Dramatis Personae

• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Legerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened…”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”

Previously . . .

It’s been ten months since the dissolution of Project Vanguard. Though technically it’s under review and not completely gone, it’s likely to never complete that review within the current generation. Some people have gotten new jobs, some have been in jail, some have been hacking to make the world a better place. In the end, everyone gets summoned to a building in the middle of Queens, a firehouse in Flushing.

Nyx has been out of prison for nearly a week at a hotel where Nox has been putting him up. He managed to get an appeal of the plea deal heard finally, though it was a contentious topic both state and nationwide due to several problems. He’s still waiting for them to see if the DA will be bringing him in for the murder charges that he avoided previously via the plea deal. They did request that he remain in-state until they get back to him. He and Nox have been summoned by Legerdemain to a firehouse, taking a Klube to get there.

We Can Do This…

Nyx, Threshold, Whisper, and Wirerat
Old FDNY Engine 299/Ladder 152 Building aka New Base
Monday, April 20th, 2020, 0900 hours (EST)
61-20 Utopia Pkwy, Fresh Meadows, NY 11365

Wirerat has already been in the firehouse for several days, enjoying a nice quiet room that he’s renovated in the basement. Transferring some of his equipment, buying some stuff, and even making some things. Wirerat and his brother had a deal where Legerdemain would purchase the rights to patrol Flushing while Wirerat would be the one to purchase the firehouse itself, which was mostly a deal as technically it should have been condemned due to damage from supers battles in New York. It’ll take some work to get it up to speed, but probably not that much depending on who they spend money on. Brick Layer is one super to look at, if he wasn’t always in high demand for other repairs. Some bickering between the brothers erupts over getting hired for Vanguard and getting some launch tubes built into the building while renovating.

Threshold has been working at a surgeon at Cedar-Sinai and has become quite well known for taking on most any cases that come his way and basically succeeding at everything he’s done so far, though it isn’t very fulfilling so far as he can’t get to his research work. That and he hasn’t had much time in Vanguard either, a disappointment to be sure. Legerdemain had come to him with a proposition that they’d patrol a purchased area as operatives of the MAPS program with Threshold as team leader again. They could start off with a small team and work their way upwards as they need to, suggesting that he runs the team while Legerdemain works the back end for paperwork and otherwise. Actually make a difference this time, making up for the last few years where the MAPS program was effectively disbanded in cities where they couldn’t afford it, only left in the major cities. There was some refunding that happened when Senator Callahan won the presidency.

Whisper was also approached by Legerdemain, about a job as opposed to the NYPD job that she’s currently got, going into the MAPS program the same as the rest. Stressing that she’ll be helping the locals and being very civic minded. Since Vanguard had shut down, Whisper had a few very bad nights until one night where she stopped sleeping altogether and hasn’t slept since. Whisper isn’t too convinced by it, despite Legerdemain’s charming smile but finally agrees if he puts in the paperwork for it. He hands off a business card for where to meet everyone.

There they are, at the firehouse that’s been boarded and taped up with Wirerat actually outside looking medicated and twitchy. Whisper immediately greets Wirerat, who is happy to see her. Nyx is being grabbed at the shoulder by Nox who is complaining about the squirrels nearby, she really doesn’t seem to like squirrels at all, complaining about them until Nyx tells her to go to her happy place. She pulls out a colouring book and starts drawing and arguing with her shadow. Nyx is pretty sure that it’s an even argument and that she’s had a problem with squirrels somehow in the past, possibly been attacked by them. Nyx can only shake his head.

Legerdemain is giving them a speech about how they can fix it up and they can have nice work site as they’ve bought it up outright. They got it zoned properly for whatever they need, labwork, industrial, otherwise. He shakes an envelope, it contains ten sets of badges, insurance cards, paperwork and whatever else is needed for getting folks to work for the MAPS program. Inside the firehouse, it’s definitely wired for industrial use. There’s kitchens for onsite use, a bunkroom, a hose tower. It’s got plenty of good entrances and accessibility to the borough that they’d be working in. The only problem is that the back side is demolished a bit.

Nox is more than happy to join, just as long as they get rid of the squirrels, there’s three of them now. Threshold decides to do some encounter therapy, reaching out with his powers and getting his hands on a squirrel and pushes it towards Nox who freaks out and melts into the building’s shadow at around the same time the squirrel faints in Threshold’s hands. Nyx chastises him for killing a squirrel much to Threshold’s denial.

