Vanguard: Issue 82: Fallout, Fissures and Factions!

Africa. Night. The volcanic island.

Vanguard reacted to Inhuman’s startling confession! (see last ish! –Ye Ed)

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Symbiote:
Assuming nobody else jumps forward at this, Hal looks out the window at the exploding volcano. "I don't know Carl, looks pretty hot down there and the team is pretty beat. I think we may need to look at Snow Leopard as one that got away. She's not the only one on this mission, I assure you. Unless something happened that makes it vital that we catch her today," he says.

Symbiote turns to look at the Aquatic Adventurer. "As for what you did while you were their captive...I suppose CHESS is going to have to make a decision about that. All I can say is that speaking strictly for myself, I'm not about to arrest, detain or in any way blame you," Hal says. He looks at the unconscious form of the Primate. "It's been a tough mission. In these situations sometimes you have to make hard choices and live with yourself as best you can afterwards."

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Forester:

Forester starts counting sheep during Inhuman's speech, then blurts out at the end. "Spare us the sob story, man. Were you ever under a form of mind-control? Were innocent people other than yourselves ever threatened if ye wouldn't cooperate? What exactly did you do, and what are ye confessing to--in 50 words or less, will ye!? Your over-explainin' is gettin in the way of the truth."

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Inhuman:
Inhuman spears Forrester with eyes as sharp as the teeth of a Shark."Do you want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Or a summation that lies by omission more than any bald falsehood?"

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Forester:

"You want to surrender to Vanguard? You want to act like a prisoner?" Forester exclaims. "Then here, I'll give you a cage." Forester fires a tangler arrow at Inhuman.

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Kairos:
Re: Tangler Arrow: OK...!?!?

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Symbiote:
"Carl, did Primate say anything about Hotsleep?" Symbiote asks, quietly stepping forward. He makes no move to help Inhuman out of the net, but gives Forester a "don't-interfere" look. "It's important. We learned some things about it on the way to Africa."

Hal then steps aside, encouraging the Piscine Paladin to continue his story. He also casts an eye on Primate, to see if the villain shows any signs of awakening, and spares a glance at Christiansen, to see what her reaction might be to the subject of Hotsleep coming up.

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Inhuman:
Carl looked lost for a moment, his face becoming more like a flounder,"You guys have mentioned some stuff about Hotsleep but..." Inhuman looked down obviously checking his memories "I think this is part of my 'mission' being so poorly begun, I could not steer well with no stars to guide me by." Looking more human Carl finally replied with certainity "so far as I recall he made no direct mention of Hotsleep, but he was so angry I could find no logic to dissuade him from this course, even that of another star. Would that be consistent with Hotsleep problems?""So my return volley is did Crabman surrender? And did you guys fight Slug and Ratman?"

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GM Replies:

"You want to surrender to Vanguard? You want to act like a prisoner?" Forester exclaims. "Then here, I'll give you a cage." Forester fires a tangler arrow at Inhuman.

GM Reply:Now don't you wish you invented a gag arrow? Just kidding.

IC: The deadshot defender's arrow hits Inhuman and engulfs him in a cable net.

OOC: Escaping the net requires 11 points of damage in one attack. Inhuman can draw water from the lake that surrounds the island. But he only does d8+1 with his hydrokinesis. So he will need to use a double attack to hope to succeed. In short, it takes him a while to blast from the net, but he ultimately does so if he wants to, unless prevented.
Best,
Jeff

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Forester:
OOC: Thanks Jeff. The part of Forester that remembers being Forest-rilla reacted negatively to the thought that Fish-Friend might have sold him out to bad talking ape.

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Forester:
"That part at the beginning--about the back-stabbing little twit--Who were you talking about again?" asked Forester. "Is super-rationalization one of your powers?"

"Your decision to reveal Symbiote's weakness and help Ratman and other known criminals--was a methodical act of betrayal. And so far the only justification you've given is to say that you were outnumbered," Forester went on.

"Is that what you do? Switch sides whenever it's convenient? Cave in and help our opponents whenever it's in your own best interest?" the archer asked.

"Well, you're outnumbered now," Forester said. "Maybe your lengthy confession to Vanguard is yet another attempt to save yourself by half-heartedly complying with the majority?"

