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Opinionated nerd for hire.

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In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
OH, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE? A NEW ITERATION? COUNT ME IN; I'M STARVING.....



"Emergency workers in Madrid are still attempting to clear rubble from the streets after--"

"--not saying Superman shouldn't have stepped in, but there are better ways than--"


"--focusing on the people who were killed and injured, rather than focusing on how many people would have been if he hadn't--"

"--since the incident in Guangzhou, the Chinese government has declared any intervention from Superman on their soil to be an act of--"


"--don't care what they're saying about him, me and my whole family would be dead right now if it weren't for--"

"--no combat training, no badge, no accountability, and we're just supposed to take his word that he's--"


"--making the world a safer--"

"--are more dangerous now than--"


"--all of these other heroes who have come out of the woodwork since--"

"--so-called 'super-villains' who threaten to throw the whole world into--"


"--UNIVERSES OF THOUGHT-FORMS WIELDING TREMENDOUS POWER, SMASHED TOGETHER LIKE PLAY-DOUGH BY GIBBERING PILES OF IDIOT MEAT--"

"--debuted the latest version of LexOS this morning, which can process terabytes of date in microseconds, while Windows can only--"

~

"....Clark? Clark? Earth to Clark, you in there man?"

A paper football bounces off the screen of the L-Pad in my lap, prompting me to shake my head and turn my concentration away from scrolling through the news feed. Looking up from the tablet, I see Jimmy Olsen, an impatient look on his face.

"Oh! Sorry, Jimmy, I spaced out for a second there," I say, putting the tablet aside. "You were saying?"

"I was saying the boss is looking for you," he says, gesturing over to the corner office in the small, musty newsroom of the Daily Planet. "Sounds like you did something that put him on the warpath."

Wincing, I stand up and give Jimmy a sheepish look. "Is this about the piece I did on the Atomic Skull incident? I didn't mean for it to come off as anti-military, but if--"

Jimmy shrugs. "Well, whatever it is, Lois is in there trying to calm the Chief down," he says, before muttering, "which, y'know, is kinda like trying to put out a fire with gasoline...."

I nod, and begin walking anxiously towards the corner office.

Years ago, this whole building was dedicated to the writing and printing of America's most trusted newspaper. Now, the majority of the office space is rented out to small businesses and start-ups, only one of the massive printing presses still in regular use as most of our work has gone digital. With most of the public getting their news from late-night comedians, bloggers, YouTubers, and social-media newsfeeds, all telling carefully cherry-picked and edited stories that suit the narrative the audience wants to hear, the days of monolithic information sources like the Planet, the Times, or the Bugle are coming to an end. Perry White, the last true lion of the press, is determined not to go quietly, and expects every member of his staff to fight for the Planet's survival as hard as he does.

Which means any time someone publishes something that might harm our reputation or cut down on our subscriber count, well.....the best you can hope to do is duck and cover.

"Are you seriously telling me you're trusting Woodburn as a source now?! Hell, why not just go find that 'Question' guy and cite him?"

"I never said I trusted him, I said some of the things he's posting line up with what I've dug up about--"

"KENT! There you are! Get your ass in here!"

My face flushing red and hands in my pockets, I step into Perry's office. I can take on vicious crime lords like Bruno Mannheim and slug it out with deranged extremists like Livewire all day, but the thought of having to go twelve rounds with Perry always makes me break out in a cold sweat.

"You, erm, you wanted to see me, Chief?" I ask nervously. "Is something bothering you?"

"Don't call me Chief," he snips. "And yes, if my office becoming a war-zone isn't enough of an indication for you, something's bothering me. What the hell is this piece you posted last night, accusing GNN and the Daily Star of collusion?"

"I-- I didn't accuse anyone of anything," I stammer, immediately going on the defensive. "I just pointed out that the stories they're pushing about Superman all have similar talking points, and some of the emails between sources are--"

"I read the article, Kent, I know what insinuation is," Perry growls. "Morgan Edge is threatening us with a libel suit now, and the Star wants my head on a platter! Both of them want you gone, and I was damned close to agreeing to it. You can thank your girlfriend here for changing my mind."

