BACK IN VIRGINIA

[Following a battle with Legion at New York's Kennedy Airport, Harvey 
Jones and Walter Shindell wearily return to the Virginia Metahuman 
Research Facility, with a new member of the "team"; Mitchell Langstrom, 
aka "Mystery".]

=======================================================
========

[GM]

The flight to Virginia is fairly short- you land at a small airstrip in what 
appears to be the countryside, a short distance from a large 
ranchhouse. Walt and Harvey have obviously been here before; Mystery 
sees that while there's a large spread of land around the building, there 
doesn't seem to be any crops or livestock being raised anywhere.

Donnay gets out of the plane, followed by the three metahumans, then 
the flight crew. Already coming out of the facility, looking excited and 
anxious, is a distinguished-looking man with white hair and a lab coat. 
Harvey and Walt recognize Dr. Culbrand. He barely lets you all get off 
the plane and start walking to the building before he starts talking.

"Ah, you're back, good! We just got two new metahumans here at 
headquarters, flown in from Chicago." He looks at Walt and says "The 
Justice Department wants them questioned, as they were captured while 
trying to blow up a good part of a Chicago neighborhood, apparently. Of 
course, they've been kept, ah, sedated, since it wouldn't do to have them 
blowing up the vehicle that was transporting them, or smashing up the 
base here. We were hoping you can neutralize them, at least long 
enough for them to be questioned." Then his eyes go to Mystery. "Uh, I 
don't think we've been introduced, young lady. My name is Dr. Culbrand, 
I'm in charge of metaphysiological research here." He whispers to 
Donnay, "I thought you were bringing a young man, the shapechanger?"

Donnay looks rather amused. It strikes the others that Culbrand is 
almost a stereotypical researcher; he has difficulty seeing anything 
beyond his current project...

<><><><><>

Mystery:

   Mystery smiles mischievously, nodding to Dr. Culbrand. "I'm the young 
man in question," she says, giggling. "On alternate weekends and major 
holidays, anyway. If you think _you're_ confused, you should talk to my 
parents. Pleased to meet you -- you can call me Mystery if you like, for 
convenience. Sort of a take-off on the Mystique character in X-Men. 
Which isn't too far off, really."
   A thought suddenly hits, and Mystery looks from Dr. Culbrand to Walt 
and back again a few times, settling on Walt. "You can neutralize 
powers? Make a meta into a normal person for a while? What would 
happen if, say, you did it to an injured metahuman like Kelly? Would that 
nullify the resistance to healing and change?"

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey jumps in, "It occurred to me, but I didn't think Kelly was the best 
target for experimenting, given her condition.   Once she's up though, 
then she'd make an excellent observer.  Maybe Dr. Culbrand and the 
other scientist can come up with some theories given time, might be 
better than driving blind."
   "How are you doing, Dr. Culbrand?  I think Mystery surprised us all.  
This seems to be a long duration demonstration. I'm impresseed, I keep 
expecting her to forget what color her eyes are and have them change, 
but I haven't noticed any differences like that yet, and I've been 
watching."

<><><><><>

Mystery:

   Mystery giggles, trying to picture someone walking around forgetting 
their eye color. "I don't have to remember it. I have to concentrate to 
change, even back to the birth-genetics form. I can just stay like this, or 
like any other form. Except that I guess what you would call my 'base' 
body has additional powers."

<><><><><>

Walt:

Walt shudders at the thought of having to face something like that, so 
plainly animalistic and dangerous.  Legion may be powerful, but at least 
it thinks and can be understood like a human.  This creature, whatever it 
was, showed some of the traits of beast *and* man, and that (to Walt's 
mind) made it impossible to comprehend and all the more frightening.

"I will surely be satisfied if there is only one, I will.  Seems to me that 
who ever has the job to catch or stop the darn thing is going to have to 
be one tough hombre, not to mention one lucky..."

"oh"

Walt swallows the rest of what he was *going* to say.

"So, agent Donnay, when exactly do we get back?"

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey breaks into an incredibly big smile in response to Walt's half 
spoken comment, "Either very lucky or able to be in many places at one.  
That latter power is exhibited by organizations like the police, the FBI 
and teams of investigators."  Dang, Harvey thinks to himself, I just used 
the term Power again, I really hate the fact that I'm starting to do that 
more and more.

Harvey grins back at Mystery, "that's not how I would have guessed it 
worked, but hey, it makes sense to me.  An interesting challenge would 
be to see how close you can hit this form after you've reverted for a 
while.  But I'm glad you don't spontanteously change eye color, since 
I've come to like that particular shade of green very much."
   "If your base form has additional powers, have you checked any of 
your other forms for additional powers you don't exhibit in the base 
form?  You haven't shown any reason to to suspect so, but you haven't 
really proven you don't."
   "Oh, and sorry for not being clear about our specific meta abilities 
before, I'm just not comfortable coming out and telling everybody about 
them.  I'm not sure if that's because I'm embarassed by discussing them 
or because I'm paranoid and want to keep the details as a surprise.  I 
didn't mention I can reverse what I demonstrated and increase by 
density too."

<><><><><>

Mystery:

   "So far anyway, forms get better each time I assume them, and with 
general practice also. I know what you mean about the eye color; it's 
always been my favorite color."
   "I haven't really tried looking for abilities unique to forms, mainly 
because I imagine, then assume them, and haven't specified any. Well, 
once I tried for superstrength. It didn't work too well. I think maybe I can 
only get that sort of thing when I mimic another meta. I guess we'll find 
out in testing."
   "Paranoia about not having surprises is a good idea, but don't be 
embarrassed about the powers," Mystery advises, smiling. "Sherlock 
holmes wouldn't be coy about admitting to superb powers of reasoning 
and deduction; nor Einstein or Tesla in powers of visualization and 
intuition; or, frankly, superman about being able to fly and make the 
morning toast with an intense stare. We're not going away, and 
probably, we're the future of the human race. People are going to 
continue having kids who turn out to be metas, very likely. It has to be 
accepted as just like any other power of the mind or body."
   "It's going to be part of our future to help shape perception of metas, 
Talents, or whatever one wants to call us. We have to show that it can 
be a positive change in the world. It may be corny, but the world needs 
heroes; ones not afraid to be proud, and be good examples as metas. 
Maybe the next generation will have fewer Legions, and more Green 
Lanterns, if we do good as role models."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey is surprised when Mystery says that each time she assumes a 
form it gets better.  Better how he wonders, but decides not to ask.

   "All right, I won't be embarassed by meta abilites.  But since none of 
the people you sited bragged about their unusual abilities I guess I'd 
better not either."

