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Create-A-Hero RPG GM, Blue Bringer of BWAHAHA!

STATUS: A Perpetual Motion Engine of Anxiety and Self-Loathing 3 yrs ago
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3 yrs ago
Current A Perpetual Motion Engine of Anxiety and Self-Loathing

Bio

So there I am, in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, at about 3 o'clock in the morning, looking for one thousand brown M&Ms to fill a brandy glass, or Ozzy wouldn't go on stage that night. So, Jeff Beck pops his head 'round the door, and mentions there's a little sweets shop on the edge of town. So - we go. And - it's closed. So there's me, and Keith Moon, and David Crosby, breaking into that little sweets shop, eh. Well, instead of a guard dog, they've got this bloody great big Bengal tiger. I managed to take out the tiger with a can of mace, but the shopowner and his son... that's a different story altogether. I had to beat them to death with their own shoes. Nasty business, really. But, sure enough, I got the M&Ms, and Ozzy went on stage and did a great show.

Most Recent Posts

In One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay



T H E ‘ E M B A S S Y ‘
Four Months Ago | Manhattan, New York

Ted rushed the platter of dips surrounded by crackers onto the coffee table between them.

"So... Mister-- Thor..? Son? Mister Thorson? No. That doesn't sound right."

"Thorson would be if he had a kid." Booster corrected.

"Let me try that again, can I get you anythiiiiing, Thor? Mister Odinson? I can call you Thor, right? Coffee? Beer? Mead?"

Thor had picked up a cracker and was holding it up to the light, inspecting it like some kind of a curio. It looked tiny in his huge hands.

"--chai? Coffee? Soup? Ovaltine?" Booster continued Ted's questions, in a mocking tone with his best impression of their mutual friend.

"Hey, you're making me sound like Hank!"

Booster said nothing and just levelled him with a smile. Ted's eyes widened behind the goggle lenses.

"Oh my God I sound like Hank..."

'Thor' ate the cracker, picking up another as he smiled. He picked up another one and eyed it curiously. "Too which God do you refer? I promise you I can put you in good standing. If someone is in need of smiting, then I would recommend myself. I may be the God of Thunder but I may as well be the God of Smiting, for I am mighty!” He chuckled to himself. He turned to Booster Gold. “Servant boy, I will have the largest ale you have. Preferably two, your ale is not very potent.”

"Servant boy..?" Booster muttered, shooting his Blue compatriot an incredulous look, only for Ted to mouth the word "Go" at him. Booster threw his hands up in frustration before the Blue Beetle hissed at him in a harsher whisper, directing him to the kitchen. "Just go!"

Booster Gold sullenly trudged off to the kitchen.

"Ha ha haaaa..." The Blue Beetle laughed uncomfortably to their guest. "Aaaaaanyway, we asked you here today since you've had considerable experience in the heroing field... you know, like Justice League, the Avengers, general... divine duties, I suppose. We were wondering if you'd be interested in joining our merry band of... hup!"

Ted had gone to sit down without looking and inadvertantly sat on the edge of the arm of the chair, almost falling on the floor before regathering his balance, and desperately trying to mask the accident with more fake laughter.

"Ha ha haaaa... Friends. Buddies. Our merry band of Super Buddies."

Booster trudged back into the room with a four pack of brown bottles, still in the cardboard. He took one bottle out, holding it towards Ted, just as the Norse god grabbed the remaining three. Booster watched him and shrugged, deciding this meant the bottle he now held was meant for him, he removed the lid using his gauntlet as a bottle opener and kicked back on the lounge.

‘Thor’ used ‘Mjolnir’ too, surprisingly delicately knocked the cap off the three bottles of beer. Picking up the first bottle he tipped it, and his head back, the liquid running down his throat and into his stomach. The bitter taste lingering on his tongue. Shrugging he took a sip out of the second one. “I have had many offers for many different superhero organisations. While I am intending to stay loyal to my friends among the Avengers. Your group intrigues me.”

Suddenly a man in an exuberant red and yellow costume opened a door and jumped out, making a cliched superhero pose.



"I 'HEARD' you've been talking about me."

Ted's voice resonated with an implied sigh. He'd had to deal with this one far too often, apparently. "No, you didn't. I told you to wait in the other room. Stop doing this."

"Hey? Who's this guy?"

"Don't ask--" Ted warned, moments too late.

"Tis I, The Incredible Phone Ranger! The one who answers the call when innocence rings! The one who--"

"Dammit! You set him off!"

"--scourge of the--"

"Yes, yes... and you always come calling at Dinner time. Look, are you happy with your long distance? Because we're not. Go wait in the other room until we're done in here." The Blue Beetle scolded.

"Oh man... You have beer and crackers in here?" The strange red and yellow hero broke character, his voice reverting to a more natural, but nasal tone.

"Just... wait in the other room." Ted pinched his goggles off of the bridge of his nose, exasperated.

Thor laughed slightly at the figure in yellow and red. “Is he one of your number? Who else numbers among you?”

"Presently, we're otherwise engaged as far as he's concerned. I fear if he tries that again we may just have to disconnect him entirely." The Blue Beetle scowled as the Phone Ranger slinked out of the room, back to wherever beer and crackers weren't.

Before 'Thor' could respond there was a rumble of thunder, a look of panic crossed his face, Ted unable to adjust to this panicked Thor could only watch as the behemoth of a Demigod stood up and stuck his hands into.. pockets? That he apparently had in amongst his mail armour? Out of it, he pulled out several business cards. "I must away! Before I take my leave, here are my contact details. The first number goes through my Avengers headset, the email is held by a S.H.I.E.L.D agent then relayed to me as well as a postal address-" sticking his hand into another impossible pocket he pulled out a small stone with several runes engraved upon it. "-I have enchanted this stone to be able to contact me from anywhere. It will essentially broadcast your likeness before me."

