Chipped Chaos Session 6

Princess Guard - The New Era 2016/07/21 	 Titan Charm Harlequin Caleb Cecila Quiet 15

The Red Rose Club, Docks District
True to his word, Harlequin casts an illusion spell that replaces your clean wholesome hero selves with people who will fit right into the club atmosphere. The Red Rose Club is located down a dark narrow alley off the docks. The bouncer outside is heavily muscled and massively overweight. He barely gives your group a second glance and waves you inside.

Inside the club there's electro-rock playing almost painfully loud from a jukebox. A lot of the people in there are openly carrying weapons of various types and would not be people anyone would wish to turn their backs on. The bar is busy with all the stools taken. In fact the club as a whole seems busy and crowded. Except for one corner, where two people are seated at a table... and nobody is seated at any adjacent table.

Titan calls Cecila in before the team actually goes to the bar.

Charm is not familiar with this sort of place at all, but she does her best to act like the people she sees about her.

Nexus doesn't often think of himself as a clean wholesome hero, but every little bit counts. He gives the bouncer a bit of a grunt and a cynical roll of his eyes as he enters, moves out onto the dance floor, does a bit of desultory dancing to cover his movements towards the important-people table, though not moving close enough to draw attention. He's surprised by how well Charm seems to fit in to this venue, given how much of an outsider she so often is.

Quiet arrived on the prior activity mid-activity. Now that they have a location to reconnoiter, though, her interest continues. That it's a club certainly doesn't hurt! She knows almost nothing of magic, and could possibly get into a club on her own, but she won't turn down the trickery. This way, she doesn't need to abandon her suit, in case things turn unfriendly. Even better, she doesn't need to try and find what others might consider 'club wear'; something she probably has none of. She follows the others to the club and joins the line of pending entrants

Titan steps in and looks around, giving the crowd a once-over. He doesn't worry about whether or not he draws attention to himself in doing so, either.

The two in the corner are a youngish man in his early twenties at a guess, wearing a black leather jacket with a motif on the front of a snake crawling through zeroes and wrapping itself around the stems of 1's. His body language is smug and he's talking with lots of hand gestures. The other person is a man in his mid thirties or so. He is wearing a sleeveless vest. A jacket hangs on the back of his chair with the stiffness of probable armor. That man is either Japanese or more likely Japanese-American. His skin, where visible, is covered with tattoos from his neck down.

Cecila has showed up because lets face it, in a worst case scenario at least the bar brawl will be fun because brute force is one of her specialties.

Nexus sends over the PG link oO( OK, I'm betting that's Snakebyte, since discretion doesn't seem to be part of the guy's MO. Older guy is Yakuza, maybe? )Oo

The older of the two looks bored.

There's no real feeling of tension in the rest of the club. It's very much as if each group is minding its own business. Which is helped by the loud music that makes eavesdropping virtually impossible.

Quiet and Nexus recognize one of the two in the corner. The older guy is well known in the merc business. His name is Ronin and he has a rep as being very tough, not too worried about who hires him, but reliable when hired.

Titan says over the link, oO( Yeah, that's probably our guy. So, any preference how we want to play it? Just take him into custody? Or try to talk to him to get more details? )Oo

Nexus adds over the PG link oO( I can do some remote eavesdropping if we want, but probably best if I get out of sight to do it... it's a little obvious on my end. Or we could just screw discretion and grab the guy, though that will probably start a fight indoors. I just realized, the older guy is a merc named Ronin -- tough guy. Probably don't want to start a fight with him with civilians around... not that anyone in this room is precisely innocent. )Oo

Titan looks around for an open table to take a seat at. If the only one available is next to the target...so be it. oO( Nexus, go ahead and try. But yeah...get out of sight someplace before you do. )Oo

Charm doesn't need to hear. When the subject's lips are visible she's in. Ronin is just occasionally grunting disinterestedly. Snakebyte is boasting of the data dump he's just done that will hit the net any minute now. All the dirty deals of a Health Insurance Company that's been defrauding Medicare and over charging the sick who have policies there.

Charm passes on the information, though she doesn't know if it's of use.

Nexus starts making his way towards the men's room, then stops and chuckles, for no obvious reason to anyone not on the PG link, and changes course towards the bar. oO( Even better, Charm! Awesome. So, I'd suggest we keep a low profile until these two head somewhere less crowded and grab them there... alternatively I can try a snatch-and-grab on Snakebyte and get him to an alley outside. Preferences? )Oo He is mostly deferring to Titan, to the extent that subtleties of that sort can be expressed over the PG link.

