Episode 3: Nightfall on the Asylum

Jack heads out to the Teach Academy and explores the grounds and house. He isn't given too much time to settle in, because Ormond tells him about another possible Super in Franklin. There were a number of suicides at the Providence Asylum following the Event. All told 8 suicides in 6 months.All of them had peaceful contact with another patient who claimed to be responsible for their deaths. Jack decides to head out an investigate, Ormond offers him a secret identity posing as a visiting psychologist from D.C.
He got there and met Dr. Fitzgerald, the director of the asylum, and they talked a bit about the patient Dirk Donovan. Donovan had been catatonic for fifteen years following the suicide of his mother (who apparantly left a note blaming him). But shortly after the Event, Donovan, woke up, and began to talk with other patients allegedly goading them into suicides. Dr. Fitzgerald said it was policy of the asylum to refuse play along with delusional patients. Also, despite his sinister words, they see this change as a real improvement. Afterall, he was entirely catatonic before.
Jack met the man and had a strange conversation with the clearly dangerous person. He claimed to 'occupy' the body of Donovan, but had little more than contept for him. He called himself "Nightfall." Instead he claimed to be the niggling voice that caused people to consider and carry out suicides, give in to their dispair, but now since the Event he had been embodied in this form. And while limited by the physical form, he was considerably more powerful and focused. He liked the asylum, surrounded by so much dispair and mania. So he had no reason to leave. He di dlike to get out and read the obituaries when he could. He called them "the funny papers." He suggested that Dr. Smithers, the psychiatrist working with him before (now on leave) would soon be giving into his dispair.
Jack tried to convince the Director that Donovan should be restrained and kept in solitary confinement, but was more worried about Dr. Smithers. He raced to the Chocowinty Bridge, thinking he might catch the man about to commit suicide, but was releaved to find him not there. He tracked him to his house, where he was clearly preparing to end things, his ligfe was packed away and he had taken a large dose of morphine. He was just about to leave, presumably heading for the bridge, when Jack stopped him and tried to 'talk him down.' Part way into the conversation, the voice of Donovan joined the discussion. Jack moved Smithers into the house and confronted Nightfall. With lightning speed Jack Flash pummeled the villain and had him stunned and staggered. But then, somehow, Nightfall was able to shake off the damage and threw the area into an unpenetratable darkness and silence. This made things more challenging for our hero. Using the cover of the darkness, Nightfall scoured Jack Flash with a flurry of blows that started to sap his confidence. Thinking fast, of course, Jack Flash spun rapidly with his fists balled making an dangerous defense. Nightfall withdrew and showed some surprise at Jack's abilities. He promised they would meet again. As his leapt across the street and began to leave. "See you in the funny papers."

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Episode 2: Herald of a New Age

The Heroes return to Freedom City to assess their situation, and continue to investigate the mysterious Event and the subsequent events as well..
The discover a strange text ad on the web for something called the Teach Academy, which promises to Analyze, Counsel, Treat and Train recipients of Event related Gifts. It offered possible answers, but remained a mystery as they had trouble tracking the elusive Academy down.
Their search was interupted by news reports of a mysterious person calling himself The Herald. This man, they discovered a former carpenter by the name of Harold Feinz, claimed to be an extraterrestrial who was awakened by the Event with a message of peace for the world. He assembled a small following of hopeful people and preached his message to whoever would listen, usually getting kicked out of the church, or classroom he decided to speak in.
But that day, he promised to lead his followers to the Teller Nuclear Power Plant, and demand that they shut the plant, and eventually all Nuclear Plants down as well.
Sure enough, he led a small band of protesters to the plant, and met an equal number of police and journalists.
The heroes showed up as well.
James had a brief conversation trying to scope out the man. He seemed to recognise something about him, but he wasn't sure. At one point, the Herald touched him on the shoulder, and he experienced a strange vision.
He was standing on a beach before a deep purple ocean. There was a large nude woman coming out of the sea.
He shook his head to clear his sight, and saw that it was not a woman but a huge serpent. He was armed with a bow and a mace, and felt a strange purpose.
Then as suddenly as it started, the vision was gone. And the Herald was walking away.

Later as the ultimatum drew closer, they encountered a strange large man away from the crowd smoking a pipe and watching the scene intently. James went to talk with him and discovered him to be Ted Ormond, a distant descendent of Mary Ormond, wife of Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard the Pirate. He is filthy rich (must be some buried treasure somewhere). They suspect that Ted Ormond is connected with the Teach Academy.
But before James can get much out of Ormond, a nervous guard at the gate decides to shoot at the Herald. Jack intervenes, and racing at breakneck speed intercedes and takes the bullet for the Herald. (Hero Point!)
The other guards take this as a sign to fire and unleash a flurry of bullets at the two. Jack took another hit, and the Herald took several, but they just bounced of him. James entered the fray and also took a number of hits, none of the bullets seemed to hurt him (James had donned a mask enroute to hide his identity). After quickly checking on Jack, the Herald leapt over the guard fence (100ft or so) and started marching toward the reactor. James followed him. Jack needed to recover from stun first.
The Herald and James walked towards the reactor, and Jack showed up. They briefly discussed the situation. The Herald tried to convince them, that this was the correct action to take, and that they were not subject to the laws of Man. They basically disagreed and the necessary fight ensued. The Herald had some good moves, and managed to bruise and trip James up, but not cause any serious damage. Jack ran back to the Riot Police van and grabbed some Tear Gas which he distributed around the entrance to the reactor. Sadly for him, he was not immune to Tear Gas, and the Herald was. As Jack struggled to fight off the tear gas, James took advantage of the cloud and slammed into the Herald, knocking him down and stunning him, his next blow was a critical hit and KO'd the Herald. Before he passed out, the Herald told James that "His Eye was in Sari-Tash."
They wrapped him in a heavy metal tube from a nearby picnic table, and fled the scene.
Back in Freedom City, they watched the ambivalent news reports, some calling them heroes, others terrorists, and others uncertain. They would need to prove themselves to people somehow.
They also called the Teach Academy and spoke with Ormond. He seemed to know something about what had happened and offered to help them. They readily agreed. But before they left for the Academy. A package of Dr. Heimholtz's things arrived. James, was suddenly grief stricken. The Event which gave him these amazing powers robbed Heimholtz of his life, and his life's work, the search for the mysterious Eye of Ea.
So he decided, that the Academy would be there when he got back, but for now he was headed to Sari-Tash, which he discovered much to his chagrin was in Kyrgystan. So it would be long tough journey.
Summerhal, suddenly on his own decided to through his lot with the Teach Academy, at least for now.