"'The world needs heroes', I like that, I'll have to try to keep that in mind; 
but I think we're in for a lot of work if we're supposed to be role-models 
for the entire world."

<><><><><>

[GM]

Dr. Culbrand leads the three of you into the ranchhouse, which Mystery 
sees is actually a spacious office-complex, although several wings go 
out in various directions, cleverly built so much of the interior is not 
apparent from the outside, giving the illusion that the headquarters 
facility is bigger on the inside than the outside.

Mystery also notices that nearly every male head turns as she goes 
past....for that matter, Harvey, Walt and Agent Donnay, and even Dr. 
Culbrand, seem to be eying her surreptiously, then trying to look away 
when she notices.

"If you're ready to begin tests," Culbrand says to the girl, "we'll start with 
the same preliminary experiments we ran these gentlemen through. 
Meanwhile, I believe the field agents would appreciate Mr. Jones and 
Mr. Shindell downstairs, to help question our two captured meta-
criminals."

<><><><><>

Walt:

"Well, sure, I guess that I can head on down there an' lend a hand."

<><><><><>

Mystery:

"Sure, I'm ready. I'd better take time to switch into some looser clothing 
though, for a wider range of forms during the tests. Is there somewhere I 
can change?"
   Mystery looks to Harvey and Walt. "See you soon. I've got an 
appointment with vivisection in a top secret government lab." She winks, 
then rolls her eyes at Donnay. "Just kidding. Thank you for the help in 
getting in."
   She smiles to Dr. Culbrand. "Lead the way."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

<<An appointment with a vivsection>> Harvey chuckles then says "What 
you have is an appointment with boredom.  They are going to test you 
for every conceivable, and some inconceivable, meta-ability most of 
which you will not have.  It's boring but painless."  Then Harvey 
reconsiders slightly, "Oh, yeah, they'll also give you a medical test. The 
sphygmophone is cold, the sphygmomanometer is tight and the blood 
test stings." Harvey pauses then explains, "don't worry, a 
sphygmophone is the fancy term for a stethoscope and a 
sphygmomanometer is the technical term for a blood-pressure cuff."<G>

<><><><><>

Mystery:

Mystery, grinning, follows Dr. Culbrand. "I'll probably need a blood test 
for a few dozen forms, and as many blood pressure readings. Good 
thing I regenerate, or I might get sampled away to nothing." She giggles. 
"A whole new meaning to the term cellular division."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey grins at Mystery's comments, and enjoys the pun, but hopes 
Culbrand is very tolerant; some researchers don't have senses of humor 
where their work is involved, then recalls the Culbrand is pretty cool 
when the unexpected comes up (helps with his job) and Harvey relaxs.

<><><><><>

[GM]

Dr. Culbrand leads Mystery away from Harvey and Walt, and to an 
ordinary-looking medical examination room. Two more doctors, one 
male and one female, are present.

"Your shapechanging abilities are definitely something we'll spend a lot 
of time exploring," Dr. Culbrand says. "Yes, the ramifications are 
endless. Just as the theoretical physicists' heads are spinning over Mr. 
Shindell's ability to alter the laws of probability by conscious and 
unconscious effort, your ability to assume whatever form you like....a 
hundred questions spring to mind, and undoubtedly hundreds more will 
arise as we go on."

"I'd like to establish a baseline, though, try to establish your normal, or 
previous parameters, so we'll have something to compare with. For the 
first series of tests, I'd like you to revert to your original form....the one 
you were born with, as you put it."

[to Harvey & Walt]

Agent Donnay leads Harvey and Walt down a flight of stairs, one that 
neither of the metahumans has been down before.

"We actually have four captured metahumans now," Donnay says. "One 
has so far displayed nothing but superhuman strength and toughness, 
but not on the level of Supraman or Lucretia...he can lift about a ton, and 
his skin deflects knives, but the St. Louis police department brought him 
down with a hail of gunfire. He arrived at the hospital critically wounded, 
but had healed back to normal in a day or two. We debated whether we 
should keep him drugged, in case he has other powers he hasn't 
displayed yet, but Agent Donovan seemed fairly sure that he didn't have 
any others, at least none that showed any hint of manifesting. So we're 
keeping him locked up down here in a titanium-reinforced cell. We've 
tried reasoning with him, but he seems to be your basic psychopath; 
before he became a metahuman, he had a long record of petty theft, 
assault, and later repeated wife-abuse. The cops came in when his last 
fit of rage apparently brought out his powers, and he put his fist 
*through* his wife. He actually seemed to enjoy the discovery of his 
superhuman strength, and critically injured two police officers when he 
started throwing his furniture at them. But he isn't too bright; he just went 
from there out to the local bars, beating the crap out of people and 
wrecking places, showing off his strength, until the SWAT team arrived 
and brought him down."

"Our second guest has one very simple power; he can make people 
drop dead just by looking at them. Drains their life force, according to 
Donovan. Ironically enough, he was already *in* prison, recently sent 
there for rape and burglary, when his powers manifested. Apparently 
they manifested while the inmates were giving him a 'welcoming party' in 
the shower. Thirteen cons dead in about ten seconds, and then he 
started dropping people right and left like flies...went on a rampage 
through his wing, and killed just about everybody, including four prison 
guards. Of course, that left him still confined in the cell block, with no 
way to get out. We were called in, and we just flooded the wing with 
knockout gas, then brought him here. We're keeping him in a drugged 
coma." Donnay looks grim, and says "He killed three more of our people 
in the process of our learning how his powers work. He doesn't have to 
see you, he just has to know where you are. He even got one of the 
doctors through the f***ing intercom! We don't know how, but apparently 
if he can get just a vague idea where you are, he can lock onto you and 
nail you. So we aren't taking any chances. Dr. Culbrand has 
hypothesized that he wouldn't be able to get someone who's talking to 
him by radio...but so far, he's having a problem finding volunteers to test 
the theory."

"Which brings us to our two newest arrivals. As you may have heard, 
there's a metahuman in Chicago called 'Falling Star'. She turns into a 
fireball and can fly at supersonic speeds. According to some eyewitness 
accounts, she's a very young woman, possibly even a child. She's been 
active in the inner city areas of Chicago, intimidating gangs and tearing 
apart crack houses by flying through them...literally. Well, yesterday, 
there was a gang battle in Cabrini Green, one of the worst areas of 
Chicago, one of the worst areas in the country, for that matter. Falling 
Star showed up, and so did these two. We suspect that's not a 
coincidence, which is what we're hoping to question them about, with 
your help. They seemed to be after Falling Star, but a couple more 
metahumans showed up. A woman who can control gravity, and 
according to witnesses, some girl who was teleporting around and 
kicking the hell out of people. Possibly others as well; we're still getting 
details from our agents there. So there was a battle between our two 
guests and those other metahumans, and these men lost. The police 
arrived, followed shortly thereafter by us, and we drugged them and 
brought them here."

