#54

"The Lions Den"

Date: 01/11/89

Campaign Date: 01/04/89


A strange missile suddenly appears over the partially-reconstructed Loman building, then demolishes it. The ensuing commotion draws the Mist and Phantashia to investigate, and also attracts the attention of the visiting Captain Comet and Maleketh (no, I don't know what the heck a "Maleketh" is, either).

Dreadnaught is poking around in the debris, looking for something, probably a fight. He attacks the arriving heroes, but never really stands a chance against the four of them and is won-tonned!

A National Guard armored personnel carrier is stolen from the armory at Enumclaw. Then another of those funky missiles does major structural damage to UNCLE Regional HQ.

The Ani-Men, refugees from The Island of Doctor Moreau who hadn't been heard from in several years, swarm into the HQ and proceed to trash the personnel while searching for any files pertaining to "Q".

Frog, bird, ape, cat, every one is pounded flat by the same quartet of heroes. One of the Ani-Men has a business card (maybe he's a salesman. Yeah.) from the Lion's Den, the Northwest's exclusive Roman-themed nightspot. Sort of Caesar's Tahoe meets Goldfinger.

Our heroes decide that they just have to get inside. Phantashia as Tasha gets Maleketh and the Mist in, and Captain Comet uses his connections with a Senator to get in. Maleketh tries to play tough guy and blows drugs onto the floor, and almost gets booted out by long-haired Sampson, the doorman.

Daniel Roche, the man who constructed the club, seems to know who the disguised heroes actually are, a feat made less impressive by the fact that Maleketh and Phantashia have come as they are, only formal.

On Patrol near the waterfront (this is Seattle - everything's near the waterfront!) Cap and Maleketh discover the APC and follow its tracks to a large dockside warehouse. Evidently someone is attempting to start up the manufacture of "Q" again. "Q", the wonder drug that works wonders.

In the warehouse, the guys spot the musclebound Rhino, the high-tech Beetle, and the solemn Blacklash. The trio of New York based villains is supervising a crew of generic thugs, who seem content to load up crates.

Captain Comet decides to notify Forte about this - surprise, the two heroines show up - as well as the police, so the cops can surround the place and nab any stragglers.

Once everyone is in position, the heroes roar in on the villains like a freight train, running over the Rhino, blasting the Beetle and beating on Blacklash. The thugs get smart and high-tail it out of there, or try to - the ones who aren't flattened by heroes are stopped by cops.

Their working vacations over, Captain Comet returns to Sacramento, and Maleketh heads home as well.