Episode 1: Burning Man!

Jack Summerhall returns to the St. Agnes Hospital to try to find out about Beau, his co-firefighter who apparantly went crazy. When he got there, he found high security surrounding the facility. He was forced to wait for some time, but eventually he was let in, and asked to stay a few days for some 'Tests' The doctors claimed to have found a 'tumor' in his head. Jack waited patiently, no one wants a tumor, for his tests. He noticed that the doctors who wanted to conduct the test were not the normal Air FOrce doctors, or traditional civilian staff, in one of their briefcases, he say a Cromwell Industries (Military Contractor) insignia.
After hours pass, an alarm goes off. Assuming it a fire alarm, Jack gets ready to make an orderly exit, but he is told to go back to his room, as it was a security alarm.

James Allen, half naked and soaked to the bone stops running, and returns to the hospital to check on the mysterious patient whose code he had written on the back of the business card Lt. Acorn gave him. He had to skirt security and work his way back through heightened security. As he enetered the same building he left through last time, he saw some indication that his exit was discovered, flags and tags showing a quick investigation. He didn't have long to ponder the situation as there was a huge explosion coming from the hospital. He ran to a window and spotted a massive burst of fire coming out of a ground floor door to the hospital. Claxons rang out and security troops ran to the scene. He used the cover of the confusion to try to waylay a pass guard and take his clothes. Sadly, that attempt was less than successful. Instead the SP (security police) fired on him with an M4 Carbine. The soldier scored several hits and James was stunned from the attack, but still standing.

Meanwhile, Jack heard the blast and raced down to the scene. As he looking into the burning building, he saw a man on fire run out. He thought about patting the fire out, but the man was clearly drneched in some firey material since the heat was unbearable. He tried to use a nearby fire extinguisher, but the CO2 was just being disipiated by the heat emanating from the man who somehow was still standing. The screams of the man were horrifying so Jack went into the hospital to find something to smother the flames with. While inside, he heard the cries of someone else, and took a deter to rescue a woman pinned under a burning timber. He brought her out to safety to find the Burning Man still standing and facing off with several SPs. The frightened SPs fired a salvo at the Burning Man. The bullets seemed to melt in the flames surrounding him. This only enraged him further and with an angry gesture the flames around him extended thirty feet and engulfed a helpless soldier.
James managed to take two SPs out of the fight by throwing one into the other. And there was a valiant attempt made to negotiate with the man, still manic and panicked from the flames around him. Jack ran to a nearby construction site to get something to use against the Burning Man, James continued to try to negotiate with him while calming the agitated soliders around them.

As the Burning Man turned to leave the area he blasted the hospital and a nearby HumVee. James tried to intercede one final time and this time the Burning Man unleashed his power on him. Somehow James was able to resist the flames without injury. By the Jack showed up with a heavy chain and he wrapped up the Burning Man rendering him helpless, but still on fire. James used the opportunity to punch the Burning Man, stunning him. Finally, Jack used his great speed to slam into the Burning Man and push him into a nearby fire hydrant.The water succeeded in dousing the flames of the Burning Man.

The heroes were strangely, not so out of place in the chaos that followed as patients, doctors and others began to evaculate the building. A short time later, troops and a helicoptor arrived, they knowingly used counter measures against the wet man, and fire fighting at the hospital started in full. The characters noticed something unusual in the evacuation of the hospital. Most patients were moved to safety but left on the grounds, some seriously wounded were med-evac'd to other locations. But some, apparantly uninjured, but restrained and hidden, were snuck out in unmarked helicopters to parts unknown.

It was then they ran into Lt. Acorn who was trying to prevent them from taking one man, who turned out to be her brother. She urged the heroes to get away while they still could. There was some discussion of what they shoudl do. She suggested that there was some kind of conspiracy going on, and that Jack's alleged 'Tumor' was probably just an excuse to keep him there for study. They did have a bit of luck, in the Burning Man's initial escape, he set fire to the room where most of the records were kept. So, it is possible that their identities might be preserved.

The two heros agreed to leave the scene by Taxi. James called a producer friend of his, Tom McGin, to find a place to lay low. They ended up in Bath, a nearby town, in a vacation home. The next day, a package from McGinn with clothes, credit cards and a phone. They spent the next day researching what they could about conspiracies in the government. Their search was too fruitful. There are hundreds of websties dedicated the conspiracy. Sifted through the bull will be a challenge in itself.

For now, they are safe, and ready to prepare for the next stage of their new lives.