A brief SITREP:

Polly had nightmares, got up a bit after midnight and went to work out in the Danger Room. Stick was there. She got “lost in reverie”, and then suddenly disappeared from the Secret Basement, teleporting to the safe house where Agatha and the Brat Pack are sequestered. She finds Clark W. Griswold and his band of merry power-armoured men sneaking in to kidnap one of the brats. Back at the Secret Basement, Stick raised the alarm, waking Ghost and Tia. Meanwhile, Psyclist was leaving ACA after a late night, and heard gunshots, coming from the direction of the (nearby) safe house. He hits the emergency dial program on his phone, and conference-calls The Posse. “Gunshots at the safe house! Automatic weapons!”. He pedals like mad towards the sound of the guns. C4 is nearby, near 14th Street and Memorial Drive. She hears the shots, too, and sets off running even before Psyclists call. Slammer is in his office, going over his books, trying to figure out how to pay both his rent AND Della in the same month, when he gets the call from Psyclist. He flies out the window headed toward the fracas. Stick also gets Psyclist’s call, puts two-and-two together, and he, Tia and Ghost pile into the SUV and race towards the fray. Will they arrive in time?

Griswold shoots Gallowglas with his .45 automatic. The report is deafening in the still night air. Gallowglas charges him, performing the Wheel Feat and slamming him to the ground.

Lucky starts at the sound of the gunshot, he was already awake. He flies to his bedroom window, where he has a commanding view of the battlefield. “That’s Aunt Polly!” he says to himself, “So the man she’s fighting must be a Bad Guy!”. He activates his luck powers, and targets Griswold — but nothing apparent happens.

Brain also goes to her window to see what is going on. She uses her Mental Paralysis on one of the henchmen.

Brawn is also awakened by the gunfire, but his room is on the wrong side of the house from the fight. With the casual nonchalance of endless practice he throws his window open and leaps down to the front lawn. He sinks in almost to his knees, and there is a small seismic tremor as he lands. Nobody in the gunfight notices.

The mentally entangled C.O.G. agent attempts to break free, but two sixes and a three (on 2.5D6, for 4 BODY) is just, just short of the needed 5 BODY. The other three agents open fire on Gallowglas, or “Subject CHARLIE” as they know her, with 3-round bursts from the H&K MP-5s. 6 rounds hit, but Gallowglas remains standing. The paint job on her armour is still stunning, and only has one or two smudges from where bullets hit it. Everyone hears the crash of breaking glass, where one of the stray rounds has hit a window.

Shine’s bedroom is also on the wrong side of the house. She comes running into Brain’s room, and joins her at the window.

Green’s bedroom does overlook the back yard, and more importantly, its gardens. She sees the skirmish line of agents in HER raspberry patch, and is disgusted for their disregard for plant life. She activates her Change Environment power. Suddenly the raspberry canes start growing, flexing and reaching, but can only reach one of the two nearby agents. With the canes plucking at his legs, the agent trips and falls. The canes tighten their grip. The agent’s thought bubble reads “WTF?!?!?”.

Lucky targets Griswold again, and smiles in satisfaction. “You’re now the unlucky one”, he chortles to himself. Gallowglas smites Griswold mightily with the flat of her sword, and is disappointed in the outcome. Griswold gets up, and says “How nice of you to drop in, this will save me some time!”. He swings at Gallowglas and misses.

Brain slaps Mental Paralysis on another of the powered-armoured men. Brawn leaps the length of the house into the back yard, near the corner of the house. The first mentally paralyzed agent attempts to break free again, successfully pushing his EGO and breaking out. The second mentally paralyzed agent does not fare so well. The one tripped by the raspberry canes struggles to regain his feet, to no avail. The fourth one calls out, his voice muffled by his heavy helmet. “There are supers in the house, we’re taking fire!”. He pulls a grenade from his belt and throws it at the house, targeting Brain’s bedroom window, breaking it. The bedroom fills with tear gas, Brain and Shine start blinking, choking, coughing and gagging. Shine says “We have to get out of here!”, grabs the unresisting Brain, and blindly leaps out the shattered window. The agent sees them jump, and sees Brawn, and calls out “Incoming at 10 o’clock! Watch your back, boss.” And then, just a tick later “It’s the kids! The kids are the supers!”. Under his breath he mutters to himself “I HATE fighting kids.” Green switches to her Virginia Creeper Entangle, and wraps up the newly mentally paralyzed agent.

Lucky grabs a plastic star from his toy box. “A Ninja Throwing Star!” he proclaims. He takes careful aim, and throws it at Griswold, catching a momentary chink in his armour coverage around the throat. Griswold howls in pain. Gallowglas uses the flat of her blade on Griswold, again, and is disappointed, again. Griswold swings again, and connects this time. “Any time you want to join in, guys, just move on up” he says sarcastically over his shoulder.

