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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheDayKnight" data-source="post: 1149793" data-attributes="member: 127">The Oddsquad #3: A Sticky SituationThe Colloidion removed the last electronic sensor attached to him. He has been run through a battery of tests. Dr. Emily De Jung, an associate of The Albright Institute for Superhuman Research is looking at blocks of information running through her hand-held computer. Adam Odd scheduled the testing as the first step to discovering the mystery of The Colloidion’s history.Molasses grins at his teammate, “So, which are you? An outer space alien bent on world domination or an otherworldly demon with a penchant for human flesh?”The Colloidion shrugs, “Haven’t got test results back yet. How about you?”“Oh. I am definitely the demon.”Dr. De Jung clears her throat, “Well, the majority of results will not be available for a few more days, but we have found some… interesting information. Colloidion, you are composed entirely of the same material that you create. You have no internal organs. No stomach, no lungs, not even a brain. You are a solid shell of, for the lack of a better word, goo. But we have picked up an interesting energy signature throughout your body. Very similar to brain waves.”“And me, Doc? Me, me, me?” asks Molasses.“We have not been to determine much about you or your powers. They are definitely mystical in origin. And since Mr. Albright has not been able to put a mage on his payroll, we are stymied.” Dr. De Jung shrugs, “The two of you are quite the sticky situation. I will contact Mr. Odd when I have more information on either of you. Thanks to Dr. Allan for letting us use the ASTRO Lab facilities, we should have a full rundown.”“Thanks, Dr. De Jung,” says The Colloidion. “We appreciate the time out of your schedule.”*As Molasses pulls his car out of the ASTRO Lab parking lot, he hears a terrific explosion. The Colloidion notices fire billowing from a nearby building. The Man of Tar stops the car in front of the smoldering structure. They gaze up at the sight in the sky.A white ship, similar in shape to a galley or Viking longboat, slowly sails through the air. A pair of cannons unleashes deadly energies at the building. Stylized faces, also in purest white, adorn the sides of the vessel. At their vantagepoint, The Oddsquad is unable to see anyone within the ship.“Up, up and away!” Molasses laughs. He grabs the Colloidion in one of his sticky hands and begins to climb the walls of the building. His tarry feet and hands propel him up.As the heroes ascend, they hear a voice from The White Ship, “Release the Blind Navigator! We have come to rescue our own!”Molasses quickly scales the building. Looking, now, down into the ship, they spy a man dressed in achromatic robes. He bears a staff topped with a closed eye. A mask covers his features. Twenty-two neanderthalish men dressed in nothing but loincloths are chained to the oars. Looming over the slaves are three more men dressed in loose fitting clothes and cloaks. They are all in white as well. The Colloidion creates a sphere of goop around the cannons, trying to prevent further damage to the building. The cannon fire and the gel-hero convulses from the feedback of the energy on his goop creation.The Ivory Admiral turns his gaze on The Colloidion and Molasses, “I am a Justified Ancient of the Cloud Kingdom of Uhrm! Tell me immediately! Where is the Blind Navigator?”“Who the hell are you talking about?” shouts Molasses.“Do not attempt to fool me, agent of Tarot!” The Ivory Admiral’s eyes glow with dire light. The sticky hero’s mind is crushed like a thumb in a vice. Molasses topples from his perch on the building-side. The Colloidion, shaking off the effects of the cannon blast, grabs Molasses in one hand as they fall. Stretching his free hand out, The Colloidion creates a rope from the bottom of The White Ship.“We will be safe hanging directly under them,” The Colloidion mutters.But no sooner do the words leave his mouth; the three White Ship Defenders leap over the side of the vessel. Their cloaks billow out, catching the air underneath. As they glide toward the heroes their staves burst forth with rays of buzzing energy. The Ivory Admiral also jumps ship.“Surrender now!”The Colloidion reels from the Admirals mental attack, “We surrender. Just give us a chance to make sense of this situation.”“Climb to the White Ship,” The Ivory Admiral commands.The Colloidion carries Molasses upwards. Ropes are thrown over the side of The White Ship for the Defenders to mount. Molasses stirs.“Did we win?”*The Ivory Admiral looks upon the Oddsquad, “You will submit to my telepathic scans, Tarot agents, so that I can determine the exact whereabouts of the Blind Navigator.”The Colloidion shrugs, “Sure. We don’t have much of a choice anyway.”The Justified Ancient of Uhrm peers into their minds, rifling for any information concerning the Navigator. The Colloidion idly wonders how the Admiral can read his mind when he doesn’t even have a brain to read.The Ivory Admiral finishes his telepathic probe; “You do not belong to Tarot. And you know nothing of our Navigator. I apologize for the attack. It is just that we are desperate. Maybe I can enlist your aid.“Tarot is an international group of terrorists, scientists, and mystics bent on world domination. I do not know their purpose, but they have stolen our Blind Navigator form underneath our nose. The Blind Navigator guides our Cloud Kingdom. He is the key to our survival. He keeps our home from crashing to earth or from flying into airless space.