The Great Train Heist

Now begins "Redemption", by Jess. Years after the world was scarred by an event called the Shattershot occured, an individual known as Lux has gathered several powerful heroes together to make the world right. The players are:

Jeff - Michael Schroeder - The Gadgeteer - A squat walrus mustached man, who commands drones and has a battlesuit.
Ben - Harry Gruerkoven - The Specialist - A muscular man, wielding only a combat knife.
Chad - Shroud - The Alien - A tall many armed creature with powerful illusionary and telekinetic abilities.
Dan - Jack McCoy - The Electric Ninja - Athletic, in well worn clothes, wearing sunglasses at night, blond hair, katana on back.
Me - John Harvester - The Ghost - Ragged clothing, with his mind as his only remaining asset. Wrote "The Towering Inferno".

When the Shattershot occured, most of the major cities were irradiated and destroyed. What were originally second tier cities are now where power has concentrated. South Haven is one such city, dominated by market stalls, and advertisements for older tech. Police now use horses, and railroad has made a big comeback.

To the south of the main part of South Haven is Rose Island, which has turned from blue collar factories into home of the elite. Each of the South Haven council members who are in power live here. The tech here is also much better here, being EMP resistant, but the island also has strict rules with a curfew. Access is limited, with only three Neilatech guarded entrances.

In the opposite direction of Rose Island, outside of South Haven lies Lustratio Manor. This is where we have gathered in the dining hall, at the request of Lux.

I have come under Lux's employ only recently. I do not know how she found me, but she gave me a purpose again. Over time I have learned to overcome the barriers that would normally prevent a spirit such as myself from manipulating the natural world, and it seems she has need of me.

Long ago, I had a family. I was a middlingly successful writer. But there is a strange coincidence, one that drives me to serve Lux because the very nature of this scenario seems to resemble a story I had written. I can't remember the details very well, since it was so long ago, but the protagonist had to fulfill a series of tasks for an angelic being of light, before being liberated. Failing would have meant certain doom.

I have not met Lux, but even her name seems to fit the story. Surely I must follow this path which seems so familiar to me.

Lux's butler, William Hogarth, hands us a folded letter, where it explains that while Lux has engaged our services in the past, the time has come for him to have us work together as a team.

Our first mission involves a councilwoman who may have been using her influence to smuggle drugs. We've been directed to redirect the drugs to the police chief, who we've been told is trustworthy.

The only relevant location we have is 584 Rye Street, which is believed to be associated with the smuggling.

Also included are two dossiers, the first which talks about McCloud. McCloud is a coldhearted capitalist at heart, who inherited the steelworking factories (with plenty of warehouses and railyards) from her family. She's expanded it since acquiring it, and has had trouble with the local union. She's 37 years old, and has auburn hair, and an angel tattoo on the back of her right shoulder.

The other dossier talks about a new drug called Light that is expected to be hitting the streets. It's snorted, and causes sensations of bright lights in the users, and is lethal even in relatively small doses. Side effects include invincibility, and in rare cases, death.

Michael Schroeder sends two drones out to do reconnaissance, which he can communicate with in realtime. At the address, there is a warehouse, and in the warehouse, there are two people inside. The surrounding area is pretty deserted, although there is a guy playing guards nearby, who is obviously watching the warehouse. There's intermittent radio activity, but nothing useful.

I go to the area, and read some minds. The guy playing cards is thinking about his cards and how his shift is over at midnight. He has drugs, but isn't supposed to touch Light.

Investigating the warehouse reveals that one of the guys really wants to get out on time to get to the horse races at 7:30. He's really bored, and doesn't want to miss it like he often does.

The other guy in the warehouse is examining some boxes, and is thinking about whether the drugs will fit in them, with all the shipments they expect. He then thinks of a red haired lady that will be showing up around 9:30pm. Perhaps this is Miss McCloud. No drugs are coming to this warehouse, at least not yet.

I return to the manor, and relate what I know. We start planning on how we'll have the others wait nearby. Before we can get too far in planning, someone else shows up in the area, as observed by Michael Schroeder's drones.

An olive skinned lady wearing a shirt that says "Rabbit Hole" has stopped half a mile away. She's armed, and taking notes. Perhaps she's on the same trail we're on.

I fly in the area, and she sees me until I fly out of sight. I read her mind, and discover that she's an off duty cop who knows about two major shipments of Light in the last month, and is trying to find out who is behind it. She thinks that this warehouse hasn't been activated yet, but since the chief won't give her the resources to investigate it (even getting into a shouting match), she's checking in on her own. She also recognizes the card player nearby as Rictus, and before long.

I linger, and around 7:30 the horse race guy, who had grown fidgety about not being able to leave when he wanted, finally gets to leave when two other thus arrive. Around 8pm more thugs arrive, and at 9pm the police woman leaves.

At 9:30, a black lincoln car arrives, and a woman gets out with several thugs, but it is not McCloud, but some woman that looks somewhat similar. She begans inspecting the warehouse, considering whether the place is clean enough and what needs to be done to get it under control, for in eight days, it needs to start processing. She directs some of the thugs to start cleaning.

Probing her mind from a distance does reveal that there is a shipment of light arriving tomorrow as we already knew, but she doesn't know where or when it's being delivered, only that she will get a call at her office at 12811 McCloud Industries drive. Also, her name is Miss Underwood.

Around ten, the card player outside goes to the other side of the warehouse and meets with Miss Underwood, who gives him an envelope of drop locations. I probe her mind, trying to find out what some of the locations are, but she only knows a few: 1712 Lebaue Avenue, Outside of the Haven Max Security Prison, and 384 Hayes street. The envelope is to be delivered to a Never, which appears to be a gang leader of some sort.

