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  1. Riverside Freedom City, New Jersey Friday March 15, 2024. 9:20 PM Located in Riverside, Midnight Hour was Freedom City's only underage nightclub. As such, it was often a popular spot for high school students and younger college students unable to get into twenty-one and over establishments. Tonight, the club was particularly crowded for the live performance of the band Multiplicity, which had an ever growing social media presence in the last two months. Tickets for the venue had been sold out for weeks, and the club was packed to capacity with people. In the crowd were several students from Claremont Academy, as the lead singer, Bernadette O'Connell, was a senior at the school (and the other members of the band were alumni of the school as well). The Irish teen had provided free tickets for any of her fellow students that had wanted to attend. Backstage, Bernadette was waiting with the other members of her band for the start of their set. The Irish teen was wearing a red and black plaid skirt, a white dress shirt with a red tie, over which she wore a black leather jacket. Two of the redhead’s duplicates stood a short distance away, both wearing jeans and long sleeve T-shirts, one had on a brunette wig, the other a blonde wig, which, together with the shadows toward the back of the stage would help conceal that the backup singers looked very similar to the lead singer. Standing nearby was the lead guitarist, Summer Sands, who was dressed in black jeans and long sleeve T-shirt. As was often the case, Summer was focused on last minute adjustments to her guitar and was blocking out most everything else in preparation for the show. The other two members of the band, Mark (the drummer) and John (the base player), were standing where they had a partial view of the stage and the some of the crowd gathered in the club. "Wow, looks like a full house." Mark commented. Bernadette walked over and glanced out a grin coming to her face. "I told ya that Neko could help increase boost engagement an' get us noticed." She glanced over at the clock on the wall. "Almost time fer us ta get out there."
  2. Bombay Beach, California March 19, 2024 CW: Self-Harm, Torture, Imprisonment, Suicide This was a place of decay. And Eric LaCroix both loved and hated it for that reason. Both of those were strong terms, of course. Especially "hated." In the years since he'd really started to make use of his photography education, Eric had been jetting across the country, catching the spirit of crossroads, ghost towns, and graveyards. Often for photo shoots and Instagram feeds, but maybe working towards a coffee table book. Some of his photos were now hanging at the Black Petal Cafe where he had served as eternal barista. Of course, the spirit of places was more than metaphorical for Eric. Which is why the Salton Sea was screwing with him royally. A shoot at Slab City - "The Last Free Place," haven of snowbirds, outsider artists, and RV off-grid life - had spun out into a tour of the cities surrounding one of Southern California's greatest marvels gone to rot. A simple diversion of the Colorado River had led to the refilling of a long dried-out lake bed, creating a large saltwater body deep inland. For a few decades, it was a resort paradise, all the fun of the coast in the middle of dry land. Until the saline levels kept rising, and the agriculture run off kept flooding in. It was not a great place, especially for someone attuned to the flow of death. The shores were littered with the bones of luckless fish, and the sky itself reeked of salt and waste. The cities around the sea, life clinging on in the face of devastation, had elevated rates of asthma, lung cancer, and heart disease. The main wildlife willing to make it a native habitat, the pelicans, were riddled with botulism. Even the sea itself was dying, as California had enacted policies to let it evaporate in the hope of restoring wildlife on the exposed playa. And yet. Life persisted. The people here lived, likely because there was nowhere else to go or because they were stubborn enough to make homes. The cities were even drawing in its share of artist communities - though Eric knew which way that would go, and he bet it would be a while before this became the next Joshua Tree. But if life could persist him, if people could make it a home, he could at least put up with the fact that his death sense left him with the constant sense that he was hearing radio static from another room. Until the signal cut through loud and clear. And he knew that it was much more than dead fish. It was time for his night work. A quick jaunt through Osiris's back closet, and he was at the house. At least California Winter made his leather jacket tolerable, as Spring slowly approached. The house itself was nice, by Bombay Beach standards - a little bit of rime and dust to the walls, but a simple, one-story abode. Red and blue lights filled the driveway, and the two beat cops on duty did a double take as he walked up. "Get lost on your way to some metal concert?" The older one asked. "Nah, Joe. I know this one. Seen him on Instagram. Cemetery, right?" "Cimitiere, but I'm not a stickler." He was a long way from Freedom, but thank God social media had enough of a reach to make sure authorities wouldn't just mistake him for a Ghost fan with delusions of grandeur. "What's the situation?" "Two dead. Marie and Daniel Johnson, 25, 26. Both locals; I... knew 'em from church." The younger one looked down, trying to hold something in. "Wounds seem self-inflicted, but... there's reason to suspect... well, occult shit." Nick let them walk him in. He was too used to small town cops believing that "occult shit" meant they had a Ouija board or a copy of The Kybalion. The bodies were a quick scan on the way through the center of activity. Marie was slumped before the sink, her wrists cut open. Daniel was sitting at the kitchen table, his throat open, a steak knife fallen at his limp hand. It was a terrible tableau, and he knew he'd need to look at it in detail. But they weren't here, which was either good for them or very bad for them. Because the writing on the table, done in Daniel's bloody finger, said everything Nick needed to know. HOME DAGON HOME HOME YHANTHLEI SEA TO THE SEA "You were right. I think I may need to call in some consultants for this one..."
  3. Monday 5th March, 2024 Freedom City Inside the Laboratory of Predator It was a day of no particular character. Temperature average, sunlight average, normal mix of mediocre impact news. The sun had risen, the clocks were ticking. It was mid morning. But Predators day was about to get real interesting. A knock on the door. the Camera's swivelled to scan the knocker. A man in his fifties, thick glasses, thick brown moustache, sweating (despite a tepid heat to the day), nervous, jittery. Wearing a courdrouy jacket and green turtleneck. Not colour coordinated, at all. But Predator reconised him. Dr Norris North! The head of WEST, the world exotic science taskforce, set up after various global calamaties to investigate and if necessary contain any science that might get out of hand. Dimensional, spatial, temporal distortions. Strange energies. Mutated viruses. They functioned under the auspices of the united nations, somewhat like the world health organisation, except with less funding. "Please! Let me in!" mumbled Doctor North into the speaker.
