Operation It's Kendover

The Operation was finally about to begin, and the crew all got fake SINs from the United Netherlands as the Ellison started flying Dutch colors. The teams assembled in the harbor, and Wukong managed to remove the Johnson's spyware from Barry's commlink. Our crew said some standard "If we survive this" fare, and then headed towards the target building through the Tokyo metro. Roach, meanwhile, went off to a fish market to buy some pufferfish venom for Insect Shaman Plan B.

The alarms started blaring as the team approached an emergency hatch into the building, signaling that the other teams had started their assaults. Roach hacked the Host and delayed its actions. As soon as they entered the basement, they heard a loud scream and a wet splurging noise as a giant mantis robot revealed itself and killed a scientist. The team proceeded to shit itself, quickly changing their plan. Mr. Johnson texted them to NOT ENGAGE the robot, and Leon snuck past it while Peanut conjured an illusion to distract it. However, Barry was disturbed by the sudden change in plans and became enraged, charging the robot and hitting it with an Electric Fist.

Johnson called Barry and told him to keep attacking, which he did, while Roach, Wukong and Leon kept going with their tasks. Leon successfully reached the Macguffin Room and unlocked the first lock on the door without triggering any flamethrowers or other nasty shit. Peanut successfully managed to mind control the Mantis Robot, stopping it from eviscerating Barry temporarily. With that assistance, Barry managed to channel the Electric Wind God Fist and KO'd the Mantis, cementing himself as a legend forever. A very stupid legend, but a legend nonetheless.

Leon successfully broke into the server room as the Mantis woke up again, regenerating but still being mind controlled by Peanut. Roach hacked into the MacGuffin container and forced it to open itself. Barry tore the Robot apart and the team dragged it over to the flamers, torching it and the building. They then left with their prize, and the other teams called to report that the cops had arrived and they needed to pull out. After some deliberation, and with much resistance from Wukong, the party decided to call the police on Team SA. This immediately went horribly wrong: A lockdown was immediately placed on all of Tokyo, and the police and military went haywire, arresting all mages and killing anyone who tried to escape. Over the next several days, the party went into hiding as Team SA was eliminated and the other teams descended into panic. The Ellison was blown up, and Johnson abandoned the run and every team involved. News was broadcast all over the world that the Japanese government had killed an insect cultist who had infiltrated Tokyo, and hundreds of mages in Japan had been killed.

Wukong in particular was very shaken by all of these events, due to his past in Russia. Nonetheless, once things calmed down, the team decided to stick together and help Barry sort out his mysterious past, joined by Requiem and the rest of Team Africa. In Darwin, Australia, they discovered that Requiem and Barry-58 were anti-corporate heroes. Peanut's water spirit reported that it had found a giant pile of dead Barries buried in Scunthorpe, England. Based on the information they gathered, the Matrix boys were able to find a hidden implant in Barry's neck. It was a control chip that could override Barry's personality and command him to return to Scunthorpe. The party decided on one last job: Go to Scunthorpe and free Barry from his past.