(Adapted from a published adventure by Professor Christopher McGlothlin)
Back at the apartment, Banshee was relaxing in her Young Mary image and insubstantial form (so that she could enjoy a pipe without upsetting the management); glancing over the notes they have all shared on the topic of apocalypse.
“Seven plagues of Revelation or ten from the Old Testament. To my mind the one’s we’ve seen so far fit closer to the older version – though I guess you could argue there’s some sort of metaphorical application of some of John’s jazz also going on; and we have eight folk missing from the hospital, three we know have already been used as tools. So where’s that leave us?”
She paused. “I’m wondering if this Zahava Noether is the joker in the pack. It’s maybe her voice that is being heard by the other, directing them to take revenge? If she were somehow – along with the Eyeless Man – the manipulator rather than being manipulated, that would leave us with seven being used as tools – which would line up with the Revelations count. We can just keep reacting to events, of course, fire-fighting plagues, but it would be nice if we could find a way to short cut that and go straight to the root of it all. So maybe we should look more closely at this old lady and her life before the hospital?”
The next morning found the team heading over to Trinity Hospital. Jenni had agreed not to arrest the professor or Mustafa immediately as it appeared that they had been compelled by another but had hedged her options and set a Police guard on both of them; just in case. Since the heroes were responsible for their return to the hospital in the first place, the grateful authorities don’t object to their questioning of the two returned patients.
They decided to talk with Professor Al-Hassan first but he hadn’t very much to add to what he’d told them before; a blonde haired man wearing sunglasses indoors offered him ‘a bargain of a lifetime’ and ‘chance to get revenge’ which he stupidly took.
The next thing he remembers was being on a rooftop alone with some woman in black. She scarily ordered him to do their assigned task, then to leave the city and wait for more orders.
He claimed that he didn’t know about any of the other people who disappeared from Trinity Hospital, but now suspected the man must have got to them, too.
While he was doing his best to remember, Akira elected to try his post-cognition and gently touched him. His mind was filled with a vision of a woman in something resembling a black swimsuit with thigh-high boots, raven haired, only for that image to be replaced with a scarier version apparently of the same woman, surrounded by flying skulls, with wings and holding a sword; the sword of Damocles maybe? Then the vision vanished.
The professor pleaded with them to help him to prove his innocence and Sam suddenly had an idea and asked him if they could access his organisations financial records. When he agreed Sam asked him for his computer’s IP addresses and passwords and they’d get back to him.
As soon as he was outside the room, Sam immediately sent all the details off to Pseudo-Annie and asked her to start running an investigative sub-routine to track down who really was behind the Professor’s group of supposed peace activists.
They next wandered down the corridor to talk with Mustafa but the language barrier appeared too great until Akira again used his post-cognition powers to see that he’d had a similar experience to the professor. He remembered a tall, shorthaired blonde man with a membrane over his eyes, a caul Mary would call it later. A man who smiled a cold, heartless smile asked him what bargain he wanted out of life and coldly and laughingly called him ‘his frog-prince’ before transforming him. He also remembered the woman with dead eyes on the roof but again knew nothing about the other missing people.
Time to check the hospital CCTV for signs of this ‘bargainer’… They approached the nurse’s station only to discover that they only recorded the main entrances here and the camera resolution was extremely poor. He could have been anyone of a dozen shorthaired blonde men who entered or left the hospital during the time they were investigating.
As they were about to leave, a nurse approached them and asked if they are also going to check on the two outpatients who ‘walked out’ before their appointments at the same time as the eight vanished from their beds?
It’s possible they just got fed up waiting, but in light of the vanishing patients..? The two apparently hadn’t returned home either and she just thought someone ought to check..?
She went back behind the desk and quickly printed off the details of the two missing outpatients…
Yeremia Masada, 32, custodian at the Gaza Central Mosque; admitted with broken ribs and a Shoshana Weingartner, 19, artist; who had complained of dizziness.
