Grip of the Mind Thieves, Chapter 16: Puppets and Strings
GREETINGS TRUE BELIEVERS!
Welcome back!
It looks like our heroes did it, True Believers! In a brilliant show of tactics and determination, they have either captured the criminals responsible or put them on the run.
Above ground, Bronze Tempest subdued her crimson counterpart. Tesla Coil and Donata managed to corral the last of the errant drones and their dangerous payload. Loki and Moon Knight finally got the upper hand against Silk Sphinx and Black Scarab. Silk Sphinx ran off, choosing retreat over capture. Black Scarab's defeat came at the hands of Moon Knight in a spectacular fashion.
Using his 'moonbeam exorcism' power, Moon Knight directly attacked what he suspected was the spirit of Khepri inhabiting the body of Black Scarab. In a surprise twist, something holographic and ghostly was ejected from Black Scarab! The creature threatened Moon Knight, then vanished into a set of nearby power lines at a remote station in a burst of blue-white electricity!
Below ground, the desperate battle against Dr. Overmind himself reached its climax. A mysterious STAR Labs van, driven by mesmerized security guards, had just arrived in the abandoned tunnels. Overmind, delighted, tried to make a break for the van, his obvious escape route. But the Knights Vigilant were ready. Sahara blocked the doctor's path. Statesman used his uncanny skill at thrown weapons to hurl a penny at the vehicle, disabling the van's engine block.
And Taki ? Or more accurately the ninja's psychic alter-ego, Kara? Re-asserting control over her body, Kara yanked Dr. Overmind's Ionic Gauntlets off his hands. Immediately, she used own mental abilities through the gauntlets to control and influence the mastermind's robots.
Now, with Overmind captured, Kara has told the others that something vital lies to the north of the underground complex. An important piece of the puzzle to what is happening. Perhaps answers to Overmind's scheme!
A scheme that may in fact not be finished!
This is Not Stan Lee saying...
EXCELSIOR!
Components
Goals
First...
The members of Mouse Force were mutated by a strange orange ooze. This is the same formula invented by Dr. Killian and almost used by the Clock King to contaminate the local water supply. Orange ooze known to the team to be made from the ultra rare and mysterious Crystal Jade Vine plant.
However, thanks to the research of Dr. Pamela Isley, also known as the eco-terrorist "Poison Ivy", they learned that the orange blossoms of the vine are known to be unstable. Citizens, even the Knights Vigilant's allies, Mouse Force, have been affected.
The clock is slowly ticking as the afflicted may explode in a fiery meta-powered overload.
How did Overmind get the chemical? How did he alter it? These questions still linger...
See the Editor's Note!
The situation is getting dire, True Believers!
'Nuff Said!
The members of Mouse Force are feeling the effects of the orange ooze! At least one member has developed out of control energy blasts out of his eyes! Another is losing control of a runaway phase or dispersal power!
The injection Donata received from Dr. Isley seems to be working. But! Will the rest of Mouse Force be innoculated in time?
'Nuff Said!
Then...
That ooze has been at the center of recent chaos from riots in Central Park, to an ambush at Pier 1 from a closed down newsstand. The results have been dire, with both citizens and heroes being mutated by the mysterious chemical.
Our heroes then uncovered Overmind wasn't working alone!
Riddles, most appearing the famed New York Times crossword puzzles, gave hints to his criminal activity. Dr. Overmind isn't one for riddles or hints. However his new associate, Silk Sphinx, seems quite fond of them!
Riddle after hint pointed to key buildings around Manhattan and New York. Specifically museums. The Knights Vigilant scrambled to uncover why, but found themselves ensnared in one Overmind distraction after another.
Then Overmind's second associate appeared... the Black Scarab!
Brutal, agile, and with a mysterious grudge against New York's own Egyptian themed heroes, such as Moon Knight, the Black Scarab's ambushes further snarled the Knights Vigilant's attempts to unravel Overmind's true plan.
But! Help Was Close By!
Detective Hirokoma Kozu of the Central Park Precinct, ally of the Knights Vigilant, met with the heroes atop the precinct rooftop with a bundle of clues. Overmind's crimes at the museums were bent on creating duplicates of New York City dioramas. Those models depicted various parts and layers of New York City.
Overmind was looking for something and the heroes set out to discover what.
Research of city planning maps over the years, and some help from Kara's precognition, uncovered a long lost location in Central Park beneath the Bow Bridge. The mysterious Garden of the Heavens!