They spend about an hour and half going through their paperwork. They’re going to be patrolling a section of the city that people pay them to. Primarily, it’s the businesses that pay the most for protection. The government gives insurance to help with collateral damage such as damage to the city. What the team requires is to buy their own equipment, base, and otherwise. Inside their district, they have the same legal powers as a police officer. They don’t have a license to kill, but if lethal force is used and there’s no other choice, they have a bit of leeway. Other district teams can call on them if they need help or there’s a problem they can better solve and federal agencies can ask them for help as well. Technically they can investigate crimes, but that’s normally done with the assistance of federal agencies. They’ve also got more than enough opportunity for community building and helping.

Nyx’s only question is where is he bunking, and the answer is in the bunk room. Considering that he’s been in prison for the past year or so, he’s perfectly fine with the lack of personal space for now. Whisper has been wandering the building on her own and getting some soda before getting a hotel nearby the building for some privacy since she doesn’t want to sleep in the building in its current condition. Nyx asks what’s wrong with the building, she doesn’t want to slum it and would prefer to sleep somewhere without funky cot mattresses with surplus government sheets. Nyx doesn’t understand it, you get used to the funk. Whisper just shakes her head while heading over to the pizza place across the street.

Their current problem now is to get some cash flow going, right now they’re looking at negative cash. Legerdemain is looking at getting a loan from the bank, with some folks being broke. Threshold, Wirerat, and Legerdemain could bank their names to get some loans while Nox suggests getting into the metahuman mixed martial arts when Whisper comes back in with a ridiculous pizza offering it to everyone. It’s decided to go to the bank right across the parking lot and get there after Wirerat fabricates some costumes for the group to make them look good, and Threshold gets Nyx some underwear since things are starting to chafe.

…But We Need Money

Nyx, Threshold, Whisper, and Wirerat
TD Bank Branch #613
Monday, April 20th, 2020, 1300 hours (EST)
175-30 Horace Harding Expy, Queens, NY 11365

Walking into the bank in full costume, people look at them oddly, wondering if they’re going to rob them until Legerdemain says he’s there for small business loan. One old lady asks if they’re part of some BDSM Leather troupe only for Threshold to explain that they’re part of MAPS. A small argument ensues between a clerk and the bank manager who finally goes out to greet them and lead them to a conference room. They bring in some water and doughnuts and get paperwork started with listing collateral they’ve got, their names, what they want the loan for and several more. Upon hearing Wirerat’s last name, they ask if he’s any relation to Jericho Ratnam and asks why they haven’t gone to him. It’s simply explained that they don’t speak with their grandfather. Legerdemain puts forwards a lot of the information with Threshold supplementing it. It’s good enough with everyone chiming in and negotiating with Legerdemain turning on the charm until the manager is dazed enough to agree to a $5 million dollar loan and personal accounts.

Aftermath

Back at the firehouse, they get invited down to Wirerat’s lab and scurries down the hatch into the basement and setting up things for the presentation. Showing them something that looks incredibly like SSR, calling it a Mini-SSR with semi-autonomous AI, various scanner suites, Wi-Fi. Suggesting that they use them to investigate things and report back events that are needed such as students with low blood sugar or junkies passed out. Wirerat says that it’s a point to help protect the people rather than just the people. The number of meta-crimes have gone up from the same time the prior year and they’ve managed to get one of the richer districts the area. They need to get schedules down, get the building repaired, perhaps getting The Brick Layer to come in to start repairing things by offering to bring in the materials himself.

With Threshold doing that, Whisper takes note of the main cornerstone business in Flushing to create efficient routes which Nyx offers to help with. While Whisper is familiar with the area due to studying the maps so much, Nyx is familiar with it as he grew up less than five miles from the firehouse and knows the area. Wirerat starts setting up access to all the emergency feeds in the area and setting up a similar program as he did in Caracas.

After Action Report (GM)

I kept repeating myself this session. Several times. I totally blame lack of sleep for this. This was a low-key start for the new season but I was all for it. I set the premise and the PCs just ate it up. It was a good session and sparked a lot of after session chatting on Discord. I laid down plenty of leads for next session and we’ll see which ones the PCs take.

Other Notes

Bonus Report from Rory.

Soundtrack

“The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning” by Smashing Pumpkins
“Fire” by Ohio Players
“Lawyers, Guns, and Money” by Warren Zevon