As they left the hospital, Mary muttered “and then there were ten…” She paused as Sam called Adam to bring the Raft, “Suddenly the biblical plagues of the Old Testament seem more plausible now…”
As they left the area, they heard the news that the intake pipes to the primary reclamation plant were still badly contaminated with blood, as had a nearby water-bottling factory, which had apparently been caught in the escaped female’s attack. O Negative blood apparently, not sure if that meant anything or not. They were having to hand scrub the pipes and dispose of the blood. In the meantime, there was a water shortage, as water supplies had been turned off throughout the city.
For now, they were on-route to Galilee and a cosy chat with the landlord, Hallel Smilac.
It took a little while to make arrangements to be able to speak with him in the cells. At first he kept to his story that he had acquired the building legitimately. However with a little draconic persuasion he quickly changed his story.
Hallel remained a miserable old bastard who had zero interest in helping anyone but himself and he doesn’t actually know why the frogs and the ‘toady-critter’, Tsfardeia had been after him. The team found themselves experiencing a seeming eternity of cigarette smoke, poor personal hygiene, and crude insults from him.
He had no idea of any bargains other than that which he’d made for himself by taking over the building from the old dame. There was no-one living there currently and he thought it was just bad luck he’d been targeted.
Mary asked him if the name Zahava Noether meant anything to him. Hallel paused for a second, rubbed his bald, age-spotted head and then emitted a nasty phlegm-laden laugh and spat the phlegm at their feet.
He remembered a Zahava Noether but just as “some drunk old broad who originally lived there” and ended up in hospital. At his first opportunity, he changed the locks and put her out on the street, keeping all her possessions. Not sure what happened to her when she got out and found the locks changed and the property transferred into his name and he didn’t care.
The fact Hallel found all of this utterly hilarious was enough to make the team want to get away from him as quickly as possible.
Sam asked if there was anything else unusual about the property. Hallel said “Only the plaque outside. Some old ladies apparently put it there a few decades ago. When I took over the property, I threated to remove it but a group of them, all from Jerusalem if memory serves, offered to pay me to keep it there. I charged ‘em plenty for the privilege, too. Planned to take it down as soon as I could regardless.” And at that he started to laugh again.
They couldn’t help but feel a little bit of pleasure as the cell door clanged shut on the miserable old man.
Flying back to Noether’s apartment, they found a small, rusty plaque on the outside of the building, written in both Hebrew and English commemorating a ‘homeland’ protector against saboteurs and terrorists during the six day war – a heroine called Sabra.
Inside the apartment they found a box of old photographs belonging to the original owner by the door and a quick search revealed the photo of a woman dressed in black apparently taken back in the 50’s or 60’s… A very familiar image of an adventurous woman armed with a revolver; a vigilante.
Akira again tried to use his powers on the photo but only read an immense feeling of a lack of appreciation and intense anger.
Sam called Jenni and asked if she knew of anyone calling themselves Sabra, sometime in the past? She was unable to help but did suggest that she might have been known to the Israeli Liberty League, which was active in the 60’s. There was an exhibit at the Israel Museum currently that might help.
Akira headed to the roof and confirmed this was the probably the location that both the Professor and Mustafa ‘remembered’ admittedly vaguely; the rooftop where they had met the woman in black. Again, Akira tried to take a reading and again all he felt was an overwhelming sense of anger and pain.
Nothing more they could get from here, they started to leave when a report came in over ECHO of another attack on Jerusalem; this time it had started at the Wailing Wall. Sabra were busy trying to deal with another attack by Dam this time on the city’s water infrastructure and couldn’t attend immediately.
No time. Akira teleported the team straight to the Raft and Adam immediately took off at just below supersonic speeds heading for Jerusalem.
When they arrived it was clear that this was some form of co-ordinated attack. There were swarms of flies filling the air and blocking the intakes of vehicles as well as suffocating the fleeing civilians. In the centre of a swarm and flying above the buildings was a figure that looked like a man-sized fly whilst on the ground two figures walked through the streets towards what appeared to be the Museum. At first the two on the ground seemed almost normal though everyone who got near them collapsed in agony. Looking closer revealed that the man was covered in sores and boils and his skin seemed shredded by disease. Whoever he approached suddenly collapsed covered in boils themselves. The woman was extremely anorexic but obviously had undergone breast enhancement surgery previously so that part of her anatomy hadn’t been affected other than the covering skin was stretched extremely taut. An evil grin stretched across her emaciated face as she stretched out her hands and the nearby people turned skeletal and gaunt, collapsing through instantaneous malnutrition.