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Symbiote:
"OK, ENOUGH!! Symbiote barks at the Fearless Fletcher's interjection. He closes his eyes and rubs his temples, the exhaustion of the past several days catching up with him. He opens one eye and glares at Inhuman. "Next time, practice the fine art of lying. Tell 'em my equipment is controlled by computer chips in the soles of my boots. Tell 'em Slingshot loses elasticity if force-fed Oreos. Hell, tell 'em we all have the same secret weakness--Swedish massages from lingerie models. I don't care, just make up something."

Hal opens his other eye and turns on Forester. "On the other hand, we didn't have to fight Ratman or Slugg," he says in a measured voice. "Crabman and Jellyfish switched sides at a key moment. Crabman even took down Cockroach for us. And they told us Primate was hiding in the Congo. AND we'd all be swinging through vines and flinging poop at one another right now if he hadn't been here to let me copy his DNA and help me with the antidote to Primate's virus." He stops again, taking a deep breath. "I suppose CHESS or the Department of Justice or somebody will make a decision about Inhuman's status once we're back in New York, but I'm not about to throw any stones through any glass houses right now. And I seriously doubt he's going to try to 'escape' from a jet flying high over the mid-Atlantic," Hal says as he helps untangle Inhuman from the net. "If he does, go ahead and shoot him with something worse."

After the Oceanic Adventurer is free, Hal goes to the galley, grabs a glass of water, preparing to throw it in Primate's face. "Unless anybody has any objections I'm going to wake up Magilla here," he says.

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Inhuman:
Inhuman smirks at the Swedish massages from supermodels in lingerie jab. "I would rather empty his Quiver first." Inhuman Smiles at Forester."I think I would try to end his control over his last 'free ally'."
"I think there is a rather large difference between the rather infamous ratman and myself. I don't think he has ever willingly taken a blow for his teammates. I gave the appearance of changing sides because I was unknown enough to try and pull it off. I lied but I had to mix in enough truth to make it believable. Besides I suspect their choices in lingerie clad models would be rather lacking from your point of view."

*Inhuman strips off acid scarred, punctured and slashed wetsuit and gives it Slingshot revealing more wounds from his recent battles as well as a Grey set of swim trunks*"One man sized pile of petroleum products. Besides, at least now I can say I have given you guys the shirt off my back."
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Forester:
Forester to Inhuman: "So what exactly became of Ratman and Slugg? Did they tell you their weaknesses? Do you know how we can find them? Did you do anything to help them escape?"

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Inhuman:
"If no one fought them, then either they attempted to betray Primate and were destroyed or they succeeded in fleeing." Inhuman Logically concluded while he became more eel like. "Since there were no signs of their bodies near the Owls i would assume that they fled. If I were them I would flee to the Congo and become mercenaries after hiding out for a while, then build a little kingdom after helping some minor warlord win more than he ought. I was rather planning on suggesting that in a devious way rather than coming straight out and saying so after the meeting i was eventually beaten unconscious during my minor rebellion. My Faith in Vanguard shook theirs in the Primates, your defeat of their saucer after i informed them that Vanguard would win without my help, probably nailed the coffin shut on their faith inthe Primate. I was not dealing in fisticuffs but psychological warfare and that is very muddy waters indeed."

Inhumans brow creased in thought "I have an idea on a way to try to lure the Rodentia back, but as for the slippery Slugg, there may not be much to do but get Ratman first.""If we want them now I suggest everyone lines up for medical attention, we draw upon whatever salt we can avail ourselves of and start checking for unusual vehicles for the social environment downstream of the volcano or freshly sunken craft.""As for telling me their weaknesses, has everyone here told me theirs? These guys trust me less than you do right now. Tell? No. Deduce? Possibly."

"If... Manetti could get ahold of a spy satellite for the area and review the data for escaping watercraft Then we would have a good place to look, assuming that is possible. Or if our Oracular Associate could clue us in as to the whims of the fates?" Inhuman looks expectantlly at the two he just mentioned, seeing if they indicate thought words or deed whether or not they think they could succeed with his suggestions.OOC: Hey Jeff Did I see all the watercraft on my tour of the facility?

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Lightning Strike:
OOC:
Hi all,
Well I have been following along with this lengthy and frequent set of e-mails as best as I can but I may be a little behind or off the mark. With that in mind, here is LS reply to Inhuman his plans for the near future.

Strike listens intently to Inhuman as he laid out his confession.
Strike didn't speak when the others spoke but lingered in the background. Strike takes it all in and makes a brief statement.

