Cecily's player couldn't make this session. We started with Seth going in front of a FISA court. I don't know jack about FISA, but neither did anyone at the table (hey, it's SECRET, 'kay?) so that was all right. I set a scene with three judges who'd been gotten out of bed and informally gathered at one's home. 

One of them had worked with Seth in the past and was on a first name basis so, once again, the mutant public defender got a free pass. It didn't hurt, of course, that Seth hadn't done anything illegal. He'd talked to Chlotilde, he'd arranged a set of signals by which they could arrange a meeting, and he'd used said signals exactly once -- and got shot at that meeting. He got a stern talking-to, was gently told how to find out the truth the next time someone claimed to be from Homeland Security. Emerging, he overheard Mitch on his cell phone.

MITCH: Listen, I'm dealing with a genuine fire here, so don't call me for... look, take away his matches, okay? Are you an agent, or do I have to hold your hand while you take a piss?

Getting off the phone, he asked Seth what had happened, and smiled when Seth told him there were no charges.

MITCH: That's good. You can keep doing your job, and leave the spy games to the professionals, eh?
SETH: Yeah. Who is Chlotilde Giroux, anyhow?
MITCH: It's... complicated. She's not exactly an enemy, but she's not one of ours. She works for Projekt ELSA, the occult spy arm of the EU. She's nominally on the side of the angels, but she still shouldn't be playing in our sandbox. You need a ride home?
SETH: I'll fly.
MITCH: Whatever. I thought you might be tired. I sure as hell am.
SETH: I don't really get tired. I sleep a few hours a night, just to stay in practice.
MITCH: You mutants.

He then reinforced that Seth was to bring him the notebook if he got hold of it, then departed. Bolt, in the meantime, had teleported along with their car, presumably popping from high point to high point on the landscape. Kids, teleportation is POWERFUL. He took a position in a tree, out in the rain, and waited. After failing a few Sight rolls (lingering sarin gas effects? Or something else?) he was startled by a woman's voice appearing from nowhere. It said, "I suppose by now you know I am not with the Department of Homeland Security."

BOLT: Excuse me? Um... where are you?

Chlotilde gradually became visible, sitting on the branch next to him. She fessed up to working for the EU, told them that it was in no free country's interest for A Letter From Prague to get away with the notebook.

BOLT: What about this Mitch guy? What's his story?
CHLOTILDE: Ah, Mitch. He is... how would you say? "A twenty-two caliber mind in a forty-five caliber world"? Skilled within his narrow field of expertise, but he is a sorcerer in the service of a government that is, mm, spiritually opposed to the idea of working with the occult. Even in pursuit of the higher good. He has the unfortunate fate of being a necessary evil in the service of starry-eyed idealists who believe they can achieve the best outcome with virtuous methods because Jesus loves them. So he must keep a low profile. But at the same time, they are looking for an excuse to be rid of him, so he needs to parade a steady stream of results. Nobody likes him.
BOLT: Yeah, I can see why.
CHLOTILDE: He has his uses. It is not difficult to predict how he will react, and as I mentioned, he has some skill. Nonetheless. He is indicative of everything wrong with the US occult intelligences.

Bolt reiterated his interest in freelancing for Chlotilde, and she assured him that his rewards would be great if he got them the notebook.

INTERLUDE: THE GAME WITHIN THE GAME

I'm now going to introduce a metagame activity for y'all reading at home: The Grim War Drinking Game! Every time you read the word 'notebook,' drink. Every time Ben Franklin gets summoned, finish the cup.

SESSION SIX CONTINUED

I think we had a couple days fast forwarded in there, and then a fun little side scene. It involved Tracy, who's sorta my character and sorta a GMC and sorta group property. The other characters were two thugs named Joe Broni and Joe Moke.

GM: Your getaway driver, Joe Mamet, is in the car.
SETH'S PLAYER: Did you just make a joke about the prophet?!?
GM: No! It's a 'yo mama' pun!
BOLT'S PLAYER: You're just lucky it's not in print.

