Bounce

Ultimate Comics: DC - Shadows Among Us

It's possibly a side effect of having female voice actresses.

Ultimate Comics: DC - Shadows Among Us

Sloth said
I'm only pant-less around Bruce, Harley, and possibly Jinx if she asks nicely.

Excellent. Then no fear of Gizmo's apparent Kryptonite interfering with plans for the robot army take over.

Titans!

Water.

He remembered water. Cold water. His body shivering uncontrollably as he fought to try and lift himself out...

Out of... what? He couldn't remember. He had fallen and he couldn't get up. His leg hurt. It was bleeding. He could see something white sticking out of it and knew that was his own bone. And there was water. So much water. Rushing in. It had been up to his chest when he'd started to panic. Screaming. Shouting. Crying. Praying. Expecting God to be there. Expecting some angel to come. Hoping for someone. And someone never came.

Hypothermia had set in, as his head went under the water, but even as his limbs had stopped working his mind had still been conscious. Still been aware. He was watching air bubbles go to up the surface of the water, his body dragged down as he felt a burning sensation bursting in his chest.

That was the day, he died.

---

S A M A R
The Visaya Islands, Philippines

The young boy awoke, finding himself partially submerged and entombed in debris. Fingers of light pierced through the remains of the house, which had collapsed on top of him. The symbiote had formed a V-like brace of spikes around his head and neck, sheltering him from being crushed. His arms and legs were pinned underneath the water. Just like it had been when he'd died. With a scream, the Hellspawn burst from out of the wreckage, the cape lifting up the debris as an explosion of hellfire sent it into a million pieces. Pushing himself up, the dripping form of the young soldier of Hell stood and surveyed what remained of Maria's town.

The ocean was no longer restrained to a beachhead, instead the tide pushed water through what had been the city streets. Cars floated in rivers of mud, bodies, and trash collected along the way. Nothing was standing. No houses. No businesses. It was as if the finger of God Almighty had come down and wiped the town off the map of existence.

And Christopher, for all of his power, for all the good he had tried to do, hadn't saved anyone. He couldn't save anyone.

His foot connected with a body underneath the water in what had been the family's living room. Reaching down, Chris lifted Maria's body from out of the wreckage. She had grabbed onto him as the house had collapsed. And had been crushed under his weight when he'd been pinned under the wreckage. Gently, the Hellspawn let her go, the body slipping back under the water.

Because Maria wasn't there anymore.

He saw her. Standing around what remained of the town. As confused as the members of her family at what had happened to them. Now, as he rose from out of the wreckage, they looked to their anghel for answers to questions none of them wanted to ask.

No one who was dead wanted to know they were dead. It was the hardest thing to come to terms with. He knew that. He'd experienced it firsthand. And everyday since.

So he didn't give them answers. He showed them, instead, the way home.

Ultimate Comics: DC - Shadows Among Us

We have a PC Jinx. So... I just can't help myself.

| Identity |
Mikron O'Jeneus (Gizmo)

| Origin & Backstory |
Growing up in a junkyard outside of New York, the descendant of Irish immigrants who never caught a good break, young Mikron O'Jeneus had already earned the nickname Gizmo by the time he could walk. With an intelligence that challenged the public school system at the far end of nowhere any parent wanted to raise their kids, the state education system found it impossible to test the boy for how effortlessly he passed. The elementary and middle grades bored him. Advanced placement classes intended for graduating high schoolers gave him little more than pause. As a child, he outperformed every graduating valedictorian in the state of New York. That was when a routine pediatric examination turned up the possible reason why. Gizmo had an extremely rare form of brain cancer, which caused parts of the brain that were usually not active to form new connections in the brain.

