Morden Man

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Or, just a thought. And this may be wild and crazy, but bear with me.
We focus on the short term, don't plot out every single aspect of each post a year in advance like you said, and also just toss a date on there to keep some semblance of continuity moving forward. Especially if, in season two, @Master Bruce gives a hard start and finish dates to go by. Times aren't necessarily needed, but a date, at least, is always nice to make sure things gel together and we don't end up all crossing the streams.

In open-world sandbox games that have various moving pieces, I find that to be the best way to maintain cohesion without future finagling.
If this were a structured RP with a handful of players, I wouldn't date my posts, either.

Not suggesting that this should be a mandatory rule by any mean, you all do what you want. But the whole "in the long run it doesn't matter so let's embrace timey-wimey narrative" seems odd to me. There are some things where stating in the long run it won't matter applies well, but I don't think this is one of them.

@Retired

If the phrase "a bit timey-wimey" doesn't indicate to you that I was being slightly facetious, I don't know if anything ever will.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

In the long run, we're all dead. And in the long run, no one is going to give a fuck whether we've been a bit timey-wimey with our posts so long as said posts tell a good story.

I'll take timey-wimey posts over ideas that have been plotted out second-by-second that never see the page every single day of the week.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Baxter Building, New York

Under the cover of darkness, Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben were whisked across the country to their new place of residence. Maria Hill had proven true to her word and provided them with accommodation that was more familiar to them. They just hadn’t been expecting it to be this familiar. The Baxter Building they entered through the back entrance was similar enough to their own that it brought memories flooding back, but different enough to make the experience unsettling.

Johnny Storm looked around the spacious living room wistfully. “Home sweet home.”

Ben Grimm eyed a large brown leather couch at the centre of the room. He flung himself down onto it. As he landed there was a worrying crunch and dust scattered around the room. Grimm glanced around at the TV against the wall, the cabinets, and the tables. All of them were covered in thick dust.

“You’d have thought SHIELD coulda paid someone to run a feather duster through the place before we arrived,” Grimm said through his fist as he coughed noisily. “I can barely breathe in here.”

Sue on the arm of the chair and patted Ben on the back to soothe his coughing.

“Let’s not complain too much, Ben. After all, we could still be cooped up in the Triskelion with SHIELD agents following us around twenty-four seven. At least here we have some privacy.”

The tranquility of the Fantastic Four’s return to the Baxter Building was broken by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

“About that.”

Lent in the doorway to the Baxter Building’s living room was none other than Guy Gardner. His face was significantly less red than when they had last crossed his path. He’d changed out of his SHIELD uniform and into a pair of denim jeans a tight-fitting black t-shirt. There was a red “W” emblazoned on his chest.

Ben lent towards Sue and rolled his eyes. “Looks like you spoke too soon, Suzie.”

Johnny’s eyes narrowed. He strode towards him and shoved an accusatory finger in the SHIELD agent’s chest.

“What are you doing here, Gardner?”

“What?” Guy said with a coy smile. “You’re trying to tell me you’re not happy to see your Uncle Guy again?”

It might not have been their Baxter Building but Gardner’s presence their felt like an intrusion. It was traumatic enough for Johnny to be surrounded by reminders of their past – the world they had left behind – but Guy’s sudden appearance had only shaken him up even more. Ever the empath, Sue stood up from her seat and placed a reassuring hand on her brother’s back.

She offered Guy a polite smile. “I don’t know if ‘happy’ is the word I’d use.”

Johnny nodded in agreement.

“The last time we saw you, you were storming out of Hill’s office with your panties in a bunch. It seemed pretty final to me. What’s changed?”

Guy let out a derisory laugh at the question.

“You’re kidding, right? That was nothing. A lover’s tiff between two old friends. You should see Maria and I when we get going after a couple of drinks. They're really something to behold.”

From the couch Ben studied Gardner’s body language. There was a tension in the SHIELD agent’s movements. He’d seen a confident Guy before – one so confident that he was willing to stand toe-to-toe with him. This wasn’t that. There was more going on here than Gardner was willing to let on and Grimm was tired of all the smoke and mirrors this world seemed entangled in.

