If Fish Could Talk

Part III of The Prosperity Problem

Featuring: Land Shark, Magi, Torpedo

Somewhat demoralized and unsure what to do next, the heroes milled around indecisively for a bit. Captain Scrappy was called back to deal with something in Tripod City, but stayed long enough to introduce Torpedo, an Atlantean prince and pet store owner (specializing in salt water aquariums). There was some concern that, without Captain Scrappy, the team would just be a Pile, but eventually they got over it.

Anyway, after a quick background check from Scrappy, they accepted Torpedo into their ranks, Captain Scrappy left, and the team went back to work.

Remembering that Deathbird had flown toward the lake, the team started searching in that direction. Torpedo went for a swim and the others rented a boat. As they searched farther and farther north for anything unusual in Lake Mohawk, Land Shark, frustrated by the tedious and potentially fruitless task, mused that he had never thought he'd find himself wishing for an aquatic teammate with fish telepathy.

Eventually, Torpedo spotted a heavily laden boat heading north and followed it. This led them to an island with a hidden cove, where a bestial humanoid was directing two armored men, who fit the description of the warehouse raiders, in unloading the boat. Once everyone was ready, or maybe a little bit before, the Scrap Pile attacked. Torpedo, living up to his name, shot through the water at full speed and leaped out at the last minute to take a flying punch at the "werewolf." Following his example, Magi burst into flames, bounded across the cove, and cannonballed into one of the armored goons, who blocked him partially with an energy shield and blasted him. Land Shark stayed put for the moment.

Before the beast-man could do anything, Torpedo downed him with another punch. Land Shark squashed one of the goons with an earth fist and Magi, despite his wounds, finished off his own opponent and took his gauntlet. Land Shark was particularly enamored of the glider wings and grabbed a set of those for himself. Magi found he was able to heal himself with the gauntlet, but began to suspect that he was somehow becoming addicted to it.

Ignoring the boxes on the pier, the team moved on down the road and found a wide, deliberately-flattened clearing with a shed at the edge. Land Shark reconnoitered for underground facilities, destroying the shed and pushing up great mounds of earth all through the flat space. Then he tried out his new wings and saw a helicopter approaching from the north. The heroes hid in the trees around the clearing and watched. The helicopter approached, hovered briefly over what used to be its landing pad, then started to climb again.

Land Shark asked if anyone had seen Jaws 2, then pulled down the helicopter with a giant earth hand. Apparently the shark got a helicopter in Jaws 2. Working the battered pilot and co-pilot for information while pretending to be working for the same organization, they discovered that the local person in charge was someone called "Plague Dog," and that this stuff was being stolen for an organization called the Unbeholden. After picking up cargo here, the copter's next destination was "Ocelot Bay" to the north.

Gathering up their captives, the team headed back to Beta City to return the stolen goods. Magi also wanted to visit Nick Veccic in the county prison. Under threat of barbeque and letting everyone in the prison know he had helped super-heroes, Veccic revealed that he had also heard something about a place called Wentworth's from a villain called The Grasshopper, in connection with the technological enhancements he and his cohorts had been given. He suspected that the only reason Grasshopper would have done this could be that the store was crooked somehow.