The case of the mystery drug

Continued from: The case of Fred's crazy ex

Participants
James, Edgar, Francine

Act 3
Now knowing that a frontal assult is a useless tactic against their target, the team is forced to find a new solution. Reading the dossier handed to them by SEA, they find out that the Ex was the subject of a government program performing research on a as of yet mostly unresearched drug that had arrived on the market just months ago.

The origins of the drug being unknown, they were still aware of what it did. It gave normal people superpowers. Temporarily. And was highly addictive, as well as having adverse effects on the mental state and physical health of long-time users.

Deciding that they needed to research the drug in order to know how to counter its' effects on the Ex, they began cracking down on drug dens and dealers in their area.

Once more, Edgar was the one to find the first substantial clue. Visiting the local Wallmart, Edgar saw a shady deal going down on a nearby street corner. Seeing drugs change hands, Edgar decided to intervene. Approaching the deal, his very presence made the druggie and the dealer split up and make a break for it, altough this was a really stupid decision.

Calling on Actionvan to capture the dealer, Edgar set off after the buyer and the strange pills, quickly overtaking the normal human and tackling him to the ground. Meanwhile, Actionvan captured the secondary target, opening its' sliding back doors and making a action-movie spin to knock the target on his face inside the car.

With the superhero-drugs and suspects in hand, Edgar simply handed the criminals over to the cops while hiding away the drugs that they had been chasing.

Of course, not before learning where the dealer had aquired his stash.

Act 4
Returning to the headquarters with his haul, Edgar presented it to James who happened to be the only one in the building at the time since Fred had decided to pursue a more private line of inquiry.

James understandably didn't even want to touch the illegal substance, but agreed that they should probably analyze the stuff to find out what it was made of.

It was at this time that they were interrupted by clanking from downstairs.

Having not been aware that they had neighbors, Edgar went downstairs to the second floor to greet the new arrival.

Arriving downstairs, he found that the second floor was occupied by a workshop that was filled to the brim with complex machinery, forges, metal, and other materials used in engineering.

In the middle of all this was a rather pretty woman, who was rather surprised that she had neighbors as Edgar introduced himself.

She introduced herself as Francine, and had a short conversation with Edgar about the business upstairs before Edgar politely excused himself, offering her to come over for a coffee any time.

Bringing James with him, Edgar departed the headquarters and started tracking down the people supplying the drugs to the dealers.

Act 5
Tracking down the dealers proved to be less complicated than expected, as when they arrived at the location Edgar had gained from the dealer, James quite litterally stumbled through the front doors of a biker-gang-only bar.

The local criminals proved less than welcoming to their unbidden guest, and as they began to attack the budding hero, Edgar called for the cops to back them up.

This would prove unneccessary, as by the time the police arrived, James had not only knocked out a dozen regular criminals, but also defeated a handful of super-powered villains powered by the super-human drug.

Sadly, one of the villains had used his fire-based power indoors, setting the whole building ablaze. The resulting fire claimed a few of the criminals' lives, as Edgar, the police and James were unable to evacuate all the unconcious badguys in time.

Quite shaken by this turn of events, James chose to return to his home to spend the evening alone with his television and the internet. James, on the other hand, returned to the headquarters. He spent the evening tracing the criminals from the bar, as well as looking for patterns in the appearance of super-drug addled villains appearing around the city.

Having fallen asleep in front of the computer with little results to show for it, Edgar is awakened by a knock at the metal-grate door of the elevator.

Looking up to find Francine standing there, Edgar is asked if he's interested in that cup of coffee that he offered her.

Sitting well into the night with their hot bewerages, Edgar and Francine hit it off very well; and by the first light of day they separate with a kiss on Edgar's cheek, and Francine's promise to help Edgar in his quest of ridding the city of the horrors of the super-drug.