NOTE: We were down a player for this session. So we invented a bottle episode. And it gets a little . . . weird. You’ve been warned. Also, just as a reminder, Takar = Volt the Nova, Liv = Oblivion the Bull, and Ryan = Aether the Legacy grandson of Dr. Quintessence.
“Good morning Halcyon City, this is Anna Fresh coming to you from WHCY the Voice of Halcyon bring you your daily dose of Fresh Air. Everyone stay safe out there. I only just made it to the station this morning before the Gamma Storm hit the city. If you don’t have to go out, stay put, and let AEGIS and the Halcyon City Police take care of anyone who might be hulking out today. Stay home, stay safe.”
Takar, Liv and Ryan were all caught in their hideout when the Gamma storms hit Halcyon City. Hiro had been offered an internship at AEGIS, and was stuck in their main office for the day. So the three in the bunker decided to go exploring a little more.
They quickly discovered the base’s recreational area, including a full bar, an old jukebox, and a lot of old liquor. A few glasses of alcohol later, and they even decided to put on some of the old clothes they had found in the private rooms down the hall. Liv went to turn on the jukebox, and something changed.
When she turned around, she wasn’t herself. She could see her reflection in the mirror behind the bar. She was . . . she was Rivet, a famed golden age super. And the other guys, they weren’t Ryan and Takar any more. They were Dr. Quintessence and Cosmic Bond. They looked younger than Liv remembered, but it was them.
Liv, inside Rivet’s head, was more of a passenger, watching but not affecting what was going on. Rivet and Cosmic Bond (CB) were just having a drink together, talking about the stress of the day at their new jobs. Dr. Q was berating them for relaxing when they should have been working.
Suddenly Liv was back in her own mind, and the others were staring at her oddly.
“Are you all right?” Takar asked. “Can you hear me?”
“Yah, yah I’m fine.” But things were still odd. The lights from the jukebox, and the lights in the hall, were an eerie green tint. And their reflections were not their reflections . . . instead it was still the golden age heroes. But only CB was looking back at them.
“Who are you?” CB asked, looking as confused as the others. They began asking him questions about Chimera, about the experiments they had been hearing about. “Wait, you mean they are still working on those? I need to shut them down!” And just as suddenly he was gone, and things were normal.
Spooked, the heroes ran out into the hallway, only to find a trail of strange lights. It led them to an old conference room, with a large shiny table, a chalk board, and some recording equipment. This time Takar turned on the equipment, and this time, all three of them slipped into the minds of the golden age heroes.
They were discussing Chimera, discussion all of the programs. It seems that at least one was getting closed down, Gamma, but the others were still in progress. They listened as Dr. Q threw the others under the bus for the failure of some of the programs. Then again they were back in their seats in the conference room, with the reflections of the golden age heroes in the table.
“I’ve tried to shut them down, but it’s not working. Oh, and you’re going to have to get out of here,” CB told them.
“Get out of here? Why?” Ryan asked, looking down at the table.
“Things get strange when I use my powers around your family,” he answered, just as the walls around them shuddered. “Get back upstairs. Now!”
The reflections disappeared, just as the wall beside them bulged as though something were trying to grab them through a membrane. They tried to bolt, but the thing followed them down the hallway, hallways that were now completely clear of rubble. Ryan, trying to help them get out faster, tried to phase them through some of the walls – and phased them into the aether space.
This is a gray world, full of swirling aether. And apparently giant centipedes. Thankfully none were very close at the moment, but Ryan could tell they were near, and were attracted to disturbances in the aether. Using his sense of this mysterious element, Ryan managed to lead the group to a drain of sorts, that should let them all back out into the real world. But the centipedes were attracted to this drain, and were huddled around it.
Not a problem for Liv, or Takar. A few well placed punches and lightning bolts later, the group spilled back out into the rec room they had started in, the same scratchy tunes still pouring out of the jukebox. But now there was a white envelope on the jukebox, with the name Rose written on it.
Join us next time to find out what Hiro has been up to during Hulk Days, as the Gamma Storm season is called, and how the heroes explain their crazy experience.
The Geekery 