"One of them displayed the ability to generate force fields, which 
stopped grenades, bullets, and Falling Star, who slammed into one at 
full speed. He can also make them move and hit people. The other 
one...we don't know what powers he has, or even if he does have any 
powers for certain. He was heavily armed, with a shotgun, a whole 
bunch of grenades, and an air rifle loaded with tranquilizer darts."

"From examining them and their equipment, and especially the vehicle 
they came in, we think they're from South America; quite possibly, they 
were sent by the Columbian mafia. It's not surprising that the drug lords 
would be able to get their hands on a couple of hired metahumans in a 
short time, but it's not a pleasant prospect at all."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey finds himself almost moaning as he realizes just how bad 'bad' 
is, but stops himself.  He almost ask if there is ANY good news, but 
decides against it because he isn't sure he'd like the answer.

  "What kind of strategy do you have in mind for questioning these guys?  
I assume we'll be questioning them one at a time, do you want to start 
with the guy with the gun?"

   "And Agent Donnay, are you positive it's a good idea to hold all the 
meta-villains together?  If there were one escape, which it seems would 
eventually happen, you could have a domino effect and have them break 
each other out.  Wouldn't it be better to form several special holding 
facilities and keep them seperated?"

<><><><><>

[GM]

Donnay smiles humorlessly. "Yes, it probably would be a good idea to 
build separate facilities. But do you have any idea how much this facility 
alone costs? To really be safe, against what you're suggesting, we'd 
need a separate prison for every single metahuman criminal we capture. 
Not likely we'll get the funding for that...although if people like Legion 
and Lucretia keep causing mass destruction, we may at that. Right now, 
the biggest problem is that this is a short-term solution at best."

"You see, we have this fellow who can kill with a thought, and he's an 
amoral psychopath. What do we do with him? As long as he's conscious, 
he can kill anyone who comes near him. Our choices are kill him, drug 
him, or put him in a small, dark room with no ability to see or hear 
outside. With some metahumans, even the last option is unavailable. 
The Israelis had to drug Deathstorm, because all he had to do was wake 
up, and he could have blown apart everything and everyone around him. 
Personally, I'm surprised they *didn't* arrange for an "accident" to befall 
him. I'm sure that's exactly what would have happened the moment 
Paladin turned his back, and if the Israelis didn't send that flaming 
person who killed him, then they must have thought he was a blessing 
from God when he did."

"Summarily executing captured criminals who haven't even been put on 
trial yet, or keeping them in a drugged stupor, is, needless to say, utterly 
illegal and a blatant violation of the Constitution. We're doing it 
anyways, because the alternative is worse. But we can't keep this secret 
forever, and sooner or later the word will go out. The ACLU and 
Amnesty International and all those other leftist airheads will scream 
bloody murder and jump up and down about our unconscionable 
violations of these poor murderous super-killers' civil rights. A court 
order will come down requiring us to take them off the drugs." He smiles 
grimly and says "I only hope we can somehow arrange for some of those 
whiny lawyers and civil rights activists to be present when we do."

"Right now, a few, a very few, members of the House and Senate are 
being made aware of the situation. We're trying to get some quiet 
legislation rammed through that will give us some 'extraordinary powers' 
when dealing with metahumans. Right now, we're not even operating 
under an executive mandate, because while there's no doubt that the 
President is being kept appraised of what's going on here, he doesn't 
have the balls to personally sanction it. He doesn't want to take 
responsibility if it blows up in his face. I guess he'll pull the Reagan/Bush 
defense; 'Gee, I didn't know exactly what was going on, I trusted my 
suboordinates'."

"We want to question the man with the force fields first. He's a 
somewhat known quantity. We're hoping that Shindell can concentrate 
*real* hard on neutralizing his powers, while we question him." He looks 
at Harvey and says, "If that doesn't work, you may be our backup. We're 
assuming, and hoping, that you'd be able to walk through these force 
fields and...subdue him. How do you feel about that?"

<><><><><>

Harvey:

"When I suggested seperate detention facilities I figured they'd be very 
small and thus cheaper, but not cheap" Harvey quickly corrects himself, 
"they still need to be effective."
   <<referring to the psychopath with the kill power>> "I'm against killing 
someone without a fair trial, but heck, as far as I'm concerned give the 
guy a lawyer to represent him, try him and kill him before he even knows 
it's going to happen.  Personally I wouldn't want to know it was coming."
 <<Have Walt concentrate real hard and as backup Harvey>> Harvey 
answer back, quickly, "Neutralize first, ask questions later.<G>  I don't 
know if I will be able to walk through a force field, since I've never seen 
one before, but it's worth a try.  One thing, if he does prove a problem 
give me a tranquilizer to hit him with, O.K.?  After what happened the 
last time, I'm really reluctant to eliminate anyone" there's an almost 
pleading tone to Harvey's voice as he makes the request.  Harvey 
returns to business then and suggests "Probably a good idea to keep 
the element of surprise, are Walt and I dressed like everyone else the 
prisoner will have seen?"

<><><><><>

Walt:

Walt listens while Donnay and Harv go back and forth about the right 
and wrong of how/where/why do deal with 'meta' criminals.  And while he 
may not be very pleased by the topic of conversation, he keeps such 
thoughts to himself.

"Um...pardon me, agent Donnay, but don't we have to be, um, I dunno, 
deputized or some such before we can take part in this.  I always 
thought that this is the sort of thing that only the police or FBI or some 
such was supposed to be doing."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey is caught be surprise by Walt's question, it never occurred to 
him. "DO we need to be?  He's already been arrested so we aren't going 
to arrest him, there are no statutes covering neutralizing meta abilities or 
walking through force fields.  We're just going to be listening to someone 
being questioned, civilians can do that...I think." Harvey also turns to 
Agent Donnay and raises an eyebrow.

<><><><><>

[GM]

Donnay chuckles ruefully. "I just told you how we're illegally imprisoning 
and drugging suspects, without a trial or even any kind of due process," 
he points out. "And you're worried about legal niceties like whether you 
have to be deputized." He sighs. "As a matter of fact, we *will* be legally 
deputizing you, so you'll be official law enforcement officers and 
everything. For that, though, you do have to go through a certain amount 
of paperwork and other drills, things we haven't had time for yet. In the 
meantime, don't worry, there's no law against your helping us question a 
suspect. For that matter, there's no law against your helping us arrest 
one. You can always make citizens' arrests. You just won't have the 
legal protection that a duly appointed officer of the law does, until we get 
you your tin stars."