"I have seen this group face near insurmountable odds and still battle back and triumph. I can understand your attempt to what I hope was infiltrate the other side and wait for your opportunity to strike but part of me feels that your actions were based purely on self preservation. It will be difficult to operate beside you without complete trust. If you doubted that we would eventually triumph then you truly underestimated our abilities but even with all of our abilities there was still a good chance that we would be still swinging in the jungle thanks to you."

OOC: As a player, I am well familiar with attempting to switch sides when the going got really rough but it didn't work out for me and now that character is one of the chief villains in this game.

"I am for giving people the benefit of the doubt and there may be good reasons for what you have done but I for one will not give you another chance to betray us. If there is even the slightest hint that you are not 100% behind Vanguard, then there won't even be dental records left to identify you."

Strike will then attempt to stop Symbiote from waking Primate. In fact , Strike would prefer to keep him sedated until we are in a position to interrogate him back at headquarters. "I still do not understand the extent of his abilities nor how the hotsleep has enhanced those abilities so until we do we should keep him out for as long as possible."

Strike will then use the remainder of the trip to charge.

Strike views his physical prowess as probably the lowest on the team so he will work on increasing his endurance through extensive training so that the hit point total goes up. I will leave it to our GM to figure out what that means in game terms.

That's all for now.

Take care,
Tony

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GM private to Kairos and Inhuman:
While the heroes are regrouped on the volcanic island, at the end of Inhuman's tale, Kairos's vision gets blurry for a moment, then the water on his eye starts to form letters that only the avatar of antiquity can detect! The letters form words:

KAIROS DO NOT PANIC THIS IS INHUMAN…
I AM TELLING THIS STORY FOR REASONS…
IF I CONFESS MY SINS THEN IT STEALS THE WEAPON
OF DIVISION FROM THE PRIMATE ALLOWING
HIM TO WASTE EFFORT ON A SCHEME THAT WILL FAIL,
LURE HIM OUT, KEEP HIM OFF BALANCE.
YOU OR SENTINEL ARE PROBABLY THE MOST HATED
AFTER MYSELF, WANNA PLAY BAD COP?
NOD TWICE IF SO.

OOC: reaction?

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Kairos:
Kairos's eyes narrow and he locks gazes with Inhuman...and cocks his head and raises an eyebrow...

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Inhuman:
(private) Inhuman purses his lips and nods twice at Kairos.

THANK YOU.

I WILL COMMUNICATE MORE IF NECESSARY PLEASE DO NOT MENTION THIS AROUND THE PRIMATE A SECRET FORM OF COMMUNICATION CAN BE MOST USEFUL.

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GM Request:
One thing:
I got 1-2 folks saying: Wake up the Primate! I got others saying:
Don't do it! Are you crazy?!
If Vanguard had a leader, I could get a quick, final answer. We'll revert to democracy: Just shoot me an email that says: Yes, No or I have no opinion, and we'll tally the results.
Thanks,
Jeff

Replies:
Forester favors keeping Primate unconscious. We don't know enough about what he can do to risk waking him. --js

Slingshot: Don't wake up Primate unless we can have an active telepathic blocker within range. Since the one we had is broken..
Symbiote: Yes. If I understand my own powers (and Jeff's hinting a week or two ago), I can't copy Primate's powers. They're the result of technological enhancement instead of abilities seated in his genes.
I'd like to wake him now, but I'm not married to the idea. If the majority is against it, we can wait for New York. Just be sure the restraints are on him in case he wakes up on his own.

Sentinel: No.

Kairos: At this point, I'm neutral in regard to waking the Primate. What I WILL do, however, is position myself near Primate and have my sword as discreetly at the ready as possible along with the notion fixed in my head that the ape is the enemy and that I need to strike him (even though he's bound) if anything happens. Maybe by doing that I can overcome any sort of mind control or hit him if animalistic instincts kick in or anything like that. With what Inhuman said, I'm not so sure that something isn't going down as it is. I was very tempted, in response to Inhuman, to stab the Primate then and there but I'm trying to be a good guy...

