ic Head West

[Supercape]

GM

 

July 31st, Late Evening

 

It was a hot, languid night, with hot, languid tempers lolling this way and that on the streets of Freedom City. The Docks were cooler, thank the Gods, with the sea air gently taking the dge of the heat. 

 

'Twas here that the Scarab spied. 

 

Mind reading was a handy talent for a crime fighter. From street thugs to shady dealers, it got her the inside scoop on todays deal. A meeting. Someone from the underground villanous organisation, the Labyrinth ,was meeting an arms salesman. 

 

The nervous salesman had arrived by boat under cover of night. He was a small, twitchy man, with a North African look to him, and a thick beard. He might well appear to the ignorant or malicious, a terrorist from first glance. A reason indeed for him to be twitchy. 

 

He was waiting, twitching away, when a black sedan drove up beside him, and three much larger men got out. 

 

"What have you got?"

 

"I...I...can't bring it here" said the North African man. "...I can't get it into the states. It's...unstable, you see? Risky...very risky...."

 

The large men seemed distinctly unimpressed. 

 

"It's real, I tell you...look!" said the North African man, showing them a video clip on his phone. 

 

This made the large men much more impressed after they saw the clip...

[Tiffany Korta]

The Scarab III
After a few attempts at this Kamala was sure that she was getting better at this kind of stakeout. Her Scarab's eyes took in all the information she could whilst SAFIYA recorded and analysed as much as the AI could, and the gift of the vambraces telepathy helped as well.

The time to move was almost at hand she was sure, but right now she needed just that one bit of information to proceed, what the item on offer was once she knew that she could break up this little gathering. She really hoped it wasn't magic, she always seemed to become entangled with magical objects and people for some reason...

[Supercape]

GM

 

"See? Its power is extraordinary!" said the small north african man, keenly. 

 

His enthusiasm (As opposed to his nerves) was infectious, and the three dealers nodded to each other. 

 

"We would be very interested in such a weapon" they said. "What is its power source?"

 

"A Daka Crystal! But...highly unsta...highly powerful!" said the man, correcting himself quickly. 

 

"We can handle unstable. As long as it is powerful" the men said. "We can arrange transport into the States. Smuggling is not a problem, although it will reduce the price" they said, switching into business and barter mode. 

 

"Yes, yes...of course!" agreed the small man, keen to make a sale and, it seemed, get the weapon out of his hands...

[Tiffany Korta]

The Scarab III

A Daka crystal! In all her experimentation into power systems and energy distribution, she'd never even come close to examining the real thing. A single crystal would solve all her suits power needs, even just a few days studying its structure would advance her ideas by months or even years. With a sigh, Kamala resigned herself that she could let the transfer happen, too many people could be hurt or worse in its transfer.

 

She launched into the air and took a position above the little meeting using the shadows of the area to make her floating form look more menacing. Weapons and field in place in case trouble started she called out in her audibly enhanced voice.

 

"I suggest you all surrender now before I'm forced to restrain you all!"

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

Pyeow! Pyeow-Pyeow!

 

The gunshots were hardly aimed, but bullets flew from the three men's revolvers in attempt to deter any agressive action from the Scarab. 

 

"Its a set - up! Lets get out of here! Shoot her! Into the car!" came the rat-tat-tat of opinions on how to proceed on the matter. There was no concensus, for fear and primitive thinking took over. 

 

One fool stood still, feet planted, his tongue sticking out in concentration, determined to plug the Scarab with his pistol. The other two men decided to cut and run, one on foot, one by car. As for the North African man, he panicked more than the others. 

 

"Bluh-bluh-bluh! I'm innocent!" he yelped, despite all evidence clearly in refute of this outrageous statement. His feet had a mind of their own, and he started running to the powerboat by the docks he had arrived in...

[Tiffany Korta]

The Scarab III
Kamala sighed as the bullets pinged uselessly against her force field, giving off little puffs of colored light as they disintegrated harmlessly, why did they always take the hard option in these circumstances.