“We must have him back! We have tracked the Navigator to this building. Tarot still refuses to return him even though we lay siege to their demesnes. Please, help us.”“OK,” says Molasses, “We’ll go in and get your man.”“Thank you. We will keep vigil from the ship. None will escape the building unnoticed.” The Ivory Admiral says, “And Colloidion, I read your thought energies not your brain.”*INTERLUDE:Heinrich and Walter Traugott stand near the strange door they have discovered. It is deep with the mountains of the Jebel an-Nusariyah range. The German treasure hunters followed an ancient riddle to Syria. Cain’s Gold supposedly lay on the other side of the door. The brothers have had a long history of arguments, fights, and brawls. This is the worst of them.-Translated from German-“You seek to steal my treasure!” Walter yells.“What? You are crazy! Your paranoia is getting to you again!”“Do not call me crazy, Heinrich! I have warned you before!”Heinrich points his finger, “I have kept you out of trouble all your life, Walter! I am not your keeper!  I am not going to steal the treasure. We are going to split it.”Rage pushed behind Walter’s eyes, “I deciphered the map to lead us to Cain’s Gold. It is mine!”“You will not take my treasure, brother.”It is entirely too much for Walter to take. “LIES!” he screams. As it has his entire life, anger explodes like a volcano from him. He draws his gun from its holster and kills Heinrich. His brother’s body slumps against the strange door. A streak of deep crimson smears its surface.The wrath leaves Walter as quickly as it had come, “Oh God! What have I done?”He claps his hands over his ears, “Heinrich! Oh God! Your blood cries out at me! I am cursed!”As Walter runs from the mountain, the strange door opens slightly.In a prison of stone, a deep and terrible voice rings out, “At long last. The Gates of Gehenna open! I am free! Fear, father, fear for all that you love because I am coming for you and yours. Cain comes! Cain comes!”*Molasses and The Colloidion enter the building through the gaping wound The White Ship has inflicted upon it. Meticulously, they search. The Oddsquad find nothing but office supplies and lab equipment. They pause at the elevator, but decide to take the stairwell. At each floor they search the offices until they reach the fourth floor. The Colloidion hears a muted voice on the other side of the stairway door. He motions towards it and puts a finger to his lips. Molasses stretches himself through the crack between the door and the ceiling.On the other side are four guards. They are dressed in hi-tech combat gear and carry blaster rifles. On their breast is the insignia of a sword. They watch the door and speak quietly amongst themselves.“Guards. Four.” Whispers Molasses. Then the Man of Tar oozes under the bottom of the door, attempting to sneak behind the guards. But a guard spots the puddle of Molasses.“What the hell!” yells the Tarot agent and opens fire on the hero. The blaster ray isn’t enough to harm Molasses. The Colloidion kicks open the door and covers the floor with slippery purple goo. Three guards fall to ground. They are unable to keep their balance. Molasses ensnares a standing guard in a blob of tar. The Tarot agents surrender, realizing they are far outmatched by the Oddsquad.The Colloidion creates a block of iron-hard gel to immobilize the guards. A quick interrogation reveals that there are four branches to the Tarot organization. Swords are the military branch. Coins deal with finance. Wands are the mystics and Cups do the scientific research. The Oddsquad also learns that the Blind Navigator is in the next room and is guarded by more Tarot agents.This time, Molasses enters the air vents to spy on the room. This chamber contains a man held upright and spread-eagle on some sort of bio-scanning device. Wires, like thick rainbow veins, lead from the bioscanner to a large control panel. At the panel stands a man dressed head to toe in a black body suit. A hangman’s noose is tied around his neck. He actively checks the monitors of the control panel. Another man is lounging nearby in a chair. He wears billowing robes. To Molasses, he looks like a wizard reject from a local Renaissance festival. Near the door is positioned a blonde man who ripples with thick muscles. He wears a brown and yellow costume with a chariot on his chest. Four more Sword Agents also guard the door.On the other side, The Colloidion waits patiently for his cue to join the fray.And that cue is soon in the making. Molasses drops from the air vent, seeking to envelop The Hanged Man. The villain’s combat senses allow him to side step the attack. Yells of surprise erupt from the men of Tarot. The Colloidion throws open the door and flings a hammer of hard gel into The Chariot’s face. The strongman charges The Colloidion with the speed of a racecar. Molasses’s hands seep into the control panel. He grabs the wiring within and yanks. Energy explodes from the panel and electricity races up and down the bioscanner.The Magician executes a simple spell and flies into the air, “Ho, Varlets! Prepare for your properly administered beatings!”Chains of magic appear around The Colloidion. The Hanged Man begins touching various pressure points on Molasses’s body. The hero feels heavy as lead. His body slows dramatically.