Gizmo's already impoverished family was financially crushed with medical bills, which was when the H.I.V.E. first approached the family. Originally offering a grant to cover the medical expenses, two years ago the H.I.V.E. approached Gizmo's family with a scholarship offer than couldn't be turned down, but it involved a boarding school. Unlike his parents however, Gizmo was eager to cut ties to the ordinary and mundane people he felt were holding him back from achieving his real potential. The foundation - the H.I.V.E. - were all too eager to let the boy unleash that potential and all of the demons that came with such unfettered brilliance in such an immature person. Paired with fellow students Jinx, Ambush Bug, Mammoth, and Shimmer, Gizmo began an intensive set of training exercises that were the first tests to ever actually challenge him. Gizmo was recently dispatched to Gotham City, New Jersey as part of a field trip for the H.I.V.E. protegees. This Fearsome Five now waits in the Narrows of Gotham, awaiting the command to unleash chaos and terror on the city of the Batman.

| Character Notes |
No NPCs of note at this time.

| Powers & Abilities |

Beast Boy said "He's like a munchkin crossed with MacGyver!"

Gizmo actually possesses no super human powers or abilities. He possesses a genius level intellect in mechanical engineering, allowing even the most innocuous item to become a weapon of unparalleled destruction in his hands. Gizmo has a childish fantasy about gadgets and where science and technology collide is the point at which Gizmo is most dangerous. He has already created a number of gadgets and devices which seem remarkable for his age, including an anti-gravity vest and tablets capable of remote hacking data systems through WiFi, making him a dangerous technological terrorist. Gizmo most often carries a harness or backpack like device of his own design, which may incorporate either a weaponized jetpack or spider-like, multi-segmented exoskeletal limbs. Without his gadgets however, Gizmo is otherwise an ordinary young boy.

| How is this character different? |

The Master of Games said "Gizmo -- the nasty little boy with a very big brain!"

This interpretation of the character borrows heavily from the Teen Titans/Teen Titans GO! re-imagining of Gizmo as a preteen boy genius who would be a foil for Cyborg. I think there's a lot of potential for the re-imagined Gizmo outside of a comedic series, so I admittedly haven't changed much. One difference is borrowing the name of the mainstream version of the character and the only other is that I've explained the baldness as a result of childhood cancer treatments.

| What is your goal with this character? |
Blatant harassment of Gowi. Also, taking over Jump City with a robot army (provided Robin doesn't show up without pants).

| Sample Post |

The mechanical wings flared out, leveling the small boy in the air as he prepared to dive into a canyon-like divide between two walls. Already, a number of concussion grenade tipped RPGs were shooting up from weapon mount points along the smooth, metal walls below. Just like Beggar's Canyon back home, the bald-headed youth thought, dropping a pair of green goggles down over his eyes before he made the suicide run. Reaching into the pockets of the mechanics coveralls he wore, the boy produced two disc-like objects, which proceeded to unravel themselves into multiple plates, each resonating with a different frequency or magnetic signature.

The explosion was deafening, drowning out the gleeful shout as the child's short frame shot from out of the debris cloud as he dived from out of the air and into the confined space of the canyon. Columns shot up from out of the floor and the walls, creating an obstacle course that required the youth to maneuver over and under objects with sparse seconds with which to calculate the margins of error. Point defense cannons were popping up next, as the boy tapped a Playstation like controller on the wrist of his suit. Bomblets detached themselves from the exo-skeletal wings, streaking through the air to take out the anti-personnel weapons.

This was a race, but he was competing against himself. Trying to improve his time and performance over the last time he'd run this course. That made it a challenge, and Gizmo liked challenges. He didn't get enough of them.

As the boy neared the end of the canyon, the walls and the floor shot columns out in unison, intertwining to form a barrier. It had stopped him last time. But not this time. Pressing a button on the front of his vest, the boy's harness detached, continuing to sail on as the bald-headed youth tumbled to the ground. He didn't have the finesse of Jinx. He hit the ground hard, rolling with a grunt as he came up sore and painful. But as he looked up, the jetpack collided with the wall, its warhead arming and sending chunks of the twisted, scorched debris showering the canyon. Bracing himself, the youth held up a hand to shield his face as the flaming bits of wreckage rained down like hail around him. As the smoke began to clear, the youth lowered his arm and grinned wickedly at the sight of the passage blasted straight through the wall.