  4. High Earth orbit The Lighthouse February 14, 2024 8:30 PM UTC (Greenwich Mean Time) / 3:30 PM Freedom City, New Jersey A request had come to the Freedom League from the Atlantean royal family, asking them to allow rather recent Claremont graduate Heroditus Stylianos the opportunity to examine some of the technology used in the Lighthouse. Given the close connections and long history between the League and the royal family, the request had of course been granted and arrangements made for a tour. While coordinating the tour, Velocity had realized that although Ghost, the most recent member of the team, had joined a couple years earlier, he had not really had the full orientation on operations on the Lighthouse. Deciding to take the opportunity to take care of both things at once, the speedster had arranged for the two to meet her at Freedom Hall so they could teleport up to the space station. "And welcome to the Lighthouse." Velocity said with a smile as she appeared on the Lighthouse's teleportation pad along with Heroditus and Ghost. The yellow clad speedster gave a wave to the technician manning the controls for the teleporter as she stepped off the pad. "We are currently located on deck five, which also houses the infirmary." Glancing back to the other two, she continued, "So, up to you if you want to work our way up to the command center before starting in on the lower levels or start up at the top and just work our way down."
  5. Kingston Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday, February 14, 2024, 5:25 PM After the decision had been made to move to the ruins of Kingston to await the arrival of the Boran Dovox, also known as Sovereign, the heroes that had delt with the minor rampage of Explodo the Great moved to a location not far from the Doomforge. Paradigm and Star Khan flew to the new location, to ensure that Dovox's assault transport would detect them and not start searching for the Star Khan. Fleur provided transportation for the other heroes. Paradigm and Star Khan stood out in a ruined parking lot, a few burned out husks of cars scattered about and half destroyed buildings nearby. Neither seemed particularly nervous as Paradigm was scanning the sky. "I see the transport." She stated after a few moments. "It appears to be headed directly for us." Star Khan had been alternating between scanning the sky as well and looking over at Paradigm. When she indicated she had spotted the transport, he looked back to the sky before looking about the barren landscape around them for a moment. It was not long after that the transport came roaring into view, flying down low towards the ruins of Kingston. As it approached the area where Star Khan stood beside Paradigm, it veered to the right and started to circle the area. As it passed to the right, a large, circular object dropped out, rockets slowing its descent as it landed a short distance away. A large, nearly eight foot tall mech dropped down next to the circular object, which opened up to reveal dozens of armed aliens in armor that began to move out away from the drop pod. With them were three large reptilian aliens with red scales and tusks, and two normal sized aliens dressed in black body suits. The transport continued to circle around, another drop pod dropping down to the left of where Star Khan and Paradigm were standing, along with another mech. A group of similar forces deployed from the second pod as well. The transport then flew over to the area out in front of Paradigm and Star Khan, almost landing as five figures jumped out of the back and the transport lifted back up into the sky. Leading the group was another of the red skinned reptilian aliens, standing well over seven feet tall. He was dressed in ornate armor and held a large, glaive like weapon in one hand. Walking just behind him, on either side were two tall figures dressed in black, teal and white armor, which had a small white eight pointed starburst in the center of the chest plate. The armor had a black and teal hood, and a full armored face mask with black visor. Each carried a long pike, the tip of which crackled with energy. Fleur recognized the armor from Freedom League briefs about Khanate Justicars. Just behind them were two more of the large tusked aliens, each carrying large swords. Star Khan looked from side to side a moment before looking back at the group approaching from the front. "Hunters, hounds and traitors." He stated simply as he looked at the two armored figures. "Justicar Wryy, Justicar Har’al, you would do well to set down your weapons and surrender, I may be willing to forgive you." "Kinarr Khan! I am Prince Dovox, the Sovereign!" The large tusked alien in the front of the group called out loudly as he came to halt. "You are not worthy to lead the Stellar Khanate, so I am here to take your head, and your throne!" He added, pointing his glaive at the young Star Khan. He then turned to look at Paradigm. "Praetorian, you have no business here, step aside." He snarled. "Neither do the Terrans." He added, glancing about at the others. "That is where you are wrong Dovox." Paradigm stated simply. "The new Star Khan has extended an offer of peace to the Republic and Coalition, so his safety is of great concern to the Praetorians." "But additionally, I have a personal interest here. Kinarr also made a proposal of marriage to me in the council chambers. So, until such time as I either accept or decline, he is my prospective intended." Dovox simply snarled as he gripped his glaive with both hands. "Then you can die together, makes no difference to me."
  6. Sunday February 18, 2024 Late afternoon After over a day and a half of fun in the water and sun at the Harrow estate on Wakaya Island, Fiji (in addition to some more serious topics), it was unfortunately time for the Claremont Academy students to return back to Freedom City for the start of the next school week. After about an hour or so of chaos, everyone was eventually gathered back on the large deck at the back of the main house for Lawrence Harrow to teleport them all back to campus. As the group of teens stepped into the temporal portal Lawrence created once again, they initially felt a similar sensation to what they had the day before when transported to the South Pacific. But suddenly, rather than stepping out the other side of the portal back at the Main Quad at Claremont, the teens felt as if something tugged on them, causing each to stumble forward and as the world reformed around them and they were not at Claremont Academy. Lawrence Harrow, Parker Powers, Mizuki Iwasaki, Baltazar Botez, Consuelo Nunez, Ryan Jacobs, Vueriz, and Michael Adon all found themselves in a dead end alleyway between a pair of three story buildings. Out past the open end, they could see and hear a large crowd of people gathered, though none seemed to notice the sudden appearance of the teens. The weather was cool, but much warmer than the February cold they had expected. The teens were still in the clothes they had been wearing, and Vueriz had her skyboard, but all the rest of their bags and other things were nowhere to be seen. Wearing a pair of jeans and a red Arsenal hoody, Lawrence looked about the alleyway, a concerned expression on his face before he seemed to focus on something distant and out of view. "This is not right." He simply stated, a hint of concern evident in his refined British accent.
