Christian's Angels
Christian's Angels | |
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Dates run: | August 26-September 2, 2011 |
Run By: | Dex |
Read the logs: | Christian's Angels |
"Sweet Christmas!"
Another clue to the Alpha Flight Massacre turns up, this time in Hong Kong. The answers, however, are less than satisfying.
Contents
Cast
Dominion, Beast, Husk, Iceman, Firestar, Marie-Ange Colbert, Jubilation Lee, Callisto
Luke Cage, Jessica Drew, Colleen Wing, Misty Knight, Tim Dugan
John Sublime, Lady Deathstrike, Slayback, Ajax and Washout, Landau, Luckman and Lake
Timing
Plot Summary
The investigation of John Sublime as the contact that had hired Archie Corrigan has revealed few leads. Sublime is an Asian businessman with ties into pharmaceuticals, bio-technology and genetic engineering. His companies have established themselves as a dominant Pacific Rim conglomerate within the last decade, and while there are rumours of connections with the organ trade and illegal drugs, nothing has ever come close to being openly linked with the enigmatic founder or his company. With the death of Corrigan, Nick Fury has become personally interested in what Sublime might be into. However, since there’s been zero connection to US interests, involving SHIELD promises more complications than he’s willing to consider. Instead, he reaches out to Tim Dugan, and suggests that if Kane wants to look into the connection, he can provide some help with a top agent named Luke Cage who has been ‘retired’ as part of his cover in Hong Kong.
In a discussion Garrison has with his father before heading to Hong Kong, Christian Kane admits that he has a group of investigators on the island who move between Hong Kong, Macau and Madripoor, conducting intelligence work for him and for other clients who have a line on Sublime’s business. It seems that the payments to Corrigan were conducted through a law firm – Landau, Luckman and Lake. The firm is shady as hell; they’ve been in Asia since 1820, and have a reputation as the go to legal council for warlords, drug kingpins, pirates and revolutionaries. Kane’s group has tangled with LLL before and has some intel.
Kane, Cage and some requested help from Garrison’s friends arrives in Hong Kong and follows a SHIELD tip on a reported Sublime safehouse. During their surveillance, they identify Deathstrike entering the building. Unfortunately, when they assault the building, she has disappeared, forcing them to escape before they get identified with the illegal action. With that SHIELD lead failing, they turn instead to Christian’s investigators. The firm turns out to be three women; Jessica Drew, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. The three women turn them from Sublime to LLL, pointing out that any illegal operations would be washed through the group. A local LLL partner is hosting a party in Macau soon, and if they can get inside, they might be able to find evidence linking Sublime to the Corrigan murder and the transport into Canada.
They infiltrate the party carefully, and split up into several groups. One group heads for a safe they’ve identified on the top floor that may hold information on transactions between Sublime and LLL. The second group moves to the study to see if they can get access to the computer system and files. The last group stays monitoring the main floor to keep an eye out for danger and/or discovery. Both of the groups are discovered in the midst of their investigations, forcing them to fight out past Deathstrike and her men, and several other seemingly mutant bodyguards. Following their escape, they contact Sublime, offering to barter the stolen LLL information back to him in return for information. Cage also discovers that LLL has used security footage to force the US to disavow any knowledge of Cage, unexpectedly ending his career with SHIELD.
Sublime agrees and a careful meeting is arranged. Garrison meets with Sublime, who explains that he personally has no connection to the events in Canada. He made an arrangement with an unknown man in exchange for some high level military grade genetic experimentation details in exchange for the loan of his strike team. The team, all former WEAPON X subjects, had been retained by Sublime several years ago as enforcers. The deal was sweetened with a one year loan of Deathstrike as their commander in exchange for ambushing Alpha Flight in Canada and wiping them out. Sublime does not know the identity of the man or the reason for the assault. As the meeting ends, Sublime’s people attack as expected, but during the attack, they turn on Sublime himself, telling him that they have new orders. Chaos breaks out as everyone escapes.
As they are preparing to return to the US, Christian reaches out to Cage with a job offer as his liaison with the women. Cage accepts the deal, which concerns Fury about the exact reach of Christian and the X-Men, and prompts him to move on placing an agent in a position to learn about and report on their activities – Abigail Brand.
Related Links
X-Men Mission: The Grotesque and the Sublime
External Links
Trivia and Meta
Trivia
As a result of his part in the investigation, Luke Cage was fired from SHIELD. Fortunately, he was offered a job at Knightwing Restorations shortly after.
Meta
Plotrunner: Dex
During the time this plot was being posted, Isaiah Mustafa, the PB for Luke Cage, appeared in the second episode of the new Charlie's Angels series. This was a complete coincidence.