Athwart History OOC Notes (Obuzeti and CurtailedAmbrosia)

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(I just wanted to get this up in a hurry, please ignore at this time! Thank you!)


This is where we might post various notes and blurbs connected with our story thread, Athwart History, a tale about the near extinction of heroes and their hard won revival. Feel free to read the triumphs and struggles of veterans and newbies alike there.

 

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Brief Time Line

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Heroes, Living and Dead

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[Obuzeti]

Glossary of terms:

Metahuman: A human with special powers. Appeared periodically throughout history, but in the nineties began to appear with much greater frequency, causing a concurrent surge in social upheaval and worldwide crime rates. The vast majority of metahumans have occurred on the North American and South American continents; across either of the oceans, the rate drops to one in several hundred million. The specific epicenter of metahuman frequency appears to be a circle consuming most of the Northwest and southeastern Canada, with rates dropping the further one gets from that area. Interchangeable with parahuman.

Catalysis: A chain reaction caused by a metahuman overexerting their power. It is clearly presaged by a bell-like note and a rattling vibration of the area around the metahuman in question. Continued and chronic power use causes the power to react and evolve, almost invariably consuming the user in the process as the power they access destroys their frail mortal frame. Laura, the previous Velocity, was the premiere and most tragic case for the League of Heroes.

Immolation: A worldwide catastrophe in which an enormous meta-creature, resembling a molten kraken kilometers long, arose from beneath the Ring of Fire and followed the volcano chain upwards to the Aleutian Islands, where the combined forces of heroes worldwide met it in combat. Casualties neared 70%, most lethal after the beast attacked their medical station on a distant island with a pyroclastic burst from the lava vein beneath it. Broke the back of the superhero community, which never quite recovered, especially after a combination of no health care, a horrific savaging by worldwide press, and internal strife over the awful results drove them all apart.

Rahab: The beast which caused Immolation. Deceased and dismembered in the Aleutian Islands. Could control local temperature and cause volcanic eruptions; encased itself in a cooled magma shell of rock and slid about on a layer of magma subducting under its immense carapace.

League of Heroes: Adamant's team, and the largest organization of heroes in the Golden Age. Contained himself, the Danver sisters, El Cid, and a variety of others.

The Tower: The only remaining hero organization in present day. Ruled by El Cid and his wife Sarah Danvers, his organization takes in metahumans the world over and trains them.

The Saturnine Ring: Supposedly, a villain organization. Notable in that evidence of such a thing is spotty at best. A suspicious figure named Caliban is suspected to run it, but very little else is known.

 

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Marie Rivera (ne' Hernandez) AKA THE PROTAGONIST

Marie's introduction here.

Physical Description:

Hispanic. Dark curly hair currently cut just above her shoulders in an uneven chopped length, keeps it in a bun at the nape of her neck. Thick lashes with heavy shadows beneath dark brown, nearly black eyes. Pert nose, defined philtrum, full lips in a natural mauve color, defined cheekbones. A little hollow cheeked, gaunt. Eyes are very intense, watchful, and suspicious. Above all, determined.

Five foot four standing height. Toned, curved hourglass shape, an olive skin tone that has a sickly paleness to it due to a lack of sunlight and poor eating and sleeping habits. Usually seated in a lightweight, carbon fiber and aluminum wheelchair with slightly angled wheels. Chair lacks handles and much of a backrest. Upper body toned, boxer’s fitness. Her once strong, muscled legs are now a mangled mess of ugly scars where shrapnel and twisted, jagged metal has ripped into and sheared off flesh and muscle. The worst of these scars is a concave swath along the outside of her right thigh-reminiscent of a shark bite. Her legs are a constant source of pain and, when what remains of them are flexed-agony.

Currently wears athletic shorts and tanktops in a black color.

Protagonist Appearance:

Prominent twilight blue cloak with deep hood. Similarly colored turtlenecked body suit in a thick, motorcycle garb esque material. Cloth mask for lower face, black greasepaint from temple to temple over the eyes. Long hair was usually braided down her back. Black gloves with steel tape across the knuckles, flat heeled, steel toed boots, mid calf height. Black leather straps with spikes above each elbow. Utility belt with various gadgets, the most famous of which was a grappling hook gun. Often carried a gunmetal colored staff with various functions.

No emblems, no trademarks.

Rumored to be a demon or some sort of supernatural being. Baseline Human in actuality.


PERSONAL TIMELINE:

Year X
Born to the widow of a police officer killed in the line of duty. Mother begins to abuse drugs, mother and daughter move from place to place with various addict boyfriends.

Year 9+
Begins to get into schoolyard fights. Wants to be a cop like her father and grandfather (neither of which she knew). Gets into several street fights with kids in gangs, some of which she won. Begins to win more than she loses, manages to avoid being inducted into any gangs by having a reputation for being 'crazy'.

Year 15
Leaves home for good after an altercation with mother's latest addict boyfriend. Camps in various abandoned houses rest of high school. Never sees mother again.

Year 16
Mother dies of an overdose

Year 17
Graduates early, tests into the local police academy.

Years 17-19
Police academy. BIG chip on shoulder, determinedly tries to outpace male peers anywhere and everywhere she can despite size and weight differences. Dubious honor of being 'the angriest recruit ever seen'. Just before graduating, looks up mother and learns of OD.

Year 20
Marries police sergeant Anthony Rivera, a fellow police officer passionate about fixing police corruption in Samson, with aspirations to eventually crack down on the criminal enterprises rampant throughout the city. Graduates. Applies in the same precinct her father served and is hired in.

Year 21
Anthony is murdered. Marie loses her mind and, in disguise and with an alibi, wreaks violent vengeance that culminates in the brutal slaying of his killer. After those responsible are taken care of, she continues her war on crime. Papers try to dub her The Blue Cloak

Year 22
Quits the police force. Is now a full time vigilante in her own right. Papers call her The Protagonist, and it sticks. To the surprise of everyone, agrees to join The Heroes United Front

Year's end of 24
Rahab and Immolation. Initially at League home base with several other strategists, leaves when things begin to look hopeless and little more can be done by those at home. Alongside Gideon, takes a jet and flies out not to join the fight-but to retrieve what remained of her team or die trying.