Lois's face sours at that. "Excuse me, Perry, I'm not his--"

"My point," Perry cuts her off, "is that you're off politics. I'm putting you on sports instead."

I shake my head.

"Perry, that's not fair!" I protest. "I'm not a sports analyst; I can't just shift gears to write about--"

"Look, you like football, you like baseball, right?" he says. "And more to the point, scores and statistics are things you can actually prove instead of making insinuations and conjecture. If I wanted an article about 'The Superman Question' to turn into some crazy conspiracy theory that gets us sued to hell and back without any concrete evidence behind it...I'd have given the story to Lane."

"Hey!"

I take a deep breath and try to rally.

"Perry, there's--"

"Mister White, you're still new and I'm mad at you."

"....Mister White," I correct myself, "I've got reason to believe that there's an agenda in play here, that most of the major media outlets are being used by people in power to push a narrative and manipulate the general public. I'm still looking for a smoking gun, but I think--"

"That's the problem right there, Kent," Perry stops me, "You think, you feel, you have reason to believe. Those are all good qualities to have when you're starting, but you don't put it to print until you know. That's the difference between working for me and working for someone like Morgan Edge. You think I'm not aware that most of the papers and websites posting those 'Beware the Superman' stories are bought and paid for? That a handful of people with deep enough pockets can scare the public into thinking whatever they want? Hell, the only reason you've still got a job right now is because I think you're right. But if you want to expose that, you've got to come at them with facts, not feelings."

"So you're burying the story, even though you agree with it?" Lois says.

"No," Perry responds. "I'm taking Kent off the story. And I'm putting you on it."

For a second, Lois and I stare at each other in disbelief, then at Perry.

"There are three things you can count on in this world:" he says. "Death, taxes, and the Daily Goddamn Planet. If you're going to go after GNN, the Star, and whoever's lining their pockets, you'd better find something that will stick. And I trust you to do that a lot more than I trust the rookie, Lane. The Planet's motto has always been 'Truth and Justice.' Don't forget that the 'Truth' part comes first. Understood?"

I nod. Lois folds her arms, and gives Perry a curt nod as well.

"Good, now get out of my office." He says. "Kent, go over to Lombard's desk and see what games are coming up this week that you can take off his hands. Lane, take Kent's notes and see if you can dig up anything he missed. I want something I can actually use by Friday, or we--"

There's a loud rumble, and the whole building shakes. A few seconds later, the sound of sirens begin to drift up from the streets below.

"That's gonna have to wait, Chief," Lois says, grabbing her things and pulling her hair back into a bun as she shifts into her 'action reporter' mode. "Sounds like we've got another story breaking out."

As she makes a beeline for the stairwell, I nervously back out of the office as well.

"I'd, erm, I'd better check it out too, see if there's anything I should--"

"GET GOING KENT!" Perry roars, and I hurry out into the newsroom, rounding the corner to the janitor's closet.

Thankfully, the coast is clear. Whatever's going on, I'd rather not waste time trying to come up with an excuse for why I need to be in there. Ducking inside, I push my way past the mop buckets and cleaning supplies and open the window.

I might not be the best at handling the complexities of media collusion, but thankfully Lois can handle that.

Explosions downtown, and people in crisis, though? Well....



....that sounds like a job for Superman.



Centennial Square, Metropolis
Moments Later



"I don't suppose it's in your programming to stand down and tell me what you're doing, is it?" I say as I touch down in Centennial Square, panicked crowds scattering from the sinister-looking automaton that's beginning to climb out of the crater I'd made from slamming it out of the sky. Whatever this thing is, it made a strafing run on a crowded city street, firing on innocent men and women with some sort of plasma weapon before I could stop it. No deaths yet, but several severe injuries. I'm going to make sure that's as far as it goes.