"Scorch me, baby!" the youth uttered, breaking into a run as he made for the exit. Leaping up, the youth gingerly watched his feet as the industrial-quality soles came down on sharpened points of broken and smoldering metal. Picking his way through the tunnel he'd blasted, the young Gizmo dropped down to the floor on the opposite side. He dropped to a three-point crouch, flipping the goggles back up on the top of his head as he stood to face the final challenge between himself and the finish line.

Mammoth stood between them, the giant teen pounding a fist into his palm and grinning as though giving testament to what he planned for Gizmo.

"Aw, crud," the boy muttered to himself, propping back to his feet. In a blur of motion, his right hand ducked into a cargo pocket on his thigh, whipping an object through the air toward the lumbering oaf of a teenager. "End of the line, snothead!" the eccentric technopath shouted defiantly.

Unfazed, Mammoth merely caught to object in one hand, closing his fist around it as though ready to crush it as he turned his palm toward his face to see what it was. The teen was perplexed for a moment, then held the object out as he glared at the boy. It was an old Motorola flip phone. "Want me to call your mommy for you?" the giant boomed.

The familiar Motorola ring tone heralded an explosion, as the battery overloaded and broke open the packet of sand and salt peter that had been stashed inside. What happened when those came together with the internal metals of the phone components was nothing short of Fourth of July beautiful. "Science, mothercruncher," Gizmo shouted in triumph as Mammoth hit the floor, unconscious. "Can you hear me now?"

Star Wars - Jedi Exile.

Welcome back, Jaeda! SJ would be sad if Keilara wasn't there. :)

Ultimate Comics: DC - Shadows Among Us

Apologies for the NPC post. I figured the set up for the next chapter of Kai-ro's story would best be presented from Ch'p's perspective rather than Kai-ro's.

Ultimate Comics: DC - Shadows Among Us

| G U A R D I A N • S H I P • S E N T I N E L |

From out of a pocket at the back of his hip, the H'lven Blue Lantern produced a thimble-sized flask from which he put a little kick into the coffee that had gone cold about two hours ago. Swirling the dark liquid around in the miniature cup, the veteran law enforcement rodent tested the potency of his concoction before putting the flask away again. It still tasted like swill, but at least it took the edge off a little bit. Grimacing slightly at the bitterness, the squirrel-like Lantern put the coffee cup back down and stuck the well gnawed, stub of his earlier cigar back into his mouth in order to try and get the taste of the human beverage out of his mouth. The kid had thought that introducing the H'lven to coffee might help the rodent to focus. What Ch'p discovered was that this coffee looked good, smelled better, and tasted like hammered trog swill.

A perfect metaphor for humans.

Speaking of trog swill... "How's our poozer doin', Aya?" the Blue Lantern inquired gruffly, pushing the cigar stub over to one side of his mouth so that it dangled from the corner as he spoke.

A holographic rendering of the interior of the space station was overlaid in front of the usual cockpit HUD. The projection depicted Kai-ro struggling to restrain a multi-armed robot from assaulting a waste disposal unit, which had Kai-ro in a headlock, and using one leg to hold back an automated food processor, which was cat fight slapping at the first robot. Various ring construct hands were attempting to pry and pull and seperate the lot of them, but to no avail. "I believe that Green Lantern may require assistance," the feminine AI voiced sympathetically.

"Eh," Ch'p uttered with a shrug, as the cigar traveled to the other side of his mouth and he picked up the cup of coffee again.

"Blue Lantern, I am receiving a transmission."

The coffee mug stopped just a half inch away from the H'lven's face. Turning his furred head back slightly, the diminutive Lantern asked, "From?"

"The transmission origin is tagged as Oa."

A colorful string of words in a variety of languages were muttered under his breath, as the H'lven looked down into his coffee cup and then tossed it. Running a hand through his scruffy face, the Blue Lantern finally gave a nod. The holographic projection of Kai-ro was then replaced by the face of a reddish alien with a rather elongated cranium. "Clarissi," Ch'p stated politely, addressing the Slyggian by his title.

"Blue Lantern," Salaak intoned in kind. "We show you to be in Sector 2814. What's your present location?"

"Asteroid Blue Heaven," the H'lven supplied evenly, his tone becoming gruffer still as he asked, "Why?"

