HenryJonesJr

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

My fiance's mom and sister are in town for wedding dress shopping so I've just sat down for the first time this weekend to work on a post. Have I missed anything important in the OOC?

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Post is up.

Shit is about to go down in New York y'all.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

"Ladies and gentlemen, can you believe this?" J Jonah Jameson laments in my ear. "Spider-Woman helps destroy a block of Brooklyn, and she's treated like a hero!? She helped destroy yet another building in our city, put countless lives at risk, destroyed thousands of dollars worth of property, and on top of that, she stole a ride on the subway! Info Bugle listeners, this is an outrage. The fact that Captain George Stacy, the man who is supposed to be catching this wanton criminal, seems to be going soft on her leads me to believe that he's in on this whole mess! Or maybe the NYPD is scared of people with super powers? If that's the case, who is going to protect us? Are we going to have to take matters into our own hands?"

"Okay, Triple J," I grumble. "Go after me all you want, but leave my dad out of this."

I'm perched on the roof of a building overlooking a park, waiting for DeWolff to show up. I left her a message using Peter's voice masker from a payphone. She may not show up. She may show up with a battalion to try and arrest me. We'll see how it goes.

"You know this guy called 'Firefly'? I hear all he wanted was to take down the superhumans. Maybe he's got the right idea. His actions are deplorable, of course. But maybe we need to start making sure we're safe from this metahuman threat."

Jameson's rants have been becoming more and more unhinged since the Firefly popped up. I don't know if its just their screeds line up perfectly or what, but the guy has been calling for militias against me, or something. So far I haven't seen any action because of it, but I won't be surprised if I do sooner rather than later.

From below, I see the form of Jean DeWolff approaching the park alone. If she brought backup, it's not an obvious detail following her. There's an outside chance that some of the people in the park are plain clothes undercover officers, but I can't assume that. And I need to talk to Jean, either way.

"Well, let's see if this is a trap. God I hope it's not a trap."

Swinging down, I land in a tree above DeWolff, startling her, "Jesus. Are you kidding me? You're going to give someone a heart attack doing that."

"Sorry," I shrug, "Next time I'll give you a Tarzan yell. Might blow my cover, but at least it won't make you jump."

"Funny," she grumbles and lights a cigarette. "What's up?"

"Firefly wasn't working alone. The tech he was using was given to him. The building that burned down when I was tracking him had a lab in it. I don't think a high school graduate who spent most of his time since in the Middle East could cook up all that stuff."

"So what do you want me to do about it?" DeWolff takes a drag off the cancer stick.

"I can try and track them down, but you guys need to know what is out on the streets. If someone is supply goons on the street with super powered weapons, we need to find them and get them off the board. Not everyone with super powers is going to help you guys out. I don't want to see anyone get hurt."

Jean considers my words for a while, "Fine. But we're not working in tandem on this one. Your last stunt almost got me kicked off the force."

Defensively, I respond, "Excuse me, last time you brought in a small army to arrest me."

"Hey, not my call. Blame the boss."

"Yea, well, next time I see him-"

I'm cut off when around us the lights of the city flicker and go out.

"Shit."

"Yea, that can't be good," I fire a webiline off. "I'll go check things out!"

**********

The hum of electricity and science surrounds Flint Marko. He's never seen so much crazy technology in his life, never experienced anything like this. Every piece of the lab that surrounds him looks like something straight out of science fiction. If they have all this fancy equipment, he figures, there's no way this thing is going to go south. After tonight he'll be just as strong as any other super hero, and he'll become the king of this town.

He lies strapped to a cold metal table, the icy metal stinging his naked body, covered only below the waist by a medical gown. Marko may not be a shy man, but he can be bashful in situations like this. He tries his best not to blush, but his anxiousness is palpable.

"Relax, Mr. Marko," Otto Octavius places a hand on his shoulder. "Doctor Warren is the best in biological engineering. Well, the best aside from me. He assures me his Sandman project will create the planet's preeminent super soldier of the future. You will be the first in the line of people that will reshape the future."

"You sure can talk pretty, Doc," Marko laughs nervously. "Don't know if I should feel better, but I do."

