Operation: Shaboom

PHASE 1

Operation: Shaboom

Dates run:	January 7-10, 2008
Run By:	Frito

Read the logs:	Operation: Shaboom

Outside, it was 1959, and this was a factory boom town. The local sports hero was dating the head cheerleader, the community center had just hosted the 'dance of the decade', if talk was to be believed, and somewhere, someone was probably making a fresh apple pie.

X-Force goes to investigate a missing journalist in New Mexico, and find themselves in a race against time. Literally.

Cast

Marie-Ange Colbert, Doug Ramsey, Mark Sheppard, Wanda Maximoff, Remy LeBeau, Illyana Rasputin, Sofia Mantega-Barret, Amanda Sefton

Timing

January 7-10, 2008

Plot Summary

Upon receiving word a contact of his, a journalist, had gone missing, Doug raised concerns. Further investigation of the town the journalist had been interested in, Adensville, New Mexico, revealed some off anomalies - a factory that made obsolete parts for ten years had only recently gone under, the town itself had been removed from the power grid, no-one answered calls, and so on. A group was assembled and headed for the town, but on the outskirts, something extremely strange happened - the rental cars switched to Oldsmobiles, clothing changed to 1950s styles, laptops became notebooks and slide rules... After ascertaining the effect was only for a certain distance and setting up a base in an old barn, the group made their way into town, using the cover identities they found themselves gifted with.

Adenville appeared to be an ordinary town - if it was 1959. But things didn't quite ring true. There was no crime, no death of anyone younger than 70, the local football team were champions, but never played anywhere but home... Following a number of possible leads, the group met up under the cover of a potluck lunch, and discovered there was another problem - there were moments where they slipped entirely into their cover identities, losing their memories of their true lives. It was only when Amanda lost all memory of her life, becoming the local library assistant and daughter of the garage owner and his wife for real, that they realised they were on limited time. Worse still, the effect was spreading. Sofia managed to put them on the right track, profiling the town as someone's vision of a perfect life, and they began searching for someone who would have remained in the town after high school, working in the factory.

One by one, they lost their true selves. Doug became the college letterman, dating Illyana, a cheerleader. Mark was the town's pride and joy, an emcee and dance host. Sofia was a housewife, stepmother to Illyana, as was Wanda. And finally, Remy became the insurance salesman he posed as, having an affair with Wanda (as Mrs. Ana Simons). Only Marie-Ange was left. Using the list of names they'd managed to compile, she got lucky as her own hold on herself was growing tenuous. The 'culprit' was an old man, dying of brain cancer, who happened to be a reality warper. Having subconsciously suppressed his powers all his life, the cancer was allowing his hold to slip, thus creating an image of the perfect world of his youth.

Realising that the only way to reverse the effect was to end the old man's life, Marie-Ange smothered him with a pillow.

External Links

Operation: Shaboom

xp_communication posts

x_snowvalley posts

Trivia and Meta

Trivia

The 1959 identities were as follows:


Ray Ludlow A travelling insurance salesman from Boston	Ana Simons. Housewife and having an affair with Ray.	Mandy MacDonald. Recent graduate of the high school and working in the library until she found a husband. Daughter of an American airforce officer and an English woman
Sofie Barret. Housewife and step-mother to Anna Barret.	Anna Barret. Cheerleader and student at the local high school, dating Joe.	Joe Crockett Jnr. College letterman and alumni of the local high school, dating Anna.
Flash Valentine. Dance host extraordinary.	Mary-Ann Colby. Waitress at the diner and local 'bad girl'.