What would your Character do? #47

[Ghost who Walks]

I had an idea, and thought it would make a good "What Would"

 

 

The King is dead, long live the King

 

Your character is dutifully performing whatever duties he fell he must do, when he passes by a television. On the screen the President of the United States is giving a press conference, answering questions about his proposed new crime bill. Suddenly, the President staggers, and a blotch of red appears on his immaculate suit…the President has been shot!

 

Over the next few weeks, the largest manhunt in the nations history searches for the shooter, with little success. The President lies in a coma, and the Vice President is in charge of the country. Rumors circulate that the President may be declared unfit for office by the cabinet, allowing the Vice President to assume the office.

 

The Vice President, and much of the media, has blamed the assassination on the actions of a super villain, who just happens to be an alien. The fear is that an alien fleet is coming, and that the alien in question is the vanguard for an invasion.

 

The Vice President has proposed numerous bills to congress, to help prepare the nation for the coming crisis. A reinstatement of the draft, a mandatory period of government service for all people with super-abilities, tax breaks for certain corporations, and the creation of a national health care system…with extra coverage for all those with super-abilities. He also wants to organize all super beings (Heroes and Villains) into a force to combat the presumed alien aggressors. Pardons will be issued to any villain who joins.

 

It has been weeks since the assassination; you are watching the latest superhero declaring that he supports the Vice President (some guy you have never heard of…who just happens to look vaguely like Boa Constrictor), when there is a knock on your door. Upon opening it, you see the alien super villain who supposedly shot the President! He staggers in, bleeding from numerous gunshot wounds, proclaiming his innocence! He says that he was actually trying to stop the assassination…that the real assassin was an agent for VIPER, and the Supreme Serpent is the Vice President! As the Visitor from Beyond the Moon slowly dies on your floor, you hear the sound of screeching cars out front…

 

What would you do?

What can you do?

What will you do?

[Argus]

Run

 

Take the body and run.

Get with some of my friends and see if there is some way we can strike back.

 

Then get ready for the biggest fight of our lives.

 

A.

[Chuckg]

Baron von Darien -- an elder vampire who's also a billionaire? He was /born/ to do this.

 

Doctor Pain -- keeps his mouth shut, doesn't say a damn thing, doesn't act funny for the next couple of weeks at all.

 

/Then/ starts telling friends... friends who are smarter than he is. And whom he trusts.

 

Starguard -- "Oh my God! Horus, what do I do now?" ("Horus-Re", team leader of the New Sentinels, whom Starguard is currently a member of.)

 

Given that Horus-Re is an immortal champion of the Turakian/Valdorian sun god who's been fighting the minions of Nama for millennia, and has (among his other vast powers) the ability to sense when somebody is speaking lies to him... well, if anybody can fix this mess, the Sentinels can.

[CarlSagan]

Hmmm. Me Smell A Fight!

 

Get ready to do some SERIOUS Agent-Smacking!

 

Oh, yes. I'll probably have to buy off that silly Secret ID thing, too. (Too bad. I really enjoyed working at the grocery store.)

 

Alternatively, I could run out with the blood-soaked corpse of the alien in my arms and claim credit for killing him. Then I could maneuver my way into being in charge of a Super-Battalion. (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!)

 

As a third option, I could vaporize the alien corpse, confess to the assassination (which, since I am not an alien, wrecks the whole alien-invasion theory). I then put in a call to Alan Dershowitz and start working on my insanity defense.

[Haven Walkur]

NICE problem, Ghost Who Walks!

 

The alien is definitely dead? No hope of rendering aid? Then Gamma Girl--who's a bit like Nightwing, but with forcefield powers--quickly searches the body for ID, or anything that would help verify the alien's allegations about the Vice-President. She'd keep careful track of those screeching car tires, and once the cardoors started slamming and the running feet hit the sidewalk outside, she'd get the hell out, leaving the body of the poor alien behind to slow down or mislead his pursures.

 

Gamma Girl would do some careful poking around to establish whether the alien was telling the truth about trying to prevent the attack on the President; talk to people, do a little judicious B&E, review tapes and files of the event. Hey, I majored in snooping [(Streetwise (16-), Conversation (16-)] back in Snoop School! She'd be careful, because if he _were_ telling the truth, others on the Viper payroll might be looking for anyone getting nosy. And what if the alien _were_ trying to prevent an assassination attempt?