  7. Spring, 1987 "Alright. We'll each go our separate ways until the heat goes off." Melter said, as the vault closed. Each member of the cadre of criminals put in one fifth of the code on the keypad. Then the door closed, and a hissing of steam locked the vault entirely. "When everything's cooled down, we'll get back together and split the profits." The team split, leaving the vault in the Arizona desert, hidden in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains. Spring, 2024 It's been a quiet life ever since Supercrimes! ended. There's been a few magazine or talking head spots in various documentaries or special editions, but nothing permanent. Which isn't that bad of a thing, given that Richard and Paige are now approaching- or are in- their 60s. They're almost ready to take Social Security, even if they don't look quite as old. It was probably a nice life; if rather boring. That is, until one day. When Richard and Paige receive a phone call from Meadowbrook Nursing Home, located in Freedom City. "...Hello." The voice is old and worn by the years, but distinct. It conjures up memories from almost 40 years ago. Mark Mettle, alias The Melter; a Costumed Criminal from the 1980s. He had never been in Freedom City proper; he was a bit too out there for the Freedom City of the Moore Act, with his blow-torch like flamethrower gauntlets and propensity for bombastic speeches, but he'd had a brain on him. He'd been the one who put the plan together. "Fast Forward, Hologram. I need to see you. It's about the Sierra Madre job. Can you come by Meadowbrook? I'm here under my own name. I think we should talk about it in person."
  8. Spigori Unified Year 331,697 "Ratings are down again, huh?" Tun complained as she watched the dip- even her most annoying rival, Fex, was getting viewers again-. How were they getting bored again? She'd just brought Wrestling to the Spigori, and they were already bored of Wrestling! They really had some gall. The giant being of hard light turned her many eyes to the screens she kept locked on all earth signals she could obtain. A mind knowledgeable beyond compare and made purely for entertainment watched entertainment made for beings below her on the evolutionary totem pole; but even she had to admit that their entertainment far outstripped what the Spigori AIs could create. As her eyes flicked this way and that, she spied something interesting. "Cesar's...Sports Book?" she questioned. But then as she watched, her questioning thoughts turned to firing probes. She had an idea now! Earth Year CE 2024, March She appeared from a probe that seemed to pop into existence; they didn't appear like conquering invaders, but rather like paparazzi cameras. The projection was 8-10 feet tall depending on the space available. It presented a bright orange creature with blue highlights; blue gems, a blue neck, and bright blue lips. It had 4 eyes- three in a line and a larger one set in the forehead-, it was clearly female. It had 4 arms; each with 5 regular fingers and a thumb. And it had a giant, showman's smile. It was dressed in a toga with a gold laurel crown. It spoke to each person with a loud, excited voice. "Hello! I am Tun, the Mistress of Ceremonies for the Spigori Civilization, their premier entertainer of the entire race, Artificial Intelligence of Channel 1207; Sports Central 8, The Ocho. I am offering you a grand experience to come to my Game Station to participate in the grand opening of my new Battle Casino; Tun's Palace. You will be able to participate in the finest gambling activities that I can muster; those from Earth and beyond. If you win, you can take home any number of fabulous prizes!" she clapped all four of her hands repeatedly. "Yaaaay! Prizes!" The drone spat out some confetti. Then a contract appeared in one of Tun's hands, holding it out to each of the Heroes she'd picked. In another hand, she held an object of great desire to the hero in question, or at least a virtual representation of it. "Are you interested? Just sign here and you can make your dreams come true!" She had absolutely just appeared surprisingly; no matter what the heroes had been doing, Tun had appeared to interrupt it.
  9. Sunday February 18, 2024 Late afternoon After over a day and a half of fun in the water and sun at the Harrow estate on Wakaya Island, Fiji (in addition to some more serious topics), it was unfortunately time for the Claremont Academy students to return back to Freedom City for the start of the next school week. After about an hour or so of chaos, everyone was eventually gathered back on the large deck at the back of the main house for Lawrence Harrow to teleport them all back to campus. As the group of teens stepped into the temporal portal Lawrence created once again, they initially felt a similar sensation to what they had the day before when transported to the South Pacific. But suddenly, rather than stepping out the other side of the portal back at the Main Quad at Claremont, the teens felt as if something tugged on them, causing each to stumble forward and as the world reformed around them and they were not at Claremont Academy. Bernadette O'Connell, Neko Musume, Owain Celliwig, Rosalinda Sommaripa, Jonah Janse, Carmen Alvarez Arrache and Iris and Daniel Evans found themselves along the waterfront of the Boardwalk, just near the Paradise casino. Around them were several people, all of whom acted very surprised at the sudden appearance of the teens, some screaming in panic and running, while others just began moving away quickly. The teens were still in the clothes they had been wearing, but all the rest of their bags and other things were nowhere to be seen. The sun was just coming into view off to the east, but the weather was far warmer than it should have been for an early morning in February for Freedom City. "What ta bloody hell." Bernadette stated as she reoriented herself to the unexpected location the group found themselves in. Glancing around, she scowled. "Where are the others?" The Irish redhead was wearing a pair of torn black jeans and a grey hoodie, in anticipation of ending up back up in the winter weather back in Freedom City. But her scowl was quickly replaced by a look of surprise as she looked out at the skyline of downtown Freedom City. It was clearly Freedom City, only the skyline was very different than the teens were used to. Several prominent more modern buildings were not there. And glancing down the east, the massive Sentry Statute was nowhere to be seen. "Oh, bugger us." Bernadette muttered as she looked out at the very different city skyline.