Seeing Teds confusion he flashed a coy, but equally panicked grin. "The Thunder is my Bat-Signal. You know, God of Thunder?"

"Wait-- who else is able to control the thunder in the first place to call you?" Booster Gold asked, for once with his finger on the pulse.

Ted looked at the cards and the rune stone skeptically. He arched a single eyebrow. None of this was adding up.



'Thor' laughed "Clearly other Gods of Thunder." As there was another greater rumble of thunder 'Thor' walked out the door, before it closed there was the brief glimpse of a small coastal town. Before Ted and Booster could react however there was a crashing through the window as a hammer came through the window and crushed the chair that 'Thor' had previously been sitting in.



Shortly after another Thor came climbing through the window. "LOKI! WHERE ARE YOU?"

"He went THATTAAWAAAY!" The pair said, pointing to the door the first 'Thor' left through.

The second charged out being pulled through the house by his famous hammer and an unbridled primal rage.

The pair stood in silence in the wreckage of their own home. They'd lost a wall, a window and the door had seen better days. There was an uncomfortable pause before Ted finally broke the silence.

"How are we going to explain this one away?"

"Kool-Aid Man..?"

"Kool-Aid Man?? Who'd believe that?" Ted replied.

"I think I'D believe that..."

"You? Well, yeah-- maybe you would... But-- Hmmm... Maybe I can-- Ted ran off into another room for a few minutes. Booster walked over to the kitchen and grabbed two more beers out of the fridge.

Ted came back with one of his Doodlebug drones and a small brown box.

"What's in there?

"K.O.R.D. prototype fine tissue nanites. They use 3D printing tech on a microscopic scale. I introduce them to the part of the wall that's still standing, program them to repair the remainder of the wall."

"Whoa... you can do that now?"

"Well, they're still in the testing phase, so I can't legally sell them yet. And they'd be exceedingly expensive if I could. And they're slow... But they'll eventually get the job done." Ted released a nanite spray into the broken part of the wall, he opened up his wrist gauntlet and started programming the nanites to sample the broken remnants and task them with producing the components to repair the wall. He waved his wrist across the gap to scan the task area. And stepped back to watch.

"Slow?" Booster asked.

"Well it's only a small section of wall, not particularly thick... I'd say seven hours?"

"Seven hours?!? We could fix it ourselves in less than that!"

Ted turned and stared at Booster. "No. You couldn't. And they're tiny robots, what do you expect?"

"Well that doesn't solve our problem though, does it Ted? How are we going to explain this?"

Ted smiled and held up a finger. He brought out the Doodlebug and set it to hover in the air. Using his wrist control he programmed the doodlebug to scan the unharmed segment of wall, flew the doodlebug over to the gap, where it then projected a hologram of the wall over the wreckage.

Ted turned to Booster and smiled.

"That'll work."

The pair sat back on the lounge and looked at their work as they heard the front door open. She walked through The Embassy with her head in her phone, completely preoccupied. Ted and Booster quietly stared as she walked through the room, hoping everything stayed business-as-usual. But her head was so deep in her phone she didn't notice the Doodlebug floating there. After a crash she got up furiously rubbing her head and searching the floor for her phone, a hologram of the wall being projected onto the ceiling.

"What did you two idiots do?!?"

"I-- err-- we--..." Ted stammered.

"Well, you see, the Kool-Aid Man..."

"UGH! I DON'T EVEN CARE!!"


Fire picked up her phone and stormed out. The Blue Beetle and Booster Gold watched as she left, green steam rising off her hair.



"BWA-HA-HA!"


R A V E N ' S P E R C H
2002 | Ugh... New Jersey

“So THIS is superheroing..?” Jughandle sarcastically asked.

“In this context, THIS is superheroing.” The Blue Beetle confirmed.

“I had no idea superheroing was done on a bus. Apparently my parents had me superheroing my way to school every morning.” Fateball replied.

“And why ARE we on the bus?” Jughandle asked.

“Because Mize doesn’t own a car.” Ted flatly said.

“Nonononono. I OWNED a car.” Said the Mize. “I just don’t drive because… well…”

Ted inhaled deeply. He was exhausted, and conversation felt like it was draining the last of what he had left. “Because you have next to no control of your powers and you rapidly degraded your car every day when you drove it, until the thing literally fell apart underneath you on a main road. Like a teenage Mister Magoo.”

“What’s Mister Magoo?” Fateball asked.

“It’s before your time. Which *YA-AWN* funnily enough puts it even further before my time.” The Blue Beetle explained.

The bus pulled out of the terminal and slowly trundled down the street.

“But why the bus?” Jughandle asked.

“Because the bus costs us twelve bucks each, whilst Amtrak would charge us over fifty per head to barely get us there any earlier. And because if Mize could do that to his car, I AM NOT getting on a plane with you.”

“And why do we need to go to Boston in the first place?”

“Because we just do.” His patience frayed.

"Because whatever this superheroing we're needed for is needed in Boston, obviously." Fateball reasoned.

"Exactly. Listen to this one boys, she'll see you right."

"Boston. The City of Brotherly Love..." She continued.

"OK. You can stop listening to her now."

"I thought it was the City of Trees?"

"That's Boise."

"Nah, WE'RE from Joisey..."

"Great. I'm stuck on a bus with pre-pubescent Marx Brothers."

"Who?"

"Animaniacs." Ted simplified.

"Ah."

"AND the Warner sister!"

"Alright, that's enough of that, now. Can we have just a few moments of quiet. I't's been a long day, time travel really takes it out on you apparently--"

"--especially without a chrono suit, sir."

