Each weekend, the players assembled to play what has been designated as an episode. Each week, a recap of the most recent episode’s happenings was posted to allow those who have been missing for many or few episodes to get a feel for what they have missed.
Date: February 6, 2016
Attendance: James B., James D., Jason, Jennifer, Leigh
Summary: While Marvel has invested a great deal of money in its comic book series about Earth-616, while Marvel movies and television deal with superheroes in Earth-199999, Earth-200000 (shortened to Earth-CC) shows striking similarities to the silver screen version of its reality, with one big exception: the player characters. On the night before Super Bowl 50 (the Cowboys vs. the Texans), many of the PCs found their way to the Houston Zoo as party invitees or curiosity seekers, to see the main exhibit from the adventures of Ulysses Bloodstone: a captured bilgesnipe. Captain Lucky was hired to be on-hand for entertainment during the main event, and even provided transportation for another fellow meta-human (Lazarus) even though he was in disguise. Eclypse chose to hide away at the zoo until most of the daytime visitors left, while Gaia retained the guise of a paramedic, who was hired to provide medical assistance to the celebration. On the other hand, new Agent Julian Armand (Toy Maker) of S.H.I.E.L.D. was assigned to hunt down a suspicious group of credit card thieves who seemed to rob the rich in record amount of times. As fate would have it, all five extraordinary characters sensed various forms of radiation and communication happening over the park. The action started when Radioactive Man appeared (in human guise), attempting to hypnotize the crowd using photo-voltaic bursts. Eclypse and Captain Lucky moved quickly subdue him only to realize he was not alone. Other adversaries appeared in civilian form: Fixer, Beetle, Scorpion, and Mentallo. Eclypse and Captain Lucky were able to quick deal with Radioactive Man, hitting him so hard that he landed in another part of the zoo area. Fixer gave Lazarus problems, attacking before he could raise a force field, but was dealt with by Gaia. Using his highly technical skills, Agent Armand hacked the neuro-response software in Scorpion’s tail, cause the mechanical appendage to subdue its owner. Eclypse was able to run interference for Lazarus, who used his powers of magnetism to destroy Beetle’s battlesuit. Mentallo was incapacitated when Armand’s A.I. piloted a S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjet to land on top of the get-away vehicle. A cloaked third-party launched mini-missiles at the containment unit of the bilgesnipe, attempting to release the creature on the heroes. As the launcher self-destructed, the PCs were able to work together to jerry-rig the containment device, keeping the creature sedated.
Combat: The PCs defeat a group of Altered Humans, Mutants, and Hi-Tech enemies (AKA Radioactive Man, Fixer, Beetle, Scorpion, and Mentallo), referring to themselves as Acumen Elite.
Date: February 13, 2016
Attendance: James B., James D., Jason, Jennifer, Jerry, Joe, Kelli, Leigh
Summary: The battle at the Houston Zoo pitting the heroes against Acumen Elite just ended with more questions than answers. The villains involved were moved unconsciously toward a main area, where each was neutralized to prevent their escape. COULSON, Agent Armand’s A.I., reported Mentallo was able to break free into the Houston sewer system, evading capture. Captain Lucky did interviews with the Press, having a particularly dynamic interview with reporters from WHIH. Nearby, but away from the Zoo, Timothy MacGregor abruptly awoke from a state of Terrigenesis, in which his 90-year-old body was rejuvenated into a 25-year-old form. Stunned by his transformation, he became overly concerned with the absence of his friend, Antonio, who seemed to have gone through a similar, but quite different conversion. Xander had recently arrived in Houston looking for any other survivors of the disaster at Sanctuary, and sensing the Terrigenesis energies, journeyed toward MacGregor’s gym to find the source. Realizing MacGregor had Kree bloodlines, Xander confronted MacGregor in the parking lot, attempting to explain his recent changes. Grace Kelly, after a rigorous session of yoga, became involved when a transformed Antonio (into the Armadillo) picked up the car next to her and tossed it randomly toward MacGregor. Striking MacGregor, it was quickly surmised his powers involved kinetic absorption, and in their own ways, all three PCs pursued Armadillo as he fled toward the Houston Zoo. The rest of the PCs remained at the Zoo processing the previous combat, and several were involved in subduing Armadillo. The rough evening passed with word of a bizarre death on the west side of the Zoo (witnesses say someone exploded in their car), along with a suspicious media blackout and spotty reporting (as per James’s request). Each of the eight PCs connected separately with various members, until Agent Armand assembled the group to work together. Discussions continued, and eventually a decision was made to interrogate various members of Acumen Elite. Scorpion provided the general framework of how things were supposed to go down, while Beetle proved difficult in giving different, spotty information. Radioactive Man proved the most useful, as he confessed his influence was what led Acumen Elite to Houston in the first place: to retrieve the Chitauri technology used by Bloodstone and supply it to an unknown benefactor.
