Archive Mutants & Masterminds: The Unlikely Prophets - Issue #1: A Gathering Storm

[The Scarlet Samurai]

Kenshin remained bent at the waist, his torso very nearly parallel to the floor, his eyes cast down. He waited for absolution, his honor demanding that he do so. In slow increments his muscles began first to twitch and then cramp, he was a professor and not in the kind of shape that would make this at all easier. Realization began to creep and nip at the edge of his mind, She is a westerner, their ways are different. Still bent over in a deep bow, Kenshin began to wonder what he should do to restore face after his apparent insult to this woman.

[SalmonMax]

Larissa stared openmouthed at Jack. "Did you just call me 'Spellarella?' I..." She sputtered. "No. Just...no. I'll think of something better. The Book is full of weird words and references..."

She nodded as Gloom excused herself to pack, and patted Kenshin on the back.

"You can stand up now," Lari said quietly. "She forgives you. Sort of."

[Radiance]

Hikari walked over to Ken and also laid a hand on his shoulder. "She's had a rough day, and she's not familiar with our customs. Go ahead and stand up. She didn't say she forgives you because she probably didn't realize it's what you were waiting for."

[z-Gloom]

Gloom frowned as she saw what was going on. "Seriously, get up," she said, impatience tinging her voice. "Now's not the time for... whatever it is you're trying to do." She slipped the garbage bag over her shoulder, then stopped and put it on the floor. Quickly, she dug out her phone, letting the others catch sight of the Knights uniform in the bag. She hadn't been lying; one of the Knights was now one of them.

[The Scarlet Samurai]

Kenshin straightens and the others can see the small beads of sweat that stand out on his forehead and the wince as his muscles stretch. "I sense that I have still lost face with you. If any deed may restore my standing name it and it will be done." He nods his head and turns to Larissa, "Do you wish to return to your home first or shall we find the next door at this time?"

[z-Gloom]

"Wait," Gloom said. "I need to do something before I get out of here."

She turned her back to the for a minimum of privacy and called Russ' phone. "Russ," she said when she got his voice mail. "I won't be in contact again. I just wanted to say that... well, thanks for seeing me instead of a monster. If I get this fixed, you'll be the first to know. Take care of yourself."

[Charlotte]

Jack found the address; Larissa, the photo. Within moments, Larissa had found a picture of the building's exterior; it wasn't that upscale and didn't have any interior pictures. Everyone who could take a moment to look as they wanted, did so.

Again, the door flared with runes, and again, Larissa opened both the door they were exiting and the door they were entering. The change in weather was stark - it was much later in the day in London and there was a bite to the... wind...

Gloom, Radiance, Larissa and the Scarlet Samurai saw what Blackjack didn't - a huge-looking woman waiting, and then a huge rush of air sent trash in the street tumbling as another woman just... appeared.

"Time to go, Muscles," said the new arrival.

"Didn't you...? Nevermind. I'm ready."

The sight of them both was startling to the point that the group neglected to close the door, and both Bodhie and Cyan could see the interior of Radiance's apartment through the five of them.

Blackjack tugged at the neck of his sweater, oblivious to the pair's strange appearance. "They weren't kidding when they said London was windy. So any ideas how to find whoever we're here for?"

[z-Gloom]

Gloom ducked back in the bathroom long enough to drop the phone in the back of the toilet. That should short it. Then she turned and hurried out, right as Larissa's door opened. Startled, she pulled hard on Darkness-

The others got to see a far more normal woman walk through the portal, with dark reddish-blond hair and olive green eyes. Her skin had an off tone to it, as if she constantly stood in shadow. But most importantly, she only had one set of arms.

"It's not going to be a problem, Jack," Andi said, looking at the strange set. "I suspect they're right under our noses."

[CyCo]

"Hey look, the calvary! Well that beats looking for you guys!" Cyan said, taking in the new arrivals. "Sure are an odd bunch aren't ya? We might want to get going back through that there doorway, I may have just ticked off my boss a bit."

