Sunday, Voltage spends the day back at the secret base, making some alterations to her new car, incorporating parts from the Hovermower, as well as various bits of technology around the base. Abigail XR-37 assists her, and Voltage tries to engage her in small talk, to little avail. She takes some time to check her email, exchanging messages with Iron_Angel (Lilah D'Angel), and scheduling a meeting with her on Tuesday evening to talk about things. She also exchanges some emails with Colonel_Chaos. The Colonel appears to be another "awakened NPC", though he is still absorbed by his role as a "super-villain" and believes that this is all some sort of alien plot meant to trap him in a false reality and thus thwart his plans for world domination. While she's there, Scars finally shows up. He was gone for a long time, first trying to find a safe place to park - and then giving up and trying to find this "secret base". Finally, come morning, Kathmandu, Fireman, Rose and Vixa have left - and Scars finally finds the right place - the "Quicky Car Shop". He goes up to the door, occasionally giving nervous glances back at his car parked across the street. He rings the bell, and hears what sounds like a klaxon going off somewhere inside the shop. A moment later, the door clicks, as the electronic lock opens. Then, the garage door rolls up. Scars takes the clue, and drives his car in, chasing away some skulking shadows that have gotten too close to his vehicle.

He gets inside, and then the garage door closes. The floor lowers. He hops out of his car, but decides that it's too late to do anything but to ride on down and see what's happening. Then, he finds himself in ... the secret base. He's astounded to see this place come to life from the holographic layout he had put together at the "real estate office". Voltage is there, working on her hovercar, with the help of Abigail XR-37. Voltage makes introductions, and tries to fill Scars in on the events of the previous night.

Meanwhile, Kathmandu, Fireman, Rose and Vixa head out to the Superior Shopping Center, where they commandeer the public internet terminals, and do some hunting around on the Superior City Forums. Vixa, Kathmandu and Rose all manage to sign on. Kathmandu receives a deluge of messages - most of them challenging him, some of them from heroes vowing to defend him, and others too incoherent to make any sense of ... but almost all of them in response to his posts on the forum. He makes some apologies to "SpandX", and arranges for a meeting at midnight at the Onionskin Game Store, to talk about possible hacks.

For his part, Fireman is intent upon getting names of the various administrators, and finding "cheat codes". He comes up with wild ideas about how to beat the system, such as by somehow typing in "cheat codes" to make themselves invincible, and perhaps to take on the appearance of the "admins".

Rose spends her time just getting a general sense of the forums, trying to figure out who these people are, and what walks of life they might come from. What are hot topics for them? Can they be reasoned with? And in the process, she discovers a matter of possible alarm. The deal with the owners of the "Turtle Ninjas" franchise has fallen through, and the "Ninja Pizzeria" is due to be removed from the system - along with all characters associated with the franchise. What will that mean for Turtle Ninja? she wonders, but he's not around to warn just yet. So, she wanders off with Vixa for a bit, to peruse other things in the mall.

This all takes the better part of the day; in the evening, Kathmandu and Fireman are joined by a surprise visitor in a trenchcoat and a battered fedora, smelling of sewage: Turtle Ninja! Rose tries to share her warning to Turtle Ninja, but he's befuddled by the whole thing. He relates a bit about his misadventure of escaping the "mysterious blue bands" that surrounded Scars's house - and then discovering that the house had changed, and that it seemed to belong to someone else. He had spent time since then, wandering around aimlessly, but finally had a hunch that the Shopping Center might be a good spot to check out in hopes of running into his comrades again.

So, Kathmandu, Fireman and Turtle Ninja head back to the base, where they meet up with Voltage and Scars again. They head to the meeting area, where Voltage entertains and alarms Turtle Ninja by demonstrating the holographic "ninja fountain" - and then she fools with it to generate a "zombie swarm" and then a horde of "cute fluffy bunnies". Then, they break the news to Turtle Ninja that this is all really just a virtual environment, that there's a big AI by the name of Zeus that controls it, and that there's an older AI, Morpheus, that is somehow in the system, and trying to avert catastrophe. That is, they fear that once the system goes "public" and millions of players flood the system, something is going to happen to cause all the players to die, and to give Zeus self-awareness ... and who-knows-what else. They believe that there's a conspiracy - that many of the programmers, if not all, actually expect and want this thing to happen, though they aren't entirely sure just why. Morpheus seeks to stop it, and has been trying to help our heroes - such as by helping them set up a "pocket" area in this meeting room where they are safe from eavesdropping by the system. Beyond that, though, they're not immediately clear on just what they can do, though they've heard rumors about another "world" that might be accessible through the Universe system - a place called "DungeonWorld" - a relic of the old Morpheus system. (What good that would do is unclear, but perhaps it might hold more answers ... or at least a way to get out of Zeus's realm of influence.)

