Rpol Hideouts & Hoodlums Campaign - pt. 8

Alpha-Woman saw the other man coming and acted quickly. Ignoring her combatant now that Silver Scorpion had joined the fight, she intercepted the second mobster at the top of the stairs. She attacked the unarmed man by swinging her captured rifle over her head and bringing it down on his head just as he tried to dodge. He tumbled down the stairs, landing unconscious at the bottom, though whether he was out cold from the head blow or the fall down the stairs was hard to say.

Behind her, Silver Scorpion found her unarmed opponent lunging for her, but she neatly brought her knee up into his groin and dropped him cold.

Hearing the gunshot from inside the house, the Daoist sprung into action. He shifted himself into the mountain lion guise that he had been contemplating earlier and pounced into the house, ready to fight.

Dice crouched at the sound of the gunshot, his hand going inside his jacket on reflex, then recalling that the Feds nixed the idea of him packing heat. His hand instead slipped into his brass knuckles before he entered the building. "What's all the hubbub, bub?" he asked as he looked for a light switch. Finding one, he flicked it off and plunged the front of the motel into darkness.

In the darkness, the Daoist in mountain lion form let out a loud snarl that startled two more intruders who had been in another room of the ground floor when the gun fired. They came in now, one of them shooting a hunting rifle at a shape in the dark that looked vaguely mountain lion-ish, but missing in the absence of light. Dice also took some wild swings in the dark and got lucky, cold-cocking the other intruder and laying him out flat.

The Mountain Man rushed around the house to the back entrance from the porch. As he ran he focused the power from his gorget and felt the power of the mountains suffusing his muscles and toughening his skin. He was ready to punch the first cultist who came out the back door or to rush in towards the fight.

A fifth intruder strayed too close to the backdoor and met the Mountain Man. Bolting outside, the man could not slam on the brakes before barreling into the Mountain Man. Unfortunately for him, he also barreled into the Mountain Man’s fist and took a nasty punch. The Mountain Man put the power of a landslide into his next punch. He had not wanted this fight, but he would end it.

Alpha-Woman ran back down stairs, scooped up the man she had knocked down them, and brought him over to where she had left Silver Scorpion fighting so they could tie up their prisoners together.

Dice hunched his shoulders and lowered his head in a fighter's stance, ready to deliver a brass-handed uppercut to anybody in his area. He squinted in the poor light to see if any of his cronies needed some help.

The Daoist, meanwhile, followed the muzzle flare to pounce on the man who had fired at him. The hapless man, caught between a pugilist and a puma, raced around the room to escape them both so fast that he lapped Dice and came straight at him. Dice Morgan got in another lucky sucker punch in the dark, landing it on the gunman’s jaw. The gunman reeled back into the waiting form of a mountain lion, who mauled the gunman unconscious.

Also meanwhile…the first gunshot had not waked the sound-sleeping Captain Liberty, but the second shot did. He joined the action, emerging in the dining room where he found a sixth intruder hiding. "Is this a private party or can anyone join?" Captain Liberty quipped. "For Liberty!" he roared, without waiting for a reply, as he attacked the remaining intruder with glowing knuckled fists, channeling the very might and right of liberty and freedom itself into the punch.

Outside, the power of a landslide proved to require too much aiming by moonlight, causing his punches to land well off their mark and almost crashing his fists through the wall of the motel instead. Still, the man was suitably impressed by the show of strength. He dropped his gun and threw up his hands, shouting “Not in the face! Not in the face!” like a sissy.

Sewer Rat was also still lurking outside, having not become involved in the struggle yet.

Back inside, Captain Liberty’s foe also sensed the battle had swung against him and his comrades, so he turned and ran from Capt. Liberty’s liberty-powered fists. His foe raced out of the dining room, through the kitchen, to the front room, where he escaped out the front door right behind Dice Morgan’s back. In the dark of the front room, Capt. Liberty saw Dice Morgan by the front door and moved up to him to attack.

Of the two remaining foes in the motel, only one kept his nerve and turned up to join the battle. He showed up in the dark living room, shooting wild with a revolver. He missed everyone, though the bullets came closest to hitting Captain Liberty.

"Stand back, villain, or face the mighty fist of Captain Liberty!" Capt. Liberty shouted at Dice Morgan. But after that they quickly identified each other and chose not to subdue each other.

Alpha-Woman had hers and Silver Scorpion’s prisoner tied up by now, waiting to interrogate them as soon as the fighting around them was over.

