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Summer 2023 Bedlam City, WI Stone Ridge is one of the newest parts of Bedlam; and certainly one of its wealthiest. When the city descended into squalor and crime, the wealthiest fled here, bringing old money and new problems with them. Stone Ridge is not technically part of Bedlam; not even an incorporated community. That means that Bedlam PD doesn't patrol here, just a few underfunded county sheriff's deputies. The law around here is set by Iron Talon, an armed private security company that used to hire its contractors fresh off the planes returning from Iraq and Afghanistan - and now tends to go recruiting in veterans' hospitals and shelters and find men and women who don't quite fit into civilian life anymore for whatever reason. There's not very much street crime in Stone Ridge - the Iron Talon crew is infamous for brutality beyond even what the Bedlam PD dishes out, and anyone from outside the (almost all white) neighborhood is liable to get into a lot of trouble even if they're just there to look at a new house or deliver a package. They tend to go in guns blazing when they see a superhero; which has kept many of Bedlam's erstwhile costumed defenders out. Not because they're in danger - but because everyone else is when they're there. Pete Moss has been working for Iron Talon for a couple of years now; even since he got clean. He's a veteran who didn't come back quite right from Afghanistan, even if the most dangerous thing he did was fix cars in an Army motor pool in Kabul - war will do that to people sometimes. He doesn't do any head-breaking; he just works on their private impound lot. He and Rev were an item back when he drank but he's closed off since, taking the firm position that he needed to leave behind everything from his old life if he was going to get better. The shop has been closed for hours when Rev's phone rings with Pete's cell number, but she's still working on a car - funny how that works out.

For this. Obviously, I won't be killing Dominic. But whether justice is served? Well that's up to you all. We'll see how it goes.

In the past year, three racing champions had been murdered by, of all things, an archer. The shots were, in a word, impossible. The female sailor racer had been killed at sea, with nothing around for miles. The male dogsled racer was found when his dogs dragged him and his sled back into town. There’d been a killing blizzard that had shut down travel to the miles wide region for over a week, and the locals swore up and down nobody else had set out on the trail. The third had been a female marathoner, struck down in the American Southwest while training. In the desert. With several witnesses who swore nobody else was around for miles. September 28, 2018. Freedom City. Just outside Ashton and Grenville. Horizon Festival Main Stage. 9 AM. There would be over a hundred different races held, in varying skill rankings. Anyone with a driver’s license and an automobile that could pass an inspection could enter at the lowest level. The highest, however, was reserved for those who had proven their superiority over the competition. At stake? Honor, pride, and a trainload of cash. The Horizon Festival had come to Freedom City, and it was a madhouse. It was a street rally racing event primarily, but you wouldn’t know it from the stages set up what seemed like all over town. There was going to be three dozen bands playing at one time or another the entire weekend. Vendors had set up in sight of what seemed like every stage. Mechanics Alley was also open to onlookers, even if only the pro cars had slots booked in it. Because oh, yes indeed. The world’s finest street rally racers had followed the Festival to Freedom. Dominic Cortez was the grudgingly acknowledged best street rally racer in the world. He wasn’t worried about anything today. He’d drive in the kickoff race, but only for a lap. Any real racing, for him, wouldn’t be until tomorrow afternoon. As the world’s #1, he was automatically entered into the S class, highest at the Festival. The people who were worried were his agent and mechanic, Darius Greer and sister Sofia. He only trusted blood to work on his wheels. After the last murder, racing champions had gone into seclusion across almost all of racing. They only poked their heads out for events, and even then under astonishingly heavy security. Dominic Cortez was the sole exception. Leaning against the door of his car, he watched the MC blather on. The man was charismatic and effective, Dom would give him that, but honestly? Dom just wanted to get on the track already.

OOC for this

GM November 8th, 2018 5 PM It had been a long day in the Eastern Seaboard Bank Building in Wading Way. The effects of the recent Terminus Invasion had been felt, and everyone was rushing to keep up with the resulting workload. Amidst the chaos, it had been decided to move the bank's already small gold deposit to another location. After all, Freedom City was teeming with super villains as it were. They never got the chance. The moment the gold had left the vault, a group of two heavily armored men, all covered in shining gold, emerged from the nearest staircases. They moved quickly and with purpose, quickly taking down any the guards that got in their way, before heading towards the exit with the gold, carried in a pair of heavy bags. The alarms sounded soon after, easily being heard out in the streets. After all, this was Freedom City. While the city home to villains, it was also the home of heroes.