“Lying ain’t your strong suit, Carrot Top.”

“Alright,” Gardner said with a knowing smile. “Let’s just say that the Fürher needed someone she could trust to make sure the four of you don’t land yourself in any trouble.”

A hearty laugh burst its way through Johnny’s lips. “And she chose you for that?”

Gardner’s joviality slipped and the big vein on his forehead bulged with outrage.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Reed, who had diligently been unpacking the few things the four of them had amassed since arriving in this world, looked over his shoulder towards the SHIELD agent. He had barely been listening to the conversation but the dribs and drabs that had filtered through to him made it simple enough to deduce how Gardner had ended up there. Reed set down a bottle of Latverian on a nearby table and concluded the inquisition in one mouthful.

“She didn’t have a choice. Maria wanted to remove the Pegasus from under your command and you threatened to kick up a stink about it. She also had a Fantastic Four problem on her hands and didn’t want to risk bringing anyone else in on it. So she killed two birds with one stone.”

“Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding,” Guy said as he mimed The Price Is Right claxon. “We have a winner.”

Ben let out an unimpressed grunt. He climbed out of the leather couch, picked up one of the boxes filled with research equipment, and pushed it into Gardner’s hands.

“Alright, enough flirting. I can’t say I’m exactly thrilled by the thought of having you around, but I guess it can’t hurt to have another pair of hands around.”

The pair of them wandered off down one of the Baxter Building’s corridors, leaving Reed, Sue and Johnny stood in silence. Reed and Sue’s eyes met and they looked at one another awkwardly until the super scientist returned to unpacking their things. Johnny let out a silent groan, grabbed his sister by the arm, and took her through a doorway into an adjoining room.

“Are we going to talk about what happened back there with Namor?” Johnny whispered. “Because this is getting ridiculo-”

Storm stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed the name engraved into the nameplate on the desk at the centre of the room. He walked over to it and lifted it up from the desk in complete disbelief as to what he was reading.

The office they were stood in belonged to one Dr. Franklin Storm.

“Whoa,” Johnny muttered.

He ran his fingers over the name almost as if it might wipe clean. It was every bit as much there as it had been before Johnny had touched it. He let out a little laugh and handed it over to his older sister to inspect.

Sue couldn’t quite bring herself to say anything. Her hands shook as the nameplate rested in her now clammy hands. She squeezed the nameplate to steady her hands while her brother reached for a picture on Franklin Storm’s desk. He muttered a silent “wow” as he recognised four people in the picture. From left to right stood Johnny, Sue, Reed and Ben. For the most part they looked the same outside of this Reed looked skinnier than his Reed and Ben looked slightly better looking than Johnny remembered him ever being.

It was the man stood behind Sue and Reed that Johnny didn’t quite recognise. There was something familiar about the round, affable face buried beneath the well-groomed strawberry blonde beard. It was Franklin.

As Johnny looked up from the picture he noticed his sister was on the brink of tears. He set the picture down on the table and wrapped his arms around her without saying a word.

Franklin was a ghost to him. The car crash that had robbed Johnny and Sue of their parents had taken place when he was barely old enough to walk. Sue was old enough to remember him – and remember having him taken from them. He should have remembered that. His thoughts had been so scattered by Darkseid – by what he’d suffered at the Marquis’ hands – he’d almost forgotten about everything they’d lost before Darkseid arrived.

Sue regained her composure after a minute or two and insisted on studying the picture of their father with the four of them.

The sound of Guy Gardner’s voice in the living room broke Sue’s focus. She thought about setting the picture down for a moment before realising that their in-house SHIELD agent could help shed some light on this world’s Franklin.

Sue had thrust the picture into his hands before she opened her mouth. “Gardner, tell me everything you know about Franklin Storm.”

The SHIELD agent winced at the mention of the name. For a second he considered avoiding the request altogether but the redness to Sue’s eyes elicited some sense of sympathy in him. He nodded begrudgingly as his thoughts turned to Franklin Richards.

