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Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

V A L O R

M O N - E L , M I K E M A T H E W S

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_{Location: Amnesia, Jump City - Present Day}

Familiar #1.06: Formula

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_{Interaction(s): None}

Previously: Familiar #1.05: Cortex

The bright glimmer of Rao's light, the hum of a humidifier. "Wake up Mon-El, your lessons are due today." Holograms, keypads, crystal encoders and math equations.

An insistent metallic ringing, and star shadows on the floor. "Wake up Mon-El, the reveille is sounding." Footsteps in sync, dark shapes, reaching hands, copper in the air.

Laughter, tender touches, secret lamplight whispers. "Wake up Mon-El, your mother is coming." Running, climbing, falling - she is no one, do not touch her!

Masks in white, a secret sign in cold metal, the manipulations unheard, and the treason unseen. "Wake up Mon-El, the sky is falling and the world is burning." Sinister green shards, dust clouding and choking, a light has vanished in the dark.

A soft touch, labored breathing, fear twisting in knots. "Wake up Mon-El, you are dreaming. Tubes and tentacles, a beating golden heart.

Mon-El shot up, scooting away from Reep's concerned gaze and tumbling off the other side of the cot. "Holy fucking sprock!" As reality crashed down his sight returned to normal. He could no longer see the alien beneath the facade, instead he focused on a daxa- no, a human face, freckled with dark curly hair. Reese. Reep - whatever, same thing.

"Uh, you okay there Mon-El?" Reese asked unsurely, peering over the side of the cot where Mon-El lay with a stricken expression, breathing hard. He very obviously wasn't okay.

"Yeah," he said, voice strangled even to his own ears. "Just- uh, just a dream."

Reese made a considering noise, "Mm, yeah, I could tell. Your mom sounds like a bitch." An observation, that quite effectively rendered Mon-El silent, quickly gaining control of his breathing when he held his breath and gave Reese a startled look. "What? You talk in your sleep." Rolling his eyes carelessly, Reese threw a shirt at him. "Come on, get up! It's opening day!"

Oh. Right.

With a sigh Mon-El took the shirt and headed towards the washroom. Today he needed to look his best, but he also needed to be on time or Q would kill him.

"Oh, Worm, I've got x-ray vision, mark that off. Ugh, I did not need to be that intimately acquainted with Durlan anatomy." He withheld a shudder, thinking of the squishy organs Reese hid under his skin.

Oddly, Worm's response was sarcastic; "Of course, my prince, whatever you say."

Scrunching up his brow in confusion as he flipped the shower handle on, "What is that supposed to mean?" He was less surprised and more annoyed when the AI ignored him. "Worm? What does that mean?!"

-_-_-_-

If only his parents could see him now; the Crown Prince of Mighty Daxam, working as a bartender in a grungy illegal alien pub... and honestly? He'd never been happier.

As it turns out, Brin was more than just a little well connected, he knew over a dozen aliens just in Jump City, and he'd managed to convince all of them to turn up for opening night. Even the Karnan woman Fen and her daughter Laura, who was underage and wouldn't be drinking, had come, unable to miss what promised to be the start of something important to all of them. Mon-El never got tired of the looks of awed relief when someone entered through the door and didn't earn a second glance for their inhuman appearance, nor their excited joy at asking for a drink from their homeworld and actually getting it.

He'd been away from Daxam barely two weeks and he already missed listening to his people's music and speaking their language, he couldn't imagine how homesick he'd be if he had to go that long without a single swig of zakkarian ale!

"She's doing it again." Mon-El cheerfully informed Brin as he came around the counter with a tray full of empty drinks. The two of them glanced over at the far table where Q sat with a trio of blue aliens, notepad in hand and speedily jotting down notes as they spoke.

Since opening Q had been simplemindedly focused on scoping out the sort of danger and discrimination their new patrons faced, and Mon-El couldn't lie; the more he heard, the more convinced he became that Q's argument was just. Between the four of them they all had unique powers they could easily use to crack down on crime and stop others from getting hurt, and the aliens of Jump City needed that protection desperately.

"She's won you over hasn't she?" Brin asked, sounding simultaneously amused and resigned. Mon-El only shrugged. With a sigh, Brin nodded. "Well I guess that's it then. Better get some spandex Valor, you're going to need it."

Mon-El rolled his eyes, catching Brin give Q a subtle nod out of the corner of his eye. he looked just in time to catch the blinding smile she sent his way, determined glint in her eye. Bartender, vigilante, alien, prince... his life was getting more complicated by the day.