The mechanical monster pulls itself upright, standing a full twelve feet tall, the wings that assisted in its flight folding back into arms with nasty-looking pincers. The plasma weapon in its head charges up as it aims at me, and fires.



For a moment, everything is bright red and searing pain. The blast is enough to melt the glass of the windows around me, would be enough to incinerate a normal person in a fraction of a second.

Honestly, though, I've had worse.

"I didn't think so," I say with just a hint of mock disappointment, before rushing in. I go low and ram my shoulder into its waist, a spear-tackle that launches the both of us up into the air, away from crowded streets and pedestrians. It's quick to respond, though, sending a jolt of electricity surging through my body long enough for it to slip free from my grip. It turns its fall into a dive, deploying its wings again to swoop around for another attack.

"Stay still, you-- *ngh!*" I grunt in frustration as I throw a leading right hook, only for the robot to barrel-roll away from the blow, circle around behind me, and connect with a claw that scrapes across my back.



I push through the air towards the cybernetic attacker, but it easily slips to one side, and I wince as it blasts me with another ray of plasma. In the air, I'm at a major disadvantage in terms of maneuverability. I found out a few months ago that I can fly, yes, but I don't have much control over it-- it's less 'Peter Pan on strings' and more 'man getting shot out of a cannon.' This thing, however, was built with air combat in mind, so it has no problem flying circles around me.

After throwing a spinning back-fist that only meets air, I break away, speeding towards the large satellite dish on the top of the Galaxy News Network Tower. The bowl-shaped dish will cut down on the robot's possible angles of attack, giving me more of a fighting chance.

"All right," I snarl with fists up, "Let's try this again. Come and get me!"

Unable to come at me from the back or sides, the winged robot swoops in for a head-on attack. It pelts me with blast after blast of plasma, but I hold my ground, resisting the urge to charge in and allowing it to outmaneuver me again. The satellite dish starts to melt and rip away behind me, which I'm sure is expensive. Then again, GNN does host that G. Gordon Godfrey blowhard that ties everything I do into some insane conspiracy theory, so I can't say I feel all that bad about it.

Finally, the automaton is within striking range, claws gleaming, and I spring forward. My right arm swings wide for an overhead hook, and the robot's arms move to block....just as my feint intended. Twisting my torso, I bring my left hand up inside its defenses and catch it with a hard uppercut. Ted 'Wildcat' Grant called that punch the Dive-Bomb. Razor Ruddock called it the Smash. I call it a now-headless robot.

As the mechanized attacker begins to fall limply to the ground, I dive after it and catch it, preventing the debris from landing on someone.

"Now, maybe I can take you to someone who can figure out where you came from," I say to the wrecked robot, noticing the number 03 painted on the side of its fuselage.

I hear another set of engines whining, and another, both of them speeding towards me.

"Or maybe I can just ask your friends," I say with a frown, tossing the wreckage of Number 03 onto the GNN Tower rooftop as Numbers 01 and 02 come winding down from the clouds....

.....followed by Numbers 04 and 05......06.....07......

"Okay....so whoever this is, he's got a team....." I mutter to myself....

.....25 and 26......27....28......

"Make that an army....."

......47.....48 and 49.....50.....the skies over Metropolis are now screaming with jet engines and plasma guns, all converging on me.....

I let out a sigh, crack my knuckles, and charge into the fray.



All in a day's work.

AHH, AND JUST WHEN I WAS STARTING TO GET INTO IT....
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay


Name
Clark Joseph Kent


Alias
Superman


Powers & Abilities
Alien Physiology: Clark knows next to nothing about his birth species or his home world, but he knows that his body interacts with the world around him in ways completely different to everyone else. He can go for weeks without food, days without water, and even hours without air. He has come to believe that his cells absorb sunlight and process it incredibly efficiently, storing up over a lifetime on Earth and allowing him to do things that would be otherwise impossible. What Clark finds both exhilirating and concerning, though, is that even after years of trying to control and understand his abilities, he is still barely scratching the surface of what he is capable of.