Turtle Ninja is traumatized by all this, loudly exclaiming that he's REAL, and that he's not a computer game character. (He also suffers from some terrible headaches and nosebleeds as the others try to persuade him. He even finds that some of his own memories don't make sense: he remembers, as part of his life, events from all of the different incarnations of the "Turtle Ninja" comics and cartoons - which have all sorts of inconsistencies between them.)

Seeing as it is getting late in the evening, Kathmandu recalls that he's got a meeting with SpandX to attend, so they all head back to the Superior Shopping Center. There they find Rose. Rose gives Turtle Ninja her warning - that it's possible that the Ninja Pizzeria will be removed soon, and that might spell trouble for Turtle Ninja and his "brothers". This prompts more hysteria from poor Turtle Ninja. Kathmandu goes to buy a bouquet of flowers at Florarama as a gift for SpandX, at the recommendation of Voltage. Scars and Fireman, meanwhile, go to check out the Onionskin Game Shop, and the arcade next door. The Onionskin Game Shop, ironically enough, has some game tables in the back, where several people in superhero costumes are huddled around a table, rolling dice, calling out the actions of their "characters", while one of their number huddles behind a "DM screen" and declares the outcome of their efforts. In the arcade, there are numerous arcade games, running from vintage consoles up to more elaborate VR immersion games and holographic games. In a huge arena, a couple of superheroic types face off against each other in a dramatic battle - a scantily clad woman by the name of "Nebula", versus a strange aquatic monster called "Tsunami". Nebula seems impervious to harm - even with the huge destructive abilities displayed by Tsunami - and ultimately she defeats him. In fact, it even appears for a while as if she's just toying with him, dragging things out, and then defeating him at her leisure.

Kathmandu heads on up to the arcade, and notes that it's just about midnight. He overhears a talk up at the game counter between "Nebula" and the counter attendant. Apparently, Nebula is also known as SpandX - and by various other names. "So, it's 'Nebula' now, SpandX?" He follows Nebula/SpandX into the game shop, and approaches her, offering her the bouquet. She seems pleased, and offers to tell him about hacks to the system - and says that she has a private room in back. (She seems disappointed that Kathmandu isn't in his "Jungle Lord" outfit; she claims that she has an outfit to match. He assures her that he still has it, as they head back, arm in arm.)

About then, Scars is looking at the challenge board at the arena, watching a battle between a small cute fuzzy creature and a superheroine dressed up like a stage magician. He wonders aloud, "I wonder how I get on this list?" So, a woman in black next to him shows how - and they both sign up for the next match.

Fireman finds a "Players' Guide" book to Superior City, and goes up to the counter to inquire about it. The attendant seems bewildered to see the Fireman there with the book, and insists to him that he shouldn't be reading it; it will only confuse him - and she wonders how he got in here, in the first place. He catches on, and suddenly reverts to playing the role of what he thinks a dumb AI "NPC" should act like, doing his best to act like he's just another part of the setting, and not self-aware. He wanders off, but then wanders over to watch the battle between Scars and Lady Thorn in the arena.

Downstairs, Voltage, Rose, Turtle Ninja and Vixa decide to head up and check on Kathmandu, since they notice that it's midnight. They happen upon a confrontation between several members of Heroes 'R' Us (Crimson_Hunter, Night_Hunter, Warhawk11, Crowbar, and Mysterio) and Colonel_Chaos. Warhawk insists that he "doesn't have time for this" - and then, when he sees Vixa, he warns her that she should flee - that he's caught wind that something's going to happen at midnight.

