[Hold onto your hats, Gentle Readers! This one of the most "happening" game sessions I've ever had in over twenty years of gaming.

Emotionally, anyway, if not in body count.]
The Shadow sped his hovercycle toward the crackhouse on 18th as he outlined his embryonic plan to Carlos - that Juan Martinez, the young gang member, might just have encountered some of OmniMetal's shenanigans. Carlos responded, "Makes sense, sir. Worth a try, anyway." "My thought exactly."
Coming up on the crackhouse, the sable sleuth circled slowly, checking on the guards... only to be puzzled by their absence. Something is wrong here, he thought, as he let his mental senses flow outward and down. Little did he know how wrong!
There was only a single mind in the building. A turbulent, insane mind... multiple personalities flowing in and through each other. Telepathic vibes were much in evidence, but apparently directionless and purposeless, with no clear target. As the Shadow, shocked, expanded his awareness, he realized that this single mind formlessly occupied perhaps fifteen or twenty square feet near the center of the apartment complex that the Red Shivs had turned into their crackhouse. He tried 'pinging' it to get a better look, and the psychic environment heaved and roiled like a boiling pot; he did not repeat the experiment.
The Shadow landed and dismounted, silently commanding the cycle to hover seventy-five feet off the ground. Making his way to the front door, he found it unlocked. Yes, something is very wrong here. He drew his gun.
The door opened (the Shadow knew from his previous visit) on a hall that formed a T, with a door opposite the entryway leading into the common area of the complex. The strange mind was in that common area, and the Shadow sensed as he approached that one of its personae was gaining the upper hand, becoming stronger, persuading the others to follow its lead.
With grave misgivings in his heart, the Shadow took one of Garrity's toys out of his cloak - the Portable Window, a small pane of glass perhaps an inch on a side. Placing this against the door, he peered through it to the other side. [Gadget giving the Penetrating Vision (blocked by air, you have to get right up to the wall) and Blindsight feats.] To his shock, the evidence of his eyes did not match that of his mind:
There were perhaps fifteen people in the room, not one. About two-thirds of them were male, the rest female. About five were Red Shivs, the rest looked like random street people - junkies, streetwalkers, thugs, street rats. They were getting dressed as he watched, putting on their shirts in unison. In more than unison - even those in T-shirts or the like went through the motions of buttoning their buttonless shirts!
There, the man in the center, he was the dominant persona the Shadow had sensed. Tall, well-built, better dressed than the rest, though with wildly unkempt hair and a halfhearted mustache. He was buttoning his dress shirt while the rest copied his motions, even to the extent of bumping their elbows solidly against the wall. The Shadow, stunned, realized that these people were somehow a single mind, and that the dominant element was learning to control its extra "limbs" right before his eyes! Clumsily, yes, but growing more practiced as he watched. Then he noticed the suitcase.
Sitting next to the tall central figure, it was large, boxy, aluminum... just like the one Hands had seen. But rather than the curious "blank" effect of the black cars, it was now to the Shadow's senses simply an ordinary suitcase. And it was open. The combination filled the cloaked crusader with dread.
Quietly he relayed what he was seeing to Carlos for future reference. "Sir, I don't understand, that's simply bizarre!" "Hush, Carlos. I am about to do something stupid." "Sir! Remember when we talked about hubris?" "Yes, I do. But I must do this." He reached out telepathically to the group mind.
Swirling confusing thoughts, impossible to make head or tail of. The Shadow decided to try to probe the central figure, the keystone persona. Two things then happened at once.
The Shadow realized to his dismay that the central mind was psychotic - and that this was not simply attributable to the definitely abnormal psychological environment. The man had been far around the bend long before coming to this place, this night; he was the human equivalent of a rogue elephant, a man-eater, a rabid dog. But the second thing was at least as shocking.