Cyan readjusted the two messenger bags as she nudged Bodhie with an elbow and gave her a 'I told ya' look. To what exactly she was referring remained a mystery as she walked over to the five.

"I'm Cyco by the way, Touched By an Angel if you will. This here is Bodhie, swift like rock and strong like one too. But maybe we should save the intros for a less conspicuous place, like I dunno, there?" she rambled quickly, pointing back at Radiance's apartment.

[Radiance]

Radiance Nods. "Everybody back then, There's still some room there." She looks to Larissa. "We can go back through right?"

[The Scarlet Samurai]

Kenshin barely had time to see what was on the opposite side of the doorway when two more women quickly barged through. He back pedaled and without thinking about it he had pulled the knife from his pocket, held horizontalling his hand such that he could easily draw the blade when and if it became needed. In his mind it called for blood but he pushed it aside easily, its voice wasn't nearly as strong as it had been during the argument.

[SalmonMax]

"Uh...yeah, we can...are we sure these two...."

But even as she hemmed and hawed, Larissa was backpedaling through the door back into Radiance's apartment.

"Just don't let the door close until everyone's through," she finished lamely."

[Charlotte]

Jack arched an eyebrow. "That was easier than I thought. So who are you two and why - " He paused as he was elbowed out of the way. "Why're you here, and anyone else ask you that lately?"

[Radiance]

Radiance chuckled as she went back through the door. There'd never been this many people in her home before. As Blackjack asked his questions she looked over the two newcomers, wondering if Ken and Blackjack would be the only men on the team.

[Bodhie Armstrong]

As if things weren't confusing enough suddenly the chain of events made even less sense then they just had. Bodhie couldn't tell if it was through Cyan's own power or merely coincedence that they suddenly stood in someone else's appartment by going through a door that initially opened to somewhere else. Wrapping her mind around it seemed difficult enough and the people she saw looked at least as half confused as she did.

Bodhie assumed a defensive stance next to Cyan and looked at the strangers her muscles bulged from the anticipation. This could be some kind of ambush or kidnapping but then Blackjack spoke up and asked the question. The heavily muscled woman who stood just a hair shorter than Gloom but looked twice as broad slowly nodded and relaxed a bit. The muscle-shirt she was wearing still looked almost painted on and her physique was downright intimidating from up close.

"You... you heard the music, too?", is all Bodhie managed to ask hoping these people were friendlies and not from the Order.

[CyCo]

"Of course they did Bodhie, that's why we haven't been shot or arrested, or worse. How we gonna go about bringing down the Order? Full frontal assault..." she said, disappearing for a moment as she zipped around the room in a small whirlwind, "...or sneaky and boring?"

Her faith in these people seemed freely given as she was ready to accept all of them, weird looking or not. Hard not to considering she was the one sporting a full length tattoo on her back, of wings.

[Charlotte]

"We heard the music too."

The group reconvened inside of Radiance's studio, paintings on the walls and a good view of Seattle out the window.

Blackjack took his sunglasses off. His eyes were dead, with milky white irises and scar tissue around them. "Another pair. And you found each other on your own. Interesting... from your accents you're both native to the UK. Okay.

"Let me tell you what's probably happened to you. The two of you, after hearing music, someone known as the Mathemagician came on the radio or your cellular - might want to ditch those, by the way, or at least turn them off - or on your TV and seemed to speak to you. He asked you what I just asked you. And afterwards something weird happened. An idea came to you or something strange happened, or something you never noticed before took on a different light. Whatever it was, suddenly you an do something impossible. Am I about right so far?"

[Bodhie Armstrong]

Bodhie nodded slowly, "Well... that's kind of chaotic but basically you're right. I'm still trying to understand what happened, but Cyco was sent by an Angel and I suppose that's all I need for an explanation."

The extremely muscular woman looked at her new friend and sighed feeling the anxiety of the last hour slowly seep out of her. She put her bag down and checked out the room. The apartment was larger than Cyco's and it didn't look like she would break everything by just looking at it. After she had taken a brief inventory of the room she looked at the others her eyes resting briefly on each one of them. Then she nodded again.