Seth's player and Bolt's player took the roles of the Joes, while Leo's player handled Tracy and I adjudicated.

GM: You Joes think of yourselves as John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in "Pulp Fiction." You're streetwise cool thugs who do whatever dirty bidness your boss requests. Lately, that's been a lot of kidnapping... a girl a few months ago, and now some senior citizen in Cincinnati. Should be a cakewalk, this guy's OLD, you're tough, and you've got badass enchanted guns that are completely silent. Broni, yours is a shotgun loaded with beanbag rounds, and Moke has a long-barreled revolver full of those rubber bullets the Israelis shoot at Palestinians. You've also got your basic kidnap kit -- disposable handcuffs, rope, duct tape...
SETH'S PLAYER: ...adult diapers...
BOLT'S PLAYER: Dude, how long is the drive to where we're taking him?
SETH'S PLAYER: Not for him, for me! I ain't goin' out like Vinnie Vega, shot on the toilet reading 'Modesty Blaise'!

They positioned themselves and then I turned to Leo's player and had him roll Tracy's Detect Life power as he pulled in.

LEO'S PLAYER: Got it.
GM: Two people in the house, probably Leo and one of his friends. Probably Cicely wanting you to use your Satan-inspired powers, AGAIN, to help her continue her nefarious enchantments... You walking or driving?
LEO'S PLAYER: Driving. I was out getting some beer and a few DVDs. No porno, but maybe High Noon...
SETH'S PLAYER: No porno?
LEO'S PLAYER: ...Conan...
BOLT'S PLAYER: The first Conan, right? 'Cause there really is no such movie as Conan the Destroyer. It's just a do-over.

When Tracy got inside, Broni and Moke both opened fire. Little did they suspect that this particular retiree was juiced up with (1) decent, though not inhuman strength, (2) several layers of Extra Tough and (3) enough armor that even normal bullets would bounce off him much of the time. Consequently, the shotgun beanbag to the chest felt like a punch and he dodged out of the way of the gunshot, dropping his beer in the process.

LEO'S PLAYER: Those 'Nam reflexes just kicked in.
GM: He's pretty spry for an old dude who got shot in the chest.

Tracy fled to the garage with Broni in hot pursuit while Moke ran out the front and waited.

LEO'S PLAYER: Is there anything in the garage I could use as a weapon?
GM: Hm... not really, unless you grabbed a hoe or a shovel.
LEO'S PLAYER: Shovel.
GM: Or the pitchfork. There's a pair of pruning shears, they're pretty sharp. Or the stumping axe. You just put gas in the chainsaw, too.
BOLT'S PLAYER: You know what's really wicked? Those poles with a sort of flat, triangular blade for chopping ice.
GM: Oh yeah, there's one of those too.
LEO'S PLAYER: I'll grab the closest polearm thing and swing it into his legs as he comes out the door.
SETH'S PLAYER: I'm trying to stay close behind him and shoot him as soon as I get in the garage.

Rolling, they both missed, so I ruled that Broni had tripped and that, along with the sudden darkness, had ruined his shot. Moke, having waited, decided to run around to the garage side door. I rolled randomly, fifty/fifty chance of there being a door, and there was.

GM: (to Seth's Player) Suddenly the door jerks open! There's someone there, silhouetted against the light! HE'S GOT A GUN!
SETH'S PLAYER: I know I've got a partner... but brains aren't really this guy's strong suit, and he's already rattled, so let's see if I freak out. (Rolls.) I shoot the doorway!
LEO'S PLAYER: I'm trying to grab the shotgun.
BOLT'S PLAYER: I'm shooting the old guy.

Comic wrestling ensued. I don't recall the blow-by-blow but do remember telling someone, "Your hand whips back and hits the doorway, hard. It really stings!" It ended with both Joes fleeing while Tracy ran upstairs to get his OWN guns. Broni left his magic scattergun behind, Tracy called Leo, and Leo called Seth. After some discussion, they decided not to involve the police, since doing so would almost certainly out Tracy as a mutant and he'd gotten enough grief on that score. They also checked over the shotgun and determined that it was utterly silent no matter what ammo they used. Seth was semi-covetous, but Tracy said he'd heard that meant there was actually some kind of spirit inhabiting the gun. They eventually encased it in quick-crete and threw it in the river.

