17432/1917-An Invisible Mad Legion

1917-An Invisible Mad Legion
Date of Scene:	13 April 2024
Location:	Ipswitch, United Kingdom
Synopsis:	250 lives are ruined by a madman's experimet. Three heroes and a time traveler stop it from being much worse.
Cast of Characters:	Alfred Pennyworth, Bart Allen, Kenesha, Richard Stadler
Tinyplot:	The Monocaine Conspiracy

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Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
The year is 1917, and the war is getting worse. The trenches are killing millions, while the Yanks are expected to join any day now, both sides are doing desperate things to get ahead. In the case of England, they have been funding the work of a madman, codenamed the Glassblower, who claims he can recreate the xperiments of the infamous invisible man. But it has been months without results, so the powers that be are prepared to cut funding soon and put money into more promising prospects.
5rAs such, on may 19th, a day that will live in secret infamy, at 6am, right before sunrise and the troops getting up, the Blassblower, per historical record, sets up a bomb in the middle of the base full of his new formula to prove a point; and change the world forever.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen has been looking for Max Mercury to get some advice, and his most recent jump bumped him against the speed force barrier. He comes skidding to a halt into an alleyway and looks about wondering where he might be. He hmmms a bit and looks around to see where and when he might be.

Kenesha has posed:
Kenesha has been working with a number of governments that are interested in seeing the Invisible Man project never sees the light of day again. It has been a whole project just trying to get rid of the monocaine in the first place. And thank God there were enough governments she'd built up good will with to get them to agree on a unified effort. Sure, the possibility of invisible soldiers is tempting. But an army of invisible madmen is not worth the attempt.

She's been tracking down this Glassblower for months now, always just behind him. Someone is tipping the man off, so Kenesha has gone off the grid to hunt him down the old-fashioned way. She's been delving deep into the British ranks, using a mix of charm, force, and tech to get what she wants from them. It's lead her here, pausing at the mouth of an alleyway to look around and get her bearings before she strikes out for the next possible location.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Timothy Garner had joined during the fervor of patriotism when the war hard started in 1914; it was better, he had said, then being a bricklayer in Portsmouth, certainly an easy paycheck, something to be earned until the war was over by Christmas time, or perhaps a little longer.

Then there was Arras, Artois, The Somme, Second Arras, and Vimy Ridge, along with the daily boring terror of the trench line for 1914. 15. 16. 17. IT was something where he almost wish the bullet or gas or shell would come for him, finally, instead of this interminable waiting and hoping that this would be the last year, and knowing in his heart it wouldn't be.

It had been a bit of a blessing, honestly, this posting; a time to pull back for the front to guard duty across the channel. Certainly, there might be a zepplein raid; it hadn't been unheard of, but the fact that there wasn't shelling you could set your watch to was almost unnerving in it's relief. All he had to do was walk a patrol, calling out challenges to those who didn't seem to be where they should be, and he might have another blessed few months of this. Granted... he had a honed sense of danger by this point, and something... something did seem off.

He's passing an alleyway, before frowning at the silhouette of a woman... here? On base? What was she doing here. He called out. "You! Halt! Stay right there!"

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
Major Haddock Mayflower gets out of his car, papers in hand to deliver to said Glasshlower to end this experiment. His faction in Intelligence finally agreeing with Kenesha that this is simply not worth dealing with. As such, he brushes his bristlebrush mustache and steps lively towards the place.

The Bomb goes off spraying the entire barracks and at least a hundred feet around it with a fine powder that can be inhaled as the men shriek in panic as they see their organs and eyes start to peel away, thinking their flesh is melting...at first....

Screams come out from the barracks at loud degrees whilest the Glassblower stands on a water tower a hundred meters away with a film camera, rolling tape, though it seems like it is running itself.

An alarm sounds though chaos and mayhem sounds around the base as people try to figure out what is going on.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen was noticing his costume might stand out a bit here, so he looked around . He grabs a pair of paints and shirt off a clothes line, spinning them around to make sure they are dry before putting them on over his costume. His mask pulled down, he grabs a cloth hat that was there as well, and adds it to pull down over his face a bit. His boots might stand out a bit, but no one is washing boots. So, once he is changed he starts to look about and then there is the sound of an explosion. Bart's hero instincts take over as he rushes towards the scene to see what is going on.

Kenesha has posed:
Kenesha glances over at the sight of a young man who moves... very fast. Interesting! Not unheard of, but certainly not common. Of course, as soon as she notices the young man, well, someone is shouting for her to halt. Sighing heavily, she rolls her eyes and turns towards the cry... in time for see the explosion.