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Sentinel:
Without question, once Inhuman is about to begin relating what happened, Kirk begins to ‘read’ his surface thoughts. I’m going to assume that unless told otherwise what Inhuman is stating is truthful, but if Kirk hears thoughts that indicate he is lying let me know what it is. I don’t think Carl will be looking to lie here, but may try to ‘clean up’ some stuff to appear he handled things better (ie ego stuff), but if anything important is omitted (ie Carl would have to think about omitting it for me to know), let me know. Kirk isn’t concerned about the ego stuff but more along the lines of poor choices in betraying the team’s secrets or actually aiding Primate’s plans or things about him genuinely being swayed (perhaps even now) to Primate’s wrong way of thinking. Kirk would be looking out for any indication that somehow Primate still has an influence here. Kirk would be quiet during the events unless given a reason to have Carl linger or think more about something because he feels he is genuinely withholding something important.

When Forester shoots the arrow at Inhuman Kirk is outwardly shocked and begins to raise a hand to prevent it or undo it, but then decides to do nothing at this junction. He chalks Forester’s actions up to him trying to ‘surprise’ or ‘shock’ Inhuman to see if his actions are genuine or if Inhuman is trying to deceive us to get our guard down. He also conjectures that the whole gorilla transformation incident may have ‘taken down’ Forester’s ‘centering’ and knows he hasn’t gotten to meditate to deal with the experience; perhaps its more of his performer persona (and a more aggressive and impulsive personality) governing his actions. Either way, at this point given the current situation and relationships involved, Kirk would ‘err’ on supporting the actions of Forester over Inhuman; even if he didn’t necessary agree with them.

Upon hearing Strike’s reply, Kirk is genuinely pleased at Strike’s affirmation of Vanguard and his inclusion of himself as part of it. This is perhaps the first time the lone wolf has spoken so strongly and positively about the team and his presence and personal loyalty regarding Vanguard.

Kirk then speaks.

“Carl, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt here. I defended you when Chess suggested your betrayal. Clearly you had a difficult path and made some hard choices. It was a dangerous game you played. Some of your decisions, and worse your thinking may have been corrupted by your imprisonment.

Sometimes the mind copes with imprisonment by beginning to give undo influence and power to the person’s captors allowing them to control the actions and even alter the thought processes of the prisoner. Unfortunately sometimes it kindles a flame that might never have started but for the untimely situation, and it becomes an all-encompassing inferno.” Kirk swallowed in dismay, “Take for example the case of the Freedom Force’s Black Cat. His trying to play the villain led him directly down the path of becoming one causing the betrayal of the Freedom Force and ultimately his evolution into the villain known as Black Bat. You know firsthand what he has become. Only you can determine how much of the Primate’s propaganda has now awakened false reasoning within your own mind and feelings and the future effect it will have.”

(OOC Kudos to Tony’s mention of Black Bat for Kirk’s above dialogue, although Strike would have no reason to bring it up, Kirk’s superhero subculture (or whatever the skill is called) certainly would.)

“When you spoke about some of the hopes you had to resolve the situation, well simply put, at times I’ve been called naïve and been told to grow up, but to believe that any authority figure or government would work a compromise with a mass murderer like Primate is ridiculous, and to think that a bloodthirsty power mad maniac like Primate would ever accept anything less than total domination is equally foolish. Carl, from what I’ve seen from you, you have an amazing intellect … you have to see that with reasoning like that, he had to have gotten to you to some degree.”

“As far as much of what you did goes, personally I’d like to be able to overlook it, after all you are the newest of us to ‘the life’ but there are a couple of things that we do need to clear up for each of Vanguard to decide.”
…

“You mentioned checking the base’s systems looking for weaknesses. Knowing what was at stake, how could you possibly give them any information to heighten their defenses? What were you thinking??? I just can’t fathom that decision.

(OOC. From reading this, I’m not sure (Seth the player), but was this actually the defense system that prevented Strike’s initial attempt at infiltrating the base? If so Kirk would add, “Do you realize that you almost engineered the murder of your teammate Lightning Strike, and how many more lives were lost worldwide because of the additional delay of an alternate plan being needed?”)

When I gave my breakdown of Vanguard, and my recommendations for preferred targets, the Ani-Men listened closely.

“You mentioned a couple of times needing to give information on Vanguard; much of this was glossed over, however, I think each of us needs to know what you told about us that was truthful since there are still members of the Animen at large that have this information and may spread it and each of us needs to know to decide our level of trust with you moving forward.”

In particular with Kirk, he wants to know if any of his previously unknown mental abilities was discussed since he specifically asked all of Vanguard to keep it a secret for strategic advantage to the team. If this was revealed, Kirk would have great difficulty in trusting Carl again since this would be a confidence that was specifically given in trust and betrayed.

That’s Kirk’s stuff for the Inhuman storyline.