  10. Claremont Academy Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday March 27, 2024. 7:08 AM The buzz about Bernadette O'Connell's band, Multiplicity, had been growing over the course of the school year at Claremont. Back in the Fall, it had mainly been students that had listened to her band’s recordings online, or rumors about the redheaded Senior going out at least one night a week to perform at various venues around the city. Then the band had performed at the Freedom League's holiday party, and things only increased from there when Bernadette's roommate, Neko, began helping the band with marketing and their internet presence. Almost two weeks ago the band had performed at Freedom City's underage night club, the Midnight Hour, which had allowed many Claremont students to attend (with Bernadette providing free tickets to those interested). But the big topic making its way through the school right now was how late last week and over the weekend, Bernadette and her band (along with Neko) had traveled to Tokyo to perform! It was little surprise that the attractive redhead was very rarely alone on campus, and with her busy schedule of school, practicing and performing with her band, and, according to another rumor, being involved in a supergroup with some recent Claremont graduates, it was even harder. But, one other fairly well-known thing about Bernadette, was that she was often up very early most mornings to go to either the gym or the athletic fields to workout/train, a habit from her time as a lacrosse player before her powers emerged and prevented her from taking part in competitive sports. While she was often joined by some of the school's other "jock" types, there were days where it would just be her (if one did not count her duplicates). Today was one such day. Bernadette and about half a dozen of her duplicates were up on the school’s athletic fields at the north end of campus, running around with lacrosse sticks, passing a ball and shooting on a goal set up in the center of the field. They were all dressed identically, black sweatpants and a light grey hoodie.
  11. 2024 March 15, 9:00am Halfway to Medford, New Jersey (about 20 miles NNW of Freedom City) ~60o, gentle breezes (~10 mph), cloudy Field trips! Hands-on learning, a vital part to any well-rounded education! And this was the most classic form of that time-honored tradition: a trip to a working farm! With beef and dairy cows, hogs and chickens, and numerous orchards covering its 250+ acres, Medford Farms had been serving the lower half of the state for over two centuries, and was always eager to welcome curious students. And these students were curious indeed, coming from a most curious school. As the Claremont Academy van pulled off Highway 40 and started down a side road, the four students within -- Owain "Copper Knight" Celliwig, Jonah "Jotunn" Janse, Ryan "Sever" Jacobs, and Michael "Golden Star" Adon -- were busy with their own thoughts.
  12. Supercape

    Digital Hex

    March 13th, 2024 Claremont Academy, students residence Golden Star had booted up his Nintendo 64. It was supposedly cursed. But Blackstaff had sorted that out. Probably. And probably was surely good enough. The psychic twins Cerebral and Cerebrum had stuck their head in through the door to see what was going on. The Nintendo fizzed when plugged in, and flickered half the lights of the students residence. Booting up? What was booting up? It was taking its damn time that was for sure. As it loaded (at a relatively glacial pace), the machine displayed pixellated art: Of machine guns, of evil villains in evil costumes, of lightning bolts, of dark towers with screaming damsels in distress at the top, of a city ruined by warfare, awash with tanks and mines. It all looked very archiac, and very violent. In a quaint way. The images had a certain... hypnotic... quality to them. It was hard to drag your eyes away from the screen, despite (or maybe because) of the antique pixel graphics...
  13. GM Hong Kong, Night time The moon was on form, tonight, shining over a cloudless city, surrounded by twinkling stars. It was a beautiful city. Madame Raven knew that on the ground, ugliness was afoot. A trial of gossip and rumour had pointed the way, and her spirit of adventure had driven her. Here, at Superior Silk Industries. At first glance, it looked ramshakle, a production factory for textiles, a rather high end product. Then why did it look so broken? Because it was not. This was a facade. Well hidden camera's, superior locks, and subtle reinforcements all made this more of a fortress than a factory. And the remarkable Raven could see it all. Something bad was happening at Superior Silk Industries, something tonight. the company had a crooked reputation (although it did produce fine garments). Criminal activity under the disguise of legitimate (even successful) business. Exports to Europe, America. Conflict with Dr Sin and his leutinenats. Bribery and corruption with the Chinese goverment. And a deeper layer of rumour - hard to believe. Sorcery, Kung Fu, Masters of Ki, Ninja's. The usual hotch potch of Martial Art baloney, for sure, and yet the Raven detected some grain of truth within the soup of gossip.
  14. Saturday, September 11, 2023 Southside, Freedom City The first week of classes, somehow, was over. The feline vigilante known as La Puma Negra reclined languidly on the big couch in the common area on the first floor of Kord Dormitory, non-commitally flipping through a magazine. Suddenly, her hair stood on end. Ugh. She knew this feeling. It had to be that weird girl on her floor . . . Rot floated into the common area. She saw a wild tangle of black hair sticking up above the back of the big couch. "Oh hey, Carmen! I was just looking for you." As the matter-disrupting teen with the green dreadlocks flew closer, the feeling of unease just got worse. "Uh, I know I'm kinda skeezy, and I know my bad vibe might be worse for, uh, cat people than for, like, non-cat people, but, uh, I've got this favor I was going to ask you. . . ." Although she's floating in the air, the grungy teen still manages to look like she's walking on egg shells. "So, uh, the first time I tried crime fighting, I kinda ended up getting a little bit, uh, arrested, and I like, broke a bunch of stuff. . . . And that incident at the Albright Institute has got me more worried about my powers than ever. . . Anyway, now that I'm at Claremont, I was kind of trying to be a little less, uh, spastic with the hero stuff. So, um, people say that you do, like, crime patrols. . . Uh, it's there any chance maybe I could like, you know, tag along one time maybe? Like maybe you could, like, give me some pointers on like how to do it without screwing everything up?" Consuelo finally takes a breath. She seems to remember something. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the best part. I've got these bracelets now, of you wear it, that creepy aura that comes off me won't effect you. . . Um, if you want. . . " And Consuelo holds out a friendship bracelet made of black fabric.
