Chicago:Team Infinity Historic Time Line:2004

2004

January 1, 2004 - March 6 (Sunday), 2004

March 7 (Sunday), 2004

Mona Loa Hotel In Hawaii Is Completed.

PRE SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 2004 SUMMARY

Previous Stuff

 AS TIME PERMITS THIS WILL BE SPREAD OUT AS APPROPRIATE. 

During the 15 months just past two members of Y Force were Killed; Fly Walker and Miracheete.

As of 3/13/2004 two members of the Bayou Brigade are in the Hospital in serious condition: Lynx and Sunfire.

Grimes located the following missing Students; Cory Wrins, David Walk, and Lisa Cupps.

Electra Torch (lightning) and Voodoo Horror (fireball) who were captured at the Wildwood Academy Raid by TI (Y-Force) are still in Federal Prison.

Carl Douglas is the DMI Liaison for Justice Patrol and Team Infinity.

Ghost Stalker (the 15 yr old) has not become active. This was the young Meta confronted by accident by Darkness.

A mansion formerly belonging to Victor Samuelson has been converted into a school for young people who possess (or have a high potential to develop) meta-abilities. Reg Myers has been spearheading this project, which has involved a number of IS/ISF personnel as well as members of various superteams. Among the first enrollees were several of the children rescued during the Wildwood raid. Presently the school is set up for up to 100 kids ages 12-18, and already has more applicants than it can accept, but there are ongoing plans for expansion.

Dr Grigori Pyotorovich has set up a number of neighborhood clinics which he oversees, and Sly has established a number of Glass Houses, family shelters, and community centers.

Infinite Solutions Foundation headquarters has opened in Chicago. The original base has also been retained as a satellite office. Earl Grimes made sure to go around to the neighbors of the latter location to try to ease their concerns about attacks against ISF.

In late November 2003 the Lampton Hotel in Boston hosted a black-tie gala on the eve of its grand opening. Among the attendees was Megan Starling, daughter of Sabrina and Jonathan Starling. She and Travis Burton wound up talking computers for a large part of the evening.

"Joe Lampton" appointed the new Board of Directors for Trifocus, consisting of:

• himself as Chair
• Sabrina Starling
• Chip (of Justice Patrol, a Chicago metateam)
• Xandu (a mage who is the ladyfriend of Shabaz, another member of Justice Patrol),
• Archwidow (of the Atlanta-based metateam Y-Force) and
• Starburst (a mage who is a member of the New Orleans-based metateam Bayou Brigade).

The new CEO is a man named Zeb Jelks, who establishes the new Trifocus HQ in Atlanta.

For some reason Enigma has decided that twice a day (8:00 am and 8:00 pm) he will allow IS personnel to transfer between the "Hawaii" world and the "Supers"/"Alternate Chicago" world. Enigma has also allowed certain additional IS personnel access to "Alternate Chicago". Several of those people immediately invited other people to visit, too. Reg Myers had already asked Jessica Spring and Strawberry Gdowski to help with the school and the design of the Danger Room (respectively). Jessica, who brings her precocious twins Jazzie and Jeff with her, soon acquires the affectionate nickname "Mega Mom".

Over the span of time between mid-October 2002 and mid-January 2003, the remnants of the Dragon Cult, with which John Whitetop had broken bread (or, rather, turnip), were rounded up and rendered harmless.

Rii tells Jarret should move the Wizard's Inn to this nice normal-mana world, but Enigma wants him to maintain the present location. (Rii wonders if that's why some of IS's more powerful mages are no longer around...)

Travis Burton personally inspects each of Trifocus' research centers. He learns that three of them have "pulled up stakes" -- one each of Body, Mind, and Spirit.

Earl Grimes and Evonne Nelms spend some time looking for Mark Yang, but they find no trace of him. However, they find hints that Yang has "collected" several of the missing kids from Wildwood as well as some alumni of that currently defunct institution. On June 14, 2003, Earl contacts Jason Rathbone and has him put a one million dollar bounty on Yang, and the following day Earl asks Reg whether the Mob might be enlisted to help search for Yang.

Another ongoing project for ISF is establishing contacts and good relations with other metateams across the United States and around the world.

August 18, 2003:

The newly-built ISF HQ opens in Chicago. Aboveground it looks to be a two-story mansion, and there are several subterranean levels.