"Good. You're close to Gemini in Sector 2815," The Slyggian remarked cryptically, turning as though to acknowledge someone who was off screen. When he'd turned back to the Blue Lantern, Salaak explained, "The Graxions have requested our assistance with a homicide case."

The H'lven frowned, the cigar again trailing over to the other side of his mouth. "Homicide?" the Blue Lantern echoed, plucking the stub from out of his teeth and waving it around as he spoke. "What the frell? When did we become the galaxy police? It's a murder. They've got detectives. I'm sure they can find the smoking gun."

"The Graxions have... reason to believe this might be a Consortium hit, Ch'p," the Clarissi stated, nonplussed by the H'lven's insubordinate barking. "Arisia's handling a treaty negotiation at the moment. I'd prefer that she handle this, but if it is the Consortium then we have to get out in front of this one."

The H'lven was speechless for a moment. But only a moment. "Frell fracking hell, Sally, I'm training a fracking poozer here, not leading an Alpha unit," Ch'p argued, anger slipping into his voice as his cigar-augmented hand gestures only grew more articulate. "This is a Consortium job? How bad?" the Blue Lantern demanded.

"An entire family. Kids. Even the pets."

Were it not for his fur, the H'lven would have appeared to have blanched. He'd seen enough murder scenes to know that they weren't pretty to begin with. And when kids were added to the equation, nasty business only got that much more disturbing. Now tack on the Consortium's so-called business rules and it wasn't as simple as just killing someone. "Frack, Sally, kid's ring won't work for a month if he sees that," the Blue Lantern uttered flatly.

To be quite honest, Ch'p wasn't all that certain his would either.

"He'll be witnessing worse if we don't stop this, Ch'p," the Green Lantern administrator stated matter-of-factly, folding all four of his arms down on his desk as he stared down at the small chipmunk and said only, "Good luck, Blue Lantern."

And then he hung up on them, leaving Ch'p staring at an empty field of stars. In which he caught his own reflection and wasn't all that certain he liked what he saw any more.

---

The young Chinese monk was struggling. His protective aura kept Marty's arms an inch away from his neck, but he could still feel pressure pushing up against his throat. And the food processing unit's wildly slapping arms were beating against his leg and, occasionally, smacking between them, sending inadvertent shudders of phantom pain through him created by his own subconscious in sympathy for the abuse that his body was taking. Large, green constructs in the form of a pair of hands were holding back Bertha, as Kai-ro felt his foothold beginning to give way.

It wasn't his balance. His own will was starting to falter.

Luckily, hope always shines brightest when that happens. True to form, the eruption of blue energy was startling to everyone - including Kai-ro - as a massive backhand issued a pimp slap that sent all of them scattering across the floor. As the robots and Kai-ro looked up, standing in the doorway to the bar was mighty mouse himself.

"You." the H'lven barked, pointy a stubby finger at Bertha and then directing his attention over toward Marty with equal vitriol. "And you. Get a fracking divorce." With that said, the Blue Lantern turned to the automated food processor. "And you. A waste disposal unit? Do you have any idea where that's been?"

The three robots got to their servos, shamed into silence by the short, blue rodent. Kai-ro's mouth was hanging open, speechless as the H'lven's dark gaze fell next on him. "You, back on the ship."

Nodding, mouth still agape, the young Green Lantern got to his feet. As he started to obey, the boy paused and looked back at Bertha for a moment, then back at Ch'p. "But... the weapons discharge..."

"What?" the H'lven uttered sharply, then spied the rifle on the bar. Turning to glare at Bertha again, the squirrel-like Lantern growled. "You're gettin' a warning this time,"

"WHAT!?" Kai-ro snapped in disbelief.

"Don't make me come back here," Ch'p growled, pointing at the three robots in turn. "I'll be angry. And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

With that, the H'lven turned and marched back out the way he came. Jogging to keep pace with the shorty Blue, the young Green Lantern fell into step beside his partner and trainer. "Why are you..."

"Shut up," Ch'p barked shortly, offering only. "We've got a job to do."

Ultimate One Universe: Marvel/DC RPG

| A S G A R D |

"She wants Valhalla."