With another ironic chuckle, he adds "And I'm almost certain there's no 
law against neutralizing someone's metahuman abilities."

He looks at Harvey thoughtfully and says "Good point about the 
tranquilizer, though; you were talking to Culbrand about working 
something like that out, weren't you? Could be a good opportunity to test 
that out- I'll give him a call and see if he has anything he can send down 
here right now." He goes to a small grey phone sitting on the near wall.

<><><><><>

Harvey:

While Agent Donnay makes his phone call Harvey turns to Walter and 
comments, "Got to tell you, this 'deathwish', or whatever you call him, 
scares me."

<><><><><>

Walt:

"Well, I sure am pleased to hear that; I'd be right worried if I was to find 
out that you were *enjoying* the thought of this wacko!"

Walt waits, not quite sure what to do next.

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey's voice sounds slightly strained as he corrects Walter's 
interpretation, "I'm not saying I don't like the idea of this psycho, I'm 
saying I'm Scared of him!"  Having said that Harvey seems to pull 
himself together and get his eyes under control, but it takes him a 
definite act of will power.

<><><><><>

[GM]

A minute later, Agent Donnay returns and says "Yeah, they got 
something they want to try." A few minutes later, one of the researchers 
comes down the stairs and hands Harvey what appears to be a vial full 
of light brown sugar cubes.

"This is a fast-acting tranquilizer that will hit almost immediately upon 
being absorbed into the bloodstream...which will be instantly, if you 
phase it into the person," the doctor says. "Of course, you can still do 
damage if you put one in their eye, or brain or heart or some other vital 
organ...but if you just stick it in their arm or neck or any other place 
containing nothing but flesh and veins, it'll dissolve almost immediately. 
It would probably hurt a bit, because the flesh will be disrupted a little, 
but it shouldn't be anything severe." He pauses and says "That's the 
theory, anyways. It hasn't been tested yet. We were hoping you'd try it 
on some lab animals, before actually trying to use it on a human."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey holds the vial up to the light and peers at it quizically, muttering 
more to himself than to anyone else, "I kind of thought the gut would be 
a good target, get it absorbed by the intestinal area, but the arms and 
legs might be safer, just got to avoid the bones I guess."
  Turning back to Agent Donnay Harvey says, "Sounds like a good idea 
to try it first, although the lab animal might have a different opinion."<G>

<><><><><>

[GM]

Donnay frowns and says "Supposing it knocks out the lab animal, it still 
won't tell us for sure how well it works on people, right? Look, we need 
to question these guys pronto, because there's still stuff going down in 
Chicago. I don't expect you'll actually need to use those little cubes, 
they're just a backup. We already have them hooked up to IVs, and the 
room is reinforced and sealed. *If* Shindell's neutralization power works, 
they won't be able to do anything. We're obviously only going to wake 
one at a time."

Donnay hands Harvey a pistol, and says, "*If* by chance something 
goes wrong and you need to help subdue them, try your knockout cubes 
first, and maybe a good-old fashioned whack on the back of the head. If 
things get desperate, this is for last resort." The agent scowls at the 
researcher, who's scowling at him, and says "We can try testing your 
little trick according to the 'scientific method' when we have more time."

The doctor counters "Those two will still be drugged in their cell ten 
minutes from now, won't they? We don't know for sure that the shock of 
solidifying an immaterial object into somebody won't cause unforeseen 
trauma. Or that the chemical composition of the soporific cubes won't be 
altered by the...desolidifying process, since we don't really know what 
his power does to the molecular structure of things whose density he 
alters."

"Well, we can always rely on Shindell's luck," Donnay snaps back.

"His luck may keep *him* alive, but there's no guarantee it's 
transferable," the doctor points out.

"Fine!" Donnay snaps. "Bring down your bunny rabbit or whatever so 
Jones can stick the cube in it."

"We're thinking of a chimpanzee, actually. It's a little closer to a human 
in size and physiology. And we'd rather not bring it down here- Mr. 
Jones should come up to the lab. We'll need to monitor the immediate 
results of the cube insertion..."

"Oh for Chrissake," Donnay growls. "Do you wanna go along with this, 
Jones, or take care of business first?"

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey was more concerned about what resolidifying the drug in 
someone would do to them than whether it would knock them out or not, 
but he never gets a chance to say that, or anything else because of how 
fast Agent Donnay and the researcher begin talking.
  Harvey accepts the gun when handed to him, but it doesn't look like he 
really wants it.  Then he examines it, carefully; better to pay attention to 
these things than pay for it later.  Then, since he doesn't plan to use it, 
or rather plans not to use it, he puts it away.  This presents a bit of a 
problem since where does one keep a gun that is out of the way?  He 
doesn't have a shoulder holster, so he ends up sticking it in his belt (if it 
has a safety he carefully sets it first!)  He considers putting it in the back 
of his belt instead of the front, but that's very uncomfortable so he just 
sticks in the right front side of his belt, grip to the right, in case he 
changes his mind and decides he does want it after all.  But he doesn't 
think it at all likely that he will change his mind about this.
  As Agent Donnay and the researcher 'discuss' what to do next Harvey's 
head goes back and forth like a pendulum while he tries to keep up with 
the conversation, just as his neck is starting to hurt the conversation 
comes to an end.  "Oh heck, let's just get this questioning over with and 
I'll stop by the lab when we're done and we can actually test this stuff."
  Harvey removes one of the 'cubes' of knockout drug and puts it in his 
right pocket where he can get at if fast, and put the tube with the others 
in his left hand pocket.

<><><><><>

[GM]

Donnay nods. "Let's get going, then."

You're reminded of a modern-day dungeon, down beneath the complex 
here, with a number of heavy metal doors lining a dimly-lit corridor. Two 
more men are waiting for your group, and enter one room ahead of you.

As Harvey, Walt, and Agent Donnay file into the small room, it seems to 
be much like a hospital room; the "patient" is lying in bed, with an IV and 
various sophisticated monitors connected to him. He looks like a middle-
aged Hispanic man in good shape, with short black hair and a thin 
mustache. He's been put in a straight jacket, and even his ankles are 
manacled. At the moment, he seems quite thoroughly unconscious; one 
researcher is instructing an armed agent on how to administer the drug 
that will wake him up; apparently the doctors aren't staying for the 
interrogation....