The next day, Seth got a visitor at his office. It was Eden Majors, trying best she could to subtly pressure him into letting her look over the notebook if and when he got it. They seemed to get along pretty well. He also found out that Cecily had been brought in for questioning, held in an interrogation room for about a half an hour, and then released without being interrogated. "Sorry," the cops told her. "Sorry we wasted your time."

The men got together and mused over what to do.

SETH: Honestly, I'm thinking about moving to Canada.
LEO: You want to be Captain Toronto?
GM: M'sieur Quebequois can't understand why all the other mutants laugh at his name.
LEO: It's a setting ripe for adventure. Mounties, hockey, shootouts in the maple tree groves, ninjas on the Niagara...
GM: Oooh, "Ninjagara"! I may have to use that some time.

Presently, Bolt got a call from Chlotilde, informing him that she'd tracked down the Letter From Prague. She provided an address. At the same time, an anonymous call gave Seth the exact same information. Seth grudgingly called Mitch, who was seemed harried and distracted.

MITCH: An anonymous call? How... how much stock do you put in it? You say it was a woman, huh... and she knew about A Letter From Prague. Okay, I'm up to my elbows in alligators here in Dayton, it's a real... I need you to handle this for me. Bring him in. Get the notebook.

Seth contemplated bringing in a SWAT team, but he was wary. He knew Letter From Prague was some kind of super-spy, and he was in an apartment building in a residential area. (The building had a meandering ravine in back, a street in front, a car dealership on one side and a large home on the other.) He decided to go cowboy with Bolt and Leo instead. Cecily got left out, putatively because she's not mutated and actually because her player was absent. Tracy found out about the mission and insisted on accompanying them.

LEO: Uncle Tracy, no...
TRACY: If you're going, I'm going.
LEO: This isn't your fight.
TRACY: You're my fight.

With that, he put the purple metal-flake spoiler helmet on.

In actual fact, Tracy was quite useful, in that he could scan the building and tell them that there were four life-forms in the target apartment (though one of them was 'weird'), two people in the apartment above and one in the apartment below. The apartments on either side were empty. Bolt, after a few attempts, got into one and got his bearings sufficient to bop back out and return with the posse. Tracy and Leo went to knock on the front door, while Seth waited and then crashed through the wall.

GM: You're in the bathroom.
SETH: Anyone there?
GM: Fortunately for everyone's dignity, no, but you hear people jumping up and yelling "What the hell?"
LEO: I'm breaking the door in with the Alter.
GM: You wearing it like a suit?
LEO: Yeah.
BOLT: Can I see anyone yet?
GM: No, you're behind Seth, there's plaster dust all over, you can't see clearly enough to teleport in.

In the living room was the thirteen-year-old girl they'd seen before, Nikolai from the bar (who was pulling on his 'cylon gas mask' as they entered) and a tall piece of Eurotrash in a sharp black suit running for the back bedroom. The little girl tried to block their way, and Seth knocked her into the ceiling above the couch. She was unharmed. Nikolai started shooting, Leo/the Alter started punching, Seth went after the Nikolai, Tracy opened fire and Bolt teleported in just as the little girl pulled out another tear gas canister.

BOLT: I'm going to grab it if she drops it, or her if she keeps hold of it, and teleport out.
GM: Out to where?
BOLT: The air over the ravine.

If I recall correctly, Seth broke one of Nikolai's arms and Leo broke the other.

NIKOLAI: I surrender.

Bolt took the little girl out, jumped again and dropped her. She hit hard, then popped right back up, screaming that she was being attacked by an evil mutant. Bolt saw her pull out a hand grenade and teleported away to the car dealership. Tracy ran after Letter From Prague and caught an armor-piercing bullet that trailed weird, glowing green smoke for his trouble. They were closing in on him in the bedroom when something appeared in the air outside his window. It was a flying, golden, four-foot-tall winged mantis with some kind of gold medallion or seal around its neck.

