Shortly after leaving the WYRM corporate building, Jamaleh collapses with a severe asthmatic/allergic reaction! A visit to the ER reveals that our Jedi can�t tolerate urban smog � but an army-surplus gas mask makes her survivable...and very menacing.
While stocking up on replacement filters for the mask, Jam sees Jessica use the Jedi mind trick on a store owner! Jessica is strong with the Force...and has been toying with it for years! This explains how a 15-year-old orphan can seemingly do whatever she wants.
Sidekick returns from his brief walkabout and meets-up with the team at their hotel � just in time to be summoned by WYRM. �Harwood Pembroke� himself � the head of WYRM�s Boston branch � asks for the team�s help. The three containers holding the Tunguska Creatures have been stolen off the docks, and all apparent witnesses have been killed! The Drifters agree to help � for their usual fee. To assist tracking and retrieving the stolen cargo, WYRM adds a local freelancer to the team: the antisocial, hard-drinking, chain-smoking detective �Jack Shen.� Pembroke grudgingly recommends Jack � though no one�s sure why.
A quick investigation by Jack leads the team to a scrap yard, the missing containers, and �Los Asesinos� (�Stalker�, �Mosquito�, �Spider Monkey�, �Ocelot�, �El Muerto Obscuro�, �the Tombstone Kid� and �Montana�)! �The Assassins� are a group of supernatural, kill-crazy mercenaries from South America...hired by the Paris branch of WYRM (the same ones who also hired �Smackdown� in Canada).
Between Arctica�s complete reconnaissance, and Crater�s opening salvo, the Asesinos are scattered, dazed, blinded and pounded before they can put up a decent fight! Their vampiric leader, Stalker, and his Earth Elemental get away (sinking into the ground), but the rest of the renowned assassins are captured and turned over to the authorities. It�s a complete triumph for the Drifters, and Sidekick plays it up for the news media ...However... Jack uses his mental powers to reveal that Stalker cut a deal with a third party. One of the three creatures has been turned over to the techno-wizards of ABYSS!
Ramjet stays in his hotel room, single-mindedly disassembling his armor and running diagnostic programs to isolate a power anomaly.
Jamaleh and Jessica (the Owl Girl) return to the hospital to learn the result of Jam�s blood test. Jam�s alien blood has unusual, energized properties, seen only a few times over the past couple of decades. The doctor is reluctant to say who these other, similar blood donors were�but Jessica remains curious.
Crater sleeps in, and watches some TV. News programs mention Boston�s increasing problems with street gangs, and the increasingly violent behavior of the local hero team, �the Battlestars.�
Jack Shen and Arctica follow-up on some leads. With his skills and telepathy, and her stealth and martial arts, they make a formidable team! �Stalker�, the vampiric leader of the Asesinos, was paid to steal one of the Tunguska Creatures. Jack has the cell phone number of Stalker�s employer, as well as Stalker�s bank account! Stalker�s funds are quickly transferred into Jack�s offshore account (Stalker is going to be so pissed!)...and Jack finds that the most recent deposit was made by �Destiny Enterprises.� Visiting the downtown offices of �Destiny� reveals that the CEO, Mr. Saturnine, has been missing for almost three months�so Jack goes to Mr. Saturnine�s house to snoop around.
Saturnine�s mini-mansion is occupied by members of the already-infamous new street gang, �the Demons�. Arctica easily sneaks by them, but has some difficulty when she tries to knock one unconscious. The thug is inhumanly tough! The police arrive, a shootout starts, and Arctica calls-in the rest of the Drifters (except Ramjet)! The team arrives, and a slugfest ensues (�while Arctica cracks the safe in Saturnine�s office, and takes a red crystal cube)! The gang members are outclassed, until they concentrate�and start glowing! Now they have superhuman bursts of speed, and are constantly shifting from solid to desolid! Even more disturbing, one thug is intangibly sucked into Crater�s body � and doesn�t come out! Crater finds his strength and stamina reduced! Even energized, �the Demons� are defeated�and only Jam�s healing keeps them from burning up their entire life-force (the source of their powers).
Following the other lead, Jack and Arctica then visit the cell phone�s billing address. It�s a barely-used apartment in the seedy side of town, rented to a �Mr. Black�. Mr. Black eventually shows up (with his 8 ft bodyguard, �Mr. Strong�) � checks the mail, grabs an old book � and leaves. Jack follows the pair to another apartment�and still another apartment � where Mr. Black again checks the mail, grabs something, and leaves. All the apartments are under different names. Mr. Black seems to be on the run�and possibly not keeping a fixed address. Finally, Black and his bodyguard go to a nondescript warehouse in the suburb of �Norwood�. Inside are a small group of men, a mystic circle, candles and incense�and the missing, third Tunguska Creature!
Ramjet, Crater and Jamaleh arrive in time to see a vortex appear in the pentacle on the warehouse floor�and see Magog toss the Tunguska Creature into the vortex! Ramjet, astonishingly, jets after the creature�and retrieves it just before the vortex closes! Meanwhile, the three robed figures around the vortex transform into demonic entities! The lumbering ice creature �SHAARD�; the living fire �CONFLAR�; and the robed skeleton �ALZOL�. Together with Magog and his mini-ape lackey, �Runt�, a fight ensues!
Jack Shen avoids combat, but the heroic �Inferno Magi� appears to lend a hand�drawn by the dark, mystical energies.
After his lackeys are pummeled, burnt and/or shattered � and he himself has been knocked around � Magog teleports away�and takes his henchmen with him! Magic is so annoying! Unknown to Magog, though, Jack Shen still has a mental link with Runt!
Incidentally, Sidekick missed this beatdown, as he had an appointment at the LaCroix Modeling Agency.
During the fight, Mr. Black tried to escape � but didn�t get far. Our heroes grab him, and demand answers! Mr. Black frantically tells all he knows � begging them not to use telepathy on him! (As a fail-safe, some ABYSS officers are mystically mind-wiped if successfully probed by telepathy!)
Here�s the scoop:
- Mr. Black is a lesser Morbane of the local ABYSS enclave. �Mr. Saturnine� was the High Morbane.
- Mr. Saturnine, against Mr. Black�s wishes, wanted to summon and control the Dark Dimension demon, �Magog�. Three months ago, he succeeded�and Magog instantly killed Saturnine. The deaths of virtually the entire ABYSS base followed.
- Mr. Saturnine�s death explains why he hasn�t been at his company (Destiny Enterprises), or at his house (where the fight with the street gang took place).
- Magog wanted to create a power-base for himself, and has taken over the local street gangs. Magog used mind-control, when needed�and has granted many gang-members superhuman (and self-destructive) powers.
- Mr. Black used secret accounts, contacts and safehouses to survive, and try to devise a spell to return Magog back to his own dimension. The spell required an extra-dimensional being as a sacrifice, so he had the Tunguska Creature stolen.
- To state the obvious, Mr. Black�s secret operation was compromised! His bodyguard (�Mr. Strong�) was actually a servant of Magog�and his three associates were apparently mind-controlled by Magog. Magog used the dimensional-vortex ceremony to summon three more allies (Shaard, Conflar, and Alzol)!
- �Magog the Wanderer� is himself is a servant of a more powerful entity: �TENNIGRATH, Lord of the Void�. Magog wants to expand the Dark Dimension to include Earth. He must be stopped!
- Magog has visited Earth before. How was he defeated then?