Combat: Timothy MacGregor's friend, Antonio Rodriguez (AKA Armadillo), is subdued.
Date: February 20, 2016
Attendance: James B., James D., Jason, Jennifer, Joe, Leigh
Summary: John Black (James B.), CEO of WHIH Communications, wished to have more togetherness between this new assembled mass of meta-humans, and tasked his longtime assistant, Carlos Danger, to track each down in order to meet and organize. Carlos did a great job of finding the PCs that were involved in the combat at the Houston Zoo, even finding a couple powered individuals who happened to be in the area but did not participate, as well. A meeting was held on the top floor of the Magnolia Building where most of the party was able to see each other face to face, and talk about organizing their resources. Everyone agreed to work together, but no long term plans were made to organize themselves. After unknown two meta-humans left the scene, Agent Armand arrived to let the group know he could pull strings within S.H.I.E.L.D. to help use resources not available to the public. Everyone did a group nod, then went their separate ways, doing their own sleuthing of various situations involving their characters, but agreeing to help Armand with the drop-off of the Chitauri power core. Making preparations to capture whomever was the pick-up person, the group clandestinely surrounded the San Jacinto Monument, as evening crept in. Disguised as Radioactive Man, Armand met with a gentleman named Erik at the top of the monument, and the case was handed over, while it appeared most of the visitors in the tower were being manipulated in some way. As Erik departed, each of the visitors walked aimlessly into the surrounding area, putting themselves in danger, whom the heroes had to rescue. Eventually Erik was pursued and captured outside of New Orleans, after stealing a tanker truck while trying to evade capture. Interrogation revealed his communication with a third-party who ordered him not to reveal anything and concede apprehension. Transmissions to Erik’s subdermal ear piece allowed the party to track the signal across the globe to a Russian sub in international waters, which the party summarily forced to surface using Lazarus’s magnetic control. Onboard, one of the crew was found to be a patsy as a non-tech break-point to prevent signals to be tracked completely. Conflict brewed back in New Orleans when Xander bullied S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, with Armand and others teleported across the globe, nearly freeing Erik from his containment shackles, leading to a fracas when all parties returned.
Combat: There is plenty of cloak-and-dagger, and there is posturing on both sides, but combat is boils down to stopping an escape attempt.