Unknown Wednesday February 14, 2018 (hopefully) When Rev and SFX entered the portal, they immediately felt as if they were being pulled forward at incredible speed, yet at the same time felt as if they were going nowhere. All around bright light flashed by, creating a sort of tunnel around them. Just a little ways ahead of them were the simulacrums who were still holding on to Lawrence. However, some sort of distortion appeared around the three, appearing to be centered on Lawrence. "You will be taken to the master." Said the simulacrum that looked like Robert. "It is inevitable."

The Pitching in Thread, now with more OOC!

GM Greatest Grabs Wading Way, Freedom City, New Jersey Tuesday, November 28th, 2017 10:30 AM It had been a day since Alexa and Zhu had moved in together. And already the pair were making a run to Greatest Grabs to replace broken machinery from a night of enthusiastic experimenting. Greatest Grabs a high-end electronic store on the Wading Way with the appearance of a commercial establishment to draw in more patrons. Whether those patrons could actually afford their wares was another matter entirely. But, it was the time of the year for sales. At such affordable prices, even two high school students would have no trouble in making a purchase or two. Not alone to this line of thought the pair found themselves having to wade through a crowded store. Ending up in the stereo section purely by a matter of pedestrian congestion. A shove here, a push there, and their aisle was chosen for them.

GM North Bay, Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday February 14, 2018 5:06 PM The streets of North Bay were generally quiet and not too congested with traffic, with the exception of the morning and evening rush hours. Of course, Lexa Veen and Zhu "Alexa" Xieng were just in the beginning of the evening rush hour, so there was considerably more traffic than normal as they rode in the back of a luxury town car. The town car had been sent to pick the pair up at Claremont Academy to bring them to the Harrows' home in North Bay. Headmistress Summers had recruited the two teenagers to help a family friends of hers, the Harrows, with some babysitting tonight. The slow moving traffic afforded the pair opportunity to take in some of the large homes and mansions that filled this part of Freedom City. Or to watch the many luxury or high end sports cars that they passed in the traffic. Eventually the town car had made it through the worst of the congestion, as it entered the more northern section of the North End, where the homes were much more spread out, possessing larger grounds and gardens around them. After turning off one of the main roads onto a smaller road, the town car finally reached the pair’s destination. The Harrows' home was a large mansion set well off from the road, a long driveway leading up to the front. Hedges ran alongside the road, although not so tall that they could not see more of the grounds beyond. There was a large, well groomed garden to the right of the driveway, and open grounds to the left that appeared to stretch back around the mansion for who knew how far. The home itself was of a classical style, that would like right at home on some English estate. The town car pulled up in front of the mansion, the driver getting out to open the door for the two teenagers.

OOC for this thread. Zhu and Lexa have likely met at least one fellow student at Claremont that went to the Nicholson School.

November 27th, Mid Morning Claremont Dormitory After meeting with the Dean, Alexa felt more at ease. She had a schedule as well as a room assignment, which while she loved new experiences, order was much preferable to chaos. Of course, she was wheeling a mostly broken suitcase with the remnants of her things, courtesy of a less than mindful speedster. The vaporized silicon components likely were ground into most of her things, but even that was just another problem to deal with. She was here; Claremont. It was now official and she could relax just a little bit before whomever the school had assigned to her as a roommate. She opened the door to her room and looked at the small, but orderly room. Two single beds twined with matching desks and small shelving units dominated most of the space. The carpet was soft and clean and the walls a pleasantly neutral color. What was nice was the wood trim and furniture which was something that was rare in China, although it certainly was more common here from what she could tell. Still, it added a touch of warmth to the space which was nice and made it feel more lived in even though nothing was there. She thought briefly on waiting to see if anyone showed up before unpacking and essentially choosing a side. However, her patience wore thin after a few seconds and she forced open the battered suitcase and began to unpack on the left side of the room. It was a shame that washing was going to have to be done already, but that was more than outweighed by the excitement of meeting all of the very special people that seemed to go to school here.

Stuff goes here Reputation Table 20 Q Vignettes Anniversary Vignette