 

Then begins the biggest undercover operation of Gamma Girl's career; investigating the Vice-President for Viper connections. This would involve stealth, conversation, acting and a new intern on the White House staff. Fortunately, I majored in sneaking and spying [(Acting (16-),Perception (14-)] back in Snoop School! If Gamma Girl has proof--and time--she'd take her info to a well-established news magazine that wouldn't be afraid to annoy the government. "Village Voice" or "Rolling Stone"...both are liberal as hell, but at least they're widely _read_.

 

If Gamma Girl doesn't _have_ time (Viper is about to seize control of the U.S. and start another world war, or something like that), she'd have to overcome her CVK and take the Supreme Serpent down herself. Yes, it would mean being hunted as an assassin, but the world would be saved _to_ hunt her, and she could work to clear her name afterwards...for as long as she survived.

[McCoy]

Millennium: Apply the Lancelot Healing Touch like he never has before (while wondering why he hasn't done this for the President already).

 

Iron Will: Gadgeteer an autodoc to heal the alien (while wondering why he hasn't done this for the President already).

 

Cheetah: Wonder how the alien penetrated his secret ID.

 

Dolphin and Snow Lepoard: Dial 911, and claim the alien burst in and died, saying nothing. Later seek out an authenic medium to see if they can raise his ghost for more information.

[astralfrontier]

Thomas Temple, after beating the agents outside into cat food, would get to work devising a way to prove the allegation. The fastest way is probably to stage a VIPER attack on the vice-president himself. Other approaches include genetic testing (which Tom's powers can provide) and extensive wire-tapping (which his skills can handle).

[Blue]

Uncle Slam would call a halt to anyone who rushes onto the scene. As a duely authorized officer of the federal government they should recognize his authority. Naturally they won't... So he will commit everything to EIDETIC memory. The faces of agents, the wounds, the look of the fallen man.

 

Then he'll have one of my other characters, hacker supreme Audra Blue, pull everything she can on the target, viper, etc. Our campaign city is riddled with hidden cameras; she would pull that footage before anyone has time to edit it.

 

Slam would go to the media with the information for his own preservation and to force cooperation from above.

------

Anthem would play it cool and let them take the body away, being low-level and no match for a flood of agents. She would then contact Uncle Slam (the most reputable guy she knows of) and the city's Sentinels, and tell her tale of woah. It's important to recognize when you are in over your head.

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Wraith isn't a US PC, but I'll pretend he is.

Neither is in the CU, but I'm used to that.

 

Wraith - continue interogating the alien. (Aliens have ghosts, right?)

Find out the truth, while handing over the corpse. Possibly have the ghost throw it's old body against a wall, repeatedly, to try and get credit for stopping an assassin.

 

If it's true... there is a reason most people fear the dead. That alien ghost is gonna to get his revenge, with a little help...

Teammates will be alerted if it's safe.

 

Flippant: Kill the Supreme Serpent. Flee this dimension. Stay there for about three years, then check in on this one again.

[farik]

Husky is going to go tangle with the agents and try to rally support for assaulting the Vice President. When (if) the action subsides and Husky transforms into Kenneth. Kenneth will apply his intellect to reviving the President and restoring him to power. He'll probably construct a quick army in the form of robots (a very large summoning focus) and maybe a few megascale stun bombs in case military units get mobilized Kenneth will adopt a DC style Oracle role until the crisis is averted or he is backed into a corner and threatened with personal danger at which point he'll change into Husky and we start back at the beginning of this paragraph.

[zakueins]

Ghost Sniper would be hitting all of her NSA and PRIMUS contacts-HARD. If she felt that she was "beyond sanction" in this matter, she'd do whatever it took to verify this information, and do whatever it took to ensure national security.

[Chuckg]

Oh, Starguard has healing powers -- if I can keep the guy alive I will, and then fly the frag outta there with him to talk to him some more.

 

I was just assuming that as per scenario, he was gonna die no matter what.

[Guest Worldmaker]

The guards at the gates of the embassy would keep the feds out for a long while. In the meantime, The Shield would begin an under-the-table investigation using all the resources his incredible wealth and political power could bring to bear, all the while fully expecting to have the US State Department demand his removal as Ambassador to the US.

 

If necessary (meaning, if he knew that what the alien said was true but that the information could not be used for whatever reason to reveal the VP for what he was), The Shield would probably stage an invasion of the White House and attempt to take the man down himself.

[Ghost who Walks]

This is fun.

 

Answers to some raised questions:

Originally posted by Haven Walkur

The alien is definitely dead? No hope of rendering aid?

Well, he looks like he ought to be dead.

 

Originally posted by McCoy

while wondering why he hasn't done this for the President already).

