Session 326: The Man In The Mask
Location: EarthGov Military Base
While things have remained relatively business as usual for both teams, Lemon has brought together both teams to discuss something off base. The main team with X in tow take off to a more secure area, Lemon and Kane’s safehouse that they set up after the government took over their last base. Once there, X reveals to those that joined what she’s learned while tracing where they sent Lev. That President Dias and some of the Senators have started building an off the books installation that appears to be a prison for high danger prisoners. Even more importantly, while X and Kaleb explored it somewhat, Kaleb locked onto a prisoner that gave off a familiar vibe of his dad, Dias.
After discussing their course of action and the possible fallout if they screw up, the team decides to make a move at the prison to retrieve the prisoner and see if it really is Dias. Once there, with a the team working near flawlessly and Chad showing signs of his Weapon abilities starting to return to it’s normal form the team makes its way to a section of the prisons holding cells where they find not only a strange man in a Mask but also Lev himself. With the man in the mask, unconscious and severely tortured, the team quickly debates where to grab the man or not since while he has the exact body/build and frame of Dias, he seems to be lacking the accompanying black tattoo that usually resides on his left arm. Marcus and Kaleb attempt to remove the mask but to no avail and so the team makes a quick decision to take the man back to their base and figure it out there.
Session 327: Questioning the Mask
Location: Safehouse
Having returned from the Prison with their target, and a few of their team returning to Base to keep up appearances, they are left wondering whether this Masked Man is indeed Dias. When several of the team goes to question him, like Marcus, Angela, Cherry, Zephyr and Warren; the masked man immediately thinks that they're imposters trying to torture him for information. Seizing on the opportunity they start asking him questions that they believe only the real Dias would know, showing him pictures to gauge his reaction. When they finally ask him if he is Dias he shakes his head and gives a thumbs up at the same time.
Adeline suggests that the Mask itself may be impeding the bearers ability to respond to questions about his identity, and even blocking some centers of the brain itself. When Mask states he has to pee after hearing that X is resting, a bucket is brought for him; and to everyone's shock he never breaks eye contact with Marcus as he relieves himself. Marcus unfortunately, has personal knowledge of a peculiar birthmark of Dias's; at the base of his manhood...and states clearly that it's him.
When Angela directs him to power himself up or bring out Darkheart, Mask claims that he's pretty drained; after Lemon attaches a device to Masks wrist telling him to stick close to a member of the team, he tries to grab Adeline. Unfortunately for him Adeline isn't listed as a member of the team and he gets shocked into near unconsciousness before Angela gives him a nice kick and he's dragged back into his makeshift cell. Deciding to give it a bit more time, Marcus remains at the safehouse while the others all get their gear to return to base. Chad commenting that Masks tactics weren't incorrect if he's as weak as he claims to be from his captivity.
On their return to base, they find a datachip from Alexander Cran waiting for them, several missions to look into, and a disturbing News story from a Cartel World where images are shown of Sunny and a teenage girl firing a beam at buildings. Several of the team shocked at the prospect that a Maka might be working with the psychopathic bomber Sunny. When their token Maka is shown the footage, she becomes mortified; "I did not believe that the rumors were true...Makai, they really exist." and calling the girl in the footage by the name 'Zayne'.
Session 328: Senator Protection
Location: The Mega City Military Base
With Ren and Reikana gone on their concert tour on the PAX, Lemon has been trying to get in touch with Vice President Stacey so the team can meet with President Dias and tell if he is the real deal, while the rest of the team is still musing on what to make of the Mask character. Announcing that Senator Denham Graham would like to meet with the team, as well as Senator Hamilton if the team has time later, Lemon gathers the team to head out to the Senator's office. After waiting 30 minutes, making many of the team get cranky, the Senator apologizes due to a crisis coming up that kept him busy and after some small talk, announces some bad news. He reveals that while on route to a new location, Lev was taken by two unknown Weapons and they would have missed them if President Dias had not recognized the signatures; one Weapon was jamming the screenings to help snatch Lev and the other teleported in and grabbed him.
The Senator shows what pictures they managed to grab, which just appeared as beams of lights, and gives them the marching orders to find Lev once again. While some of the team such as Angela and Chris joke about using a burger to lure Lev out, Marcus asks the readings be sent to their techs, which Graham complies. As they exit, Lemon asks for thoughts and Zephyr says she has one but needs to talk to some other people but that involves getting in touch with the others off planet. Marcus wonders if it might be magical girls due it being lights and Lemon notes they probably would not know what data looks like.
