This really is a solo adventure but done with a technique I've been experimenting with. I used ICONS for the actual task resolution. For those following along at home, I chose a character I had created for a challenge over on RPG.net, Haemophile, and a villain I had done for something else, Ape X. (Ape X is essentially Gorilla Grodd.)
Haemophile
Origin Birthright
Name Haemophile (Chloe Grace)
Prowess 5 Intellect 3 Determination3
Coordination 3 Awareness 3 Stamina10
Strength 5 Willpower 5
Specialities:Martial Arts, Stealth
Powers Invisibility Good 5
Strike (Slash) Great 6
Extra: Secondary Effect: Affliction Amazing 7
Qualities
Idealizes "normal" because she's a mutant
Mid-level assassin for a shadowy agency
No one but her builds up immunity
Ape X
Origin Transformed
Prowess 5 Intellect 7 Determination –
Coordination 4 Awareness 4 Stamina 13
Strength 6 Willpower 7
Specialties Athletics, Mental Resistance Expert, Technology Master, Wrestling
Powers
Super-Senses (Enh. Hearing, Enh Smell) 2
Telepathy 7
Extra: Mind Control 7
Qualities
Genius Gorilla
Hatred of Humans
I Will Do What's Best Even If They Hate Me
The laundromat was a slice of normalcy for Chloe: it and the library were the things that kept the rich filling of weirdness from staining her... She couldn't figure out what the end of the metaphor should be, except that life was truly a weirdness sandwich. She found that last bra and threw it in the washing machine, then carefully counted out the quarters. She looked at the remainder and counted them. She wouldn't have enough to dry everything. She turned to the woman at the counter--
Everyone turned into a gorilla.
Chloe checked her arm--not hairy.
So everyone had turned into a gorilla except Chloe.
And they didn't notice. The woman (woman-gorilla) at the counter was still flipping through her tabloid.
Chloe looked around. One of the gorillas noticed her and the eyes started to widen--
And then the change flickered off. Everyone was human. The woman rubbed her eyes and went back to chatting with her friend.
And except for Chloe, no one seemed to notice.
This was something beyond her ken: either insanity or a plot. She stepped outside to a private place to make two calls. The first was to Dr. Jessop, her government psychologist. (Killing was hard for Chloe, even though it was her job.) Chloe felt out Dr. Jessop to find out if she--Chloe--was due for hallucinations.
"I think we'd better see you this afternoon. I can stay late tonight." Dr. Jessop had a warm voice, like honey, and Chloe agreed. After that call, she tapped the phone against her thigh. Then she called her agency handler.
"Everyone just turned into a gorilla," she said, without preamble. "I already called Dr. Jessop. So if I'm not crazy?"
"I didn't notice anything," he said. His voice was scratchy and high.
"No one did."
He paused a moment and then gave her a name--Dr. Timothy Coop--and an address. "He does all that Kirbytech stuff for the university. He has clearance. You can talk to him."
Chloe went to the counter. "I'm sorry, but I have to get my kid from the sitter," she lied. "He's throwing up. My basket's right there. If someone needs the machine, I don't mind if they put the clothes in the basket." The woman waved her hand without looking up from her tabloid.
* * *
Dr. Coop's office was cluttered, decorated with tall piles of books and printouts, and a few dusty pictures of the family. Dr. Coop was sitting at his desk between two pillars of paper and putting away a small flask.
Chloe introduced herself, using the cover name that the agency had given her. "What do you know about gorillas?"
He looked straight in her eyes. She could smell the booze. "Nothing," he said slowly. "Biology was my wife's area."
"Because earlier today, I saw everyone change into a gorilla."
His shoulders sagged. "Thank god. I thought I was the only one. You're a mutant, right?"
"No, of course not. Why would you think that?" Chloe had known she was a mutant since she turned invisible at thirteen. The claws and the poisonous venom had only reinforced that.
"You're latent. That's okay." He looked behind her. "Shut the door." She did. "I'm a mutant," he told her. "It's a knack for technology. Put something in front of me, and let me touch it, and sooner or later I'll understand it." He smiled tightly. "Makes me good at my field. But I was teaching a bunch of first-years today, and they all turned into gorillas."
"So I'm not crazy."
"No, the Moreau ray is obscure but documented. Villain, early 1960s. His only affected one individual, though, and required a tremendous energy input. He stored lightning in capacitors-- Your power?"
"Claws." She didn't tell him about the others, and the claws were itching to come out. Side effect of feeling threatened. She slid them out, and then back.
"That's not a lot." She shrugged. "Okay. Where were you when it happened?"
"South side."
