[We open on Takar and Ryan phasing through the walls and into their secret base. As soon as he is able Takar shoves Ryan away.]
“What was that about? I had them!” Takar yelled, sparks still flying off him.
“Exactly, what was that about? You could have killed someone!” Ryan shouted back, pushing into Takar’s face. “You can’t just fly off the handle like that!” The argument continued until Liv and Hiro were able to get into the hideout. They do see that they have received an answer from Jeeves, but only glance at the answer, that the logo belongs to Chimera, and a list of projects codenames: Winter, Gamma, Level 5, Oblivion. Takar stalked off with Liv back to their dorms, and Ryan and Hiro stayed at the base for a while, working on Ryan’s campaign for student council before heading home.
The next day at school, each of them had something to deal with. Ryan was tied down with working on his student council campaign, and getting ready for the upcoming big game. Hiro was getting teased by Becky Luna, but was also focussed on the upcoming Mecharobotics meet.
Takar was confronted in his mentoring class with Omega, the popular super who works for AEGIS and mentors the higher level, more likely to be dangerous kids, at Titan Academy. Her abilities allow her to change the material structure of her own body, so if one of the students loses control, she is able to take a beating without being harmed. She was a major super in the 70s, as well as a civil rights activist.
She lets Takar know that there are very few supers in the city who are able to knock out a city block, and she knows where the other ones were the night before. Takar tells her the truth . . . or most of it. She lets him know that she has been working hard with him to keep him from getting placed into Level 5 when he turns eighteen. Takar has not heard much about Level 5. No one has really, other than when supers commit criminal acts, they are sent to the Level 5 prison in the AEGIS Spire.
Oblivion is forced to go to one of her counseling sessions. The usual school counsellor is there, but she lets Liv know that she is being offered another counsellor. A slightly strange looking woman comes in with an armed guard. The guard takes a spot by the door, and Amelia/Firefly begins to explain why she’s there.
This is the second appearance of a character from our previous game of masks, my character Firefly (Outsider, alien bug princess). Jishaku (Reformed, Japanese Magneto’s daughter) and Alice/Friction (Janus, big sister friction powers) are Hiro’s parents, and show up on occasion through the story.
She, like all those with telepathic powers, is under Level 5, which means she is fitted with a device on the back of her neck that will disable her briefly if she is ever perceived to be out of control of her powers, or performing anything illegal. She offers to enter Oblivion’s mind and help her remember her past. Oblivion declines, but they do have a fun discussion about Firefly’s home planet.
Later, the players compared their day in their hideout below the school. Takar was a bit worried by the revelation of how much Level 5 is able to do, and that he was being threatened with it. As they talk, they realize that the paper with the answers from Jeeves has disappeared. After a careful analysis of the video footage from Hiro’s security cameras, they learn that though there was a PTA meeting at the school the night before, the only person that could have taken the paper was the same math teacher that was poking around the library before.
Liv and Hiro head to the teacher’s classroom, Hiro careful to hack into the school’s security cameras so they are not seen, and Liv using her tactical athletic skills to avoid setting off any alarms. There they find the paper – and a whole lot more. Apparently the teacher had been taking notes on several of the students and their movements, especially Liv. As they move to take the papers, the shadows in the corner of the room begin to move, and hear a voice say, “Those don’t belong to you.”
Suddenly, Hiro found himself seated at a dining room table with his family. With his whole family, including his dead brother. They are all happy and eating as though nothing strange is going on. Liv has a brief moment where she is walking across a grassy field in the summer. She shakes herself out of the illusion, and throws a desk at the teacher. He is knocked back into the smart board, which crashes to the ground. Rather than face the super strong and angry Liv, the teacher crashes through the window, vowing that the kids don’t know what they are interfering with, and that they will regret their choice.
Join us again next Saturday for the next installment!
The Geekery 