Her eyes widening, she spins away from the blast, just in time to see the young man racing *towards* it.

"NO!" It's shouted out even as she's on the move, racing after him to try to stop him before he gets into the blast radius. "Stay back! Stay out of the blast radius, you don't know what it is!" This is going to suck.. but she can't have an insane, invisible meta running around. That's like.. the worst of ALL possible worlds.

Calculations are done quickly, very quickly, and she teleports herself into Bart's path in an attempt to keep him from reaching the blast zone.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Garner continues to move toward Kenseha, unslinging his SMLE with a well practiced motion, in hand as the weapon is raised to port arms. "I said-"

Then there was an explosion, off in the direction of the barracks itself. He turns just to see the spread of a fine powder, and his face goes white. Perhaps he didn't know /what/ that powder did, but he had been on the front line to know that and the horrific screams of the men inside most definitely meant gas.

His rifle is sling behind him again, his other hand quickly opening the carrying case of his mask, quickly moving to to pull it over his face and tighten the straps. It took time, of course; perhaps a hero might have rushed in, without care of what would happen to himself to save his fellow soldiers, but this was 1917, and certainly all the heroes must be dead by this point; Garner was not about to add to their number.

Only when the mask was firmly in place does Garner continue toward the barracks, and the women running toward it... along with a... well. That must be a trick of the light, or perhaps smoke. No man could move that fast; like a movie flicked to quadruple speed.

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
In the Barracks, the powder is already doing its work. What normally takes weeks of injections with the old fomula, means men, and a lot of other organic matter are suddenly invisible. Success! Of course....so are the other effects of Monocaine....the men are all screaming, some of them going violently mad and throwing things around the room. Screams of Fear, Rage, Terror and a few of Megalomania as they should for help; for which they are surrounded by allies that they can hear and not see.

One fellow begins to play Rag Time on a player piano, hooking it up to the base loud speaker looking like a haunted piano, as the demented notes begin to play in a slightly minor Key "Over There" while others run out of the Barracks hoping this might wear off.

Garner hears some cackling and as he looks up sees a Camera moving entirely on its own taking footage of the chaos. The powder flows near him and Barry, but in front of Garner's eyes, he sees a man's eyes suddenly vanish in their sockets, as he screams bloody murder and then the rest of him slowly starts to fade...

This MIGHT be a contact toxin as well.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will grab the woman who appears right in front of him, luckily his reactions are quick. He moves to pick her up and moves her back away from the explosion "Miss, there is some type of explosion, you will be safer here." His accent sounds a bit weird and as he looks over towards the things disappearing "A disintegration bomb, thats not good." He ponders a moment seeing if it is spreading if he needs to start evacing people. Which gives Kenesaha moment to speak.

Kenesha has posed:
Bart isn't the only one to get a hold when they collide. Kenesha grips him around the forearms and hauls back on him when he tries to set her aside. She's strong. Much stronger than she should be, given her height and stature. She tugs on him to get his attention.

"No. YOU don't understand. That's not disintegration. That's invisibility. That's a hybrid of the Invisible Man project. ANY contact with it means immediate and irreversible invisibility... and madness." She jerks her head towards the sounds and shakes her head, "LISTEN. Those aren't men in pain. Those are men going MAD."

She glances around quickly, calling out to anyone that's outside the radius, "DON'T TOUCH THE POWDER! DON'T GO NEAR THE BLAST RADIUS!" Then she's looking back to Bart, looking him over. "You're not from here. You don't seem alien, but then, neither do I. So listen up. I can help you see them.. but this isn't a 'save them' situation. These men are gone. You *cannot* help them. At best, MAYBE we can round them up into a single place to be dealt with later. But they are never going to recover. It's a one-way street."

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Garner's looking up to the camera, moving itself, then to another man... simply.. vanish. Disappear, one piece at a time. And that certainly keeps him from moving closer to the area itself. He had gotten close enough to Bart and Kenesha to hear what she was saying to the man she was desperately trying to keep from walking into the barracks. "Invisibility? Like a bloody 4 color? Bloody madness." He says, his voice muffled and small from the mask that he wasn't ready to pull off. What else /could/ it be though? Disintegration sounded equally unlikely... as much as he understood the term. "You're saying that they can't be saved, but how do you know that? You're rather informed for some civilian come off the street."

His lensed eyes turn toward the loud speaker, the tinny music playing where announcements would flow normally. "Whatever's happened, they don't seem t' be in the... right state of mind." He notes, his hand moving toward his belt, unsheathing a bayonet and locking it into the lug of the rifle he was holding.