"Yes, thank you, Skeetz. So if I could just have a little quiet, I might actually try to squeeze some sleep in before we get there."



Four Straight Hours Without Consecutive Minutes Of Silence Later




Ted stared straight ahead with bloodshot eyes, breathing deeply.

"I think we broke him." Mize said, waving a hand in front of the hero's face.

"I'm a man of means by no means, King of the Rooo-- --hoik!"

Ted moved swiftly and grabbed Jughandle by the collar. Eyes twitching, capillaries about to burst, if the brain in behind them didn't first.

"Whoa, man!"

"I'm OK... I'm OK. Just STOP singing. I am so tired... I can't be held responsible for what's going to happen next if--"

"Oh hey, we're here!"

The other three watched uncomfortably as Ted sobbed gently and deeply.



B O S T O N
2002 | Errrr... Boston, Massachussetts

The four walked around the streets of Boston in uncomfortable silence, the three teens periodically glancing back at the older superhero until he eventually punched through the thick atmosphere.

"It's OK. I'm OK. I'm sorry about before. I'm also pretty sure this is happening out of some weird cosmic karmic alignment because of how I was around my own teachers when I was your age. I am just very tired right now. So very tired. Let us never speak of the bus again."

The other three paused, considering what he said before Fateball finally spoke up.

"So where to now?"

"It's just up ahead here. Just a bit further." The Blue Beetle pointed a few houses further down the street.

"This is just a suburban house." Mize surmised. "What kind of supervillain would live here?"

"Look," Ted said, levelling with the three teenagers at last. "I've just got to get in here and find a way to leave a message with my current location somewhere that the others will find it. So Jesse, jughandle us."

Jesse looked pensive. "I dunno. Isn't this breaking and entering? Like, in a suburban house?"

"First, suburban house, Legion of Doom headquarters where Metallo 'dwells'. Technically it's all B & E." Ted shrugged. "Secondly, what 'Breaking'? The entrance points will all be in tact. You're circumventing the regular dimensional planes to trespass on private property. And finally, I could get us in without you, it's just easier this way."

The three disappeared through space and reappeared on the other side of the door.

"Well how would you have got us in?"

"Spare key."

Jesse wigged out, feeling tricked to sneak into the house. "The key?! You had the key?! Then why'd you have me bre-- make us trespass?!"

"I don't 'have' the key, I know where it is. I'm not as agile as I used to be and it's a pain in the ass to get to. Also it doesn't lock the deadbolts properly. They'd know we were here after we left. This way's better. And let's be honest, more fun too. Just relax. There's not going to be anything we have to deal with here that can't be handled."

"Deal with..? Jughandle didn't like the sound of that. This weird hero talking about killing cats and 'Handling' situations that need 'dealing with'.

"Just relax. Everything's going to be fine." The three teens just stared. The more he attempted to calm them the less he seemed to have their trust. So instead he sighed and went upstairs towards his old room.

Ted let his bedroom door swing open and really felt the emotional side of time travel as his childhood bedroom from eighteen years earlier was revealed before him. He hit the light and stepped inside.

"Whoa... This is a kids room. This whole thing feels messed up." Jesse said, as he looked around the room.

Ted sighed and gave an exasporated look at the three younger heroes.

"So what are we doing in here?" Fateball asked, whilst her and Mize walked into the room. Ted started to inspect items on the shelves.

"I'm looking for something I know they'll look at, so I can send the others a message to know where I am. So they can come back and pick me up."

Toys, DVDs, books, Ted swept across each looking for the perfect thing. Then he was distracted by something else. "Oh. My. God!"

"What? Whaddid you find?" The Mize asked, picking up the LaserDisk player to look behind it.

Ted had a big grin on his face, before he slowly paced his way across the room. He picked up a fedora and slowly and gently put it on his head, before pointing at it with a look of amazement and joy which was completely lost on the others.

"It doesn't match your blue suit."

"You're not going to take some kid's hat are you? That's busted."

"I haven't seen this thing since 2002..." He said to himself. "This all actually kind of makes sense..."

"C'mon man. You're not really going to take this kid's hat are you. I mean, how would you feel if somebody did that to you?"

"I'd feel confused, angry and frustrated over the issue for the next eighteen years of my life, until I had a moment of absolute clarity and found myself getting a hat." Ted replied.

"Alright, well that was oddly specific, but yeah. It'd suck. Don't take the kid's hat."

"Do you STILL not realise what's going on here, Jugs? It's HIS hat, this was HIS room, all of this is HIS stuff."

"Whoa... So we're IN a superhero's bedroom?"

"Well, I wasn't a superhero when I was--" He stopped, seeing the new joy in Jesse's starstruck eyes as he walked all around the room, seeing it in a new light. "--sure, whatever. Soak it up. Superhero's bedroom. Don't break my action figures."

Ted went back to looking around the room for something to leave a message on when it came to him. The Scarab. He still had the replica model car in the future. Even when most of the other toys and things were boxed up and left to dust. The Scarab sat in pride of place on the mantle of the Embassy. Super Buddies Headquarters. He'd leave a message there, on the car. Heck, maybe he already had and it was already there. Like his hat. How often does it get closely looked at really? All it would take is one glance, though...

And he'd told Booster to never touch it.

If there was any way he could possibly guarantee that Booster Gold would get his - probably unwashed - hands all over it, the second Ted wasn't around to tell him not to touch it... it would be to tell him he can never touch it.

"The Scarab it is."

Ted walked across the room and grabbed the model car in it's perspex display case and set to work figuring out how to crack it open.