Date: February 27, 2016
Attendance: James B., James D., Jason, Jennifer, Leigh
Summary: After the international conflict the party had generated, the heroes took a step back to assess what they knew of the ongoing conspiracy involving the events of M1-M3. Life was interrupted when Sub-Director Hill ordered Agent Armand to Oregon to investigate the possibility of a crashed alien starship. Looking to use the meta-human assets on hand, Armand, Eclypse, and Gaia (even Texas Twister) teleported to the central Willamette Forest quickly finding the alien craft, but unable to investigate due to the excess theta radiation in the crash zone. A scan of the area revealed no life signs on the ship, but visual evidence and local news reports indicated several deaths from civilians. After scoping out the park for some time, it was uncovered the ship’s crash left a 45-mile swath of destruction 2 miles wide, with most of the remaining civilians attempting to flee the area, thus hampering fire and responders from doing their jobs. Some of the PCs were sent into town to obtain supplies to mitigate the effects of the radiation while Armand stayed behind to monitor the situation. While staking out the area from above, Agents Quartermain and Vaughn indicated a questionable sighting of Iron Man, but communications with the hero were not successful. Eclypse encountered two vans with agents from the NTSB (later proven false) who tried to enter the restricted zone placed by S.H.I.E.L.D. Soon after, an invisible entity arrived at the crash site, entering the cockpit of the alien craft, shutting down the engines, allowing for the radiation to slowly dissipate. When Armand moved to engage him, the figure quickly fled the area carrying with it some part of the crashed cockpit. While Armand contended with the entity and Texas Twister helped discourage curiosity seekers, Ecylpse found the two vans abandoned, but found another use in procuring the medical equipment in the vans to help Gaia allay the radiation sickness. While “cooking” a solution, she encountered the alien pilot suffering from injuries. Whereas Eclypse and Gaia tended to the pilot, the duo was ambushed by six meta-human operatives (from the vans) and combat ensued. Eclypse was able to teleport the alien pilot away, but Gaia was knocked out. Armand was able to show up near the end of the battle, and eventually the enemy operatives were subdued. As the alien ship’s logs were analyzed, the cargo indicated there were three(?) aliens(?) onboard before the crash.
Combat: The PCs overcome a group of altered humans (AKA Anaconda, Black Mamba, Black Racer, Bushmaster, Coachwhip, Death Adder, and Sidewinder) who had their own plans for the downed alien ship.
Date: March 5, 2016
Attendance: James B., James D., Jason, Jennifer, Jerry, Kelli, Leigh
Summary: Having teleported the squad of enemy operatives into cells at the FBI detention center in Houston, the PCs continued to comb through the Willamette National Forest for remains of the crashed alien spacecraft. With their Quinjet still transporting the alien pilot east to the Sandbox, the team looked for opportunities to secure the area and find a means to reduce the ambient radiation which was affecting the humans and wildlife. Meanwhile, back in Houston, trying to reassemble their normal lives before meta-humans arrived on the scene, Grace and MacGregor were able to assist the police in subduing a high-tech miscreant (the Melter) during a brazen midday robbery. Both received a further taste of combat, and MacGregor gained a greater understanding about how much energy he could absorb (and how much Grace could not). Catching the battle from the cameras of WHIH newsfeed, Agent Armand and Eclypse realized their situation could use additional help, so the PCs and the alien spacecraft were teleported from the forest to an abandoned airfield 15 miles west of Eugene, OR. MacGregor’s attempts at absorbing ambient radiation from the anti-matter engines were unsuccessful, although he was able to gain a significant amount of strength. The group along with two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents worked to determine what exactly happened to the spacecraft, using powers and talents to piece together the following sequence of events: the pilot and lone passenger dropped out of hyperspace to investigate a space-time anomaly, the anomaly was brought onboard the spacecraft, the anomaly was ejected from the spacecraft later physically attacking the spaceship then fleeing, a third party in space attacked the spacecraft compounding the damage and causing the crash. Needing transportation but with their Quinjet on the east coast, a mysterious older model Quinjet arrived to transport the party back to the forest to search for the passenger. Armand broke a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D. protocols kidnapping the pilot away from the Sandbox after encounters with additional Nova Corpsmen prompted the need to return the pilot to his people. After being clued in by an outside source, combat ensued when the Nova passenger was found in a remote cabin, in a mentally unstable condition, agitated by the appearance of Eclypse. The pilot and passenger were returned to the Nova Corpsmen, while Armand turned himself over for arrest.