The only free tables are the ones adjacent to the two in the corner. When Titan sits at one Snakebyte doesn't even notice. Ronin glances over but doesn't seem to care. However, now you've been observing Ronin for a while it's obvious one of his hands is under the table and stays there at all times.

Quiet is in a club, and needs to act natural, so she does. Working or not, she heads to the bar to get a beer, then looks over the selection of patrons. The older, tattooed man easily snags her attention, so she nurses and sips her drink while watching him. Perhaps more specifically, his lips, in an attempt to get an idea of the conversation.

Titan tries to relax, looking like he's waiting for someone else to show up. oO( I'd say just observe and grab him when he leaves. Starting a fight in here likely isn't the best idea. If one happens to break out, grab him then. It's a hive of scum and villainy, after all. It might happen on its own. )Oo

Cecila parks near Titan and listens in to the communications oO( So we're taking down a hacker who's exposing fraud and corruption? Doesn't something about that feel kinda wrong? )Oo

Titan nods to Cecila as she sits down. oO( Enh. Hackers come in all sorts. He might view himself as a 'good guy' when he really is borderline. Or he might think he's doing a good thing by making all of the money free and bringing the system down. )Oo

Nexus has made it to the bar, and orders a beer... whatever they have on tap. oO( Got it. )Oo He leaves the target-watching to Titan and concentrates on looking like someone just hanging out at this sort of dive, figuring it will likely be a while before they move. Sure, moving sooner might give them a chance at aborting the data dump, but he's with Cecila on this one... it doesn't especially seem like something to stop.

Snakebyte pauses in his boasting and asks Ronin, "Where did you get that box anyway?"

Ronin shrugs, "You don't need to know."

Nexus adds over the link oO( Huh. So _Ronin_ got Qbit... he's not just hired help? That's... weird. There might be a third player using Snakebyte as a patsy? )Oo

Nexus risks being noticed paying undue attention to both Ronin and Snakebyte in order to memorize them both as teleport locations, though he does so as covertly as he can.

Snakebyte looks irritated. "Well, I was wondering if there was another one where that came from. It let me into the Health systems. Admittedly I was only promised it for a day but I want one."

Ronin shrugs again. "It's gone. Looks like you're out of luck."

Nexus sends over the link oO( I've got locks on them both, so we can probably get to them even if they get away. Don't count on it, though. )Oo

Charm sends, oO( If the box is Qbit then why would it be gone? )Oo

Cecila hmms and ponders a bit oO( So what this guy brute forced some computer thing and he's renting it out to hackers? )Oo

Snakebyte says, "I can't say it wasn't a more than fair deal. A day to use the box just for picking up some electronics from the post office. But if you can pass a message on, tell the guy I wanna talk about using it again."

Titan makes small talk with Cecila in the meantime. "How'd things go today?" Over the mental link, oO( Hmm. Seems like Snakebyte IS a bit of a patsy. Ronin's the guy we need. Nexus, be sure to keep that lock on Snakebyte, though. Just in case. )Oo

Nexus sends oO( I'm assuming Ronin either means it's gone in the sense of unavailable to Snakebyte, or that the box they're referring to is one of those remote-relay thingies like they used in the ATM hack. I'm guessing someone else found Qbit and hired Ronin. Man, I'll be pissed if it turns out HeXer was playing us all along. )Oo

Ronin lifts his head cocking it slightly to one side as if listening. Although what he could possibly be listening for with the music playing non-stop is anyone's guess. Then he grins coldly, "Is your life insurance paid up?" he asks Snakebute.

Snakebyte gawps at Ronin, "Huh?"

Ronin instructs Snakebyte in a commanding tone, "If not you should probably get under the table."

Quiet frowns, and not at the taste of the beer. She puts down her glass and scratches at her exposed back through her dress. Of course, neither the visible back nor dress are real. In fact, she's retrieving the weapon attached to the back of her armor, though she hopes the illusion will still cover her a moment longer.

Charm gets ready to dive under a table herself if need be!