"So we're not alone anymore... that's a good feeling."

[SalmonMax]

Larissa looked from Bodhie, who by simple size had been commanding her attention, to Cyco.

"Sent by an angel? Literally sent by an angel? You're not human?"

[Bodhie Armstrong]

Bodhie nodded steadfastly, "That's what she told me and I believe her. I can't tell much about the human thing, though. Something has definitely changed or can you explain this?", Bodhie raised an eyebrow at Larissa.

[Charlotte]

"You four haven't heard this part, have you? Hold on." Blackjack fished a pocket tape recorder out of his pants. He pressed Play.

There was a thumping noise, as if someone was tapping the microphone to test it. Then a woman's voice came on.

"Jack, it's Lori. I know this won't make any sense. I know that after what we shared, me just up and leaving like this will break your heart. But I have to. I don't think I'm going to be coming back. What I'm about to do is... there's no real way to describe it. We haven't invented a language for it. Well, I have, but it won't make sense to anyone who hasn't been working on it for the past three decades.

"Yeah, I cracked it. That song I've been writing for thirty years? It's done. I wish I could play it for you but I have a feeling this is a song that'll only play once.

"You ever listen to a song and it takes you somewhere else, in your head? Well, this is a bit like that. Except it'll take all of us - the world - somewhere else. I can't explain it better, but if I'm right... if what we heard about the Mathemagician is right, then once this gets plugged into it, the world will shift under our feet. Things that were impossible before will be possible." She sounded a bit shaky and excited, suddenly. "The superheroes will be coming back. The world's going to let them back in, for just a second. You need to find them, Jack. You need to listen to a radio constantly for the next week. The Order controls all telecommunication through the Mathemagician and it's the key. It's how the song will get out. It's going to ask you and anyone else who fits the criteria 'who are you, and why are you here.' You'll be able to find them because I caught a glimpse of what you can do if the world lets you, and it's made me more confident than ever that this is the right thing. You need to find the superheroes, Jack. Because we're ruled by supervillains and no one's ever been able to stop them or stand up to them, and I know how that eats you up inside."

"I love you, Jack. It kills me to leave you. But if I don't do this then by the time we're gone they won't even have the word 'love' any more. I have to go now, Jack. I have to go hack the machinery of gods."

"That's the voice of my former live-in help." Jack turned off the tape recorde, and tucked it away. "I have live-in help because I can't see. I did what she asked and listened and I heard it, just like you all did. Afterwards I had this... intuition. You could call it knowing my luck, in a way. I found you two, and the other four in this room, by pulling random cards out of a deck, to find the address you would be found at. I have two more hits left on my list. Grand Canyon and Chicago. We'll find them, too, if they haven't already found each other. Then, well. Things get interesting."

[CyCo]

"Yeah, things get interesting, we overthrow the Order!" Cyco said, clearly excited. "I think the Angel was a little worried about us getting together in time, but look here, we're almost done!"

She zipped over to in front of Larissa, the backlash of air rustling her dress and blowing hair into her eyes. "Of course I'm human silly. Just part Angel." she said, holding up two fingers just barely apart as she brushed hair out of her face. "I have a foot in each world."

[Radiance]

Radiance listens intently to the recording and considers what's said, His live in Help was the one who'd made the song. She was partly responsible for them being this way. "Let's find the others."

[Bodhie Armstrong]

Slowly things were making more sense to Bodhie. Till now all she could do was to trust Cyan blindly and even though the young woman had a very inspiring aura Bodhie still felt the pang of doubt nagging at her conscience. The tape recording obviously wiped away any doubts she had before. With new found confidence she nodded at Radiance agreeing to what the tall bombshell just said.

"We shouldn't lose time, who knows if they're already in trouble.", Bodhie tried to ease the tension in her body but she couldn't relax past a certain point. It seemed as if her muscles remained ever ready for action.