GM: Sanity rolls, please.

Leo blew it. (He's been saving his XP to pimp out the Alter, even though Stability is an inexpensive skill.) Rather than lose all his Willpower, he lost half and fled into the living room.

BOLT: Mm, Leo, why don't you go watch the prisoners.
LEO: Watch. Yes. Go.
MANTIS: Give me the notebook.
GM: You see Letter From Prague blink, look dazed, and then hold out... a bic pen. Tracy says, "That pen... it's alive!"

Seth grabbed the pen, Bolt opened fire, and Leo was in the perfect position to see four guys come through the door brandishing guns. Tracy recognized Broni and Moke, and this time they were accompanied by Mamet and Bhodi. The Alter started punching, Tracy and the bad guys started shooting, and Bolt initiated a power called 'Rend the Skies.' For you WT fans, it's Harm 1+HD+WD, Slow 2, Electrocutes, and it has a shit ton of extra damage. The Letter kept dodging everything, Seth was warned not to chase the mantis, and it kept telling him to give it the notebook. It had Command 10, so resisting a direct order from it costs a Willpower point.

And behind the four gunmen came a dark-haired woman and an old adversary.

LEO: Mime!!!!

The struggle got more and more convoluted. Letter From Prague got knocked out at some point, and chained to the fire escape. Leo got walled up by the Mime, tried to have the Alter strike through it and encountered resistance. The skies were rent, and the mantis was definitely hurt, but not down for the count. Seth and the mantis came into the room, and the newcomers made their sanity rolls. Or failed to make them, in at least one significant case.

GM: The four Joes take one look at the mantis and decide to straighten up and fly right. They're getting the hell out. The Mime looks... (rolls) and sinks to the floor, gape-mouthed in awe. Then the Mantis tells the Mime, "Kill them." He starts making an imaginary bazooka.
BOLT: Take it from me, that thing hurts. Bad.

The woman ran, the mantis asked for the notebook (again), and everyone uncorked what Sunday punches they had left. The bazooka hit Seth real bad and got Bolt with some ancillary damage, but Leo was protected by the Mime's own wall. The Alter reformed behind the Mime and decked him, while Seth and Bolt double teamed the Mantis to destruction.

GM: ...and then the floor collapses.
PCS: What?
GM: This building was not constructed to withstand bazooka rounds.

Seth heard a the sound of squealing metal and flew over to see the whole structure of the fire escape peeling away from the side of the building. He grabbed it and slowed it down, but deliberately shifted it so that it crushed both legs of his unconscious prisoner.

Tracy detected someone alive, but fading, in the rubble of the apartment below. The Alter shifted the wreckage and Tracy tried to heal the bleeding fat man but... no. Couldn't get the roll. Who could have arranged for Tracy's power to crap out on him when it was time to save an innocent? Could it be... SATAN?!?

The unconscious Mime started to stir, and Seth smacked him.

LEO: Um... oh, maybe...
SETH: What? How d'you expect me to keep him controlled? He escaped the hospital when they practically made him into a mummy.

Bolt, meanwhile, started teleporting around looking for the little girl. Sure enough, he saw her in a taxi, pulling onto the interstate. Despite the Difficulties of getting into a moving car, he managed it, only to have her open the door and jump out.

GM: Roll Sense+Sight.
BOLT: Made it!
GM: How many hand grenades can one little girl carry? Well, it's one less now, 'cause she left it on the floor of the cab when she jumped out.

Bolt grabbed the cabbie and teleported to safety just as the car exploded. He saw the little girl, who'd hit the pavement at 70 mph, roll down an embankment, jump up, and run off unharmed. Couldn't pursue further, though I can't really remember why.

Every emergency service imaginable showed up and informed the PCs that the Mime was now dead.

SETH: Really?

We left it there, with Seth clutching a pen that was apparently a standard Bic rollerstic, but which was also (apparently) the notebook and also (seemingly) alive.