Stepping into Hamilton's office, they find Hale and Peter there as well and are greeted with the information that the three managed to each get on a committee, as they planned, and help the team get out from under Graham's thumb. Senator Hamiltion announces he is on the Defense Commitee, Senator Hale is on the Security Commitee, and Senator Peter is on the Commitee on Veteran Affairs. Hamilton also shows Marcus a document that shows plans for the super prison that President Dias is planning to finish building that will go offical in 4 months and be voted on by the senators and commitees for super criminals. It also shows that 2 criminals have escaped and the team will asked to hunt for one of them soon; when asked who it is Hamilton admits he does not have the clearance for that. When Angela announces that they were tasked to bring someone in, Hamilton does say that if they fail to bring that person in it might go poorly for them but if they do bring the person in, it might free them from their watchdog status by Denham. Hamilton also claims that he took credit for Lev being brought in before, instead of being left to the military and proper channels before and Marcus notes that might mean Graham might be in a bit of trouble, then.
Back at the base, Adeline pokes at Angela some, who is a bit of mood since receiving a look for Marcus back at Hamilton's office, before revealing she has finished her findings and sends it to Marcus. Marcus asks Darien how much he remembers before being shot in the head and Darien admits he remembers here and there certain things. Marcus has Darien look over a case file that dealt with X, Kitty and Lorelei but Darien admits a lot of it is a blur, so Marcus plans to bring X into it later. At that moment, Lemon announces that Stacey has gotten them some time with President Dias so they decide to head out and meet with him and see how this Dias stacks up with the Mask.
Arriving at the Mega City Presidental Building, Stacey greets them and comments on Marcus' appearance as she leads them up to Dias' offices. As they arrive, they see stuff that looks a little anti-Diasish: an organized desk outside a corner that is extremely messy with a wolf-toy, a poster of Marcus that has things done to it, on his desk is a plushie that is wrangled with Marcus' head once - used like a squeeze thing when frustrated - and playing in the corner is a tape with Dias' greatest battles. Marcus slowly eyes the damaged things when Dias bear hugs him and when asked if he's pissed at him, he dismisses it as him just damaging things while picturing the next tournamant. Outside some light banter like trying to get Marcus to sign a stack of documents and inviting Dias to get some beers, the visit is uneventful.
Returning to the base, Lemon asks Marcus what he thinks - which is the real deal. Angela and Marcus note he seems unstable, with Chad noting it might just be a way his Weapon power is manifesting. After some talking, Darien decides to see if Katherine is a counselor and if not he will contact Katrina to subtlely question both President Dias and later the Mask.
Location: Safehouse
Mask has been left alone in a private area, others like Marcus, Darien, Kane and a couple others are gathered to discuss the possibilities. Since his attempted attack on Adeline, there's new concerns; Lemon has made the decision to fit Mask with a remote explosive, a final decision for Marcus to spar Mask and see if any of Dias�s signature moves come out. With Angela waiting in her armor the two men start sparring. Josephine reminding the team that when the Erusian Majestrix was found she was wearing a similar mask, unfortunately it seems like it may be stored on the Aquarius.
As Marcus and Mask start sparring, Mask seems to be hindered by the mask more than anything; the others as they watch discuss the news about Sunny being teamed up with a dark Magical Girl...and whether they might return to Earth and join up again with the recently freed Lev. As the match continues, Mask seems to use weak gravity manipulation style attacks; but despite apparent effort he's unable to manifest Darkheart. Marcus finally calls it quits for the match, concluding that it's no longer Fake Dias but now Maybe Dias; there is some concern though that if he can't fight at full capacity he'll be a liability for them.
On the Military base, they use a hologram to hide the Mask long enough to get him on Base. Mask demands a shower and takes Marcus off to get cleaned up, while they are away, the team is briefed on the Magical Girl situation with Zayne. They learn about Tsukai and the effects of a pet on the magical girl. Adeline attempts her bid to gain a pet of her own ineffectually. They also learn that the older the girl gets, the more susceptible to corruption they seem to become, many of the team remarking how young they were when they started adventuring as a response.
After this, they are informed of Lev's escape and the suspicious nature of the heist that freed him. As the team attempts to reason things out, suspicions grow due to the limited number of ways the snatch and grab teleporting could have been achieved. And finally, they are informed that Cran has begun a project creating reploids known as Repliforce. This upsets Tabetha and really agitates Cole, who demands to see this call back to a terrible time in his reality's history.