The Daoist was the first one to spot the remaining gunman in the living room. Still in mountain lion form, he lunged through the doorway and knocked over a chair on his collision course with the gunman. For a moment, the gunman had The Daoist in his sights and maybe could have taken him down, but lost his nerve at the last moment before he could pull the trigger. Turning to flee, he was quickly overtaken by The Daoist, who pounced on him and raked his back.

Top 10 Comic Book Purchases of 2011

My dad was generous with the Christmas money this year and Comic Quest in Evansville had an amazing 18 boxes of $1 comics to go through, so I picked out some great comic books to give myself for Christmas. Below is just the top ten.

Fantastic Four: The End #1 (2007). Alan Davis extrapolates a lot more than I have, but this real-time version of Marvel continuity deals with some of the same issues – and resolves some things the same – as I do in my fanfiction.
Avengers vs. Atlas #3 (2010). The classic 1963-64 Avengers vs. Agents of Atlas – two charming teams written with smarts and wit and drawn excellently.
Justice Society of America #19 (2008). Earth-2 cameo, Kingdom Come crossover, and an Alex Ross cover!
Fantastic Four #514 (2004). Not the best work of Mark Waid and Karl Kesel, but – hey – it’s Mark Waid and Karl Kesel. I can even overlook the ridiculously big noses all the characters are drawn with.
X-Men: the Hidden Years #19 (2001). Previously unknown WWI mutants? X-Men vs. Mole Man? Why did this get canceled and all the sucky X-titles got to keep going?
Spider-Man: Lifeline #3 (2001). It’s an interesting sequel to the classic Infinity Formula story, but really, I just love it for the Steve Rude art. Yum!
Justice Society of America #2 (2007). Awful dark, with the death of Mr. America, but I love all the character interaction and the set-up to a new Steel.
Lost Stories #1 (1997). One of those black-and-white indies that is so hard to find, yet so rewarding when you find it. The love child of Thieves & Kings and The Travelers would be Lost Stories.
JLA Classified #52 (2008). I read the ending to this storyline first and was let down, but this issue sets up what Roger Stern writes best, scenarios where you can’t see coming how the good guys can beat the bad guy.
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #3 (2009). A big letdown from how much I loved #1, but still a lot of fun character interaction between a talking cat, a dog, and a frog.

Rpol Hideouts & Hoodlums Campaign - pt. 7

Outside, Dice said in a loud voice (to make sure that anybody who was asleep would be up), "Hiya, gents. I guess ‘dis is the night ta’ be out admirin' the moon. What's with the rods?"

The Mountain Man didn't like the looks of this. He walked over to his truck, keeping the vehicle between him and where the men were coming from, and pulled his hunting rifle out from behind the seats. He kept the rifle low and out of sight and ducked behind the cab so he would be somewhat difficult to see.

Back inside, Silver Scorpion woke up at Alpha-Woman’s prodding. "Hmmm?....Trouble?!" Silver Scorpion exclaimed as she woke and leapt from the bed. "Just give me a sec to get back into this jumpsuit!" She slipped into her outfit at a terrific speed before moving to the window for a peek. She then took her cue from Alpha-Woman and rushed out to the interior hallway that connected their rooms to go rouse the others.

Having been alerted by Dice's loud greeting, the Daoist needed neither Silver Scorpion nor Alpha-Woman pounding on his door to wake him. He rolled out of bed and peered through his window at the scene outside. Americans were a strange people, but even for them such a late night visit by armed men could not be a good sign. He stole out the back of the inn and attempted to circle around behind the gunmen.

Back outside, Dice Morgan confronted the mob of eight alone.

"He's okay," one of the hunter-looking guys said, pointing at Dice. "We'll come back for you and your friends in the morning still. It's the two women and the guy that came with them we're supposed to take now."

"Don't forget the Chinaman," said another.

"Shut up, Earl," a third man said to the second man.

"No, you shut up," Earl said. "You think I'm going to want some slanty-eyed Asian sitting next to me when I'm saying my prayers to the rooster god? Do any of you? I say we take him along too."

The Mountain Man had hard cover and had not been spotted yet. Sewer Rat had slunk off somewhere and was nowhere to be seen.

Back inside, Alpha-Woman and Silver Scorpion managed to rouse only Gandor the Great. "A mob? At this hour?" Gandor asked. "How uncivilized. Sigh...give me a minute to dress."

At first, Alpha-Woman and Silver Scorpion were unaware that The Daoist was already awake and kept trying to rouse him. After finally realizing that the Daoist was not in his room, Silver Scorpion checked out the window again from the dark bedroom to see what is going on. Both women were ready to spring into action if it looked like Dice could not handle these guys.