"I think I've just found my ticket out...
In Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions → 6 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay
Gotta say, @Eddie Brock... It feels odd writing Flux in a game that you're in. Looking forward to the next big Miss Megaton post though.
In Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions → 6 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay


Dennis snored deeply, gravel crunched increasingly loud outside of his bedroom window.

A fist banged loudly against the outside of his thin wall.

"Get up." An old voice said abruptly. "Today's the day. Every second is lives. I need you airborne in less that ten."

The Day.

Words so simple, for a situation so crazy. There'd been a number of conversations about this since the day the man in black had suddenly dropped into their house and turned their lives upside down, but really he hadn't done anything. Just forced the old man to actually be open with the truth.

Dennis pulled his arms through the sleeves of his flight suit jacket.

Truth meant nothing now, though. Only action would matter. Gravel scattered under heavy footfalls as he ran back to the main house.

The old man tossed him the golden rod. Dennis snatched it out of the air with one hand. "Icon just caught a giant rock that was going to level the city." The old man briefed him.

"And the carriers have dropped the drones? And the destroyers are getting into position?" Dennis asked, clearly they'd since been open about the general tactics his grandfather had observed in the Pocket-Dimension of Concordat when he had accepted the Golden Rod.

"Yes to the drones, no to the Destroyers. At least not yet."

"Well that's something, at least..." Dennis pulled a pair of goggles from his flight mask over his eyes and connected his bluetooth earpiece.

"Dennis... The old man opened his mouth to say something.

"Yeah..?" Dennis had the door open and was about to jump clear.

"..." Alan hesitated, not knowing how to say the thing that regularly went unsaid.

"Me too, grandpa." He took three steps out the front door and took flight.

Alan Coghlan watched as his last grandson soared to the city center, where growing billowing clouds of smoke marked the frontline of the invasion he signed off on all those years ago.




Isaac Fontaine was punching a teal creature into oblivion with rights that packed the weight of Formula 1 car accidents, courtesy of the gravity gauntlets wrapped around each glove. Off coloured blood squelched in coagulated blobs upon the city's bitumen. He stopped, looking up to survey the skyline for any allies this fallen alien might have, before walking over to his fallen craft.

He tore the buckled rear panel off, revealing in full the fuel tank he knew would be there from his own world. With no small struggle he pried the tank out and lugged it over to his vehicle, opening the car's boot up with the latch by the driver's side. He slung it in the back and slammed it shut.

He jumped in behind the driver's seat and went to start the car... and it wouldn't turn over.

With an annoyed grunt he tried again, and still it wouldn't start.

His mind raced with thoughts of instances where this world's destiny proved hard to push against. He thumped the steering wheel. What were the chances none of tese other cars would get him out of here with the can and his stuff either?

He got out of the car with a slam of the door and looked the street up and down, pulling the mask off of the bridge of his nose to alleviate the pressure. They were probably rallying the Guardians somewhere else in the city. Best of luck to those guys. Fate had him pinned down here.

"Looking for help?" A voice he instantly recognized called from above.

The Aquilifer landed gently beside him.

"I took that one down easy enough." The Vigilante responded, pointing to the fallen craft and the pummelled carcass of it's alien pilot.

"Whoa. You... you really let him have it." He commented on the man in black's work.

"Her. It was a her." The Vigilante said hollowly, through his voice modulator. "And this isn't what we do. Not normally."

"Ah-huh. The Aquilifer agreed, not really knowing if he believed him. He remembered the fate of Nightmare and his villainous cohorts, afterall. And the chunks Dennis threw up afterwards. The Vigilante wasn't there then, but the others...

"I mean it. The Vigilante doubled down, hearing the doubt in his voice loud and clear. "This is an invasion force. A war. The rules of engagement. It's different."

"So what are you doing down here anyway?" He asked, looking to change the subject.

The Vigilante snorted out a laugh. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Yeah. Yeah, I get it. Because all of this." Dennis gestured to the alien wreckage, the billowing column of smoke and the mothership hanging over the city. "Tuesday."

The Vigilante smiled and shook his head. "Nope. Still not weird enough."

"Yeah. I bet it was just a day in the life when my Grandpa used to get off the bus and walk down to work just over there." He pointed down the street to a renovated construction site. "He'd just tip his friendly neighbourhood Arlaaekian doorman, and walk into the office."

Isaac followed his finger down the street. Then he looked up and down the street. Skyscrapers enclosed the streets. It was one long corridor. The street only had small one way alleys funnelling in and out on the sides. An idea wormed its way into his head. A strategem.

"Your grandfather used to work down there? Alan?" He clarified. Maybe the reason he was stuck here could be a positive one.

"Yeah. The old Coghlan Cogs factory used to be down here. They moved when he stepped down from the innerworkings of the board. I think they said it's going to be turned into some kind of a bottling factory now." Dennis explained. A wry grin crossed the Vigilante's face through his balaklava.

"What? What'd I say?"

"Don't worry about it. Help me move some of these parked cars..."





It was horrible. Chrissy Jones blinked around the city, her natural response to the fear and anxiety that she was empathically picking up on, but there was no escape. It was everywhere! She was drowning in it! She flickered between being visible to the naked eye and a ghostlike chameleon. She desperately wanted to stay visible. People were distrustful of the invisible. But they would be distrustful of her regular form as well. She just desperately wanted people to not be afraid. Just to allow some semblance of control to resume.

She cried out and blinked to the top of the Chambers building. Far above most of the people it was as close to peace as she could get and still it was a far cry.

Cry.

Flux wept. Had she brought her people here? Had she brought her father's avarice down on them? No. That wasn't how they operated. They had their ways. They used--

The Rods?

Down on one of the streets below. One of the Rod-wielders. Moving cars down on a street below, she could see the glow from the top of the skyscraper. But he was far too young. Probably a descendent. That was generally how these things worked. She felt paradoxical guilt as she felt her guilt relieved that her people had not been sent here after her.