"It looks like it affected at least the city, perhaps more."
Chloe nodded and pulled out her phone again. "Can you cancel my appointment with Dr. Jessop? I'm not crazy. It looks like at least this city turned into gorillas. Check farther afield." She put her phone down. "If the area is big enough, it's not my problem."
"That seems rather un-hero-like."
Chloe laughed. "Trust me, I am not a superhero."
A light started to flash. "It's the vault," said Dr. Coop. "I store high tech items for study, and someone's breaking into it."
"The police--?"
"They'll be too late. Come on!"
* * *
They ran to the vault--and found a huge silverback gorilla tearing the door from its hinges.
-I'll find it easier to look at the contents without that door,- rumbled the gorilla. He glanced at both of them, and they froze, as if a force had paralyzed their bodies.
He left the vault with something the size of a shoebox that has a blue gem fastened on top. They "heard" him but his lips didn't move.
-I can't risk you breaking the power source. You'll stay like that for an hour. That should be enough time.- He looked them up and down. -Interesting. You remember everyone else changing. Well. We'll have to hunt you down once I'm done.-
About a minute after he left, Chloe tumbled to the floor. She helped Dr. Coop and then phoned her handler again.
"No, really," she said. "Now I have the need to know. Tell me everything in your files about the telepathic gorilla."
***
They were sitting in Dr. Coop's office. She had a mug of tea in her hands. "They claim they don't know where he came from, but he represents a troop of hyperintelligent simians." She saw his hand tremble as he reached for his tea. "You feeling better?"
Dr. Coop grimaced. "It's still an effort to move anything. Thank you for the tea."
She shrugged. "We were paralyzed by a telepathic gorilla. A cup of tea can't hurt. Hell, I'd drink if there were booze handy."
Dr. Coop reached into his desk and held out the silver flask. She waved it away.
"I think I have to be alert. What was the box thing he took?"
"I don't know yet. It came out of a crashed spaceship during the Kootlismik invasion. He, the ape, implied that it was a power source, and that's probably correct--I just haven't got to it yet because I have other things with more urgent deadlines."
"It takes you time? I thought you just, you know, understood things."
"I always check. I'm afraid that I'll interpret my understanding wrong because I lack the background. A radio is a radio, but if you don't know about radio waves, it's a murder weapon: you drop it in the bathtub with someone and it kills them."
Chloe nodded. "But you think this thing is a power source?"
Dr. Coop said, "I think he burned out his previous power source. Check for standard power sources. See if any of them went dead." Chloe just looked at him. "Can't you--?"
"I barely graduated high school," she said. It was a lie: she had never graduated high school.
"Right." He sat down at his computer. "My theory is that he's using some variant of the Moreau ray. Mutants like me--like us--aren't affected because the Moreau ray affects a specific allele, a marker. His ray triggers certain biological changes. Our allele is different...it's a marker."
"He's making everyone into mutant apes?"
"Sort of." He scanned the results on his computer. "He tapped into the power mains for the army base."
"How much more powerful is the thing he took?"
"Assuming it is a power source?"
"He thinks it is."
"Granted. The weapon it came from vaporized the entire hull of a tank in less than a second." He scribbled for a second. "Assuming that it does the same number of kilojoules with the same losses for efficiency... I think he could make the change permanent for the seaboard. Possibly the nation."
She chewed her lip. "Man, we definitely need real superheroes here."
"Mine is not really a fighting power."
"Mine is only a fighting power." Claws flickered out of her fingertips and then she withdrew them. "I hate it." She sighed. "Where is he now?"
"Who knows? Now he's freed from the need to tap into the power grid."
"But his lab had to be hooked up originally. The machine, the ray generator, is there. He's smart but he's not super fast."
"Mechanical lab space, not necessarily official lab space, where he can hook into the army base generators."
"That's going to be in or near the army base. They won't have lain cable outside the base."
"Then he's in the vehicle maintenance building or in the underground lab."
"The underground lab?"
"They have an underground lab. My wife--my ex-wife. She worked there."
"Of course they have an underground lab." She rolled her eyes. "It's that simple? Surely someone else has noticed this."
"Well, you have to have clearance and know about the underground lab." He printed off a map. "I don't know where the entrance is--I was blindfolded the only time I went there."
"Super." She looked at the map. "You're sure no other superheroes have responded to this?"
"They would come to ask me--I am the expert on rays that turn people into gorillas."
"I guess." She sighed. "I guess I'm going to an army base."
* * *
Chloe left her motorcycle outside the fence, out of sight of the gate. It had been so easy to walk into the army base that she wondered why they didn't have protection against invisible assassins. Really, she couldn't be the only one.