Akira immediately cast a force cage around both of them but the distance between them and the need to allow their collapsed victims to be cleared meant it was weaker than he would have liked and he needed to allow it to move, albeit slowly, with the two of them so that the victims trapped inside could drop behind and be rescued.
The fly creature seeing the attack, immediately responded, spraying out a toxic vomit that missed the windscreen and open door, thanks to Adam’s piloting skills but did hit the front of the Raft causing it to hiss and burn a hole through the hull.
At that the flies started to swarm them. Mary turned into Banshee and unleashed a terrorising shriek against the fly creature and the swarm which merely served to give them some room to manoeuvre. As the flies swarmed in the open door Sam muttered that they really needed a big supply of fly paper. Akira made a comment that thankfully other than themselves there was nothing valuable inside. Sam turned and said “Nothing valuable? What about Adam?” and immediately ordered Adam to fly away as fast as possible, they would handle it from here. Maybe head back to the apartment and start the repairs? Adam didn’t need telling twice. As Sam jumped for the door and flew out. The other two flew into the air.
Sam headed straight at the human fly intending to crash him into the caged two but at the last second the transformed creature managed to twist himself in such a way that he only took a glancing blow however the hit left him too dazed to spit. Sam had already built up the speed and was unable to turn away as he flew towards the emaciated female and found himself feeling the edge of her power. His skin felt tight, his need for food almost overwhelmed him and an immense feeling of despair swept over him. He flew up and away from the hunger field with a muttered “Always wanted to go on a diet.” The female, nicknamed ‘Atkins’ by the team, smiled. The walking wound that was the man; Shkhin the woman called him, gestured towards him through the force cage but thankfully Sam remained unaffected by whatever diseases he inflicted.
As their fly-shaped ‘wingman’ recovered from Sam’s flyby, Akira unleashed a mystical blast which hit him square on the chest and caused him to crash towards the ground, hitting the pavement with great force. By now, despite the slowing down of the two below by the cage, the museum and the many café’s and bistros that surrounded it were clearly in sight.
Banshee elected to try and see if he could appeal to the severely anorexic female by changing into Mary and see if she could somehow appeal to her to stop… Young, anorexic.. Which patient best fit? “Emunah? You don’t have to..” That was as far as she got before the girl focused on her and smiled her sickly smile; “Yes, come closer and Dever will make you pretty, pretty. You can be as pretty as me, come closer…”
Mary had readied the spell she’d used before on Mustafa and the professor and immediately unleashed it before ‘Dever’ could unleash her seven second diet on her. The mystical wave washed over her and… nothing, it had no effect on her. If desire was a major element in the success of the spell, maybe she didn’t want to change back?
Dever waved her hands towards Mary who dived behind a nearby parked vehicle causing the hunger energy to miss her completely. As Mary she was vulnerable. What she didn’t realise was that ‘Boils’; Shkhin, could see at least part of her and was close enough to unleash his attack and she felt the pain as boils started to break out. Immediately starting a self-healing ritual running she was grateful the vehicle had shielded her from the worst of his attack.
In the meantime Sam had recovered sufficiently to get back into the fight, ‘Fly-by’ had managed to get back up again but seemed distracted by the smells and objects around him; particularly from the rotting food. His focus was no longer on just attacking. Sam obliged his desires and slammed him into the dumpster.
He tried not to listen to the noises the creature was making surrounded by rotting and putrid food.
Akira knew the cage wasn’t strong enough to stop them so made a decision. He dropped the cage and immediately unleashed a powerful mystical blast at ‘hunger games’ knocking her unconscious.