Donnay turns to Walt and Harvey and says "You two ready? You're first, 
Shindell; let's see about that neutralizing trick of yours. We don't even 
know for sure that this guy *is* a metahuman, but naturally, better safe 
than sorry. You do whatever you have to, and Jones stand by with those 
magic sugar cubes, just in case things get hairy." Both of you can see 
that the two other men in the room are also standing by- with pistols 
already in their hands, held pointed at the ceiling, but with fingers 
already on the trigger.

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey gets the unnerving sensation of walking along the dim corridor of 
a dungeon on the way to the 'cell', which bothers him much more 
because he believes the hall should be well lit for security than because 
it looks like a dungeon.  He considers commenting on it, but figures 
security experts have been all over it already and must have some 
reason for it.
  Harvey looks over the heavily restrained possible meta, this is the one 
who is supposed to create force fields. Harvey wonders why the change 
to uncertainty about whether he's a meta.  Standing near the meta, on 
the opposite side from Walter, Harvey unabtrusively puts his hand into 
his right pocket, where he placed the unwrapped knock-out cube.  He 
takes a few deep breaths trying to relax, or at least look relaxed.  
Considering that preparing for the unexpected might be wise, he also 
desolidifies himself, it doesn't show and it might be handy if things start 
hopping.

<><><><><>

[GM]

[oops- sorry! I messed up and forgot that they were planning to 
interrogate the force field projector BEFORE the other one. You're right; 
the man you're facing is the one with the "known" power, and he has 
long, shoulder-length black hair, no mustache, and a muscular build.]

<><><><><>

Walt:

Walt also looks upon the person before them, wondering to himself if 
maybe he hasn't gotten himself in over his head.  Remembering Jamie 
and all the evil that can be caused by power without control helps 
somewhat, but he still comes away from his thoughts feeling 
somewhat...not quite dirty, but on 'shaky ground' morally speaking.  
Things were a hell of a lot easier when the only things that Walt had to 
worry about were himself and getting the load there on time!

If the prisoner is awake, Walt sort of nods to him.  Otherwise, he'll just 
look to Harv and Donnay, and take their lead.

<><><><><>

[GM]

The prisoner isn't awake, yet. Donnay looks at Walt and says "We're 
going to bring him out of his sleep, now. See if you can start neutralizing 
him, right away. Jones, stand by- the least sign that any metahuman 
powers are activating, like force fields or anything, go ahead and take 
him out."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey nods and moves the hand in his pocket so he's holding the 
knock-out cube he put there before.  He isn't too concerned, he has a lot 
of confidence in Walt's ability to neutralize the prisoner and besides, 
he'll probably be pretty groggy until after his first cup of coffee<G>.  
There should be time to at least ask a few questions before having to 
fight over it.  So Harvey is pretty relaxed, but ready, and trying to look 
non-threatening.

<><><><><>

Walt:

Walt shrugs, still uneasy about the whole thing but willing to go along for 
the moment, as it doesn't seem that anything going on here is going to 
hurt the guy lying there.  He concentrates, trying to envision the guys 
powers as a circuit or some such thing, and Walt's powers as a 'circuit 
breaker', interupting their flow.  

He watches and waits other than that...

<><><><><>

[GM]

Walt imagines the long-haired prisoner's powers being "interrupted", and 
feels...something. He knows he did something, but there's no visible 
reaction. But Harvey feels his own body tingle and become more 
substantial for a moment.

One of the other agents is adjusting the IV that's dripping into his arm, 
adding some new drug...abruptly, the prisoner snorts, and his eyes 
open.

Donnay leans forward. "How do you feel?" he asks the man. The 
prisoner looks around, dazed, then realizes he's thoroughly restrained. 
He begins struggling, trying to pull free, and staring intently at Donnay. 
Walt feels something surging and struggling in the man, pushing against 
Walt's own will. With an effort, the trucker forces the other metahuman's 
power down, but feels it still struggling, just as the man is physically 
struggling against his mundane restraints. This seems slightly different 
from his encounter with Legion, when Jamie's powers seemed to simply 
shut off.

Donnay tells him, "There's no point in fighting, your powers have been 
neutralized," with a look at Walt that says *I hope!*. "Now calm down, 
we're not going to hurt you, we just have some questions to ask you."

The man begins spouting off in Spanish. Donnay makes repeated efforts 
to question him in English, then looks around. "No one thought to send a 
Spanish-speaker along?" he demands of the other two agents. He looks 
at Harvey and Walt, but neither of them speak Spanish either. "All right," 
Donnay says. "Put him back under until we can get an interpreter down 
here...either he doesn't speak English, or he's pretending not to."

A moment later, the struggling metahuman falls unconscious. While you 
all wait for someone who speaks Spanish (Donnay says there are 
several in the facility, it won't take long) he asks Walt "How did it go? 
Did you have any trouble? Figure you can keep him turned off?"

<><><><><>

Walt:

Walt rubs his forehead and rolls his shoulders as if trying to relax them.  
He shrugs in response to Donnay's query.  "I reckon he was trying to 
'fight' me off, 'least it felt that way."  He looks at the slumbering 
'Spaniard', then purses his lips as if trying to figure out how to explain 
the experience.  "It was like...like this here fellow had his powers in a, I 
don't know, let's say a jar.  He was on the inside, and trying to push the 
'lid' off so as he could go ahead and use his powers.  I, on the other 
hand, was trying to keep the lid on, so to speak.  I feel like I had to use 
both hands to hold the 'lid' on."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

"You might want to watch the size of that 'jar', I know you weren't aiming 
at me, but I felt an effect too.  And I thought you had to touch the meta 
you were neutralizing?"

  "Hey Donnay, when you wake the guy up again, how about going a 
little easy on him, O.K?  Your panicing the poor guy, he probably figures 
your going to take him next door and vivisize him next!"  The Harvey 
starts, as he realizes he's giving advice to the expert, "Of course, I'm not 
an expert," he apologizes, "but I think you might want to go a bit easy, at 
least until we find out if he's really vicious or just a mercenary or 
something."

<><><><><>

[GM]

Donnay says "Hmmm." Then, as a young rather nerdy-looking man in 
slacks and a sweater enters the room, Donnay introduces him. "Jerry 
Lorenz. One of our computer people, but he also happens to be fluent in 
Spanish." Jerry looks a little nervous as he glances at the heavily-
restrained, drugged metahuman. "Don't worry," Donnay reassures him, 
"it's completely safe."

Harvey and Walt both try to maintain poker faces.

The field agent says to Harvey, "I'm not trying to give him the Gestappo 
treatment, but considering his situation, I think we can assume he's not 
going to be well-disposed towards us. We know he's vicious, Jones; him 
and his friend were tossing bullets and grenades around, and this guy 
tried to kill some chick that was trying to stop him. You saw the way he 
was staring at me; I strongly suspect he was trying to turn me to mush 
with that force field power of his. You just keep a tight lid on that jar, 
Shindell." With that, they bring the man out of his drug-induced slumber 
again.