Still, with everyone splitting up she'd need to decide who to take out of action first, in case anyone got away she had all their identities recorded on camera. For now, her focus was on the man that had the information she was after, so she charged her sonic cannon and sent a shot towards the powerboat he was heading towards.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The power boat was not well equipped for such a blast of sonic force. Fibreglass splintered, and the outboard motor gave a most massive burp of grating metal that was almost in tune with the soundwaves that sundered its components. Almost, but not quite. No, in fact it gave a sound like finger nails running up and down a chalkboard. 

 

And then it emitted another burp of thick black smoke. Nobody was going anywhere in that power boat. In fact, it was sinking. 

 

"No!" cried the North African Man. He turned and ran towards the rapidly dissapearing black sedan. "Wait for me! Wait for me!" he yelled. 

 

Unfortunately they car had no intention of waiting, not even for the third dealer, who stood there obstinantly firing bullets at the Scarab until his clip ran empty...

[Tiffany Korta]

The Scarab III

Kamala allowed herself a moment to admire how efficient her sonic weapon was against the target, making a mental note of a few ways she saw to improve its efficiency further. As she did she passed on the information of the fleeing vehicle to the authorities, they should have enough to quickly catch them.

 

Her main focus was the man that she knew had the information that she wanted. She floated down in front of the man hovering just off of the ground to make her look taller and more imposing.

 

"You have information I require, tell me what I need to know now!" she had designed her electronic voice to sound more imposing when necessary, perfect for just these type of circumstances.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The short thin man trembled at the sight of the Scarab!

 

"Yes yes, of course! Whatever you say! Don't blast me with your laser beams!" he implored. "Or..wait! That was sonic energy, wasn't it?" he said, scientific curiousity calming him down. "Really powerful, too! Why, how did you do that?" he asked. 

 

He caught himself - realising with a start the horror of his situation. 

 

"Anyway! Don't disintegrate me! My name is Doctor Ahmed Misi. I am a physicist! I...er....its complicated! I found something and...er....yes....a corrupted Daka Crystal! Very valuable! Perhaps you could use it?" he suggested, desperate. 

[Tiffany Korta]

The Scarab III

It would have been very easy to explain it excruciating details how her sonic device function, she was an engineer at heart a proud of her achievements. But she knew that it wouldn't help in the image she was trying to project, and an image was very important to a superhero.

 

"And your first instinct was to come here, Doctor? With such a potentially dangerous item?”

 

From what she'd read on the subject a normal Daka crystal was potentially catastrophic if not handled correctly, what harm could a corrupted one do?

 

"You better start telling me what you know Doctor, it won't be long before the authorities arrive..."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Oh no! I didn't bring it with me! That would be foolish!" babbled the doctor. "It's safely...well....sort of safely...in Egypt, where I found it! An extraordinary device! Its hyperdimensional lensing can create a destructive charge of immense...ah...well..."

 

"It was in the desert, you see. I'm not an archeologist. I don't know how it got there. What I do know is that it has been corrupted. Distorted, you might say. It's hard to explain. Its as if the dimensions are twisted...and so are its energies. There are reports of Daka Crystals being corrupted before, but to much lesser degrees. Hitler was trying to get his hands on one, they say. But it went missing in Switzerland..." he babbled, throwing in even more irrelevant information and mind-bending equations which even the Scarab had to pause and think about. 

 

"Anyway, its extremely valuable. And I wanted to make some money!" he said, bluntly. 

[Tiffany Korta]

 

The Scarab III

Kamala considered her options, aware that there was a chance that the police could be here at any moment. She had to consider what would happen if someone else got their hand on the crystal.

 

"Appart from picking some very questionable friends you've not done anything truly wrong."

 

With a few gestures, she bought up a hologram of a three-dimensional map of that region of Egypt, something she'd created when she was younger.

 

"Give me the coordinate of this crystal and not only I'll let you leave tonight if the information is good I'll arrange for suitable compensation."

 

Greed was something that she could deal with, even if it was something she was opposed to on so many levels.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Yiah...how much precisely are we talking about?" gabbled the man, his instinct for barter temporarily surpressing his fear. "I mean...it has cost me a lot to develop the compensatory technology. And hyperdimensional shielding isn't easy you know..." he said, complaining about his sunk cost. "And I have a wife..two wives, actually, and five children to support" he added. 