No. Their collection of her would just be a 'pleasant coincidence' for her father. Ugh. The thought sickened her.

"The ones with Rods tend to be leaders of their planets." Chrissy reasoned. "Perhaps if I go down there I may find myself an ally?" She tried to hold back her hopes, and embraced the fear of getting them trampled on. She would need that fear to blink to the street below.

The lone friendly Arlaaekian teleported to the street below. "Hello, Your Excellency. I wish to assist you in the fortification of your rebellion force!" Chrissy said, as cheerily as she could muster with fear overpowering every part of her being.

"Aaaaaaaa--" Dennis shrieked out in fear at his first sight of one of the aliens.

"What the--? Flux?!?" The Vigilante turned, recognizing his world's old ally, from Dennis' loud - and possibly somewhat girlish - squeal.

"--aaaargh!" His squeal began to contort and become more of an aggressive warcry as the Aquilifer regathered himself, and levelled the Golden Rod towards her.

"Wait-- Hooold up!" The man in black quickly stepped in front of the teal girl. "This one's with us." He calmly explained, looking to de-escalate the situation. His voice hitched slightly behind the voice modulator. The effect of Flux's empathic powers funnelling the anxiety and fear from around them into him, and presumably the Aquilifer as well. This called for as much calm as he could muster.

"But-- How--? How could you possibly--?"

Isaac shrugged. "If I--" "If you told me I wouldn't believe you... Yeah, yeah. So where do you want this car? That alley?" The Aquilifer finished his sentence before getting back to the task at hand.

"Doesn't matter which. We need all of these alleys blocked. Triple stacked. Hell, four if we've got enough cars. And double stacked on either end of the street, up there, and just this side of the junction with Chester. And we need it now."

"Your... Excellency..?" Chrissy queried as the Aquilifer flew past.

"Not quite, Chrissy. But if you tell him what I'm feeling at any point in time here, you'll kill us all and your father will snatch you back up. So... you know. Try not to do that."

"You know my name-- you know my fath-- You know who I am?" She stammered. She had no idea who this man was. She'd never met him before. How could he know so much?

"Yes. And I'm also one of the few people on this planet who knows you aren't some alien spy who sold us all out... so, let's just keep on keeping on. If you could move some of these cars that'd be great."

"I-- I can't. I can only move cars like that when..."

Isaac cut her off and grabbed her face by both cheeks. "Yes, yes. The fear's overwhelming right? Well don't worry about that. Because I've got this in spades..."

The Vigilante pulled Flux's face close to his until they were touching nose to nose and let her have it. All of it. All of the bottled anger, boiled up frustration and pent up rage he'd held back for so long. He thought of a moon broken in three pieces, a hero's sacrifice, burning buildings, the rage he felt because of the needless fear they'd put in others, he thought of Verseilles and Shenzen and the Western Seaboard. Then for good measure he added his rage about this world's version of himself being such a disappointment and the destruction he'd caused. The rage came easy and once he started it was a torrent. An unstoppable wave of concentrated fury.

Pebbles from the street began to levitate and swirl around the pair, and fire hydrants blew. Chrissy's eyes seemed to go blank briefly and her brow dropped to a firm furrow.

"Huh..?" The Aquilifer noticed as broken glass from the lower cars windows circled dangerously close. He quickly through up a shield construct.

"Alright... I may have given her a little too much to start with." The air started to feel thick and heavy.

"Yeah, Chrissy, if you could help him move some of those cars now, that'd be great..."
In One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Chippin' away. Hold tight, posts are coming.

I may have slowed down, doing research (r.e. reading a bunch of comics)
In One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Sorry for the lack of activity- real life has been, well, insane. I lost a job, got a new one, started having panic attacks, and only just recently started to normal out, only for it to start back up again thanks to all the fun stuff on the news. And on top of that, I'm so far behind in posting that I feel guilty about even checking in on it, let alone trying to pick up where I left off a month ago. Excuses aside, I could use a little escapism, so if I still have access to Spidey and the Titans girls, I will try to get posts up soon.


Your absence has certainly been felt. Hope things are starting to level out for you some.

I'm fresh off probably the biggest rollercoaster two weeks of my life as well.
In One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
<Snipped quote by Hound55>



*Cackles Maniacally*
In One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
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S U R V I V O R S / E S C A P E E S ♦ O R G A N I C W E A P O N S ♦ O N T H E R U N ♦ I . O .

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

"Nobody wants to be alone... Not even we monsters." - Jonothon "Chamber" Starsmore

After the escape of the man known as "Wolverine", the Government program "Weapon X" was swiftly shut down, packed up, it's budget diverted numerous times and it's purpose shifted to various shady and seemingly unrelated Government departments in order to evade accountability lest the failure return to the doors of those responsible.

Years later, and the Government has once again been emboldened to dabble in mutant weapons. Now under the banner of the C.I.A's "International Operations" or "I.O.", the Weapon X program undertook a cosmetic name change and became known as Gen11. Followed naturally by Gen12. Making the most of the latitude provided by the name change, I.O. chose to utilise ALL that had been learned about the mutant genome and add diversity, to provide a large slate of new options in their Generation 13 rollout.

Mental blocks were put into place by powerful psychics. The children were made to believe the facility was an expensive boarding school styled Academy, where they had been sent by their parents to best ensure a quality education. The truth was that none of these children had ever really met their parents, and by night were sleeping in Gen-Developmental capsules which aged the students and further pacified the students whilst in their subconscious state. I.O. had learned much from earlier programs, and the best way to maintain control was to ensure that authority was viewed as justified. Positive behaviour at the Academy was seemingly "rewarded" whilst negative behaviour "punished" but in reality, all behaviour was met with the same consequences - behaviour modifying drugs and psychic manipulation. This groundwork needed to be laid early to ensure control could be maintained once the children's powers would begin to manifest.