The team is left to relax, however Marcus decides to try to clear the air with Zeraphna. He reveals to her that he had a clone created of himself to give her someone to have a future with. In the traditions of men everywhere, Marcus demonstrates to not get how someone would react to this and Zeraphna is understandably upset at being given a ringer. Zeraphna storms off and Angela follows her. While Cole does his very best to keep his cool and calm till the next day, when he can finally see Repliforce.
Location: Military Base - Side B
While X's team is relaxing on her side of the base, she informs Marcus they are ready to go investigate Cran's Janus forces whenever he is ready so he sends a call out to his people if they want to join the mission - minus Chad - before they go. Mask, X, Vesta, Ren, Reikana, Cole, Daiman, Angela, and Mi'Na get into X's fancy vehicle she got from a government offical that her team saved, complete with super cushioned sets and other accomodities, while Marcus bemoans his team never gets awesome missions to get such jobs, picked on by the others like Reikana. While going and listening to Mask yammer on, she dubs Mask a new title - Fake Dias - for the duration of the mission while X turns the sweet vehicle into a mini shuttle with a touch of a button, making Marcus even more jealous, ordering their van to be upgraded - especially after Reikana calls their van lame.
As X is preparing to land, Reikana chattering to Angela still about if the van where to have an accident - such as a mysterious explosion - they see down below a massive military base and complex belonging jointly to EarthGov Military and Janus, since Janus is now a military contractor that works for EarthGov (think Stark but in this case they are part of EarthGov's military). Down below is Katherine and Angelos, peering up and waving as X beings to prepare to land but before she begins her descent, Fake Dias suddenly stands up and moves to the back, pushing the ramp door repeatedly to open, causing it to lower. Suddenly suction occurs and flings him out, along with Ren who wasn't properly secured and some mild turblance inside the mini-shuttle.
Angelos teleports up and grabs Fake Dias, teleporting him back to the ground, though by the luck of the fates, X had extended the 30 foot range on the bomb on his legs to a bit more that day, so the teleporting did not blow his legs out. And at the same time, Reikana uses one of her Dark One powers to send a tendril out to grab Ren and pull her back in, asking X to hurry up less her darker side gets frisky with Ren. X hurriedly closes the door with her controls as she begins to land and Marcus notes that he is on X's team now, after all. While Cole goes to talk to Katherine, X walks up and kicks Fake Dias in the balls, screaming at him never to do something so stupid again or she'll let Marcus take him back and do whaever he wants to his ass. And all this has called Reikana to go full Noire, something she has not had to do in a while.
While Ren relaxes in Noire's cleavage in cub, Katherine announces to the team that she has managed to set up a meeting with Cran for the team, so Angelos and her leads them into the military complex, where they witness dozens of reploids training outside. While Cole seems to be mumbling that he has such a bad feeling along the way while Marcus jokes about being a werefalcon since flying seems fun. When X mutters she wishes Adeline or Tabetha had come along to get a read on Cran's future, Fake Dias proudly boasts those things do not work on him in which X retorts he has no future. After some banter, they arrive in Cran's office overlooking the base's field with large glass windows, wearing a uniform with no rank. After some greetings, and Cran beginning to notice some things about Fake Dias due to his oddites, despite Marcus and X trying to keep him quiet, they soon reach the crux of the conversation: the reploids.
As Cole begins to talk about how dangerous they are and all that, Blue finally steps out to counter him, wearing a military uniform as well, though her's has medical on it. She confirms she was never put back to sleep after Katherine woke her, but EarthGov wanted to look her over since her arrival brought the Sigma Virus in that one encounter. They debate the merits of Repliforce, since they both encountered it in their turns, but Blue points out Repliforce was manipulated due to Sigma and that most Mavericks only go so due to the virus or high amounts of stress. When they ask Alexander Cran his thoughts and how they plan to treat them differently from Dragoons or Weapons in the past, Cran brings out a paper, showing their contracts.
The 100 reploids on the base will learn what they are interested in, training in those areas, and will be applied in the military for one yeah. Afterward, if they are still interested after that year to remain in the military, they will continue along the ranks like any other person; if not, they can retire and will be helped to find a place to live and a job that fits their training. And what EarthGov gets out of it all is a process to help make Reploids cheaper and easier over the year period. When asked about the hibernation period, Blue seems confused and notes she knows of no Reploid that had to do that, and believes she is talking about something only X had to do - making Fake Dias lean over to ask their X if they are talking about her and she shakes her head, thinking they must be talking about some reploid from their turn.