 

"I mean, what is suitable compensation?" he asked. 

[Tiffany Korta]

 

The Scarab III

"I am carrying a multi-frequency sonic device, a powerful antigravity generator powered by a highly advanced power source and monitored with by a cutting-edge artificial intelligence. These are not something that you buy off the shelf!" her tone was mostly matter of fact with an edge of frustration at his attempted shakedown

 

"And Daka crystal have a unique energy signature, damage or not, I can have a repurposed satellite scanning for that before the police even start interviewing you!" she paused to let that sink in before adding "I suggest you take the deal as is, before I let the FCPD deal with this matter."

[Supercape]

GM

 

The poor scientist gulped. "Ah..Ah...yes...sure....I'm sorry!" he babbled, as he felt his bluff land flat on the ground and get solidly stomped to death. And an ignoble, ugly death at that. He decided not to try any such nonsense again. 

 

"Certainly! In which case...."

 

Cairo!

 

Ancient city of history, culture, and religion. But my, it was hot hot hot!

 

Doctor Ahmed Misi seemed quite at home after the quick plane ride across the world. "Ah, Cairo! How I adore thee!" he said, clearly relishing a bit of Shakespear. And, if one ignored the head, it was indeed a rather adorable city. 

 

"It...may not be easy" he conceded. "I have stored the crystal in the city. An old warehouse on the Nile, in the South of the City. There are interested parties, even here. Like my cousin, Farouk" he said. "He is a crook and a thief, and has been pressing me for the crystal ever since I opened my mouth to him. Curses for my wagging tongue!"

[Tiffany Korta]

 

The Scarab III

Coming back to Egypt was always a weird experience, despite living all her life in Freedom City it still felt like somewhere she'd lived all her life. Several lifetimes it seemed sometimes, a legacy of the vambrace she figured. Not trusting the doctor with her identity, especially as he'd been prepared to sell the crystal, she'd chosen to wear the Niqāb.

 

"I know the city well Doctor, I still have family here. Though they live more to the south of Cairo." cutting off any more questions about who she might be she added, "The Scarab, after all, is an ancient Egyptian symbol!"

 

He was an irritation, but for now, he was useful to her so she tried to ignore most of his irritating chatter.

 

"Let me worry about that, let's go see how things are now. Lead on Doctor."

[Supercape]

GM

 

It was a short, hot, and moderately unpleasant taxi ride to the outskirts of Cairo, through bad traffic. The taxi driver, A fat sweaty middle aged man had a terrible habit of chatting about this, and chatting about that, having the radio pump out bad music at loud volumes, and taking no hints that he should shut up. Still, Ahmed gave him a tip. Just to be safe. 

 

The roads on the south of the city had become bad and infrastructure was patchy. Things were better by the cool waters of the Nile, however. Beggars and peddlars still flocked around the pair, brushed off by both the Scarab and the Doctor; speaking Arabic was quite the boon here - it made it clear they were not guilable tourists. 

 

The warehouse was in poor repair, by the nile, looking virtually abandoned. However, two young thugs in leather jackets and sunglasses lounged outside, smoking stong cigarrettes and listening to arabic music on a radio station. 

 

"My cousin's thugs! I asked him to keep an eye on the place. But this...this doesn't look right at all!" said the doctor. 

Edited August 15, 2018 by Supercape

[Tiffany Korta]

 

The Scarab III

Beneath the hood Kamala frowned she should have expected trouble, everything had been going pretty smooth so far. Still, she was the type that always looked for an option when things went south.

 

"In that case Doctor I need them to distract them for as long as you can, it's something that you seem intimately skilled at. Whilst you do I'll try an alternative entry into the warehouse."