The eyes of all the people in the room abruptly swivelled to focus directly on him, as if they could see him through the door. How did they sense me?! That's never happened before! Furthermore, they were all filled with a burning need... a need to kill. The Shadow backpedaled rapidly, stowing the Window and readying his gun as the bodies began to move toward the door - a bit clumsily as they got in each others' way.
They huddled purposefully but apparently unseeingly toward him. The Shadow gave ground toward the front door, grimly awaiting his moment; he had already chosen his next move. Yes, there was the director, the central figure - taller than the rest. The dark avenger braced himself, exhaled, and squeezed off a single round.
The shot was beautiful, straight by the book. The man's brain splattered messily and he went down like a marionette with cut strings. Scratch one rabid dog, the Shadow thought grimly as he observed closely what happened to the rest. Confusion, unrest, turmoil... then consolidation. To his dismay, he realized the group mind had imprinted on the original pattern, that the psychosis had taken root. But it was not that realization that made his flesh creep and the hairs of his neck stand on end. No, that came as the fourteen people said in eerie unison,
"We are
Legion."
Then they rushed him. The Shadow retreated hastily, realizing that if he stood his ground he might take down a few but then the rest would be on him. He sent a silent command to the cycle and mounted it before they reached him, rising to twenty feet. (They didn't seem able to see him any more, thankfully.) The bodies spread out in the yard and into the street, looking around. A passerby stopped to stare at their concerted actions.
The Shadow was about to start shooting again, then had another idea. He dropped his shields and poured forth the rage, hatred, and anguish that he normally never displayed at the group mind before him - a barrage of emotional torment capable of bringing strong men to their knees. He hoped it would affect all the bodies at once... but was nonplussed when they showed no sign of noticing it, much less being fazed. Seized by another thought, the cloaked crusader circled around to the back of the house, ran in the back door, and made his way to the central room, snatching up the suitcase. (Putting his arms around it rather than touching the handle.) Outside once more, he secured it with a line firmly to the cycle to keep both hands free, then got off the ground again, climbing to get a view of the tactical situation.
The Shadow's blood ran cold when he saw that five of the bodies had seized the passerby and were carrying him, struggling, toward the house. "Right. Carlos, make a note." "Sir?" "We are now at war. Every single man and woman ever involved with producing this abomination is going to die." The boy gulped but responded gamely, "Yessir." Then, big, "Sir, what's HAPPENING?!"
"Put it this way, Carlos. I suspect that life in Los Angeles may never be the same again. ... For that matter, life in the United States of America may never be the same again, unless action is taken, and swiftly." "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" "Yes. Now be quiet, I am about to do something stupid again."
The Shadow reached out to the group mind below.
What are you doing with that man? An echoing multitude of mental voices responded matter-of-factly,
He is not Legion. He will be Legion. Most of the bodies were in the house by then, but the last few stopped in surprise.
Missing something? the Man of Mystery inquired maliciously.
We will take it from you. We are Legion. Then you are not willing to negotiate for it? We will take it from you. By force or by trickery. We are Legion. You will be Legion. Do you need the suitcase to make that man Legion? No response at first, either out of confusion or indifference, then,
It is not necessary to us. It is useful. Why not bargain for it, then? You are not Legion. When you are Legion you will understand. "Don't count on it," the Shadow muttered under his breath as he descended. He tersely filled Carlos in on the situation, then added, "I'm going in. If you get any funny feelings, let me know right away." "I've got a funny feeling NOW, sir! Sort of. Might be nerves." "Thank you SO much, Carlos." "Sorry, sir."
His mental senses reported that three or four bodies were guarding each of the main doors while the rest congregated in the central room, doing something telepathically to the terrified civilian. The Shadow tried to contact the man, but the psychic environment was so roiling and disturbed that he couldn't get through. He dismounted the cycle and pulled out the Shaolin device again. Moving swiftly, he phased through the wall of one of the apartments in the complex - fully prepared to sell his own life and that of the man inside to put an end to Legion.
