Masks: Gimme the Car, Issue Five

And today we played Masks, probably for the final time, sadly. Here's last time.

Jade Eagle and Pyre head to the Eyrie to try and find the Pyre's ship. Jade Eagle's sanctuary works on magic rather than technology, so using Pyre's tablet/key fob as a sympathetic link, they try to home in on the ship and FLICKER. They find that it's moving through dimensional coordinates, but not through physical space. It's still in this dimension, though, almost like it's calibrating. 

Meanwhile, Moonlight heads home. He finds his sister in his bed, asleep, and tries to wake her, but little kids sleep like bricks. Looking at her, he sees her in a river on an inner tube, and she looks over and says "Charlie, come swim!" He wills himself out of this vision, and wakes her up. They negotiate a bit about her getting to play in his room, and she leaves. Charlie notices notifications on his social media - something's happening downtown. AEGIS has closed off an intersection, but there's nothing in evidence. He texts the other two that this might bear watching, and Jade Eagle texts back "Meet you there!" She and Pyre fly off.

They arrive at the downtown intersection and talk briefly with Agent Conners. She shows them the sky above said intersection with a filter - the ship is there. Pyre turns into a storm cloud and flies off, and sends out a blast of energy that disables the cloaking device, making the ship visible. He also sees Intrepid standing atop it, and wraps him in a bubble of metal. Jade Eagle, meanwhile, flies over and pulls the ship down to ground level. This works, but sends out a blast of force that knocks all the AEGIS folks off their pins. 

Moonlight teleports in (increasing his doom track!), and Jade Eagle grabs the Pyre-bubble and pulls it down to the ground. Pyre opens a window, but Intrepid isn't there - Jade Eagle hears him back on the ship. Pyre flies after him, but Moonlight takes a more thoughtful approach and uses his newly acquired dark visions power to figure out what Intrepid is doing. He realizes that Intrepid is using the ship and FLICKER to realign his own dimensional signature and escape this plane of existence. Doing so will destroy the ship, but won't result in any other damage. 

Moonlight informs Jade Eagle of this, and advises that they just let Intrepid succeed so he'll leave. Jade Eagle agrees, but says they'll need to convince Pyre. Pyre, meanwhile, has slipped through the ship's walls and is trying to interface with FLICKER, but FLICKER seems to be gone. Not-FLICKER activates the ship's defenses and expels Pyre, and the others explain what they've seen. Pyre, furious but seeing the logic, says that every ship created by his people has a "blueprint", so that the ship can be recreated if necessary. He flies up to the back of the ship to get the panel, but Intrepid blasts him with arcane energy and knocks him away. 

Moonlight flies up and tells Intrepid what they have in mind - he can take the ship and get out of here, they just want the blueprint. Intrepid agrees, and Pyre retrieves the data cube. The ship reaches the dimension signature it needs, and Intrepid vanishes into the Multitudes. Pyre turns away as the ship disintegrates, and hears FLICKER says "good-bye."

Pyre collapses in grief, and Jade Eagle comforts him. Pyre says that there's a myth on this planet about a bird called a "Phoenix," which dies and then rises from its own ashes. He holds up the data cube containing the blueprint for the ship (and for a new intelligence), and says that his new ship will be that phoenix. 

Masks: Gimme the Car, Issue Four

Mask! Woo! Last time here.

Moonlight and Ilijah Intrepid are in Halcyon Cemetery, and Sol swoops in on them. She hovers in front of Moonlight, glowing brilliantly, and tells him that she felt him grow stronger - and she has, too. (Last issue, Moonlight used his powers and increased his doom track, y'see.) She flies toward him to embrace him, and Moonlight throws up a shield to block her. Sol become angry and blasts white-hot plasma at him. Figuring that she'll calm down if he gives a little, he tells her that he'll drop his shield if she'll drop her attack. She agrees, and floats down to talk to him.

They have a discussion that's very similar to the one they had before - she wants him to embrace their "merger," but Moonlight wants to just be himself for a while and isn't in any hurry to meet his doom (I mean, who is, really?). Sol claims that Moonlight acting as a hero means that he is using his powers and therefore courting his end, and says that perhaps he's just scared. Moonlight responds harshly and says that he's not scared, and wishes she would leave him alone. Sol flies off, saying "you want to be you? Fine." Intrepid, who's been watching and munching popcorn, asks who that was. "Someone from school," answers Moonlight. 

Meanwhile, Pyre and Jade Eagle are floating in space. Pyre still has the tablet-like device that (normally) allows him to control his ship, but it's not responding and he can't do much with it out here. Jade Eagle concentrates and opens a portal into her sanctum, the Eyrie, and they fly back through it...but then the portal remains open and starts sucking everything into space. Pyre turns himself to metal to try and block the portal, but it just breaks him in half and sucks him through. Jade Eagle tries to get the portal under control, but can't quite manage it. Everything slows down, and she feels wings envelop her. The Great Jade Eagle speaks to her, and asks what is happening. She says that she's trying to get this under control and save her friend, but she can't quite manage it. The Eagle tells her that she needs to take control, and she can - but if she doesn't want to try, he'll bring Pyre back and close the portal. Jade Eagle musters her strength and orders the portal to close, and it does (though Pyre returns first, fortunately). 

Moonlight texts Jade Eagle and arranges to meet back at the Nest (Pyre is already on his way; he needs to use Moonlight's computers to jury-rig a way to help FLICKER). Jade Eagle stays to clean up, and Moonlight zips away, figuring that Intrepid isn't going to be a big threat. 

Pyre smashes through the wall and furiously goes to work on the computer. Moonlight arrives and grouses about the wall a bit (Pyre doesn't care, he's in the zone), and then goes to meditate. Pyre manages to make contact with FLICKER, but she's having trouble resisting the malicious code infecting her. Pyre writes in some code to help her, and she manages to strengthen herself, but the anti-FLICKER presses a "button" on her avatar and Intrepid appears behind Pyre.

Pyre whirls around just as Intrepid flings a bunch of tiny wires from his gloves. Pyre lets loose with a torrent of fire that melts the wires and sets the room on fire. Intrepid tosses up a wall of ice to protect himself. Moonlight, meanwhile, realizes the place is on fire and enters the room. Seeing Intrepid, he calls on his shadowy powers to manipulate the electronics Intrepid is carrying and disables all of his mechanical devices and geegaws. Panicked, Intrepid punches himself in the nose and smears blood on a ring, vanishing (some of his gadgets are magical, not technological). 

Jade Eagle arrives (with smoothies!) and asks what the hell happened, while Pyre gets back to work. FLICKER - looks like normal FLICKER - appears and says that they've managed to drive out the malicious code. She just needs Pyre to enter his top-level password to burn out the rest and make sure it can't get back. He gives it...and the screens go dead. Pyre realizes with horror that he's been had, and a voice in the back of the room whispers "Yes!"

Pyre, furious, whirls around and hurls lightning at the voice. The lightning frames Intrepid's silhouette, and he catches the lightning and reactivates his gadgets. He starts to say something, but Jade Eagle tackles him and pins him against the wall. Pyre changes to metal, makes his fingers into long claws, and launches himself at Intrepid, trying to take his heart out.

Horrified, Moonlight puts up a shield (earning more Doom for showing mercy). It slows Pyre down, but he crashes through it. Jade Eagle sees him coming and covers Intrepid with her body, and Pyre's claws bend against her invulnerable flesh. Intrepid, suddenly realizing that Pyre was trying to kill him, pulls his coat around himself and vanishes. 

Moonlight calls out Pyre on his behavior - if he wants to be a hero, he can't go around murdering people, no matter what they've done. Yes, this was personal, but that was still unacceptable, and if Pyre is going to be that bloodthirsty, Moonlight is going to have to stop him. Jade Eagle, too, tells Pyre that this can't continue, and that he needs to call his dad about the missing ship. 

Pyre, cowed, raids the supply room for some tech and phones home. He talks to his father for the first time in a year, who asks if he's hurt. Pyre says he's not physically hurt, but he's lost FLICKER and he's heartsick over that. His father says that if Pyre wants to get FLICKER back, he should try, but to remember that any action carries with it a reaction, and to make sure that the reactions are something he can live with. The device shorts out, and Jade Eagle, who was there for the exchange, puts a hand on Pyre's shoulder. Pyre whirls around and hugs her. "Sometimes I think you're older than you are," says Jade Eagle, as the credits roll. 

Masks: Gimme the Car, Issue Three

After a bit of a hiatus, we're back!

The heroes come together at Moonlight's lair and talk about their strategy. They aren't sure where the glove that Pyre made will take them. They know it'll take them to the matching glove, and probably to Ilijah Intrepid, but since they don't know where he is they don't quite know what to expect. Pyre is pissed and wants to go in fighting, but Jade Eagle and Moonlight favor a more discreet approach. The heroes review the security footage from their fight with Intrepid, and Jade Eagle notes that he has multiple gadgets and artifacts from various times and cultures, including a weird amulet and a dagger strapped to his back. An EMP might short some of his weapons, but not all.

They use the glove and all vanish, reappearing at the Four Corners Monument. Nothing untoward seems to be going on; they see tourists and school groups and the like. The civilians start pointing and taking pictures; Jade Eagle jumps into crowd control mode, while Pyre changes into air and surveys the area. Moonlight steps back and looks for anything out of the ordinary, but doesn't see anything - if Intrepid is here, he's hiding. Pyre looks for anyone who's not shocked by their appearance, and spots a man in sunglasses. He talks with the man briefly, but learns that the guy is blind (hence the dog next to him). 

Jade Eagle has people go about their business and looks around, and spots a man at a vending machine. In the reflection, she sees an amulet hanging off his belt - the one she saw in the video footage earlier. She points this out, and Pyre springs into action, changing into electricity and attacking.

Intrepid, however, is prepared. He flips out his amulet and absorbs Pyre. Jade Eagle fires her eyebeams at him to try and fry his devices, but Intrepid reflects the blast back at her and throws her into a crowd of people. Moonlight stretches out his hand and grabs the amulet away from him. Intrepid speaks a quick incantation and the amulet release Pyre, but Moonlight has time to point the thing up and avoid getting zapped. 

Intrepid walks forward and stands in the center of the monument, but Jade Eagle swoops in to block him. She tries to talk him down, but realizes that he has no remorse about any of this and asking for help just wouldn't have occurred to him. Pyre swoops over and stands next to her, but just then they hear helicopters. Two transports with AEGIS markings are heading in.