 

The one good thing about these robes was that she'd been able to hide her entire suit under it, with the antigrav unit it should be easy to get on top of the warehouse to be able to look about getting into the warehouse. She assumed that even here most warehouses had skylights that were a superheroes boon.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Distract them? What do..do you mean!" gasped Ahmed, his face quite white. "I can't distract them! Well...I can distact them...but then they will shoot at me! Or beat me up! And that will hurt!" he complained. 

 

"No! I can't do it. I don't want to die...death will kill me!" he explained. "Besides which, I am a coward! Its a medical disorder, you know. Like a disability! I can't do it on account of my condition!" he said, adding particular emphasis on his logic (such as it was). 

 

He might have had a point; he was sweating, pale, and hyperventilating. A panic attack was apparently imminent. 

[Tiffany Korta]

The Scarab III

The good thing about the Niqāb, in this case, was that the Doctor could see he rolling her eyes so hard. She hadn't taken into account that the Doctor was a complete coward, but she had to take rapidly take it into account recalculating her plans.

 

"Then I'll have to take you with me, hold onto my back and I'll carry you up to the roof. You'll be safer up there than down here I can tell you that for certain"

 

It was a risk of course, like most of this so far, but it was probably for the best to keep him where she could see him. She couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't very soon betray her.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Safe, sure...."

 

And but a moment or two later...

 

"Safe! Safe! I want safe!" whimpered the Doctor as he was hoisted up to the roof of the warehouse. "This is most assuredly NOT safe! I might fall! I have sensitive person disorder!" he complained. "What if I get shot AND fall! or fall...and am SHOT!?" he asked, blabbering away, his tongue loosened by adrenaline. 

 

"There he is! Mohammed Misi! My first cousin, fathers side, by all the swine in Egypt!" spat the doctor. Mohammed was deep in discussion with a few other thugs, all of whom looked concerned. 

 

One thing of particular note is that they carried rather scruffy looking guns. Not your regular ballistic variety, oh no. Instead, guns that looked like they had been dragged out of a 1960s Sci Fi film...

[Tiffany Korta]

 

The Scarab III

Kamala stood on the edge of the warehouse looking down at the thugs below, things looked like they were getting more complicated.

 

"I guess those weapons weren't something you were expected? Do you have any idea of who or what could be backing them with such hi-tech equipment?"

 

She was musing as much to herself as the Doctor, she doubted he knew all the answers but he might have clues that could be used to put this puzzle together. And as frustrating as this was she did love a mystery.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Doctor looked awkward. "Expected? No...well, no exactly expected...." he mumbled. "I mean, I did discuss theoretical possibilities of using corrupted Daka crystals to harness unstable metadynamic energy" he explained. "Purely theoretically of course. Well, purely theoretically with a bit of highly detailed explanation on how to do it. Including prototypes" he conceded. 

 

"Look, it all seemed like a good idea at the time!" he blurted. "I mean, look at those guns! Magnificent! Look at that polychromatic glow! They must be very powerful. Thank goodness it is so unstable and those weapons wont last. Phew! No need to worry about them falling into the wrong hands, they are sure to blow up in a massive explosion sooner or later!" he said. 

 

"Probably sooner..." he added. 

[Tiffany Korta]

 

The Scarab III

"That would be fine except that they'll be pointed at us! I'm not a fan of that kind of ironic deaths, so let's skip the whole getting shot part of the plan."

 

As she wandered over to the warehouse skylight, they always seemed to be a skylight in these places,  she thought back to what she knew about Daka crystals. She'd never handled one but she'd read lots of papers, scientific and otherwise, on them and hoped she knew how to counter their power.

 

"We might be able to set up a destructive resonance against the crystal, block the frequencies and if necessary shatter the crystal? Though that would be a shame."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Yes yes! Theoretically!" agreed the Doctor. 

 

"I mean. Theoretically. That doesn't necesarrily translate into practice. But yes, it could work! It better work, too. Otherwise zap zap zap!" he added, miming a daka crystal gun firing. 

 

"But..how are we going to do that? Do you have a variable hyperdimensional lens array to hand? Or a quantum displacement field collapser?" he asked inquisitively. There was even a touch of excitement in his voice at the thought of such magnificent science springing to life. 

 

And stopping them getting zapped.