He takes a little longer to become coherent and cognizant this time. 
"Can't keep putting him under and bringing him out," mutters the agent 
handling the medical equipment. "If we put him out again, we'll have to 
wait at least six hours before trying to wake him up again, or else we 
could OD him." Donnay snorts, and the others get the impression this 
wouldn't bother the agent too much.

Once again, the hispanic struggles, and Walt feels his power struggling 
to assert itself...but it's much weaker this time, and Walt has no trouble 
keeping it down. Perhaps the man's glassy-eyed look and slurred 
speech has something to do with it.

{The following is translated through Lorenz, as Donnay asks questions 
in English and the prisoner answers in Spanish}

Donnay: "What's your name?"

Prisoner: "Who the-" (Lorenz says, "heck", but the others suspect it was 
something more colorful) "-are you?"

Donnay: "I'm Special Agent Donnay. You're being held prisoner by the 
U.S. Justice Department, for assault with intent to kill, reckless 
endangerment, and whatever other charges we can hold you on. We 
know you have super powers, and we aren't about to give you a chance 
to use them. If you ever want to see the light of day again, you'd better 
answer my questions. Cooperate with us, and maybe we can help you 
out. Keep giving me crap, and you're going to stay here for a long, long 
time."

Prisoner: "What did you do to me? My power isn't working!"

Donnay: "Bingo. It isn't going to work either, so quit trying." Donnay 
looks at Walt for reassurance, and relaxes a little more when Walt 
seems not to be unduly strained. "Now do you want to answer any 
questions, or do we just knock you out again?"

Prisoner: "Let me go!"

Donnay: "What's your name?"

Prisoner: "F*** YOU! Let me go!" (Lorenz hesitates, then translates that 
one literally.)

Donnay leans forward and places his hand over the man's mouth, 
clamping it shut, and stares into his eyes. Walt and Harvey both feel a 
little nervous, as this interrogation is becoming rather uncomfortable. But 
the prisoner doesn't seem to be responding to calm questioning, and 
Donnay hasn't hurt him, or threatened to hurt him...yet.

Donnay: "Listen to me, pal! We are NOT going to let you go! Not until 
you show us some cooperation. You are extremely dangerous, and 
we're going to do whatever it takes to keep you down here, in a goddam 
coma, as long as it takes, unless you show some willingness to 
cooperate with us! Now you answer a few questions, and maybe we'll 
work something out. We can go on from there. You keep cooperating, 
maybe we can make a deal with you. Maybe you'll even get out of here 
eventually. You keep yelling and screaming and refusing to talk to us, 
and you can stay asleep for the rest of your life! Now, what is your 
name?" He takes his hand off the man's mouth. The prisoner stares 
darkly at the agent for a moment, then answers, "Juan Jimenez."

Donnay: "What were you doing in Chicago?"

Juan: "I was paid to go there."

Donnay: "What for? Who paid you?"

Juan: "The Boss."

Donnay (with exasperation): "Who's 'The Boss'?"

Juan: "I just do what Miguel says."

Donnay: "Who's Miguel?"

Juan: "I came with him." He seems to be having increasing trouble 
getting out a complete sentence.

Donnay: "The other man we captured, the man with all the weapons?"

Juan: "Yes."

Donnay: "Does he have any super powers?"

Juan: "Uh....I don't know. I never see any."

Donnay: "Where did you come from?"

Juan: "We flew from San Antonio."

Donnay: "Where before that?"

Juan: <pause> "Columbia."

Donnay swears. Then asks "What were you supposed to do in 
Chicago?"

Juan: "Catch...catch that blessed person." (Donnay looks at Lorenz and 
asks what the prisoner meant by 'blessed'. Lorenz shrugs. "Maybe 
someone with superpowers?")

Donnay: "Do you mean Falling Star?"

Juan: <increasingly dazed> "Huh? What falling star?"

Donnay: "The girl, in Chicago, the one who turns into a fireball."

Juan: "Yeah. Her. Girl...fireball."

Donnay: "What were you supposed to do with her when you caught 
her?"

Juan: "Who?"

Donnay: "Falling Star!"

Juan: "Where?"

Donnay: "What were you supposed to do after you captured the girl?"

Juan: "Uh...Boss want her. Say Miguel. After fireball."

Donnay: "What boss? Were you supposed to kill her, or take her 
somewhere?"

Juan: "Take her where?"

Donnay swears and sits back as they reinject a sedative and the 
metahuman blacks out again. "That's the problem with keeping someone 
in a coma," he says. "It tends to make them a little woozy. We'd have to 
bring him out completely and let him dry out to interrogate him at length, 
and that's not an option right now."

"I guess now we question 'Miguel'."

<><><><><>

Walt:

Walt shrugs.

"OK, I guess; that time it seemed easier than the last, maybe on account 
of the fact that he was kinda doped out.  I sure do hope that you all are 
being *real* careful about that stuff...from what I hear it sure is easy to 
do a body injury with it."

Walt waits to see where they go next.

<><><><><>

Harvey:

"I think they generally let the M.D.s handle the drugs, I'd trust them.  I 
guess they just stepped out in case things got out of control, which 
thanks to you, they didn't" (silently adding, 'though not becuase they 
didn't try'). "Nice job.  And if we get out of here, probably the docs will 
get back in here, and look after the _patient_", glancing over at Agent 
Donnay.
  Harvey then turns to face Agent Donnay while he waits to see what 
comes next.

<><><><><>

[GM]

Donnay and the other two agents, along with Lorenz, lead Harvey and 
Walt to a room two doors down. In this one is another hispanic man, 
similarly drugged and restrained. This man is a little smaller, and has 
short hair and a thin mustache.

"Same routine," says Donnay. "This is the guy that was carrying an 
automatic shotgun, an air rifle with tranquilizer darts, and a bandolier of 
grenades. With all that firepower, he probably doesn't have any 
offensive powers, but we'd better not assume that. Shindell, you do your 
neutralizing thing, in case 'Miguel' here does turn out to have some kind 
of power. Let me know right away if you *do* feel something from him." 
The other agents start the same procedure as before, waking Miguel 
from his sleep.

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Same drill as last time.  Harvey will take a position near 'miquel's' 
shoulder, on the opposite side of the bed from Walter, and casually put 
his right hand in his pocket, holding the knock-out cube. He'll try to look 
relaxed and non-threatening, the form is a lot easier because he plans to 
do it unsolidly.