Whilst this method of control proved superior to more forceful methods tried in the past with operations like Weapon X, it required consistent utilization of the understood "rules" between authority figures and subject and would only hold as well as its weakest link. So successful was this method of control in fact, that some students took on more responsibilities in order to appease the controlling authority further. Such was the case with the subject Caitlin Fairchild.

Fairchild was a standout academic (particularly in computing and electrical engineering, but in general as well), albeit mousey figure, very responsible in nature and instilled with some greater privileges around the facility. Often functioning as a voice of reason between her fellow students, when they would listen to her. One night she staggered out to the bathroom, feeling unwell - the drugs had begun to cause nausea as power manifestation drew imminent, and she caught her name lit up on an unattended computer screen. Upon further investigation she discovered that the "Fairchild" it referred to was an "Alexander Fairchild" - her birthparents, which contradicted the information she'd been told all of her life and been made to believe by psychic manipulation. With quick thinking, Caitlin hacked in a "backdoor" access using her technological progress so that she would be able to once again gain access should she need to leave in a hurry. As soon as she had done this, she began to scan through the rest of her fellow "classmates" files and was shocked at the results.

The relatively passive method of containment employed depended upon two things:
A mutually agreed upon system of punishment and reward
And
A sense that punishment and reward was being handled justly by the authoritative presence.

These tacit agreements were breached when an “attendant”, noticing Caitlin up past curfew and accessing forbidden files, chose to respond by attempting to knock her out with the concussive force of a stun gun. However, fuelled by righteous indignation and the drugs prescribed to aid in the manifestation of powers, Caitlin shook off the attempt to bring her to heel. She grew dramatically, as her muscles rapidly became considerably denser and, not knowing her strength, knocked the attendant unconscious in self-defence.

Scared of reprisal and feeling alone in her knowledge of this terrible place, Caitlin fled and woke several of her classmates. She shook a handful of the others awake; Everett Thomas - because she believed everyone would listen to him, Jubilation Lee – because her seemingly willful disobedience would lead to her believing her story, Roxy Spaulding and Eddie Chang – because she believed Roxy was the “coolest kid in school” and people would believe her, and she happened to have been sneaking around with Grunge after curfew at the time, and Jono Starsmore – because he had been severely hurt by this place already, having accidentally blown away his jaw and part of his upper chest when his own powers manifested, which had changed his attitude about the “Academy” already.

After telling these five, it took very little time before the news spread and the others were awake and ready to leave.

But they’ve now learned something devastating about their previously pleasant Principal Ivana Baiul…



She dresses like a right trollop outside of school hours...

...Wait, no, that's not it. It's that she's a cyborg and has decided that she's willing to change up the program and try more forceful means of keeping them all here.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:
Teen characters, on the run together, trying to make things work whilst having their own issues in and amongst themselves, as they search for meaning, family and life.

By blending together two (well... if you're a GM three) different titles I should have a good depth of story matter to work with and should hopefully come up with some pretty interesting posts.

It's going to be very ambitious keeping all of these plates spinning at once and making sure they're still complex characters with depth... but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
- Powers: Physical Powerhouse

Powers: Flame/Plasma Manipulation

Powers: Vessel for Seemingly Boundless Psionic Energy

Powers: Gravity Manipulation

Powers: Able to Take On the Properties of Objects He Comes Into Contact With

Powers: Able to "Shed her Skin", Revealing An Alternate Form of Her Choosing Underneath

Powers: Plasmoid Manipulation

Powers: Physical Powerhouse, Psi Abilities, Flight, Mental Powerhouse

Powers: Diamond like skin, Claws, Almost Impenetrable Physically and Mentally whilst Conscious

Powers: Weather Manipulation

Powers: Additional Skin can be manipulated to mimic others, Has some close quarters advantages in combat

Powers: Can Manipulate Aura to "Synch" with other mutants, allowing him access to their powers himself

S A M P L E P O S T:
Sample post pending.

P O S T C A T A L O G:
Not Applicable - New Character
In One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Might have a new... 90s-riffic... app coming up in the next few days. Just working through some of the Ins and Outs of what I'll use and what I'll leave aside.

A rather ambitious team idea.
In One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay


T H E ‘ E M B A S S Y ‘
Four Months Ago | Manhattan, New York

"So wait-- explain this all to me again..." Ted asked the most recent applicant, rocking closer forward in his chair and pinching his goggles slightly off of the bridge of his nose.

"Am I going crazy, Beetle? Is that what's happening right now?" Booster looked slightly panicked as he addressed his friend.



The bespectacled man sighed in his tan trenchcoat. "We've been over all of this, my name is--"

"Uuuuupp-ahp-ahp-ahp-ahp-ahp..." Booster tried to stop the interviewee, holding a hand out.

"--Terrence Thirteen."

"--Ssssssssssssssssssssss..." Both Booster and Ted winced simultaneously at the revelation of his real name.

"We-- we don't do that here." The Blue Beetle tried to gently explain, gesturing between Booster and himself.

"I'm an occult detective. An ardent disprover of the paranormal."

"Yes. Yes, we got that much. Tell me again what you just said your powers are."

"Beetle, I don't--" "Shhhh!" The Blue Beetle leant further in still, waiting for the response.

"I just told you... I don't have any power. Aside from maybe being more resistant to magic than most."

"Nnng!" Booster took this poorly and started to rock back and forth in his seat.