Combat: Grace and MacGregor take down the Melter during a brazen midday robbery. Later, the party subdued an agitated Nova Corpsmen.
Date: March 12, 2016
Attendance: James B., James D., Jason, Jennifer, Leigh
Summary: John Black met with Jonas Hale, a representative of Roxxon Energy, encouraging the president of WHIH to help promote a more positive image of Roxxon in an upcoming news stories for reasons unknown. The meeting was brief with Black neither agreeing nor disagreeing to get onboard with what Roxxon wanted. Captain Luck and her assistant, Miley Cyrus (no, not that one), continued with a media campaign to increase her publicity. Along the way, a connection was made between an overly aggressive fan named Douglas Carmody and excessive amounts of drying human saliva found in her living spaces. Attempts to track him down found very little. Eclypse continued to track on possible meta-humans in the Houston area and beyond, but was unable to find any new leads. Agent Armand remained in a holding cell within S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Playground facility, somewhere in Massachusetts. After being reprimanded by Commander Hill to a near-future of working on basement projects for his breaking over a dozen agency protocols, Armand chose to resign from the agency which had been his home for so long. After contacting Eclypse to transport him to New York City, Armand made contact with Anthony Vento and his associates. Vento explained he represented a secret organization called Cogent and felt it was time to make its profile more public, in a world where disasters in places such as NYC, Washington DC, and Sokovia have become more common place. Cogent was formed as a non-governmental branch of ECHELON, a Cold War spy agency among English speaking countries. Eclypse was able to connect with Dr. Joseph Ledger who controlled light in a similar way that Eclypse controlled darkness, with some differences. After the meeting, Armand was outfitted with another suit of armor as his was left behind at the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. Other party members were clued in on the new opportunities with Cogent, when the microwave signal burst Armand infected with a tracking virus, indicated communication with a recipient in Moscow. After teleporting to Russia, the group investigated an abandoned Soviet-era military complex, finding an underground based inhabited by a meta-human with intangibility powers, along with his three trained “super apes”. A battle ensued with the PCs winning out, also hacking the base computer for any information. The biggest find was inside a security vault: encased in a block of Vibranium was Ultron’s head.
Combat: Members of Cogent defeated Russian scientist and criminal Ivan Kragoff and his three enhanced primates.
Date: April 2, 2016
Attendance: James B., James D., Jason, Jennifer, Jerry, Leigh
Summary: With the combat just ended, the members of Cogent began to investigate the underground bunker of the Red Ghost. Toymaker (former Agent Armand) hacked into the mainframe of the complex attempting to acquire any information on the Red Ghost’s connection with any other of the adversaries the party has run into. After regaining consciousness, Red Ghost apparently stalled for time, offering to make a deal if the party let him go, while hoping some sort of cavalry would come to his rescue. Eclypse and MacGregor breached a Soviet-style underground vault, finding Ultron drone remains from the battle of Sokovia, which were teleported back to United States. Soon enough, a QRT arrived at the base, allowing the Titanic Three to arrive on the scene. The party teleported back to Houston, with some splitting up to head over to Albany and Toymaker’s recently acquired Hammer manufacturing center. Upon returning to Houston, Lazarus and Captain Luck were informed of the death of the new TMI reporter while covering the appearance of Thor in Chicago. Lazarus also learned of a potential stalker looking to make a connection with his alter ego. The mysterious figure turned out to be Shando Blades, a reality TV star looking to turn supernatural bodyguard. Captain Luck had Miley further look into her own stalker, finding out how the stains in her hotel room occurred and verifying who the suspect was behind the occurrence. Looking to quickly solve his employee’s murder, the team traveled to Chicago to investigate the crime, centering on the University of Chicago. Video surveillance turned up the murderer to be Thor (or someone who looked like him), and evidence also indicated he was involved in the kidnapping of a university professor named Dr. Karl E. H. Siegfried. As more of a case was being made to debunk Thor’s actual presence, more evidence directed the party to suspect Siegfried of not being as he appeared. When it was found Siegfried and “Thor” were making trips to obtain lost artifacts from undiscovered sites, the Cogent agents planned an ambush for the two in order to get the facts straight. Complicating the matter was the arrival of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, corroborating the facts that “Thor” was not the real deal. Encountering the impostor led to a monumental battle between “Thor” and the party. In the end, the entity was defeated, allowing the PCs to find he was a rebuild of the Destroyer, cloaked in Thor’s DNA, codenamed Ragnarök.