“Your pops was … well, he was the biggest brain the world had ever seen until Richards came along. Doctor Storm set the Baxter Building up as a school for super smart kids. He was going to solve all the world’s problems – and your boyfriend was going to help him do it until the accident put an end to all of that.”

There was a finality to Gardner’s voice that made Johnny suspicious.

“What happened to him?”

“He committed suicide after the accident,” Gardner said solemnly. “Poor bastard couldn’t accept that the four of you were gone. He was convinced the whole thing was a put-up job by SHIELD or something.”

Johnny’s heart sank in his chest. Sue’s head dropped despondently and he tried to reach his hand out to comfort her but she pulled her hand away at the last moment. Without saying a word Sue disappeared down one of the Baxter Building’s many corridors. Johnny turned to follow after her but he a hand holding him back.

Reed gave his forearm a supportive squeeze and then followed after Sue. Whatever problems they might have been having, Reed Richards wasn’t about to stand by and watch while the woman he loved grieved alone.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Sonofabitch. I think I'm going to have to drop out. I can't keep up with this like I thought I was going to be able to -- usually my summers are slow, but switching to illustration full-time has been a lot busier than I would have expected. (Figured that most things would be quiet in the summer because people go on vacations and whatnot. Publishers, apparently, do not.) @Master Bruce @Byrd Man@Morden Man Better to duck out while Tony hasn't really done too much and leave him for someone else to pick up/flesh out. Apologies -- I would have really liked to be involved in this game because everyone is fantastic so far! I may still read through all the posts (slowly) over time, just to see what happens.

@stark

Sorry to see you go.

All the best with work. You're very welcome to jump back aboard if you manage to get some more time down the line.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

“I’m gonna come, you piece of shit! Don’t stop! Don’t you fucking stop! I'm coming! I'm coming! You ready to come, you British son of a bitch? Yeah? Let me suck it. Mmmmppmmmpp yeah, you almost ready? Mmmmpppmmppp. Yeah, right there. Fucking finish on my face. Yeah, right there. Oh, yeah...”

@Byrd Man

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

She squeals with delight, "How could I not!? We've all been waiting for it to happen. Harry wants a double date ASAP, bee tee dubs."

@HenryJonesJr

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Seriously though, can we talk about the fact @Byrd Man had a character brag about buying the belt Robin Williams hanged himself with and no-one mentioned it in the OOC thread?

Y'all motherfuckers need Jesus.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

@Master Bruce
@Morden Man

Remember when we thought no Discord was a good idea?

@Byrd Man

Nothing like wading through twenty-eight pages of GIFs to start the day.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Dread it.

Run from it.

A Fantastic Four post still arrives.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Triskelion, Washington D.C.

Raised voices rang through the corridors of the Triskelion. Its point of origin was deputy director Maria Hill’s corner office. Loitering outside were a handful of SHIELD administrative staff that were pretending to be working. Inside Guy Gardner was making his last stand. Hill had removed Gardner from command of the Pegasus the second it had touched down at the Triskelion – and Guy was determined to get it back. Even if it cost him his badge.

“My service record has been exemplary since that mess in Atlantis. Ask any of my cre-”

Hill shook her head with an exasperated sigh.

“You don’t have a crew, Guy, the Pegasus is Vostok’s command. You were put in charge on an interim basis while Valentina was on maternity leave because we thought maybe you’d learned your lesson. Clearly were wrong.”

A thick vein on Gardner’s head throbbed. He was seething. He wanted to break something. He had spent three years toiling away in obscurity, stuck in dusty rooms filling out paperwork or guarding useless artefacts, as penance for the incident in Atlantis. Now through no fault of his own it was being used to drag him back down again.

If Dugan was still around, he would never have hung Gardner out to dry like this.

But Dugan wasn’t around anymore. His successor Maria Hill was the anti-Dugan. She’d had it in for Gardner from the moment she’d met him. She was a stickler for rules, structure and hierarchy who had made the decision early to make rank rather than cut her teeth in the field.