Yet, this location was not quite so lost. Those chambers had been taken over by the Golden Lotus and used as an underground greenhouse to grow Crystal Jade Vine plants for their own use. The mysterious glowing crystals in the lowest chamber made for miraculous 'growth lights'.
Somehow, both the plants and the crystals had the ability to mutate or rewrite a subject's DNA. This either acivated a dormant Meta-Gene or propelled a subject's already active Meta-Gene to rapidly develop!
The Golden Lotus didn't appreciate visitors, yet the heroes were able to discover that Overmind was stealing ink powder, made from the Crystal Jade Vine by the Golden Lotus for their Meta-ink tattoos. The Knights Vigilant suspected this was connected back the Orange Ooze. But how? They didn't know.
Eventually, they found details from one of the local Disco Boys. The gang was using Overmind's heists as a "trojan horse" for thefts of their own. The Knights Vigilant had encountered the gang twice already in the midst of their "trojan horse thefts" but had not made the connection until that moment.
Through the Disco Boys, the heroes learned that Overmind was using the 59th Street Marine Transfer Station at Pier 99 as a waystation. A base to assemble duplicated parts of New York City dioramas with the help of captive, and mesmerized, New York City utility workers.
See the Editor's Note!
'Nuff Said!
There are countless rumors about the Disco Boys and Girls holding the 59th Street Marine Transfer Station in high regard. Even to the point of protecting it, until they feel they can't. Then they "recruit" some nearby hero to "assist". Was all of the "trojan horse" thefts they were committing, just a means to "recruit" the Knights Vigilant?
It would certainly fit the rumor, True Believers!
But only the Disco gangs know for sure!
'Nuff Said!
This final diorama confirmed that Overmind's target either is associated with or in the New York City tunnel system. This turned out to be a hidden, but extreme high tech terminal turned base under the Bandshell in Central Park! Which just happened to be within a stone's throw of Stark Enterprises' Tech Expo held in Central Park!
After That!
Bronze Tempest, Moon Knight, Tesla Coil and Loki are trying to quell the all out battle that has erupted next to the Bandshell. The drones may be out of commission, but now there is Black Scarab, Silk Sphinx, an Omni-Drone and a quartet of Orange Ooze Mutants to contend with!
But just when things turned dire, help arrived. Acting fast, Apothecary Fu froze the Omni-Drone that accompanied Silk Sphinx. Poison Ivy incapacitated the mutant civilians with fast growing vines. Donata rushed to Tesla Coil's aid as he had been caught in magnetic bolas from Silk Sphinx!
Below ground in the hidden base, Taki, Statesman, and Sahara ranin into, and had mopped up, the Science Court's android 'bailiffs'. But the threat didn't stop there! An uneasy truce with the Ivory Talons removed one threat, but left others! Such as the mysterious lady assassin who had it in for Statesman! And then there was the 'Silver Taki' who may, or may not be a threat.
And then, Dr. Overmind himself made an appearance!
A Desperate Battle!
The team above ground used an idea from Bronze Tempest to use sound and sonic attacks to whittle down the horde of drones without releasing ooze from their balloon payload. But this didn't go easy. Black Scarab and Silk Sphinx harassed the team at every turn. Just when the team gained ground, more complications appeared from mutated citizens to an entire golem made of ooze! The latter with powers that matched Bronze Tempest!
Down below, Taki and Sahara had a close encounter with Dr. Overmind! They worked desperately to subdue the mastermind. Meanwhile, Statesman was separated from the others, having been cornered by compromised Science Court baliff androids and a mysterious assassin.
... And Now!
The heroes, both above and below ground, have captured Dr. Overmind and most of his associates. Those not caught have been run off. But! The criminals have been caught but a dire problem remains.
In north side of the underground complex, Kara, the team's psychic, sensed that something important had been stashed away by Dr. Overmind. Not only that, she was straining to use her powers to sustain two of Overmind's mysterious cybernetic-ooze creations.
... the Silver Ninja and the young lady assassin believing herself to be Statesman's long dead fiancee!
See the Editor's Note!
This is a mysterious and dire turn of events, True Believers!
In fact, Kara's psychic sense isn't wrong! The team suspects Overmind has "stolen" the underground base, which he did. He's also placed key information for this current caper at the north end of the underground base.