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
The good news is that the powder is skinking to the goound. Its still deadly and now it cant be seen but entering the blast radius isnt instant madness and likely slow death; but the bad news is that several now naked soldiers are begining to leave the area, the ones who have figured it out fastest, as their footprints are seen in the rapdily disapparing powder, a few moving right past Bart, Garner and Kenesha. Haddock comes up to the three of them (Well two and Garner on the side) gruffing, "I had just planned to serve my papers to these idiots to tell them to stop their work...."
5rGlassbloer, of course, sees all this and films it too, evne it is sadly silent. He wishes he also had a phonograph to play the screams forever.

The tempo of the music increases and some of the invsible men inside barracks begin to fight each other, showing and bumping into each other and being set to fits of rage thinking it was deliberate.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods, a bit and frowns a bit. He maybe able to use a funnel of wind from running in a circle to gather the powder, but one wrong move and he would be spreading it farther. He looks to the woman "Yea, not quite from around here, but if you can help me see the guys, I can grab them and put them somewhere. He looks over to the soldier looking fellow "There a jail or something I can put them in?"

Kenesha has posed:
Kenesha turns at Haddock's approach, giving a nod, "Major. I'd been tracking Glassblower, sadly.. I was just too late. We had a mole somewhere. Someone kept telling him when we were getting close. So I went underground to track him." She motions, "He's still here somewhere. I can outfit anyone left with some goggles that will let them see the soldiers... but you and I both know it's a waiting game."

Looking to Garner, she quirks a faint smile and shrugs, "I always know more than people think I should. Persoanlly, I think other people don't know enough. But that's just my opinion." Then she's looking back to Bart and shaking her head, "No grabbing. No skin contact. This is a different formula. Until I can analyze it and determine any new properties it may have.. no contact. Use ropes. Use nets. Use tarps. But no contact."

SHe looks back to Haddock, "That goes for your men too. If they can.. spread this.. we have to contain it."

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Garner is a little slow on the uptake, but he can gather that yes, what they're seeing is invisibility, and it would be... bad to have them wandering the streets in their state. Enough so that, at the sound of footfalls next to him, he suddenly turns, moving to attempt to swing the butt of his rifle in the way. Maybe he'd be able to catch one of them. But a quick look over to the Major has him coming to a form of attention. Not saluting, of course. He'd seen officer's shot for that. "Sergeant Garner, sir. Assigned to security. We have a stockade, sir." He says, looking over to Bert, but then over to Kenesha. "But it seems that they've been driven mad, and can't been seen, if what you're saying is to be believed. In that case, if we can't touch them..." He frowns for a moment. "It might require drastic measures. I know we have a Lewis gun section here, sir. We could set up on the exits."

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
Mayflower salutes back and curses at Kenesha's revelation, "Why didnt we think of a Mole? Of course that would explain everything...And if we can' touch them...and given how fast this madness spreads, I suggest listening to Kensehsa....I hate to say t his but....get flour from the commisrary and have hteh men at each exit depploy it randomly. If they see someone invisible...shoot....wound if you can, but shoot. Do not engage, do not touch."

He shakes his head limply in sadness, "Its....a crime. Its worse than the Mustard Gas..."

Blod, mayhem and death spread in the barracks as a few men are dead at the hands of other madment while the one grabbed by Garner says,"Wait...I'm not dead....SHOOT TO KILL?"

Panick spreads in the baracks as the fact that they might be deadmen spurs more of the affected men to utterly panic.

The Glassblower films it all silently chuckling.

"If you have goggles, I'd gladly take them" Haddock says.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen hmms and nods his head a bit, He will seem to disappear for a moment himself, but is soon back with a coil of rope around his body and says "I can gather them up if I can see them, is there any material that the dust does not effect?"

Kenesha has posed:
Kenesha nods to Garner, "You can catch them if you have nets or tarps, things that prevent skin contact. Biting. Any transfer of bodily fluids. That means if they're shot, don't touch any part of them without heavy covering. No skin contact, no fluid contact. Any dead, you incinerate, as soon as possible. Industrial level boilers or better, no open bonfires, no medical examinations. Burn to ash."

Nodding to the Major, she reaches into her satchel, distributing out some fairly high-tech (for the time) goggles. About a dozen pairs in all. "The dust itself isn't the problem. What's in it is. The explosion spread it, but it has a quick timer on it. It's the one blessing of this stuff.. you can't create gallons and then just sit on it. It goes inert too quickly once it's processed. Within the hour, the blast radius won't matter, it won't be a contaminated zone anymore. But you also won't ever be able to see anything inside the zone again. So.. caution in moving around in it. What's unknown is how it reacts when it has a host to feed on. That's the madness aspect. Think of it like a really nasty, fast-acting form of syphillis. Eventually it will kill you, but first it will make you insane. Usually homicidal." She lifts a shrug, "Everything else will have to wait until I can analyze a fresh sample."