[SalmonMax]

"Uh...right," Larissa stammered, still a little weirded out by the physical changes that had been wrought in some of the other 'special' people. She found herself wondering what the next two would look like.

She takes the Book out of her satchel and takes a deep breath to steady herself.

"Okay. I'm ready to go. Blackjack, where are we looking again?"

[Charlotte]

Blackjack's cards are already out. He smiles. "Got to admit, I was expecting this to be a lot harder. "Okay..." He feels each card carefully. "Next one's in Chicago. And I get the feeling it's the last on the list. I have an address for you." He rattles it off.

The address turns out to be just opposite a funeral parlor in Chicago's Chinatown. Finding a picture is easily done, due to the number of obituaries that can be found online, and soon, the group's emerged through the portal.

It's nighttime, by now. There's a bit of a chill to the Chicago air, as the seven of them step forth. Hardly anyone on the streets, and that's when the group - or those who can see, anyways - notice two odd things; first, there's a woman with green eyes and long hair and a haunted look talking to what looks like a ghost, and there's another Chinese-American man in a long lab coat a few dozen feet away talking to thin air.

Blackjack frowned. "Hmmm. You see anything? It feels... must be the time of day."

[Radiance]

Radiance looks at the two people there and nods. At least they didn't have to go far to find the people they were looking for.

"I'll say this much, that thing's accurate as hell."

[IndyPendant]

Sharatur smiles sadly. "Daddy, if you're staying here because of that...move on. Just go. Tell Mom I love her when you see her."

She looks around, searching for Norman--and freezes as she sees the crowd of strangers. "Get out of here Dad. Go!"

She holds out her hand. "Norman." she hisses intensely. "Take my hand. Right now, Norman!"

[Charlotte]

"Woah woah woah woah woah, who all's there? Who are you, and why're you here? Anyone else ask you that? 'Cause someone asked us." Blackjack looks a bit panicked. "We're not here to fight, we're just looking out for whoever went through what we did. I can't see shit so who all's out there?"

[Necronaut]

The Necronaut looked over Sam's shoulder at Sharatur and then did a double take at the group advancing from across the street.

On one hand, he wasn't sure the proper response at this point was to do anything rash or urgent. On the other hand, he was pretty sure Sharatur was about to do something impressive and he didn't want to miss it.

He stopped again when the familiar questions sounded across the graveyard.

He spoke quickly to Sam, "Looks like we'll have to finish this up a little later. Thanks again."

He hustled over to Sharatur. To the newcomers he offered what would have been a jovial wave, except his swirling, black-eyed ghast-mask made joviality particularly difficult to express.

He whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "Play it cool Miss D. If these guys are on the level it will make my day." He paused to consider what else had happened to him this particular day and amended, "Well, this part of my day."

[SalmonMax]

Larissa tried to adjust to what she was seeing, and stepped forward, waving.

"Hi! Sorry if we startled you. We...well, we think we're like you. Or, you know, from our perspective we think you're like us. Same thing. We all heard this song, and everything seemed like it slowed down and stopped...and then we heard the questions from the Mathemagician. So if that makes sense to you, come on over and we can talk."

"If not, we'll be on our way and leave you alone."

[Radiance]

"No one means you any harm, at least no one in this group. We're all like you I'd wager, or at least very similar."

[Necronaut]

"No no! Don't go anywhere. This is perfect."

He gave a hopeful nod to Sharatur and began to advance on the others. As he did he twisted himself around uncomfortably, as if he was trying to work a kink out of his back. Finally he found the angle he was looking for and managed to wriggle himself just a step closer to the netherworld. He became monochromatic and transparent, his outlines were no longer sharp but instead dwindled to a grayish haze. He wanted to hope the newcomers were serious, but hope and caution were not mutually exclusive.