Voltage reacts with alarm: she knows, after all, that Kathmandu is supposed to SEE someone at midnight, and she makes the connection. She urges everyone to rush to Onionskin Games, on the second floor. Most everyone can simply fly or leap up there ... all, that is, except for Voltage. Crowbar helpfully swoops back down to pick her up.

"Could you use some ... assistance?" Colonel_Chaos asks, solicitously, to Voltage.

In a rush, she answers, "YES!"

Back inside Onionskin Games, SpandX/Nebula loudly announces, "I'd like you all to meet someone very special - KATHMANDU!" And then all eyes turn to him. Kathmandu, looking hurt, says, "But I thought you weren't going to tell anyone!"

SpandX/Nebula smirks. "I lied." On cue, the entrance is sealed off by walls of ice, pulsating energy, and fire, projected by various costumed persons located in the arcade and game shop.

As several "superheroes" start lobbing energy bolts and mental blasts at him, Kathmandu turns into a small cat to slip out of SpandX/Nebula's grip, and he dives underneath a shelving unit. Unfortunately, a mentalist is right next to him, and she peeks between the shelves and mentally urges him to come right back out ... right where he's a target for a room packed full of superpowered enemies. There is a considerable bit of confusion, as the "superheroes" tumble over each other to try to get to Kathmandu first, but it's something less than a fair fight nonetheless. A large sabertoothed beast that identifies itself as "Katmandu" seems to take Kathmandu's existence personally ... and smacks the poor little cat right into the floor. Kathmandu slumps, unconscious, and the "heroes" start fighting over who should pick him up to turn him in. It soon turns into a parody of "football", with Kathmandu changing hands and being roughly yanked about. Meanwhile, several of the "heroes" blocking the doors argue heatedly with each other, as the "fire barrier" is melting the "ice barrier", being in close proximity to each other.

About then, "Tsunami", ticked off after his humiliating loss, looks to find SpandX/Nebula to express his discontent - and he vents some of his frustration by generating gouts of water to douse some of the flames. Fireman joins the fun, opening up a fire hose to douse some more of the fire - and then he rushes for the counter to grab the counter clerk to rescue her from the burning store - despite her protests that she's perfectly safe where she is.

Meanwhile, Heroes 'R' Us, the remainder of the "Headache Squad" (Voltage, Vixa, Rose, and Turtle Ninja), and Colonel Chaos and his "Trenchcoat Brigade" arrive on the walkway just outside the arcade and game store. Mysterio utters an incantation, and teleports through the barrier, appearing inside next to the man generating the ice barrier, and starts attacking him. Turtle Ninja hurls throwing stars at a shop window - recently cleared of fire, thanks to Fireman and Tsunami - and then leaps inside, followed by Voltage. "They've killed Kathmandu!" Voltage exclaims, as she sees the melee - and this prompts a scream from Vixa, as she snaps out her claws, and rushes up to the ice barrier, slashing and smashing away at it. Warhawk and Crowbar join the fight, shattering the ice.

And all the while, Scars and Lady Thorn take their places in the "holo-arena", choosing their fancy introductions, announced by a disembodied voice ... and then they start battling each other, leaping across various glowing floating platforms. Lady Thorn uses telepathy to grab floating geometric shapes and smash them into Scars, while he gets the same idea, and picks them up forcibly to smash them over Lady Thorn's head. So it goes, back and forth, as they are shut off from the outside mayhem.

Mysterio finds himself in the crossfire of several "heroes". Turtle Ninja uses his prankster antics to distract some of the "heroes" momentarily, while Mysterio takes advantage of this to levitate a couple of game shelves and to smash them down on several "heroes", knocking some of them out in the process. Fireman exclaims - "I've got a fire to put out!" He hoses down another blaze, and Warhawk charges in to deal with a hero who was generating the fire shield. The fire and ice barriers go down ... and Fireman manages to also douse a "superheroine" by the name of "Moonfire", who was harassing Rose. Alas, several "heroes" converge on Mysterio at once, knocking him senseless before he has another chance to react. Fists and energy blasts fly. Vixa grabs the prone form of Kathmandu (still in cat form) in the confusion, and, at Voltage's direction, makes a break for the exit. Turtle Ninja and Rose do their part to impede the attempts of the other "heroes" to pursue them.