<><><><><>

Walt:

Walt readies himself, preparing to insure that the 'lid' stays on the 'jar'

<><><><><>

[GM]

As Miguel's eyes open, Donnay leans forward. "Good morning, Miguel," 
he says cheerfully. "Se Habla Englais?"

The man's eyes narrow, and he stares hard at Agent Donnay. Walt, 
concentrating on neutralizing whatever power might manifest, doesn't 
feel anything.

"You're being restrained and drugged in a high-security prison," Donnay 
says, "and until we get some answers, this is where you'll stay. So the 
silent act won't help you any."

Miguel stares at him a moment longer, then says, in English, "I want a 
lawyer."

Donnay shakes his head. "Sorry pal, you're being held under the 
Emergency Federal Powers Act" (from the bemused glances that go 
between the other two agents, Walt and Harvey suspect this is an Act 
that Agent Donnay just legislated) "which means as long as you're 
considered an uncontrollable threat to the public, we hold you here as 
long as we have to."

Miguel jerks and struggles against his restraints, to no avail, and begins 
a stream of epithets in English and Spanish that starts with a creative 
description of Donnay's anatomical configuration and ends with a 
commentary on his mother's sexual habits. He manages to speculate on 
the ancestry of all the men standing around him in the process.

"Well, that was certainly colorful," Donnay says, not looking fazed in the 
least. "Are you finished yet?" The prisoner is breathing hard, and 
clenching his teeth together.

"Why don't you tell us why you were in Chicago?" Donnay asks. "We 
know you're a hired gun. And you had the misfortune to get caught. 
We're after the ones who sent you. We want to know who's sending 
superhuman hit men out after other superhumans." As Miguel thinks 
about that, Donnay says "You're from Columbia, right? We already 
tracked you back as far as San Antonio."

The man frowns and says "I ain't no freak, ain't got no powers."

Donnay smiles slightly and looks at Walt. "How about that, Shindell? Do 
you think he's telling the truth?"

<><><><><>

Walt:

"Well, now, I reckon that could be so; I ain't felt so much as a 'peep' out 
of him.  Then again, he could just not be using whatever powers he 
might have.  I wonder what the chance is that his being angry right now 
would have of making his powers go off 'by accident'?  If he did have 
them?"

"What are the odds on that?"

<><><><><>

[GM]

Donnay shrugs. "No idea, although the scientists have mentioned that 
stress seems to trigger these powers in many cases. I'm guessing if he 
had one he'd be trying to use it right now."

He turns back to the prisoner. "You've got about ten seconds to start 
talking, then I turn the IV back on and you go back to la-la land, habla?"

Miguel snarls at the federal agent. "You already know who I work for!"

"So why did they want you to capture Falling Star?" Donnay asks.

"How the hell I know? I don't care WHY they want somethin', long as 
they pay to get it done!"

"You don't care what your bosses were planning to do with a little girl?"

Miguel smiles, showing teeth. "It's that kind of job, man."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey's 'poker face' developes a frown of distaste, but he says nothing. 
He's developing a dislike for the mercenary, but he doesn't seem too 
much of a threat.  Harvey hopes he isn't going to be surprised but he 
figures this merc is just that, good with guns but handlable by normal 
agents.  The nagging thought is, why send this one out against 'falling 
star' if he isn't more dangerous?  Harvey is still suspicious, or maybe 
paranoid; and not ready to assume he isn't holding back some surprises.

<><><><><>

Walt:

Walt scowls, angry that this...thug is so happily casual about the 
possibility of a child being wounded or worse, so long as he gets paid.  
Walt thinks very hard about what the odds might be that this scum might 
get a headache from the stress...right now.  A migraine headache, the 
kind that leaves you curled up and whimpering from the pain for hours 
on end.

"Bad attitude, pal; gonna get you in a heap o' trouble one of these days."

<><><><><>

[GM]

As Donnay shakes his head and asks Miguel "So what exactly were you 
supposed to do with Falling Star once you caught her?", the prisoner's 
eyes suddenly bug out, then squeeze shut.

"Aaaghh!" he exclaims, teeth clenching together. He grimaces, clearly in 
extreme pain, and snarls "What the !%@$ you doin' to me?" Donnay 
frowns, looking at the other two agents, who seem equally baffled.

<><><><><>

Harvey:

The prisoner shrieks, which causes Harvey to jump, because to Harvey's 
heightened sense of paranoia this is obviously intended as a distraction.  
He clutchs the knock out cube in his right hand (which is still in his 
pocket) and tenses, ready to leap at the prisoner with it and try to 
subdue him if it looks like he is succeeding in breaking free or attacking.  
The look of distaste that had been forming on Harvey's face as the merc 
spoke, changes to a set look of determination.  Harvey's accumulated 
distaste for the prisoner leads him to briefly consider the gun jammed 
uncomfortably in his waist band, but he decides there are better and 
more effective ways of handling this guy.

<><><><><>

Walt:

"What'r the odds, Miguel, that that there headache o' yours would go 
away if you just told agent Donnay here what he wanted to know?  You 
know, *sometimes* those kinds of headaches can disappear as quickly 
as they appear."

Walt shrugs, making it clear that he's not going to admit that he's 
*directly* responsible for it.

<><><><><>

[GM]

Miguel looks at Walt, as does Donnay. Donnay cocks an eyebrow, and a 
slight smile, not an entirely pleasant one, appears on his face.

"What'd you do, drug me you !&@$!?" Miguel snarls.

Gritting his teeth, he snaps at Donnay "Lissen', I get paired up with that 
stupid peasant with his freak powers, they say he can catch 
whatsherface, Fallin' Star, I'm along to keep him outta trouble an' deal 
with cops and other people in the way. Juan ain't too smart. And then 
once we have the girl, I drug her, and we supposed to be contacted by 
someone in Chicago."

"Someone was going to contact you IN Chicago, once you had Falling 
Star?" Donnay asks. "Who? Where?"

"I dunno who, man! They know where me and Juan would be, they 
supposed to call us; my job only goes up to catchin' the girl and turning 
her over to whoever comes to get her."

"What about those other metahumans, the ones who took you down?"

Miguel scowls. "They weren't part of the plan. I dunno who the hell they 
were!"

"Why did Columbians care about a superhuman in Chicago?"

"Hell if I know! I already told you, I just do what I'm paid."

"Where did they find Juan?"

"I don't know. I think he's some dumb peasant out of some dumb village. 
He sure ain't never had no education. And if I had powers like him, I sure 
wouldn't be some mindless flunky!"

"Do the Columbians have any other metahumans working for them?"