Other stuff from postings:
With Kirk’s speaking with Slingshot he would be reminded of his concern about Nanite and would check his internet ‘beacon’ for Nanite to see if there has been any response. If so, he would immediately notify Slingshot.

Kairos looking for interaction with Kirk: Kirk is friendly and glad for any opportunity to get to know Kairos better since he feels he doesn’t know him well. Kirk has a love of life that is evident and an interest in learning about things he doesn’t know about. He would draw him out in conversation and pay attention to his interests, if Kairos was more of a talker, he’d listen, if Kairos was more interested in getting Kirk to talk he certainly would, but if it appeared the Kairos was uninterested in the topic, Kirk would notice and redirect. Let me know a bit about how Kairos reacts in conversation and if you want to be more specific on what they do, where, etc. just let me know. Thanks.

On the wake Primate issue:

Kirk is still VERY leery of doing this on board and outside of a more controlled environment. He sees little benefit at this point in rushing it. He thinks the suggestion of having Symbiote try to copy Primate’s powers first so we have a better idea of what we are dealing with is a good idea and should be done prior to waking Primate, and he is concerned that even doing that might somehow give Primate a means to somehow exert some influence and wants to take steps to be sure that doesn’t happen. He’d like to monitor Hal’s thoughts as he transforms to be sure somehow Primate doesn’t take advantage. (If he can plan his escape from the Hotsleep while unconscious, why can’t he do stuff while his physical form was beaten into unconsciousness? Kirk isn’t letting his guard down and isn’t convinced this is over yet)

Given that there is little chance of Primate cooperating in any way and given that his mental abilities are likely far more advanced than Kirk and he could likely block even Kirk’s surface thought reading ability Kirk sees no benefit to waking him up currently. Kirk’s vote on waking Primate now would be ‘no’.

What does Hal think he can gain by direct interaction that he won’t get even more so by copying his powers? Would the team reject him copying Primate’s powers at this point?

Forester interaction (whenever we get to fit this in): “There’s nothing to apologize for, I’m sorry I reacted that way initially, but in all honesty I didn’t know who to trust at the time. I didn’t know your motive or where you were coming from. Now I know. And back then I was surprised you asked questions about things I never bothered to ask.” Kirk added with a smile, “Now, I’m not surprised you did,” and he added, “and I understand firsthand about being a fan of the greats that came before. I’m a bit envious of all your first hand knowledge of the Marksman myself. We’ve got to trade some more stories on them.”

“I’ve only spent a little more time with Chess than you have. The whole secretive hierarchy thing can be a bit much, but I think Vanguard can accomplish more with their backing and association with them than without them. So far they’ve given us support and information that we wouldn’t have had otherwise and allowed us to be where we needed to be to do the most good. Most of the men are the best of the best and they put their lives on the line just like we do. They’ve given us much autonomy; I suspect likely due to the influence of Grey. And certainly we don’t want to give more credence to men like Drake who distrust us just because of the costumes. Grey has been straight with us and has a track record to respect. I’d like to believe that he continues to deal honestly, at least as much as possible as the government allows. And at least we’re close enough to try to keep Chess honest.” And Kirk added not knowing the answer, “This whole Hotsleep thing is going to be big trouble for everyone.”

OOC: Re: Symbiote’s email on copying Primate’s powers:
Bummer.
Sorry if I knew that and overlooked it. Its funny, but I think I recall that it was someone else that had suggested you copy Primate's powers and I thought it was funny it wasn't you stating you would do it; that's likely why it wasn't you suggesting it. Although I had trouble reading the notes I jotted down from the emails as I read them so I couldn't be sure.

And yes, I agree, lots of restraints on him. If I was playing a different character type than Kirk I'd probably stand near him and wack him over the head every few minutes just to be sure he doesn't regain consciousness.

Seth

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GM Replies:
Inhuman wrote: Did I see all the watercraft on my tour of the facility?

GM Reply: Yes, one old African wooden boat was all you saw there. That dock is now empty.

Sentinel wrote: Without question, once Inhuman is about to begin relating what happened, Kirk begins to ‘read’ his surface thoughts.

GM Reply: Inhuman’s surface thoughts are not thinking that he is lying. If that changes I’ll inform you.

