HenryJonesJr

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

So with all these women characters*, I'm tempted to play Guy Gardner just to be a jerk.

I won't, but it's tempting.

*I am not saying this is a bad thing, to be clear.

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

Hub City
March 22
20:15

Hub City was a filth hole. Most would consider Gotham the country's most dangerous city, but that's only because it was bigger, more prominent in national news, and had the Batman jumping around its rooftops. Hub City easily gave it a run for its money. A sister city of Detroit, Hub had been hit even harder than the Motor City after the collapse of the US auto industry. Detroit at least still had all the corporate headquarters to keep it aloft. Hub City, on the other had, was a blue collar town. It had built some of the greatest cars in America history. Now its major exports were crime, corruption, and drugs. It was a cesspool of human depravity, and no one really seemed to give a shit. They turned a blind eye while they focused on other things. Decaying buildings lined most blocks, and neighborhoods were more like demilitarized zones than places people wanted to live. The good people of Hub City, thought few and far between, tried to eek out a meager existence.

Steph had no idea why Question bothered with this place. There were some places that were truly beyond saving, and Hub City was one of them. But he was here, and she needed his help, so she was here too.

Her motorcycle pulled up outside a rusted, vacant looking row of storage units. This is where Question had told her to meet him, but she was starting to get suspicious. Could SHIELD have gotten to him and convinced him to help? He wasn't the biggest fan of the government, so she hoped that wasn't the case. It was still in her mind, however. She knew it would be for a good long while. That was the life she chose when she ran. She had mentally prepared herself for that.

From a few doors down, she heard one of the creaky metal doors shudder and begin to lift. From inside stepped the Question. He was taller than her by an inch or two, with a tuft of black hair peaking out of a trilby hat. A tattered, long, blue trenchcoat hung off his shoulders, and he wore black, leather gloves. His most obvious defining feature, however, was that he had no face. Well, he had a face of course, but it was hidden under a special mask he had obtained. He motioned for Steph to bring the motorcycle inside, which she did.

"You're late," he grumbled. From his voice and demeanor, Steph had theorized he was about thirty-five to forty years old. He was far too world-weary to be any younger, even for Hub City.

"By like fifteen minutes," she looked at him unamused.

"Still. Late," he mumbled.

He walked further into the storage area, and realized he had made the entire row into an operations base. The inside was much, much nicer than the outside betrayed. She had to admit she was slightly impressed, "Nice place."

"Thanks," he responded, though not really meaning it. "Purchased it at a steal, though everything in Hub City can be purchased for a steal."

"That's what they say."

"They're right," he sighed. "Now, why you're here."

"Yea, you said you needed some help with something? Then you'd give me a lead on HYDRA?"

He grumbled and nodded in agreement before walking over to a map of the city filled with push pins and annotations. He sat down at one and and pointed at the docks, "Here. The docks. The only company that still uses them is Roxxon Energy."

"That makes no sense," Steph shook her head. "Roxxon would have no need to deliver shipments to Hub. It's not a distribution center or and export center."

"Exactly," he nodded, clearly pleased with himself. "All my digging turned up nothing, but that's because the officials in this city are in Roxxon's deep pockets. Not hard to believe considering their monetary standing."

That was an understatement. Roxxon was the world's leading oil provider. They had their hands in every leading energy field save for Stark's clean energy arc reactor technology. They had a stranglehold on the market and more politicians in Washington than you could count. Still, while they may be morally reprehensible for their continued pollution of the environment, Steph wasn't sure they were really doing anything overtly nefarious.

"I dunno, Question," she looked at him sideways. "It's weird, but why do you think this is something I need to look after? I mean, Roxxon is powerful. I don't need more of the government after me than I already do."

"Because I saw AIM on those very docks as well," he said bluntly.

That changed everything.

"I'll look into it."

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

"Whoa," Nancy Thompson said as she came into view of Hellboy. It wasn't a fearful statement, however. She was more in awe of him than anything. Hellboy liked kids. They didn't have the jaded preconceived notions of how the world was supposed to be. There tended to be less fear when dealing with him. There was still a wonder in their spirits that allowed them to take him for what he was, rather than what they wanted him to be. "You're kinda badass."

