Never Contained

In this session of Mutants and Masterminds, we'll finally kill Never! Or will we? Thpoilerths!

We're in the firehouse, discussing whether we actually want to kill Never or not. Jess didn't expect this! Jack McCoy still really wants to, and I'm willing to kill him to take him out of the picture. Shroud is cool on the idea, but defers to Lux. Michael Schroeder remains against it.

Lux isn't paying any attention to our discussion, and seems to be talking to someone who isn't there. Michael interrupts her, and asks if she is any danger. She says perhaps from Never.

Shroud asks if she can reproduce the "glass" coffin she was held in before, and after Shroud describes the coffin for her (in a way), she thinks probably, but the drugs are the important part. Doctor Chambers might be able to help (but does not think we could hold Never).

As for the actual plan, Never will be drawn out, and will send someone who owes her a favor with us when we finally confront him. But to draw Never out, we'll need to use his sister, Reesy.

But first, she needs more pixie stix.

Michael does some hackery, and locates Dr. Tessa Chambers. Something about a green house.

Shroud sends Jack to the house via portal through a garbage can. Basically Oscar the Grouch.

Jack senses some electronics in the house, and knocks on the door. A woman answers, and Jack asks for Dr. Chambers.

Jack is let in, into a room that was probably once a living room. Dr. Chambers eventually arrives, and Jack introduces himself. Dan needs drugs. Wait that came out wrong. He explains who he (allegedly) works for, and after speaking to his "supervisor", Michael, she is convinced, and agrees to help him, for a price, of course.

It's some very heavy drugs, she says, and Jack says he's looking for patient detention. It's very urgent, and the payment Jack offers convinces her to shelve her other projects, for now.

Lux shows us two newspaper clippings. One is that the Rabbit Hole bar, where Natalia O'Connor's brother works, was recently destroyed by an electrical fire. Several were killed, but O'Connor was on hand and rescued a few.

The other clipping is about the South Haven Nation Bank. All assets are frozen at the bank, something about terrorists. Lux says most of her assets were there.

Lux thinks this is Never's doing. Retaliation.

Lux pulls out another pixie stix, and opens it.

Lux suggests we should go get Teresa, Never's sister, so we hit the mean streets, which really are kind of mean around where she lives.

After some search through minds, I find a little boy who has seen her. She hangs around the area, and is generally into thieving. He's also seen who she hangs with.

I find the kid, and he's trailing a mark. I probe his mind, and find the area where she lives. In the sewers. He was assigned by his dodger (the owner of the child gang) to bring her into the fold, but he wasn't able.

I suggest to the kid's mark to be a little more aware, and leave.

Shroud goes up to his prison, and has a talk with Pentacle. Pentacle captured Teresa once before, so she might know something.

Pentacle did know Teresa's name. Teresa Myers. She can nullify things, and the Preater only told her she was drawing Never out.

Pentacle is curious about the city politics. Sure, why not.

I poke around the sewers, and after a bit of searching, I find what looks to be Teresa's living area. Books line one wall, and there are a few toys, including a rabbit, and some odds and ends.

I inspect one of the books, and hear a tingling noise. A mind approaches the tunnels nearby, and then bolts. I telepathically tell the others where I am, and she's in the area. I try to possess her, but fail.

Jack enters the sewers and quickly reaches her.

She has a glow stick on her belt, and she raises her hand to Jack.

Jack's electricity goes out, but Jack doesn't care. She's only a little girl. He knocks her out, and grabs some of her belongings, and brings her back in his van. No candy, other than some pixie stix Michael and I provide escort.

Lux has disappeared somewhere, but left a pile of pixie stix wrappers behind. Seeker, I'm telling you the truth! Michael's drone also seems to be repaired. Golem is still unconscious.

We find Lux in the attic (making a coffin of sorts), and she tells us the rest of the plan.

Injecting Teresa's blood into Golem will force him to assume his form, and with a bracelet, he will be unable to leave it. Next, we need to rewrite his memories, so that he believes he is her, taken by crazy people.

He...She...will believe it was payback, and she was taken off the street to send a message. Leave the shapeshifter mutilated, and the next day in the hospital, finish the job, and kill the Teresa Analogue. This will enrage Never. He'll find us outside of South Haven, if we leave a appropriate trail.

It's possible to draw Never out with merely the knowledge we have his sister, but he'll still have his cool then. We can't let him have his cool.

Oh, and Lux says there's one other important thing. She's on her last pixie stix.

We confer, and agree that plan one is most appropriate. We really need to piss him off.

We'll make sure he goes to Pentacles old place. A pentacle would be an appropriate symbol.

We implement the plan. Take the blood, inject it, put the bracelet on him. He's a little girl now, and with Shroud's mental manipulation, he doesn't know the difference. Golem is Reesy. Leave her to be found.

Jack gets the drugs.

That night, Shroud creates a tiny portal at the hospital, and find the room Golem is held in.

There seems to be an awful lot of interest in Golem. If only they knew. But they don't.

Two police officers are guarding her, and probing one of them reveals a few details.

She seems to have a lot of uncles, who are waiting outside. An italian, some sandy thug with weird hands, and some other guys as well. The police let them come in for a bit, but they like to pace, and it's annoying.

I possess one of the officers, and have him scream Pentacle and shoot the...golem. The other cop yells what the hell are you doing, that's one of the void.

But the deed is done.

That afternoon, the paper comes out, saying how a group of terrorists broke into the hospital. Some of our faces are in it, but they're blurry or missing. WANTED FOR QUESTIONING.

Lux gives us a number. Call this number, it's an ally. Oh, and before we go, there seems to be a pixie stix shortage.

There's a struggling noise coming from the closet. Reesy apparently wants to use the bathroom, and get a drink.

We allow it. Shroud gives her a gold bar, which seems to make her happy.

The number turns out to be Beauregard, and he meets us at the warehouse. He's quite pleasant to talk to. Nothing like Lux, which is nice. Much less demanding for flavored sugar powder.

Beauregard will dispel Never's shields, and then he can nullify or paralyze Never, although the nullify would last a little longer. We agree we should paralyze him. We will only need a short moment.

Never arrives in a flash of brief darkness. He is accompanied by a number of thugs, several of them shielded. One looks like a priest, and another, a very goth lady.

Michael is unfortunately knocked out early (who Shroud rescues from his perch), but Jack makes up for him by knocking several of the thugs out.

Jack taunts never, and Never jumps off a crate and approaches him, his white eyes glowing with a fierce red gold intensity.

Beauregard starts dispelling various effects, including the darkness.

Each time we make good attacks on of his minions, a charm on Never's pocket watch seem to disappear.

Never catches on that Beauregard is dispelling, and starts after him. Shroud levitates Beauregard to his own lofty perch, and Never is forced to seek another target.

Jack continues taunting Never, and Never's eyes turn completely red. Never seems to have lost all sense, and slams his body into Jack. Jack is knocked back, and he spots Shroud, and goes after him. Jack attacks him, but Never knocks him unconscious.

The final charge goes blank, and Shroud makes a portal under Never's feet, who barely dodges out of the way. Jack falls through.

Never focuses on Shroud again, but Beauregard drops from his perch, and Never freezes completely.

Shroud makes another portal, and drops Never into another portal. This one leads into the coffin, and we quickly attach the IVs into him. A few seconds latter, he shutters as Beauregard's spell ends, and some of the IV lines melt, but then he is finally contained.

Beauregard tells us it was a favor to Abel Cain, who assigned the favor to Lux.

Shroud resurrects Golem. The morgue is missing another body.