Intrepid sighs, reaches up with both hands, and spins a ring on each hand. He throws whirlwinds up, catching the copters and spinning them out of control. Jade Eagle flies off and catches one, pulling it down to land safely. Pyre changes back into wind and catches the other, but in landing, gets caught up in the rotors and cut to pieces (don't worry, he's fine, just has to reconfigure). Intrepid pulls the device he stole from Pyre out of his coat and starts fiddling with it. 

Moonlight, meanwhile, draws on his shadowy powers and telekinetically yanks the device in Intrepid's hands. Intrepid touches a button a wristband and grows strong enough to resist, but Jade Eagle, flying into battle with the AEGIS folks, eye-lasers his wristband. It explodes, but causes enough of a backblast to knock the agents and her down. The device flies out of Intrepid's hands over to Moonlight. Intrepid turns to Moonlight and says that it doesn't much matter - "Execute the order." FLICKER's voice comes from the device, confirming it. 

Pyre swoops back in, pissed, and fires his foam-gun, freezing Intrepid to the spot. But the device activates, and Intrepid and the device start to vanish. Moonlight taps into his power again and follows the device, and all four of them vanish and reappear...in the Place Between. 

The ship is still there, held up by rocky tendrils. Pyre sees Intrepid standing in front of it, a tear rolling down his face. "Finally," he whispers. Pyre, however, does not care about his emotions. He flies over and grabs Intrepid by the neck, intending to slam his head into the ship. 

Moonlight, not wanting Pyre to get out of control, siphons vitality from both Intrepid and Pyre. Intrepid falls unconscious, and a device on his belt covers him in an opalescent putty kind of substance. Pyre is conscious, but slightly weakened (Moonlight just wanted him to chill out). Jade Eagle appears as well, and Pyre tries to get the ship open. FLICKER tells him, however, that her programming has been compromised by Intrepid. 

Pyre tries to talk her through it, but she is still struggling. And then, all of this disruption of the Place Between gains some attention - Ghostheart appears.

He tells them to get out. They all agree that they'd love to, maybe he could send them out and they'll never come back? Ghostheart seems like he's considering it, but then Intrepid wakes up and says that he just wants to escape this dimension (by which he means the one the characters live in, it seems). Ghostheart refuses to help him, and Intrepid isn't interested in asking nicely. Ghostheart, finally fed up, throws down green-white fire, and all four of them vanish.

Pyre and Jade Eagle appear in space, amidst a bunch of asteroid. Pyre still has the device that allows him to talk to FLICKER, but she's still not able to respond correctly. 

Moonlight, meanwhile, has reappeared back in a cemetery in Halcyon City. Ilijah Intrepid is there, too, and makes his position clear - he's planning on getting back to the "Multitudes" and stealing and plundering his little heart out. He has no particular regard for other beings; if someone dies decades from now of a disease or today because Ilijah kills them and takes their stuff, what difference, in the scheme of things? 

Moonlight, of course, does not agree with this philosophy, but before he can really argue, Intrepid points out an incoming fireball. At the center of it is Sol, and she doesn't look friendly.

Masks: Gimme the Car, Issue Two

It's a game post, or, as we call it around here, "Matt's Blog Post Type 3." 

Last issue, our dynamic trio took on a singing swan lady and then ran afoul of Ilijah Intrepid (would it have killed you guys to spell the name "Elijah" like normal people?). So here we are in Moonlight's sanctum facing off against the dude.

Pyre shoots Intrepid with one of his alien weapons, a gun that fires a pellet of expanding foam to immobilize him. Intrepid looks impressed for a moment, then taps a couple of his fingers together and teleports behind Pyre, reaching for his communicator. Jade Eagle zaps Intrepid's hand with her eye-beams, shorting out the glove, and Intrepid yelps and tosses the glove. Moonlight attempts to encase Intrepid in, well, moonlight, but Intrepid absorbs the construct with his other glove and fires it right back at Moonlight.

Pyre jumps in the way of the blast, and it turns him to ice. He falls to the ground and shatters, and Intrepid tosses a little metal sphere into the shards, which roll them up into a larger sphere. Intrepid grabs said sphere, but Jade Eagle flies over and socks him, sending the sphere flying up. Intrepid reels back and tosses a couple of little glass rectangles to the ground. They break, and two huge alien creatures appear, six-legged, tiger-sized monsters with horrible spindly mouth-folds. One of them leaps on Jade Eagle, and the other charges after Moonlight. 

Moonlight puts up a wall to block the creature, and the creature just slams into it. But the one attacking Jade Eagle tackles her and munches on her head. Pyre manages to reform himself and turns himself into a huge wolf-creature made of ice, but can't quite get his bearings before the other tiger-monster goes around Moonlight's wall and tackles him. Jade Eagle struggles, but can't get the creature to let go. She feels her hands tingle and realizes she could probably call on the power of the bloodstones still embedded in her flesh, but decides that would be a terrible idea and just endures.

Intrepid tosses a disc onto Pyre and immobilizes his (knowing that Pyre can pretty easily reform and free himself), and pulls out a little remote device. "Give me the thing, and your friends don't get hurt." Pyre tries to think of a way to get out of this, but doesn't want to put his friends in more danger. He hands over the communicator and makes a grab for the remote, but Intrepid is too fast. He pushes the button and he, and the monsters, vanish. 

The heroes free Nightingale and she patches up Moonlight and Jade Eagle (both are bleeding from the needly bites from the tiger). Pyre turns into a stormcloud to vent some anger; Jade Eagle tells him to take it outside. Pyre grabs the glove that Intrepid left behind and, with Moonlight's help, analyzes it. It's futuristic tech; the glove is made of millions of nano-wires. When the fingers are tapped together, it can achieve different effects based on the order of the taps. It's too badly damaged to repair, but Pyre manages to rig it so that they can use the teleportation effect to send the wearer and anyone in a five-foot radius to the other glove - once. The heroes decide to do a little preparation before going after Intrepid. Pyre gears up with his remaining weaponry. Jade Eagle heads out to talk to her legacy folks, and Moonlight heads home to get ready for school the next day.

Jade Eagle gets patched up (again) by Auntie, who dresses her down - aliens have different biology than we do, so they can sometimes bypass a Jade Eagle's invulnerability. Casey says that maybe it's time to "show her." Auntie agrees, and Casey takes Selena out to the edge of town, and opens the Eyrie, a hidden sanctum that the Jade Eagles have used for years. 

Charlie, meanwhile, goes to school and immediately has rumors spreading about why he's got a weird ring of wounds around his head ("I heard he stuck his head in the piranha tank at the zoo!"). Tandy - Sol - corners him and says that she doesn't want him dying before they have a chance, um, fuse, and reminds him that he's got the power of darkness eternal at his disposal. He should just release it and not get hurt by alien tigers. Charlie responds that while he does have that power, yes, using it recklessly, even in self-defense, isn't how he rolls. 

Next time, we'll see if the heroes can stop Intrepid and keep to their principles. 

Masks: Gimme the Car, Issue One

New arc! New danger to Halcyon City! Here's last time! Here we go!

It's a lovely crisp autumn day in downtown Halcyon City. Selena Ruiz is with a volunteer group cleaning up litter. Charlie Chesterfield is window shopping, and Pyre is flying around near the tops of skyscrapers marveling at the constructions of glass ("isn't glass brittle?" he muses). 

And then, Pyre sees a woman with white hair and big white wings fly into the city! She smiles big and says "GOOD MORNING, HALCYON CITY!" and is somehow broadcast loud enough that everyone can hear her, including the heroes on the ground. 

"My name is Cygnus, I want to sing a song for you!" she continues, and then music comes from nowhere and she begins to sing. The song, however, is so loud that windows begin to crack. Pyre flies over and tries to ask to her to stop, but of course his voice is drowned out. Selena dips behind a dumpster and emerges as Jade Eagle, and Charlie ducks into an alley and reappears as Moonlight. They both start heading up to intercept Cygnus.

Pyre, meanwhile, makes the words "PLEASE STOP, YOU'RE BREAKING THINGS" appear in smoke. Cygnus stops singing and says, "oh, everyone's a critic" before launching into another song. Jade Eagle tackles her, knocking the wind out of her, but she's so disoriented by the song (remember that Jade Eagle has super-senses) that both she and Cygnus go spiraling toward the ground.

Moonlight stretches his arms out and catches them (Pyre creates an updraft to slow them down). Cygnus lands happily in the "net", and thanks Moonlight for catching her, and then flies up and hits a note that shatters the windows in all the nearby buildings. Pyre changes himself to wind and tries to catch the glass, but only manages to spread it. Moonlight tries to catch it with his psychic constructs, but misses. Jade Eagle, shaking herself off, uses her eye-beams to try and burn off the glass, but only manages to create an amazing light show as the beams reflect. The glass settles onto the crowd below, and people start to bleed and scream.

Cygnus thanks Jade Eagle for the light show, and Jade Eagle, annoyed, slams into her and pins her up against a building. She breaks the wall behind her and falls into the building in fear. Meanwhile, Pyre sees people bleeding and tries to figure out how best to help. He figures he might be able to suck up the glass with a tornado, but that wouldn't do much for the people already injured. Instead, he turns himself into a flash flood of a solvent that will dissolve the glass but not hurt the people, and spreads himself over the area. It works, mostly. He clears up the shards, but also dissolves a lot of windows and eyeglasses. 

Meanwhile, Moonlight stretches up to see Cygnus and Jade Eagle facing off, and siphons some vitality away from Cygnus. Her wings shrivel and she drops to her feet, and she stammers and apologizes, saying that she just wanted a concert. Jade Eagle says that that would have been fine, but all the destruction isn't acceptable. Cygnus asks if Jade Eagle would help her, would come to her concert, and Jade Eagle agrees (unaware that this whole conversation is still being broadcast with Cygnus' powers). 

Moonlight heads down and spots AEGIS, and in particular their old pal Agent Conners. He hears Conners telling the others that Jade Eagle has apparently gotten too touchy feely with this "bird lady", and that Pyre is, as usual, destroying the city - the only one they can really count on is "that goth one." Moonlight reflects that while he doesn't like hearing his team badmouthed like this, it does kinda make him feel good to know he's seen as trustworthy. In any case, he lands and tells Conners that Jade Eagle is on her way down with Cygnus. Conners says "weapons hot," but Moonlight manages to talk her down - Cygnus is cooperating.

Jade Eagle, Pyre, and Cygnus land, and news coverage ask all kinds of questions ("Have you joined forces with Cygnus?" "Are you her new promoter?"). Conners ushers everyone into an armored van to take them away, and reads Pyre the riot act - he's managed to destroy property again. When's he going home?