Not only that, the key to helping Kara with her current predicament - being psychically linked, and supporting, the "lives" of two cyber-ooze creations!
'Nuff Said!
Stakes
Between bringing down the drones, and Dr. Isley's serum, it seems that the orange ooze is under control. Donata may be saved but the rest of Mouse Force may still be at risk. Then there are the city employees and other infected citizens.
Does Dr. Isley have enough supplies to get help in manufecturing the serum?
Then there is Kara's predicament! She has psychically linked herself to at least the Silver Ninja and the ghost assassin. Both of whom are not human but cybernetic ooze creations.
Those two creations may cease to exist if Kara disconnects herself and there is no other solution to stabilize the creation's psychic matrix!
Moral Quandaries
Is that a clone of Statesman's dead fiancee? A life like robotic duplicate?
Relations
Protagonists
The Knights Vigilant!
Sahara
Moon Knight
Taki
"Statesman" ( secretly also known as Trickshot )
Bronze Tempest
Allies
Dr. Pamela Isley, "Poison Ivy" Infamous eco-terrorist and expert on botany and botanical science. Working to analyze the mysterious fluid ... will she find something for the team that can help them?
Detective Hirokoma Kozu Veteran detective of the NYPD Central Park Precinct and contact with the Knights Vigilant.
Danny Chang Now former "Ink Enforcer" of the Golden Lotus, turned student of "The Way" or the philosophies as espoused by Statesman and the Knights Vigilant! Convinced to follow the path of the hero, he struggles with a dark past and deeds done for the Golden Lotus criminal organization.
Apothecary Fu! Apothecary and shop owner in New York's famous Chinatown area. While the public knows him as a friendly shopkeeper, the Knights Vigilant turn to him for advice as he is a retired, globe-trotting hero!
Neutrals/Bystanders
Detective Kato MacHale Seasoned Code Blue police detective temporarily working at the Central Park NYPD precinct. He helped the heroes during the fight at Manhattan's Pier I, and showed again at the Museum of New York. Is he a friend? or Foe? What is his connection to Taki?
Adversaries
Dr. Overmind! Brilliant inventor and mastermind. Expert at cybernetics and mental interface technology.
The Mysterious Black Scarab, possibly known as 'Set'! He seems to have a grudge against Moon Knight, perhaps against all Egyptian themed vigilantes. What is it?
The mysterious Mistress of Riddles, and ally of Dr. Overmind, the Silk Sphinx! She also seems to know Moon Knight, yet without the same vengence based motivation as the Black Scarab. Is she the true source of the riddles?
See the Editor's Note!
In fact, True Believer, she is!
The nefarious criminal, the Riddler, has long retired from a life of crime. Instead, taking up pursuits such as philanthropy and freelance tutoring of the younger generation of heroes and villains in the fine art of 'deduction'.
Because of this, Silk Sphinx seeks to fill this void left by the Riddler. A criminal seeking to not only conduct her own personal war against the establishment but also show these self-styled 'heroic capes' that she has the superior intellect!
'Nuff Said!
'Nuff Said!
A deadly and mysterious lady assassin! Armed and armored, she is the spitting image of Statesman's long dead fiancée. Back from the dead, she claims to have survived due one of her mutant abilities. Now? She has it in for Statesman!
See the Editor's Note!
Remember, don't believe everything you hear!
Dr. Overmind's true skill is not only mental control and mesmerization but manipulation as well. Many times victims are doing his bidding while not even realizing it. There's far more to this dangerous young woman than meets the eye.
So the real question? Is Statesman ready for the true answer to this one?
'Nuff Said!
Backdrops
Locations
Mysterious 1890's Pneumatic Train Station!
Long lost and forgotten, this relic of New York's past has been mysteriously refurbished with technology that would make SAFEGUARD surprised! Three of the Knights Vigilant are here delving in this technological mystery all the while running up against yet more, perhaps stolen, combat androids from the Science Court!
Yet! Central Park!
Overmind's plans seem to include the New York City tunnel network. Specifically, the area underneath Central Park near the Stark Expo with the latest and greatest in technological advancements.
Also, a swarm of tiny drones carry balloons over the park, primarily the following locations...
Bow Bridge
Leob Boathouse
Delacorte Theater
Belevedere Castle
... certainly not at all the area between the Great Lawn and the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the Stark Expo is located!
Plot type
Chapter
Parent Plot
Related Characters
Related Organizations
Related Locations
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