The retrieval is not successful. Mangled jet crash lands into the ocean, where Lana AKA Deep Blue, another Front team member, rescues her from a watery grave. Critical injuries leave the vigilante crippled-enough muscle has been sheared away from her legs to render them useless.

After a trauma induced coma turned medically induced coma, Marie wakes up, the two argue, and she retreats into her lair to continue the 'war' however she can while in agonizing pain.

Year 32
Elias returns

 

[Obuzeti]

Elias Halwell, AKA ADAMANT

Physical description:

Big, broad-shouldered man; easy to smile, with brown hair that gets in his baby-blue eyes sometimes. Thick hands and forearms, a working man's build, brawny and thick in the chest, but without the granite muscle outlines that bodybuilders get from water diets, just healthy and rock solid. No visible signs of aging despite being in his late thirties; his powers have delayed aging processes.

Usually wears heavy combat boots out in public, with a furred bomber jacket, denim blue jeans, and a heavy wifebeater. At home, goes barefoot and wears a lot of sweats, because who the fuck is going to care?

Adamant's old costume was a greatcoat and heavy black paratrooper leathers underneath, decorated with medals and dogtags that he's wound tight around his neck, chest, and arms. Most of it was burnt to cinders in the Immolation fight.

Powers and Abilities: Cosmogony

Adamant draws energy from some other source to reinforce and rebuild his own body. The effect manifests first as light that raises from his skin; then, the surface of his body turns dark, and then translucent as he draws more power, revealing a swirling night sky that intensifies into telescope-like glimpses of galaxies and other cosmic phenomena.

Adamant's power is not tied to any part of his form specifically, and continues even without conscious input or brain function - he is effectively unkillable. Worse, the changing texture of his form reflects his power altering his body to be more receptive to itself, and he both regenerates faster, gets stronger, and becomes more durable as the flow he's able to handle increases. At extremely high levels, some of these changes persist after the situation ends.

Because his powers reinforce his own form specifically, Adamant is immune to Catalysis, as his power overflow continuously makes his body more receptive to itself.

Personal Timeline*:

Year 2002
Appears in Gary, Indiana and promptly slaughters most of the local supergang, Las Dovos. Continues to wipe out the local narcotics trade until the sisters Grace and Sarah Danvers meet up with him and invite him to form a superhero team back in New York.

Year 2003
Inspired by their successes, Adamant takes a property deeded to him by a grateful millionaire, Heron's Coulee, and declares it the home of the League of Heroes, a nationally-spanning network of heroes that work together to secure the continent. It becomes a nation-hopping center for several other hero groups that spawn with the League's help.

Year 2008
IMMOLATION

Year 2016
Start of story.

* Elias has no memory existing before his arrival in Gary, and has never pursued the information.

 

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Laura Mansfield AKA VELOCITY

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Jenna Paige AKA VELOCITY II (WIP)

Physical Appearance:

Five foot two inches tall with a very athletic, boy shaped build. Russet brown, bronze skin tone and very distinct Filipino facial features, classically pretty. Biracial but takes after her mother; flat bridged nose, almond shaped dark brown eyes with flat monolids, lips that are full but a mouth that isn’t very wide-giving the vague appearance of a small bow when she isn’t unabashedly grinning. Jet black, sleek straight hair is cut short just above her shoulders. Rarely if ever wears makeup, and really doesn’t need any.

Twenty one years old as of a few months ago.

Velocity II Appearance:

Wears a shimmering light blue turtle necked bodysuit made out of a heat and friction resistant space age material. A silver line runs down each side of the suit from the under arms to mid thigh-wherein they curl inwards and and continue down the inside of her legs. Calf length boots in a bright silver color, specially made to withstand use of the Speed Force. Nine velcro straps down the front, flat heels. Matching silver gloves with large cuffs. Black featureless smartwatch on right wrist beneath cuff of glove.

Unlike her predecessor's open faced mask, Jenna Paige sports over sized, mirrored silver goggles that previously helped to conceal her identity-and since being exposed, can usually be found slid up and past her hairline when she speaking face to face. Black sleek hair is usually in a ponytail while in costume, but not always.

She carries Laura's old communicator with great pride.

History:

Jenna Paige had an all American upbringing with a flavor of Filipino culture, frequent visits to a doting grandmother Hold still living there. The only (and long awaited) child to older parents, Jenna Paige is the daughter of a reserved Navy veteran and an overly anxious but well meaning housewife. Despite the stoic surliness of her father and the high anxiety of her mother, the odd couple were devoted to their daughter, providing a safe, happy home life for her to flourish in.
Due in part to this, Jenna has always been a cheerful, bubbly person with a likable personality. People like Jenna, and her unassuming, friendly nature tends to keep her in the good graces of others. She also benefits from a strong moral compass, the desire to do right by others. Like many kids growing up at the time, Jenna was a die hard fan of heroes, particularly worshipful of Adamant and Daybreak, the League heavy hitters. She studied the entire roster and their exploits, printing off entire sections of the fan made wiki and making her own 'encyclopedias' to study as a kid. Unlike some she never quite grew out of her near worship of them, even with Immolation having occurred when she was a preteen. This interest in heroes led to her later, more 'adult' interest in law.

Naturally athletic and very sharp, Jenna was a small town All Star. She played Varsity Tennis, Volleyball and ran Cross Country, headed up the Quiz Bowl and Mathletics teams for her school from sophomore year onward, volunteered in Big Brothers Big Sisters during her Junior and Senior year of high school, and graduated with honors as Salutatorian.

Due to pressures from her slightly overprotective, well meaning parents, Jenna accepted a full ride scholarship to a local college close to home. Secret aspirations to transfer to her dream University in South Bend were eventually confessed at the end of her second year, and the elder Paige's relented, allowing their only daughter to move several states away to a 'big' city-and her dream school.