Pyre angrily responds that he can't go home, because his ship is still stuck in the Place Between and he doesn't have a way back. Conners doesn't really get any of that, of course, and turns her attention back to Cygnus and Jade Eagle. Jade Eagle says that Cygnus could be trained and be an asset (figuring it's much better to have a hero with a troubled start than a villain in the long run). Conners says that they'll have to see about the legality of training "Miss Vallas," and Jade Eagle recognizes Cygnus - her name is Lina Vallas, and she was a one-hit wonder pop star some years back. Conners asks if Jade Eagle will take some responsibility for training Cygnus, and she agrees.

As they're leading Cygnus away, the lights flicker and the PA system in the building crackles on, and Pyre hears FLICKER's voice. She's trying to get home, but she can't calibrate. He tries to send her coordinates, but the connection dies. Conners, hearing that the ship can travel between dimensions normally, seems more interested in helping.

Pyre figures that the nature of the Place Between is making it hard to calibrate - every time the settings change, the "middle" resets. Normally the ship can project a "bubble" keeping its own dimensional laws stable to avoid this kind of thing, but that bubble isn't working, and he's not sure why. He asks Moonlight to contact Nightingale, since she spent a long time in the Place Between, and they meet up at the Nest.

Nightingale says that she only got to the Place Between with the help of Lady Faust, but Faust is now powerless. Jade Eagle mentions that she still has shards of the bloodstone in her hands, and Moonlight figures that while Jade Eagle is largely invulnerable, the magic contained in those shards could be dangerous if activated. He figures that with the help of Lady Faust and some method of making Jade Eagle physically vulnerable, they could remove the shards, but doing so might incur attention from Baal, the demon they left in the Dead.

They decide to table that for the moment and work on getting Pyre's ship back. They figure they need some method of contacting the ship and activating it remotely, getting the bubble working and then recalibrating. As they discuss this, though, Nightingale shoves Moonlight out of the way and a metal disc strikes her shoulder. She freezes in place and goes blurry, and a man steps out of the shadows. 

"Hello!" he says. "My name is Ilijah Intrepid. Which one of you is Pyre?" He looks at Pyre and nods at his communicator. "I'm going to need to borrow that device."

Pyre asks why; Intrepid says it's a long story. Pyre says he's welcome to tell it, but Intrepid says "I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. Give me that device." He tosses an orb that spews black smoke. 

Pyre and Moonlight are both dizzied by the smoke, but Jade Eagle grabs Intrepid and drops him on the smoke device. He disappears mid-air, and reappears behind Pyre and Moonlight, tosses those discs onto them. Pyre changes to smoke and Moonlight realigns his flesh, disrupting the discs, and all three heroes turn to face Ilijah Intrepid.

"Fine," he says, "we'll do this the hard way."

Masks: Walk the Line, Issue Three

End of arc. Wooo! Here's last session. 

The heroes are in the Dead, facing off against Lady Faust. She gestures and multiple duplicates appear. Jade Eagle flies up and blasts them all with her eyebeams, destroying the illusions. Faust deflects the beam, and Pyre zooms over, turns his hands to rock, and punches her.

Or, rather, tries. He flies right through her and she taps him on the back of the neck. He falls forward, his soul being wrenched out his body. Moonlight wraps Faust in chains and she drops Pyre, and works her magic on the chains, turning them red and getting into Moonlight's head.

Jade Eagle uses her eyebeams to blast the bloodstone around Faust's neck. The stone doesn't crack, but the chain breaks and the stone falls to the ground. Faust glares at Jade Eagle and she feels madness clawing at her mind. Moonlight tries to drain vitality from Faust, but finds nothing - it's like trying to drink a shadow. The chains fall away and Moonlight staggers back. 

Pyre runs over, changes his hands to metal and tries to smash the bloodstone. The stone cracks, and Faust screams in rage, and then yells "Arise, Baal!" A monstrous demon with a club rises up out of the stone and smacks Pyre, knocking him back. He smashes into a crypt, but Jade Eagle takes the opportunity to zip in and grab the stone. 

Pyre shakes himself off and turns himself into a massive firestorm. He flies toward Baal, and Moonlight has time to realize that attack a demon with fire probably isn't going to work. The demon grabs the fire, crumbles it up, and inhales it, trapping Pyre within the demon's form. Jade Eagle, meanwhile, feels blood leaking from the stone, and feels her hand growing wet. 

Moonlight realizes that down here in the Dead, he's more powerful than usual - probably more powerful that anyone here, even Faust. He allows his true power to come to the fore, and grows to a giant size. He punches Baal and he exhales Pyre, and then conjures a platform made of moonlight and pulls everyone (except Baal) onto it. He gestures at Faust and she passes out, and raises everyone up.

They reappear on Earth, in Halcyon City Memorial Cemetery. Moonlight's power fades back to normal levels. Sol's powers, meanwhile, start to return, and she blazes with fire and hovers, glowering at Moonlight. Moonlight, for his part, tells her that while their death and merger might be inevitable, that doesn't mean they have to rush it. They're in high school, they should take the time to live first. Sol is unconvinced at first, but then Jade Eagle and Pyre stand with Moonlight, and Sol snaps "Fine, see you in school" and flies off.

Jade Eagle breaks the bloodstone, and the fragments shower her hands. Her hands still feel wet, and she wonders if breaking the stone with her bare hands was wise.

Still wondering what happened between Faust and Sol, Moonlight wakes up Faust and has Pyre hold her. He asks her what happened, and Faust demands to know what happened to the stone. Jade Eagle tells her the stone is broken, and Faust howls in anguish and weeps. Moonlight tries to ask her about Sol, but she just lashes out and says that nothing matters anymore, and Moonlight lets it go.

Jade Eagle calls AEGIS, and they come out to collect Faust. Conners asks Jade Eagle what happened, and she tells her to talk to Moonlight - it was really his show. Moonlight explains what happened, and Conners reveals that according to her instruments, Faust doesn't have any powers anymore (Pyre breathes a sigh of relief). AEGIS takes Faust away, leaving the heroes alone with Nightingale. 

They decide to head home and meet up tomorrow. Pyre tries to summon his ship, but then they all remember that it's still in the Place Between ("I knew we forgot something," says Moonlight). He says he needs a place to stay, and Moonlight tells him to ask Nightingale. She says that the "Nest" (the sanctuary) is Moonlight's now, so if he wants to let Pyre stay there, that's fine. Moonlight agrees, and everyone heads home.

The next day, they meet up for lunch and cake, and celebrate their victory. They tell Pyre some ways to fit in a little, and Jade Eagle introduces him to shaved ice, but notices that her hands still have bloodstone fragments on them...and still feel a little sticky. We fade out on Pyre telling the others about his experiences visiting other planets and seeing strange creatures and peoples. 

Masks: Walk the Line, Issue Two

Here's last time, on we go. 

The heroes have learned that Nightingale is stuck in the Place Between, but they aren't sure how to find that. Pyre checks the coordinates of the places that she's tried to contact Moonlight to establish a point of reference, while Jade Eagle calls Casey. She tells him what they're up to, and he warns her to be careful - last time they went dimension hopping, they brought back a Photovore invasion. She acknowledges this, and they board the ship and vanish.

They appear after a journey that, to Pyre's mind, only took about half as long as he'd have thought. But FLICKER, his ship's AI, confirms that they're in the Place Between and that atmospheric conditions are favorable to human life. They disembark the ship and look around - this place is weird. It's composed of hallways, archways, doorways, and such, and they always seem to be standing just on the horizon. It's temperate - not hot or cold - and dimly lit. Pyre flies up to try and get a bird's-eye view, but when he does, the whole world adjusts. They all feel the world lurch, and Jade Eagle comes to the conclusion that she really hates it here. She thinks, perhaps, that Casey was right - this is too far out of her wheelhouse. Pyre, meanwhile, feels like this isn't too dissimilar to some other world he's seen. Moonlight feels like this is one more weirdness in the weird parade that is his life. 

The heroes try to figure out how to find Nightingale. Jade Eagle listens carefully for birdsong, but there are no quiet sounds, or loud sounds, just sounds. Moonlight reconfigures his vocal apparatus to make the sounds himself, and then hears and answering call. They all follow the sound, and soon come upon Nightingale, sitting on a bench, waiting for them. 

She and Moonlight reunite ("Aunt Lily!"), and they tell her they've come to take her home. She refuses, though - she's here to try and avoid Charlie's doom. Moonlight and Sol are destined, supposedly, to destroy each other and then become something new, but Nightingale feels that they don't need to accept this. Moonlight tells her that this is fate, and it's not something they should mess with, but Nightingale says that he's 16 and what does he know about "the way things are?" Moonlight shuts her down - he knows what his fate is, and she doesn't get to decide it. 

Pyre tries to call up FLICKER, but she tells him that she isn't able to get a fix on him and her programming has been overriden. They head back to the ship, but find it's been overgrown with tendrils of black glass. Pyre changes his fist to rock to punch through it, but the glass shatters and then reforms. Pyre gets in the ship and talks to FLICKER, who tells him that something is preventing her from shifting the ship out of phase, and that there are two other sentient beings around. 

Meanwhile, outside, the others note that it's getting warmer, to the point that Nightingale is sweating. This shouldn't be happening, of course, it never gets "warm" here. And then they see a humanoid figure, burning so brightly they can't quite make it out, appear - Sol. 

Sol says that she's here to embrace her fate with Moonlight, and throws a whole bunch of fire at him. Moonlight puts up a shield, but the fire burns through it, and he yells for someone to help him. Pyre emerges from the ship and blasts water at Sol, but it just evaporates. 

Jade Eagle yells to Sol to think of her mother, and that confuses her for a minute. Moonlight tells her to calm down, and how did she get here, anyway? Sol tries to burn brighter, but Moonlight siphons off some of her energy and anger, and she lands, calling out to someone for help. She tries, but can't quite seem to catch fire again. 

She tells Moonlight that their destiny has been explained to her, that the two of them can die gloriously and something new can be born, something beautiful. Moonlight says that he's in no hurry for that to happen, and anyway, how did Sol learn about all this? Sol says that she made a deal, and Moonlight confirms that it was with the mysterious woman in blue. At this point, the characters look around and notice that Nightingale has gone missing. 