Cecila shrugs at Nexus "School, Work, Repeat... same old crap" replies "What about you?" she asks back oO( Is it just me or is this going to go bad soon? )Oo

Titan hears Ronin's order to Snakebyte, and he gets to his feet. He positions himself between the two targets and the rest of the room as he steps up to the table. "What was that about life insurance?" Over the mental link, oO( Be ready. Someone else is here, I'm guessing. Or we've been made. One or the other. )Oo

Suddenly there are ninjas. Dropping from the ceiling. Bursting in through the doors. Crashing through the small dirty window. Ninja clad in black from head to toe. Waving swords, knives, and in a tribute to the times, pistols.

Titan raises a brow, "Ninja. In a crowded bar. They must be morons. How secretive."

Nexus replies over the link oO( Maybe they're really pirates, just _pretending_ to be ninjas. )Oo

Speaking in Japanese one of the ninjas tells Ronin, "Your head has a price."

Ronin pushes Snakebyte under the table as the table top gets a ragged splintered hole in it. The ninja who spoke is thrown back as his head explodes messily. "Let's see if you can earn it then." Ronin says as he stands, a smoking large caliber pistol in his hand.

Quiet doesn't want to lose Ronin, as he seems their best link and lead to ...whatever else is going on. Pulling her weapon from her back, attempting to be subtle (she really doesn't know how this magic illusion mumbo jumbo works), she sets her hands (and the wepaon) on her lap. From that awkward angle, she tries to point it at Ronin. She's accustomed to doing this at range, not close quarters in a possibly crowded club. To say nothing of in a dress, or with ninjas present. Quiet tries to squeeze off an unobtrusive shot. Not a big bang. Not even a little bang. Just a tiny device launched with quiet gravometrics.

Charm really isn't sure what to do. She thinks this is bad guys vs bad guys, so maybe she just just wait till the dust clears. Particularly given we're in disguise. Or maybe not. oO( What do we do? )Oo

Nexus sends oO( Don't have a clue. I'm gonna try to snatch Snakebyte when I get a clear shot. I say we let the ninjas wear Ronin down and protect civilians? )Oo

Six of the ninjas swarm at Ronin... but he clearly outclasses the ninjas and none of them lay a sword on him.

The remaining six ninjas attack random people in the club but with hand-to-hand instead of swords. Which instigates a general fight, with weapons being drawn and used, and old scores getting settled under the cover of the general chaos.

Titan sighs and takes a backhand swing at one of the ninja attacking Ronin, though he pulls his punch a little bit.

Nexus has no idea whose side he's on in the ninja/ronin conflict, so he falls back to an earlier plan. He prepares for a moment, then attempts to pull Snakebyte out of the general melee. "You owe Cypher a favor," he mutters to Snakebyte, because why not? Everyone ought to be as confused as he is about who the players are, he figures. "Stay put if you want to live long enough to pay it back."

Titan cracks the ninja in the chest, dropping the black-clad attacker to the ground in pain.

Nexus disappears, reappears, disappears, reappears elsewhere, all in the blink of a somewhat slow eye. Sometimes, everything just works. He and Snakebyte are now in a janitor's closet in the club's basement.

Cecila figures the chaos isn't any good for the establishment and decides she'll try and take out as many of the ninjas as possible by punching the ground and sending several chunks of concrete flying at the assailants.

Snakebyte looks totally confused, "Huh? Cypher? Who are you?"

"A friend," Nexus tells Snakebyte. Hell, it might even be true. Wouldn't be the first time this week he had to change his mind about who the bad guys are. "Keep your head down, we can talk later."

Charm figures that trying to protect the (relatively) innocents is the best thing she can attempt. So she sings to one of the chaos-causing ninja to him a loathing of his fellows.

Cecila sensed Titan took one out easily enough so she decides to try and score a few points with this Ronin guy by taking out a bunch of the ninjas... two of which hit the floor and don't seem to be getting up any time soon, the others well they're likely shocked by the sudden assaults oO( Well at least we are thinning ou the ninja numbers. )Oo

Titan smiles and says over the link, oO( Ninja only get more powerful as you end up with fewer of them. )Oo

Nexus adds <>

Ronin reaches back to his jacket hung over the back of the chair and pulls out a grenade. He drops it at his feet. Some get to see him pulling a set of goggles from his jacket and slipping them over his eyes before the billowing opaque smoke fills the area around him with effectively complete darkness.

Quiet is caught a bit off-guard that the ninjas are not here for them. She's always had the worst experiences with ninja. With vision obfuscated by smoke, she looks to her motion sensors to get an idea of Ronin's movements. Of course, with so many people in a small space, many likely now panicking, there's no lack of movement.

