Issue # 5

The heroes dispersed after VIPER’s successful operations on the highway and at Tanghal Tower. Firebrand regretfully explained that he would be unreachable for at least a week due to pressing business in his hometown of Chicago. With that, he took off into the night. Frustrated at being outmaneuvered by Cheshire Cat, Nightshift blinked home to down a few drinks before settling into a frenzied teleportation practice session. Sparrow Hawk headed home to get some rest before school the next day, while Apex considered hitting the docks in the guise of his alternate identity, Aquas, as a means of drawing VIPER’s attention. Rampart and Troyus remained behind to clean up VIPER’s mess and search for further clues.

Before the heroes could fully settle into their plans for the night, however, they received a radio communication from Crusader, who left Tanghal Tower before them. Major Juan Martinez of UNTIL, he explained, had just contacted him with potentially dire news. Forty-five minutes earlier, at approximately the same time that VIPER attacked Tanghal Tower and sprung Ogre from the SAT convoy, the computer systems at UNTIL’s New York headquarters had gone haywire. Due to this major systems failure, UNTIL had been in the dark about VIPER’s actions that night. Of perhaps more immediate concern, however, was the fact that UNTIL lost contact with agents that they had monitoring the Long Island home of Troyus’ friend and employer, Joe Roberts, and his family.

Fearing the worse, the heroes sped to the scene. Nightshift arrived first to find a fire truck, two police cars, and an ambulance parked outside the Roberts’ home. The police officers kept neighbors away from the scene, while the rescue workers pulled bodies from the home in gurneys. Nightshift teleported into the first responders’ midst, who explained that that Joe Roberts, his wife and their six-year-old granddaughter were at home when, according to neighbors, a strange smoke began to billow from within the house. The family was alive and stable, but unresponsive – probably the victims of some undetermined toxin. Nightshift thanked the officers for the info and then moved into the house to investigate as the ambulance sped away from the scene, followed by the fire truck. After a few minutes, Nightshift discovered a broken window pane in an upstairs bedroom, and found a gas canister on the floor. Based on the position of the canister, he was able to figure out the angle of entry and settled his gaze on a house across the street and diagonally situated in relation to the Roberts’ home. Teleporting to the rooftop of that house, Nightshift snuck into the second story master bedroom and found a grizzly scene. One man hung from a ceiling fan, with his throat cut. Another slumped against the wall, with bullet holes in his chest. On the mirror in adjoining bathroom was written a message in lipstick: “Good guys = 0. Bad guys = 1. Death Commando.”

Troyus and Rampart arrived on the scene just as Nightshift made his discovery. As he approached, Troyus saw Molierre, a recently hired mechanic at Joe’s shop, observing the police officers at the Roberts home from a hidden location across the street. He held a pistol in his hand. Surprising Molierre, Troyus asked him what he was doing at the scene. Molierre explained that he was an UNTIL agent, who had been keeping tabs on Troyus and his friends. Having been in the area at the time that UNTIL lost contact with their team at the Roberts’ home, he decided to investigate. He feared he was too late. The two watched as Rampart approached the police officers, only to have them dismissively get in their cars and drive away from the crime scene. Alamred by this strange behavior, Molierre exclaimed that these were not police officers. With that, Troyus and Rampart moved to attack. They easily captured the police officers, who turned out to be undercover VIPER agents.

Alarmed by this development, Nightshift teleported away from the murder scene, desperately trying to spot the rescue vehicles that had left the scene minutes earlier. In this he was joined by Apex, who had earlier determined to meet the ambulance on its way to the local hospital. They found both vehicles abandoned on the side of the road, about a mile from the Roberts’ home. Based on skid marks near the rescue vehicles, Nightshift surmised that VIPER had transferred their captives to other vehicles to evade detection. Frustrated by this turn of events, the heroes decided to take the captured VIPER agents to Martinez, rather than have New York’s finest take them into custody. With that, they sped to UNTIL HQ.

Arriving there they met up with Crusader and Sparrow Hawk. Too far away from the Roberts’ home to make themselves useful at that scene, the two had gone to UNTIL HQ instead. Martinez explained that someone had introduced an aggressive and intelligent virus into their computer systems. Not only did the virus crash systems and corrupt files, but it had seized control of the base’s operations, locking blast doors, jamming all outgoing communications, turning the base’s security systems against UNTIL personnel, and otherwise causing mayhem. The device responsible for introducing the virus was discovered – a strange crystalline spike that someone had jammed into an UNTIL computer. Weeks earlier, Sparrow Hawk had found a similar spike while sifting through the debris left behind by Ogre break-out from Mechanon’s hidden lab at Glass Industries.

Gathering with all the heroes in a conference room, Major Martinez proceeded to debrief them. He began by addressing Troyus. After expressing his condolences for Troyus’ loss, he explained why UNTIL had been monitoring his affairs. Troyus’ public persona, which was established as a consequence of his very public fight with Ogre and Mechanon a few months back, immediately raised flags for Martinez. Martinez recognized that Troyus’ public identity posed a threat to those around him, and that his associations and friendships could be turned to the advantage of VIPER and other nefarious forces. Martinez, however, was also cautious about approaching Troyus. Not only was the young hero an unknown entity, but he openly displayed an emblem very similar to that of a criminal organization called Raven. Uncertain as to Troyus’ motivations and affiliations, he decided to investigate before taking more direct action. He therefore had Molierre infiltrate Troyus’ workplace, and set a couple of agents to monitor the Roberts home as Troyus forged a closer bond with the family. He also explained to Troyus that he had drawn the attention of more than UNTIL and VIPER. The murdered men discovered by Nightshift that night, he explained, were not UNTIL agents, but rather FBI agents. His own men were discovered murdered at their station a block away. When Troyus asked why VIPER had abducted Joe and his family, Martinez explained that “the snakes” were no doubt looking for some “insurance” or “leverage” against the heroes’ in the future. In that sense, Joe and his family were lucky, as they would only remain useful if alive.