"More than kinda," he smiled wryly. "Sorry for all the secrecy and taking you out of your place. I know tonight, and the past few days, wasn't easy for you."

This girl, in the span of a few days, had lost her best friend and her boyfriend. Still, Hellboy had to admit she was holding up better than anyone should have been in her predicament. She looked more defiant than anything.

"Yea, well, when you friend said you had a way to kill this fucker, I wasn't going to pass it up," she stood with clenched fists. "This is all my parents' fault. Well, all our parents. And now Glen and Tina are dead. If Freddy's gonna come after me too, I want to fry the bastard."

Oh yea, this was Hellboy's kind of kid.

"Kid, I think we're gonna get along," Red chuckled. "Wanna know the plan?"

"Hell yea," she nodded.

Liz entered the room, a small shack, not unlike Freddy's, on the school grounds. It was musty and dirty, but away from a populated center, which would be necessary to complete the plan.

From his belt, Hellboy pulled a small vial, "This is a potion of shared dreaming. You and I will drink it, and we'll enter each others' dreams. This will be crucial, as Freddy is definitely going to come after you, and I'll be there to give him hell. Once we interact with him, Liz here is going to wake us up. Freddy's powers and kills clearly indicate he strattles the line between the real world and the dream world. Because of that, if I wake up holding onto him in the dream, I can pull him back into the real world."

"Yea, I did it with his hat," Nancy nodded. This chick was tough. "But what happens when we bring him back?"

"That's where I come in." Nancy turned to Liz, who was now completely covered in pyrokinetic flame. She burned a luminescent blue in front of the two of them. "My fire is hot. It's melted away worse than Freddy Kruger before. He won't stand a chance."

"We'll run, lock Liz and Freddy in the shack," Hellboy nodded. "Liz will send him back to Hell, and we get to watch a pretty light show. I wish I had my Pink Floyd records."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Nancy asked.

Hellboy shrugged and uncorked the potion and took a swig before handing it to her, "See you on the other side, kid."

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

So I have a lot to catch up on IC and OOC. Anything important happen in the OOC I should know about?

Hellboy and Nomad posts up tonight.

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

Hellboy drummed the large fingers of his right hand on the kitchen table as he waited for the local sheriff. He hated having to deal with the local authorities. Most of them were dumber than a cave troll and slower than a zombie with no legs. Plus they stared at his horns the entire time they talked to him. He hated when people stared at his horns. He filed them down for a reason, damn it. It’s not his fault he was born with the damn things.

After discovering the boy’s journal, Hellboy had sent Liz and some of the other human agents out to survey the police about who this “Freddy” could be. So far, none of them were willing to give up any information, but one thing was certain, the mere question about his name brought a look of fear over the lot of them.That was enough to tell Red he needed to get involved. If they weren’t going to talk to his men, someone was certainly going to talk to him.

He could hear shuffling and a person pushed into the room. The sheriff, Hellboy figured, froze at the sight of the demon, “Y-y-y-y-you…”

“I’m a demon,” Red rolled his eyes as exaggeratedly as he could. “I know. Now, sit. We need to talk.”

The officer drew his gun and pointed it at Red, “You’re the one doing all this, aren’t you!?”

Hellboy sighed deeply, “Yes. It was me, which is why I’m sitting around at the family I just murdered’s kitchen table. I also control the government agency who was asking you and your men about Freddy just to absorb some local color. Sit down ya moron. We’ve gotta talk.”

The cop holstered his weapon and sat down across from Hellboy nervously. He, of course, looked up at the big red demon’s horns as he spoke, “You wanted to know about Fred Kruger?”

“Fred Kruger?” Hellboy nodded. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

“Kruger was a sick bastard,” the cop shook his head, remembering some horrible crime from long ago. “Like to kill kids. At least, that’s what all the stories said. Eventually it was too much and we had to bring him in. I was still a young cop back then, ya see. Problem was, the evidence never really lined up well. An ambitious young DA took the case to trial before all that could be got, ya know? Well, you can imagine the rest.”

