| Aftershocks | |
| [The Foundry]
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Issue #9 (new title, Ravensgate: The Foundry): Goin’ Postal. 30 March 2002. Agent Marcoli enlists The Foundry’s help in trapping the elusive Ravensgate Crime Commission. It is the day that the State of Oregon mails out the primary ballots to its registered voters. (Oregon conducts its primary by mail. Ballots go out at the end of March and are due by Memorial Day.) COMETPRO has placed tracers on many of the 500,000 ballots bound for Nehalem County in hopes that the tracer signals will lead them to the various local crime syndicates. The FBI is involved because the Postal Service apparently does not have the resources to deal with metahuman threats—-or at least they won’t admit to such. Sure enough, the mail truck carrying the ballots barely makes it out of Salem before it is hijacked by two men in ski masks and two clowns. The Foundry, with new member Energon (first appearance) along for the ride, intervenes when the mail truck stops at a model home in a pre-planned subdivision named Emerald Ridge. There, they encounter Irish and Russian mobsters, Top Hat and Too Tall from Legba’s crew, powered-armor criminal Iron Comrade, several clowns from the Pagliacci Gang, and one Dominic “The Chef” Spanno—the New Jersey-based cousin of Giuseppe Spanno. [This is The Chef’s first appearance.] Also present are renegade superheroes Imp and Ninth-Dimensional Man. After a protracted battle, in which energy elemental Energon locks down Iron Comrade with a magnetic blast, all the criminals except Spanno are captured. The ballots are confiscated into evidence. Given the typical shenanigans for which Ravensgate is known far and wide, the state is undecided whether to issue new ballots or arrange for in-person precinct voting in May. Issue #10: All Through The Night. The Foundry does not appear in this issue at all. This is a story dealing with the repercussions of the Emerald Ridge bust and the threatened April 1st police strike. To make matters worse, Eugene-based Anarchists have called for a “street party” in Ravensgate to celebrate the strike and “the impending death of capitalism.” That Top Hat and Too Tall have somehow escaped from custody, does not improve Agent Marcoli’s mood. Mayor d’Aubaine and Superintendent of Public Safety Philip Snow, who will oppose each other in the November mayoral election, bury politics and threaten the Ravensgate Police Guild with criminal prosecution. The mayor’s father, Journal publisher Jean-Pierre d’Aubaine, plots the political downfall of Superintendent Snow. Snow, on the other hand, has a comeuppance in mind for some Anarchists. SCU pulls over a van-load of Anarchists. Lt. Shinmen blows up their van, then scares the Anarchists with a story about mobsters and pipe bombs in cars and how it’s a good thing he pulled them over when he did.
Somewhere near Rust City, the local Italian and Irish mobsters commiserate about the Emerald Ridge bust. This is where the readers learn The Chef is in town to smoke a whole lot of people—“Anarchists, a thick-headed police chief, snitch cops, a meddling prosecutor, some bubble-headed socialite . . . .” 31 March-1 April 2002. Agent Marcoli briefs an army of cops, US Marshals, FBI agents, National Guardsmen and out-of-town sheriff deputies about Ravensgate and the impending strike. Someone e-mails Joshua about two old Foundry cases: Vladek Grozny and the Vishenko funded Abu Scirocco, while it seems that a lot of Checkerheads went to Drs. Emil Kergillian (The Somnambulist) and Patria Morii (Lt. Shinmen’s ex-wife) for “sleep therapy.” Maybe this explains the irrational actions of the Police Guild? Joshua, Francois, Dani and Max try to decipher an eccentric piece of doggerel a psychic colleague of Joshua’s e-mailed to him and the team: Two
superheroes, Dani and Francois determine that it refers to the intersection of Cleveland Ave., Hogarth St. and Commerce Blvd. in front of the tony Zorro boutique (B-sharp), the Nehalem Bay Philharmonic Orchestra’s offices (B-flat), and Brewers’ Field (B-minor). On the way there, they witness two cop cars break off of a chase at the stroke of midnight. At the intersection, they interrupt the attempted assassination of Superintendent Snow as, elsewhere, Anarchists and National Guardsmen battle in the Downtown streets. The would-be assassins include 17 striking cops dressed as Anarchists, a sniper, clown Rusty Shrapnel, and Dominic “The Chef” Spanno. Velocity attempts to run down Spanno, who blows a 50-foot crater in the street and escapes. Again. SCU arrives seconds later, followed by Capt. Lilith Romanescu [first appearance], the acting second-in-command of the entire force. They decide it’s payback time against the local crime families, and, once the FBI and OSP are on-scene to debrief the team and seal off the crime scene, the SCU roars off toward Rust City. Before the night is over, Downtown will look like a war zone, Rust City will be in flames, our heroes will be one step behind all the action, and the violence won’t stop until heavy snow begins to fall. Issue #11 Backup Feature: There Went The Neighborhood. 