S01E03 - Brick and Mortar - Part 1
General Summary
We find ourselves looking back to the beginning. Back to the night of the The Catalyst Event, for a new would-be hero has entered the fray. This man, known to the detective , the executive assistant and the engineer as a member of Grayson's private security team, has yet to experience his Awakening; has yet to become the Hero he was destined to be. An ex-army veteran, now turned bodyguard and private security, Winston Wharl finds out the hard way that the world is a very strange place, indeed.
On the day of The Catalyst Event , Winston Wharl , responsible for his charge’s safety, waited outside the office of the morning meeting between the various people involved in the PRISM project. He dutifully kept vigil over the young entrepreneur as he went about his day, noting the subtle and not-so subtle shift in behaviour, especially towards his paramour, Alex Carter.
With no incidents of note, we switch our attention to the evening, where, once again, we find all our cast in the small gathering within the lobby of Prescott Tower. Again, Winston noted the strange behaviour from those he has been paid to watch over and protect, but, as it doesn’t affect his ability to do his job, he dutifully stays out of it. As Silas Prescott makes his speech outside, Winston is advised, via radio, that there is a security breach and is ordered to check it out by Kristoff Mathis. One of the other members of the security team is selected to back him up and they retreat to the lower levels of the tower to investigate.
When the two men reached the basement levels of the tower, Winston discovered a key card reader that has been tampered with. It appeared that someone had opened it up, fiddled with the interior, before attempting to hide their handiwork. He reported this discovery, to which the replied order was to investigate further. Once through the door, our brave would-be Hero couldn’t tell which way the intruder or intruders had gone, though towards the reactor was a safe bet. Fortunately, his backup pointed to scuff on the white floor, showing the way, proving that his theory was correct.
As they neared the reactor, from up the corridor, shots were fired, debilitating Winston'ss backup. Winston pressed on, approaching the reactor, where a young scientist was shot in the back whilst fleeing from the reactor observation room. He looked into the room to see the door to the reactor proper was open and within, a man reached out to take the PRISM. Unfortunately, this was the very moment that, out in the plaza, Silas Prescott pressed The Big Red Button.
There was a THUMP, then nothing for about 30 seconds. The seismic event had Winston staggering. When he recovered enough to stand, the energy from the PRISM exploded outwards in that now familiar compression wave. This time, Winston Wharl ended up, not just pushed against a wall, but into it. It took some time for him to work out how to get himself free, and even more time to work out how to navigate steps as he had become a man of Living Rock.
When he emerged out into the night from Prescott Tower, Winston Wharl, his new form obvious, did not receive the welcome he expected. He found himself on the receiving end of fear and armed response. That was, until he put up his hands and calmly stated he intended no harm and that he wished to assist those in need. At that point, one of the paramedics spoke with him, advising him that there wasn’t much he could do for them at that time. Our newest would-be Hero then moved to the police barricade and again, asked if he could assist. After a similarly rocky start (pun intended), Winston identified himself as Brick Wall, before taking command of the force there, steering them in the right direction in the chaos. Thus, our newest Hero earned his Name.
When the chaos died down, Brick was at a loss. He couldn’t go home, and didn’t know where else to turn, so he slept in Prescott Tower’s lobby. When he awoke in the morning, the security team on duty didn’t listen to him and effectively forced him out the building (though ‘forced is hardly a fair word when he left of his own volition, not wanting to hurt them).
He started to walk home but, on the way, encountered a Powered Individual, with two minions assaulting a man and a woman. Brick Wall interposed himself into the situation and, after a small scuffle and, once again, bringing his military training to bear, intimidated the thugs to leave, which they promptly did.
Brick Wall decided that he couldn’t go home to his apartment (he was concerned that a) he’d create a scene and b) he didn’t want to break anything. Instead, he found himself at the mercy of local homeless people, so he spent the next day making friends. These people helped him with a coat and hat and helped him get in contact with someone called the designer to make a suit.
He took the bus to get to the designer, which is where we leave our new Hero and go across town, to Albany Heights where, having already been to The Designer, Lady Liberty, DJinn and Úlfhéðnar look to storming Seraphim Manor.
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In Alex's apartment, plans were made for the upcoming incursion. Úlfhéðnar arranged for a small power outage. They were also provided with details of the threat within the building, as well as the names of the Powered hostiles they would have to face. All four of these hostiles, wearing, what seemed to be, symbology tying them directly to the Royal Family in Sweden, had already ‘proven their loyalty’ to those in charge, thus, they were allowed to live; to serve. These beings were simply known as The Volcano, The Crown , and The Lion . The fourth one, apparently the Leader, called himself The Crimson Seraphim .
The group, having been given the ‘go’ by one of Úlfhéðnar's staff within the manor, flew over Albany Heights, heading for the Seraphim Manor. Lady Liberty dropped them on the roof and, using his Earth powers, DJinn melded the group into an empty room below. Upon leaving this room, Úlfhéðnar and DJinn started walking one way, and Lady Liberty, the other. Unfortunately, one of the invading force spotted them and a fight ensured. After the three were defeated and left attached to the wall via stone manacles, created by DJinn, the intrepid trio made their way to towards the control room. On the lower floor, they met up with Hannes, another one of Úlfhéðnar's people who explained that Helen (who had originally created the diversion), had been found out and was being interrogated in the security office. The three Heroes made their way with some haste to aid their stricken helper and, with DJinn's power, weakening the security office door and Lady Liberty's strength, they soon had the door open.
Within the security office were Helen, two unknown minions of the assaulting force and a Powered individual who immediately, with no care for others in proximity, created a fiery inferno around him, harming all within its wash.
Whilst Úlfhéðnar and DJinn engaged The Volcano , Lady Liberty darted in and pulled Helen out, chair and all, into the corridor to safety before heading back into the fray. The two minions in the room, realising that they were in immediate, mortal danger, fled out into the corridor.
It took a great team effort from the Heroes, but eventually the day was won. The Volcano was defeated, by a combination of bullets, stone chunks to the face and a security door to the head. Once unconscious, the villain was bound in stone in an attempt to ensure no more trouble came from him. That was the point we left our team, having taken a few moments to catch their breaths, heal and regroup, suddenly realising the wisdom of not using the frontal assault they had originally thought of doing. One of the four vägarnas röda vakt (Red Guard of the Ways ) had been a challenge for them. All four at once would have been disastrous.
Rewards Granted
1 Hero Point for defeating The Volcano
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