Psycho-Therapy

[Brad]

Plot Name: Psycho-Therapy

Timeframe: October 2011-March 2012

Characters Involved: Dr. Abraham Covenant, Robert Whitlock (Horde), Sisip Webster, Ashlynne Clark, Eden Abendroth, Julie Leon, Chloe Cane, Gabriel, Rick Calabro, Gina Stone, Willow Quercus, Maksim Brecht, Fergus Lesley, Kevin Duncan, Isaiah Mannstein, Shannon Myers, Krys Gallagher, Travis Waltman, Jack Sterling, Nicholas, Leon Traist, Marlo Cross, Malcolm Goodwin

Synopsis:

A rash of bizarre, seemingly unconnected petty crimes struck Salem. A small team from Cobalt managed to foil one of these robberies, a jewelry store heist, and take the perpetrators into custody. The most perplexing aspect of the crime was that none of the mutants involved in the robbery had any recollection of how they got there, or what they had been doing.

Dr. Covenant first made his appearance at a book signing attended by Ashlynne Clark and Rick Calabro while they were on a date in downtown Salem. A famed psychiatrist and self-help author, he introduced himself, along with his “personal assistant” to the young couple, offering them both business cards and free editions of his latest book, The Covenant : Our Pact with Ourselves, as well as informing them of his intention to set up a public practice in Salem, while offering free counseling to mutants in need of help.

In truth, his charming demeanor and helpful attitude was a front for a far more sinister purpose. Covenant himself was a mutant, possessing extraordinarily powerful abilities of mesmerism and post-hypnotic suggestion. He and his assistant Bob had come to Salem in order to rob the city and its people blind, by using his mutant “patients” as pawns in his own game.

Rick was the first of Cobalt's residents to take the good Doctor up on his offer of free counseling, and was quick to recommend seeing the man to his friends and colleagues at the Sanctum. Soon, more denizens of the Sanctum were drawn to Covenant, their minds twisted in various ways to suit his purposes. Some of his victims seemed normal enough, others underwent dramatic changes in both outlook and personality, enough to draw suspicion. Through a series of 'tests', including send Rick to rob a penthouse apartment, an action that was thwarted by Willow and Gabriel, Covenant began to set his real plan in motion.

A team of mind-controlled mutants, consisting of Rick, Chloe, Maksim, Gabriel and Eden were sent, along with the mutant powerhouse Horde, to assault a META scientific facility on the outskirts of the city. The innocent mutants were a distraction, meant to keep security, and other members of Cobalt's strike team, busy while Horde broke into the facility's core to steal an experimental synthesized version of the x-gene enhancing Pulse drug. The serum was being developed as a non-addictive, more potent version of the original, intended for use by META x-gene agents in need of a boost to their powers to deal with severe threats. With the Pulse in hand, Horde simply walked out of the building, revealing to the strike team that Covenant's pawns had been poisoned shortly before assaulting the base. With their friends in dire need of immediate medical attention, the decision had to be made to let Horde go, for now.

Immediately following the assault on the lab, both Covenant and Horde went into hiding, under the auspice of a 'personal sabbatical' being taken by the Doctor. He left Salem, possibly never to return, and used his newly enhanced abilities to exact petty vengeance on several members of the psychiatric community during the months he was away. Soon enough, he returned, and set in motion the final phase of his plan. A live self-help seminar, to be broadcast city-wide on local television, was announced.

Knowing what the man was capable of, and fearing what he might do to an entire auditorium, and possibly an entire city, of impressionable minds, Sisip Webster arranged for herself and members of the strike team to infiltrate the proceedings, posing as members of the press and using earplugs to grant them immunity to Covenant's hypnotic voice. They were in time to shut down the broadcast during Covenant's on-stage meltdown of hate and vitriol spouted towards his audience, and a fight quickly ensued between the team, Covenant, Horde, a quartet of mind-controlled mutant henchmen, and eventually the audience itself. The team was able to overcome their opponents, and managed to subdue most of the audience with minimal injury, and in a moment of desperation, Covenant took Eden as a hostage, putting a gun to her head. With few options, Fergus took a shot with a non-lethal pepper round, but due to Covenant's quirk of never blinking, this proved fatal. The round entered his eye without bursting, and lodge itself in his brain, killing him instantly, and ending the threat. The mesmerist defeated, the audience returned to normal, Horde was taken into META custody, and the day, or at least several hundred bank accounts, was saved.

But the Pulse that was stolen from META was nowhere to be found.