"Yeah, that's what I thought you said--" Ted rocked back in his seat, sucking his molars and feeling secure in the knowledge that he wasn't mistaken.

"I HAVE gone crazy, haven't I BB? You can tell me. I can take it." Booster pleaded.

"No. No, on this one you're spot on. I just wanted to see if I could give him the chance to see it for himself."

"See what?"

"So, you're looking to join a SUPERHERO team, with the only power that you can claim being that you 'Might be a little more immune to magic than most', and the reason you're providing for that to be the case is because you 'don't believe in it'." Ted assertively fired off air quotes.

"Oh thank God, it's not just me..." Booster looked relieved.

"Yes..?"

"And you don't see the problem with that?" The Blue Beetle cocked a single eyebrow whilst leaning in once again.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Well, the value you're assigning yourself is contingent entirely on your premise that the situation that would require said value... doesn't exist."

Booster pointed wildly at Ted in agreement, then considered the words his friend had actually said with a furrowed brow and seemed further confused still.

"I'm afraid I don't quite follow you."

"Actually, I'm starting to be more unsure of myself all the time even as you explain things..." Booster scratched the back of his head.

"It's a paradox."

"..."

Ted sighed. "One of those things you're REEEEEEEEEALLY not supposed to do to the timestream."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Booster raised a singular finger, having finally understood.

"And there's another discrepancy here as well, when you first introduced yourself, you did it as--"

"Doctor Thirteen, yes?"

"--yes, and yet, when I look through your resume here under qualifications you've neither been IN medicine, nor hold a doctorate in... well, anything."

"Hey, if that huckster hoax Doctor Strange can call himself 'Doctor', then so can I!"

"I know Doctor Strange. I've actually been present whilst he's supervised over urgent field surgery that had to be performed by steadier hands... he IS a medical doctor. That's not some magical title. He's even kept up with the journals and work for the qualifications to still hold."

"Well-- well Doctor Doom..!"

"--Holds numerous doctorates in various fields. The man's a bona fide genius."

"Well..."

"In fact, if I had to try and convince Hank Pym to refer to you as 'Doctor', I'd never hear the end of it."

"Well... he could call me 'Terry'..?"

Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle both stared blankly at the man in the trenchcoat after his response.

"...I'll just see myself out."



R A V E N ' S P E R C H
2002 | Ugh... New Jersey

The Blue Beetle walked down suburban Main Street with Skeetz floating close behind, all eyes were on the pair.

"Sir, we seem to be attracting a lot of attention."

"Hmm? Oh, I see. Give me a second. I think I've got something for this." The hero said, reaching into his belt and pulling out a length of cord for his grapple line and attaching one end to Skeetz.

"There."

"I fail to see how this is any better--"

"Shh..! Someone's coming." As a local police officer approached, making his patrol round. Ted quickly stepped away from his job tying the knot and leaned non-chalantly against a wall.

The cop opened his mouth to say something, before the Blue Beetle pre-empted his question. "Fancy dress party. So I get left holding my daughter's balloon whilst her mother takes her to the bathroom." He said, pointing to the line and floating robot.

"Ah." He confirmed, seeming happy with the answer and walking on by.

"A children's balloon. Why was I built with the ability to feel shame?" Skeetz moaned as the cop walked out of earshot.

"My best guess? Because if humans have to deal with humiliation on a daily basis then why should you get off easy?" Ted answered.

"Let's get off the street, anyway. I need time to sit down and think." Ted walked into a large diner named 'The Jukebox' - if the overbearingly large sign on the windows and giant fibreglass '70s jukebox on the roof, seemingly designed to illustrate the fact for any who lacked the ability to read - were anything to go by.

Ted took a booth for himself and ordered coffee when the waitress made her first round.

"Now let's figure this out." He said to Skeetz once the cup was left in front of him. "Raven's Perch... Where have I heard of that place before?" He said to himself.

"It wasn't an article, or I'd remem-- Ah! I've got it!" He put the cup to his lips, treating the caffeine as if it were a reward for his recollection, before wincing at the burnt roast selection that passed for coffee in this diner.

"Sir..?"

"Magneto, Skeetz. Check your old archived news. Years earlier Erik Lehnsherr... or maybe he's in your files as Max Eisenhardt, committed one of the greatest acts of domestic terrorism ever on American soil. He attempted to set off a mutagenic bomb with the intention of deviating the evolutionary course of humanity along the Eastern seabord. Ironically, his plan was itself foiled by a group of five mutants. Eventually those went on to become known as the first X-Men, but that's not important right now. The point is, Magneto failed, but a very small amount of material leaked into the local reservoir, creating a marked increase in mutant appearances over the years in surrounding cities and townships like... Ravens Perch." Ted tapped on the table to emphasise the town where they now were, before realising how big a scene he might be making and leaned in closer to Skeetz to whisper. "So we may not be as out of luck as first appears... There may be someone here whose help we can recruit. We just have to keep our eyes open."

The next booth over, three kids were sitting down talking to a middle aged man.

Skeetz responded, lights flickering, indicating towards their booth. "Sir, we might not have to wait long..."



"We didn't say 'No', yet..." The young man with the goatee answered.

"Just a second..." Ted got up, and stood over their table. "I've got a job for you all, right now. I'll pay you all--" The Blue Beetle hesitated, thinking of a price. "--five thousand dollars a piece. But my one term is that you cut that shyster loose right now."

"Hey, do you mind! We're talking business here!" The middle aged man protested.

The young lady held her hand out at the man sitting opposite, before replying to the Blue Beetle. "Five thousand dollars? For each of us?"

"That's what I said."

"And you've got this money?" Asked the other teen.

"Well, I'll be able to GET the money. After the job's done. I mean... TECHNICALLY I have the money, but I wouldn't be able to pay you until after it's done." Ted replied.