But when he set his hand on the door leading to main hall, Carlos shouted, "DON'T! It's a trap!" He recoiled, then tried to phase through the wall again... cursing when the little device fizzled halfheartedly and went dead. Hearing a sound by the door, the dark avenger spun and brought his gun to bear just as four of Legion's bodies poured through. They were carrying guns, and they obviously knew how to use them. The Shadow took in the odds in a split second, then leapt for the window as the first shots were fired. He crashed through the glass, tucked, and rolled, coming up unhurt. He immediately dove for the wall, bringing his gun to bear on the window from one side. Nothing showed itself. Damn! It's as if... they can see me again! And why didn't I sense them on the other side of the door?!
He frantically racked his brains for a way to burn the building - the man inside would be a sad casualty of war, assuming they hadn't managed to "convert" him yet, but it would be worth it. As if they'd read his mind, he heard gurgling sounds from within and caught a whiff of gasoline fumes from the broken window. What on earth?!
Well, disrupt their plans as best as may be. He ran past the window, firing into it, hoping to ignite something. He succeeded. He called the cycle as the place caught and got airborne once more. The man they'd captured was running frantically away from the place - still human. Reasoning that he'd be running the opposite direction from Legion, the Shadow checked the other side of the house. Sure enough, there were two of the bodies... and the Shadow realized with shock that they did not register on his mental senses at all! They were not just blank, like the black cars... it was if they were not there at all. He fired a few shots, he tried to track them, but they swiftly managed to lose him in the absence of the edge his special senses gave him. Damn! he thought, shaking.
"Carlos. Call Grace. Tell her I'm coming over immediately. ... When she asks why, tell her it's the end of the world."
On the way there, he added, "Call emergency number 4 and patch me through." When an answer came, the Shadow said tersely, "Jerry, it's a go," and hung up. At least David would be out the state soon - one less thing to worry about.
Pounding on Grace's door, he was not too surprised to find her aiming a pistol at him from the bushes to one side. She sighed in relief as she recognized him. "All right, Shadow, what's happening?!" Her Southern drawl was pronounced; it must come out with stress. For answer he opened his mind to her and gave her the rapid telepathic version of events at the crackhouse, which caused her to say something very unladylike.
Then, "You had best get that suitcase analyzed at once... you have a friend good at that kind of thing, don't you?" The Shadow nodded. "Yes, and I will. For now we must hope Legion isn't capable of exponential growth without it, while assuming that they are. Mobilize everyone that you can. Oh! And before I forget," he went on to give her the telepathic nutshell version of what he'd found out about OmniMetal.
Her eyes flew wide. "Overmind!" "I had the exact same thought." "But it doesn't make sense! This isn't their style at all... Something's gone wrong." The Shadow responded, "I agree. They've lost control over their project. Grace, we may have to work with them - they're the only ones who really know what is going on."
"You have no idea how little that thrills me, darlin'... On second thought, maybe you do." The dark avenger was never more dark than in his reply: "Grace, let me make my own position perfectly clear. I intend to kill every single man and woman ever involved with this project. But
they don't have to know that yet." Grace, while not usually the bloodthirsty kind, nodded her emphatic assent. "I'll sound them out. Now get going!"
The Shadow did not waste further words, but set the cycle on course for Hal Garrity's hometown, a distant suburb. On the way, he said, "Carlos, call ahead to Hal Garrity's place. Tell him I'm coming." "On it, sir." "Oh, and Carlos, call emergency number 1." David's cell. It rang and rang and rang. He cursed and said, "Try 2." The Brighton home. It also rang repeatedly. The Shadow groaned - David had probably left the cell at home again. Given that it was the weekend, Jerry would be heading to the house as per instructions...
He set the cycle on autopilot and closed his eyes, reaching out with a great mental push.
DAVID!
In his mind, he sensed frustration and anger as he heard, "Twyla, I - What the?!"
It's your father. Go home at once. Jerry will meet you there. Go with him and do what he says. NOW! David, unused to mental contact, replied out loud, "You can't just - No, Twyla, not you!"