“Your chi leaves you,” The Hanged Man says.The Swords Agents fire wildly into the fray. The Colloidion gels the floor. It becomes slippery as oiled ice. The guards fall to the floor. The Chariot pushes goo-creator out of the lab and into the big room.The Magician sighs, “I suppose I shall need my Shield spell. And I will cast Darkness 15 foot radius over there.”Mystic black falls over Molasses. The Hanged Man seems to have no trouble finding the hero though. A solid karate blow falls between his shoulder blades. The Tarot guards flail about in the slick goo. The Colloidion shatters The Magician’s magic chains and snares The Chariot. He returns to the doorway.“Uh…finished with him. Who’s next?”But the cry of rage from The Chariot bursting the shell of goo shows The Colloidion exactly how finished he is with the bruiser. Molasses stretches free of the blinding shadows and smashes the emerging Chariot with a jab.“How about a 10d6 Fireball, foul orc?” The Magician asks Molasses.The Hanged Man also joins the attack on the Man of Tar; “I feel the weight of death around my neck. Do you?”The Colloidion hurls a volley of indigo bricks. The Chariot is knocked from his feet. The Magician’s force field protects him from the attack.Molasses growls back at the Magician, “How about 10d6 broken teeth, you flying D&D geek!”This time the combined attacks of The Magician and The Hanged Man are enough to stun the sturdy Molasses. The Colloidion fires a goopy cannonball, sending The Chariot reeling into unconsciousness. Even dazed, Molasses manages to fend off another set of attacks from the Tarot wizard and The Hanged Man. The Colloidion hurls a storm of violet throwing stars at the remaining villains. Molasses retreats from the heat of the melee by sticking himself to the ceiling.“I will take the tar!” The Magician yells, “And burn him with my most dastardly dweomers!”The Colloidion rolls his eyes, “Tar doesn’t burn, fool, it boils!”The Hanged Man hits The Colloidion with an array of martial strikes.The Colloidion yawns, “And?”The remaining Tarot Sword Agents fire at the ceiling but Molasses is tougher than the blaster rays. The Hanged Man grunts in pain as Master of Goop connects. Molasses slips into the air vent and exits another vent on the far side of the room.The Magician hurls more fire at the retreating hero, “Run, coward, run! Your morale check has failed!”“Will you shut up!” Molasses yells as The Colloidion and The Hanged Man trade blows.Suddenly the Sword Agents move over to the man strapped to the bioscanner, “Surrender or he dies!”Colloidion creates a bubble of goop around the Blind Navigator. With a stretch of his arm, Molasses traps an agent in tar. With a bolt of mystical fire burning the air near him, Colloidion smashes The Hanged Man with a newly formed purple bat. The Hanged Man’s knees buckle and the martial artist falls to the ground.Molasses’s features seem to shift slightly and he runs a tarry hand over the helmet of the captured agent. “Hunger. Ever Hunger.”A bead of sweat runs from the agent’s face.“Consume you. Devour every atom. To feed Hunger…”This proves too much for The Magician who flies from the Tarot Laboratory.Molasses shakes his head, “I will… I…”“Are you okay buddy?” The Colloidion asks.“Yeah. No. I mean, I don’t know.”The blind man strapped to the bioscanner moans. Molasses tears him free. The man wears nothing but a white loincloth. He is dark, nearly the polar opposite of the men in The White Ship. His glazed gaze travels randomly throughout the room. His hands delicately touch the air.His voice is as soft as steam and as hard as hail, “Who?”“We are the Oddsquad,” states The Colloidion. “We have come to take you back to the Ivory Admiral.”“No!”“Wha?” Molasses is confused.“I have tasted fresh air! It is so sweet, I assure you. I have stretched my limbs. The agony is beautiful. I have seen freedom. It is like gold,” The Blind Navigator whispers. “In Uhrm, I am placed in the Guidance-Sarcophagus. I am imprisoned for the safety of my people. But when Tarot took away, I saw what could be…”Before he can finish, The Blind Navigator slumps from sheer exhaustion.“What now?” Molasses asks.The Colloidion shrugs, “I have no idea. I guess that we aren't just going to hand him back to The Ivory Admiral.”Molasses nods, “Then let’s take him to Adam Odd.”*In the garage, The Oddsquad takes someone’s SUV for their rescue mission. Molasses jams a finger in the ignition and then pulls it out. The Colloidion creates an exact replica of the key-finger. Molasses then guns the engine and they burst out of the garage. A fiery policy car demonstrates the difficulty the FCPD is having with The White Ship. Fire trucks and rescue vehicles are beginning to converge on the scene. Molasses turns the SUV downtown in hopes of escaping the Uhrmian’s notice. But immediately, the great fan-oars of The White Ship begin propelling it towards the heroes. A cannon fires and Molasses swerves to evade the energy. In the process, the Man of Tar rams the SUV into another vehicle. The White Ship begins to narrow the distance.The Colloidion stares intently at the row of oars above them. They are engulfed in a solid block of purple goo. The White Ship begins to trace a slow circle in the sky as only one bank of oars is pulling. Molasses smashes the accelerator to the floor and the injured SUV lurches ahead. After a break-neck race across Freedom City, The Oddsquad reaches the Odd Mansion in North Bay.When the heroes enter the house, Molasses tosses the goo-key to Nebu Nezzer; “There is a small mess to clean up. It definitely involves a small bit of larceny and reckless driving.”Nebu bows, “I, of course, will handle the matter, sir.”Adam Odd listens to the duo’s adventure; “You have made a difficult choice. Does the life of one-man matter more than the life of many men. You have been in a sticky situation, indeed.”</blockquote>

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