A moment later, Ghostheart steps from the shadows, and tells them all to stop testing the boundaries. This place, the Place Between, is the boundary between Life and Death (among other things), and by changing things they're damaging that barrier. He snaps his fingers and returns Nightingale (who says she was in some formless black void, but isn't sure how she got there), and tells them to get gone. Nightingale refuses - she still wants to save Charlie, and she's been here too long to leave now. She says she's made some progress, but it's been incremental - this place doesn't take kindly to sudden change.

The woman in blue is mentioned again, and Nightingale identifies her - Lady Faust. Pyre asks who Lady Faust is, and she responds "me" as she steps out of nothing. She reveals that she brought Sol here and changed the rules of the place so that she and Moonlight could realize their destiny. Ghostheart demands she leave, but she simply waves a hand and turns him to stone.

Moonlight talks with Sol, trying to suss out exactly what she agreed to, and Jade Eagle sidles over to Pyre and tells him to change Ghostheart back - she can sense his mind in the statue somewhere, so he just needs a little nudge. Pyre does, and Ghostheart reappears. "You want to ignore the rules, Faust? Fine," he says, and grows to a hundred feet tall. He swings his hand down and strikes them all. Jade Eagle swoops up her team, Sol, and Nightingale to protect them, but Pyre, trying to protect himself by turning to metal, panics. 

Moonlight comes to in a strange world. It's an immense cemetery, but every grave is open with a staircase leading down. He sees his team (plus Sol and Nightingale), all as metal statues, including himself. He looks at his hands and realizes he's just a spectre made of moonlight. If he could revive Pyre, Pyre could probably change them back, he thinks.

He sees Lady Faust, and she sees him. She walks through the cemetery like a kid in a candy store, and when he speaks to her, she says they're in the Dead. She tells him that she'd be happy to change the others back, but Moonlight is in no mood to make a deal with her. He floats back to the statues and coaxes Pyre's mind back, whereupon he stretches and becomes flesh again. He changes everyone back, but Sol looks kind of worse for the wear. Moonlight realizes that this is probably because she is an embodiment of light, life, and fire, and there is nothing like that here in the Dead.

Jade Eagle asks if they are dead, and Nightingale points out her own grave behind her, except that the "death" date is missing and there's no staircase. So they're all still alive, but stuck here. Pyre's ship isn't here and FLICKER isn't answering. Jade Eagle tells Sol and Moonlight to try and figure this out, and Moonlight figures that he's strong enough to just lift them out...but then they hear a scream.

They follow it, and see Lady Faust walking up out of a grave. Her lips are full and red, and the blood-colored stone around her neck is glowing. They realize that she probably just consumed someone's soul, and tell her she needs to stop, but she refuses, and asks what exactly they're going to do about it?

Next time, we'll see what they can do about it.

Masks: Walk the Line, Issue One

A new arc in the Masks game! On we go! 

The heroes meet up in the park at the end of the day, near sunset (Charlie brings cookies!). They talk about the strange goings-on in Halcyon City. To wit, Charlie has noticed that many of his classmates have looked harried and pale, like they're not sleeping, and his nemesis Sol has been absent from school all week. Selena tells them that apparently people all over the city have been dreaming about death - dead loved ones, their own deaths, and other spooky things - but the other folks in the Jade Eagle line told her this is more mystical thing, and some mask with a more mystical bent (like Moonlight) should probably handle it. 

As they're talking they hear chirping and birdsong from a nearby tree. They look up and see a flock of nightingales, which is weird (not normally a flocking bird). But then all the birds fly off and head straight for them! Pyre instinctively turns to air, and Selena and Charlie just kind of duck, but the birds head straight for Charlie...but vanish before reaching them. 

The heroes are very confused, but of course it's not lost on them that "Nightingale" is the hero name of Charlie's missing aunt. Charlie slips up into the tree and looks around, and sees something moving in the leaves above. It shows itself - a small, humanoid creature with blue-black skin and a small extra set of arms. It sniffs around the branches, and sniffs at Charlie, and then leaps over his head and lands on the ground.

Charlie yells for Selena to watch out for it, but the creature continues sniffing around and then drops to all fours (sixes?) and starts running toward a playground. Pyre springs into action and slams the creature between two metal fists, but it turns to smoke and flows out of the grip. Selena ducks behind a tree and becomes Jade Eagle, and then flies over and lands in front of the thing. She blasts the ground in front of it with her eye-beams, and then yells to the kids on the playground to go and find their parents. Most of them do, but a couple stand still, frozen in fear. 

The creature snarls at the heroes, and then rips off its own ear (ew) and flings it at Jade Eagle. It splatters on her shoulder and immediately becomes frigid to the touch. Pyre tries to hose it off by turning his arm to water, but it just dissipates like smoke and then reforms. As they're puzzling over this, one of the kids from the playground walks up. Her eyes are the same pale yellow that the creature's were, and she says in a voice clearly not her own: "Ghostheart is watching you." Her eyes return to normal and she asks for Jade Eagle's autograph. 

The heroes head back to Moonlight's base so they can dig into his aunt's archives and figure out who "Ghostheart" is and how to get rid of this gunk. Moonlight finds notes on Ghostheart; Nightingale was never sure if Ghostheart was a man or woman (or both, or neither), but did learn that they were primarily concerned with minding the barrier between "the living and the dead." They apparently have the power to summon monsters and ghosts up from nowhere, and to come and go at will. Moonlight theorizes that they can probably summon, or at least contact, Ghostheart through the goop on Jade Eagle's shoulder, since that's apparently letting them watch her. Jade Eagle kind of pokes the stuff and asks Ghostheart to show themself, and the goop begins to emit black smoke, which eventually resolves into Ghostheart. 

Moonlight, a little taken aback at Ghostheart's good looks, glances away and blushes, but keeps himself together. The heroes ask Ghostheart what's going on, and they say that something is trying the barrier between Living and Dead, and it's aiming at Moonlight. They're not sure why or what, and they don't much care. They have a solution to the problem - kill Moonlight and put him firmly into the Dead. The heroes, of course, aren't very cool with that, and ask Ghostheart for some time to figure it out. They also ask about Nightingale, and Ghostheart reveals that Nightingale came to them some time back, asking for a way to alter someone's destiny (probably Moonlight's). Ghostheart wasn't able to help her - not the kind of thing they do - but was able to send her to someone who probably could. Ghostheart then summons some smoke and changes it into a ball of black glass, and tells the heroes that if they want to talk to "her" (the one they sent Nightingale to), all they have to do is break this. 

Ghostheart vanishes, and the heroes talk about their next move. They decide that they need to figure out where Sol is, since her intertwined destiny with Moonlight might make this whole thing complicated. Plus, they don't know if she's involved, or if she's all right. Pyre and Jade Eagle decide to go to Sol's house (of course Moonlight knows where she lives, it's only fair) and Moonlight stays behind at the base to talk to whoever it is that Ghostheart referred Nightingale to. 

Moonlight smashes the orb, and a woman in blue appears from the shards. 

The woman (who doesn't introduce herself, and Moonlight doesn't ask) makes it clear that she'll be happy to return Nightingale, or send Moonlight to her, or whatever he'd like...but there'll be a price involved. Moonlight settles for just knowing where Nightingale is, and the woman takes a little piece of his soul (that is, marks the doom track). She then informs him that Nightingale is in the Place Between, and that she sent her there. Originally Nightingale had asked her to change Moonlight's destiny, but the price was apparently too high, so she simply sent Nightingale to someplace that she could help...in theory. Moonlight doesn't wish to bargain further, but the woman gives him a ring with a black stone in it, telling him that she'd be happy to help further.

Meanwhile, Pyre and Jade Eagle arrive at the apartment building where Sol lives. Jade Eagle changes back into Selena, and Pyre exerts a great deal of effort to change his body to look human. They knock on the door and tell Sol's mother that they there to give her homework, since she's been absent all week. Her mother lets them in and sends them down the hall to Sol's door (Tandy's door, really), but warns them to be careful. She's sick, after all. 

They knock on Tandy's door and mention that Charlie sent them, and Tandy opens up enough to peek out. Selena can see that her room is disheveled and messy, and that she looks awful - she clearly hasn't eaten or slept. They talk and Selena tries to get Tandy to explain what's going on, but she's not making a lot of sense, and she doesn't want to come with them. She closes the door, and the two heroes head back to base.

The trio reconvenes and discusses what they've learned. This is, unfortunately, a little out of their wheelhouse, so they start thinking about other heroes they know who are more on the magical side of things. They remember Clothos, and just as Jade Eagle mentions her, there's a knock at the door. Moonlight lets Clothos in ("Any cookies left?"), and she tells them that Nightingale is in the Place Between, a liminal space that exists as a barrier between all extremes - life and death, light and dark, good and evil. She's attempting to reach Moonlight, but to what end, Clothos isn't sure. The characters ask how they can get to her, and Clothos says that the Place Between is a place, that is, somewhere you can go, if you know how. Pyre notes that his ship is capable of inter-dimensional travel, and the heroes prepare to embark on a very strange journey...
 

Masks: Into the Light, Issue Five

 After a bit of a hiatus, we're back! Here's last time.

The heroes are at the AEGIS facility and superpowered prison, confronted by a bunch of possessed agents, including Conners, and Maestro (also possessed). The agents leap at them, and the battle is joined!

Jade Eagle flies into the fray, tossing agents around and avoiding their attempts to pin her down. Pyre is riding in his weird, glass-bubble battle-bot thing, and fires off a bunch of nonlethal rounds (which don't seem to hurt the creatures). Moonlight, careful not to conjure up any psychic constructs (since the Photovores can eat them), observes the area and tries to get a sense of how to win this fight. He knows that doing so will require preventing the Photovores from feeding or fleeing, and that seems like tall order.

Jade Eagle, perhaps thinking the same thing, smashes the front wall and caves it in to prevent the creatures from running out into the sun. The Photovores take the opportunity to swarm at her, and Moonlight stretches out his arms and sweeps most of them away. A couple of them skitter up Moonlight's arms to attack, but he drains their lifeforce. Horribly, though, he sees this is affecting the people as well as a Photovores. He drops them withing truly harming them, even though doing so brings his Doom closer.

One of the creatures lands on Jade Eagle and wrestles with her. Pyre dives in and strikes it in the back with his machine's robot arms, and Jade Eagle hears the man's shoulders dislocate with sickening pops. Winning this battle by brute force might be possible, but it would probably cost innocent lives.

Moonlight sees Maestro run down the hall towards where the prisoners are kept. He stretches up to the balcony and pursues him, and sees him standing in from of an open cell. Walking out of said cell is a super-criminal called Arcknife, but now possessed by a Photovore. 