  15. Mid-late January, 2024 The End of January brings the beginning of February. As the first month ends, so to do many resolutions fall by the wayside. But change has not stopped occurring just because a new year has begun! In fact, often the last shackles of the prior year's poor decisions can only be thrown off during the first month of the new one! Our new group of heroes, having encountered a group of delinquents, are now in a position to restore some level of normalcy to the lives of 5 troubled young girls. ------------------------------------- Ashley did not like losing. She didn’t lose often, of course, and whenever she did it put her in a foul mood. She had excuses, of course. Ashley didn’t lose, she reasoned to herself. It was the other three; they couldn’t keep up their end of the engagement. She was fighting off two of them at once and winning, the other three had a numbers advantage and they couldn’t keep up with them. They were pathetic. What was even the point of all of them having powers if they were so useless! Power should go to the strongest! That was why she had the powers she did, after all. Those who weren’t deserving, shouldn’t have power. ------------------------------------- Felix didn’t care about losing, but he was annoyed. He wasn’t the strongest, after all, but he liked his niche; he liked the new powers he had. And he had barely gotten to use them at all before that British kid had made him so slow he couldn't even move. Which was whatever. Paradox had acted all high and mighty about it ‘that’s inevitable, you aren’t on his level; your borrowed speed can't compete with his natural abilities'. Paradox didn’t know anything about anything, no matter what he acted like. What really grinded his gears was the Bug Boy. The one who had actually knocked him out. That bug didn't really understand anything about how cool FX was. GBB? GBB was garbage compared to FX! He thought he was cool, but Felix was actually the cool one! He just didn’t get how cool Felix was. He was gonna show him how wrong he was about that. ------------------------------------- Ashley had always been entranced by the Starstone ever since she first saw it. It had as many facets in it as there were stars in the sky- something she realized was meaningful-, and when you looked through one of the facets you could see a constellation. Each facet had a different one stored in it. It was also a clear source of tremendous energy, something the girl given the codename Eclipse was always desperate for. It had given her a tremendous amount with the Draco constellation, but it clearly had more; there were 88 constellations in the sky, but there were only 7 Starlights right now. So there had to be more juice in the gem than it was giving. It sat on the stage of what had once been a bustling theater just off Michigan Street; a prismatic gem that shifted through the hues of every color imaginable- and some beyond that-, about the size of a man's chest. Ashley didn’t know where it came from- the other girls did, but they seemed uninterested in telling her-, but she didn’t care anyway. She floated over to it and placed her hands on it, concentrating and breathing in its energies. “...Now come on, give me what you’re hiding...” “Ashley!? What the heck are you doing!?” someone called behind her, but she wasn’t paying attention to them. She had something bigger going on, after all. All this stuff; the color coding, the ‘Starblights’. They were small time. She was Eclipse, and she was big time. ------------------------------------- Lawrence had been right about one thing; Michael had thought Mizuki was insanely cool for getting the abandoned boat house out of the Headmistress and the faculty. He hadn’t gotten all overbearing about it, but he was clearly appreciative of Mizuki being willing to share something she had obtained with her own hard work with her friends. What was maybe less exciting was the realization that both of the groups had been harassed by color-coded schoolgirls- and one guy-, though appropriate congratulations had also been given to Baz, Mizuki, and Lawrence that they had handled their group so easily while the one at the Aquarium had been a bit more troublesome. It had also been noted that Parker, Consuelo, and Carmen had been excellent, though. Parker had even managed to open a line of communication to one of them thanks to his gentle nature. That was what the group was doing now, after school two days later, waiting for Parker to call the girl who had given him her number to continue their communications. When everyone had arrived and was prepared- including whatever preparations they had made for this-, the number was dialed, and after three rings, it was picked up. “Alright, listen. I’m gonna talk for a second and then you can ask questions, but we need to be quick about it.” The voice definitely belonged to the orange wearing Orion from the Aquarium. “About 2 years ago, a weasel named Enoch approached me, Kitty, Ashley One, Zoe, and Jenny. He said he was being hunted by magical things from another dimension and turned us into the Starbrights. We got super powers that he gave us from a gem called the Umbra Star.” she clearly sucks in breath through her teeth. “It sucked. A bunch of terrible stuff happened to us because of it, and Enoch wasn’t exactly great at being a mentor. We were constantly fighting monsters sent by this evil queen named Solus, they were threatening and hurting our friends and family. Then, about a year ago, one of her monsters killed Enoch. And we didn’t even have him anymore. So we gave up. Stopped bothering to fight the monsters, didn’t really go to school. We only had each other. But sometimes the monsters still found us.” She talks fast but it’s not hard to understand her, and her frustration is clear even in just her words; she’s not a delinquent lashing out because it’s fun, she’s a girl their age who is hurt and wounded. “Ashley II and Felix weren’t part of our group. They ended up caught up when one of those monsters attacked us. But the Umbra Star that gives us our powers gave them powers too. They already had powers, so it just made them even stronger. We all could see they were a problem, even beyond us, but we couldn’t really do anything about it; we don’t decide who gets the powers and who doesn’t, only Enoch could figure that out and he never told us. So we had to stick with them. But it’s not gonna fly anymore. They’re way too violent, and they’re clearly working for some other purpose.” she was quiet again, for a second. “...If you take them out, get them arrested, beat them down and take them away to Juvie or some prison or something, maybe the connection will break. And we can be free of them. The others won’t ask this because they’re concerned about each other; no one wants to get blasted by Ashley or watch someone else get blasted. But I’ll do it, because we need the help. We don’t want to fight you. The others don’t know I’m talking to you, but if I show up with you, they won’t side with Ashley and Felix. If you help us, we’ll call it even and split, no hard feelings.” she paused. She was tense, extremely. And it honestly could have been seen as quite suspicious that a girl that had just been trying to punch everyone was now asking for help. "...Okay, sorry. I can answer any questions now." She finally said.