Sometime in August(?) 2003, Kevin McGuire and Steve Williams go to Scotland to meet this world's Kev McGuire. They discover that the latter is a member of the metateam First Force.

The new school opens September 8, 2003 with an initial enrollment of 53 students. Three of them have been classified (by other psychologists, presumably) as sociopathic; Jessica is determined to help these kids as much as she possibly can, but she will not allow them to disrupt the school. The first semester passes relatively smoothly, and an additional dozen kids apply for the second semester.

March 7, 2004

Construction on the Moana Loa Hotel is completed in Hawaii and will be open for business in a few weeks.

Megan Starling moves to Chicago the weekend of March 5, so as to be there in time for St Patrick's Day. She buys a townhouse in Evanston IL. She gives Carl Corey a call and he comes and helps her move in.

DEMON GATE

March 13 (Saturday) 2004 through March 15 (Monday) 2004

• Demon Gate - Mob unrest, demon troubles, and a gate to hell.

PRE 9/10/2004 PREVIOUS STUFF

Interim Events - Catching up mid-March through mid-September 2004

Monday March 15, 2004 to Friday September 10, 2004

Y-Force has not permanently filled the two vacated slots. About 6 people have rotated through the 2 slots in the last 6 months.. Bayou Brigade are All doing well.

Electra Torch (lightning) and Voodoo Horror (Fireball) who were captured at the Wildwood Academy Raid by TI (Y-Force) are still in Federal Prison.

Carl Douglas is the Division of MetaHuman Information (DMI) Liaison for Justice Patrol and Team Infiniti. He has been granted an assistant - Donna Cartage - to help handle both teams.

In late August a new hero calling himself Ghost Stalker (the 15 yr old now 16) has become active. He has made limited appearances in western Chicago and Suburbs. This was the young Meta confronted by accident by Darkness.

The Academy began it’s second Year in late August 2004.

Dr Grigori Pyotorovich’s clinics and Sly’s Glass Houses, family shelters, and community centers are all doing well.

Lampton Hotel in Boston doing well.

Trifocus board of Directors remains unchanged.

The CEO of Trifocus, Zeb Jelks, is doing a good job. Trifocus HQ is in Atlanta.

Enigma’s twice a day (8:00am and 8:00pm) transfer schedule continues between the "Hawaii" world and the "Supers"/"Alternate Chicago" world. Enigma has also allowed certain additional IS personnel access to "Alternate Chicago". Jessica and her precocious twins Jazzie and Jeff spend a lot of time here. Jessica still has the affectionate nickname "Mega Mom".

The new school opens it second year on September 8, 2004 with an initial enrollment of 53 students. Three of them have been classified (by other psychologists, presumably) as sociopathic; Jessica is determined to help these kids as much as she possibly can, but she will not allow them to disrupt the school. The first semester passes relatively smoothly, and an additional dozen kids apply for the second semester.

Thursday April 1, 2004

Moana Loa Hotel is open for business.

MONDAY MARCH 15, 2004 TO FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2004

This world's Moana Loa Hilton opened on April 1. Rathbone claims he had nothing to do with choosing the date.

The Infinite Solutions Foundation owns two jets now, procured by Rathbone. Joking(?) discussion is made of how heavily to arm them.

Jessica gradually eased up on the Trifocus Academy lockdown, at first allowing groups of students to go off-campus with staff chaperones. Current requirements include going with at least one other person, carrying a cell phone, checking in at intervals, and reporting anything at all that arouses uneasiness or suspicion.

Warpath (John Whitetop) was invited to become a regular Irregular. He gets the specialized weaponry he requested from Miracle Tech.

The contest to rename Brunette Brain, secretly initiated and initially bankrolled by Megan Starling, is a big hit, drawing thousands of entries. Since Brunette Brain has power over insects and can throw energy blasts, fully one-fourth of the entries suggest the alias "Bug Zapper". (Megan herself firmly squashes this idea, despite Travis and Reg's enthusiastic "Just think of the endorsements and marketing tie-ins!") Other decent entries include Dragonfly, Scarlet Scarab, and Madame Butterfly. Reg and others do talk with Brunette Brain, and she graciously agrees to at least consider using the winning name. Joel Valdez does an exclusive interview with her a few days before the announcement. Megan contacts internationally-famous fashion designer Stella McCartney to design and prototype a new costume. There's a big outdoor bash on April 17th with rock bands and all kinds of fun. There's a drawing from among the 30 entries that had the winning name; the grand prize winner gets $25,000 and a new Mercedes, and the 29 first-place winners receive $1000 checks personally made out to them by Joe Lampton (Chairman of the Board of Trifocus). The winning name: Firefly. Valdez, of course, gets the first interview with Firefly.