It's the End Of The World, son. Do as I tell you! His mental tone brooked no argument or delay. "All right, I - Twyla, I just remembered something. I have to go!"
The Shadow maintained the contact as David ran off.
What did you learn from Twyla? He got back the surly reply, "What does it matter, I thought it was the end of the world!" With the universal Parental Warning Tone,
David... along with the unspoken subtext of 'Don't push it.' The boy answered grouchily, "She's put a bunch of stuff together, and she's mad at me for not telling her I'm some sort of superman."
Has she been starting rumors? "No, she's kept her mouth shut." The Shadow sighed - no way to tell, as yet, if that was just teenage wishful thinking or not.
Good, because I've been tempted to go and wipe her memory of the whole thing. His son blazed at him, "That's disgusting, Dad! You can't just go around doing things like that!"
I can if it would help ensure your survival and mine. "Don't change the subject! It's wrong to mess around in people's heads that way!"
We can argue about this another time, son. I am having a REALLY BAD DAY. "Not so bad that you don't have time to consider mindwiping my girlfriend!" Angry now,
All right, David. You tell me if we need any more headaches when there's a contagious group mind of homicidal maniacs running around! Stunned silence, then, "If you are putting one over on me to shut me up, I swear I'll never speak to you again as long as I live." The retort,
Have you ever known me to 'put one over on you' before? brought David up short - whatever else his father's failings might be, dishonesty was not one of them.
After some thought came the grudging reply, "OK. I'll go with Uncle Jerry and cooperate. When will it be safe again?" [SuentisPo interjected at this point, "Isn't a child's faith in his parent's abilities touching?"

] Alex kept his sigh to himself.
Soon, I hope. I will contact you when I can. ... I love you, son. "Love you too, Dad... Oh sh*t!"
WHAT?! The Shadow started getting frantic as he sensed David's emotional state getting more primal, more angry, more poised.
David, WHAT IS GOING ON?! The boy all but snarled at him, "Not NOW!" The Shadow belatedly became aware that David was involved in a fight. Feeling utterly helpless, he did the only thing he was able to do to help, symbolic though it probably was - he extended his mental shields over his son.
Finally, amidst great pain, "Dad, you have the WORST timing!"
Are you hurt? "Yeah. One of them shot me."
WHERE?! "Lower abdomen." Alex went cold - a gut wound.
Where are you? A half-amused snort. "You know that alley you told me to avoid? It was the fastest way home - you said to hurry." Alex frantically struggled within his own mind for control as his shields cracked and threatened to crumble. He was just about to break off the contact to spare both of them the consequences of that when to his relief David's pain began to subside. "Ahhh. That's better."
Are you going to be all right, son? Can you make it home? Let Jerry take care of you... "I think I'm going to be OK, Dad. Scratch one shirt, though."
You are getting better at this sort of thing, I see... "Just as well, right? Oh, for crying out loud!"
Alex held his mental tongue while David confronted his new attacker. "Listen, a**hole. I just got done beating up six guys with guns, OK? So it's not like that stupid little penknife is gonna scare me. And I'm having a really bad day. In the last fifteen minutes, I've had a nasty argument with my girlfriend, I've been shot - though the guy who did it is in a lot worse condition, believe me - and my dad has yelled at me. Right now the last thing you want to do is PISS ME OFF!! Got it?" Then, "Huh, it worked."
Will you be all right, son? "Yeah, I'll be fine, Dad - it's not much further."
All right, I should go. Be careful! "You too!"
The Shadow shook himself out of the light trance he'd drifted into, noticing that he wasn't far from his destination. "Carlos, did you get ahold of Hal?" "Yeah - he asked if it could wait until morning, I said it couldn't, and he said you owe him one." "Thank you. Do what you can while I talk with him - put the network on alert and find out whatever you can." "Yessir. And I'll do whatever checking I can on Legion too - like if anybody's used that name before, or..." "It's Biblical, Carlos." There was a moment's pause as the full weight of the situation dawned on the young man, then he said in a small voice, "Oh. Right."