  16. Spring 2024 Freedom City teenagers in 2024 had been small children when the Deep One invasion of 2011 had happened. Some of them had seen Deep Ones themselves, or heard stories of the terrible consequences of their invasion in the years growing up. Mindless cannibals, demented fanatics, terrible fiends - and certainly their lessons at Claremont about the poorly understood race of psychopathic cannibal abominations that shared the ocean with Atlanteans and who sought the doom of all Surface-Men had been little reassuring on the subject. This made it all the more exciting, then, that they'd been offered a chance to meet Sea Devil, widely known in the hero community as the only good Deep One. Here they were in the back of a school van being driven out to the Waterfront by Mrs. Harcourt, a veteran classroom teacher who generally brooked no nonsense but had a reputation for fairness. "Remember," she was saying, "Ms. Innsmouth has been living away from her people for many years, but this may be a shocking experience for some of you. I'm counting on all of you to show her the best traditions of our school and the spirit of our students." Aquaria had come to campus a few years ago and there'd been something of an - altercation, the students had all heard - so now seeing the Deep One was strictly voluntary. They'd had to get their parents and guardians to sign off on it, even.
  17. March 28th, 2024 The area around the Liberty Dome was packed with people for the first baseball game of the season. Especially when it's a grudge match. The block around the Liberty Dome was, in some ways, it's own minuscule city; high cost hotels, nice restaurants that weren't too expensive, and street entertainment; dancers, balloon artists, radio DJs, the like. People were cooking at tailgates, or buying food off street vendors. On main street, a massive stage had been erected for Comets Corona, the local affiliate's baseball stats team; a set of a man and two women who listed statistics and did between-inning commentary, along with pre and post game analysis. The actual announcer team- featuring former GM Russell Mills who now did color commentary, alongside 'The Voice of the Comets' Chuck Champ- would already be in their booths inside. There were carnival games and street dancers entertaining people, and the Comet's mascot had been seen a few times wandering the grounds with a video crew in tow, playing pranks. The Opening Day match for the Comets was a known grudge match; the former Freedom City Flags- now named the New Orleans Patriots- were coming for an away game, and setting that grudge match on opening day was a clear attempt to get ratings up for at least the opening of the season. It was almost impossible to get tickets, every seat in the stadium was going to be filled on opening day. And it just so happened that the first pitch was going to be thrown by The Patriot- Member of the Freedom League-, and she had gotten two additional passes for the upper deck behind home plate. Which she had given to Carmen, who had then given one to Michael. This was a fortuitous stroke of fortune for Michael, who had wanted to go to opening day but had been unable to obtain tickets, so he was even more high on Carmen than he usually was, even if it meant they needed to go as Golden Star and La Puma Negra instead of as Michael and Carmen. When he found out that it was The Patriot who had gotten the passes, he was likely going to be a little embarrassed. So Golden Star and La Puma Negra were taking in the sights and sounds in the block around the Liberty Dome in the crisp March air, and Michael had gotten them both hotdogs- if nothing else, he was going to be paying for all of Carmen's meals-, while they waited for the Patriot to come pick them up or for the game to begin, because they weren't sure exactly how busy or swamped she was going to be up until she threw the first pitch. He was being very careful not to spill mustard on his formal Super suit- because of course he had a formal Super suit-, while also making sure no one got too close to Carmen or made her uncomfortable. He wasn't the hovering type, but he also wasn't going to hang Carmen out to dry. He was also desperately keeping his mouth shut to not just spew baseball facts all over Carmen. "Do you want a jersey? They changed the material in them so they're not as good as they used to be, but still, having matching team jerseys could be fun..."
  18. GM The Painted Desert, Arizona March 3rd, 2024 10:00 AM The Painted Desert survival class has been going on for years at Claremont at this point. Rumors have started to spread by now. Most of the time, the chosen students get to spend some time in the Painted Desert, learning how to survive in a hostile environment, seeing some pretty sights. Then there are, of course, the survival classes that go awry. The ones that end up going into a strange mesa that takes them on time travel adventures as they go through the paths. Sure, it sounds outlandish, and after the first or even second trip, it could have been anything, but after the third trip? Well, there is obviously something out in the Painted Desert. The last few years have been calm, at least. Just a normal survival class, nothing happening. Nobody ending up in any mesas or other time periods. Whatever weirdness happens in the Painted Desert is obviously over by now, right? It should just be a regular survival class. Right? That's what the young would be heroes Baltazar Botez, Carmen Alvarez Arrache, Bernadette O’Connell and Vueriz would perhaps think, at least, as the van that has taken them from the airport stops in front of a small house in the middle of nowhere and opens. They have been told where they would go and what they would have to go through. The heat during the day, the massive drops in temperature during the night, having to navigate and survive without using their powers, at least to the extent that they can. A woman with black hair tied into a long braid sits by the house, with a massive backpack sitting next to her. She is wearing a wide brimmed dark grey cowboy hat and tan shorts and t-shirt. "Hey guys, I'm Alexandra Macedon. Welcome to the Painted Desert."
  19. GM Near Midnight... ...On the streets of Bedlam The night of Bedlam was alive with its normal nocturnal residents. Tramps, drunks, burgulars, pimps, slingers, and buyers. But that was not the main event of the night. The main event was announced by the beeping of horns, the crash of cars, the screams of pedestrians. And round the corner came a lorry - large, steaming, travelling far faster than it should, threatening to jack knife as it turned. One light was out, and it was hard to see who, if anybody, was behind the wheel. It crashed through parking meters, it collided with parked vehicles. Steam poured from its damaged grill. What was certain was that it was only a matter of time before the runaway lorry would crash into some building or worse. And the people of Bedlam seemed only interested in one thing; getting out of the way. And who could blame them? For at the end of the road it hurtled down was a fireworks factory. The night looked like it would soon be illuminated with a bang. Unless some hero was on the prowl...
  20. Claremont Academy, Morning If you weren't paying attention it might seem that the two had arrived the normal way, rather than via teleporter, a guardian and their ward arriving on their first day at a new school. It looks familiar, but I don't remember anything about this place Daphne looked around with something approaching wide-eyed wonder Did I really go to school here? "You previously went to a place called Wells High School, though you did assist them when you were older. And remember to speak not use telepathy, humans are unnerved by such things!" Uncle Rick spoke with a deep melodic voice, that well-suited his current human identity "You are probably experiencing Jamais Vous, the experience of feeling you know a place without remembering anything about the location." the third voice came from a cube attached to Daphne's patch-festooned backpack, who (the cube, not the bag) was Mother Unit Daphne's carer for want of a better word. "Though it is probably best you keep quiet, humans are still nervous around Artificial General Intelligences." As they chatted away the group drew nearer to the building where some of its many students were already milling around for many and various reasons related to the still early day.