The Irregulars are using Team Infinity's old HQ, rent-free. The publicity and sponsorships from the name contest help bring them more funding.

Megan spends the weekend of March 26th back in San Francisco with her family. Her brothers Trevor and Bradley and her sister Deirdre are there; Lynette, who's a police officer, isn't able to take off work.

Troublemagnet (Travis) turns his attention to busting up Mafia protection rackets. Neko (Brodie Cates) deals similarly with the Tongs. Frank Andrelli calls (on May 28th) Reg for the first time since the events of mid-March, wanting to know why "your people" are running them out of the rackets. Reg replies, "He doesn't like the idea of you charging people not to hurt them." Frank puts up no resistance; he says they will voluntarily get out of the "insurance business". In fact, Frank informs on "other guys" involved in "insurance". Reg learns that the way the Andrelli hierarchy shook out left Frank and Tim as co-capos.

Later, Tim Andrelli talks with Reg, who explains to him, "What Troublemagnet was objecting to was the fact that you were hiring supers." Tim: "We definitely take the lesson." They will continue to have no contact with The Exchange.

The media continue to buzz for a time about the appearance and now non-appearance of "Shining Knight". Since Thaemon has not made any more forays in that form, the papers are calling it a one-knight stand. Thaemon, meanwhile, attains his 4th level of Magery. Jessica has been very busy running Trifocus Academy. Using the Starling Foundation and Trifocus as search firms, she brings in a couple dozen candidates for teaching positions, and winds up hiring four - liberal arts, hard sciences, and two meta. (In interviewing the four candidates for meta, she decided there was something "fishy" about one of them; he seems like a "mastermind" wannabe. Blue Star (Darr) volunteers to investigate him.)

After a two-year hiatus, the Black Moon Society has reared its head in suburban Chicago. Thaemon, hoping to capture one of their number for questioning, attempts to bait them into stealing a fake magic item, but they avoid the trap. Perhaps they have a good seer.

Reg found out that on the day Yang last phoned Earl, the "moon mage" was staying at a certain hotel. Witnesses say that moon mage was in the lobby and almost fainted during a "major magic event"; when he recovered, he pulled out a cell phone and departed hurriedly.

Whitetop learns that about the same time, certain surveillance contracts were abruptly ended. Thunderbird pays a visit to some of these parties. Giving them cash as a memory aid, he tells them that if they're ever hired for that job again, take it... and tell him.

At the beginning of June (June 1st) in central California comes a report of a big fight where five meta-villains (of mid-range power) were killed. One of them was one of the missing students from the old Wildwood Academy. Apparently someone was trying to collect the million-dollar bounty on Mark Yang. The Los Angeles metateam investigated the incident. Reg gave police some background on the ex-student.

Though it has been a couple of years, there has been no word from Tiffany Vance, her mother, or the unicorns.

On June 8th, Trifocus Academy holds commencement ceremonies for its first eight graduates. The commencement speaker, the lady who is a member of the US House of Representatives from the Chicago area, gives a stirring speech that is well-received.

Jessica arranges to have several seminars given at the Academy over the summer months. One of them is taught by Dr. Adrian Paul. Brodie takes several students (who have no family to go home to) to Hawaii for their summer break.

Anthony Darr continues to build his intelligence network, extending into Europe and Southeast Asia.

The 2004-2005 school year opens at Trifocus Academy with 57 returning students (including 12 seniors) and 23 new ones. Jessica continues to oversee construction and expansion; she hopes to admit 250 students next fall.

Two Busy Days

September 11, 2004 through September 12, 2004

• Never Never Land - From Chicago to Never Never Land (and back again) and the Demon Team Threat.

• A Night at the Lampton - "Very severe danger" at The Lampton in Boston.

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2004 - DECEMBER 31, 2004

Return to Chicago/Supers