He wanted to bawl her out for it but even in his angered state knew it would be counterproductive. He’d be playing right into her hands. Instead he took a deep, calming breath, closed his eyes, and tried to get his temper under control.

When he opened them his voice was significantly quieter than before. “This is bullshit, Maria, and you know it.”

“You’re done, Gardner.”

Guy shook his head angrily at the suggestion. “Let’s see what Fury has to say about that.”

A cold smile crossed the deputy director’s lips. For the first time Hill confirmed Guy’s suspicions and let on that she was enjoying taking him down a peg.

“You think Fury is going to tell you something different? Fury doesn’t give a damn about you. Face it, Gardner, Dugan’s not around to save your behind this time. You’re done.”

The two locked eyes across Hill’s desk. Their contempt for one another was almost suffocating.

“I don’t have to listen to this horseshit.”

Guy leapt out of his seat and stormed towards the exit. He pressed a panel on the door to Hill’s office and it slid open. He stood fuming in the doorway for a few seconds. Beside the door was a waste paper basket. Guy looked over his shoulder at Hill, who was watching on with a bemused smile, before booting the basket across the room. With that done he stamped his way out.

The waiting admin staff scattered as the fuming Gardner approached.

“Don’t you pen-pushers have some photocopying to do?” Guy shouted at them. “Fucking cockroaches.”

In the distance Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben appeared. They stepped out of the elevator to the twenty-eighth floor escorted by a junior SHIELD agent for their meeting with Hill. Ben Grimm spotted Gardner walking towards them and shot the SHIELD agent a mischievous smile. When it wasn’t returned he realised that something was wrong.

“What’s a matter, Carrot Top?” Ben called out jovially. “Someone pee in your cereal this morning?”

Gardner pushed past them without so much as look in their direction.

“Must be having a bad day or something,” Grimm muttered to Johnny.

Johnny nodded in agreement and pointed discreetly to his sister and Reed. “He’s not the only one.”

Reed and Sue had barely spoken since Sue had accepted Namor’s proposal on the roof of the Pegasus. To say that it made things awkward was an understatement. Usually Reed and Sue were inseparable, but they had been anything but the past twelve hours or so. It was impossible not to notice. Ben and Johnny had been walking on eggshells around them ever since.

A young SHIELD agent scuttled out Hill’s with a dented waste paper basket under their arm as they made their approach.

“I hope we’ve not caught you at a bad time,” Reed Richards said with a polite smile. “We can come back another time.”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Hill said as she stood up from behind her desk and gestured to the four of them to step inside. “Please take a seat. The five of us have a lot to discuss.”

Hill dismissed their escort with a nod and the Fantastic Four shuffled in to Maria’s office. She sauntered towards the large meeting table in the corner of her room and took a seat at the head of it. Reed took the seat to her right hand and Sue awkwardly slid around him to sit at Maria’s left. Ben and Johnny exchanged an awkward smile as they decided where to sit. Ben slid into the seat beside Reed and Johnny next to Sue.

“I understand that Agent Gardner informed you of the fate of your counterparts in this world,” Maria began by way of introduction.

Ben bristled beside Reed. Sensing his disapproval, Sue responded to Hill as matter-of-factly as possible. “That’s correct.”

“I’d like to apologise for that,” Hill said curtly. “That wasn’t Agent Gardner’s information to disclose.”

This time there was no stopping Ben. His fist clunked against the table so loudly that Johnny jumped in his seat.

“Are you kidding me? You’re apologising for Gardner telling us the truth, not for covering up our deaths? You’ve got some front, lady.”

Hill grimaced.

“What would you have us do, Mr. Grimm? Tell the world that the most expensive space expedition in living memory ended in the incineration of the world’s smartest man? Reed Richards was on the cover of TIME magazine at twelve years of age. The people of this world thought his research was going to put an end to climate change. How do you think they'd respond if we told them that he was burnt alive on our watch?”

“You can try and dress it up however you want,” Ben said with a disapproving mumble. “It don’t make it right.”

Hill pinched the bridge of her nose. “Right and wrong is a luxury I cannot always afford in this job, I’m afraid.”