The young god looked over at the magpie, as though annoyed with so simple of an answer. "Of course she wants Valhalla. It is the one realm of the dead she does not control," the boy-king noted aloud, the realization of his own voice causing him to look around for signs of anyone overhearing their conversation. In a whisper, Loki leaned closer to the magpie and said, "But that was decided at the start of this new story."

"Decided, yes," the magpie intoned evenly, cocking its head to one side as it stared back at the boy with its expressionless, black eyes. "By Odin. And Odin no longer reigns in Asgard."

The young god began pacing, walking a path back and forth in front of where the bird was perched on the base of a marble column. "So she is coming to re-negotiate the terms of that agreement," the boy ventured aloud, trying to sound confident even as he looked over at the magpie for some sign of reassurance.

Perhaps he had forgotten to whom he had been speaking.

"No," Ikol stated flatly, bringing the boy to an abrupt stop for the finality and firmness of that single word answer. "There will be no negotiations."

"What is it you're not telling me?" Loki demanded in a harsh whisper.

The bird feathers ruffled slightly. Ikol didn't like being spoken to as though he were being commanded. But then, Loki could appreciate that fact. It was, after all, true for him as well. "Hela is coming here to deliver an ultimatum. She already knows what she wants. She knows that we know what she wants. The rest are pleasantries and she will have none of that," the magpie explained patiently.

With a shake of his head, the young god began pacing once again. "The Aesir abide by a code of..."

"You are not an Aesir," Ikol interjected, interrupting the king. "Neither is Hela."

Again, the young boy paused and turned his head down toward the mysterious magpie. "How is it that you are so certain of this?"

"Hela..." Ikol began, hesitating slightly as Loki's eyes narrowed. He knew that pause. Was Ikol polishing a lie or deciding to tell the truth? Or even, which truth to tell? Increasingly, the god of chaos was finding dealing with himself to be quite annoying. "...is my daughter."

"How is that possible?" Loki blurted aloud, again catching himself and looking about for any who might have overheard him, before continuing in a low voice. "Ragnorak..."

"Should have caused her re-creation. It didn't," Ikol stated flatly, with no apologies or explanations. Of course, Ikol had to have some understanding of how one could survive Ragnorak. After all, he was the previous Loki. Or, a prior Loki even if not the actual predecessor to the current. "I know only that, at some point, Odin put Hela over the lands of the dead. All but Valhalla. And she will not stop until she possess it."

There was an implication hanging on that last statement, one which caused Loki to turn away as he began, "If what you say is true..."

"Make way for the All-Mother!"

A rather colorful curse left the young god's lips, waving the magpie off into the rafters as the youthful king of Asgard smoothly the front of his clothes and prepared to meet his adoptive mother. Frigga was as he had last seen her. Calm, controlled, and in control. The way she walked into a room at once left no question who was in command here. Loki sat upon the throne, but that was merely a chair. Frigga was the queen of Asgard. Until Frigga said otherwise. "Mother," the boy greeted the matriarch politely, feigning a smile as he bowed his head toward her.

"I am told that Hela journeys upon the Bifrost toward Asgard," the All Mother commented.

Straightening up, the boy put forth his best ambassadorial disposition. "We are honored by her presence. I have ordered a feast be readied..."

"Then perhaps I am not too late."

That comment caught the silver-tongued Loki quite unexpectedly. For a moment, he was uncertain what to say, collecting himself and finally asking the obvious. "Too late for what, Mother?"

"The Disir are massing outside of Hel," Frigga stated, turning back slightly and gesturing with a beckoning motion that summarily brought Heimdall to the queen's right hand.

"I see an army preparing to depart Nifelheim," the all-seeing observer intoned dryly. "Twelve legions of the undead."

"She plans to take Valhalla by force," Loki blurted aloud, as the pieces of this situation at last all fell into place.

"Leave us," Frigga commanded Heimdall. The watched bowed to the queen, then again toward Loki as he backed out of the room. Waiting for the all-seeing eye to depart, the queen at last turned back toward Loki and offered her advice. "Hela wants us all dead."