"I don't know."

Like Juan, Miguel's speech is becoming slurred, as the drugs are still 
running through his system, and his mental incapacity is accelerated by 
the splitting headache he seems to have developed suddenly.

<><><><><>

Walt:

Walt nods, satisfied, and concentrates on 'manipulating fate' so as to 
cause the headache that sprang into being to fade away as it 
came...unexpectedly.

"There now, that wasn't so difficult, was it?" Walt says, seeming to 
believe that the fellow has said what he knows.

"Well, Donnay, what now?"

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey speaks urgently, trying to get the question in before Miquel goes 
under again, "Where were you supposed to be that the Columbians 
would contact you?"

<><><><><>

[GM]

"Motel" mumbles the mercenary in reply to Harvey.

Whether or not Walt succeeds in turning off the man's headache as 
easily as he turned it on becomes moot, as the other agents start 
pumping drugs into him again. Miguel slips back into unconsciousness.

"We'll have Agent Donovan check him out, once she's in condition to 
come back here, just to be sure, before we take him out of the coma," 
says Donnay.

He looks at Harvey and says "We do know what motel they were 
checked into; a cheap Motel 8 on the outskirts of Chicago. There wasn't 
anything of any information value there; just their other sets of clothes 
and travelling supplies. Most of what was interesting was in their van, 
and that was weapons and some drugs which our charming fellow here 
was probably going to use to keep Falling Star under control. Why do 
you think that's important?"

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey checks that Miguel is unconscious and then gestures to step 
outside. "Because we have the worlds greatest impersonator upstairs 
being probed and prodded by the doctors, and if it isn't known that these 
two were captured we could possibly arrange for whoever was supposed 
to get in touch with them, to get in touch with us, so we can add them to 
our 'collection' here.  Even if it is known they were captured we can 
probably come up with an explanation for how one of them got away."  
Harvey glances at both Donnay and Walt to see how they are 
responding to the suggestion.

<><><><><>

Walt:

"Well now, I suppose that it might be a good idea, so long as we get 
there soon and can come up with a darn good story as to how one of 
them got away and what happened to him for the last while."

Walt frowns, looking scornfully at the unconscious Miguel.

"Damn S.O.B." he mutters, obviously referring to the prisoner.

"Well, I guess I'm up for it; what do you think, agent?"

<><><><><>

[GM]

Donnay scratches his chin.

"The idea has potential."

"There are a few problems with it, though. The first and biggest is that 
he's a minor, and we promised his parents he wouldn't be going into 
danger. Now of course, we have no intention of putting him in a combat 
situation....but we can't be sure how these things will turn out. 
Personally, I think the kid's already demonstrated he's capable of 
making decisions for himself, but I'd have to check with my higher-ups to 
see if we can justify taking such an action. Whether we can keep our 
legal butts covered, so to speak. And of course, it all depends on 
whether he's willing, but the kid seems so eager to play superhero, I 
doubt that's seriously in question."

"Second, like you said, it'll take some creative storytelling to come up 
with a plausible scenario to give whoever these guys were supposed to 
contact."

"Third....seems likely whoever contacts him will be talking to him in 
Spanish. It's possible he can speak Spanish like a native, but I doubt it."

"Well, let's head on upstairs. We'll see what 'Mystery' thinks of all this."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

Harvey listens to, but shrugs off, Agent Donnay's objections, at least for 
the moment.
  "_Officially_ we're not taking her into a dangerous area and unofficially 
she can probably handle herself; but check with legal and see if they 
have any ideas how to make it stronger.  Remember too, Shapeshifters 
very rarely get carded<G>. And I agree, once we explain the situation, 
Mystery will almost certainly volunteer."
  "The creative storytelling depends on whether mystery speaks 
Spanish, we might get lucky there, and if she can mimic the sound of 
one of these guys."
  "So let's go run it past Mystery and see what kind of a reaction we get.  
And on the way, I have to stop off and knock-out a chimp, should only 
take a minute.<G>"

<><><><><>

[GM]

Agent Donnay takes Walt and Harvey upstairs, to a clean, brightly-lit lab 
filled with a variety of animals. Rabbits, rats, mice, and most 
prominently, in a large cage in the center of the room, a chimpanzee.

Harvey takes out his little brown "sugar cube", and nervously 
approaches the chimp, as the doctors watch carefully. Donnay seems 
amused.

The chimp bares its teeth at Harvey in a wide monkey grin. Harvey 
extends his arm through the bars of the cage, causing the chimp to 
screech excitedly. It seems more curious than frightened as Harvey's 
fingers enter its arm, and then let go of the cube.

The chimp screeches loudly and angrily as the cube solidifies in its arm, 
leaps all over the inside of the cage, obviously in pain, and then grabs 
the bars nearest Harvey and shakes them in agitation, baring its teeth in 
fury.

All that in about two seconds, then it begins making strange warbling 
noises in the back of its throat, and staggers.

The chimpanzee falls backwards, flops around for a moment, and then 
goes limp.

The scientists quickly pull it from the cage and put it on an examination 
table, checking its pulse and breathing with a stethascope.

"I think he's going to be fine," one of the doctors says. "Pulse is a little 
slow, but breathing is normal. He's knocked cold, but alive. We'll run a 
series of tests when he wakes up, of course, and we have to remember 
that drugs don't always affect chimps the same way as humans. But it 
looks like the knockout cubes work pretty well...we'll just have to wait 
until you get a chance to try them out on an angry, violent superhuman, 
and then see if they really pass muster."

Donnay grins at Harvey's less-than-enthusiastic expression. Then he 
turns to Walt. "You didn't do anything to affect the probability of this 
experiment, did you?" he asks the other metahuman. "Speaking of 
which...cute trick, that headache thing. You have more cards up your 
sleeve than I thought. And that was quite a piece of work...didn't know 
you had it in you."

<><><><><>

Harvey:

"2 seconds, not bad."
  Speaking to the scientist, "Could you let me know as soon as possible 
if there was any tissue damage or not?  I wouldn't want to use this on a 
human and then find out you had to amputate the chimp's arm."  He 
looks down at the chimp, silently apologizing for the pain, then turns 
away.
   "The knock-out cubes aren't going to work on _all_ meta-humans, 
since I suspect some don't have circulation, or don't sleep, but it's nice 
for the more normal of the abnormal."
   "Well, shall we go see if Mystery has any good 'story' ideas?"

<><><><><>

Walt:

Walt shrugs at Donnay's offhanded compliment.

"Any scum that has that little care in him for children, well, I reckon he 
gets what he gets then, don't he?"

Walt watches the test on the chimp without comment or expression.