Studious and hardworking, Jenna created her own pre-law curriculum with help from the University's advisers, and landed herself a tiny single dorm in the Academic Wing on campus, a base requirement of a 3.5 or higher G.P.A. She was studying for the L.S.A.T. with the expectation of an early graduation-when a missed bus stop caused her to end up in a bad part of town...and interrupt a sexual assault in progress.

Bravely and foolishly, Jenna directly challenged the group of men harassing the woman, allowing for her escape-but nearly became the victim instead, were it not for a sudden and unexpected tap into the Speed Force, meta abilities realized in the face of the extreme and sudden danger.

Encountering the original Velocity in a what seemed to be a separate dimension, Laura Mansfield charged Jenna with the protection of South Bend and pleaded with her to continue the 'Good Fight' in her stead-something Jenna swore to do and takes very seriously.

Originally, Jenna viewed Velocity as a volunteer gig-something she did part time and secondary to school, a double life of sorts. She balanced both lives through use of her careful and disciplined time management skills, and things went well for about six months before a series of mysterious and high profile thefts began to take place in South Bend. The new Velocity was, for once, always a step behind the mysterious cat burglar, a day late and dollar short-until she and the chief of police decided to set a trap.

Unfortunately for the newbie heroine, the ‘cat burglar’ revealed herself to be none other than Mistress Rush-her predecessor’s sadistic rival and fellow Speed Force user-when the blonde woman interrupted the young speedster’s darting movement by racing in and grabbing her by the throat. A brutal beatdown ensued wherein Rush broke Jenna’s hand and dislocated her shoulder as well as other violent acts before the heroine managed to escape, injured and in fear of her life. It served as a wake up call to just how dangerous heroing could be-and the young woman was faced with the choice of giving it up or continuing.

Ultimately, she decided to continue-venturing out again and managing to thwart another robbery, set on capturing Rush and removing the threat from ‘Miss Laura’s’ city. Although the decision to continue had been made, any further doubt or hesitancy was removed when MindMelt, a former lover of the sadistic villainess, tracked the Filipina down through a bit of detective work-heading to the University’s campus and going through two other girls of similar build and skin tone before lighting on the right one.

(TBC, still WIP)

 

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Elena "Ellie" Sanderson AKA blink! WIP

Physical Description:

Ginger red hair in a constant state of mussed messiness. Straight with long bangs that are usually in her eyes, which are a hazel color. Smattering of freckles across bridge of nose and the tops of her cheekbones. Thin lips, straight nose with narrow bridge. Very thin build and diminutive height due to childhood undernourishment.

Typically wears a baggy black hoodie and blue jeans. Very nervous disposition, shy and quiet by nature, but when comfortable chatty about mundane, 'safe' topics with those she trusts.

Ellie does not have much of a heroine persona as she has never officially been sent out. She does not yet have a costume and did not really have much interest in one until the new Velocity arrived on the scene in Benton Harbor.

blink! has the magical ability to teleport short or long distances due to her capability of traveling through what she calls "The Other".

The Other is a separate, seemingly empty dimension Ellie is able to 'step' into. Distances traveled within this dimension translate to much greater distances in the real world, though the measurement is fluid and inexact, ever changing. In this way, Ellie can cross a football field in a single step, and miles in a few feet, giving the illusion of instant transmission.

The Other is a hostile plane that, due to Ellie's inate magical abilities, has yet to adversely affect the young woman. She is uncertain of its nature or, indeed, the nature of her own abilities, discovered when she was a preteen.

Spoilers:. Ellie is a reincarnation of a one time sorceress who managed to escape binds of servitude to her master. The sorceress traversed through The Other, used the majority of her power and life force to reach our dimension-and died shortly afterwards, Catalysis consuming her physical form. Spirit trapped in a dimension it did not belong in, it blindly found its way into the newly conceived cluster of cells that would later be born as Elana Sanderson.

 

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Future Use

 

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A package arrives, after the leveling of Marie's old apartment building.

A package had shown up. A nondescript and normal looking box from some online home goods antique store, no packing slip. A pale blue, large teapot was carefully packed inside, a band of stark white symbols around the inset divet that ran along the center of it. The symbols were about an inch high and rather intricate, not quite lace but nearly...Greek looking. The shape of it wasn’t quite as traditional as some English sets, more angular-the spout was squared off rather than round, and the handle large and almost Egyptian looking to match the ones on the cups. The whole thing was topped off with a more recognizable knob and shaped dome lid. It was a practical, sensible tea set, understated but elegant in its own way.

Wedgewood Jasperware.

 

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Communicator Messages 1

(A series of blueprints and specifications come through, boring shorthand model numbers in the file names, and then curiously additionally titled 'Terminex Version"

PROTAGONIST: Update on various gadgets in the works. Some designs are just refitted existing gadgets, which we already have a source of production. Aerosol smoke bombs, spray canisters, the like. Growing more mold samples and testing various chemical mixtures on them in a lab in Canada, something Art hooked us to.

There was something about the AI’s diminishing that was somehow more disturbing to her than if he had ‘died’ completely. This software left behind, devoid of the person he had been, his android body consumed in Immolation-she doesn't like it. She dislikes how she rereads his communications more than once, looking for inflection or sign of his previous humanity- even more.

Marie shakes her head and sends yet another design, this one a backpack deal that held two large canisters, strapped to a human model. Slotted dispensers on the back and screw on tops for refilling.

PROTAGONIST: Potential to strap that on our speedster and send her carving through a horde.

 

[CurtailedAmbrosia]

(This post takes place about 4AM the morning after Ashley Reynolds Catalyzed, between Marie sparing Mistress Rush and Jenna attempting to make pancakes at the Coulee.

Http://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=90668654&postcount=628 )




Lana was quiet as she rode the elevator up, alone at last with her thoughts-neither in the company of her compatriots nor sitting bedside of an unconscious one. Solo. Again.


The blue scaled woman shook the thought from her head. Not even remotely the same.