"Because then she'd have dominion over all of us," Loki uttered, thinking aloud as his mind began working through how to react, how to manipulate, or deceive Hela in some way. But nothing came to mind. War then? War between the realms? "Damn her," the child uttered softly then. "Damn us all," Loki repeated, before turning back toward his mother. "We will summon the Warriors Three at once. We will call upon our ally, Beta Ray Bill. And we will have Thor returned to Asgard immediat..."

"That will not be enough." The All-Mother's words stung for how firmly they had been offered, as though she were quite confident that Loki were incompetent and incapable of leading Asgard through this newfound disaster. "We will require allegiances if we are to survive this attack," Frigga stated.

Again, the young god was struck speechless. When he'd finally untangled his own liar's tongue, the boy asked, "Mother, what have you done?"

The look which Frigga now offered her so-called child made it clear that she did not appreciate the manner of questioning. "I have made contact with the other pantheons."

As he had feared. The boy's face blanched as he said words which she had first taught him. "The treaties of non-interference..."

"...will not save Asgard, Loki," Frigga snapped as though growing impatient with a petulant child, which was not at all far from truth. "Zeus has answered our call for aid. You are to be betrothed to a goddess of Olympus."

"Betrothed?"

Even as he spat her own word back at her, Loki's mouth was agape as he wore his feelings plainly upon his face as never he had done before. As shock gave way to confusion, anger at last found a weapon in the tongue which had, thus far, been far too submissive. Scowling at the All-Mother, the young king cocked his head back and uttered a loud, "I believe the word you meant to offer is betrayed, Mother."

The thunder of the god Thor did not resonate as sharply as the crack which accompanied Frigga's hand as she openly slapped the boy across the face. Tears sprang into the corners of his eyes - alight now with baleful hellfire - but he refused to shed them. Gritting his teeth, he felt his head jerked aside by the force of impact, as seconds ticked by before the white hot sting began to bite at the nerves in his face. But the look of defiance never faltered. And that stung Frigga more deeply than anything she could do to Loki.

Drawing in a deep breath, Frigga took a moment to collect herself. "You are an Odinson. You are king of all Asgard," the All-Mother announced, talking down to her child as a teacher might an errant pupil. "Did you really believe you could fall in love with a mere handmaid?"

So it was Leah, then. Straightening, his shoulders bowed up in aggression, the new king of Asgard took his first offensive against the former administration. "The sons of Odin have fled the throne," the boy tossed back at the woman flippantly, his tongue striking upon what was truly at issue between them. And hoping to break open old wounds. "Did you really believe you could put a frost giant on the throne of Asgard?"

CRACK

As his head snapped to one side, the young god tasted his own blood. He could already feel the hand print beginning to appear on his face, a red palm visible against the fair skin of the Aesir.

"Who has told you this?"

He'd lost his fight to restrain his tears, but the hate in his eyes was now unfettered as he straightening back up. In response, the boy gave a snort and then spit a mixture of blood and mucus at Frigga's feet. The two stared at one another for a long moment, before the queen turned her back to him and proceeded to walk away.

"I should expect you at dinner," the young god stated, making clear that it was a command. Without looking back at him, the command was enough to cause her to stop. "Your presence would be missed at the feast," the boy provided in explanation.

And then she merely walked on, leaving him with the rapidly dawning realization that he was far less a king and far more the pawn.

Ultimate One Universe: Marvel/DC RPG

The young girl swayed back and forth as she danced in a solitary celebration of her own little world; shut out from the world by the ear bud headphones that connected her to the iPod in her strap pocket of the lime green courier bag she toted diagonally across her body in place of a purse. She didn't really do purses yet. They were too small to carry all her stuff and too easy to set down and forget about. Humming to herself, blond pigtails swung freely about her shoulders as the child bobbed her head in time to the beat of Joan Osborne asking the question of what if God was one of us? The fingers of a small hand tapping against the metal railing she held to as she rode the train into New York.

