The Prosperity Problem

Featuring: Captain Scrappy, Land Shark, Magi

Captain Scrappy got a a call about a break-in on Lightfoot Island. Somebody broke into the old Prosperity Museum on Lightfoot Island. Oddly, although there was a lot of damage done, nothing was missing. They were wondering if Scrappy knew some super-hero types who might be able to look deeper into any supernatural or otherworldly angles.

Apparently not in any particular hurry, Captain Scrappy sent out emails to Magi and Land Shark. Land Shark was on board right away, but, unfortunately, Scrappy addressed Magi as "Magus" which offended the somewhat eccentric hero and kept him from responding. After some poking around at Magi's favorite haunts and bugging his friend Raven at the occult book store, Scrappy located him and convinced him to join the gang.

So, it was actually a few days later when the three heroes finally showed up at the Prosperity Museum. Scrappy had thought it would be a good idea to investigate covertly in civilian clothes, but hadn't told the others this, so they showed up in full super-hero regalia. One quick-change later, they were all in super-hero mode and ready to go. The Prosperity Museum, formerly the Prosperity Social Club, was mostly a repository for old pre-flood Cleveland memorabilia. There was stuff salvaged from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, junk from the old Christmas Story House (which survived the flood, but was destroyed later in a super-hero battle), and other "historical" items.

The store owner told them that nothing was missing, but also mentioned that the intruders had broken into a hidden closet that the owner hadn't even known was there. The heroes discovered evidence that someone with super-strength had been throwing furniture around, and Magi recognized a burn pattern similar to that left by the weapons of ancient enemies from the Dimension Q archives. They not only found nothing in the closet, but found no sign that anything had been in it for a long time. Captain Scrappy, after convincing one of the neighbors that he wasn't going to release his name, found out that the intruders wore armor, had folding mechanical wings, and had weird helmets that covered their eyes.

The owner hadn't known much about the history of the building between the time it was a bar and when he bought it, so, looking into the Hero Corps official database, they found out that it had actually been a storage facility for captured super-villain equipment. It turned out that, in 2007, everything had been moved to a new facility in an unmarked warehouse by the docks. They were able to obtain the address and moved on to check it out.

After getting past a couple of not-very-well hidden checkpoints, they were able to talk to an officer there who told them that the closet had been used to store equipment belonging to a villain called the Scorpion, who was currently incarcerated in the county prison south of Beta City (not having any powers without his equipment, he wasn't sent to the Gladstone Pits supervillain facility in Tripod City). While Scrappy and Land Shark continued to investigate the area, Magi bounded off to the prison with his super-leaping power.

At the prison, Magi spoke with Nick Veccic (Scorpion), who wasn't terribly helpful at first, but did admit that he didn't invent the technology he used, or even understand how it worked. After implying that he might be more helpful with a signed statement from a judge authorizing early release, Veccic clammed up. Magi distracted the clerk, forged a document from "Judge Wopner" and returned. Despite the obviously fake name, Magi was convincing enough in his other details to snow the less than intelligent former super-villain.

Veccic then revealed that "some chick" called Deathbird, who had apparently natural wings and a feathered crest instead of hair, had given him the suit. She had henchmen who fit the description of the museum robbers and only occasionally asked him to help out on a job as payment. The jobs always involved some sort of technology based super-being - including both heroes and villains - and generally ended with the items being packed away. Veccic had never bothered to ask what was going on, but also revealed that their usual meeting place was the old observatory on Chandra Hill in Beta City.

Land Shark, meanwhile, was busy tunneling around and destroying the water pipes at the warehouse. Apparently this was because of some misinterpreted instructions from Scrappy. Once Magi got in touch with them and shared his information, they decided to split up. Magi would go investigate the observatory while Scrappy and Land Shark guarded the warehouse, in case the raiders also found out where their quarry had been moved.

A few blocks from the observatory, Magi stopped leaping and approached on foot. As he closed in, he spotted a winged female figure perched on top, looking off towards the lake. He sent a text message informing Captain Scrappy and Land Shark that he had spotted Deathbird.

And that's all 'til next time.