The elevator dings on the 10th floor, a formidable vault door blocking her entrance. She pressed her right hand flat to the palm reader-and waited as it unsealed and swung inwards. A second door after that-and she was in the flat proper, the outwardly nondescript base of the Heroes United Front.


The front door opened into a lounge area of sorts, a comfortable plush couch and several bean bags strewn about, pillows and storage ottomans probably still full of Sam’s knitting and Anthrope’s tech magazines.


An open kitchen to her right opposite this comfortable looking space with it’s old flat screen television, black granite counters and steel cabinetry, functional above all else-and between the two living spaces, dead center of the room was a large circular table with a glass top, the faint silver lines running through it glowing blue as she approached. Lana keyed a few buttons and it came to life, holographic windows popping up parallel to its surface-several showing up with error and offline messages. She absently reflected that the war table was the only thing Protagonist had ever really bothered with in this place. No, the ‘demon’ hadn’t made a home of it as she and the rest of the team had-even Gideon had slept here.


Lana dismissed the three dimensional render of the city around her and cast another look to the living room before heading down one of the side halls. The door to her room was still half open from the only other time she’d been here since resurfacing-a quick in and out visit before heading to the Coulee, to happier, warmer memories with a friend yet living. She stood in the doorway a moment, not really seeing the now foreign appearance of what had been her own room. The teal and blue knitted blankets she hadn’t slept under but had liked, the worn and torn posters of sea monsters and other ‘terrible’ sea creatures that had plagued the silver screen at various points in time. No, she just sees the girl catching flame like that, the terrible backwash of her own power...


The tall Atlantean slowly, mutely turned back towards the hall, looked over the colorfully decorated doors on either side and across from hers. She had already been in all of the rooms-not on resurfacing, no-but in the aftermath of Rahab, the fallout. She remembered wandering through them in the days following Immolation, telling herself she was putting together personal effects, another step in the endless paperwork and arrangements. What little time she wasn’t in the hospital, keeping vigil beside the suddenly fragile, mortal woman that had worn Protagonist’s cloak.


The doors were closed now, but she remembers what’s in them, how they had looked a decade ago. Sam’s neatly made bed, the oversized stuffed bear propped in the corner, the lingering scent of a lilac and cedar sachet hanging in her closet. Anhinga’s messier room with posters for obscure Spanish horror movies on the walls, books shelved floor to ceiling and scattered about with dog earred pages. Livewire’s music equipment and work bench. Gideon’s scattered files and manifestos. Anthrope’s gadgets and workout equipment. She’s not here for this. She’s here for her vanity and communications equipment, for Laurent, because she badly needed to talk to Laurent. But she lingers, hand on the jamb of her own doorway.


She wants to talk to Elias, too. To Marie. To anyone that had been there, knew how awful it had really been. Laurent would listen, he would help her process, but he didn’t really know fire or flame. Didn’t know how destructive it could be. The girl’s flames and the molten rock, her burned and blasted corpse-it was too real, too triggering. She thought she had healed beyond this.


What had Jenna said? About them all hurting? And Jenna-was that the other half of this trepidation? Fear? The flames and the torn earth had reminded her of the past, but witnessing Backdraft’s Catalysis-Neptune. She’d heard of it, her and Sam had spent long hours talking it over at length, trying to decide if they were at risk, fretting over their teammates and the rest of the League, over metahumans in general-how could they not? Laura was gone. Laura was...gone. It hadn’t been as dramatic or as horrific as Backdraft’s-so she’s been told anyway-but she’d Catalyzed too, a victim to her own power.


And they still didn’t know why or what triggered it. Her best friend hadn’t even been thirty. Lana ran a hand over her head, caught at her ponytail. Hell, neither had Sam. Twenty eight years old, forever. Laura, twenty six.


Jenna was twenty one. That’s where the fear came from-but maybe not. Maybe not-Laura had been at it for over a decade when she disappeared. Jenna just over two years, she thinks. Still...still.


Lana swallowed. Marie was looking into it, so she’d heard. Did she know about the girl’s death by Catalysis? The way she’d gone down little more than charcoal? What did she think? Was she even affected?


Lana frowned. Maybe not. Marie hadn’t been on the ground. But...she had been on the comms, helping to run top. She had responded to the call-hadn’t been happy she, Gideon, and Livewire had already been dispatched to the islands. Even less pleased when the other three headed out too. And then she had flown out there herself-why had she flown out there?


That was something that had never made sense to her, not with how vocal she’d been against their going, not with how cut and dry she had always been about resources and the effectiveness of said resources. Maybe Elias was right-maybe she hadn’t counted on contributing, knew full well it was useless-but couldn’t stand not to be there with them. Maybe losing Livewire and Anthrope in Immolation-and Art had been lost there too, they had worked closely together, he’d taught her much of what she knew of computer systems and encryptions, she’s pretty sure-maybe that had been the final straw.


Maybe he was right. Or maybe she had bought into her own ‘demonic’ reputation. Or, as Lana had thrown back when Marie called her a coward-maybe she was just a bloody hypocrite, had gotten herself crippled doing the very thing she was judging them for-sacrificial heroism-and was angry with her about it.


But it didn’t quite mesh, anymore. That trap in Samson...and what she had said about the Front keeping her sane. What she had admitted to before it, and how Marie never bothered with lying. Gideon was who knew where, the others were dead-and the only two Front members in contact didn’t speak to each other. It wasn’t the future Sam had envisioned for them all, was it?


Lana pushed the door to Marie’s room open, despite knowing it was unused and mostly empty. She doesn’t think the woman had ever slept in here, not once. It had the exact same comfortable hotel room look Sam had set up all those years ago. A comfortable twilight blue afghan was still folded on the end of the bed, tied in a bundle with a ribbon. The only thing on the wall aside from a set of empty shelves was a framed newspaper article about the Front’s newest-and unknowingly the last-member. A wasted effort, all of it. All that was here of Marie’s was a duffel bag of who knew what on the closet floor.