The Daoist, as he circled wide around the stand-off, heard himself being discussed. He was angered by the stranger's slur, but continued to flank the men in silence for now. If given the chance, however, he intended to belt the man in one of his big round eyes.

The Mountain Man leaned out from where he had been listening and spoke up. "The Chinaman snuck off and we ain't sure where he went. He does that sometimes, but I'll vouch for him. The rest of these newcomers are folks we worked with down south. We thought they might be coming but weren't sure."

Dice Morgan and The Mountain Man had made the best case they could to avoid a violent confrontation, but the small mob simply called back that "Orders are orders!" and advanced on the modest motel. Dice and the Mountain Man balk at the four-to-one odds in case no one else joined in to support them and simply chose to follow instead, interfering with and stalling the mob as best they could without stopping them.

The mob was met at the front door by Jason Tenner, the burly motel's keeper. "Glad you boys got here so soon," Jason said to them.

"Orders from the temple are to take the three new people with us," Jason was told.

Jason responded with a nod, saying, "They're in rooms three and four."

Moving swiftly to rooms three and four on the upper floor, but the only person the mob encountered was Gandor the Great, sitting fully dressed in his room, who asked coolly, "Am I missing a welcoming party?"

Meanwhile, Alpha-Woman and Silver Scorpion dropped out of the second floor window and snuck around through the front door to deliver the first blow from behind, but the outdoorsman at the rear heard the floorboards creak at her approach and turned around in time to block a punch that would have struck the back of his head.

"Crazy dame!" he yelled as he struggled to hit her with the butt of his rifle. Alpha-Woman was much stronger than he suspected and she shrugged the attack off. While they grappled over the rifle, though, the rifle went off, making a thunderous noise that everyone inside and out heard and put a nice hole in the ceiling. Some plaster and dust rained down on the man's hunting cap.

Silver Scorpion saw the melee starting and saw that the rest of the intruders were still upstairs. Seeing only a moment’s opportunity to finish off this one before the others arrived to reinforce him, she lunged across the room and crashed the pommel of one of her silver knives right into the side of the man’s head, seriously injuring him. In horrible pain and thrown off-balance, the man let go of his rifle and Alpha-Woman took possession of it.

In response, a second man, unarmed, appeared at the top of the stairs.

Rpol Hideouts & Hoodlums Campaign - pt. 6

Inside, the motel was staffed by a big man with flame-red hair and a leathery face, and his homely, mousy wife with a really big head of blonde hair on her. Dice, The Daoist, and Gandor the Great did not faze them much, but the more unusual appearance of The Mountain Man and Sewer Rat made the wife shrink back behind her husband.

"New recruits, Jason," Milo said, gesturing to them all.

"Then rooms are on the house," Jason -- obviously the red-haired man – responded.

Sewer Rat had followed them back, a bit irked at the walking he had to do. Travel was hard when keeping stealthy. He lurked outside the building, waiting for the best opportunity to contact his teammates. When the coast was clear, he snuck inside.

The Mountain Man planned to do a little investigating to make sure the group wasn't being set up or being watched before going to bed. He was glad to see Sewer Rat as he had done his reconnaissance for him. After asking his questions, the Mountain Man learned that the proprietor of the motel was watching their rooms from his office window.

"Now I wish I'd brought playing cards," Gandor the Great half-joked. "How long should we follow this 'recruits' ruse--"

"I think once we're in the front entryway we could commence with the …prearranged methods," The Mountain Man said in his gravelly voice, to cut Gandor off. He was nervous about being overheard and wished to keep conversation to innuendo. Or was that excitement instead of nervousness? His expression and body language did not show it, but he was really enjoying getting into the role of being a hero like in the dime store pulp novels.

Dice Morgan got bored quickly sitting around in a cramped room with no dames. He took out a deck of cards and pulled off a few flashy shuffling tricks. "Awright, gents. The game is Texas hold 'em. Anybody ready ta’ lose some money?"

"I daresay I have some spare change on me," Gandor said. "This 'Texas Hold Em' is some variant of poker, yes?"

The Mountain Man decided to play and use it as an opportunity to gauge his companions.

Dice Morgan found that The Mountain Man and Gandor the Great were both reasonably proficient at poker, but he was able to use their unfamiliarity with these obscure variant rules to his advantage.

Sewer Rat was uncomfortable in the closed quarters with other people and grew quiet. The Daoist, too, stood stoically silent by the window and watched the dark, quiet street outside.


Meanwhile...

Silver Scorpion's motorcycle best handled the dirt road leading out to Highland Township from Lake Superior's shoreline. Alpha-Woman's unadorned Chevy followed, with Captain Liberty's customized and colorful car behind hers. It was midnight when they reached what appeared to be a ghost town, save for a few lights on in the Highland Inn.