At least Amnesia had turned out nice.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Well, this critique stuff is new and exciting! I’m slightly too terrified to ask for a review of my own though lmao

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

That Captain America Wonder Woman crossover is j u i c y and I am living for it :D

Anomalous

Okay, I can see what you're going for and how my suggestion doesn't really solve that, and now that its broken down I kinda get it. I was going from an angle of broad research purposes, you'd want to compare similar expressions in self-contained variant abilities, external manipulation abilities, and those abilities that come from the mind, more of a how they present classification rather than how you're meant to engage them in combat lmao.

I get ya now o7

Anomalous

Enhancements: Powers that drastically enhance and strengthen the body far beyond average.

Ex.: Elemental Embodiments, Healing Factors, Shapeshifting.

Chars.: Incinera, Sever, Sabrecat, Scavenger, Roach, Dynamo, Gizmo, Tank, Abomination, Aria, Titan, Identia, Shadowbroker, Nightwolf.

Manipulations: Abilities that manipulate, shape and control.

Ex.: Elemental Manipulations, Magic, Telekinetics.

Chars.: Incinera, Sabrecat, Allomancer, Dynamo, Shadowbroker.

Psychics: Powers that are involved with or manipulate the mental capabilities and/or the mind of others.

Ex.: Empathy, Imitation, Telepathics.

Chars.: Sever, Sway, Aria, Identia, Jayson.

This way, when there's less options, it feels like it's more okay to double up on powers instead of accidentally getting tied up in four or five classifications. I also p much stole the descriptions straight from Superpower Wiki.

On Abomination and Jayson, I viewed Abomination's telepathic control more as part of the being a host thing rather than a psychic thing, and for Jayson I considered his telekinetic abilities to be more a manifestation of psionic energy like Sever's psionic knives ability instead of a manipulation power.

If we do use this we can easily sum up the overlapped classes as Enhanced Manipulators, Enhanced Psychics, Psychic Manipulators, or Enhanced Psychic Manipulators.

Anomalous

Ok guys,

So, I changed the "Class/Level" tag in the CS to "Variant Type/Danger Level".

Variant Types

Brute - Variants with increased levels of strength and/or durability; they may be more difficult to harm or take down

Metamorphic - Variants can change anatomy and/or physiology, either partially or fully; can take human or non-human forms including animal, mineral, energy, or alien

Volatile - Variants have abilities dealing with fire, electricity, plasma, and any other explosive energy/force

Mentalist - Variants possess psychic abilities; can control and/or manipulate objects, people, energy using their thoughts

Agile - Variants are prone to quick movements and/or fast/instant travel; they may possess increased levels of dexterity

Inhibitor - Variants wield powers that can weaken and/or hinder others

Amplifier - Variants have the ability to improve the condition of themselves and/or others

Distortionist - Variants are able to alter space-time, intangible concepts, or reality as a whole

Natural - Variants have abilities that utilize and/or effect the natural world and/or animals

Architect - Variants who are able to manipulate, modify, and/or replicate matter and/or energy; some are able to construct tangible objects from energy

Also, the abilities will be listed under their respective classes. So please, modify your CS's accordingly. You can look at Manny's CS for an example. If any of you is unsure if something just let me know! ^_^

@Artifex

Still seems to have a lot of overlapping and tings... gimme a sec I might have something to help.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

<Snipped quote by Stein>

We've made exceptions for The Shadow and Hellboy.

@Lord Wraith

pfshsuhsyhs whaaaat I spent like four whole days wondering if I could slip a Delsin Rowe in as my character lmao

I just assumed Hellboy and The Shadow were originally dc comics and I just didn't know about it

Anomalous

Somehow, the player named Sewer Rat, has provoked all the thirst lmao

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

V A L O R

M O N - E L , M I K E M A T H E W S

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_{Location: Amnesia, Jump City - Present Day}

Familiar #1.05: Cortex

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_{Interaction(s): None}

Previously: Familiar #1.04: Focus

As it turns out Reese, also known as Reep, was a tiny evil genius. The country Mon-El and his companions found themselves in ran on something called capitalism, which was a mildly terrifying economic model based on exploiting resources for monetary gain. Reese was single handedly going to make Amnesia a successful venture through three simple and easy steps:

