Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Episode 29 - Fish Wrap

William Thompson tried in vain to respond to the emergency calls. He was half in his suit, when he stumbled in his drunken stupor and fell to the floor, bloodying his nose in the process. Through the tears, and blood he spotted a virtual button in his head piece to activate the 'auto-pilot' Cedallion. He did. The mechanical voice offered to assist him and then 'heal' his drunkenness. An extremely pleasurable feeling went through his veins, and he was soon sober and ready for action. He checks the messages, and flew to the cruise ship's location.

Meanwhile. Mystery Man had traced a series of high capacity power cables from the ship's power plant to the cargo hold. He had to climb a deck to investigate. He turned invisible and started toward the hold with impunity, noticing some unconscious guards, with fishlike gills on their necks.

Banshee had since disguised herself to resemble an older person and was hanging out with the crowd of volunteers keeping an eye on the half dozen sailors and their automatic weapons.

The fight in the observation deck ended and Tiamat transformed into a half-dragon form and approached Marduk, who grudgingly let her. She mumbled something about wanting something from the Warrior God, and raked her claws across his chest drawing a thin line of blood. Then she held her hands out as though clutching a book and 'read' aloud from what she called 'The Tablet of Fate.' This had little affect on Dragon Fly, but the result was powerful on Marduk. She called him to her rightful place by her side, and he willingly stood besides her. Dragon Fly tried in vain to rouse him from her thrall, but in the end decided to head out and try to catch up with Jack Flash.

Jack Flash moved for the hold, but was stopped by that persistent menace, the locked door. Before he could come up with an alternative method, a voice came out of nowhere. The Mystery Man appeared next to Jack Flash and offered to help. Quickly they warped into the cargo hold, and Jack Flash made quick work of most of the Fish Men inside. The two worked together to take out the last one, and then Mystery Man set about disconnecting the stone dais from the power lines. Jack decided to take out the bound Torrent while he could, and he began to pummel the girl with his rapid fire fists. After his first blows she was able to signal Tiamat about what was happening, and Tiamat again reminded the Immortals of her hostages. Deciding that she probably wouldn't kill them immediately Jack decided it was worth the risk and continue to attack Torrent. Tiamat gave the order to shoot the hostages.

Torrent shook off her stun and slipped free from her bounds, she rose to her feet and with a gesture filled the room with water. This caught the men off guard. They struggled to swim in the churning hold. Mystery Man created a portal to channel the water out of the hold, and possibly catch Torrent, but the Water Elemental was able to elude that attack.

Up in the Dining Room, Banshee spotted the henchmen take the safeties off their weapons and turn them on the crowd. Acting quickly she rose from the crowd and blasted one group with a sonic wave. Then using the distraction from that she howled at the other sending all six to unconsciousness, and saving the hostages. So far luck was on the team's side. Dragon Fly showed up moments later, and the two of them headed down to the hold. At that moment Hephaestus showed up as well, and contacting Jack Flash made his way to the hold.

A battle royal ensued. At first the fish forces had the Immortals and allies on the ropes. Mystery Man was poisoned by the Cuttlefish, Banshee was stunned by Torrent, Hephaestus was occupied by the Crustacean, and the rest battled together in the center of the ship. Then Jack Flash used his machine gun like fists to pummel away at the rocky slab and managed to turn a good third of into dust, and leave the rest a pile of rubble. This seemed to turn the tide. Mystery Man recovered from the poison long enough to administer some drugs to removed his staggered condition. Banshee healed Jack Flash of his poison. And one by one the Fish Force was taken out. Eventually, only Cuttle Fish remained and she quickly escaped into the sea.

The team tracked down Marduk by his GPS and found him on the bow of the ship protecting Tiamat. She admitted defeat, but told the Immortals that she would be leaving with her team, and she didn't want a further fight. The team was dubious, but she had one last ace up her sleeve.
"You might not have cared about a bunch strangers Jack, but there are two people who'd like to talk to you."
She tuned in the comm-link connecting Jack to his parents.
Jack Flash is not one to negotiate. But, with the lives of his parents on the line, this one time, he gave in, and stood down.
Tiamta bade Marduk come with her, but he hesitated. She transformed into a full sized Dragon and commended it. This left him, and Jack shaken as the others resisted the fearful effect. That was enough to shake Marduk free of her Thrall, and he thought he might trick her into bringing him along. But, she noticed his change of demeanor, and left the scene, pausing only to remove her allies from the the hold.

The team saved the Thetis from a water doom, prevented Tiamat from enslaving/transforming/recruiting a couple hundred minions, and rescued Jack's parents. All in all a good day.

Jack Flash invited Mystery Man and Banshee to join them back at the Academy, and meet Ormand.

Next adventure everyone should be at 170 pts.

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