Hellboy started to understand where this was going. Kruger probably killed those kids. Whoever held this kind of power had to have evil in his heart. It’s the only way he could even come close to this. But even then, that’d only give him enough to become a spirit, maybe a poltergeist. Still, those were bound to one location, and this bastard had killed people in at least five different locations.

“So Kruger walked,” Hellboy led the officer on. “I’m willing to bet that didn’t sit well with a lot of people in the town.”
“To say the least,” the officer rubbed his neck. “One night, Kruger’s shack goes up in flames, the door locked from the outside. That part was held from the public. People were happy he was gone, and to be honest, most of the cops were too. No real investigation was ever launched. Since then the town’s been quiet, well, at least until recently.”

“So they killed Kruger and no one bothered to get justice,” Hellboy sighed again. “I can’t blame them for what they did. But at the same time, murdering an evil man in such a way empowers the soul. He could have came back as an evil spirit.”

“So you’re saying Kruger really is the one killing us?”

“Sounds like it,” Hellboy nodded. “Probably started with the families who did the deed on him. Probably killed the kids first to make them suffer before killing them as well. The question is how to stop ‘em.”

“You can stop him, though?”

“Huh? Oh yea, sure,” Hellboy gave the man a half-hearted smile. “That’s what we do.”

“I-if it’ll help,” the officer sputtered, “one of my men, Thompson, lives across the street. He...well he was one of em.”

“And he has a kid?”

“Yea, a daughter. Nice girl. Glen,” he he looked up at the red-stained ceiling. “He and her were together, ya know.”

Hellboy nodded to dismiss the officer. Most of this made sense now. At least he had a motive for the killer’s actions. What he still didn’t know was how this creep got so much power. The Dream Demons were a prime suspect for that, but they had been under control for years. Unless…

“Abe,” he opened the commlink back to SHADE Headquarters, “we got our man. Freddy Kruger. Child killer the townspeople burned alive. Looks like he’s back for revenge.”

“But this level of power isn’t normal for a revenge spirit,” Abe shook his head, agreeing with Red.

“I agree. Something is fishy here,” Red nodded. “But first I want to take care of Kruger. Do me a favor and send me the Potion of Shared Dreaming recipe. And then get a message out to Doctor Fate. Tell him I want to talk when I get back to Arkham.”

“Copy. I’ll get right on it.”

Hellboy closed the comm connection and prepared himself. He’d go into the dreamscape with this girl, and he’d bring Kruger back. Then he’d have Liz burn the bastard into oblivion.

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

Gowi, just noticed Nomad isn't on the roster. Figured I'd bring it up.

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

“Do not make me regret this.”

With those words Bucky Barnes handed Stephanie Carter her father’s shield and walked off. She ran her hand over its smooth surface, the same way she did every time she picked the object up. She watched as Bucky walked back towards the agents that had surrounded her mother’s home. She worried what Fury’s reaction to all this would be. She doubted Fury would really let her go. He’d send someone else after her eventually, but now she had her chance to put some distance between herself and SHIELD.

She picked her keys up off the alley floor, and fired up the motorcycle as she mounted it. From behind her, she heard Bucky yell, “Oh, and keep in touch. Steve would never forgive me if I let a little thing like a nationwide manhunt get in the way of telling you about what really happened the time he punched Hitler in the face.”

Steph chuckled and gave Bucky a salute. She hoped there would be a time where they could sit down and talk, really talk, about the war exploits of Steve. Bucky was the only one who was capable of doing that now. But the two of them were now walking into a hornet’s nest. HYDRA wasn’t going to be an easy nut to crack, and who knows if either would survive their encounters with the nefarious organization.

Carter gave one more look down the alley at Bucky and her mother’s house. This was the past, everything that had helped bring her to this point. In front of her was the future, a whirling maelstrom of uncertainty. She’d stop HYDRA. She was sure of that. How was another story, but she’d make sure they weren’t around to hurt people for long.