  21. Curses. Magic. Some good old fashioned skills. On a night where the moon is full, a confluence of effects pull together three unrelated heroes. It started with breaking and entering. Trevor 'Knuckles' Granger, a college drop-out that was a minor member of the Black Snake Motorcycle Club, lead his buddies Peter and Vicki to break into the house of an old historian in Bayview and make off with whatever fancy things they could find. Their logic was simple; Historians handle old stuff, old stuff is worth a lot of money, ergo there must be a lot of old stuff (worth a lot of money) at a historian's house. While they were unimpressed with his Precious Moments figurines, his Yorkshire terrier, and his wicker furniture, Knuckles was quite captivated by The Sword. It was Spanish in nature, a saber from the expeditions into native lands, believed to have been used by one of the men following Ponce de León in his expeditions to find the Fountain of Youth. But the weapon was perfectly preserved, in a way utterly unlike most of those weapons, which were inevitably pitted and broken from used and the decay of hundreds of years lost in the woods. This was what led to the decision to examine it more closely for possible meta-human or meta-metal traits, which is why it had been at the historian's house. It was those same Meta-Human traits that led to what was eventually written into papers as 'The Attack of the Zombie Conquistadors'. But that's getting ahead of the story. It really was just a series of eternally unfortunate incidents. The setting of the players was the first unfortunate incident. As part of her education into Criminal Forensics, Jennifer Gale- the heroine known as Chimera, who had recently absorbed a massive quantity of cursed Aztec Gold-, was doing light intern work for the FCPD as a continuing growth of her education. At the same time, Connor King, the Second Archer, was doing his nightly patrols, and had just gotten a juicy tip that a couple of Black Snakes had made off with a historical relic, and had headed over to an underground club named Skulljack to celebrate. And at that exact same time, at the underground music venue Skullcrack, Ryan Jacobs- also known as Sever- had just settled in for a night of listening to the sort of under the radar hard rock and metal that he so enjoyed. It was a chance for him to get away from his new school for just a little bit. -------------------------------- Sever & Archer II Skullcrack was a mess of Mohawks, a pile of piercings, a cacophony of chaos. The music was loud, the lights were dark, and the clientele did not want to be visited by the hard nosed Iron-Age throwback that was Archer II. The bodyguards also did not see much desire in letting him in, a pair of barrel chested gorilla-looking guys in dark suits who held up a hand to stop him from going in. But Archer II was significantly more accomplished than any random goons trying to make a quick payday in an underground club, and they held him up only a few seconds before he was into Skullcrack proper. He was traversing a walkway hanging above the mosh pit and seats as he made his way to the back rooms. How sneaky he was being was up to him. However, for the teen named Ryan Jacobs, he was just enjoying the music when, out of the corner of his eye, despite the dark surroundings and thumping speakers, he saw a handful of guards- the ones who mostly hung out at the periphery of the entertainment and looked intimidating- gather up in a posse while talking to their boss before setting off towards the back rooms at a quick pace. ------------------------------------ Chimera Meanwhile, Jennifer Gale was on the nightshift, interning on minor crimes in the Southside; fingerprinting break-ins mostly. She was getting a coffee with her cop escort when her techno-organize symbiote shuddered inside her. Magic. Magic was close. She felt the pull on it, as if something inside the symbiote was squirming and twitching. But there was also a less mystical, and more annoying, pull. "Hey Chuck." the radio of the officer she was traveling with lit up. "Copy dispatch." "You and Jennifer head down to the corner of Grape and Pine. Just got a note that one of our less agreeable masked heroes has headed into a known underground establishment. We're expecting it's going to be a crime scene fairly soon." The voice clipped out. "...Probably no hurry though, we don't want to get in the middle of whatever he's about to do." "Got it." Chuck responded before switching off the radio. "Well, Jennifer, I guess we got our next stop." None of the individuals involved knew a second, very unfortunate event was going to happen soon.
  22. GM Atomic Tower, Midtown, Freedom City Early April 2024 Atomic Tower has housed the Atom Academy for four years now. A lot has gone on during that time, experiments and discoveries, but they have mostly been focused on moving forward, on the future. Rex Atom wants to change that. There's a lot hiding in the world, discoveries from the past, strange things that should and shouldn't be, and, he thinks that the Atom Academy needs to be a bit more proactive, so he has set out a reminder to the members of the academy and any of their associates, asking for anyone that would like to join him on his proposed journeys into the unknown. Everyone interested has been asked to meet in laboratory 55. It is a large open room, with a holographic projector, often used to model molecules or the like. Rex Atom himself seems to be running late, while everyone else are beginning to arrive in the room. So, the question is... who is everyone? Why are they here? What are their relation to the Atom Academy, if any? Why do they want to join the journeys into the mystery?