Reed watched on in silence. He knew very little about this world’s Reed Richards but the more he learned about him, the more sorry he felt for him. From the sound of things, their Reed had been forced into the spotlight much earlier than he had been. When Reed had been twelve years old, he’d been building his first teleportation device in his father’s garage. He couldn’t imagine how isolating all that pressure must have been.

“What’s done is done,” Sue said with a conciliatory look towards Ben. “What we we need to know now is whether you’re willing to help us get home? If you’ve seen our interviews then you understand why we left – and why it’s so important that we get back.”

Hill nodded. “Yes, you have unfinished business with this Darkseid character.”

“Unfinished business?” Johnny said with a frown. “Darkseid conquered our entire world, Hill. Imagine everyone you know, everyone you’ve ever known, dead at one man’s feet. The people you've fought alongside for years enslaved – turned into instruments of death. I don’t know if 'unfinished business' quite does that justice.”

Ben approvingly banged his fist against the table. “You tell her, Matchstick.”

Hill sighed and pressed a button on the desk. In front of them, at the centre of the desk, a holographic image of Darkseid appeared.

“Don’t let me language fool you, Mr. Storm, I am aware of the threat that Darkseid poses. Our world has yet to encounter these Apokoliptians the four of you spoke of in your interviews with Gardner – but we’ve already begun to prepare for them. The best strategists that SHIELD have to offer have been working around the clock wargaming for a potential Apokoliptian invasion.”

The hologram of Darkseid’s face was replaced by images of Earth’s newfound protectors lining up to defend their world against an invasion force. Projections of possible successful defensive strategies played out before them. The four watched on, unimpressed by the display, having lived the battles themselves and found SHIELD’s efforts to be lacking.

“This is all well and good,” Reed said with a dismissive glance at the holograms. “But how exactly does that help us, Maria? With all due respect, we’re not here to be reassured that your world is well-defended, we’re here because we need your help to return to ours.”

Maria swallowed hard as she considered his question. “You’ll have all the help that SHIELD can offer you, but I can’t promise that our scientists will be able to get you home.”

“You leave that part to me,” Richards responded resolutely.

“Given that the whole world thinks that the four of you are still travelling through space I’m afraid you’ll have to be confined to the Triskelion while you do your research,” Hill said dispassionately. “But rest assured that your every need will be seen to while you’re here.”

Reed’s nose wrinkled with displeasure. “I don’t think that’s going to work. I’m going to need to enlist the help of some of my – well, Reed’s – contemporaries if we’re going to have a shot at getting home. I can’t do that from here.”

“I’m with Stretch on this one,” Ben said as he placed his rocky hands behind his head. “There’s no way I’m being cooped up in this place like some kind of common criminal. And before you consider suggesting that we don’t have a choice in the matter, I’d like to point out that all the boy scouts in the world couldn’t stop us from walking out of here if we wanted to.”

Maria Hill lent back in her seat as she mulled over the ramifications of letting the four of them roam around America without supervision. How long would it be before someone got a picture of Reed? Grimm wasn’t inconspicuous and if this Johnny Storm was anything like theirs he wouldn’t be out of the headlines for long.

Suddenly a small smile crept onto Hill’s lips as a potential resolution was revealed to her.

“You make a convincing case, Mr. Grimm.”

She stood up from her seat abruptly as if to announce that their meeting had come to an end. Ben looked to Sue, slightly confused, and she gestured to him to stand up with the rest of them. Hill took a glance down at her watch to check the time and then shook Reed’s hand firmly.

“Give us twenty-four hours to finish going over your tests results and we’ll have you relocated somewhere I think you’ll find slightly more comfortable.”

With that Hill called to the junior SHIELD agent outside to collect them. Reed and Ben departed first with Sue and Johnny following shortly after them. As Johnny reached the doorway to Hill’s office he lingered for a moment and then turned back to face Hill.

“By the way, your hologram thingy is wrong,” Johnny said as his mind reached into the past. “Darkseid's eyes aren’t black. They’re red.”