The Daoist spotted what appeared to be a small parade of vehicles pulling up to the motel. He could not see the drivers of the two cars yet, but the motorcycle driver appeared to be a woman in tight silver coveralls.


Silver Scorpion drove her bike up to the motel parking lot and parked it, then got off and waited for Alpha-Woman and Capt. Liberty to park and get out. "We may as well stay here, this place looks like a ghost town and we won't be able to find anything out until morning anyway," she said.
"Yeah, looks like we are staying here,” Alpha-Woman said. “I am going to go get a room. Should I pick out one with two beds, or are you bunking alone?"


Inside, Dice collected his winnings with a smug look. "Pleasure doin' business wit' ya, gentlemen." He glanced for a second at what could be holding the Daoist's interests out the window, then turned back to the dough in his hands. Then he did a double-take and stared out the window with renewed interest. "Holey smoke! Dames!" Completely forgetting the whole situation the group was in, he spiffed up his collar and headed for the door.

The Daoist turned away from the window and related what he saw to the others, unsure of exactly what was going on. "Either the Rooster's minions are on to us, or the cavar-ry has just arrived," he said.

The Mountain Man, who had only bet on poker what he could afford to lose, settled back into his chair and it creaked ominously. His craggy features and mountainous physique settled and the other heroes could see how he had gotten his name. He waited to see what would come of these new arrivals.

Dice Morgan was outside and introducing himself to Alpha-Woman and Silver Scorpion so fast the others half-suspected he had super-speed. Dice was charming and flirtatious, though Silver Scorpion was all business and Alpha-Woman seemed more interested in getting a room and taking a shower. When Dice offered to help her with that, he showed his true colors and the women were easily able to brush off his advances.

Less easy to deal with was explaining their mission to each other. Silver Scorpion and Alpha-Woman tried to evade Dice's queries about what brought them to Highland and Dice, for his part, was equally evasive back. Silver Scorpion and Captain Liberty were obviously superhero-types by their colorful outfits, though Capt. Liberty hung back and said little.

Although Dice did not seem like vigilante material to the lady vigilantes, these new eccentric-looking characters might be the vigilantes they were looking for. Finally, some direct questions revealed to the two groups that they were here to meet and team-up with each other.

While this give and take was going on, The Daoist and Sewer Rat left to go to a separate room for the night.

With that out of the way, more rooms were procured from Jason, the motel proprietor, and everyone agreed to work together in the morning.


Around 1 am, the Mountain Man and Dice Morgan could not sleep so they step outside for a smoke. When they were out there, they noticed Sewer Rat, still in his wet suit and mask, compulsively going through a garbage can out in front of the motel. Alpha-Woman, too, had trouble sleeping and happened to look out the window and saw the gathering of her would-be allies.

Just then, the four Heroes who were up noticed a group of eight men approaching the motel. Five of the men were the same as the group that had been with Milo earlier and were still armed with their hunting rifles.

Alpha-Woman shook Silver Scorpion awake. Then she put an undershirt on over her flannel shirt. The letter A was printed on the undershirt -- her only costume. "Hurry and dress," she told Silver Scorpion. "There could be trouble outside." Then she ran next door and pounded on Captain Liberty's door, trying to wake him up.

Rpol Hideouts & Hoodlums campaign - pt. 5

The man approaching them from the hallway wore glasses, a red flannel shirt, and blue jeans with semi-casual shoes. He was a balding man in his late 40s with a big, round chin. He smiled when he first saw everyone, but quickly turned with a start at the sight of the masked Mountain Man. "Who--who are you?" he asked a moment later as he began to collect himself.

The man soon identified himself as Morton Helms ("You can call me Mort"), Township Clerk. "I'm afraid you boys caught us on a bad week, is all," he said in regards to how deserted the town seemed to be. "Fishing's been bad, but when it picks up people will start coming around again. Maybe you could try coming back in a week or two..."

The Mountain Man had waited to see if one of the others would speak up, but then took the lead. "Mort, we were interested in doing a little hunting once the season starts again. Are there any properties around here that we should definitely steer clear of? I don't want any crazy trapper or guy in the woods shooting our heads off for wandering onto his land, ya know?"

Mort's face sobered and he seemed to be trying to read everyone's intentions. Then his mask of politeness came back and he said as he beamed a big smile, "I don't think you'll find any good hunting in these parts either. But I would avoid going east out of town if I were you. There's some...well, grumpy old men living out that way who might not like you wandering through their property."

