Morningstar : the Northern Light (rpg campaign journal)

[Powersurge]

Morningstar #17

As Morningstar neared the city of Toronto with Banner in tow, he received a call from Stone's captor on his cell. The voice directed him to bring the Hulk to loading bay A at GenTech's central building.

Once there, the synthoid was met by three large goons in suits, who ordered him to load Banner in the truck they had there, remove the S.A.H., and then don a set of power-inhibiting manacles. With Stone no where in sight and still in danger, Morningstar reluctantly agreed and submitted.

Once the power-inhibitor was in place, Morningstar was knocked out by the goons.

He awoke sometime later in a small room, the doorway of which was "sealed" with a translucent energy field. Both his hands and feet were encased in power-inhibiting encasements.

He soon learned that Dr.Stone was also being held in a cell next to his. Stone revealed that, indeed, Dr.Brendan Olsen was behind all of this and had gone over the edge, mentally speaking. Morningstar revealed what had gone on with him and the Hulk, which prompted an explanation from Dr.Stone regarding how following his brief friendship with Banner at Caltech, he was inspired to utilized gamma-rays as a key component in the creation of his special mutagen. Thus, Stone had a bad feeling about what Olsen intended with the Hulk.

A few days later Olsen himself appeared outside of the cells holding Dr. Stone and Morningstar. He produced a vial of glowing green liquid and boasted of how he had extracted adrenaline straight from Banner's adrenal gland, and used it, in combination with his past research, to produce and perfect the ultimate performance enhancer. He mocked Stone for his lack of faith, intellect, and foresight, promising him not only a slow death in return, but also to disect his "synth" and unlock it's "pathetic" secrets. He then boasted that Canada would not benefit from his performance-enhancer, as he already had a number off potential buyers lined up on the international black market. All that was required before the bidding would begin was a demonstration of it's effectiveness. Announcing that this would shortly take place, with downtown Toronto as ground-zero, he turned and left in a fit of maniacal laughter.

A short time later, cries of agony and then growls of anger echoed throughout the facility, only to come to an abrupt hault. After several moments of silence, an loud, angry growl again echoed throughout the facility, followed by a very human cry of terror and then a loud smash. This was immedialtey followed by more resounding howls of rage and the sounds of rampent destruction, until, at last, the lights went out, and all fell quiet again.

Slowly, Morningstar began to feel his strength and internal energies return; as the power inhibitors ceased to function. Busting out of his titanium bonds, the synthoid quickly met up with Dr. Stone, and then proceeded to the main lab.

The lab had been destroyed, and a very large hole was in the ceiling, while weak groans could be heard from beneath a pile of debris. Clearing off the debris, Morningstar found Dr. Olsen's broken body beneath. He expired moments later.

Luckily, Morningstar spotted the Solar Amplification Harness amidst other debris. Donning it, he was then order by Stone to pursue whatever monstrosity had been released on the world, as he searched for Banner.

Following a path of destruction from Olsen's secret lab just north of Toronto to the downtown core, Morningstar spotted a 20' tall behemoth, with pitch black skin, dark green hair, and glowing green eyes. A troop of Epsilon Blacks were fighting a losing battle against it amidst the wreckage, and even a the synthoid arrived, an newly arriving Epsilon Shuttle was skimmed by a bus hurled by the brute and sent spinning out of control. While Morningstar was unable to stop it from smashing int othe 4th floor of an apartment building, he did manage to save an old lady that was hurled from her nearby balcony as a result of the crash.

With that, he engaged the brute, which, amidst it's growls and cries of rage, uttered one audible word over and over again... RAMPAGE.

And so the battle was joined, carrying th tweo combatants across the downtown area out into Lake Ontario, and then back again to the downtown core. In the end, Morningstar was brought to his knees, but as "Rampage" was about to deliver the finishing blow, the Hulk entered the battle.

Having been lucky to be able to transform into the Hulk at all as a result of his depleted adrenal stores, the green-skin goliath soon found himself in a bad way. He was soon knocked out by Rampage, but not before landing many mighty blows of his own and buying Morningstar enough time to regain consciousness. However, his S.A.H. was damaged beyond immedaite repair!

Nevertheless, with the Hulk down, Morningstar once again joined Rampage in battle, and was so bold as to stand and trade blows with it; landing many a well placed blow, luckily evading those throwin at him, and dazzling Rampage with bursts of blinding light. Yet still the brute pressed the battle!!

Luckily, Morningstar had kept Rampage occupied long enough for the Hulk to regain consciousness, and so together they went at the brute. Finally, with both on weak and shakey knees, they at last managed to knock Rampage out with a combined leaping punch/photon blast attack. And with that, Rampage reverted to his human form... that of a brutish biker.

After answering the necessary questions, Morningstar turned things over to the Epsilon Troopers, and both he and the Hulk returned to GenTech to meet up with Dr.Stone.

Dr. Stone, Dr. Banner, Dr. Jessica Banks and Morningstar all enjoyed a night out, with much reminiscing between Stone and Banner.

And soon enough, Stone straightened things out with Dynamex Industries in Vancouver, but was sorry to say that it would be a very long time, if ever, before another S.A.H. could be produced.