Difference between revisions of "Summary:Calamity"

David sits in a tree stand outside the [[Knighthawk Foundry]] in West Virginia. [[Tia]] is missing since the events in [[Babilar]], so he's the lead for the team consisting of [[Megan Tarash|Megan]], [[Cody]], [[Missouri Williams|Mizzy]], and [[Abraham]]. Hunted by [[Jonathan Phaedrus|Prof]] and almost broke, this is the [[Reckoners]]' last desperate attempt to get equipment because [[Dean Knighthawk|Knighthawk]] refuses to deal with them. As they begin the infiltration, drones attack the team members from every direction, even coming out through a door on the forest floor itself. The door is jammed open by some foliage, and David decides to go in that way, handing ops over to Cody.

David finds tubs and jars of body parts. He hears a noise over by the door and sees a flicker of light. A small cleaning bot has entered the room through a flap on the door. David tells Mizzy over the radio that it's just a cleaning bot, which unfortunately alerts it to his presence. He grabs it before it can scoot away and leaves it upside down as he moves on. He reasons that this room is probably a decoy because you'd need to freeze the Epics[[Epic]]s' cells to keep the DNA from degrading, so he breaks into a room next door. He finds some freezers and a bunch of drones guarding them. They point their guns at him.

Megan is having difficulty keeping [[Calamity (Epic)|Calamity]] from controlling her. David helps calm her down with a lighter and the illusion of the cave-in disappears. They both surrender to the drones and the voice comes back from one of them. He demands to know how they figured out how to replicate Firefight's power and finally realizes that she must be an Epic. Mizzy sets off some explosives that causes an actual cave-in that very closely mimics the illusion, sparing them from getting crushed. David figured that since Megan was tired, she would use a cave-in from a reality very close to theirs, so the actual cave-in would be very similar. As they start to escape, Megan hangs back to cover David so the rest can escape. The voice and figure show up on a panel as David is about to leave. He realizes they aren’t working for Prof any longer and decides they need to talk. The drones stop and David faints.

David wakes up on a couch, mostly healed but exhausted. The man belonging to the voice is there talking to Megan and Abraham. He introduces himself as [[Dean Knighthawk]]. A mannequin sits nearby and expresses body language as he talks since he appears to be paralyzed. Knighthawk is very curious about Megan's powers and why she hasn't become angry and annoyed after using them. He wants to know the secret to staving off the madness. David agrees to tell him if he'll keep quiet for a while and equip them. He reveals that they don't want to destroy Prof (now known as Limelight), but bring him back.

Knighthawk is picked up by his mannequin, and they walk down the hall, talking about the plan to turn Prof back. Knighthawk doubts it will work because Jonathan knows the Reckoners' methods. David asks about motivators[[motivator]]s, but Knighthawk is coy about what they really are. He wants to protect his trade secret. They stop at a room to get breakfast: popcorn.

The rest of the team joins David and Megan as Knighthawk eats. Abraham asks Knighthawk for his [[harmsway]], but it's the only one he has, and even though it isn't as good as Prof's version, he doesn't want to give it up. He instead offers to loan them the powers of [[Rtich (Epic)|Rtich]]. The motivator is hidden in a tub of potato salad. Knighthawk hides his good stuff in mundane places so robbers will grab useless stuff. He also offers a crystal grower, a useful item in the "city of salt," Atlanta, where Jonathan is. The team tries to get more out of him, accusing him of being lazy and cowardly. He has a cynical attitude toward the Reckoners and only desires to survive in this new, crazy world. He tells them to get out and never contact him again. David tells Megan to lead the rest of the team out while he tries to get more answers from Knighthawk.

David finds Knighthawk in his room of mementos, staring at the dead body of a beautiful women in a silvery coffin. She is [[Amala]], Knighthawk's wife. She had been an Epic before being killed by Prof. Knighthawk keeps her in stasis, hoping that he can find some Epic healing ability that will bring her back. He warns David that Megan will turn sometime, just as his Amala had, despite fighting off the insanity for as long as she could. David confides to Knighthawk that he wants to kill [[Calamity (Epic)|Calamity]], who is an actual Epic himself, and that he needs his help to do it. Knighthawk finally relents and tells him a motivator is actually an incubator for cells harvested from an Epic. He gives him a sample incubator so David can harvest some cells from Prof in order to make a more powerful harmsway for his wife. David doesn't make any promises, but he takes the device.

Kansas City has been destroyed by [[Obliteration]]. Knighthawk sends a photo of him holding a glowing device, so now he can destroy cities without warning. His apparent plan is to destroy all current and future Epics by simply killing everyone. The team decides to go after him next after dealing with Prof. David fiddles with the jar of mercury but can't get the [[Rtich (device)|rtich]] device to work. They stop when they find Ildithia's salty trail of destruction. They see some people moving away from the city, and Megan goes to investigate.

The people are refugees, fleeing Ildithia because of a power struggle between Limelight (Prof) and the resident Epic, [[Larcener]]. The team decides to enter the city mingled in with some refugees from Kansas City.

Mizzy activates the imager to look at Tia's plan. She had planned for two teams to infiltrate [[Sharp Tower]], the residence of Larcener now taken over by Prof. Unfortunately, it required lots of equipment that isn't exactly available, even if they could afford it. David decides the only way is to get Larcener to help them. He tells him that one of their team has been captured by Limelight and that he'll be paying them a visit soon. Larcener is extremely upset at the incompetence of the Reckoners. David says if he doesn't conjure up what they need, they'll leave the city, leaving Larcener to deal with Limelight. Larcener is forced to accept because he can't interfere and must stay hidden. He calls all humans evil and broken. David looks into his eyes and sees an infinite darkness.

David talks to [[Edmund Sense|Edmund]] over a mobile to tease out some more information about weaknesses, Epic powers, etc. Steelheart used to put vicious dogs in with him to keep him afraid. One day, he thought one of the dogs was attacking a girl, and he tackled the dog, thereby facing his fear. He also suffers from nightmares. He's tired of hiding out and wants to join another Epic, and David tells him to go ahead if he wants. When he declines, David asks him to join the team, but Edmund can't be bothered with that. The group prepares to head out. Larcener accuses them of abandoning him, so David suggests he just use a decoy if someone comes. Larcener doesn't like to do that because it's painful. They head out.

The team heads to Sharp Tower divided into two groups, one with David and Megan, the other with Mizzy and Abraham, with Cody running ops. David and Megan have disguised faces courtesy Megan's powers. They are pretending to be the cake decorators from Stingray clan, who are too busy preparing to leave the city to bother coming to the party. They make it up to the restaurant level via a service elevator and are immediately escorted to their station, where they are to decorate cupcakes for [[Loophole]]. After preparing their guns, David peeks out the door into the party. He doesn't see Prof, but he does see [[Obliteration]], who smiles at him.

Obliteration teleports over to David. He knows who he is despite the disguise. His goal is to destroy all human (and Epic) life, so he lets David go since their goals align for now. The chef comes back and demands the cupcakes, and Megan manages to put frosting on them permanently. Such use of her power brings the headache back right away. They quickly change into their formal wear and enter the party as guests. They stroll across the room and enter a service hallway lined with restrooms. David picks the lock on a nondescript door. Megan places a box on the cords leading from the power source. They go back out to the party and onto the rotating platform. David activates the box with his mobile, and the power goes out for a few seconds, allowing Mizzy and Abraham to bypass some security cameras. David hears Prof's voice and decides to get closer.