Other than what few snippets Sam had mentioned in passing, Lana reflected she knew almost nothing about Marie as a person. She still grudgingly felt that had been the way Marie had wanted it, but everything that Elias had said was still rolling around in her head, as were reflections on Sam’s inexplicable fondness-crush, more like-on the woman Lana had thought really was a demon. All the way up until she had pulled the woman’s bleeding, half drowned, very human body out of that crumpled jet, her legs torn to shreds, the bones within shattered to pieces.


They had always butted heads. Sam had made her swear she wouldn’t ever start a physical fight, and that had honestly not always been easy. Sometimes, she had half felt Protagonist was just as willing if not eager to just duke it out. It’d have to involve her damned gadgets and toys and even then probably wouldn’t have been much contest-but that had never stopped Protagonist before.


Lana wonders if Sam had made her swear a similar oath. And...repeating what she had overheard back before they had met, that less than flattering comment about ‘putting the monster down’-Lana suddenly realized Marie had been-in her own ineffective way-trying to explain why she had had a trap ready for Invincibelle and Deep Blue’s well known ally and former teammate. That was downright unheard of, and now Lana can’t help but wonder if Marie had been relieved when Elias had taken over to further the explanation of what Lana had felt were simply treacherous plots.


Marie had gone so far as to admit to the Front keeping her sane. And that the woman-more paranoid than anyone she had ever met barring Gideon-and even then a good run for his money-had had it so that she could use her Front keycode to enter her lair in Samson…


Maybe Marie did view her as a friend. Maybe she had this entire time, and that was why the anger at her leaving. She’d expressed it in the worst damned way, calling her a coward, spewing venom-but maybe she had felt like she was abandoning her.


Which...maybe she had. She’d abandoned all of humanity. Abandoned her ‘people’. And only came back when Elias had called for her, called her one of his, when his easy acceptance had made her feel...shame.


And now their people were either to be outlaws or prisoners, and she was once again free of something they weren’t, had political immunity and an entire kingdom to fall back on.


“...Marie?” The name echoes a little in the empty space, and nothing happens.


Lana looked over the ceiling in a slow sweep, then settled her eyes on the vent in the corner. She lifted the gold shell communicator from around hung from her neck, fingered it a moment. She didn’t press the button though-if there wasn’t a camera or a bug up in that vent, she’d be downright stunned. “...I know you can probably hear me...probably already know I’m here.” She offered a weak huff of laughter, exiting the empty room for Sam’s, not wanting to be watched-if Marie even was.


“Since you entered the elevator.” Protagonist gruffly confirms over the communicator, perpetually impatient. Lana’s not sure what to say, what she wants to say. She wants to talk, but she’s not sure Marie would listen. She’s fairly certain she wouldn’t.


Lana trailed into Sam’s room instead, looking for courage, she doesn’t know. Marie was silent on the communicator, waiting. The woman doesn’t ask what she wants. She doesn’t like to ask questions. Pictures dot the walls and shelves of Sam’s room, medals and newspaper articles from their teen years, from before they switched over to more shadowy things. There’s an entire shelf dedicated to scrap books, Lana knows. She lifts a framed photo of the three of them and looks at it-Sam and Laura on either side of her, her blue arms across the backs of their shoulders. Sam hadn’t been very tall. Laura closer in height at five eight, but still-she definitely overtook both.


“There is a meeting tomorrow.” Lana finally said into her communicator, finally settling on business, because that’s what Marie wants-facts and updates, not idle chatter. “With El Cid.”


“I know who it’s with.” Protagonist responded flatly.


“Are you...probably not.” She hates Cid, of course she wasn’t going, not so he could see her crippled and in a wheelchair. Lana shakes the thought. “Anything you want said? Something to pass along…?”


“No.” Short, succinct. “He’ll try to move you in there under him, maybe under a supposedly independent branch.” Lana moved into her own room, nodding despite Marie not being able to see it. “Don’t do it.”


“El Cid said some sort of legislation was coming down-”


“It passed an hour ago. Emergency session.”


“The Tower could be-”


“He had his chance to make something useful of that place and his resources. Of himself. Eight years of chances.” Her voice was more growl than language, now. Had she woken her up or something? Even Protagonist had to sleep sometime. “Bastard spent that time abusing Daybreak and probably everyone unlucky enough to have regular contact with him, judging by what Jenna’s said, how Sanderson and Bordet act.”


“Damn Marie, tell me how you really feel.” She sank into one side of the bed, already envisioning the difficulties ahead in trying to coordinate the knight and the vigilante, act as the go between. Maybe she’d come around. She’d probably have to.


“He’s impotent poison at best and I won’t work with anyone in bed with him, even if he does stop with his stupid bullshit against Elias.”


Well, Marie had a solid point with there.


“So what do we do, have half our team be criminals? Ask new recruits to be risk imprisonment? I have political immunity but...the others.”


“You offered to take me to Atlantis, even when your xenophobic father was still on the throne.”


Lana straightened a little, her mind sparking. “Yes…and now my progressive brother sits on the throne.”


“And we have the capability of instantaneous travel.”


“The teleporters.” Lana realized, eyes flicking to her vanity. They had talked about this before, she and Elias-but it’d just been talk. She hadn’t considered the fact that they didn’t necessarily have to resort to Atlantis as a final escape from Paul-it could be their base of operations. They didn’t have to abandon the surface, they could return at anytime. Hell, with as much as Laurent talked about Elias, they might even be able to give him the same political immunity she had.


“Exactly. See what you can do. And make sure Paige doesn’t turn herself in, they do issue a warrant. Wouldn’t put it past her.”


Lana had to repress a laugh, though that may have very well been a joke. Hard to tell, flat way it was delivered. She held on to the communicator a moment more, hesitating. Thinking about that near decade old argument. Thinking about Elias. She glanced back down at the photograph in her hand, and she thinks about Sam. They were two of the best people she had ever known, the petite mind reader and the broad shouldered, ultimate empath.


“Marie?”