Strength: The first of his abilities to manifest, Clark's muscles are able to generate more kinetic energy than should be possible, allowing him to move massive objects with his bare hands. Thus far, he has been able to hold up several thousand tons of rubble, lift the equivalent weight of a skyscraper, and tow a sinking oil tanker (weighing in excess of 225,000 metric tons) to safety. Though moving these immense weights does cause him a great deal of stress and even pain, he has shown no signs of actual injury afterward, indicating that if he can work through the strain, he is capable of doing far more.


Gravity Manipulation and Flight: While the exact process is still unknown, Superman is capable of expanding and manipulating his own gravitational field to an incredible degree. This, among other things, allows him to fly at hypersonic speeds, and grants him a sort of 'tactile kinesis' that aids his incredible strength, holding together superheavy objects that should buckle under the strain of their weight being focused entirely on his hands. While Superman has only recently demonstrated the ability to fly, he was previously capable of jumping over a quarter-mile into the air, though Clark does not know if this was due more to his gravitational manipulation or to his sheer strength.


Speed and Reflexes: When tapping into his reserves, Clark can move quickly enough to dodge bullets fired at point-blank range, and in a straight sprint, is capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 30. However, moving at full speed creates a tremendous amount of turbulence in his wake, and in populated areas he rarely moves above Mach 1.


Durability: Superman seems thus far impervious to most, if not all, conventional weapons. Small-arms fire seems to have no effect on him at all, and heavy explosive or armor-piercing ordnance does little more than leave bruises or scratches-- and even those have become less effective over time. Not long after his debut, in an unfortunate misunderstanding that led to a skirmish with the US Military, Clark was struck in the head by a shell from the rotary cannon of an A-10 Warthog and briefly lost consciousness. Two months later, a similar headshot from an unmanned drone barely caused him to flinch. Clark has felt weakened and sickened in the presence of the metahuman known as the Atomic Skull, suggesting his powers may be sensitive to certain forms of radiation.


Enhanced Senses: Clark has always been able to perceive the world in ways he could never quite describe. His eyes are sensitive to the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and can even focus in ways that let him see through solid objects, this 'X-Ray vision' capable of filtering through up to six inches of solid lead. His hearing is also incredibly accute, able to focus on minute details at great distances, and his extremely attuned sense of touch allows him to control his immense strength without unwittingly causing damage to everything and everyone around him.


"Heat Vision:" Clark can emit stored energy through his eyes, in the form of incredibly powerful lasers that can cut through solid steel almost instantaneously. Though he typically only uses this ability as an ad-hoc welding or cutting torch, Superman has on occasion used it as an offensive weapon, generating beams hotter than the core of the sun. Doing this, however, drains his reserves of power, and can even cause him to lose consciousness if he overdoes it.


Hand-to-Hand Combat: In the rare occasions where Superman has had to fight an opponent of equivalent power, he has demonstrated an affinity for boxing, wrestling, and the use of improvised weapons. While Clark lacks any formal martial arts training, his raw power, keen senses, and sheer tenacity more than make up for it.




Origin and Backstory
Clark Kent always knew he was different. Growing up in the quiet little town of Smallville, Kansas, where nothing unusual ever seemed to happen, he found himself the cause of unusual happenings all the time. Like the time he flipped over his father's tractor to retrieve a lost toy. Or the time he started seeing people's skeletons in the middle of class. Or after he found out his friend Lana's father had been abusing her, only for the man's clothes to catch fire when Clark gave him an angry glare. These incident, and dozens more like them, left Clark confused and afraid, but comforted by his mother and father, Martha and Jonathan Kent, who showed him the old stories of Captain America and the Justice Society. The things that made him different also made him special, they told him, and he could use those special things to do some genuine good in the world. He could be all those old stories made real: a real, true, honest-to-God superhero.