"I am the Necronaut. And you have all arrived just in time. As you may already be aware, The Order intends to 'reclaim' all grave yards and compost the dead." He paused a moment to let the full impact of this statement sink in. When it didn't seem to be sinking quite fast enough he continued. "The Dead are in no position to defend themselves from this Orderly cataclysm. I can only assume that the music and our meeting here at this crucial juncture is no coincidence. Join us!" He gave an enthusiastic side nod to indicate Sharatur and, possibly, Mr. De Vasch. "If you are truly like us then perhaps you have both the means and the will to push back against the Order and save The Afterlife as we know it!"

He put one foot forward and raised a triumphant fist to the sky. He was absurdly proud of himself, so the goofy grin on his face might have spoiled the effect. Once again he was glad he had a mask.

[IndyPendant]

Sharatur lowers her arm slowly, looking far more nervous than Blackjack. She looks in fact as if the slightest show of hostility will have her fleeing as fast as she is able.

The words being thrown at her from multiple mouths finally register. She stares at the group again, and realizes there are only seven of them, not the invading horde she had first thought.

'Only' seven! her mind gibbered with manic amusement. She squelched the thought, but for once it had been several steps ahead of her.

They were reciting the Mathemagician's vision she had experienced. Which would mean all seven of them must be part of this insanity. Which would in turn mean there was probably more! Norman and Sharatur taking on the entire Order was a laughable proposition. A small army of people with strange abilities though? That had some possibility of success!

And if she was wrong, if they did prove hostile, she couldn't run very far. She made a mental note to take a minute or two to thoroughly examine somewhere nearby, wherever she went. If these had been Knights Watchmen, she would most likely have had no escape.

For now though...she shrugs and steps forward along with Norman. She then stares at him a little startled. The Necronaut? What the fuck? She doesn't say anything however. She just watches their reactions carefully. She's surprised and a little heartened to note that with his words, her fears seem to evaporate.

Mostly.

[Radiance]

Imagine everyone strangers showing up at your apartment like we did, opening the door across the world, and picking up two more, then ending up back in your apartment with six other people you'd only met the same night, most only minutes before."

"It's been an interesting night to say the least."

She looks to The Necronaut and suprisingly is without answer to his display.

[Bodhie Armstrong]

Bodhie decided to remain a bit in the background not wanting to cause any trouble because of her imposing physique. If you saw only her face she was actually a very beautiful woman but most people couldn't keep their eyes off her muscles which were just too distracting, too unusual to see on a woman. She wasn't an everyday sight, even without the enhancement she experienced.

[z-Gloom]

Gloom had been silent until now. Best to let those who were good at talking do the talking. But 'the Necronaut' was just a bit too much to remain silent over. "The dead are dead," she said flatly. "What do they care if their bodies are destroyed? Besides, we have the living to worry about." Her arms itched, and Gloom realized that Darkness wanted out. "Can we get some shelter? I need to stretch out and don't like being in the open like this. Looks like prime Knight patrol territory to me, and we don't wanna be here if they come."

[Necronaut]

It struck Norman that earlier in the day he probably would have been a little skeptical about the whole thing too. He suddenly regretted his outburst. He drew his foot back and lowered his fist, seeming to deflate a little overall.

He replied meekly, "Well, yes, they are dead. But I don't think it's fair to hold that against them. Forgotten, without places like this to help them let go, it's a lot harder for them to move on to the Next Big Thing. And this does concern the living. If only because we're probably not going to be the living forever. And I'm sure most of us know someone who's dead."

He trailed off. Time to change track. "There's a little more cover in the trees at the back."

[SalmonMax]

Larissa shook her head to clear the dazed feeling looking at Necronaut's spectral form gave her.

"She's right," she said, indicating Gloom. "This place is a bit public to talk about what we need to talk about. We still have a door open..." Lari looked questioningly at Radiance. "Is it okay if we use your place? If not, we can go to mine."

[Radiance]

Hikari nods. "It's fine the more the merrier." With that she goes back through the door into her apartment and begins moving chairs into the living room from the kitchen.

Inwardly she sighed. Still this was all for the best, it would be nice to be home.