Steph stowed the shield in its holder on the side of the bike before covering it to disguise its true nature. She rev’ed the engines, and was off in a cloud of dust.

**********

March 21, 2005
7:00AM

The sun peaked through the thin curtains of the hotel Steph had stayed the night in the night before. It was a middle of the road place, a place a family on a roadtrip wouldn’t have a problem stopping at. She figured it was nondescript enough where she could crash there safely and get some rest. There could be SHIELD agents waiting on the other side of the door for her, but at least she had gotten some sleep.

She peered through the curtains, but saw no sign of a SHIELD presence in the parking lot, allowing her a smooth sigh of relief. Deciding she could afford herself some more time, she slipped into the shower to wash the grime for the past day and a half of running off. After exiting, she put on some street clothes she picked up the night before. It probably wasn’t a great idea to be wearing the battle armor around, so she stuffed it into her duffle and slung it over her shoulder, before pulling her hair back and placing a ballcap on her head. It wouldn’t hide her from SHIELD, but at least she could try and conceal herself from normal people who might be out to collect a reward.

She checked out of the hotel, hopped onto the bike, and headed towards a diner that was a few miles down the road. Instead of going directly in, however, she pulled out another burner phone she had purchased. Steph hesitantly punched in a number she never really expected to call.

“Agent 13,” a gruff, yet monotone voice answered on the other end, as if her call was completely expected.

“I don’t go by that anymore,” Steph responded to the Question. The faceless vigilante was a bit of a loon, if she was being honest with herself. He saw conspiracies on top of conspiracies, yet he did know a surprising amount about AIM and KOBRA. Without SHIELD’s vast intelligence network behind her, she needed someone to help filter information to her, and Question was the only one she thought she could go to. “It’s Nomad, now.”

“Nomad? I like it. Evocative. Powerful,” he approved. “Now, about HYDRA.”

She shook her head. Of course he knew why she had called, “You have a lead?”

“I may have something,” he confirmed. “But I also need some help. Come to Hub City and we can talk more.”

“On my way,” Steph hung up before looking longingly at the diner. She was really hoping for some pie for breakfast.

“Oh well. Next time.”

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

I feel like I should probably apologise to everyone for making the IC thread the Captain America Show.

It's been a slow week.

@Morden Man

Don't you apologize to them!

Anyway, I'm gonna have posts up tonight/tomorrow. I'm fleeing the city on Thursday because the Pope is coming and the city is going to be a shit show, so I hope to get some posts written on the flights so at the very least they'll be ready to post when I get home.

Also considering a third character, but we shall see.

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

"I don't think I deserve it because I'm his daughter," Steph stared back at Bucky defiantly. "I want it to continue his work. This shield is the way for me to carry on his legacy. I get it. You were his friend. I read your files. You did the dirty work for the Howling Commandos and you were largely forgotten for it. You see this as you carrying on your friend's work, the work the two of you started. This shield is my life. If you don't think I'm worthy, fine. But at least give me the opportunity to prove I am. I can do that with the shield outside of the traditional system. You can do that as Captain America in SHIELD."

It was all she could do. There was nothing else she could say. If Bucky didn't agree with this, she'd either have to put him down, or surrender, neither of which she really wanted to do.

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

Steph cursed herself for believing this GI caveman would believe the truth. Soldiers like Bucky believed in one thing, and that was orders. Fury gave him his orders, so he's carrying them out. She doubted she'd be able to get through to him. Still, she had to try and reason with him. She didn't want to hurt him. It's not what her father would have wanted, and she'd already done enough things he would have looked down on already in the past day.

She struggled for air as she spoke, the words coming out like a coarse whisper, "Science you jackbooted moron!"

Probably not the best idea to insult the guy trying to choke you out, but she was pissed now.

"I don't care...if we have to walk a block to my mom's house," she spat and struggled against his grip. "I don't care if you radio Fury...and ask him right now yourself...Even if it gave away my position. I am...not lying...to you."

The edges of her vision began to blur, but she didn't want to break his hold. Not yet. She wanted to show she was telling the truth.