In his early teens, as his incredible abilities began to manifest, Clark became more curious about where he came from, how he could do all of these impossible things. After a string of arguments that led to Clark accidentally knocking over the farm's grain silo in frustration, Jonathan and Martha finally sat him down and told him the truth. He was not merely adopted, but found in a pod that crashed down from the sky like a meteor. The Kents had happened upon the crash site and, realizing they couldn't simply leave an abandoned child to fend for himself, took him in. Hoping to find some answers about his origins, they had searched the pod, but were only able to take two things from it before the site swarmed with black helicopters and unmarked Hum-Vees: a crystalline ball which hummed with a life of its own, and a red cloak, emblazoned with a logo that looked for all the world like a stylized letter 'S.' Clark was, for lack of a better word, an alien. A strange visitor from another world. Not only was he not the same family as his adopted parents, he wasn't even the same species. The shock of this revelation was too much for Clark to take, and at age 16, he ran away from Smallville, traveling the world to find a place where he might fit in.


For the next nine years, Clark spent his life on the road, meeting new people, helping where he could, and fighting injustice and oppression where he saw it. Invariably, however, whenever he would be forced to use his abilities, the people around him would be terrified, wondering what else this unassuming country boy was hiding. He quickly began using a long line of assumed identities, discarding them and moving on whenever someone got too close to finding him. Despite making greater efforts to cover his tracks, there was one person who started seeing a pattern-- and more importantly, seeing a story. It was while working to depose a warlord in the African nation of Nairomi that Clark first met Lois Lane, who had been tracking him for over a year and was convinced enough of Clark's kind-hearted nature to approach him. While his first instinct was to withdraw, he listened long enough to take some of her words to heart: that he shouldn't have to keep running from himself, that he could own his abilities instead of hiding them, and that in time the world would come around and see him for who he was rather than what he was. Sadly, before he could begin to work with Lois on this new direction, Clark had to return home to Smallville; during Clark's years away, Jonathan had contracted cancer, and didn't have much time left.


While spending those final days on the Kent farm, Clark talked with Jonathan and Martha about his travels, about meeting Lois, and about his place in the world. Taking the old red cloak they had found in his pod, and remembering the old stories and comic books he would read with his dad, Clark fashioned a makeshift costume, little more than a cape and a blue T-shirt with the cloak's logo on it, but it was an effective enough mock-up until they could make a better one. His 'practice' costume would have to do, however, when news broke of a terrorist attack on the Science Spire in the city of Metropolis. Clark sprung into action, promising to tell the ailing Jonathan all about it when he returned. After foiling the attack, holding up several thousand tons of collapsing building long enough for civilians to flee, he flew into the air for the whole world to see and sped back to Smallville....only to find that his father had passed while he was away. Still, Martha consoled him through choked-back tears, he had gotten to see his son stand tall in front of the world, to see him save lives, and to hear what the world called him in return: the "Superman."


What Makes This Character 'Ultimate'?
This is a Superman that's still very new to the job, still very rough around the edges, and is more or less making up the rules as he goes. He doesn't have Pa Kent around to give him the moral of the week, nor does he have the Fortress to go talk to the computer-ghost of Jor-El, so he's less concerned with 'changing the world' or fulfilling some meta-fictionally aware 'destiny' of becoming Superman, and more focused on the tasks and the people who are right in front of him.

The downside of this is that he's also less restrained when it comes to taking action. He's bull-headed, quick to anger, and getting a little full of himself. While ultimately Clark is still the kind-hearted and good-natured country boy he's always been, he's also very much a classic alpha-male who's becoming aware of just how powerful he really is, and he's starting to like it.

Overall, the story I have for Ultimate Clark isn't necessarily about how he becomes a hero, but how he becomes a man, how he starts to define his principles and shape his actions around them. In the modern age where a lot of guys don't truly "grow up" until they're well into physical adulthood, this sort of belated coming-of-age story I think would really suit Clark, showing how he goes from being some guy in a cape to becoming the Man of Tomorrow.