When Marcus asks why they didn't give them a heads up about the Reploid Project, Cran seems just confused, wondering why they would want a heads up about a project that might not even be continued. Marcus then retorts back that he didn't think the team wouldn't mind knowing he was making an army of immense power, since he's seen what Cole and Ash could do. Speaking up now, Blue takes her datapad to read over the reploids' case files, listing the breakdowns of the reploids for the team's benefits: 40 might go into fighting, 15 labor and transportation, and 20 healing and medical. When Cole asks what the remaining 25 will do odds and ends jobs such as tactical work, learning leadership, learning construction, teaching, etc.
When Blue admits that a Reploid, even a civilian model such as herself, can be strong - making Fake Dias snap his head over to study her - she stresses that they not the same thing as a fighter model. She then asks the team if she needs to scan Fake Dias', wondering if they should be worried. The others give offhand remarks the scan would just break the device and Noire notes it's likely he's a worm and the nervous system keeps running. Cran extends the offer to Cole that he can come any time he likes and teach the younger Reploids and Cole accepts and at the same time notes to Marcus that Fake Dias seems a lot like the President, wondering if he is a relative of sorts.
Later in the courtyard, Chris shows up with the mask that Lemon sent her out to find, Fake Dias gets into a battle with a hot headed Stag Reploid, that soon gets out of hand and Cole has to break it up, and Blue chides the two. Mi'Na gets turned on by the battle and follows the Stag Reploid off to have some sex and Blue sighs, not the best showing for her cause. They also learn Caduceus is somewhere on the base, helping to train the Reploids in medical stuff and go after Reploid boys. After a while, the team leaves, leaving Cole and a few others behind for the time being. Before they leave, X upgrades Fake Dias' title one more time to: Maybe Dias.
Returning to the base, Lemon looks over the mask Yasha had placed on her in Fall of Eden: Session 72. Inside the mask are little lines much like is on Cherry's body now and as they compare the masks, they would see Maybe Dias' mask is likely designed to look like Yasha's. Studying the mask, Noire announces she recognizes the lines in the mask as Dark One Tech that supresses power. Marcus calls Billy for some help and they get Billy's answer machine with the message of that she is helping Ashae with the 13th God that has appeared, but if it is an emergency, she will see the Elder Billy after the beep. Marcus naturally leaves a message.
Session 331: Questioning Loyalities
Location: Military EarthGov Base
With nothing having really happened of late, the team awaiting the arrival of one of the Billies, they observe as Katrina interviews Mask. Giving what could only be the colorful answers of a person like Dias, the group attempts to decide if it is or isn't him. When the answers begin to become hurtful for some however, they start to leave, especially poor Zephyr.
As things wind down and the interview ends, the Elder Billy arrives to have a look at Mask. More specifically, at the actual Mask holding him back. She confirms the Dark One technology, or Magic, behind it. Also that attempting to remove it would likely kill Dias and perhaps whoever tried. Billy agrees to stay on and research the mask to find a way to remove it.
Date: 10-639.4.13
Location: Military EarthGov Base
People watch the first, yet sadly ill fated attempt to remove the mask. Billy resolves to use a stronger acid on Mask's face the next time. X meanwhile confirms her findings that it is impossible that a registered Weapon or NGW was involved in Lev's retrieval. Tabetha is called into Lemon's office while Marcus calls a meeting.
Marcus once again asks Chad for his input, in fact, the entire time begins to question him about possible involvement from the Weapons, unregistered, that he created and raised. During this time, Tabetha probes his thoughts and listens for reactions, finding that Chad has installed an anti-psionic dampener in his own head that delving too far would not just alert Chad, but possibly kill him. She holds back and continues to listen in as they question Chad who's answers turn out to be factual, yet lacking in emotional honesty. This leads her to conclude that he may have been strengthening a lie by telling himself that the answers were the truth, rather than behing honest.
Marcus and Lemon have to conclude at that time that Chad is guarded, but may be honest in his belief that one of the Weapons he taught could be rogue, as he himself is no longer in charge of them. They decide to move onto the next step, inviting the suspects to visit.
Katrina returns from interviewing the Dias currently acting as President, giving some rather disturbing news about his seemingly psychotic state. Her results, sadly, are inconclusive however as that Dias is just as likely to be the real deal as Mask is. Over 70% of his answers were off in expected phrasing but still accurate, while 30% were dead on. Having passed the 'Turing Test' of sorts.
The group sees about two new steps. Interviewing the possible Rogue Weapons and arranging a chance for Marcus to visit the current Presidential Dias.