That seemed the best lead they had, so they left Town Hall. Sewer Rat opted to skulk behind them on foot, leaving Dice Morgan to drive his jalopy, with Gandor the Great riding shotgun. The Daoist rode in the passenger seat beside the Mountain man.

Dice Morgan scowled as they headed back out of town. "Dat old coot knew more'n he was tellin' us. Mebbe’ we shoulda’ leaned on him a lil' bit. Just so's we knew exactly what we're gettin' into." He cracked his large knuckles. "Ah well. Least we'll get the chance to crack some heads." He looked around at the company he was keeping and quickly added, "Y'know, fer’ Uncle Sam an' all."

After two miles of driving on a dirt road running between increasingly spread out farms and seeing no sign of a temple, everyone began to think they'd been had by the township clerk. Dice and Gandor, both particularly suspicious, stopped their car first. Everyone got out and conferred in the middle of nowhere and agreed that Mort knew more than he let on and that he needed a second talking to.

When their mini-caravan was almost back to the Town Hall, they found the road ahead blocked by an old, beat-up pickup truck parked sideways across the road. Behind it stood five gritty-looking farmhands in overalls and holding hunting rifles. They seemed to be expecting the heroes.

Dice Morgan and the Mountain Man stopped their vehicles and rolled down their windows. Then they could hear one of the armed men yell out, "You can't come this way! Might as well head back where you were going!"

Dice growled, getting a bit riled at the sight of the weapons. "You boys seem so all-fired insistent,” he shouted back, “maybe ya’ oughtta’ tell us just what you think it is we were headed towards!"

Sitting in his truck behind the Sewer Rat's vehicle, The Mountain Man reached into his heavy pack on the floor of his truck and got a grip on the haft of his hatchet, but kept it out of sight for the moment.

The Daoist opened the passenger door of the truck a tiny bit, preparing to charge at the gunmen if things came to blows.

Dice called from the window, "So, you boys got something you wanna tell us?" He quietly loosened his fighting knife in its sheath under his coat.

“We don't need strangers in Highland," the speaker continued angrily from about 20 ft. ahead of Dice’s parked car. "Unless you know somebody in town who can vouch for you, you're about to lose your radiator. And then we aim for the windshield! Hoist 'em up, boys!" the leader commanded as the other four lifted their rifles to their shoulders and took aim.

"I've never been so unpopular before putting on a show," Gandor the Great quipped to Dice. "I see you're fondling a weapon there. Shall we rush them and see what a little brawling can do?"

The Mountain Man got out of his truck with his pack over his shoulder, "We know Milo Haroldson. He said we should look him up if we came up here." The Mountain Man was using the name just so he could cover some of the distance to the men. If he could get into fighting range he planned to bring his hatchet to bear on the closest man.

The Daoist slid out of the truck and followed a few paces behind the Mountain Man. He hoped violence could be avoided, but should events prove otherwise he was prepared to transform into a mountain lion. He had encountered the impressive beast in the wilds of Montana several months prior and thought it would make a formidable attacker.

Sewer Rat, in his outfit, lurked nearby. He had spotted the ambushers and followed them out here. Fortunately, it was easy enough to notice when a militia started mobilizing. "Anywhere there's men with guns, there's trouble," he had said quietly as he followed them through the woods. He did what eavesdropping he could, but no one had said anything that seemed like a clue. He prayed that no one would remember there was one less person with his comrades trying to get back into town. He could see the other heroes being held up, but after Mountain Man spoke he decided to wait and see if diplomacy could work. Nevertheless, he had held a length of pipe tight in his hands, just in case.

Dice got out of the truck and loomed up to his full, impressive height, his bowie knife still hidden by the car door. "Hey, easy on the car; it's a rental!"

Dice Morgan was not used to thinking in combat situations, so that was as clever as he got. He narrowed his eyes at one that he guessed was their leader. "Pal, you don't want any of us. Do yerself’ a big favor and put the guns up." He was hoping to draw attention away from the Mountain Man and Daoist so they could get close enough to strike. If it looked like the rednecks were going to open fire on any group members, Dice planned to barrel into the nearest gunman before he could draw a bead and kick him in the, well, Southern exposure.

The speaker lowered his rifle slightly and asked, "Milo, you say? That's really interesting, because I'm Milo." He lowered his rifle more and the other four men with him relaxed their aim slightly too. "Where are you from? Where have you traveled? What skills do you have?” Milo fired off in rapid succession.

