Byrd Man

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

@Morden Man

I expect that Flair app post haste.

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

Here we go:

| Identity |
George Smiley, Deputy Director of SHIELD

| Origin & Backstory |

George Smiley was born in England to an upper middle-class family in the early 50's. After attending public school, Smiley's academic track record proved successful enough to win him entry into Oxford. While at Oxford he studied foreign languages, Russian and German especially, along with political affairs. One of his teachers turned out to be a talent scout for British intelligence and Smiley was recruited to join the organization with many names - SIS, MI6, and as Smiley came to call it, the Circus.

Smiley worked throughout Europe as an intelligence officer in the 70's and early 80's. Under the guise of an intellectual lecturer, Smiley would travel behind the Iron Curtain and act as a cutout for Western spies working against the Soviet Union. Smiley's work in and out of the field earned him promotions up the ladder until he was head of the Circus' intelligence directorate and right-hand man to M, head of the Circus. In 1986, junior officer Percy Alleline discovered a dynamite source of Soviet intelligence. Codenamed Gerald, a big figure inside the Soviet power structure was delivering the Circus dynamite intelligence and marked Percy as a man on the come. Slowly, Smiley and M began to notice that their spies and contacts were disappearing all over Europe. One by one, the lights of intelligence were going out just as Gerald was sinking his hooks into the Circus. The two men suspected Gerald was a sleight of hand, a move by the Russian spymaster Karla, and that there was a mole in the Circus. M and Smiley planned an op behind the Iron Curtain to find the mole that went horribly wrong, the undercover British agent trapped behind enemy lines and tortured by the Soviets before being let go. M was fired and Smiley retired from the Circus.

Enter 1989. Even though the USSR and the Soviet Bloc was beginning to crumble, Karla held firm to his mole. A rogue spy involved with a Russian agent discovered information that there was indeed a mole in the Circus and the foreign secretary brought Smiley back for one job: find the mole. After a twisting and winding path, Smiley found the truth out about Gerald, the mole inside the Circus, and saw that they were dispatched ruthlessly. Smiley took over the Circus as the new M and initiated a war with Karla that ended with the spymaster's shadow empire coming down just as the Soviet Union collapsed. The Cold War was over. Smiley's crusade was over and he retired for a second time.

Now, after ten years in retirement, Smiley is called again to serve. This time not by the British, but the Americans. Nick Fury, an old friend, has taken over as Director of SHIELD and he needs help, he needs a man who can handle intelligence operations and can take care of enemies without remorse. George Smiley is the perfect man for the job.

| Attributes |

Physically, Smiley is wholly average - maybe a bit below because of his age - and is not in the best shape. Intellectually, he has a brilliant mind that can see patterns and angles that very few can.

| Character Notes |
Nothing really to add. Smiley will be working with SHIELD, so I guess I'll use some SHIELD folks and try and interact with Cap and Nomad.

| Character Goals |

I want to tell spy stories, but not the kind you think of. Morden and Indy can do the fantastical stuff, I'll handle the nitty gritty. I love John Le Carre and the Smiley character because of how anti-Bond it is. There will be no men in tuxedos making witty retorts, no death lasers, no martinis. This is a story about a man who is asked to do questionable things for the good of the world. Do those decisions take a toll? Or maybe there's nothing left to take a toll on. Maybe George Smiley's conscience died a long time ago.

| References |

Tara Chace - Shaken and Stirred
Precipice of War - A Change is Gonna Come
Fatal Souls - The Skavian Shuffle

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

<Snipped quote by Byrd Man>

I guess it'd depend on variable factors.

What are you thinking about?

@Gowi

Picking up a character in the spy game.

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

What's the ruling on playing characters who started in literature and made cameos in a few comics, but never actually starred in a comic for a length of time?

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

<Snipped quote by Morden Man>

EDIT: For the record, I only watch rugby for the fights. Bloody great entertainment.

@GreenGrenade

I went to a fight and a rugby game broke out!

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

<Snipped quote by Byrd Man>

Don't ever say I don't know how to play to the gallery.

@Morden Man

I'll be needing this to get me through many a Saturday this fall.

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

This thread needs more football! 'Merican Football!