Arcknife hurls electricity at Moonlight, who instinctively throws up a shield to block it. Predictably, Arcknife zips over and absorbs it, and then grabs Moonlight by the head. Moonlight begins to drain him, and Arcknife flicks a bit of lightning at another cell. It opens, and a huge, blue dude comes charging out.

 

Said blue due, a bullish villain called Troll, ignores the fracas happening in front of him and charges down the hallway, presumably towards freedom. 

 

Pyre leaps up to the balcony and tosses Conners out of the way. Jade Eagle catches her and bends a metal bar around her, immobilizing her, and then flies around and breaks the lights in the room. Pyre, however, is now in front of Troll on the balcony. "Move it, wuss!" yells Troll, and Pyre just smiles. Troll pounds on the "glass" dome, but can't break the alien material, and Pyre uses the machine's robot arms to sock him right back into the hallway. 

 

Maestro glides up to Troll and offers him real power, power enough to stomp these people. Troll accepts, reaching for Maestro's hand, and Maestro grabs it, sending darkness into the big blue thug. The now-possessed Troll stands, but Moonlight reaches up with his stretchy fingers and breaks the lights in the hallway, hoping to keep the Photovores from getting stronger. And then he hears a voice he recognizes - Vortex.

"Hey, Moonlight," he says. "Let me out and get me my harness. I can suck these things up into the singularity." Moonlight has no desire to release Vortex, but he admits this is a solid plan.

Jade Eagle, meanwhile, flies into the hallway. Moonlight tells her Vortex' request, and Jade Eagle says that it's probably the best idea they have, though they need to figure out some way to save the people inside the Photovores. Moonlight runs off to find the harness, and Jade Eagle tries to take stock of what's happening, but Arcknife is too fast for her. He unleashes a barrage of electrically charged debris, striking her and blinding her for a moment. But then her green aura flares bright in the shape of an eagle, and green energy beams burst from her eyes, knocking his projectiles aside. 

Pyre swings his robot arms out into the hall indiscriminately, but Troll catches them and tears them off, laughing. Pyre opens the robot's dome and unleashes a gout of fire. Troll tries to punch him, but his fists go right through him (it's very difficult to punch a fire), and he collapses, his clothes burning. 

Moonlight gets to the vault where supervillian gear is kept, and flattens himself to get under the door. He finds the harness, but can't figure out how to open the door from the inside (everything is on lockdown). Desperate, he calls upon his powers and teleports back into the hallway, feeling his Doom inch ever closer. 

He releases Vortex and hands him the harness, and Vortex actives his power, opening the singularity in his chest. Troll starts to slide towards him, and Jade Eagle stops him. She tries to figure out how to save these people but get rid of the Photovores, and then she figures it - Moonlight can absorb them. He just needs to do it with a little more precision than usual. 

She explains this, and Moonlight stretches out his arms and wraps up Maestro. With great effort, he pulls out the Photovore and spits it at the black hole. It vanishes into the Lightless Void...but there are still so many more.

Pyre becomes a whirlwind and picks up the rest of them, and Moonlight focuses his power and yanks out each and every Photovore, throwing them into the Void. Pyre drops the now-unpossessed people (Troll crawls back into his cell, muttering "fuck this"), and Jade Eagle realizes that Dr. Crate is downstairs. 

She flies down and tells him what's happening, and he says that maybe it's a good idea if he keeps his Photovore. After all, if they can study it, they have a better chance of repelling them when and if they invade again. Jade Eagle tells him that he's done enough, he deserves his life back, and he agrees, accompanying her back upstairs.

But upstairs, Vortex shuts the black hole and tells Pyre and Moonlight that they're good kids, not like a lot of these other yo-yos. He says that the only difference between someone like them and someone locked up here is the willingness to get shit done, and asks them to come with him. 

Pyre rejects this outright - to him, sucking up trees and statues isn't "getting shit done." Moonlight, likewise, tells Vortex that he feels that the difference between them is less about willingness to act and more about selfish motivations, but Vortex can tell he doesn't really believe it. Vortex runs off, and the heroes don't try to stop him - they're spent. 

Jade Eagle arrives with Dr. Crate, but Vortex is gone, and there's nowhere to put the Photovore even if Moonlight did have enough oomph to remove it. Conners regains her composure and the AEGIS agents lock up Arcknife. 

Conners takes the heroes to a room for a debrief, and admits they did a good job. Sure, they put an agent in the hospital, but the damage could have been far worse. Jade Eagle asks for clemency for Dr. Crate - maybe he could join AEGIS rather than being a prisoner? Conners agrees, it's just a matter of letting him work safely. Conners also says that the smaller Photovores in the city crawled out into the sunlight and burst like ticks - apparently they weren't strong enough to handle that much light. For now, at least, this threat has been neutralized.

The heroes go back to their lives. Charlie goes to school the next day and feels a poke during homeroom. Sol - rather, Tandy, since they're both in their civvies - asks what happened, and he tells her that they sent the Photovores home. She tells him he's the sort of guy who would find a black widow spider and put it outside rather than squashing it, and reminds him that they aren't normal, and they never will be. Charlie wants to disagree, but he can't.

Jade Eagle meets with her legacy, and they congratulate her - she's gotten the attention of the Eagle. That means, though, that she can't back out even if she wants to. She has to ride her destiny to whatever conclusion it might have. Jade Eagle outwardly welcomes this, but inwardly is nervous - this seems like a big escalation.

Pyre is trying to reattach the robot arms to his conveyance when his interdimensional communicator comes to life. The connection is bad, but he makes out "interference...danger...caution...explosive...en route." He springs into action trying to improve his communicator, but no further information is coming. Not yet, anyway.

Masks: Into the Light, Issue Four

Superheroes, light-eating monsters, and so on. Here's last time.

The heroes arrive at the unassuming house in the suburbs belonging to the supervillain Maestro - or what's left of it, anyway, after Pyre blew it up. Moonlight and Jade Eagle arrive as he's reconstituting, along with Conners and a contingent of AEGIS agents. Conners dresses Pyre down a bit, and tells him that if he can't stop himself turning into explosive rocks, he really needs to stay away from populated areas. Moonlight, meanwhile, surveys the house, and realizes that there's movement in the basement.

He descends into the basement, now open to the sky because the house is mostly gone, wondering why any Photovores aren't just gorging on the sunlight. Two AEGIS agents are looking around, and then suddenly one gets yanked into the dark. Moonlight sees the smaller Photovores force his mouth open and one crawls inside.

Jade Eagle and Pyre drop into the basement as well, and see the growing threat. Pyre, rather unwisely, throws a bunch of fire around, hoping to burn the Photovores to ask, but the creatures just feast on the light and get bigger. Jade Eagle grabs the other agent and tosses him out of the basement, but the creatures swarm her and try to possess her. Pyre changes into a big rock and blocks the light coming in to the basement, and Moonlight stretches out his arm and smashes all the Photovores against the wall. Pyre drops down in rock form and crushes them, leaving only the possessed agent. Jade Eagle quickly knocks him out, and Conners locks him up in a special "coffin" meant to block out light.

Jade Eagle finds a trap door in the basement, and figures that possessed-Maestro might have escaped that way. She opens it and calls the others, who head down into the dark. The tunnel opens up into some of the disused subway tunnels beneath Halcyon City (the city has a subway/monorail system, but these tunnels aren't in use), and in a big hub, they find hundreds of tiny Photovores all gathered around a fire, slowly suckling on the light.

Pyre turns into a rainstorm and extinguishes the fire, and a horrible voice in the dark says "why would you starve my children?" The characters panic and run, Pyre down the nearest tunnel, Moonlight and Jade Eagle back the way they came. Pyre keeps running, hearing noises behind him as the Photovores chase him, and runs out into a functioning subway station. He breaks up into the light, and flies back to his ship.

Moonlight and Jade Eagle, meanwhile, head back through the trap door. Jade Eagle looks for Conners, but is told she headed back to the facility (where Crate, Vortex, and presumably other villains are kept). She calls Conners to tell her about the infestation below the city, but something is wrong - Conners is distant and polite, as opposed to the caustic and prickly person she usually is. Jade Eagle guesses that Conners has been possessed, and informs the other agents, ordering them to help contain the problem. One of the agents says that he can initiate a lockdown of the facility, but Conners could override it. Jade Eagle says that at least would buy them some time, and flies off to the facility. En route, they contact Pyre, and he meets them in his now-repaired ship.

Pyre emerges in a battle-mech (his father's; his father, it turns out, is a general on his planet). Jade Eagle smashes through the blast doors, annoyed that no one listened to her warnings (and wanting to clear her Angry condition). Inside, the heroes are met by a bunch of possessed agents, including Conners...and next to her is Maestro.

"Take them alive," he says, and the agent-Photovores leap to the attack.

Masks: Into the Light, Issue Three

Heroes, ahoy! Last time here.

It's Saturday! Neither Charlie nor Selena need to go to class today. Charlie, therefore, takes the laptop they took from Dr. Crate's lab and heads over to his sanctuary to try and retrieve the data. Selena needs to catch up on some homework, and Pyre is also at the sanctuary, working on his ship.

As he's working, Charlie notices the lair's proximity alarms going off. Two vanloads of dudes in tactical gear, but without any noticeable logos or ID, are surrounding the building (what is this, Portland? Too soon?). Pyre changes himself into air and flows out to have a look, and Charlie watches through the cameras. Figuring that they're probably here for the laptop, and not wanting to get on anyone's bad side if they're from the government, Charlie calls upon his darker powers to enable a moment of telepathy with Pyre and Selena. He tells them what's going on, and tells Pyre to flow back into the lair, take the laptop, and skedaddle.

Pyre does so, but turns into a cloud and takes the laptop with an updraft rather than just carrying it. Charlie, meanwhile, changes into Moonlight, goes outside and asks "can I help you?"

The "agent" in charge tells him that they're here for the laptop. Moonlight asks to see a warrant, and the guy rattles off a bunch of legalese explaining why they don't need one. At this point, the guy looks at a display on his wrist and notes that the laptop is leaving, waves to his men, and they mount up and head out.

Jade Eagle meets Pyre in the sky and he hands off the laptop, and they fly to a nearby park. Jade Eagle changes back into Selena and sits on a bench. Moonlight arrives shortly thereafter and also goes back to his civvies, and then accesses his dark powers once more to instantly copy the data on the laptop to a flash drive (doing so, however, brings his doom closer).

The dudes in the tac gear have followed them, however, and the leader demands the laptop. Charlie hands it over, and Selena returns as Jade Eagle. She realizes she knows this guy, but isn't sure where from. She tries to figure it out, but he just pulls up his mask and tries to bully her into leaving him alone.