After this, Miss Underwood leaves, and I probe Ricktus (the card player) for details about where the envelope is delivered. It appears he'll be heading to a place called "Black Box", but it's unclear if he's going there directly or not.

Michael Schroeder's drone trails Ricktus, who meanders the streets, until he finally arrives at the Black Box. Michael's drone is still stealthed, and possesses teleportation capabilities, so he has it teleport in and follow. Inside the bar all manner of lowlife inhabit.

The drone heads to the back room, where several thugs are hanging out. A skinny bespectacled man in suspenders is counting money at his desk, under the glare of electric lights. Cuby holes hold cash boxes, and he has a rotory phone, a pen knife, pens, and an empty plate with a knife and fork. There's also a safe.

Ricktus isn't in the room though, so Michael sends it back to the common area. Sure enough, Ricktus is at the bar. He has an envelope, but it doesn't seem like it's the same one. After several drinks, he starts to leave.

Michael has his drone shove a man into Ricktus to try to intercept the envelope. In the commotion, a fight breaks out, and the envelope ends up under a table where Michael's drone telekineticly grabs it and leaves.

Ricktus gets thrown out, and I arrive. I probe his mind, and no, it's not the same envelope. This envelope he got in return for the other one.

I investigate the man in back, probing his mind without him detecting me. His name is Richard Barnes Dale. Someone picks the envelope up from him, but it's a different person each time, and can only be identified by a token. Next pick up is in four days, and can be identified by a piece of straw.

Jack McCoy heads out, to try to find the lady cop. He checks the Rabbit Hole, where he asks the bartender about her. The bartender points him to Elijah who is also tending bar. Yes, Elijah knows her, she is his sister and his name is Natalia, as in Natalia O'Connor. Apparently Natalia can take care of herself.

It's still Tuesday.

Michael Schroeder's drone arrives at the manor with the envelope, and Michael eagerly opens it. Dust explodes in his face, and things get weird. The dust tastes sour and the world is swimming in purple waves.

Surely, it's storming right now, Michael decides. Jack McCoy investigates Michael, which worries Michael because now he thinks Jack McCoy is getting hit by lightning. Jack McCoy's not.

Michael's in a tea room now? Michael makes his drones dance.

Jack McCoy sighs, and tells Michael he should take a nap. Michael claims he'll do anything for a hot woman like you, so Jack McCoy knocks him out.

The butler takes Michael up to his bed.

Michael Schroeder wakes up in his bedroom. His drones are neatly stacked, and one of them (the third) has a small scorch mark.

Most of us don't need to eat, but we still gather up in the dining room. Michael asks what happened, claims he wants to examine the envelope. Jack McCoy is wearing silk pajamas and the butler brings him some tea.

Shroud performs a ritual which bestows invisibility on me. I go to the address I had obtained from Miss Underhood, where I proceed to her office on the ninth floor. Her office is room 91. Odd, there's enough headroom to fit a medium sized drone through here, but none of the windows are broken.

Miss Underhood is in her office, and she holds the tital of Executive VP of WPH Security. I wait a little bit until she gets her call at noon.

I read her mind as she is given the instructions a deep voice which she identifies as the owner of the company. Perhaps it's a council member named Tom Carson, it's not exactly public knowledge. Anyway, the shipment will arrive at 636 Horsetooth Drive at 11:30pm.

I head back to manor.

We make our plans.

It's a trainyard, so Shroud makes a portal to about an hour outside of town by where the train will be. There was evidence of a brush fire here recently, and we wait, about half an hour until the train arrives.

We uses our acute senses (including my ability to detect minds and Shroud's across surface senses) to examine the passengers of the train. There are sixteen people on the train, including three in the engine room, two patrollers, and five people in car 7. I attempt to probe the minds of the people in car 7, and at first I am unsuccessful, until I do determine that the drugs are in the train, and at least some of them are in car 8.

Shroud creates another portal, and we go through to on top of car 8. Harry Gruerkoven and Jack McCoy land safely, and the rest of us simply fly through.

Jack McCoy takes the backdoor of car 8, and I take the front. Jack McCoy rushes in and stuns a sleeping man. I float through at the other end and posses the other guy. He smells greasy to me.

In car 8 are three creates, but probing my host reveals that this isn't all of the drugs. There are also six more creates in car 9, and all are very heavy, about 500 pounds each.

The two men patrolling are coming, so we work quickly. Shroud creates a portal and an illusion. The illusion will prevent the patrollers from detecting anything is wrong until we are long gone, while Michael uses his power suit to move drugs through the portal to the manor (not the best place).

Most of the drugs have been moved, when the first patrolman comes through. As far as he is considered, only me (as a guard), another sleeping guard, and the drugs are here. He mentions how it'd be nice to get rid of the drugs, and makes about how the sleeping guy is drunk again. After he leaves, I start drinking the sleeper's booze. Better to tie up lose ends and prevent my host from remembering anything.

The process repeats in the second car, and they get about four boxes through before the other patroller arrives. Everyone stops and waits, and the patroller continues on. He comes into my car nods at me.

The last of the drugs are moved, I abandon my host, and we all go through the portal.

We portal the boxes to a holding cell at police headquarters. Jack McCoy calls them up on an untraceable line and casually mentions that they have a delivery.

The next day the police announce a huge drug bust, related to the first warehouse we investigate. Natalia O'Connor is credited for drug ring, but it’s not mentioned how the drugs were intercepted, only that they're worth about 500 million dollars. O'Connor looks surprised by all the praise she is getting, since she wanted to investigate this, but without making any significant progress suddenly a huge amount of success landed in her lap.

Miss Underwood is reported missing.