He looked at the direction she had been heading and saw a crowd of security men trying to protect a middle aged man and another with similar features who was in his 90’s. He recognised the middle aged man’s face from various election posters around the city; Mayor Nir Kollek and the man with him must be his father?
They appeared to be having lunch at Tim’s Bistro, before the Mayor was scheduled to open the new featured Supers of the Six Day War exhibit at the Israel Museum.
Despite the best efforts of the Mayor’s security retinue to get them to safety, the situation on the streets outside had forced them to remain holed up inside the restaurant. Had they been a target? The girl, Dever definitely seemed intent on heading in that direction.
On the other hand ‘Boils’ was determined to head for the Museum and as soon as the cage crashed down he ran straight at the entrance steps and began to take down the fleeing visitors and security with his plague of diseases and boils. Changing back into Banshee, she rushed him and unleashed a corrupting touch on him.
For a second his diseased skin seemed to go into hyperdrive, boils erupting and skin ripping and shredding even more and then he collapsed in a heap on the Museum steps.
Whilst the authorities rushed in a severely malnourished Sam made straight for the Bistro and immediately ordered as much food as they could supply whilst the Mayor and his father looked on in amusement.
The Mayor immediately asked his security staff to invite the other team members to join him, his father and the ravenous Sam to thank them for their efforts.
With the battle done, the Kolleks were high on the short list of people the team wanted to talk to— and they agreed to the Mayor’s invite. Sitting round the table as security personnel rounded up the three plague carriers and ushered them off to secure ‘accommodation’, Mary asked the Mayor if there was any chance he could have been one of the targets? Had they ever heard of someone calling themselves Sabra?
After the confusion about the team name and the individual was cleared up, Mayor Nir Kollek stated he doesn’t have long to talk (“there’s a city in crisis, don’t you know?”), In any case, he’s never heard of any person calling themselves Sabra or of a woman called “Zahava Noether” and he assumed in this case that he wasn’t the specific target, just “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Sam even showed him a ‘brass-rubbing’ of the plaque he’d made.
As he left though his father, elected to stay behind and ordered more drinks for himself and the others. Sending his bodyguard to stand at the other end of the room, Teddy Kollek said “Oh yes, I remember a Zahava Noether. I’ve got a story for you youngsters.”
After everyone had a chance to get comfortable and take a sip of their drinks he continued, “I was once the Mayor of Jerusalem myself back in the day and worked closely with several local and international superhero teams. And yes, I did know a Zahava Noether. Once. A long time ago.”
Kollek recalled the day he first met the self-proclaimed “Sabra” back in 1967 just after the Six Day War. Doctor Alexander Challenger, yes the Challenger-Wildeman’s grandfather, was due to meet with the Israeli Liberty League and the Mayor of Jerusalem as he was then to brief the team on the possibility of another potential war as the Soviets looked to be entering into discussions with Egypt about providing them with enhanced humans. Anyway, when Dr. Challenger arrived, Sabra (who’d apparently been waiting outside) got her proverbial foot in the door and invited herself to follow him in.
She wanted to know all about her application to join the League and seemed oblivious to all gentle hints that right then was not the best time to talk about it. There was no doubt she was sincere—and even less doubt about her eagerness—but she had no sense of restraint or tact.
When she was asked to leave, politely but firmly, she seemed taken aback. Dr. Challenger dismissed her (and was downright rude about it too). It was obvious even through her mask that she was devastated, almost as if her whole world had just been shattered. Johnny Rocket (Jenni’s grandfather) called her “crazy,” and that made her leave in tears.
“The way she reacted stuck with me,” Kollek said. He went on to tell of the next and last time he saw her. It was later the following year, during the Liberty League’s interrogation by the UN about the perceived use of meta-humans in the Six Day war. He recounted the details that she testified against the League at the hearings, which ultimately led to the team’s disbanding. It was a decision that cost her what little she had left to lose.
Sabra was supposed to be a star witness for the UN investigation team bringing charges against Israel and the Liberty League of using meta-human participants in the war. However, during her five minutes on the stand, it became painfully obvious that her promised insight into the secret inner workings of the Liberty League was akin to that of someone who may have acquired their autographs at one time. She had no evidence or personal knowledge to back up any of her wild accusations. She left the stand humiliated and disgraced but with the level of recognition she’d always craved.