Her mother had been a little freaked out at the notion of her baby riding the train by herself, but Katie had been adamant. After all, she wasn't little anymore. What her mother didn't know was that Katie had traveled the galaxy and even across dimensions by herself. It made sense, to her, at least, that if Energizer could manage to go from Earth to Kymellia okay... the trip to New York City shouldn't be hard at all.

Still, Katie would have to admit that she was a little scared. She'd faced the Snarks, the demon Boogeyman, and even drug gangs... and it was still a little intimidating to be eight years old and riding the train on her own. It was odd not to have Alex and Julie around, though Katie welcomed the opportunity to put some distance between herself and Jack. She hoped that Carter was happy about her coming to his school, because Katie couldn't have been happier with the idea of doing more than hiding her power and trying to practice in secret. To learn control, real control, and to live openly as both Katie and Energizer... It was a dream.

Shuffling about, the girl raised her sky blue eyes at last to look around the interior of the car she was in; realizing only now how empty the train was. A fact which only compounded the loneliness she felt at walking out on her own, even if just temporarily. Maybe... maybe she didn't need to be in such a hurry to be like her big sister Julie after all, the child thought to herself. Her brooding interrupted as she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass windows of the train car. Standing there in pink corduroy pants with a white hoodie that had pink trim and a image of Minnie Mouse embroidered on the chest. The sight brought a carefree smile to her face. She thought she looked cute.

As the train lumbered its way to a shuddering halt beside the platform underneath New York City, Katie let go of the metal rail and made her way to the doors. As they popped open, she peeked her head out to glance back along the tracks. Adjusting the way her bag hung on her body, the young heroine clung tightly to her sweatshirt as she stepped out onto the platform proper, her eyes scanning upward among the crowd for any sign of the Ghazikhanians. As she walked, Katie's hand dipped into her pants pocket for a piece of gum. Unwrapping the watermelon-flavored candy, the girl popped the chewy confectionary into her mouth. Returning her hand to her pocket, the youth went through the motions of tucking her trash away there; though a faint hue of golden light reflected the candy wrappers demise, disintegrated at the fingertips of the child as she absorbed the energy from its broken atomic bonds. Cracking a bubble, Katie kept her eyes forward as she strode into New York City. Just an eight year old girl alone.

An eight year old who'd saved the Earth. A few times. Not that she was keeping count. They didn't award ponies for saving the planet after all. It'd be nice if they did though, the small girl throught to herself with a private little smile as she skipped across the platform and started up the steps to the station proper, her eyes still looking for any sign of her brother when she caught sight of an elderly woman gingerly creeping up to the steps. The matriachial, grandmotherly figure was obviously impaired by some form of arthritis in her stalted, fragile gait. Pigtails bouncing, Katie hoped back down the steps to drop beside the stranger. "Do you need some help, ma'am?" the child asked sweetly.

The wisened, gray-haired woman seemed startled; as much by the gesture as being addressed so politely by a stranger in New York. "Aren't you a dear. Would it be a bother?" the matronly figure begged in reply, extending an arm even as the old woman leaned against the wall of the stairwell to help balance herself as she began ascending the steps.

"No, ma'am," Katie answered simply, gingerly taking the woman's arm and helping guide her along the steps to the top of the terminal platform, where she finally let go as the woman seemed to get her bearings. "'Kay?"

"I'm fine, child. Your parents raised you right. And I thank you," the stranger stated with a wearied smile, as the woman glanced up as though expecting to see someone there waiting for the girl. "Are you by yourself, dear?"

"I'm meetin' my friend here, ma'am," Katie offering, skipping a step back as she gave a large wave farewell to the woman. "Bye!" the child stated cheerfully, dashing off across the terminal. As she did, Katie swung the courier tote around to pull out the small, frog-shaped cellphone she carried. It didn't have all the functionality of a regular cellphone. Hers only allowed her to contact numbers pre-programmed into the phone, such as that of her Carter or his mom. Tapping away with her thumb, the girl dialed out a quick text asking him where he was.

Ultimate One Universe: Marvel/DC RPG

Sloth said
That roster pic looks dangerously close to some fucked up animated version of child pornography.

Tell that to June Brigman, because that's a crop from the cover to Power Pack vol. 1 #11 (June 1985).