Charm tries the same trick again - but this time on a different ninja, hoping this one is weaker-willed.

Titan pauses as the smoke fills the area, oO( Anyone who can, keep tabs on Ronin. )Oo

Nexus takes a remote look at the combat scene, and sees nothing but darkness. oO( Somebody's stealing my old schtick, )Oo he sends over the link. oO( If anybody needs help sing out, otherwise I'm gonna keep an eye on the exits and our buddy Snakebyte. )Oo He shifts the target of his perception to above the bar, so he can watch all the exits at once.

Cecila will keep track of Ronin, since she's probably the only one who's capable of doing so at he moment oO( Alright. )Oo. She grabs Titan's arm to lead if need be

The fighting is starting to ease off as with the milling and shuffling around nobody is sure whether it's friend or foe standing beside them. Except for Ronin, who moves with the sure grace of the sighted man in a crowd of the blind. Slipping away from the ninjas he exits the club, stepping over the prone body of the bouncer, and heads away towards the warehouses lining the docks. His jacket is slung over his shoulder and he is whistling quietly.

Following Ronin
Nexus sends. oO( Ronin is on the move. I'll keep an eye on him. )Oo

Nexus keeps a remote eye on Ronin, but does nothing of note.

Cecila is quite happy to lead Titan out of the club oO( Yeah make sure you step over the bouncer, looks like someone knocked him out, probably one of those Ninjas... he's heading towards the docks by the way. )Oo

Titan follows Cecila outside, oO( Alright...let's head out and bring him in. Now that he's not in the club, it should be hopefully a little easier. )Oo

Nexus sends oO( Titan, Cecila - Ronin is... )Oo He reports a relative distance and position to a quite ridiculous degree of precision.

As the smoke starts to clear there is no sign of the remaining ninjas except for the one who Ronin shot through the head and the three that Titan and Cecila knocked out. The fighting has stopped and the atmosphere in the club is mostly confusion. Nexus has Snakebyte, and Ronin is being tracked by Cecila, Nexus, and Quiet.

Nexus adds to Snakebyte. "Double-checking: Ronin's on your side, yeah? You and he seemed pretty chummy back there."

Snakebyte answers Nexus. "He was a grumpy grouch. Don't know about being on the same side. I think it was just we both did a job for the same guy."

Charm slips out of the club, as things seem to have moved elsewhere.

Nexus nods. "Close enough. Long as he's not likely to shoot you, I'm good." He does his best to seem friendly and personable. "Who's paying his bills?" he adds nonchalantly.

Nexus also sends his own relative location over the link, if anyone feels like joining him.

Snakebyte shrugs, "I don't know for sure. Same guy that contacted me at a guess. He was the one who told me to meet up with that Ronin grouch."

Nexus nods. "And let you use the box, yeah?" He asks in a way that, as best he can, conveys that he already knows everything about the situation and is just making conversation.

Charm heads towards Nexus but does not get too close lest Snakebyte stop talking.

Snakebyte nods, "Yeah. That was the deal I had. I picked up some electronics and fitted them inside broom handles. Weird, huh? And for that I got to use the box to crack the health company system. I knew they were dirty and the box let me prove it."

Cecila nods to Titan "So keep following Ronin and try talking to him?" she asks

Titan heads off after Ronin with the directions given. "Yeah...let's go."

Ronin isn't moving fast and a brisk pace will let Cecila and Tatin, and any other hero who wishes, to catch up with them amid the dockside warehouses.

Titan waits until he's noticed by the man he's following before he says, "Ronin. We need to have a word with you."

Ronin looks back and stops. "Okay. I guess I owe you that for pulling some of those ninjas off me at the club. What do you want?"

Nexus nods approvingly, deciding not to bring up the ATM heist for now. "That was a nice hack. Has the dump gone public yet?"

Snakebyte pulls out his PDA and check a site. He beams, "Yep. 50,000 hits already and the number is climbing fast."

Cecila smiles a bit as she lets Titan do most of the talking "Yeah, smart move. I should get me some smoke grenades myself sometime"

Titan nods to Ronin, "The box you were talking about with Snakebyte...where is it?"