Trouble was people throughout the country now loathed her.
From that point on, she was an outcast even in her old neighbourhood in Jerusalem which was home to many a murderer and thief, but there was apparently no room for someone who’d perjured against the “heroes of the Six Day War.” She wasn’t even Sabra anymore thanks to her “cooperation”, which required her to go public with her real identity. For her own safety, she left the city behind, bound for Galilee and obscurity. Teddy concluded by saying, “Funny thing was, her testimony had nothing at all to do with the Liberty League calling it quits. People still blamed her, though.” After that, he never saw or heard of her again.
Akira was convinced the ex-Mayor was hiding something, that Sabra’s suspicions were correct and kept on trying to persuade Sam to use his draconic persuasion on the old man to get to the ‘truth’.
Eventually Sam capitulated and used his voice to ask him if that was the only reason Zahava’s testimony collapsed? Had it happened the way he related; there was no political spin in his account?
Teddy laughed and said there had been no hidden agenda and of course they could always talk to Dr. Challenger about it, or at least the uploaded version of his memories and personality that still ‘haunted’ the family. The AI with Dr Challenger’s mental imprint might remember…
As he got ready to leave, Kollek said “I seriously doubt that Zahava is still mad at me for something that happened so many years ago, at least enough to try and kill either me or my firstborn, or both.”
Once the drinks and the conversation were all done, Kollek gave his contact information to them in case he could be of further help and wished them luck.
Time now to try and see if the Museum was the target. Heading towards the hallowed halls and its Six Day war exhibit, they were meet at the entrance by the Museum’s director Dr Eran Neuman.
The director was thankfully unaffected by the attack though some of the staff and several visitors weren’t so lucky and he happily spared some time to chat. He admitted he missed the actual attack as he was driving back from the airport with a visiting professor, here to do a retrospective seminar on the defence of Jerusalem during the Six Day war.
As they walked through the Museum they asked the director what he knew of the hero Sabra.
To their surprise, the historical significance of the name (other than as the name for a prickly cactus, a native born Israeli or the newly formed meta-human team) meant nothing to him and as they questioned him further an exasperated Dr. Neuman admitted they probably know far more than he did. He was quite willing to let them look through the archives but there was no sign of her anywhere in the Museum as far as he knew.
He left them at the museum’s current featured exhibit “A Tribute to Heroes: The Story of Jerusalem during the Six Day War.” Sabra was entirely absent from it and seemed to be the only hero from the entire era with that dubious distinction.
Looking through the archives, Akira finally found a single newspaper cutting about the Liberty League’s UN investigation that mentioned Sabra; the story also displayed the photo they had found in the apartment.
What they also found was a number of comics about a heroine of the late 60’s… Red Srulik; a heroine that closely resembled Sabra except for the colour of her outfit. The comic was printed fairly recently by a Castle Comics.
The team quickly checked the internet and discovered that although Castle Comics was closed due to the ongoing troubles, there was a comic store that was linked to the ‘Red Srulik’ title; Millennium Comics store situated nearby.
Nothing ventured… The team headed for the comic store which remained open despite the troubles and they were happy to give them an address in the French Quarter for the artist Darren Calvert. It was obviously a popular title locally given the amount of merchandise available for the character in the store. They noticed quite a few Red Srulik items on sale: t-shirts, action figures, clicking-base game pieces, trade paperback collections, etc.
Arriving at Calvert’s apartment he was happy to see them and invited them in. He had no plans to flee the current crisis “Hey, I’ve got a deadline!” and was happy to chat. He had quite a bit of Red Srulik merchandise on display (“for reference”). Unfortunately he didn’t know anything about anyone called Zahava Noether but the name Sabra brought a smile to his face.
Calvert admitted the inspiration for the ‘Red Srulik’ came while looking for art references in old newspapers and finding a picture of someone called “Sabra.” He thought she had a “classic, Bettie Page look” and “a great costume,” so he based the Red Srulik’s appearance on her. Since then, the comic had sold fairly well and Red Srulik merchandise had done even better.