  23. Early March, 2024 A Plateau in South America. There are worlds beyond ours; not just in space, but in alternate dimensions. Some are the same as ours, or almost. Some are radically different. Some are well known, others are not. But even the most similar world can become a world of danger and uncertainty with the shifting of tides, with the changing of seasons, with the intervention of others. The plateau was HOT. It was winter in New Jersey, but in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed; which meant it was the middle of summer on the high, raised plateau where the Claremont students assigned as the 'Red Team' were meeting up. They had been flown in to a private, hidden airstrip managed by the school, and were now standing on a high plateau covered in jungle near a large mountain. The only other people on the plataeu were guards working on a pop up metal building; a bit like park rangers or arctic researchers, who spent 8+ months doing light scientific work and keeping people from accidentally wandering into a place they shouldn't be, then went home for 8 months while a different team took over. It was a very minimum style of security, the kind you can do when you're in one of the most remote areas known to man. Miriam Francesca Luisa Juarez, Iris and Daniel Evans, and Lawrence Harrow had been assigned to Neko Musume's Claremont squad; It had been given the name 'Red Squad', and under Neko's watchful guidance, the group of Sophmores was expected to perform exceptionally well. This assignment was supposed to be a team-building camping exercise with a twist; instead of camping out in Wharton State Park, they were- supposedly- going to an entirely different dimension! There they could be free to also work on their powers and practice against unique targets, while also having challenges a bit tougher than what you might find in Wharton. All their camping gear had been prepared for them, with the guards checking packs and weighing them; they were free to bring their own items as well, but tents and canteens and water purification bottles were provided. "Your escort should be here soon...provided she hasn't forgotten." One of the guards said as they finished handing out the camping packs. That left the students enough time to finish their own check, maybe talk a little, and prepare for...wherever they were going. They went back to their nice air-conditioned building with it's power, and left the group in the humid jungle, waiting for whatever escort was supposed to come and take them to...wherever this transition occurred.
  24. (GM Post) December 21st, 2023, Early Morning, ASTRO Labs Campus MYSTERIOUS STRING OF THEFTS ACROSS THE COAST! TARGETING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OUTLETS GUARDS COMPLAIN OF CONFUSION, LOSS OF MEMORY, FATIGUE BUILDINGS AND GATES DESTROYED, LOCKS PICKED, ELECTRONIC DEFENSES DEFEATED PERPETRATORS UNKNOWN, STILL AT LARGE The Sun was still down, this early in the morning, and the temperature was barely above freezing. Scientists and security guards were wrapped in warm coats, scarves, and hats as they loaded several crates into a series of unmarked vans. They were filled with a variety of different projects that ASTRO Labs top scientists had been working on; a Liquid metal suit of armor, a self-modifying laser that could produce a beam anywhere along the electromagnetic spectrum, a set of magnetic rocket boots. Each was going in it's own truck, loaded into metal crates with anti-shock padding. Currently overseeing the project was one of the Managers of Research and Development, Clark Fields, wielding a clipboard as he observed the loads being placed into the trucks. He looked haggard, worn, and very cold, pulling his jacket tightly around him and taking sips from a thermos. Due to concerns about the string of thefts at high-tech laboratory, each of these projects- deemed the most likely to be desired by the thieves- was being sent to a different secondary location by the heads of ASTRO Labs, so that even if something was stolen, only one object would be taken, and the damage to the structure itself would be minimal or non-existent. But the best chance of this going off without a hitch was to get the objects out before day came. This was also where the request had come in to the Superhero community; for any help in overseeing this transport and making sure that the projects got to their destination. The two heroes in question, who had answered the call? The refugee from another world, Predator! and the previously crippled, superpowered Shooting Star! "We'll be assigning you to the armor's guard. That's our big project right now; the X-0095 Ferrofluidic Impervium Armor. If that gets into the wrong person's hands then it would be a significant blow to our research. We'd really like there to not be any thefts at all, but we're being realistic about the capabilities of our presumed opposition." his voice was clipped and tried to betray no emotion, but there was a clear frustration and concern in it despite that. "We're moving them in the first place because we believe the lab will be the next target, and we're hoping these will either get to a better safe house or will divert attention away from the lab itself, at which point we're hoping you two can pick up the slack for us. We're not really rated for Supervillain attacks." He had the manner about him of a scientist who wasn't used to the normal flow of conversation, so he had a habit of rambling about whatever he was working on without care for whoever he was talking to. But he seemed to realize that after that paragraph and stopped, looking at the superheroes apologetically "I'm sorry, I just said a bunch of words at once, and didn't really give you a chance to talk. Is there anything you want to ask me about our plans here?" he blinked. "...Actually have you two even met before? If you haven't maybe I should let you introduce yourselves to each other before I keep bombarding you with information."
  25. Ferrum II Outer length of the Perseus Arm, Lor Republic Space Lor time mark 2104.8 As a binary star system, the Ferrum was generally awash with solar energy. This was particularly true of one of the planetary bodies within the system, Ferrum II. Located in what was typically considered the prime habitable zone for most standard star systems, the intense solar radiation and winds made the planet a barren wasteland of wide-open spaces intermixed with large rocky mountain ranges and no apparent source of water. However, this hostile environment did not prevent the enterprising engineers of the Republic and Coalition worlds from finding a productive use for the world. Scattered across the vast open spaces between the baren mountain ranges, were extensive arrays of solar collectors held aloft by anti-gravity generators. During the intense days of a standard rotation, the arrays exposed to the binary stars would fully charge massive power cells stored within collectors. Meanwhile, on the far side of the planet, shielded from the intense solar radiation and heat in the planet’s night, several atmospheric orbiting cities would slowly circle over the fields of arrays, collecting the charged power cells and replacing them with new cells to be charged when the arrays greeted the next day. It was an extensive and precisely timed operation, with entire cargo vessels filled with freshly charged power cells for use throughout the Republic and Coalition worlds every cycle. Unless something were to disrupt those operations. Recently, a large number of Sarcota, massive space faring creatures that generally resemble Terran eels, some reaching the size of military frigates, had for some reason chosen to nest within the deep crevices of one of the rugged mountain ranges. The behavior was rather unusual, as the gigantic creatures tended to be solitary nature. While generally docile, if provoked, Sarcota could get quite agitated, and given their massive size, could easily cause significant damage to (if not outright destroy) some of the solar collection arrays and could even pose a significant risk to the orbital cities. Given this potential danger, the various corporations overseeing the operations on Ferrum II had enlisted the services of two rather unique individuals to attempt to determine what had attracted the Sarcota to the planet and to find a way to encourage them to move on from their current location and hopefully relocate to one of the more distant worlds in the system, or outside the system all together. Starshot was waiting on a landing platform of one of the orbital cities where his ship, the Xeno, was currently docked, waiting for the arrival of another individual from Earth, Doctor Viktor Archeville, so the pair could begin their investigation into the unusual behavior of the Sarcota….
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