The comatose President is in a very secure, top secret location. Alien assassins from Beyond the Moon are after him! (supposedly)

 

Originally posted by McCoy

Cheetah: Wonder how the alien penetrated his secret ID.

Never said he did. He may have knocked on the door to your Headquarters. Or, on the door of whatever building you happened to be in at the time that had a fixed entry/egress point.

 

Originally posted by WhammeWhamme

Aliens have ghosts, right?

The Pope has met with several aliens, and says they do have souls (and thus, presumably can become ghosts). However, he never met with the alien species in question before. (He's a busy guy)

 

Note: Every week, I get more curious about Husky/Kenneth.

[Lord Mhoram]

Blackcat would try to heal him, and as that fails, move the body and stonewall the agents coming in to headquarters (she lives at the base, and has a public ID) she would then trash the agents who refuse to be stonewalled. She would call in Gibralter (the team detective) and the two of them would investigate that matter - and Cat would find the Pres and heal him.

 

Ballistic would just let the body lie there, and let the agents take him away "hm, no he said nothing, he came in and tried to shoot me." He would then go about investigating the Veep, and try and find the pres so he could heal him. "here are a number of American Healer supers and go to the press to have them all meet somewhere to help the president, and when the won't be let in to see the pres, publicly question why trusted supers are not being let in to help the pres. Arrange a huge PR blitz against the vice pres about that, to hamper and distract him, and start making him look bad in the publics eye (a +60 PRE spell is really usefull in dealing with the press), and then work on other ways to make the veep look bad, save the pres, and meanwhile organize the other space capable supers to scan the near earth space for any sign of an invasion.

 

One of my wife's characters the Marshall (who is the head of the government agency who is in charge of paranormal crimes, as well as a member of a green lantern like agency).

Hide the body if feasable. (assuming yes to that) - She gets on TV, and declares that there is something to what the Vice president says, and as the duly appointed official in such matters, she is going to take steps acting for the security of the nation, and conducting an investigation, while the approriate measures are being taken (implying but not stating that she supports the Veep). She then states, that as due to the emergency powers clause in her agencies charter, she is deputising the congressionally recognized representitives of the only acknowedged interplanetary peacekeeping and polic force - she then call in a bunch of Starguard (I came up with the name IMC back in '86 - different org than the one in the CU) to have a 24 hour protective guard on the president and vice president. She also has them blockade and search for the invasion. (The Marshall has spent a whole bunch of points on contacts followers and favors, and this is just the sort of plot I run to let her use them).

 

The 24 hour guard on the veep is there, of course, to keep an eye on him, and they would never leave his presence and all the stargaurd have mindlinks with each other, so the Marshall would know instantly of any hanky panky going on there. (Note that the Marshall and Ballistic are in the same campaign and would probably work together on thier respective campaigns).

[Badger]

You mean Dick Cheney is working for VIPER?

 

Sorry, I'll try to think of one for this in the morning.

[rjcurrie]

Originally posted by Badger

You mean Dick Cheney is working for VIPER?

 

You sound surprised.

[Brandi]

I could just hear my husband's character Elizabeth saying, "Cheney's the Supreme Serpent, huh? I could have a heart attack from being not surprised."

[Chuckg]

Don't complaints about the current administration belong on the Non-Gaming Discussion board?

 

Getting back on-topic -- on third thought, in a scenario like this, Starguard would begin to suspect something wrong as soon as she wasn't called to heal the comatose President in the first place.

 

(In the last session, she got herself one heckuva Reputation as "The Miracle Girl" when she used her cosmic powers to heal pretty much the entire critical care ward of Mercy Hospital, even though it took her all morning. Including some patients who were more severely injured than even the President in this scenario.)

[lemming]

Scales: 1. Get the alien into the base. presumably the alien was just outside the base. base defenses are rather frightening

2. See if stabilizing the alien is a possibility.

3. Call up Chromatic, have him look into this Viper thing.

4. Prepare to kick butt.

 

Ice Pirate "Oh great! I've got a dead alien who's accused of shooting the President and now they'll probably think since I'm an alien. I'm screwed."

Check the aliens carry-ons and get the hell out of there. Contact some of the more US centric heroes and pass on my knowledge.

 

Andromeda VIPER!!! If the outside agents have any connection to Viper, they'll be wishing they went somewhere else. She hasn't forgotten Viper torturing and killing her dad.

I think she'll be on rogue status soon.

 

Calico "Viper? You're kidding me? I could of sworn it was SWORD pulling that."