Best,
Jeff

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Inhuman:
Of Course I'm not going to think "i'm lying"!! that is the First rule they teach you in Supervillian schoo...erm, uhm..never mind...I for no waky waky on the primate for a bit,
"I have been concerned over Black Cat/bat and whether or not I too would fall that way. There are other issues, But I think bringing them up right now could be a problem". *looks at Primate**thinks: If I separate truth from fiction in front of him it could make things worse, do later in private*
PS: what does my super senses say on his current condition?

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Sentinel:
On Kirk's two questions to Inhuman.

If Inhuman has no reply to his fortifying the base wouldn't push that question, although some of the others and Chess certainly may. Kirk is particularly frustrated by those actions because of the lapse of judgement and because from all that Inhuman had to do, he thinks this might be what gets him into problems.

Kirk would like an answer regarding any further secrets or weaknesses revealed to the villains regarding Vanguard.

Kirk isn't looking 'to hang Inhuman out to dry' here but is trying to figure out what they are going to have to deal with moving ahead both as a team and with regards to the government's view of Inhuman's actions.

To Jeff:
Just so I'm clear, was it Inhuman's 'upgrade' to Primate's fortification that did cause Strike to be 'caught' in his initial infiltration?
On Kirk's 'reading', as I mentioned when Kirk began to read the surface thoughts, he wasn't really expecting Inhuman to be lying here, but certainly Kirk had to do everything he could to be sure.

Seth

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Inhuman:
Inhuman Sighs."Look Sentinel, the real problem is not why I told them or what, the real problem is this: from what I have heard NO ONE in Vanguard or CHESS acted as if someone, anyone, getting captured was a big deal. The real solution to the problem was a soon as I was captured you guys should change your MO and assume everything I had or knew as suspect until the truth is known. It doesn't matter whether they Spanish Inquisition-ed me, Mind Controlled me, or offered me cake. Anyone can be broken in a million ways, assume they are and act, not react, as if they are compromised until you have them back in one piece."

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GM Replies:
Inhuman wrote: what does my super senses say on his current condition?

GM Reply: Inhuman’s hydrokinesis allows him to detect the presence of liquids at a range. Primate has lost blood, but is not in danger of dying from bloodloss. To the eye, Primate looks unconscious and badly beaten.

Best, Jeff

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Sentinel:
Kirk was no longer speaking in anger or frustration. Instead both his voice grew softer and his demeanor softened.

“Carl, you have no idea how CHESS or each of us reacted to your capture.
I don’t think anyone would blame you for the communicator fiasco; I certainly blame myself for not thinking of it. But everyone, CHESS included, missed that.
However, there certainly is a difference between having information torn from your mind, being broken and giving it, and willing giving it.

You opened the door to this discussion. And as you can see, some of us, if not all of us, do have trust issues in play here. Given your willingness to come forward about what happened it would seem prudent that each of Vanguard know their personal stake in what you revealed to the enemy so that we each deal with this issue as we need to and it doesn’t become further inflamed by new revelations as things proceed.

And as so aptly put, if you’re having problems with some of our questions, what do you think is going to happen when Drake gets his hands on this information?

Carl, I know you are a good person at heart. Why, your weekends with the kids at the beach alone show how much you care about people. But you are going to need to do some healing to deal with all this, and so will we. I do hope that if there is anything more here that any of us might consider a personal betrayal you let us know now.”

Kirk will push this no further at this time, particularly with lower-level Chess present.

OOC Let me know if from surface thoughts Kirk can determine if the information about his telepathic abilities was revealed to Primate.

If not, and when Kirk gets an opportunity to ask Carl alone with no one else present Kirk would approach him and say,

“Carl, for myself, I do need to know one thing regarding my handling of this situation. You don’t have to elaborate and a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will suffice and I’ll say nothing more at this time. The information I gave to you and Vanguard about myself and my abilities in confidence in the conference room, did you reveal that to Primate?”

Kirk will have his ‘read on’ for this and will keep his word about asking and saying nothing more at this time. But Kirk really needs to know this.

Also, Kirk’s statement about Drake got him thinking, what exactly are the CHESS protocols for agents under deep cover that have to gain the confidence of the enemy. What latitude are they given in their actions? Kirk should know this from his review of the Chess ops files. If not, given the time, Kirk will research this with the onboard systems. If this information is considered beyond Kirk’s current security clearance, Kirk would appeal to Grey to give him access to this information prior to Inhuman’s debriefing. Even if Kirk is undecided regarding his personal degree of trust of Inhuman and some of his choices, his contribution to the defeat of Primate is clearly evident, and if he is going to go to bat for Crabman, he’s certainly going to try to do moreso for his teammate unless there was clear evidence of a turning to the side of Primate (which he doesn’t feel is the case thus far).
SethPS Thanks for Inhuman's actions here allowing the players to take sides and play their personalities. Good stuff.