"HA!"


The three kids looked amongst themselves dubiously.

Ted scowled at the middle aged con man. "I don't walk around with fifteen grand on me, if that's what you're asking."

"So what's the job?" The girl asked.

"I'm a superhero from a few decades in the future, I'm trying to figure out how to get back to my time. Once I get there I can pay you all your money."

"HA HA HA HA HA! Hang on! I've gotta write this one down!" He laughed and pulled out a notepad and pen from his top pocket whilst Ted winced at the middle aged man's caustic laughter at his story. It did sound pretty suspect, now that Ted heard himself talk about it out loud.

He almost expected himself to be laughed out of the room along with the other man, until...



The three teens seemed to disappear into space, only to reappear a brief time later.

"Alright. We discussed this amongst ourselves. We're sticking with him." They pointed to Ted.

"HIM?!? Why?"

"Well, as far as we're concerned you BOTH sound like a couple of con-men, but given a choice I'll go with the one with a face like his who actually sprung for a superhero costume and a-- robot?"

Ted rubbed his chin. "'A face like his'? You mean honest?"

"Goofy." She clarified. "You don't look clever or conniving enough to come up with some kind of scam like that."

The kids got up from their booth, and the four left the diner together.

"So I take it you don't have to put up with con-men where you're from?"

Ted stopped and thought a few seconds about Max Lord before responding. "Ours wears nicer suits.

"I'm Laura, but you can call me 'Fateball'. That's Jesse Metuchen, AKA Jughandle, and that's--"

"The MIZE!"

"--Mize. Or Stuart Welles."

"The Mize." He corrected flatly.

"But he prefers 'The Mize'." Jughandle explained.

"The Miiiiiiiize." He repeated, trying to put a "cool" tone to it.

"Hmm... He REALLY prefers the Mize." Ted noted.

"So what do we call you?" Jesse asked.

"This is Skeetz, but as for me, we'll just keep it to 'Blue Beetle'. One of the first things you realize in this superhero gig is 'The Less People Who Know Your Other Identity, The Better'." Ted explained. "Life can be messy otherwise."

"So what exactly are we working with here?" Fateball asked.

"What do you mean? He asked.

"Well, Jughandle can open pocket dimensions outside of the timestream, where he's basically oblivious to harm and time can slow down for anyone in there. That's what we did in the diner--"

"'Oblivious'?" Mize asked.

"--Me, I have photokinetic reflexes. I can duplicate different actions I see."

"I don't think you mean oblivious. Imperious? Is that the word? No... Impervious? Impervious to harm?" The Mize continued talking to himself.

"So far I've used it to learn about four or five different fighting styles."

"Muay thai?" Ted asked.

"What's that?" Fateball asked.

"It's a fighting style. Uses elbows and kness as well. There's a movie out next year, Ong Bak has this guy Tony Jaa who's really good. If your powers work how you say, you'll probably find it helpful. That said... I don't see how that connects with your name 'Fateball'."

"Oh! Yeah, I have photokinetic reflexes, PLUS of course I have my fateball." She produced a Magic 8 ball swinging by her side in a bowling ball bag. "I ask it any question, it's answers always turn out. ALWAYS."

Ted arched an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Here, I'll show you. Blue Beetle here wants to get back to his time. 'Will We Get Blue Beet--"

"Whoa! No! Wait!" Ted stopped her, yelling out.

The three kids stopped, turned and stared at him.

"Let's... Not ask that question. At the moment there's still a degree of quantum uncertainty. Wiggle room we can use to get me back to where I want to be. If your fateball works how you say, if that answer comes back bad, then I'm stuck. Right now, I'm Schrödinger's Cat."

"What--? Mize spoke up, apparently for all of them.

"Didn't any of you kids take physics? Schrödinger's Cat? The thought experiment Edwin Schrödinger used to explain the problems with Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics to Albert Einstein?"

The three kids looked at him blankly.

"Okay, in order to describe the nature of quantum superposition... there's a cat in a box--"

"Aww, kitty..."

"--along with a flask of poison - or Schrödinger said hydrocyanic acid, a radioactive device and an internal monitor - some kind of geiger counter, for example - that can detect radioactivity to the point of the decay of a single atom decaying, and flick a switch which destroys the flask."

"You could have just said 'Smart science guy' when I asked what you do..." Fateball complained.

"I don't like where this is going for the kitty..." Jughandle said to Mize.

"Well, the Copenhagen interpretation states after a while that the cat is both simultaneously alive AND dead. The quantum superposition. Yet if someone were to look in the box, they would see that the cat was EITHER alive OR dead."

The three stared at him in horror.

"People in your time are SICK, man!"

"This wasn't MY time! This was back in 1935!"

They still looked disgusted.

"Anyway... my point was, that like the cat I'm in the quantum superposition. Simultaneously able to get back to my time AND stranded here... entirely contingent on the decaying of a single atom. But if you ask the fateball that question, then that's like opening the box. No matter the answer, it's a fixed point from then. Unchangable. Quantum superposition ends and reality collapses into one of the two possibilities."

"Ohhhhhhhhh! You don't want me to ask the fateball about whether you make it back, because if the answer's bad then you're stuck here?"

"Yes!" An exasperated Ted answered. "...like the cat. Fate gone from being contingent on the decay of a single atom to being unalterably set in stone."

"Ah OK. I gotcha."

The four continued walking down the street before Ted realized there was still one unanswered question.

"And what about the Mize? What does he do?"

"Oh, he decays atoms..."


* Panels pulled from 'The Craptacular B-Sides #1, Published 2002
In One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
<Snipped quote by Hound55>

I'll take this as a compliment


It was meant to be.
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