First was the ethylizer, a device which, between Mon-El’s knowledge of galactic brews and Reep’s ability to synthesize the right chemicals, would allow them to produce hundreds of alcoholic recipes for a variety of alien palates. Second was the Tamaranean balm, usually a rare and expensive item to obtain that allowed the user to learn another’s language just through touch, but Reep was a shapeshifter, one who knew just how the Tamaraneans’ ability worked and could synthesize the balm himself. Third was, simply put, a disguise. Reep knew most aliens couldn’t pass as human on their own, not like he or Mon-El could, and though some were like Brin and could pass at a glance, usually things like blue skin, antenna, or crests prevented them from leaving the shadows, which could all be solved with a second layer of skin. Just by coating themselves in synthetic body-paint, alien scales could be smoothed over, protrusions pinned down, ridges blended in, and colors covered up.

Oh yes, come to Amnesia and the world will forget you’re an alien, by Rao, you might even forget it yourself! Talk like a human, look like a human, and keep drinking until it feels just like home. It didn’t hurt that having a bonding little community could help keep them in the loop of what went on in the city, any threats against aliens or news from the stars, or whatever else they could need.

And since Mon-El’s suggestions were shaping up so well, Q had decided to capitalize on their ambitions and go for gold. ”I’m just saying, a local dive bar, full of aliens, we’ve practically got our fingers on the pulse here! We could do the whole hero thing easy!” She’d decided on Kid Quantum, and had invented name for all of them. Again. Brin was Timber Wolf (”Come on, Teen Wolf is so classic!”), Reep was Chameleon, (“Stop calling him Camo, oh my god!”), and Mon-El’s was to be Valor, a shortened version of Valorium, his old Daxamite moniker.

Somehow the group had managed to wheedle bits of his story out of him as the days progressed… The less said of his loose lips when testing Reep’s samples the better.

”I’m only saying it’s too early, we can’t help anyone if we don’t know what we’re doing - and what’s the point of going through the effort of opening this place if no one is going to be here?” All good points by Brin, but Mon-El was starting to grow attached to the idea.

Reep spoke up before he could; ”We did start this as a safe place for us, but it’s different now isn’t it? Mon-El encouraged us to open up to help other aliens too. Becoming heroes, using our powers wouldn’t that help them even more? If humans see aliens protecting them, maybe one day none of them will have to hide.” Sweet, thoughtful Reep, sometimes Mon-El was stunned by how nice the Durlan was.

The original trio had only planned for two rooms at Amnesia, one for Reep, one for Brin, and since Q couldn’t very well bring a strange alien boy home to her oblivious parents, that meant he had to stay with one of the others. Brin, in no uncertain terms, told him he smelled like radiation and would not be sharing a room with that. Ever. Reep was cagier, he admitted he shapeshifted in his sleep, and since he was a Durlan… but Mon-El already knew about Durla, and it’s peoples’ true forms, Reep could hide his creepy side from the others, but he didn’t need to with Mon-El. He still half expected to be threatened to keep it to himself, or be kicked out and told to find a mat and sleep behind the bar, but instead Reep had been kind and shy, not at all like the dangerous xenophobic people of Durla he’d learned about on Daxam.

”See? Reep’s with me! And Mon-El is like, indestructible, we’ll be fine!” She was really persistent, and everyone knew she’d already won this argument; neither Reep nor Brin could deny her anything, too grateful for her friendship and welcome when Earth had proven itself to be a struggle time and time again. Mon-El felt the same, but not to the same extent, he was thankful not only for being welcomed, but for showing him what a group of honestly good and open friends were like, something he’d never found on Daxam.

”Q is correct, very little on this world could truly harm you.” Right, Worm, he’d been quiet lately, hardly speaking more than a dozen times in the week since they’d been here. The AI had informed him of what to expect though, as far as powers he’d gain under a yellow sun, which was the most bizarre logic he’d ever heard. Why hadn’t his people packed up and moved to a yellow star ages ago? It was just the kind of impulsive power-seeking his mother would have loved to be at the head of. ”Although, I must suggest obtaining uniforms and disguises, like on Daxam maintaining a secret identity is imperative if you wish to stand in the way of danger without being silenced before you can truly help.”

That, at least, wouldn’t be a problem. Q had been planning this for months, long before his arrival, she was sure to have a solution to becoming a hero and keeping her parents in the dark about it. Looks like this was really happening...

Anomalous

@Sewer Rat 10/10 pls arrest me daddy