The Plaguebearers
| The Plaguebearers | |
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| Dates run: | April 15, 2016 |
| Run By: | Dex |
| Read the logs: | The Plaguebearers |
Time slowed, Julian could feel his heart beating in his head as the sound of the world around him drained away. He looked at the creature's face, and for a moment, it seemed that it was happy. Then time sped up again, as the barb was ripped out, leaving holes in both his palms and a swelling pain radiating up his arms. Julian screamed.
Reports of mutant experimentation lead Garrison Kane and his "team" into danger and a life-changing event for Julian Keller.
Contents
Cast
Garrison Kane, Logan, Kitty Pryde, Julian Keller, Sharon Friedlander
Death Adder, Enforcer, Termite
Timing
Plot Summary
A Roxxon research facility has been the target of a terrorist attack, destroying much of the building. SHIELD has secured the facility, but because of rumours of mutant ties to the attack, Duncan has been able to fast track Kane over to investigate. He discovers a lab that was not supposed to be there as the target. Taking Kitty and Sharon F. with him, Kane reaches the lab and orders it sealed to start investigating. The lab was breached by a large tunnel leading down. While examining the lab equipment, records, and Kitty breaking into their system, they discover that Roxxon was working on genetic modification of a mutant, to try and create one that could survive underwater and under deep pressure in order to assist in resource mining operations. Someone paid to get into the lab and kidnap the subject and the data, using a 'terrorist bomb' as a cover for their operation. Unfortunately, the lab was hardened more than they thought and was largely undamaged.
They follow the tunnel down where it emerges into the Manhattan underground. Kane calls in Julian and Logan to help track the subject while he and Kitty go through the facility footage looking to see if they can spot the intruders or trace the source of the bomb. Between their research and clues turned over at the site, they are able to identify two suspects - known mercenaries and industrial criminals named Neil Donaldson and Charles Delazny. Both are rumoured to be mutants with substantial powers.
Meanwhile, in the underground, they come across a man in the tunnels in a torn Roxxon technical uniform. He introduces himself as Dr. Raymond Sikorski, one of the researchers of the 'Death Adder' project. He was attacked during the break in and when he came to, he found the subject gone. Sikorski armed himself with a specialized tranq gun designed for the subject and followed the trail to the sewers. He explains that during the tests, the subject's mutation interacted badly with one of the set of genes that they were splicing into his DNA, growing a venomous barb and a nerve toxin that was incredibly deadly. If allowed to escape into open waters, he could wreck untold havoc. The program had been shut down and the lab had been working to try and reverse the effects when broken into. He has a tracker which follows a chip implanted in him, but because of the sewers, it only works at short range.
Logan tracks the subject to one of the deep reservoir basins, where two men are attempting to subdue it. The presence of the X-Men makes them retreat, leaving the subject to attack them. Unfortunately, the subject is extremely dangerous, fighting all three to a standstill. A chance strike at Logan reveals that the subject's tail is lethally venomous and would have been fatal if not for Logan's healing factor. Sharon F. is able to use a tranq gun to put several darts into the subject, but with Logan slowed, he moves quickly enough to impale both of Julian's hands with his tail. The injury forces them to break contact as it flees. Sharon F. grabs Julian by the wrists and instructs Logan to do the only thing that can save the young man from almost immediate death; Logan severs both of Julian's hands at the wrist.
Kane and Kitty return as Sharon F. gets Julian out of range and calls for an emergency retreat. They are forced to continue the hunt, this time tracking the subject deeper into the tunnels. When they reach him, Logan and Kitty lure him to a pool, where Kane drops in a power line, electrocuting him. The voltage knocks him cold, but they are attacked by Donaldson and Delazny as soon as he's subdued. The fight is fierce and vicious, with the X-Men winning but barely. They take the unconscious bodies of all three back up to the surface, while Sikorski calls for an ambulance. Knowing they can't be seen at the scene, Sikorski offers to ride with the three to a local hospital and tells them to send SHIELD there to secure them all.
Unfortunately, the ambulance doesn't arrive. It is found on the side of the road, only a few blocks from them. The driver, the EMT and all three mutants have been shot. Kane receives a mocking call from 'Sikorski', reminding him again that 'justice is served'.
Related Links
X-Men Mission: Repent Harlequin, Said the Tick-Tock Man
External Links
Trivia and Meta
Trivia
Charles Delazny - Enforcer
Delazny was a former All-American and rising football star before a back injury forced him out of the game. Bitter and unable to find work that had the same status, Delanzy ended up a minor enforcer for the Maggia. During an accident, his powers manifested, and he found himself far more powerful than he'd ever been. Breaking from the Maggia, he began to rent himself out at high prices to criminals as either a freelance body guard or muscle, under the name Enforcer. Delazny had enhanced physical abilities on a similar level as Garrison Kane. He also used guns and other weapons to a moderate level of training.
Neil Donaldson - Termite
Donaldson was a former civil engineering student when his powers manifested. Quickly realizing that his powers had unique applications, he approached a number of land development companies with ties to criminal organizations and found his niche sabotaging and undermining buildings to have the land made open for acquisition. Termite could destroy the bonds between molecules, essentially disintegrating what he touched.
Roland Burroughs - Death Adder
Nothing is known about Burroughs abilities prior to his days as a guinea pig for Roxxon. He was rendered mute and had gone almost entirely feral. His augmentations included gills, a hardened carapace, claws, and a prehensile tail tipped with a venomous barb.
Meta
Plotrunner: Dex
The loss of Julian's hands is, of course, a reference to the canon character's injury in Second Coming.
