer than you realize, and we have a right to protect our homes, too.”
Grail Disposition: Demanding.
“Put my student down,” she orders Sentry. “He’s still smarting from the bruises your Blayde gave him.”
Sentry does so. Kismet glares at the android.
“So what should we do next?” Nano asks. “Prepare for battle?”
Kismet wonders the same thing.
Oracle: Breach Tool
Grail explains that Headmaster Bell acquired some of the alien tech left over from the invasion. He’s been using it to enhance and heal himself. It’s on one of these three sub-basement floors. They need to find it and possibly sabotage it.
Swear an Iron Vow – Discover the Alien Tech Headmaster Bell Is Using (Troublesome) – [Strong Hit: 6 + 3 + 0 = 9 vs 6 | 3] – +2 Momentum
Kismet thinks they should review security footage to see where Bell will go when he’s down here. He saw some of the tech in the infirmary, but it was probably brought there after Bell was temporarily transformed back into Captain Quantum by Sentry.
Secure an Advantage w/Wits – [Weak Hit: 1 + 2 + 0 = 3 vs 1 | 10] – Add +1 to next Move
Nano is able to patch into the Academy security surveillance logs and project them holographically. The four gathered heroes watch as they see Bell activate a hidden panel, causing a door to appear in one of the hallways. He goes through it, and there seem to be no security cameras past that point.
[Mark Progress: Discover the Alien Tech Headmaster Bell Is Using :3 boxes]
They go to the spot in the hallway they saw on the security footage. Kismet helps search for the trigger without setting off an alarm.
Face Danger w/Wits – [Weak Hit: 6 + 2 + 1 = 9 vs 3 | 9] – -1 Supply
Kismet uses a scrambler node he’d been working on in shop class to shut down any security in the hall, and they open the hidden door without a single alarm.
Silver Sentry’s chestpiece lights up like a flashlight guiding the way down this neglected and forgotten old corridor.
Oracle: Fluctuating power levels
Kismet notices a pulsing hum of power, possibly siphoning energy off the Academy’s grid in a manner that wouldn’t be detected unless you were looking for it. He notices thick cables down this dark passage, bringing energy to some secret project of Bell’s.
Oracle: Automated Confinement
The corridor ends, opening into a large room, a workshop/laboratory based on the equipment spread out through it. The centerpiece of the chamber is a massive metallic cube that floats just slightly above the ground. It has all the markings of the same alien technology that was left on Earth after the failed invasion. Sentry is brave enough to step forward and touch it. He leaps backward with a shocked look on his face. “The devil?!” he exclaims.
Kismet is curious if he’s exclaiming or referring to the literal entity. For a brief moment, he remembers the video he saw on Tempus Wright’s datapad – a possible future where Kismet has been corrupted and formed an alliance with a group of cyborgs and robots. He glances at Sentry. Is this moment one of the seeds of that future? Is he following that path right now? Kismet can’t be sure, but he does know that Headmaster Bell must be stopped.
“That,” says Sentry, pointing at the cube, “Is a prison.” His mind is reeling, and Grail checks on him as he stumbles backward. Kismet is distracted by this and doesn’t notice Nano stepping forward. The young robot places her palm against the cube. Something activates. The sides of the cube begin to shift and stretch. The wall panel facing the gathered heroes slides away. Nano seems to be entranced by the light blasting forth from within. A heeled boot steps out of the glare and then reveals to all…Cortex.
(Cortex – the cybernetic villainess that plagued Exemplar throughout the Silver Generation, whether it be hatching a scheme solo or one of her numerous team-ups with Dorian Drax. She was last seen during the Forever Cataclysm incursion of 1999 and believed dead when her Arachnomech ship was blown to smithereens.)
“Well, hello, little one,” she says, softly touching Nano’s cheek. She looks up at Sentry, who is staggering back towards the corridor. “What’s wrong? Weren’t expecting this reunion?”
Tendrils launch from her arms, entangling Sentry, Grail, and Kismet, dragging them closer. Kismet struggles against them, trying to get free.
Face Danger w/Iron – Burn Momentum [Weak Hit: 1 + 2 + 0 = 9 vs 10 | 7] – Take -1 Health
Kismet struggles to get free and does. However, the tendrils slash across his back, leaving a bleeding wound. He stumbles forward and down the dimly lit corridor. Cortex looks at the entranced Nano and orders, “After him!”
Epilogue – Thread: Time Cop on Patrol
2080 AD – Epoch, the evil future Kismet, walks down a hallway overgrown with vines and moss, nature has clearly declared itself the victor here. At the end of the hall is Aiden Bell’s old secret laboratory. The prison cube sits in the center, locked up tight once again. Epoch stands before it and speaks:
“There was once a time when we could have been allies. You made the choices that put you here. I hope that fact is one you never forget, old friend. You have an eternity to change your mind.”
He goes back to where he came from. Inside the box, we see a robotic hand touching the wall Epoch stands on the other side of. It’s Nano, except there are decades of enhancements and upgrades causing her to look like a mishmash of scrapped bits. Her head remains the same. She quietly focuses on the wall, and we see a single movement of the alien gears that hold the prison together. She will break out of here, but it will take time.
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