Personae non grata

Personae non grata

Having escaped from their underground interment, the team recovered and recouped at Alma McMartin’s hidden cottage in the Lickey Hills country park. Those that had felt the touch of the Homuculi’s strange radiation felt themselves changing. Driven by feelings of failure and despair, Agony Aunt injected herself with serum after serum gleaned from every strange creature she’d encountered, becoming incredibly strong and monstrous to look at.

Strolling the hills, she came across Alma, weeping. In a conversation she found out that Alma was slightly psychic and she’d felt to the hills to escape the pressure of people’s thoughts. That’s how she knew the Heroes were still good despite the reports on the news media. But the suffering they’d been through, and the darkness she could feel growling in more than one, was wearing on her and she’d begun to self harm just to drive their thoughts away.

Though her house seemed safe, Agony Aunt said they had to leave. Alma pressed her savings into their hands. Magnatron and Steel - who could now transform to look completely normal - walked all the way to Bromsgrove where Magnatron bought a box of “burner” smart phones and located yet another abandoned warehouse for them to hide out in.

Whilst there they caught a news story about a scientific mining operation at Kinver Edge awakening an ancient Earth spirit. It had sent corrupted scientists into the city to seed disruption and spread its influence. At least that explained the PE teacher who turned into a radiation monster. Sq:B had confronted the gigantic earth elemental - Earthlord - and sent it packing.

A bit of research using the smartphones and Steel Reign’s personal hotspot, uncovered that Miasma had used to be a silent “follower” figure in Sq:B. Then, a few months ago, she had been trapped in a final climactic showdown with a fellow Psychic - Psiclone - and in order to stop the fiend had been forced to shred his mind. The incident had both traumatised and changed her.

By some stroke of fate, Warrior also had a similar incident a few weeks later where the honourable Hero had been forced to kill his long time opponent, the Eternal Cossack. 

It was shortly after that that Spearhead had been torn apart by Raptors in one of Timelord’s incursions and Enigma had walked out on the team.

Clearly, Miasma’s body had been taken over by Psiclone and Warrior replaced by the Eternal Cossack. Spearhead and Enigma had been assassinated and Psiclone had begun destabilising Techknight’s psyche whilst waiting for some stooges to frame for his murder.

Further research showed that Psiclone’s comatose body was being stored in the Monyhull Psychiatric Institute. With limited access to resources, the team were able to forge the credentials of two of the institutes employees - ones responsible for guarding Psiclone. Whilst Agony Aunt and Electro took a taxi past the homes of those employees - disabling their cars as they passed - Magnetron and Steel transformed to impersonate them. They tricked their way into the institute and found Psiclone’s room. 

But it was another body in the bed. A switch had been made. Fortunately they were able to locate the real Psiclone. After some “discussion” they chose to set off the fire alarms to cause a disturbance and escape in an ambulance stolen by Steel Reign. 

As the sprinklers went off, however, an invisible figure was revealed in the spray - clearly following them. Magnatron hit it with a lethal blast which it failed to parry with its Electro-pistol. It barely escaped alive.

Carrying the fallen psychic, the team fled.