Uno and Fog: Cadre

The Fog would not go with me to Cadre’s headquarters stating emphatically that he did not trust them, suspected they would use a telepathy to read our minds, and who knows what else they would glean from us, including DNA, fingerprints, hair, skin and maybe ectoplasmic residue from our auras.

Instead he headed upstate to where Ms. Teri supposedly was last heard from, telling me to watch my back and that he would be there to assist.

There are rumors that Cadre members have a way to teleport to the base, either by some kind of set gates, magical or otherwise or rings built on alien or future technology.  I can’t speak to that although I didn’t spot a ring on anyone while I was there nor did I see anything that looked like a gate, magical or otherwise, although it could have looked like a tile mosaic for all I knew (and no there were no mosaics there that I saw).

I got there by helicopter, which took an amount of time that I am not at liberty to discuss and was spent signing various nondisclosure agreements that a Cadre lawyer had me sign.  Before you ask, there was nothing in the agreements about saying what I didn’t see there.  I’ve spent enough time reading lawyerese (a derivative of double speak with latin added for flavor) for Norte Corp to know what I can and cannot do.

They also had me sign a number of hold harmless agreement in case anything happened to me while in their care probably as a result of what happened when the supervillain Hyper proved that Tensile, the infinitely flexible man was not actually infinitely flexible when he was attacking the Cadre base with a number of other villains.

What I can tell you is that there were several members of the Cadre there, including Luminary, Powerstriker, and The Comet.  I’m not going to rehash what I’ve told you so far, but I filled them in on everything about the LMSK and what he summoned while leaving out details I thought were unimportant, embarrassing or exposed The Fog and I to what we were all about.

Luminary actually commends us, sort of, on the job we did, “You both did extraordinary considering your limitations.”  Which is why people like me don’t care for him and The Fog loathes him.

“Since the two of you survived you encounter with the old god, we would like your impressions of what SHE’s been up to.”  The Comet seems like a nervous sort of guy, I’m not sure if its because he’s a speedster or something else.  His blue body suit covers everything and leaves nothing to the imagination.

“What has SHE been up to exactly?”

Powerstriker shows me some images of a farm upstate they were not in printed form.

“Looks like a farm.”

“It is a farm,” Luminary replies, which is part of one of the longest lasting communes in your state.

“O.k., so?”

“Its also where New Age Mage retired,” Powerstriker folds his arms of his chest, I can see the corded muscle bundh up.  His voice is surprisingly pleasant, almost melodic for a man that looks like a bruiser.  With a face like a boxers, from the broken nose and the obvious damage he has taken from his past fights one would expect a gravelly voice but he has a voice like a radio announcer.

“So New Age Mage didn’t just talk the talk, he lives the hippy lifestyle, good for him, but SHE is there?”

Luminary  nods, “we believe so and her influence extends to the city and surrounding countryside.”

“What do you mean, influence?”

The Comet twitches, “People go in, but they don’t come out.”

“Is she killing them?”  I am alarmed now.

“We are not sure.  After we received a distress beacon from Ms. Teri, we attempted to contact her but failed. We intend to go up there and determine what is going on up there.” Luminary states.  “Before the roads were closed, deliveries were made.  We have satellite of the area, and we saw the delivery people enter buildings, but they do not come back out.  There’s no really movement anywhere.  The farm and wild animals we can see are perfectly still in the fields, or the wildlands.”

“Creepy.”

“The national guard has closed all the roads into and out of the township,” Powerstriker pulls up a map of the area and points to where the emplacements are, “but we are concerned that her area of influence might grow.  They haven’t made any incursions yet. One of our concerns is that SHE gets access to military weaponry.”

“I’m not sure our weapons are anything that interests her.”

“Maybe not, but the military has certainly expressed an interest in using their weapons on her but I convinced them to let us go first anyway.”  Luminary smiled but there was no warmth in it

“And rectify the situation.” Powerstriker’s fist clenches.

“And you want me to go with?”

All three of them nod, “You were able to broker some kind of compromise before, it is possible that you will have some insight to deal with her.  We are hoping SHE will respect you.”

I wasn’t so sure about that, but I nod in agreement.