Nexus laughs. "Awesome. Bastards deserve whatever's coming to them." He pulls out his own PDA and checks the same site, unless SB actively tries to keep him from seeing the URL, and chuckles again. While acting is not a particularly strong area for Cale, it's hardly necessary in this case... he's actually fairly in favor of hacking corrupt businesses, if not necessarily impassioned about it. "You think I could get in on that deal? There's a lot of proprietary data out there that I wouldn't mind seeing liberated myself, and I've got some skills to bring to the table."

Charm is glad she kept her distance: this tech-talk is not her thing.

Ronin shrugs, "Gone. Wait a minute will you?" He pulls out a PDA and checks something. "Huh. I guessed when the ninjas appeared. My payment has vanished from my account." He shrugs again, "I wouldn't have taken the guy as someone who would pick that way of tying up loose ends. Anyway no reason I shouldn't talk now. The kid had it for a day. Then I took it back and handed it over to the guy who hired me to get it in the first place."

Titan raises a brow, "Who hired you? We're looking to 'have a word with him'. But one that's less polite than this one."

Ronin is willing to talk. His rep is that he's reliable. He would never normally talk willingly. But not being paid and having killers sent after you changes things. "I never knew his name. He probably wasn't a local. I met him in Buckingham Park. He was driving a rental car from the airport. Mid fifties. Well dressed. Spoke with a educated voice. I'd say he was used to speaking with authority but he was nervous. Odd contradiction."

Titan takes a deep breath and nods again, "When did you meet him in the park? And can you give us a little more detail on the physical description?"

Nexus sighs when Titan shares that info. oO( Dammit. Picked the wrong group not to track. )Oo The ninjas might have had some info about their employer, though probably not much. "I guess it's for the best if not, though" he adds conversationally to Snakebyte, "given that he _did_ just try to kill you. Which is really not OK. You want in on payback, or just out of this?"

Ronin nods. "I met him about a month ago when he told me where to find the box. And then again yesterday to hand the box over after the kid had had it. He had short hair, used to be dark probably but gray now. No sign of baldness though. Eyes were brown. Face was, well, dignified. Like a doctor or senior exec type. You know that look they all share. He wore a smart suit both times. But not a expensive one."

Titan nods. "Ethnicity, if you had to guess?"

Ronin says confidently, "White. American."

Snakebyte blinks and goes a little pale. "Kill me..?"

Nexus stops short, looks at Snakebyte as though he's a little slow. "What did you _think_ those assassins were there for... to buy you a beer?"

Titan says over the link, oO( Any other questions people want answered? I think we have enough to go on. )Oo

Snakebyte nods after a long pause. "Oh. I... I'm not used to this kind of thing."

Nexus blinks. oO( That would be Professor Myers. )Oo He forwards the team the info he'd previously collected on the guy. oO( Confirm that the pic is him? )Oo

Nexus nods. "It's OK. I've got you taken care of. Anything you can remember about Myers that would help us shut him down?" Again, he's trying to come off as already knowing everything, in the hopes that Snakebyte will willingly toss whatever additional facts he has into the stone soup pot.

Titan pulls up the picture on his PDA to show Ronin. "Is this the guy?"

Snakebyte says, "Who? Is that the guy who's behind all this. I only corresponded with him by encrypted email."

Nexus adds oO( OK. My money's now on Micky Kingston using his former professor as a cut-out. Course, I've been wrong 100 percent of the time before on this deal, so I'm not betting much. )Oo And to Snakebyte he adds "Yeah, we think so. If you can forward me your half of the convo, that would help." He tosses a single-use secure mailbox address to SB's PDA.

Snakebyte sighs, "Wish I could, man. It was a one-time time limited connection. It's not the kind of conversation I wanted any permanent records of, you know."

Ronin nods when he is shown a photo of Myers by Titan. "Yeah. That's him." His face goes neutral, a little cold. "Who did you say he is?" he asks in a casual tone.

Nexus nods with a matching sigh. "Yeah, I hear that. Pity. You got anywhere secure to go to ground? If you don't mind trusting me, I can take you right there... nobody knows the location but me. If not," he shrugs, "well, I don't blame you, you don't know me from Adam. But those ninjas are still out there." He shrugs again, sympathetically. "Your call how you want to play that. If there's a way to get in touch with you fast, I'll try to give you some warning if there's another team coming after you."

Titan smiles slightly and puts the PDA away. "I didn't. Don't worry. We'll take care of it."