Combat: Cogent avoided combat with a power-armor clad Russian Quick Response Team, but the party encountered a Thor clone which they defeated.
Date: April 9, 2016
Attendance: James B., James D., Jason, Jennifer, Kelli, Leigh
Summary: With Ragnarök destroyed, Cogent dealt with the aftermath of pointing blame. Agents Vaughn and Quartermain both insisted the remains belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D., as the cyborg was created out of remnants of the Destroyer, which was their property. The party argued otherwise pointing out a lack of responsibility, indicating Cogent could handle the remains more effectively. There was plenty of harsh talk, but in the end Eclypse teleported the remains away, much to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s displeasure. Onto the next fracas was how to deal with Dr. Siegfried. After a short interrogation, Siegfried admitted to being an Asgardian who took advantage of a confused “Thor”, in order to raid forgotten historical sites for their lost treasures. Arguments were made about culpability and responsibility, as well as if it was understood that Ragnarök lacked the morality that Thor holds. Wanting further information, Grace made skin contact to check the memories of Siegfried, only to find he had lived several thousand years on Earth after escaping an Asgard prison. His life consisted of working on both sides of the law, as a mercenary, performing many good deeds, but wicked deeds as well; at one point, Grace felt pity on him. Unsure what to do with him, Eclypse teleported him to a deserted island in the Pacific (no, not the one with the apes), until further notice. Going over past notes, the party was able to track down the IP address which pinged the Red Ghost’s computer to the Center of Achievement spa, north of San Francisco, run by a psychologist named Dr. Basil Sandhurst. The party infiltrated the facility in disguise, locating a secret room filled with Chitauri technology maintaining a mental hold over the visitors to the spa; Eclypse made a successful save to avoid being mind-controlled as well. Further access to the system seemed to indicate another IP connection with a name on a HYDRA watchlist in New York: Dr. Thomas Brody, a Ph.D. in gamma radiation. It appears his computer was being used to transmit messages. Concerned more victims were being controlled, the party tracked Sandhurst’s cell phone to a Houston residential area. Observing the area, Cogent quickly realized it was the home of the leader of BroForce, leading the party to believe they had come under the sway of Sandhurst (aka The Controller). The party and Shadow Tiger ambushed the mind-controlled foes, and were able to defeat the Controller and the mesmerized BroForce.
Combat: Superheroes vs. (controlled) superheroes in north-Houston residential area resulted in Cogent triumphing over BroForce.