The blow was entirely unexpected and sent her sprawling along the ground.
More to come in part II.
Haemophile
Origin Birthright
Name Haemophile (Chloe Grace)
Prowess 5 Intellect 3 Determination3
Coordination 3 Awareness 3 Stamina10
Strength 5 Willpower 5
Specialities:Martial Arts, Stealth
Powers Invisibility Good 5
Strike (Slash) Great 6
Extra: Secondary Effect: Affliction Amazing 7
Qualities
Idealizes "normal" because she's a mutant
Mid-level assassin for a shadowy agency
No one but her builds up immunity
Ape X
Origin Transformed
Prowess 5 Intellect 7 Determination –
Coordination 4 Awareness 4 Stamina 13
Strength 6 Willpower 7
Specialties Athletics, Mental Resistance Expert, Technology Master, Wrestling
Powers
Super-Senses (Enh. Hearing, Enh Smell) 2
Telepathy 7
Extra: Mind Control 7
Qualities
Genius Gorilla
Hatred of Humans
I Will Do What's Best Even If They Hate Me
The laundromat was a slice of normalcy for Chloe: it and the library were the things that kept the rich filling of weirdness from staining her... She couldn't figure out what the end of the metaphor should be, except that life was truly a weirdness sandwich. She found that last bra and threw it in the washing machine, then carefully counted out the quarters. She looked at the remainder and counted them. She wouldn't have enough to dry everything. She turned to the woman at the counter--
Everyone turned into a gorilla.
Chloe checked her arm--not hairy.
So everyone had turned into a gorilla except Chloe.
And they didn't notice. The woman (woman-gorilla) at the counter was still flipping through her tabloid.
Chloe looked around. One of the gorillas noticed her and the eyes started to widen--
And then the change flickered off. Everyone was human. The woman rubbed her eyes and went back to chatting with her friend.
And except for Chloe, no one seemed to notice.
This was something beyond her ken: either insanity or a plot. She stepped outside to a private place to make two calls. The first was to Dr. Jessop, her government psychologist. (Killing was hard for Chloe, even though it was her job.) Chloe felt out Dr. Jessop to find out if she--Chloe--was due for hallucinations.
"I think we'd better see you this afternoon. I can stay late tonight." Dr. Jessop had a warm voice, like honey, and Chloe agreed. After that call, she tapped the phone against her thigh. Then she called her agency handler.
"Everyone just turned into a gorilla," she said, without preamble. "I already called Dr. Jessop. So if I'm not crazy?"
"I didn't notice anything," he said. His voice was scratchy and high.
"No one did."
He paused a moment and then gave her a name--Dr. Timothy Coop--and an address. "He does all that Kirbytech stuff for the university. He has clearance. You can talk to him."
Chloe went to the counter. "I'm sorry, but I have to get my kid from the sitter," she lied. "He's throwing up. My basket's right there. If someone needs the machine, I don't mind if they put the clothes in the basket." The woman waved her hand without looking up from her tabloid.
* * *
Dr. Coop's office was cluttered, decorated with tall piles of books and printouts, and a few dusty pictures of the family. Dr. Coop was sitting at his desk between two pillars of paper and putting away a small flask.
Chloe introduced herself, using the cover name that the agency had given her. "What do you know about gorillas?"
He looked straight in her eyes. She could smell the booze. "Nothing," he said slowly. "Biology was my wife's area."
"Because earlier today, I saw everyone change into a gorilla."
His shoulders sagged. "Thank god. I thought I was the only one. You're a mutant, right?"
"No, of course not. Why would you think that?" Chloe had known she was a mutant since she turned invisible at thirteen. The claws and the poisonous venom had only reinforced that.
"You're latent. That's okay." He looked behind her. "Shut the door." She did. "I'm a mutant," he told her. "It's a knack for technology. Put something in front of me, and let me touch it, and sooner or later I'll understand it." He smiled tightly. "Makes me good at my field. But I was teaching a bunch of first-years today, and they all turned into gorillas."
"So I'm not crazy."
"No, the Moreau ray is obscure but documented. Villain, early 1960s. His only affected one individual, though, and required a tremendous energy input. He stored lightning in capacitors-- Your power?"
"Claws." She didn't tell him about the others, and the claws were itching to come out. Side effect of feeling threatened. She slid them out, and then back.
"That's not a lot." She shrugged. "Okay. Where were you when it happened?"
"South side."
"It looks like it affected at least the city, perhaps more."