31 March 2002. Jeopardy, Energon and two COMETPRO powered-armor agents thwart an attack upon a safe house sheltering Judge Inakimoto “Mad Moe” Ishii and City Attorney Bryan Sinclair. The heroes defeat Monkeywrench, Omerta, and BOB The Bio-Organic Battle-oid. They discover Ishii is a wicked shot with an M-16, and that Sinclair is a metahuman. Issue #12: “We Have Met The Enemy . . . .” 6 April 2002. Tabula Rasa calls a meeting of The Foundry—-at Rusty’s Ranch Burger in The Bottoms at 2 a.m.—-to discuss the findings of his investigation. He provides flowcharts and a detailed history of the Byzantine web of local corruption, right down to the Throckmorton family tree. Jeopardy, Velocity and Frisson contribute information as well, but Tabula Rasa has the floor most of the time. In attendance: TR, Velocity, Frisson, Jeopardy, Shadowstrike, Pyro. Not present: Nevermore (Joshua), Energon. (Porter has yet to make an appearance.) The rest of The Foundry learns that Tabula Rasa is suspicious of Joshua—on the basis that Joshua was once mind-controlled by The Somnambulist and may still be influenced. TR also reveals:
At the last revelation, Velocity reveals what he remembers about late-22nd-century cloning technology and a former colleague named Kergillian:
Pyro reveals his findings about the shooter who provoked the Checkerheads and National Guardsmen to fire into the crowd of rioters, and Frisson reveals that her cousin the mayor had received a Homeland Security alert—-which explains why she stayed close to that secret passage and grabbed Dani when Abu Scirocco attacked. The doubts expressed about Joshua lead Velocity to take blood samples from the assembled members of The Foundry. Only Velocity and Frisson test positive for Kergillian implants. The team decides to reconvene at Devereaux Manor to test the students and faculty—-especially Joshua—-and discusses tactics should Joshua take umbrage to being tested. Jeopardy is confident he can overcome any of Joshua’s possible objections without physical violence. Issue #13: . . . And It Is Us6 April 2002 The group makes it back to the Manor but is locked out. Energon, who is returning from clandestine clubbing, is also locked out. Second Cadre compatriot 'Porter attempts to sneak him back into the Manor through the undreground grotto--and ends up in the middle of a fight. The Foundry breaks into the briefing room from the grotto and is confronted by Joshua and the rest of the Second Cadre, who believe their front-line team (Foundry) has been corrupted by Kergillian implants. Tabula Rasa, Shadowstrike, Pyro and Jeopardy set up a line of defense while Velocity and Frisson retreat to the infirmary to concoct an antidote. Joshua, Kachina, Eric, Jen Locksley, Howard Hodgson and the myriad carbon copies of Lumiere swamp the defenders--now including a bewildered Energon and 'Porter. Frisson freezes the infirmary door shut. In the nick of time, Velocity comes up with a serum to purge Kergillian implants from the body, and then he and Frisson fight their way out of the infirmary. They spray Joshua with it. When he recovers, he orders all of the Second Cadre to stand down. Eventually, Velocity and Frisson test the rest of the Manor household for exposure. Only Joshua was affected, but that was enough to have started the fight in the infirmary and grotto. Velocity makes several hundred doses of the antidote serum, and he and Joshua ask Howard to give some doese to his pet mosquitoes as Plan B. The team presents their findings, and a case of serum, to Agent Marcoli. Issue #13 Backup Feature: . . . Take Me Out To The Ballgame 13 April 2002 Following up on a loose end, the team investigates the mysterious ballgame tickets referenced in the outer-space transmissions from Issue #12. Max and Howard team up to plant VoxDots throughout Brewers Field using cockroaches. The team overhears Agent Marcoli being extremely rude to, and threatening, some wiseguys. They also overhear some mysterious time travelers making references to Joshua being a Throckmorton, to Max being some pioneering chronoastronomer, and to Dani being an important figure in some future timeline. At the game, readers discover Tabula Rasa is the team's field leader. Velocity and Jeopardy, in order, are the backups. |