Brain and Shine are still reeling from the effects of the gas grenade. The first agent moves up to a point between Griswold and Brain, Shine & Brawn. “I’ve got your back, boss” he calls, while plucking a grenade from his belt and throwing it into the Azalea bush at the corner of the house, between Brawn and Brain & Shine. Brawn pre-empts to dive for cover, but is unsuccessful and is caught by the concussion blast. Brain and shine are also caught by the blast. Agent 2 attempts to break the mental paralysis again, but is unable to push EGO and fails again. Agent 3 attempts to regain his footing, again, and fails, again. Agent 4 moves up and engages with Gallowglas, punching her. Green applies Virginia Creeper to Agent 4.

Lucky plucks a hefty plastic dinosaur from a shelf. “Go get him, Rexxy!” he whispers, and then hurls him at Griswold. This one catches him in the temple, just at the edge of what his air pack mask covers, and is greeted by another howl of pain. Gallowglas tries the edge of her blade on Griswold, and is even more disappointed. Griswold throws another punch at Gallowglas, hitting her and knocking her out. She collapses at his feet.

Lucky hurls yet another of his prized possessions at Griswold, but with less satisfying effect. Brain now has control of her coughing, and her vision is starting to clear, so she holds her action. Griswold bends over and zip ties Gallowglas’ hands behind her back. “You’re mine now, bitch!” he mutters to himself. Then Brawn moves up and clobbers Griswold, who goes flying into the other crab apple tree. He lies unmoving at its base, amid a torrent of falling crab apples. Agent 1, to Brawn’s immediate left, says “You should’ve stayed out of it, kid”, and punches him with his hydraulically augmented armoured fist. Brawn is unmoved. “Is that all you’ve got?” the 14 year old boy in pyjama bottoms retorts. Agent 2 is finally able to break free of the mental paralysis, but is still covered in Virginia Creeper. Agent 3 STILL cannot make it to his feet, and Agent 4 attempts, unsuccessfully, to break free of the Virginia Creeper. Psyclist arrives, moves into the back yard and mentally blasts Griswold. Slammer flies in and takes a defensive position near Polly.

Brain, regaining her sight, fires her Mental Paralysis at Agent 1 (engaged with Brawn). Shine, likewise seeing the light, fires her wide-beam attack at Agents 2 and 3.

Lucky grabs a Hot Wheels car from it case, and throws it at Agent 4, making his helmet ring like a bell, and causing him drop. Brain switches to Mental Blast. Looking at Agent 1, she says to Brawn “This one is all yours”, and targets Agent 2. Psyclist applies telepathic aid to the unconscious Gallowglas. Brawn punches Agent 1, using all his skill to catch him right on the point of his jaw. The agent arcs through the air, into the side wall of the house, then falls headlong on the porch. The stucco behind him is shattered, and the wall somewhat caved in. Slammer moves to a point where he can hammer all of the agents, and carefully smacks Agent 3, who is still furiously attempting to regain his feet. After the smackdown, he lies still. Agent 2 then manages to free himself from the Virginia Creeper, only to be dropped by Shine’s wide-beam attack.

Gallowglas regains consciousness as the heroes finish up the agents, strip off their gadgets and zip tie them. She grabs her sword and heads for Griswold, but Hammer intervenes. “Revenge is a dish best served cold”, he says, “not in a heated rage”. Then he adds “Besides, we still need to interrogate him.”

Green mourns her Azalea.

“911, what is your emergency?”

“There’s a gunfight going on in my neighbours back yard”, a woman’s voice says. A loud explosion can be heard rattling the windows, even over the phone. “They’re blowing shit up, too.”

“Which neighbour?” asks the 911 operator.

“Across the back alley. That puts them on Bowness Road, around 1820-something.” A heavy thud can be heard. “I think there may be supers involved”, she adds.

“We’ll send officers, and call in The Posse.” The operator turns to his computer, dispatching several cars, and brings up a second call, to the Posse’s emergency contact number. It rings busy. “Uh, oh” the operator says to himself. To the original caller he asks “Could the Posse be on-scene already?”

“I don’t know … oh wait, I see one of them flying in now.”

“Take cover in your house” the operator says, “go to your basement if you can. We will advise you when it is safe.”

Experience awarded (including non-combat points for playing Brat Pack characters), this is in addition to the points awarded last time:

Polly - 3 combat, 1 NC for evoking the Ghosts of McAskils Past & continuing to focus her grief and rage on Griswold Ben - 1 combat, 1 NC for Nazrat playing Green Mike - 1 combat, 1 NC for protecting Griswold from Gallowglas, 1 NC for playing Lucky Jazz - 0.5 NC for Anne playing Shine in Part 1 Tia - 1.5 NC for Rachel playing Brain and Shine Stick - 1.5 NC for Dean playing Brawn, and verbally sparring with the agents Ghost - 0.5 for Arlene playing Green in Part One