"As you should be, Mr. Marko!" Miles Warren, the stringy, shrimpy scientist in the control booth overlooking the procedure area, says. Warren is the kind of man who disappears into the wallpaper when not being looked at. His large, Coke-bottle glasses sit under shaggy, greying-blond hair, making him look like a living toupee. He is the antithesis of Octavius, who radiates an aura of strength. Warren gives off an air of scared puppy. "And if I do say so myself, Otto. I am better than you are in every possible way."

The smile that crosses Octavius's smile is less friendly and more hungry, "Good luck. The future awaits."

**********

"Peter, tell me this blackout isn't city-wide."

"Well, do you want me to tell you that, or do you want me to tell you the truth?" Peter responds wryly.

"Crap."

"You think someone did this on purpose?"

"The entire electrical grid of New York city going down? On accident? No chance."

**********

Below, in the procedure chamber, an energy envelope envelops Flint Marko in a bubble. Otto can see the man is nervous, fidgeting against his bindings on the table. Below the table where he sits, the floor opens up, revealing a pit of sand shifting around underneath him. It begins to swirl in the bubble, with energy from the bubble coursing through it into his body.

"What are you doin to him, doc?" Hammerhead, current leader of the Maggia, asks with worry in his voice. The two of them are friends, from what Octavius has observed. It's heartwarming, really. Some honor among thieves, so it seems.

"We're bombarding his body with vita rays," Miles Warren pushes his glasses up as he looks over the readings of the experiment going on below. "They're what helped create Captain America all those years ago. They're running through the silica in the air, rewriting his generic code. It will allow him to harness sand. Use it as a weapon. As armor. He'll be unstoppable."

"As long as it works," Octavius adds slyly.

"It will work."

Otto looks over his fellow AIM scientist curiously. Warren is brilliant. It is fruitless to pretend otherwise. But he is a weak man. Afraid of others in positions of power. He is the kind of man Octavius sees as a tool rather than a peer. It's why he's here now, creating a pawn in Otto's great game of chess.

The experiment goes on, with Marko changing before their eyes. The sand in the chamber forms around him, shaping around his body like a cocoon. Otto watches as the human form starts to become something more.

Suddenly the power fluctuates in the chamber, causing the vita rays to spike in intensity. The chamber glows with a blinding, white light, and the screams of pain from Flint Marko can be heard over the increasing din of electronics.

"What's goin' on!?"

"I don't know!" Warren protests. "Power is being cut across the city!"

"Is this from the experiment!?" Octavius growls.

"No, it looks like a city-wide outage."

The lights in the chamber go out, and Flint Marko's screaming stops.

**********

Stryker's Island Prison is on fire.

The first sign was the glow on the horizon as I swung around the darkened city. As I got closer and closer, the tower of smoke gave it all away.

Someone is there, and they've given Firefly back his toys. I'm willing to bet the Silk Cartel is in on this, a diversion to get the Enforcers out of jail and back on the street.

"Pete, the prison is on fire."

"I know," he responds. "It's all over the police scanner. Problem is there's looting across the city as well. They NYPD is running thin."

Whoever turned off the power knew there would be looting. They definitely have one hell of a plan going. With little backup, heading to Stryker's is going to be dangerous as hell, not that I have any other choice. There are too many dangerous people on that island. If I don't make sure they don't get off, New York is going to go to hell.

"I have to go secure the prison. Firefly and the Enforcers are in there. If they get out, looting is the last of New York's worry."

"Yea, I kinda figured that's what you were gonna say," he sighs sadly. "Hey Gwen...just...be careful. And...I love you."

The words hang in the air as I watch the red and orange glow of the blaze mix with the grey smoke and inky back sky. My mind goes blank for a second, not processing what was just said to me. "I love you", three words I was never thought I'd hear this early from Peter. I love him of course. He's my oldest friend. Things have been going spectacularly well between us...but that well? I'm not sure. On top of that, he drops it on me before I head to a maximum security prison.

The thoughts come flooding back to me. Uncle Ben laying dead in the street, Aunt May wailing at the sight and Peter on his knees looking a million miles away. Maybe this was a mistake. Peter and I. Maybe it was a stupid shot at normality in a life that can no longer be normal for me. I don't know. All I know is I'm back to thinking this is nothing but a mistake.

Focus, Stacy.