Nightshift then asked Martinez if he knew anything about Death Commando. Martinez claimed that he was unfamiliar with the codename. He then grew visibly angry when Nightshift produced the canister discovered at the Roberts’ home. The sleep gas canister, he explained, was UNTIL issue. Nightshift then presented Martinez with the FBI surveillance tapes that he took from Death Commando’s murder scene. Martinez thanked him for the evidence. At Nightshift’s request, he called in Agent Evelyn Knight and asked her to make copies of the tapes for Nightshift. He also requested that she compile a list of all UNTIL agents that were off base that night, in hopes of determining who might have deployed that canister.

Admitting his concerns over a VIPER spy within UNTIL’s ranks, he went on to explain that the night’s events would make it even more difficult for him to lend support to the heroes in the weeks to come. It was bad enough that the Reagan administration was, for ideological reasons, taking a hard-line approach to UNTIL operating within the United States, but a conversation he had just finished with his counterpart at SAT suggested that the incident with Ogre would grant that position even more legitimacy. If the accusations were true, the containment unit that was supposed to keep Ogre sedated during his transport was also sabotaged. Depending on how it was spun to the public, this would make UNTIL seem incompetent and even dangerous to American citizens. Martinez then asked if the heroes had any information for him. Sparrow Hawk, who had been able to inspect Ogre’s containment device after the battle on the freeway, confirmed that it had been sabotaged.

Martinez concluded the meeting with a short history lesson and an appeal to the heroes. UNTIL, he explained, had been fighting VIPER since the 1950s. This was, perhaps, the most aggressive, most well organized, most powerful “nest” he had ever encountered. He was particularly alarmed by the number of super-powered operatives VIPER had in play. Although VIPER had always hired the occasional super-powered mercenary, this seemed more like a small (but growing) army of permanent operatives. Crusader then interrupted Martinez to offer his two cents. He expressed his concern over VIPER’s reach. Not only did they have a well-oiled army of agents and super-powered operatives, but this particular “nest” had infiltrated the city’s infrastructure to an alarming degree. With the exception of the Spumoni family, who continued to hold out, VIPER had absolute control over the city’s criminal infrastructure. He also suspected that they had an undetermined degree of influence over the city’s official infrastructure. He believed that VIPER had engineered the premature demolition of Tanghal Tower in order to get at whatever lay in the cornerstone. He also suspected that they had influence in other aspects of city government, possibly as an extension of the Carelli family’s already sizable reach. With UNTIL and Glass Industries compromised, there was no telling how extensive their influence was. One question remained: what were they after? Martinez replied that in the end VIPER was crassly interested in power and money, and that this operation would boil down to the same. He also sniffed something more personal here – perhaps the settling of countless old scores that had accrued over UNTIL and VIPER’s long rivalry. In the end, it was too early to tell what was going on. Martinez, however, was certain of one thing – that the heroes were now involved in something far greater than any one of them could handle alone. With all due respect, he observed that the heroes had been reactive rather than proactive. He recognized that all of them, including Crusader and Starburst (who had not responded to the current emergency, probably due to his severe injuries), were used to operating as loners. VIPER knew this and was using it to their advantage. With the Minutemen gone, there was no proactive, collaborative force to oppose VIPER’s current operation. Martinez, therefore, suggested that the heroes might want to change their mode of operation and confront VIPER more teamwork and intentionality. He concluded by offering UNTIL’s support to the degree that they were able to offer it. In response, the heroes gave Martinez their communications frequencies so that UNTIL could contact them directly. Martinez provided the heroes with the same. With that, Martinez excused himself and went back to work.

Most of the heroes went to their respective homes at that point. Moliere caught up with Troyus before he left, offering his condolences and his support. Troyus expressed anger at the current situation, explaining that this was not the first time he had experienced the loss of someone he cared about. The first loss was purposely engineered to teach him a lesson, and perhaps one that he should have learned – to not get too attached to anybody. Moliere expressed concern over this, sharing his belief that attachment to others was important, and suggesting that Troyus need just be careful of how he structures such relationships. He asserted that Joe was no fool – that he was aware of the dangers inherent in associating with Troyus, but that the condition of his mutant granddaughter, Sophie, and his own family’s history with the holocaust had convinced the old man that the risk was worth taking if it meant channeling Troyus’ talents towards more productive ends. He tried to comfort Troyus, reminding him that the fate of Joe and his family was yet to be determined, and offering to listen if he needed someone to talk to.

Crusader similarly approached Sparrow Hawk. Addressing her as “pretty bird,” he shared his observations about her demeanor when dealing with all matters related to VIPER. He could tell that this was a personal for her, and suspected that her intensity stemmed from profound loss. He recognized this because years previous he too had suffered deeply at the hands of VIPER, and that he was similarly driven. Nevertheless, he hated to see someone so young consumed by so much hatred, and he gently suggested that she maintain some balance in her life. Sparrow Hawk was typically unresponsive to his attempts to connect with her, so he excused himself for the night. Shortly thereafter, Sparrow Hawk also went home, finally drawing an eventful night to a close.

Experience Points Earned: 2