telerib | Sky Pirates Act 1 (Reply)

Scene One
High-ranking Army officials gathered together Reginald Smythe-Worthington's band of do-gooders, along with renouned trick pilot and Great War dogfighter Captain Sam Satan. After arriving in DC, they were transported to a quieter, secretive location - a farmhouse in Langley, VA.

There, Thomas Treadwell of the British MI2 briefed them on the mysterious "flying disk" attacks that had been cropping up around the globe. Flying disks, launched from a silvery, cigar-shaped mothership, were attacking and stealing gold boullion, diamond, and other commodities shipments.

The world governments are sure that these are advanced but terrestrial technology. They shoot machine guns, and can be shot down. But to date, no intact wreckage has been recovered. The general public is less sure, as a "UFO mania" has swept the world. Media outlets and some large companies, like Enterprise Ventures International, Limited (EVIL), have gone on the record saying that the world governments need to "do more" to combat this "alien threat."

In an effort to learn more about whoever is behind the disks, the US government wants the group to go with a train carrying unique, fake artifacts from Chicago to New York. They are to capture some Sky Pirates and a disk if possible, but to ultimately allow the pirates to make off with the artifacts. When they are resold, international intelligence agents will be on the lookout for them, allowing the group a trace on their location.

Scene Two
The Chicago Museum. The presence of Sam Satan causes a media sensation. After a brief photo op, Sam is dragged with the rest of the group into a classroom, where the group compares notes, going over Max's clippings collection on EVIL. They learn that several of the secret shipments that were hit had company officers who also had ties to EVIL. Also, some chemical shipments had been hit - chemicals, Dr. Olsson noted, which could be combined to make nerve gas!

The majority of the attacks had been in Europe, but Adam Archer, Esq., sent his two legal aides to the Chicago Records Department, to look at domestic shipping manifests. Chicago is, after all, the transportation hub of the nation, and it was likely that at least some of the US attacks had been on shipments that had come through here. They learned that a significant fraction of the US attacks had taken place in the Southwest.

Scene Three
A fake train robbery was staged to draw attention to the shipment of artifacts. Hours after, in the Appalachian mountains, the Sky Pirates struck!

Sam Satan, with Reggie at the gun, launched his Waco 2 plane from the roof of a train car. Trying to out-maneuver the disk, the ace pilot underestimated the thing's uncanny agility. The Waco shuddered and strained, but the disk kept up easily! The Waco actually clipped the disk, losing one of its landing gear. Fortunately, the disk's gun jammed and Reggie was able to fill it with lead. The disk crashed, rolling down the mountainside before it exploded!

More prosaic thugs leapt from trucks onto the train as it ground to a halt. Dr. Olsson concealed herself in the treasure room; Max dashed in there as well, beginning to change into his garb as that masked avenger, the Scorpion! Phineas Long expertly pulled himself through a window and rolled onto the train top, waiting to toss his sureshot knives where they'd do the most good. Adam Archer relaxed with a good book.

The other disk on the scene had begun firing at the train; Sam and Reggie engaged it. It peeled off, circling around to fire at them - but Reggie's gun barked again. Too busy trying to keep up with Sam's aerobatics, the disk was caught in the storm of lead and exploded!

Back on the train, Adam looked up from him book and tried to spook the spooks! His supernatural calm convinced three of the thugs that he really could "kill them with his mind," but the fourth was just too stupid to get it. He put his fist to the lawyer's jaw, and soon the pair were locked in combat. The other three exited towards the treasure car, joining two buddies already trying to jimmy the lock.

Max had had a change of heart and got back into his civilian disguise - if these thugs were agents of EVIL, there was no sense in alerting them that the Scorpion was on their tail! He left the treasure car - conveniently opening the door for the five guys on the other side! They rushed him, but their fists were no match for the Scorpion's iron jaw. All five went down and Max was suprised to find, after the fact, that one had actually managed to bloody his lip.

Dr. Olsson leapt out at the two thugs who'd tried to come in the other door; the two crashed back and forth for several minutes. Phineas, on top of the car behind the treasure car, saw this. Another thug had seen him up there and was climbing up to engage the treasure hunter; not even deigning to look his way, Phineas dispatched him with a dagger, pommel-first, between the eyes. Noticing that Dr. Olsson was now being surrounded by four men, he dove into the treasure car, grabbed her, and leapt away. The thugs, more interested in the treasure than the fight, let them go.

The truck drivers had begun taking shots at the Waco, which was now strafing them - and missing, purposefully. But the drivers weren't aiming to miss, and the Waco, already strained from its earlier aerobatics, took one hit too many. Sam Satan pushed the broken bird into a climb. Reggie scarcely had the opportunity to ask why before Sam told him to grab the parachute at his feet - and then jumped out of the plane! The daredevil pilot put his pack on in midair, popped the chute and aimed for a rooftop landing - only to miss and crash into the thug still battling Adam Archer!

Reggie had been half into his pack when Sam jumped. Reg figured he'd follow the more experienced pilot's lead and also jumped - but the dangling free strap of his pack caught on the Waco's one remaining wheel! The engine was coughing, about to stall... but Reg noticed a whining creak coming from the strut. The bolts were substandard - no wonder the first one had come off earlier! With a mighty tug, Reggie yanked his parachute free and fell, moments before the Waco's engine cut out entirely. The chute blossomed open, delivering the multimillionaire safely to the ground.

EDIT 1/23: The "Masked Avenger" should be "the Scorpion"