[ICC] [VR] True Crime: Halcyon City

Halcyon City
The Birthplace of Opportunity​

Halcyon City has always been a place where you can find just about anything. It was the home of the first World's Exposition Fair and, most importantly, was the Birthplace of the person the world knows as the Alexandrian.

The discovery of individuals with powers was a Godsend, all but stopping the conflict that threatened to boil over in Europe. The great war that never happened. But with that crisis averted, the world rapidly began to change.

Today, Halcyon City boasts being the center of superhuman activity, for better or worse. The constantly shifting politics within the superhuman community has led to a set of clear rules that defy any precedent set by law:
• What happens behind the mask doesn't affect life when it comes off.
• Don't kill unless absolutely necessary.
• Don't cause trouble in neutral territory.

As long as these rules have been obeyed, the police of Halcyon City have been more than happy to not involve themselves in the disputes of beings who can fly and shoot lasers.

But just this week, two prominent superhumans in the community have been found dead in their homes, their costumes torn to shreds over their bodies.
Starbright, now known to be Luciana Prospero, the daughter of the head of the Prospero Crime family was the first.
The Alexandrian was the second.

Tensions are high and old grudges must be put aside to find out who was able to target and murder two powerful members of the community. If things keep going the way they are, the entire way of life could be disrupted for good.

Protect the city? Sure. But can you protect yourselves?​

OOC​

This is the VR ICC event associated with the Superheroes AU Contest held earlier in the month. You can find a directory of characters here. Be sure to PM a member of staff if you have any questions. In order to participate you must have filled out the AU form and posted it there!

The Event will run from 9:00am site time on Friday, March 23 until 11:59 Sunday, 25. Each member may only have two characters in the event, so choose wisely.

The standard assumed location of this event is a neutral territory speakeasy called the Alibi, unless otherwise stated.​

Event Updates​

Day 01: A body was found in the trash bins behind the Alibi. It belonged to Stitch, a surgeon in the employ of the Prospero family. She was very nearly dead, but the Doctor was able to heal her to where she could stitch the cut on her throat herself. She is now unconscious in the Alibi, having passed out from the strain.

Stitch later woke up and confirmed that she slit her own throat under some kind of mind control or psychic influence. Stitch left with Angelo to go back to her patients. It was also brought up that there was no forced entry or signs of struggle at the Starbright and Alexandrian murders.

Day 2: A body was thrown through the front window of the Alibi. It belonged to Placebo, a kind of healer hero. The Doctor got mind controlled into attempting to heal Placebo to the point of killing himself. Amadaeus paralyzed himself and Doctor to keep them from succumbing to the mind control further.

Angel, Fireantula, and others showed up. Angel and Fireantula chased an unknown person. Fireantula lost her mask and ended up getting mind controlled. Angel had to stop and save her from dying, letting the perp get away. Angel left to go report to the bosses, Lodestone and Fireantula left to go deal with getting Placebo's body back to HQ.

Fireantula eventually returned, searching for their mask but being unable to locate it. They described the culprit (brown hair, male, average build), and upon returning to the Alibi fixated on Mister Taylor, a mask who'd been visiting the Alibi for a few months. Twisting his arm, he confessed to being Copperhead and was allowed to leave, having outed himself as a hero.

Only for the real Copperhead to arrive shortly after, making it clear he wasn't Taylor. Blackout, Unstoppable Dash, and Copperhead set out to locate Taylor while The Doctor, Fireantula, and Tweak Harper stayed behind at the Alibi.

All Prospero and Union associates have been instructed to travel in groups as much as possible, and filled in on the above information, within reason.

Taylor was tracked down and brought back to the Alibi after a lengthy argument about telling the assembled masks the truth. There he was confronted with much hostility and the nature of his true identity was called into question. He claimed to be a reporter for the Halcyon Times, but when Copperhead called the person on the phone claimed that they had heard nothing about him.