Although everyone had been ready to rush the riflemen, it seemed that the moment has passed and an opportunity for subterfuge had arisen. After some vague answers, they learned that Milo had been hanging around town waiting for recruits from Missouri who had fled when Doc Savage defeated The Evil Gnome. “The pay is $10 a month just for being in the cult and there'll be more for you soon enough if you prove yourself useful. We need experienced soldiers, captain material, and you might be what we're looking for. Our temple is about a 10-hour hike from here and the terrain is so rough that you'd never find it without a guide. Why don't you get some rest at the Highland Inn and we'll set out in the morning?”

"I think that will be okay," The Mountain Man said. "Myself, I can do a lot of things. I'm handy in the woods and have some experience fighting. These other guys can speak for themselves if they choose."

The Daoist kept his mouth shut and his eyes low, doing his best to appear as some sort of manservant.


On the south end of the township was a small, 5-room motel. It had been dark and appeared to be closed up when they all passed it earlier, but now that the locals were leading them there, two lights came on inside and the front door was left open. The sign out front read "Highland Inn."

Rpol Hideouts & Hoodlums campaign - pt. 4

When Alpha-Woman saw two of the men exiting the Comeback Diner, she snuck up behind them quietly and tried to lasso them both with her rope. But the breeze shifted at the last moment on Alpha-Woman and her improvised lasso only fell harmlessly on top of one of the two men.

"What the--?" he cried as the two turned around and saw a black-haired beauty in a dark flannel men's shirt and jeans attempting to capture them.


The Silver Scorpion drove up on her chromed motorcycle to the Comeback Motel. Noting the car with the empty basket on top, she parked beside it and disembarked, stretching lithely after such a long ride. She looked around for anyone nearby.

Is this really the place? I hope I’m not too late! she thought to herself. She noted the two men coming out of the diner and was about to try and catch their attention with a smile and a wave when she noted someone sneaking up behind them. What in the..., she thought, her face showing her concern. She quickly moved forward to stop any nefarious deeds that may be afoot, keeping a careful eye on the un-lassoed man. She was ready to disarm him if he should pull a gun.

"Let's no one be too hasty or I'll have to lay all of you out, alright? Now, what's going on here?" Silver Scorpion demanded.

Alpha-Woman replied to the stranger in the silver jumpsuit. "These guys have been doing suspicious things. I've been watching them for a week. There is two more not here." She also attempted to grab them both so they could not move.

"Funny business, hey?” Silver Scorpion said. “What do you have to say for yourselves?" she demanded of the two men. But she was ready to stop both them and the mysterious woman if any of them tried to flee the scene.

Alpha-Woman managed to grab one of the two men by the shoulder as he'd brushed the lariat off his shoulder, but the other one saw her coming and stepped back to dodge.

"You should'a just asked, doll face," the guy Alpha-Woman grabbed saied. "Steve, show 'em your badge."

The man apparently named Steve opened his jacket and pulled out a badge. "He's right, ladies, we're the FBI. Your little sting operation only caught us eating pie at taxpayer expense. Are either of you two here about the ads?"

After more cross-examination, it became apparent that Silver Scorpion, from out of Minneapolis, had not been targeted for recruitment, but had read the classified ad meant for the Daoist and guessed it was suspicious enough to investigate. And Alpha-Woman was just in the right place at the right time.

"You two babes want in on a mission?" asked the agent not named Steve as he took his shoulder back from Alpha-Woman.

Still a little suspicious of the guys, Alpha-Woman reluctantly agreed to join in on this mission.

"A mission? Sure, that's right up my alley!" Silver Scorpion said, more enthusiastically.

The two lady-vigilantes were led to the storm doors that Alpha-Woman had seen the FBI agents descend down many times. She was right to suspect they had a secret lair under the motel, though their activities were not what she had suspected.

"Agent Fletcher," the agent in charge said, identifying himself to the two once they were in the main room of their underground headquarters.

"What's the mission?" Silver Scorpion asked boldly.

"First, Saul, go up topside and see if any more vigilantes show up late!" Agent Fletcher sayid to one of the other G-Men. "Pardon me, ladies," Fletcher continued, turning back to Alpha-Woman and Silver Scorpion. "We'd actually heard about female vigilantes operating in the Minneapolis area and right here around Duluth, but...you know, we thought this might be man's work. Still, you showed a lot of initiative and detective skills just finding us, since we set out only to contact four vigilantes initially.

"The mission is this," Agent Fletcher continued. "We've got three agents missing in the field, we presume captured by a bunch of nutty rooster-loving cultists up north in a little out-of-the-way place called Highland Township. We're trying to get them out quietly, which is why we took the unorthodox method of contracting the job out to costumed vigilantes. We sent our recruits there a few hours ago."