Realizing, though, that these guys aren't here in any official capacity, Jade Eagle flies straight at him and grabs the laptop. He unleashes some kind of static blast that hurls Jade Eagle into the air, but she's got the computer. Pyre changes himself into lightning and strikes at the guy, but the lightning just moves around him and grounds next to him.

Jade Eagle, reflecting on the advice she got from her predecessors about minimizing property damage, flies off, hoping to lure the guy to a less populated area. Moonlight follows, assisting her in this endeavor. Pyre changes into a stormcloud and tags along, but the leader of the dudes taps some controls on his wrist. Rockets on his elbows and boots fire, and he flies, if rather unsteadily, in pursuit.

Jade Eagle leads him to an athletic field nearby, which fortunately isn't in use today. She swoops around behind the guy and tackles him, and he yelps in surprise as his rockets misfire. Jade Eagle recognizes the voice, at last: His name is Simon Spencer, aka Prodigy, the protege of Maestro, one of Jade Eagle's greatest foes. Selena got in trouble because she and Simon went on a date once.

They land (after Prodigy promises to call off his troops), and Jade Eagle asks what the heck he's doing. Prodigy tells them that he's trying to get the laptop because he needs access to Dr. Crate's research. When asked why, he informs them that Maestro called him over last night, and he suspects Maestro has become a Photovore somehow.

This is bad news - the heroes were unaware that this was even possible. Jade Eagle proposes a truce with Prodigy, at least for the moment, so they can all work on this. He agrees, and takes the laptop from Moonlight to take back to his base. He turns up his nose at the idea of working with Moonlight; he works better alone. Moonlight, since he has a copy of the data, heads back to the sanctuary (with Pyre, who needs to finish his ship repairs). Jade Eagle, meanwhile, heads to AEGIS to speak with Agent Conners.

Charlie tries to make sense of the data, but this is next-level, theoretical physics, and Charlie is a high school sophomore. He messages Prodigy and asks for help, and Prodigy tells him that he wants to know what's in Maestro's basement (Maestro tried to lure him down there last night, but Prodigy sensed something off and skipped out). Prodigy tells Moonlight to "send the guy who can turn into air" over there to do some recon, and Moonlight, figuring that makes sense, ask Pyre to run that errand.

Pyre obligingly flies over to Maestro's evil lair (actually a very nice house in the 'burbs). He flows in, and then down to the basement, and immediately notices something wrong. The light just...stops about halfway down the stairs. The basement is pitch black. Rather than introduce any light, for fear of activating any lurking Photovores, Pyre changes himself into air and fills the room, sensing what's there that way. He discovers, to his horror, that the room contains hundreds of little creatures with lamprey-like teeth, and skin that seems to be made of darkness. He also finds a person, alive but comatose, in the corner.

Thinking heroically, he lifts the person out of the basement and carries him upstairs. However, as soon as they reach the light, the man's eyes snap open and reveal pure blackness. He rasps "join us", and a little darkness-monster leaps out of his mouth at Pyre.

Pyre, panicking, changes himself into rock, opting for the dullest, least shiny material he can think of. Unfortunately, the rock he picks is not native to Earth, and reacts explosively with the atmosphere. The house blows up.

Meanwhile, Jade Eagle is, somewhat grudgingly, admitted to see Dr. Crate (she tells Conners about the possibly infection of Maestro, and that greases the wheels a bit). She talks with Crate, who says that he might be able to figure out what's going on if he had his data and notes. He mentions, though, that his infection was an anomaly, as far as he knew, a freak occurrence. He does tell her that Vortex, the villain the team apprehended a few days ago, opens gates to the Lightless Void, and might know something of use.

Jade Eagle asks Conners to talk to Vortex, and she points her down the hall. Vortex gloats at her, of course, and mentions that it's always the same: Heroes always come to seek advice and knowledge from villains. Jade Eagle tries to talk tough, but her voice cracks and it comes out whinier than she wants, and Vortex just laughs at her. Jade Eagle's insistence that if the Photovores come to Earth, they'll destroy the world doesn't seem to matter to him, and he asks what's in it for him if he helps her.

Jade Eagle asks Conners what she can offer, and Conners tells her she can offer whatever she wants. Jade Eagle isn't comfortable lying, however, and tells Vortex that while freedom isn't an option, she's sure they can figure something out. Vortex finally agrees, if Jade Eagle gets Casey Summers, her immediate predecessor, to get on TV and admit that Vortex beat him.

Just then, an alarm in the sanctuary sounds - an explosion somewhere in the city. Moonlight, with a sinking feeling, checks the map, and yep, it's where he sent Pyre. Conners gets a notification, too, and Jade Eagle and AEGIS head over as well. Next time, looks like some exciting stuff is going down.

Masks: Into the Light, Issue Two

After a hiatus instigated by various things best summed up by "fuck 2020," we're back in Halcyon City! Here's last time.

We pick up as Charlie is arriving home, and his father is waiting up for him. His father demands an explanation, and Charlie claims that he sneaked out to meet some friends. His father believes him, but is disappointed that he lied and made his parents worry. Charlie takes his licks and goes to bed.

Jade Eagle is helping AEGIS clean up the mess at the hotel. Conners, the AEGIS agent in charge, calls her down and asks where Crate is. Jade Eagle tries to dance around the truth, but Conners is aware that Pyre decoyed them away, and asks if he's with the alien. Jade Eagle says that she thinks so, but is still avoiding the truth. Conners, frustrated, finally points out that someday Jade Eagle is going to want AEGIS' help, and this isn't the way to foster that relationship.

Pyre, meanwhile, is playing an alien holo-chess type game with Dr. Crate. They get to talking and Crate asks him if he's here on a diplomatic mission of peace or if he just got stuck, and Pyre laughs - "no, I just stole my dad's car." This obviously makes Crate rethink his view of Pyre, and tells him that if that's the case he probably should contact his parents and let them know he's all right. Pyre agrees, and activates the ship's locator so his people can find him if they look. He also mentions that his planet sits in a dimensional pocket, which is why the ship has dimension-shifting capabilities.

Just then, the alarms in the lair go off. Pyre checks the instruments and finds a massive temperature spike. He has Crate put on his blackout suit, and they go to investigate. They get to the area and find a young woman in a red and gold costume melting her way through a door. She asks for Moonlight, but then sees Crate and throws a fire blast at him.

Pyre changes into an icy vortex and absorbs the heat, and then resolidifies and tells the girl to go away. She tells him she's here to kill monsters, and if he's going to defend the monster, well, that's his choice. Pyre changes into a rock-creature to try and scare her, but fails to notice she's melting the floor beneath him. He plunges into a tunnel below, and she chases after Crate.

Pyre hauls himself out of the tunnel and catches up with the girl as she prepares to roast Crate to ash. He slams into her, still in rock form, and knocks her down as her fire blasts go wide. One hand sends a blast backwards at Pyre, and the rock-form explodes, showering the interior of the lair with debris. The other hand sends a blast up and burns a big hole in Pyre's ship!

Across town, Charlie gets out of the shower to see alerts on his phone - security breach at the HQ. He sneaks out again, and calls Selena to meet him, worrying that he's not going to get any sleep at all tonight. He activates the cameras on his phone and looks at the feed, and sees the girl right before the flying rocks wreck the cameras. That's Sol, his nemesis, classmate, and crush...and also a part of his impending doom.

Jade Eagle arrives at the lair and hovers down to confront Sol. Sol reiterates that she's here to destroy monsters, but Jade Eagle points out that Crate is working with them and if she kills him, they lose that advantage. Sol floats up into the steam and recognizes Jade Eagle, and, flustered, says "tell Moonlight I was here" and flies off.

Moonlight arrives shortly thereafter, and reveals his rather complicated relationship with Sol. They realize that they can't keep Crate here. Crate reiterates that he can help with the impending Photovore issue, but he needs the data from his lab. Jade Eagle decides to bring Crate to the home of Casey Summers, her predecessor, for safekeeping. Pyre stays at the lair and starts working on repairing his ship ("Earthlings don't have any unobtanium?"), while Charlie heads home.

Jade Eagle arrives at Casey's house in the suburbs, and he gives Crate a spare bed in the basement. He tells Selena that her recent performance has made the others rethink whether they made a mistake giving the Eagle to someone so young; there's been a conflagration tonight, the incident at the apartment building the night before, and then the destruction of the hotel, and at each battle - Jade Eagle. It used to be that "Jade Eagle" was a name people trusted, and Selena is damaging that. Selena pledges to do better, and flies off.

The next day, Charlie is home room and Tandy Chenoweth, aka Sol, kicks the back of his chair. "Where were you last night?"

"Cleaning up the mess you left," he responds. They snipe a bit back and forth, and Tandy points out that Charlie, a creature of darkness, is perhaps closer in aspect to these "Photovores" than he realizes.

After school, the heroes are to meet up at a park, but Jade Eagle flies over to Casey's to collect Crate. As she arrives, though, she sees that AEGIS is already here, and have taken him into custody. Agent Conners is out front talking with Auntie Tipton. Selena flies around back and finds Casey, who tells her that Auntie was the one who made this call. Selena asks Casey to help, get her access to Crate, something, but Casey points out that their only reason for thinking that more Photovores are coming is because Crate said so. She points out that Pyre backs it up, but Casey notes that Pyre is not someone AEGIS really trusts. He does say that if Selena brings him something concrete, he'll go to bat for her.

She flies off and meets the others, and explains their current situation. They decide to head to Crate's lab and see what they find there. As they arrive, Jade Eagle tells them that they need to be more careful about property damage - it's starting to become a problem. They promise to bear that in mind, and Moonlight shapeshifts into an AEGIS agent to gain access. As he approaches the agents watching the entrance, though, he feels the disguise starting to slip, and dips into his true power. Not only does the disguise solidify, but he stares down the agent in command and tells him that he's taking Jade Eagle upstairs (Pyre is there, too, but has turned into air and is therefore invisible). Moonlight feels the man's mind submit, and realizes that any human mind is just a dark little room, requiring only the slightest bit of light to be nudged.

Upstairs, the heroes search through the lab. They find a lot of formulae and research about light and so on (which they photograph), but can't make much sense of it all. Jade Eagle finds what looks like a terrarium in the corner, but made of tinted glass with what seems to be a light on top. The area around the case is colder than the rest of the room, making them think that this thing is a captured Photovore. They decide to leave it alone, but do take Crate's laptop.