“Protagonist.” The correction was swift, but not as sharp or as forceful as before.


“You didn’t fly out to fight Rahab, did you?”


Lana stared at Sam’s smiling face. Maybe a rescue? Had she flown out hoping to get what was left of their team out of there? Knowing how unlikely success was, but willing to try? Is that why she had stayed in that wheelchair, hadn’t sought a solution? Was it punishment for failure? Elias had said she had done everything short of suicide to erase herself-


“...Marie?” Was she still there?


“I have things to do, Blue.” Still there.


And now Lana asks the other question that had been burning for all these years, the one that stuck in her craw and had left her feeling so angry, torn up.


“...why didn’t you ask about the others when you woke up? About...Sam?” At least about Sam. If she had cared about any of them, she had cared about Sam. If she had flown out to attempt a rescue or die alongside them, if she actually had given a damn all that time-then why wouldn’t that be the first thing on her mind? If they had kept her sane, then why wouldn’t she have asked?


“Because I already knew she was gone, Lana.” Marie finally responded, slow and in a voice unlike Protagonist’s-because it wasn’t Protagonist’s. Just hers. Just Marie’s, whoever Marie was anymore, in that pit. Whoever she had ever been.


Lana nodded and drew the picture in close to her chest. She wasn’t alone in the grief for their team, after all.


“See what you can do for the others-Elias needs some good news.” More surprises. Lana nodded again. She wouldn’t bother with apologies because she knew Marie didn’t want or need any-but finally they were allies again, teammates-maybe even better than before.


“Then hopefully I can give him some.”


“Good. I wouldn’t meet with El Cid until then. I’d prefer not bothering with him at all, but that’s your wheelhouse, not mine."

"I'll talk to Laurent. If he goes for it, we can find a safe place to port, test it out with me before risking others."

"Ping me then."

"Will do.". Lana rose to stand, headed towards her vanity. "Thanks, Marie."

No reply, but then again-Marie never responded. Lana used to think she didn't want to welcome people to her help-but now she half wondered if she just didn't think her help was -enough-.

Well, enough trying to figure her out-Laurent was a lot easier to handle.

 

[Obuzeti]

Political Figures in the States

President Barry Ferrigno

A culture warrior and firebrand, big on internal reconstruction, the economy, and justice reform. Focused almost entirely on rebuilding the fabric of society, as he puts it, but blind to other issues that fall outside of his focus. Conspicuously silent on the metahuman issue, and has no record speaking on it in public, instead allowing the Senate to handle the issue in his absence. Popular and likely to be reelected just on the basis of the strong economy he's pushed and his justice reforms, which have extensively lowered the prison population.

~*~

Speaker Gail Torrence

An older man in his sixties, a moderate who prefers to keep arguments and sessions in the Senate to a mild tone. Pushes few policies himself, but refines others with an expert's touch. His main topic is financial conservatism, and has pushed policies reducing the social net in the past, along with funding to other programs. A true politician, in that it's very hard to find something to raise against him, because of his lack of recorded statements and polite demeanor.

~*~

Senator Jim Gillesby

The leader of the Border Party and, more or less, the most powerful man in the Senate. Gillesby is a political strongman: loud verbiage, hateful rhetoric, advocating a reduction in foreign aid and foreign commitments, against immigration, and protective of citizen's rights if not their freedoms. He likes to preach on the virtues of a "United America", and the troubles emanating from the rest of the world have bumped his stock in power. The person who lead the charge in Senate to send the League of Heroes at Rahab, and who killed the bill to send support to the survivors in committee. Not quite racist, but no friend to anyone with power he can't have.

~*~

Senator Kevin Townshend

A junior senator, elected as a rising member of the Border Party. Technicality-oriented, with a commendable history in law practice behind him, a natural pick for eventually settling into a committee somewhere and killing bills for any variety of reasons he could choose. A stonewaller and nitpicker extraordinaire.

 

[CurtailedAmbrosia]

Josephine and Jacqueline Myers, 22 year old twin metahumans

Black-great grandparents emigrated from France. Cool dark brown skin tone, deep and wide set eyes-Jacqueline tends to wear false eyelashes. When running low on magic, eyes are revealed to be a warm brown-otherwise, each twin normally has unnaturally colored, glow in the dark irises that match the color of their portals and ‘faded out’ forms-electric purple for Jacqueline and electric blue for Josephine. Aquiline noses and downward turned, full lips a shade darker than their skin. Textured hair ‘crinkles’ rather than curls, and each twin styles theirs very differently.

Powers:

Can ‘draw’ portals-magic doorways between spaces-within range of themselves. Each sister can also go ‘ghost’-become incorporeal for short periods of time, able to pass through solid objects. Finite amount of energy for both abilities before needing to recharge.

Jacqueline can go ‘ghost’ for longer periods than her sister, and Josephine can draw multiple portals for longer distances than Jaq.


Personality and Fashion Differences:

Josephine Myers is the sister more interested in idealistic ideas of justice and heroism-personal freedom matters to her, and those that rule not by choice of the people but through fear or other ‘dictator’ tactics have her extreme disapproval. While living in the Tower, Josephine developed a firm distaste for Cid’s brand of leadership, and while ‘keeping her head down’ to avoid punishment and retain some level of autonomy (securing a spot and serving on Squad 3 to avoid both his and Senior Ward detection, of which her sister served on the Honor Guard), this business minded young woman began to illegally hold meetings with several other closeted dissidents, and began to plan an escape as well as hero missions conducted ‘properly, in the areas of the world that most badly need it’.

Tectonic and other high ranking Wards took to calling the group ‘Jailbirds’, and were actively searching them out before Adamant and Velocity’s arrival and Atlantis invitation allowed the group to tip their hand.

Josephine tends to dress in stereo typically male clothing, and does it well. She favors male business or formal attire, and currently has only been seen sporting a tailored suit. Her hair was styled in a dyed blue mohawk previously, but has lately been left down in a side swept undercut instead.