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Forester:
To Inhuman: "For the record, we were worried about you. All of us. Your getting captured WAS a big deal. Even with ape-ish intelligence, my first priority was tracking you down as soon as I could sense where you were. I didn't know what to expect. I was worried that you had been tortured or experimented up by Primate. I was very relieved to find that you were still in one piece. I am very sorry that you were abducted by our enemies. But please, don't reconstruct the situation to claim that Vanguard let you down."

OOC: Hey Jeff,
I noticed on the Vanguard site that you have Clone listed among the Glorious Dead, as opposed to Nanite (who is among the Gone but Not Forgotten). Not long before the CHESS Castle-Primate storyline began, though, I thought that Clone was basically M.I.A and that we weren't sure if he was actually dead or not due to his duplication powers.
That's why there was a funeral for Bobby the Ghost but not for Clone.

I might be remembering incorrectly, though, and maybe Clone is equally dead. Following up on Clone's condition/status was something
I was hoping to get to--before the animal kingdom turned on its ear--but it looks like that might be a waste of time.

James

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GM Replies:
James, CHESS is thinking he did not have another duplicate in place or else he would have reported in by now. Deeper discussions on this topic were pre-empted by the Animal Revolution.
Sentinel wrote: What exactly are the CHESS protocols for agents under deep cover that have to gain the confidence of the enemy. What latitude are they given in their actions? Kirk should know this from his review of the Chess ops files.

GM Reply: Kirk recalls no CHESS files on this topic, and Vanguard did not create any for themselves. Vanguard creates their own bylaws, as long as they don’t violate the law of course.
CHESS may have files he doesn’t recall. Sentinel recalls that anti-torture training is given to most intelligence operatives, to help prevent classified material from getting into the wrong hands.

Sentinel’s Superhero History skill helps him recall a few heroes who have broken the law:
-Black Bat, who was murdered by the Freedom Force, or was at least believed to be until recently.
-Tornado Man, who was jailed and released after serving his full sentence. (See Blue Comet Character Sheet and Vanguard Issue 4 in the Vanguard Vault!)
-Talon, the black feathered, fierce bird-man vigilante, is wanted in relation to the murder of a Chicago policeman.

Private to Symbiote:
Hey Greg,
I think you failed your Intelligence save. ;)
But luckily Symbiote did not.
If Symbiote tries to absorb Primate's powers, he may or may not absorb the effects of the chemical injection that was intended to destroy his intellect which may or may not affect Primate's DNA.
The injection was administered while Vanguard were still in ape form. And discussions of absorbing his powers began when Vanguard was restored to humanity.
Does Symbiote risk it? If not, what does he do for Vanguard's benefit?
Best,
Jeff

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Symbiote:
Private to GM:
Heh. No, I hadn't thought of that.
Since my "I don't think Symbiote could absorb his powers" answer seems to have satisfied everybody, I'll just let this sleeping dog--or ape--lie.

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Forester:
Re: The Clone: Thanks, Jeff. I'm sorry to hear that, though. Forester took a liking to the guy.

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Inhuman:
To Forester: "Hmm...." Inhuman paused for a moment as he thought deeply looking like a whale "I see, yes both of your words have helped shed some light on things I was not aware of. I apologize for my ill considered words however to turn them from bane to balm shall we learn from this problem and move on? Simply put if someone is captured or turns over change our MO and assume everything they had or knew as suspect until the truth is known. Assume they are broken and act, not react, as if they are compromised until we have them back in one piece. We did not act as wise as we could have, but now we have experiences that will make us better prepared for next time."

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Sentinel:

I realize that Chess rules and ops don't necessarily apply to Vanguard, but thought that Drake might certainly use them as a standard to argue (if it serves his agenda) and if there were things in there that defend some of Inhuman's questionable actions, we could use them as a defense (even if we don't necessarily agree with them or wish to formally adapt them to Vanguard's behavior).Assuming current things aren't interrupted by a new crisis (ie whatever you had in mind a few hours from 'now' in your original instructions to us), Kirk will try to gain access to these protocols from Grey (I'm assuming they are currently classified beyond his clearance) when he gets the opportunity.

Seth