Just then, the phone rings. The caller ID says "CLOTHOS," so Jade Eagle answers. Clothos, another superhero who took an interest in the group after their first team-up, tells her that "she's incoming," and they need to be careful how they handle her. Jade Eagle thanks her, and warns the others: Sol is coming.

They head up to the roof, and indeed, Sol zooms in. They intercept, though, and tell her that Crate is already in custody. "OK, then," she says, "that makes my night easier." She turns and flies off.

Jade Eagle points out that they can't let her get away - she's probably going to go find the holding facility where they have Crate and burn it. Moonlight, since he's right across the street from his place, zips over and drops off the laptop in his room. Pyre and Jade Eagle fly off and catch up to Sol, and Jade Eagle tries to talk her down. She points out that doing it this way will probably result in the deaths of multiple AEGIS agents, and besides, the Photovores feed on light, meaning Sol's already at a disadvantage. Moonlight joins them at this point, and agrees - they need a better strategy.

Sol asks the heroes whether, when push comes to shove, they'll be able to kill Crate if that's what needs to happen. Pyre honestly admits that he doesn't think he could, while Moonlight says he'll do what's necessary to protect the city. Sol flies off, claiming that she'll back away for now. The heroes, exhausted, split up again.

Charlie gets home and finds his sister, Alice, looking through the files on the laptop ("How did you get in?" "The password was 'password.'"). She's fascinated by the cool schematics and so on, but Charlie claims the laptop is from school (which Alice sees right through). He kicks her out, and she goes to tattle to their father. Charlie realizes that with just a little nudge, he could make her forget all about it...but no, he's not going to use his powers on his family. Not tonight.

Masks: Into the Light, Issue One

Today was the second session of Masks. On we go!

We begin where we left off. Pyre is in the park, and sees some guys cleaning up after the mess that Vortex and the heroes made in their battle. He asks if it's OK for him to grab some of the fallen branches to use as fuel for his ship; the guys laugh at him a bit ("newbie"), and he grabs what he needs, feeling a little dejected.

Moonlight heads back to his aunt's sanctuary and looks into her archives about Vortex. He discovers that Vortex' real name is Stepan Zhirar, and not much is known about where he got the harness that helps focus his powers. What is known is that he used to duke it out with a number of Silver Age heroes, but the last time he showed up to start shit, the cops took him down with no super involvement, which has to sting.

Jade Eagle has a sit-down with Casey Summers (her immediate predecessor), Iris "Auntie" Tipton (fourth Jade Eagle, retired and kind of judgemental), and Casey Summers, Jr. (Selena's probable successor). They give her a generally positive review, though Auntie is concerned about her choice of companions (the alien and the weird goth guy).

Time passes. A couple of days later, we find the heroes on Sunday evening. Charlie is at home frantically trying to catch up on his homework. Pyre is lying on his back on his ship, looking up at the stars, and Selena is dog-sitting for her neighbor. Suddenly, Charlie's little sister Alice bursts into his room. "Charlie! Look!"

She pulls up the blinds on Charlie's window and there, across the street from their apartment building, a man is standing on the edge of a building's roof. He's wearing a lab coat and he's yelling something, but of course the siblings can't hear him. The police are down on the street, and Charlie can hear someone on a bullhorn.

Alice insists they go out on the fire escape to listen; Charlie tells her to go inside, but she doesn't. As they're watching, the man turns around, presumably to talk to someone who's come up on the roof. The cops turn on great big searchlights and for a moment, the man is enveloped in light. And then his body changes into a huge, humanoid creature made of both light and darkness. He grows horns and arm talons, and a tail, and roars. The searchlights disappeared as though it's consumed the light beams. Charlie says, "Alice, inside, now," but she's too scared - and she's pointing her flashlight right at the creature.

Across town, Pyre's ship alerts him to a dimensional anomaly. He changes into fire and zips off to find it. Casey Jr. calls Selena ("hey, you gonna get in on this?") and she crates the dog and flies off.

The creature leaps off the roof and lands in front of the siblings. Charlie, thinking quickly, grabs Alice's shirt and extends his arm to pull her back into the apartment, while setting up a shield with his psychic construct. Trouble is, his constructs are made of moonlight, and the creature happily absorbs it, growing larger. And then, from out of nowhere, Pyre swoops in and socks the creature, melting the edge of the fire escape and sending it tumbling down into an alley.

Pyre flies after it, and Charlie quickly dashes off a note to his parents saying he's going to the library, changes into Moonlight, and heads down. Pyre sees several cops with flashlights heading into the alley where the creature landed, and they tell Pyre to buzz off, they don't need such a green mask getting in the way. Chastened, he flies up to observe. Jade Eagle arrives, and asks Moonlight what happened. Moonlight tells her in brief, and then they see two of the cops fly upwards at them. Jade Eagle catches them and sets them down safely, and Moonlight zips down to the other police in the area to try and figure out how to help.

Jade Eagle reaches out with her super senses to try and figure out what this thing is, while Moonlight talks to the cops and asks what the man was saying before he changed. They're about to answer, but then a car comes flying at their heads. Moonlight puts up a shield to protect them, but it's brighter than he intended and the creature lands in front of it and absorbs it, growing bigger and stronger. It rears back to grab Moonlight, but Jade Eagle swoops in and blocks it. The creature grabs her and starts feeding on her glowing aura, and Moonlight seizes his chance. He touches the creature and siphons off the light.

The creature roars in fury and tosses Jade Eagle aside, leaping up out of sight. Pyre follows it as it runs across rooftops, and then changes himself into a super-dense metal and drops on the creature's head, hoping to incapacitate it. They both crash through the roof of a building and into the ballroom of a hotel, hosting a wedding reception. A very crowded, very brightly lit wedding reception.

The creature slurps up the light in the room and grows bigger again, and Jade Eagle and Moonlight drop in. Moonlight yells to Pyre to get the people out, and Pyre, taking him at his word, changes into wind and air-blasts all of the people up and out through the hole in the ceiling, onto the roof. Meanwhile, Jade Eagle grabs the blackout curtains and wraps the creature up, and Moonlight absorbs more of its power.

The creature goes quiet for a second, and then explodes outwards in a burst of light and a deafening roar. Strangely, Moonlight and Jade Eagle also hear the words "THEY'RE COMING", but they don't have time to worry about that. Jade Eagle slams into a wall and passes out, while Moonlight absorbs some of the blast. He realizes that he's the only one who can help - the ceiling is giving way, Pyre is creating a wind tunnel to safely drop people to the ground, and Jade Eagle is out.

Moonlight dips into his powers, and takes control of the gravity in the area. He traps the creature by making it weightless, and stabilizes the building. Pyre saves the rest of the folks, and then wakes Jade Eagle up.

They try to get the creature talking, but it won't or can't. Jade Eagle figures that keeping it out of the light for a bit might make it revert to human form, so they wrap it up in the curtains and Moonlight maintains the gravity bubble. A few minutes later, they hear a voice say "What happened?"

They take down the curtain and Moonlight releases the man. He introduces himself as Dr. Irwin Crate, a physicist specializing in photoreceptive technology. Some years ago, however, his experiments turned him into a Photovore - when he's exposed to light, he becomes the creature. He warns the heroes that more Photovores are coming from the Lightless Void. Pyre skims through his ship's dimensional records, and hey, the heroes were just there - that's where Chrysopoeia ended up after Vortex sucked him into his chest singularity.

The heroes hear rockets incoming - AEGIS agents with jetpacks. Crate says that if they take him, they'll lock him in a cell, which is safer but means he won't be able to help. Pyre summons his ship and leads some of the agents away on a merry chase, while Moonlight takes Crate and sneaks out the back to his aunt's old base. Jade Eagle talks to the agents, the leader of whom, Conners, tells her that their teams really needs to get on the stick. This hotel is - was - a historical landmark.

Jade Eagle stays around to help with injuries and cleanup, and then meets Moonlight (and, later, Pyre) back at the sanctuary. Pyre uses some of his own tech and some of the stuff in the base to create a lightproof suit for Dr. Crate; it should even be able to reverse a transformation, but only once. Moonlight notes that he has a bunch of missed calls, and calls home.

His father reads him the riot act - the library closes at 8, and he didn't even leave his house until after 9, and it's after 11 now. Charlie heads home, and we'll deal with that fallout next time.

Masks: A New Generation!

New game! Blue Rose has ended, and now we're playing Masks.

Our heroes are:

• Jade Eagle, the Legacy: Selena Ruiz is the sixth hero to take on the mantle of the Jade Eagle. She can fly and has superhuman strength and senses. She emits a green glow when using her powers, and has a dope-ass eagle insignia on her uniform. She's had her powers about two years, and the public is generally positive on her identity. 
• Moonlight, the Doomed: Charlie Chesterfield has been aware of his doomed status since childhood, but it was kind of a taboo subject in his family. His aunt, a Silver Age hero called Nightingale, pushed for honest before his doom came for him, but she went missing recently. She left Charlie access to her sanctuary (although unfortunately its existence is pretty widely known). Charlie can summon psychic constructs made of moonlight, transform his body, and siphon energy off of opponents. His nemesis is another student at his school, sometimes known as Sol. She emits fire, light, and energy, in stark contrast to Charlie's dark, cold power.
• Pyre, the Outsider: Pyre is a member of the Race of the Burning Sun. He came to Earth after stealing his father's transport (it's a five-seater!). Pyre can shapeshift into elemental forms and control his body's density. Pyre came here because his planet is boring, and he enjoys Earth - it's interesting and there are fun things to burn for sustenance here! 

The heroes came together when a creature that had hitched a ride on Pyre's craft hatched from its egg and grew into a huge squid-like creature that ate metal. Pyre changed himself into metal to tempt it, Moonlight siphoned off its energy to weaken, and Jade Eagle punched it until it fled down the sewers. They won, but the Jade Eagle Monument was destroyed in the process.

And now, it's a lovely Friday in September, a week or two later. A new statue has been built to replace the Monument, with the help of a hero called Chrysopoeia (he has matter-transmutation powers). He's on hand, as is Jade Eagle; the mayor; and Casey Summers (the previous Jade Eagle and Selena's mentor). The mayor gives a speech and gives a rather condescending pat on the shoulder to Jade Eagle, while Casey cuts the ribbon.

Just then, Jade Eagle notices the atmosphere get a little colder. She extends her senses out into the crowd, and zeroes in on a man wearing an overcoat that's far too heavy for the weather. She flies out at him, calling him out and telling everyone to move away, which they do...but then the man throws open the coat to reveal a strange harness. In the center of the harness, on his chest, is a black void that begins sucking in lightweight objects around him. From behind her, Jade Eagle hears Casey whisper "Vortex."