Date: April 16, 2016
Attendance: James B., James D., Kelli, Leigh
Summary: With the combat just finished, Cogent quickly assessed the situation, finding even with the Controller left unconscious, members of BroForce appeared to be in a paused state. Lazarus disabled the cybernetics system within the Controller’s suit, preventing him from causing any further issues, while Eclypse acquired a pod to ship both the Controller and BroForce to the Baxter Building in New York City, along with the rest of the party, much to the chagrin of Dr. Ledger. Since Armand was unavailable to access information, Anthony Vento provided a tablet with a portable instance of Absynthe to assist the party in dealing with technical issues. Vento addressed the party, charging them to accomplish several goals: shut down the Dr. Sandhurst’s mind controller operations in San Francisco and track down the connection with Dr. Thomas Brody. Noticing a newsfeed of “Costa Verde Under Siege”, Captain Luck and Eclypse teleported to the tropical isle to find an American meta-human had been causing all sorts of trouble, creating friction between groups of unsavory locals and the democratic government. Unable to find their suspect, the groups teleported back to San Francisco and was able to sever the psychic connection between the Controller and his mind slaves, by disabling the Chitauri technology acting as a proxy. Locating Dr. Brody, the PCs teleported the Chitauri tech to the Baxter Building, then teleported over the Brody’s residence in Virginia, accessing his mainframe. Absynthe found a government satellite purposed for detecting gamma radiation from the sun, was scanning the Earth in central Nevada, looking for “Mr. Green”. Using her detective skills, Grace with Absynthe’s help was able to determine the name Conrad Avgonakis (the associate of the Red Ghost) was actually named Elihas Starr, who, owning property in New York, recently freed suspect Erik Josten was witnessed (via bank atm camera) to have accessed. The party teleported to the area, then into the basement of the building, cutting the power & backups. Starr was taken down via ambush, but not before activating a gas distribution system, which the party later found turned normal humans into raving psychopaths; Lazarus saved the day. Dr. Sofen (as Moonstone) phased and attacked the party, but was quickly taken out. Josten leaped from the three story building turning into a 60-foot Goliath. Grace absorbed his power to defeat him, but lost her clothes in the process.
Combat: In a wide-ranging battle, Cogent took our Elihas Starr, Erik Josten, and Dr. Karla Sofen (AKA Egghead, Goliath, and Moonstone).
Date: May 7, 2016
Attendance: James B., James D., Jason, Jennifer, Leigh
Summary: With the combat outside of Egghead’s NYC base just finished, Cogent worked to clean up the loose ends and move forward on the goals Mr. Vento tasked for them to complete. Egghead, Goliath, and Moonstone were sent away via QuinJet to a military facility for holding, and Absynthe was able to locate a warehouse in New Jersey connected to Egghead and the Controller. The PCs investigated the warehouse to find illegal Chitauri technology in storage, having been picked through to create the mind-controlling technology found in California. Eclypse teleported the materials to the Hammer Industries base for storage, leaving Absynthe a chance to sort things out. Popping around the country, the remainder of the Bliss Spa locations were dismantled to prevent anyone from being further controlled. Trying to close up another loose end, the party teleported to Costa Verde to deal with the Living Laser. Carlos Danger was found to be the connection to the rebel uprising (everyone needs a hobby), and his connections were used to help lure the Dr. Parks into a trap. Two concave turning mirrors were mounted inside of a titanium sphere, which trapped the Living Laser as he sought to receive the title of “presidente” of Costa Verde, which was to be given during a parade celebration. The sphere was teleported into orbit to remove any further issues. The party used the records gained from Dr. Brody to pinpoint the possible location of the Leader’s base in Nevada. After combing through records, the group determined a possible location at a military base which was abandoned before being opened, named Camp Phillips. Follow-up interrogations with Egghead revealed the Leader desired to use Ultron’s head as a means to enhance his intellect in order to launch the military’s nuclear missiles in the western half of the United States, calibrating them with a gamma charge. Hoping to use subterfuge to gain access, the PCs arrived as brokers for Ultron’s head, after having an altercation with Egghead. The site was easily accessed, and an updated Iron Monger suit greeted the party with cash. Combat soon broke out with the PCs easily defeating Iron Monger, as well as the Abomination who was close behind. An industrial elevator led to lower levels with the Leader and dozens of patients being treated for gamma radiation sickness. The Leader willing surrendered under his terms using the patients as collateral to get the deal that he wished for. However, the last words the heroes heard over their communication-links from Anthony Vento at Cogent headquarters was of an altercation at meta-human battle transpiring at Leipzig/Halle Airport with the Avengers fighting each other.
Combat: Through several combats, Cogent defeated Arthur Parks, Emil Blonsky, power-armor piloting Michael O'Brien, and Samuel Sterns (AKA The Living Laser, The Abomination, Iron Monger, and the Leader).