Titan says over the link, oO( We have confirmation. It's Myers. )Oo

Nexus replies oO( Well, the next link is, anyway. Like I said, my money's actually on his student, Micky, for whatever that's worth. )Oo

Snakebyte is shaken. He tells you a location where he thinks he'll be safe. It's a hidey-hole out in the rural district to the south of the city.

Nexus remote-views the location, sharing the view with SB. "That look clean to you?" If so, he opens a gate and steps through first. If nothing explodes, he invites SB to join him, tucks him in, reads him a bedtime story, and rejoins the team.

Caleb's Leg-working
Whee! OK. Cale's working theory at the moment is that Myers isn't actually the mastermind behind all of this, but just another cut-out in the chain. He fully expects to be wrong, but you gotta start from where ya are. He's gonna try to get ahead of the chain this time.

His #1 suspect is Micky Kingston. He is NOT going to do any computer-based hacking around Micky, as he figures getting too close will tip the kid off. Instead he's gonna do a bunch of remote viewing on Myers' living space, which Micky is supposedly sharing. Looking for files marked "Evil plans for world domination", secret villain lairs, that sort of thing. If he spots Micky while he does this, he follows Micky around.

Legwork Reply
Over time you see several events that shed light on the situation.

On one occasion you see Prof Myers, Micky Kingston, and a group of who are probably Prof Myers' other post-graduate students, all gathered in a room. Myers seems to be instructing the other students to work on understanding and improving Qubit. The black box of Qubit is on a coffee table in the room. Shortly after you start watching Micky Kingston goes on a ranting temper tantrum, shouting about the lack of progress and hurling ornaments across the room to smash into walls. Oddly none of the others in the room react at all to this. At the end of his ranting Micky shouts, "I'll just have do it myself." and he sits in front of Qubit. As he starts investigating the black box the other students suddenly slump and begin drooling open-mouthed with every indication of utter imbecility.

Shorty after that you watch as Micky video-conferences with a DEMON Morbane. Micky is offering to employ Qubit on DEMON's behalf for fifty million dollars in gold. Immediately that calls ends Micky is calling someone wearing the Green and Yellow of VEMON. Micky tells the VEMON commander the route that a DEMON van with fifty million dollars worth of gold will be taking, telling the VEMON commander this is a gesture of good will towards a future working relationship. Starting with assigning a VEMON five agent team as Micky's personal bodyguards.

Perhaps most disturbing is seeing the Cambridge Hero Team of Gold Orchid, Atomic Kid, Lady Thunder, and Bravo, meeting with Micky in Prof Myers home. Micky tells them that he expects out of town metas to arrive and will need protection. Their reply is simply, "Yes, Master." Over time you see several events that shed light on the situation.

Caleb: Any noticeable by-remote-viewing gadgetry on either the students or the Cambridge Heroes?

GM: The students have conventional PDAs. One of the heroes has a armored battlesuit (Blue Orchid) and the other heroes all have ear-bud communicators. But that seems to be it.'

Caleb: More seriously, he looks up the Cambridge heroes and their capabilities/weaknesses/recent history.

GM: No change in recent activities. They are still doing hero stuff. Bravo is a male brick. Bit of a showoff. No known weaknesses. Blue Orchid is power suited heroine. Strength and flight and plasma energy blasts. She's the quiet introspective type. Known weakness to electric attacks. Atomic Kid is a male flying radiation energy blaster. Very fast. The youngest of the team. No known weaknesses. Lady Thunder is a sonic based flying female energy blaster. Known to be unlucky on occasions.

Caleb: Also, given that the cat's out of the bag, he'll go ahead and do a search on Myers and his grad students, cuz data never hurts. Not really looking for anything in particular, though if he happens to notice published papers on quantum-computing as a brainwashing platform, he's interested. :-)

GM: Interesting tht you mentioned published papers. There have been no published papers from Prof Myers or his post-grads for the last two years. This compares to an average of seven or eight every year for at least a decade before that. This has been noticed by the MIT admin and a semi-secret report on Prof Myers and his students tells of poor performance and indications of reduced intellectual capability.

Caleb: Makes sense. Not that Cale could necessarily tell, but did they seem stupider than he'd expect when Myers was instructing them about Qbit?

GM: Not at that time. They seemed pretty typical of the smart bright students that one would expect from MIT when Prof Myers was instructing them to study Qbit. However you heard comments from them that Qbit was freaky advanced hi-tech and it would need a super-genius to figure it out.