"It's Vixa! AND SHE'S GOT KATHMANDU!" someone cries out. But as some of the "heroes" run outside, they are met by Colonel Chaos and his Trenchcoat Brigade. They let loose with energy guns - and energy blasts from the Colonel's gauntlets - taking out would-be "heroes" with military precision. Nonetheless, somehow SpandX/Nebula disappears from the store and reappears down below, where Vixa is trying to make good her escape. Crimson_Hunter flies down. It's unclear what happens next ... but there are some expanding red bands, an explosion, and a scream.

Voltage calls out for the Heroes 'R' Us members to "fall back", but some of them don't even know what that means. At last, they catch the idea, as they start to work their way back out, spreading out all the "heroes" so that they leave the shop one or two at a time, neatly mowed down by the "Trenchcoat Brigade". Brightly-colored costumed superhero bodies pile up in the entrance. Our heroes make their way over the edge, and find that SpandX/Nebula is wrapped up in some red bands, in the middle of a crater in the floor. Tsunami is doing a victory dance on top of her, though apparently he had nothing to do with her actual capture. Fireman briefly considers that he should go over to help her ... but then decides that he really doesn't want to try to take on the large aquatic monster right now, while his fellows are trying to make a break for it. (Besides, Tsunami doesn't seem to be capable of doing any harm to SpandX/Nebula, other than to injure her pride.)

Rose hitches a ride with Crimson_Hunter, and Voltage gets carried by Crowbar once more. They bolt for the exit, and meet in the parking lot - joined up shortly by Mysterio, as he appears in a puff of smoke. "The others are becoming Un-KO'ed," he warns, as our heroes quickly banter about what they should do next. Warhawk calls up the "Coffeemobile", and the members of Heroes 'R' Us load up into it, offering to show the others to their secret base - so they can help Kathmandu and Vixa "escape to their home worlds".

Finally, Scars shows up. He looks to be unscathed, but it turns out that he lost his battle to Lady Thorn. It looked as if he was beating her down, but then suddenly, inexplicably, she seemed to undergo a miraculous recovery, like she'd suddenly gotten a second wind - and then she seemed to be back to full strength, while Scars was somewhat winded. Blast after blast followed, until she managed to knock him unconscious - and the match was over. (At least he came out of it without getting his shades broken!)

Rather than argue, Voltage and the others hop into their cars, and follow. Turtle Ninja hops into Scars's trunk, while Voltage, Vixa, Rose, Fireman and Kathmandu get into Voltage's V44 hovercar. Kathmandu remains in cat form, even after he regains consciousness, so as not to break it to Heroes 'R' Us quite yet that he's actually able to take on a human form.

Along the way, Voltage and the others discuss what they should do, and whether they can trust these guys. (Turtle Ninja has a communicator to talk with the others from the trunk, thanks to the gizmos that came with the new secret base. However, Scars seems intent to hit every single bump he can, and to make rough turns, to send the poor turtle mutant spilling around in the trunk.)

So, our heroes follow the "Heroes 'R' Us" gang to their hideout - a nice-looking house and surrounding grounds, complete with tennis court and swimming pool, and a huge garage more than able to accommodate all three super-vehicles.

Warhawk gives a tour of the place, and brags that Mr. Coffee had the connections to get a fully stocked library. (Apparently, having complete books on the system requires some special arrangements, due to copyright concerns.) Fireman checks out the library, finding a copy of the Players' Guide to Superior City, so he can brush up on the area. He reads sections about the zones in the city, restrictions on behavior, dangerous parts of the town, and places of interest - as well as details about how players sign on and sign off, and so forth. He doesn't, however, find any secrets that will grant him invincibility or super powers beyond what he already has.

Turtle Ninja and Scars discover that the fridge is well-stocked with beers and such. Warhawk indicates that it's impossible to actually TASTE any of the food, but it seems only appropriate to have it around. Crowbar reveals that you can get "drunk" - but it just makes you have a harder time controlling your movements. So, he proves it by drinking a lot and getting stinking drunk, whereupon he starts flying around the yard, smacking into windows and walls and the ground, and generally making a fool of himself. Turtle Ninja and Scars have some drinks, too. Turtle Ninja starts getting drunk and spinning around on the table, while Scars just gets a pleasant buzz. (His immunities prevent him from getting truly drunk, it seems.)