Jacqueline Myers did not accept the Atlantis Invitation, and remains with the Senior Wards loyal to Cid. She is interested in power and prestige, and of the pair is infinitely more cruel. Never sadistic, just a bully who prefers people to ‘know their place’-which is beneath her or her superior’s heel.

Sports more feminine, if punkish attire. Hair is typically in braid extensions.

Formerly Tectonic/Tyler Moore’s second on the Honor Squad.

The sisters rivalry was infamous among the Veteran Wards.

 

[CurtailedAmbrosia]

Brainstorming retcon proposals-Jenna didn't go looking to meet Adamant just out of hero worship. She correctly identified the abusive weird ass shit going on in the Tower when Cid first tried to make her a tool of it, after she reached national prominence on her own as Velocity, having freshly defeated Mistress Rush. Mindmelt is out there somewhere, he got away. That off screen beginning stuff is pretty much the same.

Jenna ACTUALLY sought out Adamant for his help with the Tower stuff. Like in our current story, he didn't really know what all was going on in there. He’s been working on himself, healing, and mostly operating in Gary, Indiana. Aside from him. So when Jenna seeks him out and tells him all this shit, when she describes Sarah's state-like what else would he need? I don't think he would ignore that. But breaking the tower in half won’t really be enough.

So he goes to Marie. Same jazz-she's fucked up and she’s pissed with him, with all of the surviving heroes (what few there are). She wants to hate him but at the same time he actually showed back up, just as Marie always believed he would. Like in our current thread, Marie’s just been…obsessing over the same shit all along because she has nothing else. It’s this or lay down and die, though she’s been ‘dying’ for a long time. She’s still an angry person, but she’s not as openly hostile to him or Jenna. Rusty af with social skills that were never that great in the first place, though.

I think with Jenna, rather than Marie seeing her as a fake which was kinda dumb of me-instead Marie’s been keeping up on Jenna’s rise to stardom and the waves she’s made. Jenna embodies exactly what Marie always respected in heroes, and she rose up independently of the Tower's tainted bullshit. Marie just legitimately didn’t know how to reach out or initiate any sort of contact, and hadn't. It’s the same puzzling conundrum-WHY didn’t Marie contact her or anyone else? Cause she’s bad at people-ing, that’s why.

Marie offered what support she could on the backend, maybe a cryptic warning or Rush’s location sent to the smart watch-it's Laura's old one, after all. Maybe Marie's part of the reason any of that shit still works-she didn't know what to think when that old league tech was reactivated, and if Cid saw it maybe he didn't either. But when the new Velocity hit the streets Marie decided to see what happened-updating the software remotely and maybe even locking Cid out of it.
(Marie's hatred of Cid is very much the same, haha.)

When Jenna’s identity got sold out Marie made the same effort to stop it as referenced in our current story, but as with there the internet steamrolled her efforts.

Anywho, the mission for the teleport tech still happens. Jenna is the one phrasing the tower thing as a break out, and Marie agrees-all three of our heroes expect it to make big waves, and that the gov'ment will double down and reveal it really was a prison all along. So the teleport tech is both something to keep out of the bad guys hands now that they've nearly perfected it, AND it's an integral part of the escape. Where to take all these kids and young men and women though?

Elias can think of one place safe from this racist as government and Paul/whoever else, and that’s Atlantis. Marie and Lana are chilly but not openly hostile, this time. Marie has put some of her survivors' guilt and the fact the princess left on Lana, but I think better understands Lana leaving in disgust. I think, a little, Marie half wishes she herself could have put it all behind her too. Their prior relationship was not as acrimonious, and Lana DID offer to take Marie with her. They also both loved and were loved by Sam. Lana as a sister, and Marie in a romantic way-so Sam's memory is something that binds them together from the start, not later as it did with our current thread.

Maybe Marie telling Elias Lana was going to take her down there helps his decision to reach out to her. Plus Elias and Lana really are as good as friends they were set up as in our thread, cause I don’t know about you, but I really liked that. It was nice. And I liked Elias and Laurent too.

So Lana and Laurent are already putting a haven in the works here, excitedly so too. Lana’s also valuable due to her former diplomatic role. That stuff.

Maybe…maybe Sarah is in on this too? Maybe Ellie becomes the impetus for this-she’s the chink in Cid’s armor of control, because she’s one of Sarah’s favorites and has been sneaking out to hang out with Jenna already. Sarah has been messed up, but she’s not so far gone as to have been ignoring all this shit. She’s just trapped-there’s no where to go or another way to protect these kids, provide for them. She’s stuck, and beat down, and just does the little kind things she can do.

But now that there’s another option, and she’s got outside contact with her best friend-well shit man, Sarah’s picking up steam. She’s coordinating this bust out! So NOW we’ve got Elias, Lana, Jenna, Laurent, Marie, SARAH, and Sarah’s ‘robins’ Ellie and Peter. Marie and Peter are getting on just as they do. Marie’s spikes have also been worn down some by the logistic considerations of so many metahuman powers, as well as shell companies and shit so they can feed and provide for all of them. That’s put her talking to Sarah, Lana, and Elias a lot? Less shadow-y edge lord and more of an active participant. She doesn’t have Protagonist to hide behind, after all.

Cid realizes somethings up, just not what. He’s already pegged Jenna as a threat since she refused to become a ward and doesn’t pay him much heed. Maybe that's when Paul hits the docks and all that happens, if we want to keep it. Maybe this time, given she has direct contact-Sarah is aware of it and whats more, Sarah goes out there. The media loses its shit, Daybreak and Adamant back together again! Newest media darling Velocity working alongside them! The unofficial merchandise starts churning out again.

Cid locks the Tower down, bans Jenna outright, and Sarah, Peter, and Ellie are suddenly radio silent. That’s very concerning. Our crew aren’t sure what to think about it, and we don’t dare wait around wondering. They’re gearing up when Cid leaves the Tower with his honor guard, goes to Modal’s.(?) It’s time to move, now or never.