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

Center City, WA
8:14 AM

Tracy walked through the darkened dance floor of the nightclub. Even though it was eight in the morning, a dozen people writhed in time with the strobe lights and thumping electronic music. It was too dark for Tracy to see their faces, but he was almost certain they would all have the pinned eyes that came with a coke high. The clubbers all gave him a wide berth as he passed through them on his way to the VIP. The club was called Elysium and one of Hyde's guys ran it.

The guy in question was sitting in the VIP section in the club's rear. Fat Ricky Fat was rail thin with spiky black hair. Elysium's clientele ran towards the college crowd, the trust fund type that blew all mommy and daddy's money on drugs and danced the night away. From what Tracy gleamed, that was the type of kid Linda Flynn was.

"Tracy Lawless," Ricky said in that thick, fake ghetto accent he liked to put on. "Sup, dawg?"

Ricky sat in a booth in the VIP section's far corner. Cash and drugs were scattered across the table, the drugs in little baggies and the cash in hundred dollar bundles. Speed, weed, X, and coke were among the varieties of shit Ricky pushed to the kids who frequented his club. Tracy saw a pair of high-heeled feet sticking out from under the table. Scumbag Ricky always liked to exchange blow for getting blown.

"What brings you here? I be paying Hyde his dues. I be paid up this month, he ain't got no cause to fuck with me."

Tracy didn't say a word until he was sitting across the table from Ricky. He pulled a photo out of his jacket, it was Linda Flynn with her parents. He slid it across the table to Ricky and let him look at it in the dim light.

"She had your number in her room. You know her?"

"I be knowing her," he said before groaning. "Damn girl, do that shit again... uhh..." He looked at Tracy and nodded. "Yeah, this bitch be coming into my club and dancing and coping."

"She come in last night?"

"Yeah, I saw her with a couple of bitches. They left pretty early."

"You ever do a trade with her like you're doing now?"

"Nah, dawg. That be for the girls who be lacking funds. I wanna hit it, but that bitch always be paying, even when I offer to trade. I don't wanna stick it, I wanna lick it."

Ricky flicked his tongue at Tracy. A second later, he gripped the table and shut his eyes as the girl under the table finished her work. Tracy felt his annoyance growing as Ricky rode out his climax and the girl came up out the table. He tossed the girl a baggie of coke and pointed towards the door.

"Bathroom be down the hall, bitch. Wash your fucking mouth out."

She scampered off as Ricky zipped his fly up. He looked at Tracy and shrugged.

"What the fuck? I told you what I be knowing, dawg. The fuck else you want?"

"I want you to tell me what you know," Tracy said slowly. "And I want you to speak properly. Stop the ghetto shit, Ricky. You're Asian and from fucking Portland."

"Man, fuck you! I ain't know a goddamn th--"

Tracy came up over the table and grabbed Ricky by his thin neck with one hand while the other went into Ricky's mouth and pulled on his tongue. Ricky squealed as Tracy pulled on his tongue and shoved him hard into the table surface. His head banged hard against the table and he bit his tongue, drawing blood.

"Goddamnit!" He shouted, reaching for something in his pants.

Tracy had his own gun out and pointed at Ricky before he could even get close to his own piece.

"Give, Ricky," Tracy said calmly. "Give right now or I shoot you in the heart, pull out your tongue and shove it up your own ass."

"Okay, okay!" Ricky sobbed, trying to catch the blood dripping from his mouth. Tracy noticed that bullshit accent was gone. "Look... I... there were these Russian fuckers that came to me last week. Mean son of bitches and they... they asked about that girl, okay?"

"What did they ask about?"

"They wanted to know how often she came to the club and she was with and what times she came. They gave me a number to call the next time she came in. They gave me ten thousands dollars to do it. I called them last night."

"Give me their names and the number you called right now...," Tracy said before he added. "Dawg."

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

@SepIt's all in the spirit of the rules. If it helps, think of it as me playing Storm with a dedicated and highly detailed group of NPCs, because that's how I'd be tackling IC posts.

@ErsatzEmperor

I'd say that in my experience when it comes to the X-Men, one player effectively NPCing the team is the best way to go. Time and time again I've seen a half dozen folks all say "Let's pick up the X-Men and do it as a team!" Only for everyone to abandon it after two or three posts that leave the entire team in an awkward spot.

Precipice of War - We Write Under The Sign Of The Goat

I'll be sure to lay it on thick next time.

"The dame had legs so long she needed two sets of kneecaps. She was the sort of blonde hair and blue eyed beauty Hitler based his racial theories on."