October 27, 2120
Mega-City of New York
EPIC Headquarters
Michael
Monica doesn't seem to know exactly how to take your compliment. "Thanks," she says guardedly.
"That's him," Rebound says to Monica's question. "Let's go, mates," he says, bounding off across the room and out the door. Monica gives you another odd look and runs after him. Dara looks up as the doors bang open, and with an obscene amount of apples balanced in her arms, hurries towards the war room. You are quick to follow.
The four of you reach the War Room pretty much together and are near to the last to arrive.
The War Room
It doesn't take long for everyone to gather. The last to arrive are Cosmo and Sanchez. The former gives the later a cuff on the back of the head before sitting down, while the latter is massaging his jaw. Noticably missing are Jun Po, who you have learned is keeping an eye on Jennifer and Mr. Bunny, Raisa, Straightjacket and his father, and of course X12.
In Attendance
Thunder, Empath, Trailblazer, Kodiak, Sanchez
Metal Mistress, Jay (Jeremy York), Neutron, Johan, Dara, Cosmo, Fenris (Michael), Kitten, Mantis, Loki, Rebound, Speed Demon, Vibro (Carl), Velocity Girl (Anna)
Thunder goes over all you have learned about Split during your encounters with him for a long hour. Despite the length of the discussion, it is helpful, in aiding you to remember his various personalities, some of which are most readily recognizable by their accents.
Split himself has no noticable accent for a North American. Along with hs body armor, gadgets and weapons, he can turn invisible, being undetectable by most means and create semi-controllable duplicates of himself. He can also teleport to and reabsorb these duplicates, something he's used to great effect. However, he cannot absorb his duplicates if they are too far away. Typically, Split is armed with a powerful hand pistol, several grenades, but that is never the full extent of his armament.
His duplicates include a Texan who wields an advanced rifle, an 'honorable' oriental who has wielded an energy katanas and some type of metal one, a psychotic cannon-bearing New Yorker, a cold-hearted nearly identical version of Split with a habit of executing people (he shot the pilot of the Mag Lev for no reason), another psychotic duplicate who seems to enjoy wearing a bomb and, from watching him teleport, you are guessing from one to three more of him with varying gear.
If that were the extent of his resources, you would probably beat him easily. However, he is seldom without two of his henchmen, a man and woman, both capable soldiers that you have met up with twice. While there has not been anything to indicate powers, they don't seem to let that hamper them. Recently, you have encountered a similarly powered woman, named Stryke. She can duplicate, turn invisible and teleport as well, but her strongest power seems to be her ability to inflict massive damage in melee.
And of course Split has an extensive supply of robots at his disposal.
Thunder fills everyone in on MTAC's visit and the plan to use Jennifer as bait to lure and capture Split and his mercenaries. But before you can get into the details, Jun Po pages with more concern than you've heard in her voice in a long time.
"Thunder, turn on CNN immediately," she insists. Without a moment's pause, Thunder does just that. What CNN is broadcasting surprises you.
Live from a military base in South America, the preliminary War Crimes hearing for Mason was supposed to be taking place. Instead of that, chaos reigns on the monitor.
The SAEF and SAA Armed Forces are waging an obviously losing battle against Isotope, Neutron, Tank and New York. Jato (the ink girl) is spread out across the floor. Several blots of her are seperate from the others. Nearby, several pieces of stone lie in a pile, possibly the remains of Pedra (the boulder boy), Gavião de Gelo is sent blasting out through a wall by a blast of New York and Loco is creating a wall of wind to protect the politicians and observers who are trying to flee. Paco (the lisping Brazilian strongman) is the only one who seems to be faring well, and hoists Tank above his head, preparing to slam him into the floor for what looks like the third or fourth time. As he is about to slam Tank down, he bursts into flame, his charred body toppling to the floor.
From the top of the screen, Nova descends into view, cutting loose a blast of fire at the justices, immolating them. At the center of the screen, you see Mason in a carefully constructed restraint cell. Another man many of you recognize, Ghost, appears inside with him, then the two of them turn incorporeal and walk through the bars. Mason calmly walks to the wind wall, transforming to stone as he does so, and swings a fist through it. Loco's spinning form comes to a crashing halt as he's driven to the ground in an impossible pose. He doesn't rise. Mason waves to the camera, then nods to Nova. She lets loose a blast of fire at the camera and the image goes black.
"Trailblazer, get the," Thunder says but Trailblazer is already gone to prep the Jet.
That should prompt some discussion...