Then she's pulling her own goggles down over her eyes and nodding to the Major, "Good luck. Any non-essential personnel, I would put them into the barracks and lock the doors until you have confirmation the threat has passed. Tell them to barricade the windows and I'd leave a couple of the goggles with them, along with firearms for anyone wearing them. Just in case."

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Garner looks to the one who was talking, and... well. The face he gives isn't exactly cold. More... shut off, as he quickly jams a rifle butt into the man's gut... or where he suspected the gut was in this case, with hopefully enough force to send him to the ground. "Quiet." He says, before turning to Kenesha. "What are the chances they survive, then? Can you treat them if they're captured? Are they contagious?" He says, looking over to the barracks at the screams and rising panic.

"All due respect, sir. I've seen what mustard gas does. At least they aren't drowning in the open air." He says, before bringing his rifle down, bayonet tip on the invisible man in front of them. "Need an order, sir. Are we taking them alive?"

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
The chaos only spreads, and the Major puts on his glasses and is shocked to see another four invisible people trying to sneat by him. He takes out a gun and is about to shoot them, as Garner knocks the other one down and unconcious. BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM, he shoots their legs with rapid preicious and races off to coordinate things, not about to argue about which war crime is greater.

Glassbower takes the film and changes it, such that others might be heard.

Mayflower shouts back as he races to enact Kenesha's advice and save as many lives as he can, "Alive if you can, but none of them must escape."

The piano player switches to a rag time minor key funeral march, as screams and knife fights turn on each other and everyone else that gets in their way. Gunfire is spreading like plague throughout the base.

Kenesha has posed:
"There's no recovery, Sergeant. Not from the invisibility, not from the madness. You can care for them as best as possible, but they will never be who they were again. That's why we're trying to eradicate the monocaine completely. People keep experimenting, thinking they can get the invisibility without the madness... always ends the same way." Kenesha lets out a breath, then cants her head to one side. "Excuse me gentlemen.."

And Kensha disappears! Teleports, but they don't know that. She reappears behind the floating camera. "Thank you for sticking around. This will make things much easier." Her reaction times are quite simply faster than humans can manage. One gloved hand gripping his arm in a grip that could crush steel were she so inclined."

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Garner gives a nod, and looks down to where the man might be. The gunshots from the major are... heard, flinching at each one before the Major rushes off to coordinate. "Well then. That simplifies things." He notes. Before she... disappears, as well. Not like the rest though, and... well. Garner could see her in the distance, towards that... floating camera, grabbing a man. Perhaps he was important... hopefully he'd be able to stop this madness. But, at the end of the day, the barracks had... what, perhaps a hundred people? This was the Great War, 4 years in. Such was a rounding error.

His rifle is still pointed at the man on the ground. He can hear him wheezing from the strikes given. Perhaps there should be a priest here, but there certainly wasn't one at Vimy Ridge. The rifle moves to where the wheezing is heard, a shot cracking out, point blank, ringing through the air, as the sound stops.

The rifle is brought back up, bolt worked to load a new .303 round into the chamber, as he adjusted his sights. "Stay where you are!" He bellows through the mask toward those attempting to run. "On the ground!" Those that don't listen, those flurry's of dust and dirt, the movement of the door, he fires at. He knew how to keep his rifle steady in between shots, loading round after round, before quickly feeding rounds into the weapon via stripper clips. Again. And again. And again. Until it stopped.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen puts on his goggles, and is off. He hears her speak of none having a cure for this and will make sure to grab a jar to scoop some dirt and dust up. He knows some people who might be able to cure these people if any of them are still alive in his time. He is then off, lassoing a person, and finding a truck to toss them into, before doing this again and again, putting the hogtied men un the truck., He will stop by the mess hall grab some flower and sprinkles it in the truck and on the guys maybe it will stick so they can see them. He is going as fast as he can trying to get as many as he can, when he hits a bit to fast, and is back into the speedforce and back on his way to the time, he calls home.

Alfred Pennyworth has posed:
It take work, but between Richard's actions, Mayflower and Bart and his speed, the invisible peril is locked away. Kenesha is able to knokc the Glassblower back onto his feet and prevent him from escaping. Its a mess, close to 150 people are dead, and 90 more turned into invisible madmen, but it would have been far far worse if they all werent here to stop the incident.