The escape plan is put into motion despite Sarah’s absence, since she was supposed to be their inside organizer. It still goes a lot better-the underground resistance has been working directly with Sarah this time around, most of the kids are on board or are about to be knowing this.

But no Sarah. No Peter. And no Ellie.

Cid shows up, his comeuppance takes place. Maybe Ash and Barry died, maybe they didn’t. Either way, he apparently survived the shit at Modal’s. Hearing Sarah’s not here and his firing off a beam that could have killed wards gets most of his honor guard (or what’s left of it, up to us but I kinda vote they’re alive) turned against him. I especially vote that Blaise came off the ship against Cid-he’d jump on this shit, right?

The aftermath of Cid’s comeuppance, kids settling in Atlantis, and we’re still looking for Sarah. Cid’s in a coma and can’t tell us shit, but we basically had to gtfo with the kids and leave him there or something.

This is where our thread reopens, this sort of calm after the storm and with our new soft rebooted history.

I think, maybe, it should be Ellie and Peter that tip the gaffe on where Sarah is. Their combined talents allow for one or both of them to escape and tell the others that Sarah is somehow being kept in stasis/a coma/whatever.

Brainstormed conclusions so far:

*The biggest change is that Sarah is Sarah, in this reboot. Not a broken bird, she is a heroine with some agency and control. Its just that, before Elias' involvement and the rousing of what was left of the old guard, she really didn't have any options. She has no idea how Cid has procured the tower and its maintenance, and would be hard pressed to be able to manage a new one on her own. Atlantis is the answer and the escape she has been quietly hoping for.

She doesn't feel as guilty about not loving Cid-I think she's smart enough to have now recognized he took advantage of her. She's more forgiving of him than he deserves, but that's because Sarah is a very good, caring person. She's also less neglectful, and that bolsters why the kids are so dedicated to her. Sarah does her best within the confines of the Tower to make life worth getting out of bed in the morning. It's what gets HER out of bed in the morning. There are some fun things to do between coursework and hero training, Cid allows for what he considers superfluous stuff because it keeps Sarah from rebelling outright. She also personally teaches some classes. Just generally more involved in general rather than shut up in her bedroom somewhere, crying all day.

She still has some bad days, she's still traumatized and driven always by the goal of keeping her kids safe-but she's not as much a mess. She's done some healing, despite Cid's best efforts to leave her stagnated.

*In the reboot, Marie isn't limited to Elias and Peter. Her involvement doesn't come through Elias as it kinda does now, either-she's more actively participating in talking with the adults/fellow League vets. It's hard for her sometimes, but it's also been GOOD for her, and not in a begrudging way. She's also not as hateful regarding Lana, and in this reboot she and Sarah have been able to interact more than Sarah just being a victim that's tripped Marie's cop senses or whatever. These women are equal partners in this with Elias, and Marie is sitting at the table with them, if that makes sense.

*Jenna and Elias met when Jenna specifically sought him after she was invited to the Tower and saw it for what it was. She had purpose and intent, not just gee whiz lemmie go meet my childhood hero.

Jenna was always meant to be a catalyst for the story and the return of heroes, the first domino to tumble into the much bigger ones of Adamant, Protagonist, Deep Blue and Daybreak.

But for so idealistic a person, she sat around doing jack all about this stuff, way too much time being conflicted and waiting on a broken Daybreak to wake the fuck up and do something. Jenna is a comic book golden age superheroine and I like her so much better when she acts like it.

So she sees the fucked situation that is the Tower, she sees Daybreak embroiled in it and seemingly without options-and she resolves to do something about it. She just doesn't know how, and that's why she tracks down the other greatest hero the League had had to offer in Elias.

*Rush never made a reappearance, or hasn't yet. I always felt like I wasted that, and I'm sorry I did so!

 

[CurtailedAmbrosia]

So basically, a lot of the history and character relationships are the same, they're just better and reframed.

We start a brand new thread with all of this rebooted, revitalized history behind and supporting us, rescue a Sarah that was working with us all along, progressing as a character rather than regressing-and an Ellie and Peter who were likewise greater participants in the first New League mission. (The sundering of the Tower and the freeing of the Wards).

I think we don't list the veterans still alive, just yet. Maybe there are more of them we can play with. The Tower and Cid being cut down to size is sort of a call to action for some of them? I'm not sure.

There's no more trauma trainwreck, just people recovering and the hero community moving up in the world in general. There's a safe place to retreat to and leaders with their shit together. No man's been left behind.

It also always bothered me that Marie supposedly had things lined up for heroes to do, but then there was a lack of it. It makes sense now that the Tower WAS the first thing to do (after the teleport tech) and then it was intended for things to be set up afterwards, under the New League's direction.

(That Cid is being left behind is more than Marie could have ever hoped for, so she's gleeful his ass is on the outs in what remains of his tower.)

Storywise, there's probably a bit of Cid losing his shit coming after Sarah is rescued and happily rejoins her kids in Atlantis. The only targets he can reach are Marie in her bunker (none of our characters have yet realized Cid is a traitor/this far gone, I don't think?) and Jenna still heroing it up solo in the interim as talks of a deployable action team are going on.

Anyway can't wait to hear your thoughts and ideas.

 

[CurtailedAmbrosia]

Maybe a timeskip is even the best thing, and no Sarah rescue. Add the retcon that Sarah DID help with the Tower escape to our other retcons? Cid's comeuppance is more total and Sarah left on her own terms.

Thread opens to everybody chilling in Atlantis. We write about life down there, the different hero groups training and planning to surface, the team Jenna leads on Marie's missions, stuff like that. Life is just...good. I want Atlantis to be all that we set it up to be.

During this time Cid's been biding his though, and at some point he finally takes a swing. The only targets in reach are Marie in her bunker (leading to Mindmelt's death and her moving to Atlantis) and whatever team Jenna is heading up on the surface, or even just Jenna herself, still solo heroing it up in South Bend.

Phase II, Cid is now a confirmed bad guy, and it's Jenna we gotta rescue outta the Speed Force. Laura is back and able to help with this.