Fall into Some Lady's Mind

Mutants and Masterminds. It's time to deal with another adversary.

The breakfast table is the light. But this isn't the Lustracio estate. This is the firehouse.

It's been a few days since we dealt with Never, and Lux is back to her usual self, which means she hasn't said a word for days, and seems to be busy taking care of something.

A knock comes at the door, and it's Reesey, who wants her computer. You can't make me spell her name the same way twice. She's pointed to Michael Schroeder, who is busying himself with some bacon and waffles.

Michael provides her with her computer, and Reesey says, if we ever want to do business, give her a visit. She can make things normal after all.

Reesey leaves, and Lux suddenly starts talking to Jack McCoy. Asks him if he set up a code. Jack isn't sure what she's talking about, so she points out a classified to him, asking if the real McCoy wants to fall down the rabbit hole.

Jack calls Natalia, but a man answers. It's her brother, Eli, and Jack says he's looking for Natalia. Her brother seems relieved, and says he wants to hire Dan. His sister is missing, and he's worried.

Jack tells him he'll meet him as soon as possible, although actually arriving as soon as possible would be suspicious when as soon as possible means talking a portal. So Jack doesn't hurry, but soon enough, Jack visits Natalia's brother (and his spartan apartment), and then he checks out the burned down husk of a bar. Hmm.

Michael does his own digging around, hacking the phone system, and he finds her phone. It's near horsetooth, and he gets some recent calls out of it. One missed call from Jack, and several from her brother. Two others are unknown, but one turns out to be her landlord.

The other comes from an encrypted landline.

We visit the motel where her phone is found. Jess wants to ambush us, but she doesn't.

It's a small but standard hotel room. On the bed are some notes and papers. There's also other things. Like coffee pots. And an ironing board. And a dresser. Jess is pretty sure I'm just typing letters.

The phone doesn't have anything useful on it we don't have already, but Jack looks at the papers.

It's notes about portals, all over the city. Newspaper clippings. Scribbled notes about portals and freaks. Unrelated to greeks. Some otes about arson, and some lines about politics and gangs, but it's crossed out with a question mark.

One of the notes mentions the airport terminals in the notes, dated just yesterday. It also mentions "blue".

We poke around the airport. It's pretty rundown, and there are some homeless people lurking about.

I mind probe one of them, and almost feel my own will break as something in his mind recoils. But I do find that he's looking to collect information on city officials.

Jack gives one of the bums some change, and he tells him that a lady came through, that matches Natalia's description. She asked a lot of questions, about newcomers and "weird" things. She left though.

We check another one of the locations that was marked in Natalia's notes, mentioning gang activity. It's not far, but it's just an empty lot.

Michael's drone detects some radio waves why wouldn't he?, but there doesn't seem to be anything useful here.

So Shroud talks to the notepad. It's a ritual, I swear He finds some more information, such as the location of another bolt hole.

Before we leave, we give her brother, Eli, a quick call. Nothing new.

Another motel. But then we notice she's walking just outside. We nearly missed her.

Jack goes out to meet her, and she seems surprised to see him. Eli should know where she is, she thinks. It's the weekend anyway. Jack corrects her, and she seems annoyed that she's late for work.

She wonders if Jack is investigating the portals too. They're all around the city, something to do with the bar burning down. Things have been weird since the mayor died.

I read her surface thoughts, and she seems confused and dodgy, and she can't stop thinking of portals, and now I can't stop thinking about portals. ELEPHANTS. MUD. DUCKS. HAM SANDWHICH. Okay, I'm not thinking about portals anymore!

Dan is super drunk right now you guys.

I return to Lux, and ask if Salem's mental powers had any strange after effects. Portals! Lux says that's likely, and suggests using a modified version of the coin Never had used on us before. We should be able to find the gatekeeper's identity.

Lux gets to work on producing such a device, while Michael's drone tails Natalia around the city.

Let's do this.

All it takes is a bit of Natalia's blood, and the coin is active. Jack talks to her, and she's convinced a politician is involved. Jack tries to convince her that her blood needs to be tested for infection, since McCloud has...allegedly...been poisoning people's blood.

Or he'll just knock her out.

Dan is insane. Jeff tells me so.

A flash of pain...and we're in her mind...

South Haven. But this isn't South Haven. It's much smaller, and white washed. Tiny people.

Three points seem more clear, more important. One has red strobe lights. Another has some glassy semitransparent buildings. And the last has smoke, from a fire.

Natalia is here too, but she looks tired and distracted.

We touch the strobe lights. They're emergency lights. It's the police precinct.

Instead of police officers, are homeless people, working hard. In the chief's office we can see something smoking a cigar talking to the chief. We try to approach, and we hear a scream. The homeless police vanish, and so does the chief. We return to the outside of Haven.

We touch the transparent buildings. It's apartment buildings. It's solid brick now, and we go upstairs. We see some people, but they are frozen, as if time forgot them.

An old lady in slippers and bathrobe. An old asian man, with his computer. A middle aged man sitting, and smoking a cigar.

As approach the top floor, the building becomes more transparent again, but as we step forward, the transparency gives away to solid floor. Instead of a door, a glowing archway.

We go through, and there's a man with a worn business suit, but no face. He disappears, the apartment disappears, and we are attacked by Salem. We quickly dispatch her, and the apartment is as it was.

Some notes lay strewn around. Natalia was investigating. It's Charles Deen, the new mayor. We return to the outside of Haven.

We touch the smoke. It's the Rabbit Hole. But as we go in, it becomes the previous mayor's house.

Natalia rushes past us, and breaks down the door. The former mayor turns in surprise, and Natalia raises her gun and shoots him dead. She douses him in accelerant, and her irises turn red, and she fades out. Photographers appear out of mist, taking pictures, before disappearing into portals.

We return to the outside of Haven. It looks better now, and we find ourselves ejected out.

The gatekeeper is the new mayor. Figures.

He has a speech at the public library tomorrow. We'll make our move then. Jack thinks we need Reesey, so he goes and get her. To make the mayor normal.

She'll do it for a few gold bars.

We're not rushed, no we're not. Okay, yes we are.

We go in, and beat him up before he even has a chance to react. The mayor finds himself dropped not in his own portal, but Shroud's portal.

People are trying to get in, and we stop them, before getting out of there ourselves.