The Shadow put Carlos out of his mind as he landed in Garrity's back yard. Hal was there, his chipmunk features pursed in disapproval. "You really shouldn't drive the cycle that hard, you know. It's not good for the engine." "Hal..." "Well, it isn't, Shadow! You need to be more careful, treat it right. I built it to last, but there are limits, you know. You should..." "Hal!" "I'm just trying to tell you how to treat the cycle. This stuff is important, you can't just..." "HAL! I have something interesting for you." The Shadow freed the suitcase from the cycle and held it up invitingly. Garrity trailed off and his face lit up as if Christmas had come early. "What is it?" "I do not know. I was hoping you could tell me. ... We'll have to check to see if it's trapped first, though." "Right! Come in, come in, what are you waiting for?" The shorter man spun on his heel and stumped into the garage, the hovercycle forgotten.
Once inside, Garrity excitedly measured the suitcase, then pulled out something that looked like it originally came from the guts of a television set. (And, knowing Hal's methods, the Shadow speculated that in fact it had.) Placing it on top of the case and squinting at a monitor, he announced, "There's an explosive charge... but it's not armed. It's safe to open." Then, as the Shadow reached for it, "Oh, wait, there's some sort of gunk on the handle. You should wear gloves."
The sable sleuth looked down at his always-gloved hands and inquired with mild sarcasm, "Should I burn them afterward?" Garrity shrugged [I think he has Immunity: Sarcasm

] and said, "It depends. How paranoid are you?" Then, taking in the Shadow's look, he added "Never mind, I forgot," and fired up his infamous garbage disposal unit (a disintegration device that could be a terrible weapon in the wrong hands) to receive the gloves.
Inside, the case held several carefully-cushioned reagent bottles. Alex, the professional biochemist, pricked up his ears. "They aren't labelled... We'll have to figure out what's in them. Do you have a mass spectrometer?" Hal gaped at him open-mouthed. "Why?!" Alex blinked, then grinned despite himself. "I might have known you'd have something better. Well, let's get to it!"
It didn't take long for the souped-up television tube to provide detailed chemical diagrams of the three compounds - complicated long-chained carbon compounds. Alex pointed to one, "See that pattern of rings, there? That's the basic structure of cocaine, though it's been heavily modified... I don't recognize either of the other two off the top of my head. What can you tell me?"
Hal typed rapidly on a keyboard. "The stuff in the second bottle should act as a powerful stimulant. My program says the third one is caffeine." "Hal," Alex said patiently, "I can assure you that it isn't caffeine." Hal replied apologetically, "I know, there must be a bug in the program." (SP rolled a 1 and had fun with it.
Hal would happily have spent the rest of the night tracking down the bug, but Alex recalled him back to the problem at hand. "We need to know what effect these compounds have on the human brain, and some idea of whether it's permanent or temporary. Ideally we need to figure out how to reverse it, too." He took pencil and paper and quickly classified the major structural elements of each molecule, then sat down at Hal's computer and started doing directed searches in chemistry databases.
Between Alex's considerable expertise in the field and Hal's formidable genius and instrumentation, the two made progress in unravelling the mystery at an astounding rate... though still too slowly for Alex's taste. He lost himself in the problem, barely noticing when the exhausted Carlos went to bed... when he paused to stretch a while later, pleased at their preliminary results, he was shocked to see the clock reading six
P.M. He sighed. "In theory I have to go to work in the morning. I suppose I'll have to call in sick - Legion is more important."
Returning to the task at hand, he summarized their results, more for his own benefit than Hal's, ticking off points on his fingers.
1) The chemicals seemed to be a powerful stimulant and hallucinogen unlike anything else Alex had ever encountered; an alkaloid strikingly similar to that of the active ingredient in his own mind-opening drug (and a variant of it, Formula T36, that he and Hal had created a while back to sap a subject's will with no lasting effects); and a cocaine derivative with extensive changes of unknown function.