"Hey, boss!" Saul said when he returned abruptly. "Some guy in a costume just showed up in a red, white, and blue car!"

"Cripes! I've turned this place into Grand Central Station for vigilantes!" Agent Fletcher cried. "If this doesn't work, I'm gonna be fired! Somebody get me an aspirin! You two," he said, pointing to Alpha-Woman and Silver Scorpion. "Intercept this new guy for us, find out if he's got the chops for vigilante work, and let him tag along if you think he'll be useful to you. Me, I'm seriously gettin' a headache..."

Alpha-Woman and Silver Scorpion returned to the nighttime air and meet Captain Liberty in the parking lot.

Silver Scorpion waved to the newcomer. "You arrived just in time. We're off to Highland Township to stop some cultists, you in or what?" she asked with a smile.

"This is a lot for one day, but very exciting!" exclaimed Alpha-Woman. Then she shook the man's hand and added, "Yeah, are you in?”

"I'm Captain Liberty. Count me in," the last arrival said.

Alpha-Woman offered to give anyone a lift, as she also had a car parked nearby, but everyone felt more comfortable taking their own vehicle and caravaning to Highland. Captain Liberty produced a map, held it up under the neon light of the motel sign, and they all found the route they would take.


"So, how are we going to play this?” the Mountain Man asked. “Bash in the door of the place or try to join up? My inclination would be for goin' after 'em hard. I'm not to keen on the sneakin' about." The Mountain Man asked this as soon as the caravan of vehicles had stopped at the south end of the dirt road serving as the main street through the township, within sight of Town Hall and the closed businesses.

The Daoist was the first to answer the Mountain Man's question. "I do not think I wouwd’ find much ‘ruck joining their group."

Dice Morgan cracked his knuckles. "Heh. I sez we just goes in swinging. Can't be more'n, what, a hun'red of 'em in there at most."

The direct approach seemed to be favored by everyone -- only, no one had yet come up with any idea for finding this temple. Most of the buildings in town were pretty small to be hiding temples in them and the only place they could look for one without breaking and entering was Town Hall. So they tried that first.

The lobby of the Town Hall has some old, weather-beaten chairs in it, a dying potted plant in the corner, and a ceiling fan overhead that did not move. The walls were decorated with a moose head and some mounted fish. Town Hall sounded quiet and deserted at first, but soon they heard footsteps approaching.

Rpol Hideouts & Hoodlums Campaign - pt. 3

"How very intriguing," Gandor the Great said, though he did not elaborate further on which part of this he found so intriguing.

One of the agents brought The Daoist a can of pop from the fridge.

“All done getting to know each other?" Agent Fletcher asked a minute later. "Now get nice and comfy because it's my turn to tell you all a little story. Any of you ever been to Highland, Minnesota? Probably not. It's a little, out-of-the-way township up and over in Lake County," he said, gesturing as if there was a map behind him he could point to. "Problem is, some nutballs built a temple up there seven years ago. At the time they said it was a synagogue, but no later than 1934 we know they were being led by some kook calling himself St. Stephen. We've found some pamphlets these people distributed back then full of quackery like how rooster parts could solve everything from your love life to your job hunting. On the back is the really disturbing stuff, about the End of Days and roosters inheriting the Earth." As he speaks, he produces an old, bent-up pamphlet from his pocket and shows it to you. The subject matter matches his description and there is a picture of a rooster on the front cover. "You'd think that would get them laughed out of town, but this was the height of the Depression and they somehow had money to throw around. They'd built up quite a cult for themselves when we got called in a year ago by a local sheriff who told us he'd seen...human sacrifice going on at their temple. The sheriff turned up dead shortly after that. We've sent in three agents since then to either observe or infiltrate this cult and they've all gone missing. We have learned that St. Stephen is still leading the cult. We also know that he's hiring mercenaries, mostly ex-cons. He seems to be recruiting a small army, but we don't know why. We also don't know if our missing agents are alive or dead.

“Our idea is to get you recruited by the cultists. Sending in our agents hasn't been working and we're afraid to send in more. There's a slim chance that we lost three agents because the cultists got one of them to identify the other two. You, on the other hand, are fresh faces who should be in no danger of discovery. Whether you sneak in as recruits or make a frontal assault on the place is entirely up to you. We don't really care what happens to these nutball cultists, which is why we don't care that you're all vigilantes. Whatever happens in that temple, we're turning a blind eye to, if you get my meaning. If you find any of the missing agents, don't worry too much about getting them out of too far out of Highland. We'll have another team following you. Once you're clear, they'll get you home. There should be enough agents on that team to raid the temple once you've done all you can.”