While everyone is getting acquainted, a light flashes on the Heroes 'R' Us Red Phone. It's a call from Mr. Coffee (AKA John Kaufmann, in the real world), and they patch it through to their holo-vision. Mr. Coffee appears, dressed in a business suit. He indicates that he's moved Lunar away from the hospital where he was receiving treatment, to a private clinic, with the permission of Lunar's parents. Apparently, some suspicious activity was taking place; Mr. Coffee discovered that there were several unexplained deaths of players on Universe that hadn't been reported in the regular news media; there were indications of some sort of hush-up. He also learned that some representatives of the "Apollo" system (an offshoot of the same technology that makes "Universe" possible) were trying to get Lunar hooked up to virtual reality as "treatment". Mr. Coffee was afraid that something sinister was going on - perhaps some sort of program to alter Lunar's memories, for instance, or worse - and therefore he used his considerable resources and contacts to move Lunar somewhere safer for now, while he continues his research.

He reveals that he's been in contact with someone who goes by the handle of "Morpheus", and that he's gotten the help of this "hacker" to get a secure line to reach his friends in "Heroes 'R' Us" at their base. (Morpheus has apparently also provided some sort of buffer to protect the whole base from outside snooping.)

Voltage indicates that she's familiar with Morpheus, and explains that Morpheus isn't a hacker; he's an AI who gained self-awareness when the original Morpheus project was met with disaster, and all members of the project died. Mr. Coffee reveals that he learned about that disaster from Morpheus - and that he couldn't find any reports of it in the media, though he was able to find some clues that hinted at its possibility ... and evidence of a cover-up.

So, the news is broken - much to the consternation of Mysterio, who wonders whether this is all "OOC" or not - that there's some serious stuff going on here, and it's not all just a game. Voltage reveals that she is, for all she can tell, some sort of "AI" in the game, and not a real player in the real world ... though she has a real identity, tied to one Renee Hauksbee, who died last year. Scars reveals that in real life, he was a soldier in World War II, who apparently died shortly after it was over with - long before the Morpheus system could have become a reality. But somehow, he's in this system - and he remembers far more details than any "AI" in this system should be able to recall. Perhaps he didn't really die back then; perhaps he had lived on, in secret, for some reason, taking part in this "Morpheus" project ... and when the disaster happened, his mind was lost in the system, and manifested again, as an "AI". Or, perhaps a number of things: He really doesn't know what to think, anymore.

The bottom line, though, is that, when the Morpheus system was made, there was an accident, and it killed lots of people. That was all swept under the rug, and it looks like the same disaster could happen again, only on a much, much larger scale ... and it seems as if there are people who know that this could happen, and may even want it to happen, for unknown reasons. Kathmandu also reveals his "true" identity, returning to his human form, and explaining that while it seems that he is supposed to be some video game character, he has his own memories of being a living, breathing human being, of going to India ... though his memory gets fuzzy at a certain point, and he has no idea how he got here - or even what his own real name is.

The members of Heroes 'R' Us are fascinated - and bewildered - by all this ... and then, Mr. Kaufmann is informed that Morpheus can't hold the connection for any longer. He wants to ask more - but it is cut off.

Voltage is able to demonstrate that something is odd about herself. Even though the Heroes 'R' Us members see her "flagged" as a player, she's actually an AI. When they look at her log records, they can see that she's been connected for a ridiculously long time, without any "AFK" time, without any disconnects (except for the time when the whole server was down for a couple of weeks), without any "idle time". They can see the same for Kathmandu, Rose, Scars and even Vixa. It seems that their connect times go all the way back to times that correspond to ... when they used hand-scanners at the mall. Fireman and Turtle Ninja don't register as "players" ... but they never used the hand-scanners and apparently therefore were never "registered" into the player database.