Fireantula teleported to the roof with Taylor and was soon followed by Dash and Blackout. Dash went to the newspaper and broke in to confirm Taylor's identity, but was cut short when the police arrived. He returned, unable to confirm the information before doing so. It was eventually decided that Taylor would be taken to one of Fireantula's mother's safehouses until his identity could be 100% confirmed.

Meanwhile, Tweak shared his knowledge about a name, Bellandus, which he thought might be important. Amadaeys researched it and found it to mean, roughly, "to wage war."

Blackout teleported out with Taylor, leaving Fireantula and Dash who distracted the assembled masks in the bar long enough to make sure that they couldn't follow the trail. Fireantula questioned Copperhead and informally resigned from the Union Workers' League before web swinging away.

Sunshine went to investigate one of the Prospero warehouses near the West District, where she found everyone had been for around an hour. She called Angel at the Alibi and he, along with a group, went to the warehouse. Sunshine shows them where someone had scrapped "Bellandus which meant fought" into the ground.

Amadaeus showed up as well, leaving the group to be suspicious of how he knew about the killing. After some questioning, it was determined that Amadaeus and a member of the family were traitors and Dalia, Iggy, Tweak, and Angel killed Amadaeus. This is information all Prospero family members would know about.

Start of Day 3:

PROSPERO: Amadaeus is dead, having betrayed the family to have under the table dealings. A warehouse was destroyed the night before, and the suspect is believed to go by the name 'Bellandus'. Prospero's are expected to travel in groups.

UNION: Several Union healers have been targeted, and are encouraged to be extra cautious. Fireantula, real name Dalia, has quit the union and is being sought by the Union as a person of interest. Mister Taylor, claimed to be a newspaper reporter, is also being sought.

EVERYONE: The Halcyon City Times building was broken into late last night, although no one was caught and (seemingly) nothing was taken.

Day Three:

Overnight there was a fire at a Prospero run brothel. In the rubble, the body of the Prospero associate Inferno was found, dead from power overuse. Shortly after, a Union office caught on fire, and it was determined that the hero Flashpoint was the center of it. Through some impressive heroics, the Unstoppable Dash was able to stop them, dragging them to safety as the building burned. Both Flashpoint and Dash sustained only minor injuries.

At both scenes were notes with matching messages: "They can't protect you" and "They can't save you". Both were signed with an enigmatic B.

By collecting a variety of clues, both sides were able to determine that the mind controlling suspect--being referred to as 'Hypno' by most--was associated with the Bellandi Family, the Prospero's former rivals before their move to Halcyon city. The Bellandi's spread out within the city, but have popped up in the past to hassle the Prospero family in a variety of ways over the years. Most modern Prospero's aren't even aware of the family, with only the really old members knowing anything about them.

The group determined that Hypno was likely going after heavy hitters in both organizations to cause mass damage and panic. The doctor came by and said that Hydra, a powerful veteran hero with water control, was missing. Dalia, Blackout, and Dash went to the docks as the most likely place he would be going. There they fought and beat Hydra, who was attempting to create a tidal wave to flood Halcyon City. The other group went to the Union HQ and met up with Copperhead. The suggestion was made that they go to the Prospero mansion and try to stop Hypno before he struck there.

Everyone met at the mansion and after a heated argument with the don and the bosses, Angel kicked everyone out of the boardroom and spoke to the Don alone. The don agreed to meet with the assembled group alone since some of the other bosses didn't want to give a second chance.

During the meeting, Dalia realized Hypno was in the warehouse and Sunshine helped her to lock it down. After telling Angelo and the Don, it was determined that Hypno was one of the Family Capos who had left the building. Sunshine figured out the most likely place he was and the group, minus Angelo and the Don headed into the sewers where the final battle took place.

Micky, a hard-hitting Capo was planning to destroy an entire section of the city by hitting the weakest point that had been set up via every other attack. Tweak, Blackout, Dash, Hyun Ki, and Sunshine all fought Micky, the fight ended with Tweak shooting him in the head twice.

Afterward, they returned to the mansion to tell Angelo and the Don that things were safe once more and the simulation officially ended.​