"Sounds like someone is obsessed with cock," said Tommy, only half-aware of the joke. "Well, I'm more of an infiltrator I guess. I'm sure they'd love a fresh new face to fill with Rooster love."

"What exactly is in it for us if we do this for you?” asked the Mountain Man. “Why not just send in the army and take the place down? That's what you government-types did to the Bonus Army back in '32. Sent the tanks and the gas canisters in against some respectable veterans, why not against these crazy cultists? And last I checked, the Depression is still raging, at least it is for most of America." He leaned heavily against the wall, awaiting his answers.

The FBI agents started to snicker at Sewer Rat's comment. Evidently, this was something of a private joke between them already. But their looks sobered at The Mountain Man's mini-speech. Agent Fletcher answered dryly, "Different administration, different response. Hoover would of rolled in tanks, but Roosevelt doesn't want another public relations debacle, like headlines saying the Army had to kill a bunch of poor, crazy farmers. And I didn't mean to rile you up about the Depression. I'm sure it's still bad for a lot of people. At least in my neck of the woods, though, it's not as bad as it was a few years ago. That's all I meant by 'height of the Depression'."

Dice Morgan cracked his neck to the left and then to the right. "Yeah, yeah. Get in, look around, raise a ruckus, an' then get outta’ Dodge. Let's get ‘dis over with already. I'm gettin' grey hairs just standin' here listenin' to all the talk."


“That's the mission. If you need a reward, we can offer you $1,000 per agent you get out of Highland. The agents you'll be looking for are Andrew Morland, Rudy Malefor, and Vincent Meridan. Here's a photo of each of them. You can look at them as long as you need to, but you can't take them with you. There's only one thing more we can give you – another name. This guy is from Highland and we're pretty sure he's a low-level cultist. You might be able to throw his name around to get you into or out of places. It's Milo Haroldson.

"One last thing,” he says, holding up a small pill bottle. “This is hush-hush stuff now, but the FBI has whipped up these things we call healing pills. This bottle has two of them. You swallow one, it cures anything short of a serious wound. We're letting you take these two pills with you if you accept the mission. Now, you can talk over the offer yourselves or, if you're already sold, you can start planning what you're gonna do right here. You already know everything me and the boys know, but if there's anything else you need, we'll try to help.”

Much of what Agent Fletcher said meant little to the Daoist. He couldn't understand American politics one bit. He did, however, know the rooster.

"The Rooster is a stwong figure. One that should be ‘wespected. His forrowers’ wirr’ be brave. And keen of sight. We muss be cautious."

Dice Morgan narrows his eyes. "So just ta be straight, do we get the dough if, say, we bring your boys back in little bits, or only if we get 'em out in one piece?"

"I'll make that extra clear too," Agent Fletcher answered. "The $1,000 is for bringing each one of them back alive. If I wanted them dead, I could send agents in now with guns blazing. But I figure someone like The Shadow could do it with a little more finesse. I can't get The Shadow, though, so you guys will have to do."

After The Daoist finished his Coca-Cola, and Dice and the Mountain Man finished their questions, everyone headed up topside. With two vehicles for five Heroes, there was ample room to transport everyone.


It was a lonely 30-mile stretch of dirt road reaching northeast of Duluth, with dense forest all along the left side and Lake Superior staying within sight past the trees to the right. The road kept going on and their only company for most of the trip, beside each other, were truckers heading to and from Canada and vacationers hauling boats to some remote lake for a fishing expedition. The townships became few and far between, pockets of civilization punctuating the spreading wilderness, with Palmers Township the last before entering Lake County. The townships were more like rustic farming villages now, each more rustic than the last. It was like going back in time as they passed Knife River, Larsmont, and Two Harbors. By the time they reached a dirt road heading north from a wooden signpost that read “Highland, 12 miles,” they had the uncomfortable sensation of having driven back into the 19th century.

When they did reach Highland, they were not even surprised to find it looked like a dried-up ghost town. Most of the businesses had “closed,” “out of business”, or “gone fishing” signs on their doors. The only place that seemed to be open was Town Hall. And there was no sign of a temple.


Back at the Comeback Motel and Diner, FBI agents were (unbeknownst to most people) becoming a common sight. Two of them were heading out of the diner after a lengthy chat over cigarettes and apple pie, punctuated with their favorite hobby of hitting on the waitresses. The basket of apples was empty, but still sitting on the roof of their car out front. Little did they know that they were being observed.

Alpha-Woman, Duluth’s still-unknown hometown defender, had been working surveillance on the Comeback Motel for a week and decided that she was going to make her move and confront these suspicious characters, who were surely hoodlums.