Supporting Characters:

Lois Lane: A fellow reporter at the Daily Planet, Lois had followed rumors of Clark's activities for years before his official debut, and was the one who coined the name 'Superman.' Lois is well aware of Clark's secret, and is a close personal confidant. Both of them have begun to harbor romantic feelings for each other, but neither has said it out loud.


Jimmy Olsen: Clark's roommate, a photographer at the Planet, and an obsessive devotee of the new 'cape culture' that's begun to emerge with the arrival of Superman.


Martha Kent: Clark's mother, who still lives in their old home in Smallville, Kansas.


General Calvin Swanwick: A Lieutentant General in the United States Army, commanding special forces assigned to monitor--and if necessary, neutralize-- Superman.


Bruno Mannheim: The head of the Mannheim Syndicate, one of the largest and most prolific organized crime syndicates on the Eastern Seaboard.


The Atomic Skull: The tragic result of military experiments to create their own metahumans, a trio of special forces operatives named Joseph Martin, John Corben, and Nathaniel Tryon were fused together into an insane, monstrous abomination that emits lethal blasts of radiation.


The Parasite: Formerly a LexCorp janitor named Rudy Jones, the Parasite has become a ravenous predator that drains the energy of anything it touches, from batteries to living organisms. Its insatiable hunger has made it seek out Superman on multiple occasions.


Livewire: A longtime activist and anti-Superman protester, Leslie Willis held a dormant metahuman gene that, when triggered, transformed her into a conscious entity of pure electrical energy. Her immense power and antagonistic view towards Superman has made her a regular foe, attempting to expose the Man of Steel as a fraud and a would-be tyrant.


Lex Luthor: The CEO of LexCorp, formerly an ailing oil company that he transformed into the largest and most profitable technological firm in the world. Lex wields tremendous power in the tech world and in the media (most outlets of which he personally owns), and has been an outspoken critic of Superman and other metahumans on several occasions. While Clark suspects his motivations and his true intentions are much darker, any connection Lex may have to any wrongdoing has yet to be proven and is, at best, purely conjecture at this point.



Post Archive:

"Toy Soldiers" Arc:



Multi-Player Event: Enter the Silver Surfer



Toys in the Attic (Toyman cont'd)



Bat Country (Batman Crossover, Toyman conclusion)



Season Finale
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay




Great, now my season finale arc has been spoiled....
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
<Snipped quote by AndyC>

It's a tossup for sure. It really comes down to whether you prefer your gaslighting to happen in-universe ("No, Peter, you and MJ were never married. In fact, you guys can't even stand each other!") or out ("Sorry, the Spider-Man you thought you were following was just a clone.").


I think the tie-breaker is that 90s Spidey never made this face:

imgur.com/gallery/4RjYORd
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
<Snipped quote by Inkarnate>

Your defense is bringing up the worst era of Spider-Man -- nay, any -- comics? :P


Y'know, as bad as the Clone Saga and the Symbiote infatuation were, I'll still take 90s Spidey over modern Spidey. At least back then, he wasn't just a face in a crowd of knockoff webslingers who are all written to be better than him, crashing on Mockingbird's couch because Slott and Bendis decided Mary Jane was better served standing around in the background of Iron Man's book waiting for her turn to pat Riri Williams on the head and tell her how special she is, and being a dopey punching bag for Deadpool.
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Am I the only Spider-Man fanatic that doesn't sing the praises of The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon? I swear I've had this conversation 500 times.


Yes. Because you are wrong.
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
<Snipped quote by AndyC>

I don't know, man. You mother calls me daddy an awful lot...


I'll kill you.
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Who else needs approval?


I do, but it won't matter from you because you're not my father....
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Y'all already know what's coming.......

In Ultimate One Universe - Year-One Style DC And Marvel Shared Universe → 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Interest Checks
Yeesh, I'm out of action for like a day, and suddenly the thread blows up.

I'll start putting my CS together once I'm home and on my computer instead of my phone, which should be around midday tomorrow.
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