As well as the merchandise and framed comics that surrounded the studio, he also had a framed photocopy of the original 1960’s newspaper article that inspired the character. The picture wowed him so much that he admitted he’d never actually read the attached story all that closely, but he was happy to let the player characters do so.
Before they left, Darren quizzed them on their powers and asks hesitantly whether they’d mind if he used them as characters in a new comic series and quickly took some photos and sketches of the characters.
As they left they started to see the impact of the attacks on the city; Dam’s attack on the water pipes the day before had resulted in a city-wide water ban whilst the authorities tried to sort the problem.
Psychologically, the effects of the drought were just beginning to be felt. The city had just endured its first coffee-free day. Its people were beginning to stink with water for bathing being prohibited for the moment. It seemed that people weren’t dealing with the loss of these little touches of civilization well. While most people wound up bitchy rather than crazy, there was nonetheless a change.
The price gouging had started in earnest throughout the city as the cost of water shot up to 25 – 50 shekels a bottle. Long lines and public brawls whilst waiting in line to buy were everywhere to be seen.
As they checked the local news footage, images of the city’s overflowing hospitals were headline news. In particular scenes of Dever’s skeletal victims and the miserable boil-covered wretches created by Shkhin arriving at the city’s hospitals were the main story.
The city had even been forced to bed-down overflow patients in schools. To add to the terror, patients afflicted with a rapid-onset form of bubonic plague had begun to show up in the city’s emergency rooms with the common vector believed to be the biting fleas unleashed the day before.
There was also news coverage of the sudden bubonic plague outbreak’s most famous victims; the disease had overcome both Max and Jack Wolfe. Tessa was apparently negotiating to bring in supplies of vaccine.
Even the situation with frogs overrunning the Tiberius District of Galilee, once almost comical, had turned nasty. The corpses of the poor trampled and dehydrated creatures were now a bloody green mess throughout the area, coupled with the stench of rotting death.
A mass exodus from the city had begun to clog the roads, airports, and train stations. Many businesses were forced to close or severely limit operating hours when their stricken and/or fleeing employees don’t show up for work. The jammed roads and surly people severely hampered the recovery efforts.
It was time to meet up with Sabra and especially Dr Tzaddik to see if they could come up with solution, possibly a ritual to get rid of the plague problems. However it soon became apparent that even their combined mystical knowledge wasn’t sufficient for the task.
Seemed Dam had the ability to turn herself into blood and had escaped but not before contaminating several locations along the intake pipes that supplied water to the city.
It did give them the opportunity to ask Tzaddik what he knew about their so-called Bargainer. Seemed the mystical community knew him, though he appeared only very rarely. A Caulbearer was supposedly born with the gift of second sight. The man they knew as the Bargainer was also known as Infamy and may be the individual called Wrath Van Deheu, a Dutch born mystic who offered ‘bargains’ of great power if they agreed to his terms. Sometimes those terms were deals with ‘the devil’, sometimes jokes at his victims expense, and sometimes the ‘bargains’ were intended to fulfil someone else’s greater bargain. As he left, Tzaddik offered to put them in contact with someone who might know more about Van Deheu… something about watchers. Before they could ask more he was gone.
What now? The water pipes were contaminated in too many places for them to do much about it but Akira hit on the idea that if they could at least clear the pipes at the water bottling factory that might reduce the water shortage a bit and so they headed off to the factory.
Once there Akira used his TK to pressure ‘wash’ the pipes and force all of the blood out and into some nearby scrubland. Sam then used his fiery breath to sterilise the pipes clean of all contaminants and once cooled the bottling factory was able once more to access its underground water tanks that had been thankfully unaffected by the plague-bearer the day before and the factory started pumping it into bottles for distribution to the thirsty residents.
Six plagues so far, did that mean there were four more to face? They headed back to the apartment for the night and Adam who had been busy repairing the damage to the Raft.
Superhero Adventures, UK Style 