By now, it's actually Monday morning. Several of the players have to sign off to get some "real sleep" before going back to school or college the next day. Crimson Hunter is the only one left, since he says he's free to sleep in. (Apparently he's a retiree; his granddaughter is in the team as "Night Hunter", and she's in college.) He gives a tour of the place, and tries to sort out what might be going on. He admits to knowing very little about all of this, though he knows Lilah D'Angel (Iron_Angel), since he, Mr. Kaufmann, and Ms. D'Angel were all early members of the beta-test team when Universe was first started. He has also heard of Renee Hauksbee; after all, she was the sister of the lead programmer, and news got around about her death last year.

They talk about Morpheus, and about what they've heard about "DungeonWorld" - a virtual environment that might be a relic of the original Morpheus system, perhaps still active, somewhere "hidden" in Universe's core. Mysterio had made a number of posts on the forums about finding a portal to an "ancient world", and Voltage hypothesizes that he might have found a glitch in the system to let him visit "DungeonWorld". She's very interested in finding this, as it might somehow hold more clues.

So, Crimson Hunter goes to Mysterio's room, fights the wards, and then lets the others in - so long as they promise not to tell Mysterio that he let them into his room. Voltage and Turtle Ninja hunt around, and find some books about Dungeon World, as well as the "Books of the Dark Portal" that Mysterio had been collecting. They describe a ritual to open a portal, and the final key is to travel at great speed toward a solid object, completing the ritual just in time to leap into another reality.

Fireman notices something odd; he finds that the room is just a little too small. It turns out that there's a false wall behind the book shelf. Voltage pulls all the books, until she finds one that acts as a lever ... and the book shelf opens up to reveal a hidden "shrine" behind it, with walls pasted maps of places in the world littered with color-coded push-pins, and copies of newspaper clippings and photographs. There are reports from reputable world newspapers - real-world newspapers - showing blurry images of sightings of a "flying man" that looks something like Iron Fist, or "zombies" in a graveyard. There are pictures of some fellow supposedly bending spoons with his mind, and frustrating the attempts of those hoping to prove that it's a hoax. There are all sorts of reports of strange sightings and paranormal phenomena, from around the world. (Turtle Ninja is able to help by reading some articles from Japanese newspapers, while Scars is able to help by reading some French articles.) Crimson Hunter, when he sees this, helps to verify that these are, indeed, real-world papers.

Crimson Hunter also produces a gizmo from Warhawk's room - a hand-scanner meant to tie into the "Commendation Points" system. Warhawk acquired it before he figured out that he could check his "Commendation Points" outside of the game reality. They use the scanner, finding Voltage's and Kathmandu's Commendation Points totals. Voltage finds that when she is wearing her superhero outfit, she registers as "Voltage" - but if she takes a bit to fix up her hair, take off her coat, and remove the lightning-bolt-pattern make-up to look more normal - she registers as "Renee Hauksbee". Kathmandu tries to do the same ... but he's not really sure just how he's supposed to be in his "secret identity".

When Turtle Ninja puts his hand on the scanner, there's an error message, but then Crimson Hunter tries to recalibrate the machine. Turtle Ninja tries again ... and this time his name comes up and his Commendation Point total. Crimson Hunter reveals, with some surprise, that he is now seeing a Turtle_Ninja on the system as a player, and that he's got a total connect time measured in seconds - counting upward from the moment the scanner came back with his name and Commendation Point total.

Fireman declines to try "registering" on the system. He argues that it might be in the interest of the group to have at least one member who people will still see as an "NPC", so as to pass unnoticed. So, he holds off for the time being.

At last, though, Crimson Hunter reveals that he should probably sign off as well, though he commits to meeting up with the others as they go to visit Lilah D'Angel on Tuesday night. So, our heroes file out, leaving the secret base, and heading back toward their own - making a brief detour by a grocery store so Voltage can get some lettuce. (She offers it to Turtle Ninja as a consolation gift. Why lettuce? Well, she doesn't know what else to get him.)

Our heroes return to their secret base, and find spots to get some rest. Turtle Ninja takes a bed in the med bay area, Voltage takes her cot in the repair room, and the others retire to their respective rooms. (Scars finds that his room is a replica of his bedroom from his own house - just as he specified, back at the "real estate" office.)

So, our heroes get some rest, and prepare to spend Monday doing some more research and sparring and planning for the adventures ahead.

So, tune in next time, when our heroes visit the legendary Iron Angel, in the hopes of learning more about what's really going on in ... SUPERIOR CITY!