I have a job to do. I can worry about the world of teenage relationships later.

Without responding to Peter, I swing towards Stryker's Island.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

I should have a post up tomorrow night

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

I shift uneasily while I walk next to Doctor Kafka and two of her colleagues through the halls of Stryker's Island Prison, the mirror opposite of Ravencroft Institute. The dark grey stone of the prison looms around me like a living shadow, trying to suffocate the light from the world. Vertical and horizontal bars break up the sold rock, giving me a window into what it's really like in prison. I don't feel pitty for the people I know deserve to be here, but I know at least a portion of the eyes staring at us as we traverse the cell blocks should not be here. It's one of the few injustices I'm probably not able to solve, and that tugs at me.

"You can see how terrible this environment is for rehabilitation," Dr. Kafka waves her hand dismissively at the surroundings. "Punitive, barbaric containment is no trail to teaching the criminal there is a better way. It ingrains their desire to lash out. Creates career criminals or men and women too bitter to restart their lives after they're released."

I consider her words before responding, "But some people can't be rehabilitated, right? Someone like Max Dillon, or career criminals aren't going to change their mind if they're treated nicely?"

"No, of course not," she agrees. "Some men just want to watch the world burn. But that is such an insignificant sector of the prison population. The fact that we thrown so many into places like this is a failure of our society. One I hope to one day eliminate."

"More power to you, Doc," I respond with a smile. Yea, I am definitely gonna like working for this woman. What would be an obnoxious screed to most makes my little, counter culture heart flutter. "What's your read on Firefly?"

"Please, Gwen, his name is Garfield Lynns," she becomes visibly upset at the use of the super villain's name. "I will allow no mention of that other moniker when dealing with him. Aliases contribute to delusions of grandeur. It ensures the patient will continue to see themselves as a conqueror instead of a human. When they elevate themselves above the general populace, they cannot see how their actions affect them."

It makes sense, sure. If Lynns seems himself as "The Firefly, Bringer of Cleansing Fire", he's not really going to consider himself human.

We're escorted to an area with a Plexiglas cell in the center. Inside, sits Garfield Lynns. The man is small, almost frail-looking outside of the contraption he used to fly and without the flamethrower he was brandishing the other day. His rail-thin form is lost in the orange prison jumpsuit he's adorned in. The burns on his face are highlighted by the harsh color, and wisps of remaining, blond hair sit on his head like they were dropped there. His eyes, cold and barely lifeless stare out in front of him.

"Gwen," Doctor Kafka looks down to me, "please stay here. I will speak with Mister Lynns. I want you to observe. Take notes. See what you can tell from him. We can compare notes later."

I merely nod as she heads over and enters the cell. The man is shackled to the table, something she clearly does not approve of as her face puckers at the sight of them.

"Mister Lynns," she announces her presence to the arsonist, who seems to be pulled out of a trance by the words. His eyes snap up to the doctor, still with a thousand yard stare. "My name is Doctor Ashley Kafka. I'm here to talk to you."

"You hear to tell me I'm crazy, doc?" Lynns smiles at her, the grafted skin on his face stretching like wax dripping off a candle. "Because I can save you some time. US Marine Corps. Two tours. Where I got my good looks. None of that PTSD bullshit. Maybe some disillusionment, but nothing compared to when I got back and saw that the country had lost its damn mind. Worshipping freaks in capes like they're gods."

"So the advent of superhumans made you angry?"

A snort of derisive laughter escapes, "I don't give a crap about them. What I care about is the people of this country treating them like they're some divine saviors. They're not. They're causing us to lose our way. And I want to make sure the people see them for what they really are."

"And what's that?"

"People. Mortals. If you make God bleed, and all that."

"So you want to show people there is no reason to put the so-called superheroes on a pedestal?"

"Exactly. Show them that there is only one god," he sneers. "And he doesn't wear a cape."

**********

In a dimly lit, backalley bar, the leaders of the Yakuza and China Triad meet in a rare show of truce. While the Kingpin tends to keep the peace in the city, the Triad and Yakuza work under him reluctantly. They prefer to rip each others' heads off in the streets to let the stronger of the two stand victorious and exhaulted. Instead they have an uneasy partnership in the the streets of New York. If pressed, both leaders will admit the agreement is beneficial, but the men on the streets still thirst for a confrontation.