Chloe nodded and pulled out her phone again. "Can you cancel my appointment with Dr. Jessop? I'm not crazy. It looks like at least this city turned into gorillas. Check farther afield." She put her phone down. "If the area is big enough, it's not my problem."
"That seems rather un-hero-like."
Chloe laughed. "Trust me, I am not a superhero."
A light started to flash. "It's the vault," said Dr. Coop. "I store high tech items for study, and someone's breaking into it."
"The police--?"
"They'll be too late. Come on!"
* * *
They ran to the vault--and found a huge silverback gorilla tearing the door from its hinges.
-I'll find it easier to look at the contents without that door,- rumbled the gorilla. He glanced at both of them, and they froze, as if a force had paralyzed their bodies.
He left the vault with something the size of a shoebox that has a blue gem fastened on top. They "heard" him but his lips didn't move.
-I can't risk you breaking the power source. You'll stay like that for an hour. That should be enough time.- He looked them up and down. -Interesting. You remember everyone else changing. Well. We'll have to hunt you down once I'm done.-
About a minute after he left, Chloe tumbled to the floor. She helped Dr. Coop and then phoned her handler again.
"No, really," she said. "Now I have the need to know. Tell me everything in your files about the telepathic gorilla."
***
They were sitting in Dr. Coop's office. She had a mug of tea in her hands. "They claim they don't know where he came from, but he represents a troop of hyperintelligent simians." She saw his hand tremble as he reached for his tea. "You feeling better?"
Dr. Coop grimaced. "It's still an effort to move anything. Thank you for the tea."
She shrugged. "We were paralyzed by a telepathic gorilla. A cup of tea can't hurt. Hell, I'd drink if there were booze handy."
Dr. Coop reached into his desk and held out the silver flask. She waved it away.
"I think I have to be alert. What was the box thing he took?"
"I don't know yet. It came out of a crashed spaceship during the Kootlismik invasion. He, the ape, implied that it was a power source, and that's probably correct--I just haven't got to it yet because I have other things with more urgent deadlines."
"It takes you time? I thought you just, you know, understood things."
"I always check. I'm afraid that I'll interpret my understanding wrong because I lack the background. A radio is a radio, but if you don't know about radio waves, it's a murder weapon: you drop it in the bathtub with someone and it kills them."
Chloe nodded. "But you think this thing is a power source?"
Dr. Coop said, "I think he burned out his previous power source. Check for standard power sources. See if any of them went dead." Chloe just looked at him. "Can't you--?"
"I barely graduated high school," she said. It was a lie: she had never graduated high school.
"Right." He sat down at his computer. "My theory is that he's using some variant of the Moreau ray. Mutants like me--like us--aren't affected because the Moreau ray affects a specific allele, a marker. His ray triggers certain biological changes. Our allele is different...it's a marker."
"He's making everyone into mutant apes?"
"Sort of." He scanned the results on his computer. "He tapped into the power mains for the army base."
"How much more powerful is the thing he took?"
"Assuming it is a power source?"
"He thinks it is."
"Granted. The weapon it came from vaporized the entire hull of a tank in less than a second." He scribbled for a second. "Assuming that it does the same number of kilojoules with the same losses for efficiency... I think he could make the change permanent for the seaboard. Possibly the nation."
She chewed her lip. "Man, we definitely need real superheroes here."
"Mine is not really a fighting power."
"Mine is only a fighting power." Claws flickered out of her fingertips and then she withdrew them. "I hate it." She sighed. "Where is he now?"
"Who knows? Now he's freed from the need to tap into the power grid."
"But his lab had to be hooked up originally. The machine, the ray generator, is there. He's smart but he's not super fast."
"Mechanical lab space, not necessarily official lab space, where he can hook into the army base generators."
"That's going to be in or near the army base. They won't have lain cable outside the base."
"Then he's in the vehicle maintenance building or in the underground lab."
"The underground lab?"
"They have an underground lab. My wife--my ex-wife. She worked there."
"Of course they have an underground lab." She rolled her eyes. "It's that simple? Surely someone else has noticed this."
"Well, you have to have clearance and know about the underground lab." He printed off a map. "I don't know where the entrance is--I was blindfolded the only time I went there."
"Super." She looked at the map. "You're sure no other superheroes have responded to this?"
"They would come to ask me--I am the expert on rays that turn people into gorillas."
"I guess." She sighed. "I guess I'm going to an army base."
* * *
Chloe left her motorcycle outside the fence, out of sight of the gate. It had been so easy to walk into the army base that she wondered why they didn't have protection against invisible assassins. Really, she couldn't be the only one.
The blow was entirely unexpected and sent her sprawling along the ground.
More to come in part II.