2) The alterations in the cocaine molecule were very low in yield to produce - it would take a great deal of cocaine to produce a small amount of the new compound. This was the most probable explanation why OmniMetal had been infiltrating the gang scene.
3) It seemed likely that the changes in the brain produced by the chemical cocktail would be distressingly permanent and irreversible. But Garrity felt sure (having made an extensive study of psionics and brain chemistry) that telepathy alone could not produce the same changes. Any "conversions" made without the reagents' help would likely be easily reversible - if such conversions were possible at all.
4) There were sufficient chemicals in the case to "convert" perhaps another twenty people. The nightmare exponential growth scenario seemed much less probable than at first.
5) The chemical expertise needed to produce the reagents was extremely sophisticated. Based on his extensive knowledge of the industry, Alex guessed there were perhaps three or four outfits in the Los Angeles area capable of making them - of which one was his own company, and one of the others was OmniMetal.
6) With considerable effort, Alex and Hal could design specialized enzymes to break down the Legion-chemicals in the human body. Ideally one would want a ten year project with extensive animal testing, but under the circumstances they wouldn't feel the need to notify the FDA...
The commlink broke into his reverie. A sleepy Carlos said, "Sir, Amazing Grace wants to talk to you." "Patch her through, Carlos."
Her voice was smooth and controlled, but still accented. "I've contacted OmniMetal. They tried to stonewall at first, denying everything - it was very difficult to even talk to anyone but secretaries... but when I passed on your description of the man leading Legion, they got very agitated and willing to deal. I don't think they're faking, either - I read them from a few blocks away while I called from a pay phone. Now they want to talk to you."
"You did remember that I used the name 'Mastermind', not 'the Shadow', right?" "I haven't named any names at all. I said only that I had gotten my information from another telepath." "All right. We'll call them shortly." Then, quietly to Hal, "Garrity, do you have one of your magic phones here?"
"Now, Shadow, there's no such thing as magic, you know, just natural laws operating..." "Hal! Do you have one of the
secure phones here?" "What? Oh. Sure." He rummaged around amid some junk in the garage and triumphantly produced an oversized phone. "Can you switch somebody onto that line from the commlink?" "Not a problem," the inventer assured him as he pushed several of the thing's many buttons.
Grace asked, "What just happened?" "What do you mean?" "My phone just clicked a number of times and now you sound a little different." "We won't be traced now. ... It's magic, Grace, just accept it." (Said more to irritate Hal than anything else.)
"Are you ready, Shadow?" She passed on the number.
The Shadow paused to seat his hat more firmly on his head. "Ready."
He reached out to the phone.
[Like I said, a heck of a lot went on. I don't know that my writing can get across just how CREEPY Legion was. SP did a fantastic job of presenting them/it.]
[BTW, I would like some outside opinions - SP says he thinks Alex "jumped the gun" in sending David away, especially since the Shadow's cover was quite un-blown. I think he's just plain insufficiently paranoid.

The vision haunting both Alex's mind and mine was that of the runaway growth scenario - like "Night of the Living Dead", only the zombies aren't slow or stupid, they all think together, and they have unknown psychic powers. By the time you realize something like that is happening, it's too late. Alex realized at the time his fears might not be entirely justified, but he decided to act BEFORE Southern California was deluged by Legion just in case he was right. What do you think?]
[I also have to say that, although the early part of this session was first-rate horror, the comic relief was also great all the way through.

David's little speech to the mugger is already becoming a classic in my mind, and there are number of little touches all the way through. I got in some licks of my own, too
[When the suitcase was first opened, SP said, "OK, this looks more like an 'Alex' device rather than a 'Hal' device..." meaning that it dealt with chemicals rather than electronics. But I interjected before he finished, "You mean it makes sense?" and he just about fell over laughing.

]