Charlie is across the street in a cafe having breakfast, and sees people start to stream out of the park. He rushes into an alley and changes into Moonlight, and then heads into the park. He spots Jade Eagle advancing on Vortex, but also sees Chrysopoeia sneaking around to flank the villain, and Casey protecting the mayor. He runs over and offers to take the mayor to safety, and Casey agrees, very much giving off a "wouldn't want you to get hurt, little guy" kind of vibe. Charlie accepts this and rushes the mayor to the police, putting up barriers of moonlight en route.

Pyre, meanwhile, also sees people screaming and running. Curious, he heads toward the Monument, and calls out to Vortex, demanding him to stop! Vortex reaches into his chest and grabs a handle of black nothing and hurls it at Pyre.

A wall of earth springs up in front of Pyre! Chrysopoeia is standing to the side, protecting the alien hero, but the black hole absorbs the wall and grows stronger, sucking Chrysopoeia in. Pyre gapes, and Jade Eagle flies at him, knocking him to the ground, where the black hole in his chest pins him momentarily. Pyre changes into metal, walks up, and punches him. He falls flat, and all seems well...

Meanwhile, Moonlight has gotten the mayor to safety, and tells her all will be well. Then there's a plume of dust in the park, and the mayor asks if Moonlight is going to help. Moonlight runs off, but hides in the trees to observe the situation. Vortex's chest has absorbed the ground around him, making a crater. The black hole is now absorbing bigger objects, too.

Moonlight reaches out and tries to siphon off Vortex's energy, enough to knock him out, but he's never tried to do this at a distance. It works a little too well - the entire black hole disappears and reappears in front of Moonlight. Vortex howls in rage, but Moonlight loses control of the black hole and it flies off, nearly sucking in Casey.

Jade Eagle flies up and catches him, flinging him into the brush, but now she's caught in the vortex, too! Pyre runs over and grabs the vortex, changing his body super-dense to hold it. Moonlight summons up shackles to hold Vortex (taking a doom mark for showing mercy), and Jade Eagle yells at Pyre to diffuse the black hole. Pyre replies that he's never tried to alter the density of an object, just himself.

Vortex taunts him - there's no way he's going to be able to do that! He's going to be shattered like the foolish alien he is! "Oh yeah? Watch this!" yells Pyre, and changes the density of the mini-black hole, scattering it into a dark cloud. Vortex screams in rage, and AEGIS rushes in to arrest him - but where's Chrysopoeia?

Jade Eagle says that they'll find him, and Pyre notes that his ship has dimension-shifting abilities. He summons the ship and they all climb aboard. Pyre fiddles with the controls to find Chrysopoeia, and manages to get a lock. The ship shifts through dimensions and lands somewhere cold, dark, and so immensely dense that leaving the ship without protection would be quickly fatal.

Not a problem for Pyre or Moonlight, of course - they can both change their bodies. Pyre alters a life-support suit for Jade Eagle, and they looking for Chrysopoeia. They find a glowing golden tetrahedron, and Jade Eagle detects life within - that's him.

They drag it back to the ship, but it's too big to fit. Pyre phases in and wakes up the hero, who shrinks the pyramid (he was apparently in some kind of suspended animation to save air). Back on board, though, Pyre discovers that the ship has stalled out (it's susceptible to extreme cold) and he doesn't know how to fix it.

Chrysopoeia berates him a bit for not knowing how his own tech works; this is why the alien squid tried to eat the city, too! Pyre insists that wasn't his fault, and Chrysopoeia says it's not about fault, but responsibility. Jade Eagle breaks in to ask how they're getting the ship working again, but meanwhile, Moonlight is thinking about going home...maybe if they could open some kind of portal?

And then, darkness and moonlight flow from his body and surround the ship, and it reappears in the park. Pyre punches the door off (ship's out of juice, doors won't open!) and then goes to find fuel (any old matter will do). Jade Eagle zips back to report to Casey, and Moonlight heads for his sanctuary. He's wiped out.

Masks One-Shot: Villain Auditions

My brother and sister-in-law and their kids were in town last week, so I ran a Masks one-shot. BEHOLD.

First, the characters:

• Kai played Kiyoshi (Bonsai), the Transformed: Bark from skin, mottled flesh, eyes blink weird, can transmute flesh and grow roots. Grew up in Japan. Bad student, into film and hiking. Was on a camping trip and was cursed by something supernatural or spiritual while trespassing. Gradually turned into Bonsai, family kicked him out, now lives in USA with his friend. Is standoffish but likes people and doesn't want to see people suffer like he did.
• Morgan played Henry Chau, the Nova: No hero name yet (he thinks they sound silly). Typically wears band uniform while hero-ing. Plays oboe. Used his powers on the band bus; attacked by aliens during a solar flare and developed powers, but in the process injured Mr. Sotomeyer. Younger sister Tanya has been supportive and helping him center. Feels good to be powerful and special. Always enjoyed belonging to a group, and the team is replacing band in his life.
• Jon played Fictolakala (Kala), the Outsider: Humanoid, reflective eyes. Has assimilated and wears clothes, but costume/armor appears when he goes into action. From the Deadsol (highly advanced alien race that uses power from a star which is dying) and was sent as an advance scout. Crash-landed here, can't make contact with other scout (always sent in pairs). He is supposed to establish whether this system is appropriate for harvest, but he was treated well and like this place. Wants to join with other supers and perhaps fend off the Deadsol.
• Donovan played Kaito, the Beacon: Also Japanese, emigrated with family around age 8. Father died in a break-in when he was 13. Trained under a hero called Fowl-Man. Now has a pet carrion crow called "the bird" (hasn't named it yet). Mom thinks he shouldn't a hero because of dad's death.

This team came together when Luther Hardhardt (Fowl-Man's nemesis) came after him using next-level tech. Fowl-Man, knowing that he couldn't win this fight himself, called his young protege (Kaito) into the fight, and the ensuing chaos wound up attracting the others. Fowl-Man, who's really a better mentor and trainer than hero, was put into a coma in the process. The fight took place in the Oak Hill neighborhood (lovely brownstones, well-maintained parks), and destroyed most of a city block. The masks weren't sure at first if the others were responsible for the damage - Bonsai is big and dangerous-looking, Henry can't always control his powers, etc. Kala used their telepathy and connected them mentally. Hardhardt was imprisoned afterwards, but this was a weird escalation for him: he's is a crimeboss and was very behind the scenes, but is now apparently coming out and punching shit.

We open today's issue at a football game between the Oak Hill Bandits (the heroes all attend Oak Hill High) and the East City Cougars. The game is just about to start, when the opposing bleachers explode outwards and a huge blue dude stands there in a black t-shirt that says "LOL." He grabs a bench and starts batting football players around and making fun of them. Henry stows his oboe (he's already lost one and his mom got mad), and Kaito is ready to jump into action but then Mr. Sotomeyer, the band leader, starts ushering all the students out and he falls in line out of habit. Kiyoshi slips around to the other (now-destroyed) bleachers and starts helping people out, while Kala tries to telepathically see how to beat this big dude. He sees that this "Troll" is afraid of feeling weak, and links up the other heroes, telling them that they just need to appear stronger than this enemy. Troll flings the bench at Kaito, and Henry creates a barrier in front of him, but the barrier is a rainbow (Henry is still working on fusing the colors into light) and of course this gets a bunch of homophobic slurs from Troll. The bench does bounce off, though.

Kaito gets into the game and pulls out a plasma sword, while Bonsai grows his arms into huge camphor limbs and restrains Troll. Kaito jumps up and Kala catches him, bearing down on the Troll, and Troll stomps his feet in a bit of a tantrum (but in the process loosens Bonsai's hold). The trouble, though, is that Bonsai can just use the ground to root Troll even more firmly, and Kaito strikes Troll as the plasma sword explodes.

Troll shrinks, changing back into a normal-looking guy, and starts wailing about how it isn't fair and these masks aren't supposed to team up. It was just an audition, he cries. This gets the heroes' attention - an audition for whom? Kala interrogates Troll and finds out - Hardhardt. But he's in prison, so how's he coordinating this?

Henry decides he'll march right up to the cops and demand answers about how a crimeboss is able to keep crimebossing from prison, but the cops shut him down pretty effectively (shifting his Labels). He does eventually talk to a detective who's a little more sympathetic, and learns that there have been other minor-league villains out attacking young heroes. Something's going down, and, says the detective, you kids need to be careful.

The heroes get together at a park later on, and start talking about what happened, but Henry and Kaito wind up in a big argument over Kaito's stupid sword being broken, and Henry being called "Care Bear" by the cops. Kala uses their alien tech to reforge the sword, but isn't sure what it'll do now. Kiyoshi and Henry go for a walk and Kiyoshi talks Henry down a bit. Finally, the heroes reconvene and Kaito decides to text Pyro, another mask he knows, to see if she knows anything about this "villain audition" thing. Turns out she does - she's in the hospital with a broken leg. The heroes decide to drop by and see her.

Pyro reveals that a woman with six arms jumped her, and while she beat the woman, part of a building fell on her leg and broke it. The multi-armed woman is in this hospital, too (it caters to super-powered people), in the locked ward. The heroes decide to grill her. Henry distracts the AEGIS agents guarding the ward, and Kaito bypasses security and sneaks in. The woman (Centipede) is manacled, and agrees to talk to Kaito on one condition - her nose really itches, would he scratch it?

Kaito is suspicious, but does it (using the flat of one of his swords). Centipede reveals that Hardhardt put out the word that he was looking for superpowered talent, and beating a mask was a good way to audition. She then thanks him, and Kaito realizes she's activated the EMP on his belt. The pulse shorts her manacles, and she dives for the window ("WHY DOES A PRISON ROOM HAVE A WINDOW!?" Kaito rightly asks), and vanishes into the night.

The other heroes rush in, and Kaito dives out the window after her. They get to the ground level and Bonsai talks to the hedge, and learns that Centipede is right around the corner. There's a quick fight, Kala has the brilliant idea of letting her go, but following her, and they trail her to a building in a seedy section of Halcyon City.

There, Centipede meets with a man in a suit. She tells him of her battle with the heroes, and he thanks her. He makes reference to something called "Thunderhead," and notes that Fowl-Man's little sidekick (Kaito) is making trouble.

Outside, Henry charges up his powers angrily...

(It's possible we'll revisit this at some point, but you know me, I like leaving one-shots on a cliffhanger so the players remember them.)