Three members of each gang are the only patrons. Behind the bar, a fat barkeep stands, his shirt barely holding against his gut like a dam against a flood.

"Well," Shigeru, the leader of the Yakuza leans back, sipping on a beer, "why have we been called to this little meeting?"

The air around the assembled groups is thick with dust and the stench of stale beer. Their Italian shoes stick slightly to the dirty floor, but none of them would ever think to wear anything else.

"Why were you called?" Tzu, the head of the Triad, scoffs back. "You were the ones who contacted us."

"Impossible," the Yakuza leader shakes his head. "And if neither of us nor the Kingpin called the meeting, then who did?"

"I did," a voice announces from behind the bar. Each leader's bodyguards spring in front of their charges, ready to take on its owner. From the back room steps a large man, dressed in black from head to toe, with a high white collar and a black mask with a white spider emblazoned on it. "I am the Black Tarantula. Perhaps you have heard of me."

"The one who has been fighting the Maggia," Tzu nods. "You have been a thorn in our organization's side for some time now. Give me a reason why I shouldn't have my men remove your head from your body."

"You are more than welcome to let them try," he presents himself to the men.

With a motion from both the Asian mob bosses, their guards rush at Black Tarantula while the pudgy barman runs from the scene.

The first man to reach the Tarantula is grabbed by the throat and slammed down into the bar by the South American crimelord with such force that the solid wood exploded into splinters. The second man throws a kick, which is ducked at astonishing speed, before he is punched with such force he is thrown through the air, crashing through the table the bosses are sitting at. The third makes the mistake of getting too close, receiving a devastating elbow to the side of his head, caving it in and sending him to the ground in a heap. The fourth, rather than tempt fate, retreats, leaving one of the Triad guards alive.

"Smart," the Tarantula laughs softly.

"What are you," the Shigeru recoils at the display.

"I have become more," he responds, crossing his arms. "And I come with an offer. Join me. Overthrow the Kingpin. Become the kings of the city. You are treated as second class in his organization because, like us, you are outsiders in this land. He fears what you are able to do. While I treasure your skills. All me to help you achieve your deserved place in the sun."

"We accept," Tzu replies quickly. "For too long we have not gotten our dues. It is time that changed."

"Have you no honor?" Shigeru shoots back.

"There is no honor among thieves, my friend," Tzu smiles.

"Good," Black Tarantula turns to leave. "Kill him, and we shall get started."

**********

"He wasn't working alone," I shake my head as Dad and I sit down to dinner. "That's for sure. He's a marine grunt. Doesn't have the means to get tech like that."

"That's cop thinking," he points out.

"That's exactly what Dr. Kafka said."

He scoops a helping of mac and cheese onto my plate, "And what was her diagnosis?"

"Basically? That he had a tenuous grasp on reality, and the emergence of superheroes pushed him to where he thought his actions were necessary. It makes sense, but it's ignoring his enablers."

"You may be right," he shrugs. "But that's not your job as a doctor. You need to see what's wrong with him, and try your best to fix it."

I nod and push my food around my plate, "I know. But I guess I'm gonna have to try and forget about all that cop stuff someone pounded into my head."

"Hey, guilty as charged."

Our relationship is starting to mend after our fight about his new position. I think he took it as a sign, and isn't spending every night at the precinct every night. I also haven't run into him on patrol since the night with the Enforcers, which helps. I think he was really embarrassed by the web grenades, and it set him off for a while.

But I think I'm going to need some help tracking down the Firefly's tech supplier.

And that means talking to DeWolff.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Okay cool. Gonna finish up a post and have it up tonight.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

So did I miss anything important in the OOC? I have 21 pages to catch up on and I don't really wanna.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

“Writing your memoirs? Don’t forget the hyphen between ‘Spider’ and ‘Man’.” - Spider-Man to Kingpin in the new video game

Perfect game 10/10

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

So obviously I didn’t get a post up last night, so my next one won’t be until Sunday

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

@HenryJonesJr

I kinda prefer Dove Cameron's voice for Gwen, and she's even already blonde. Hailee's an alright choice, tho, I guess.

@Inkarnate