[CarlSagan]

Alien VP

 

Dick Cheney I could see as the Supreme Serpent. He DOES do most of his work out of the public eye.

 

Al Gore, on the other hand, would have to be an Alien. That would explain why he is so unemotional.

 

Anyone remember this joke?

 

How do you pick Al Gore out from a group of Secret Service Agents?

 

Easy. He's the wooden-looking one!

 

Ba-Dum-Dum!

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Originally posted by Ghost who Walks

This is fun.

 

Answers to some raised questions:

 

The Pope has met with several aliens, and says they do have souls (and thus, presumably can become ghosts). However, he never met with the alien species in question before. (He's a busy guy)

 

 

Let me rephrase that: Wraith has Sense Ghosts as a targeting sense. Does he see anything?

 

If so, plan as described. If not, he's suspicious. I mean, animals and ses sometimes leave ghostly remnants...

[Mayday]

MAYDAY starts reading the aliens mind for Truth while trying to keep him alive. Defends him from further attack if necessary, if she can. Hiding him would be even better though. Finds a place to take him to safety and nurse him to health, find out all she can from him and disseminate it the French government, online to the heroes she knows and to news outlets. Use Carmen's contact's to find out how true this might be and start finding out who close to the VP is VIPER and who is not. locate from them a VIPER base in the area and raid it (and their computers and laptops) for information and proof to present to the public and government.

 

 

WRAITHE as a PRIMUS Lieutenant calls her C.O. a non by the book Colonel and relays the story and leaves the speakerphone on while she greets the arrivals. She considers this to be a PRIMUS matter now and will expect to see ID, which will be read off to the speakerphone. She expects to see all the proper documentation and procedure followed by them. If they resort to violence or gas she reacts in kind and escapes to the PRIMUS Base. Her CO has many contacts, he will know by the time she gets there how true the allegations are.

 

 

SHADOWCROSS zips out the window to the roof, leaving Fletch to talk to the government when he gets home (Its his apartment). She decides rather than telling Batman to investigate it herself, test her skills. Library research on the VP and VIPER first, also the President's status. She then goes to where the President is being held and sets up covert surveillance, bugs the room and records comings and goings. Will find out if he is a vegetable, drugged or if he's alright.

 

Selects one of the men close to the VP and arranges to 'meet' him, seduces him and starts extracting information out of him with drugs.

 

 

SABRE picks up the alien and the rug he is on and they are out of there, straight up several miles before she hovers and begins to plan while monitoring her house. Believe the alien? No not without further proof. She calls her most trusted two teammates, Positron and (?) and gives them longitude/latitude to meet her there ASAP. Although not as brilliant as she they are good decent men who will do the right thing. The rest of the team is.... unreliable.

 

After listening to their views she goes ahead with her own plan, the Sabre armor is beaten up, and a recently dead young woman is fitted into it. Sabre is dead, attacked by an alien in her own home she tried to minimize the damage to her neighbors by taking the fight far out of the city. Unfortunately she dies of her injuries before her teammates, Tron and (?) can arrive. The body of the alien is examined, photographed, and shot up to be found nearby... The owner/developer of the Sabre Armor is contacted as is the government. Funeral arrangements are begun.

 

Meanwhile the three begin their investigation without letting it known it comes from them. Rumors are leaked regarding the President, the Vice President and VIPER. As a very large campaign contributor she leaks reminders of the Presidential Line of Succession into the Senate President Pro Tempore's ear (Robert Byrd (D) WVa) to build Congressional opposition to the VPs plans.

 

Sabre (in her secret ID as the developer/owner of the Sabre suit) builds a new Sabre suit with a different look (already had one actually) and once she has information or the VP's plans have progressed almost too far, monitors Washington D.C. until Air Force One departs. She tails it, disables it, and kidnaps the Vice President.

 

 

LINEDRIVE stands there, jaw on the floor and then staggers to the kitchen for a beer, drinks it, gets another. He keeps on going out the back door to the porch, lays down in the hammock and pulls his hat low pretending to be napping and only 'wakes up' when their noise makes it impossible to pretend otherwise. He denies ever having seen the alien never spoke to the alien, is helpful and fully supportive of law enforcement. May joke about needing a few of those heroes around if the aliens from Mars are going to be harassing famous baseball celebrities such as himself.

 

Then he lays down on the hammock with another cold one, pulls a brimmed hat low over his eyes and face, and thinks very hard, ignoring the steam coming out his ears. The phone will be bugged, he expects himself to be under surveillance. But who would believe HIM. But he has to do something, he may not be much else that is admirable but he is a true patriot.

 

So he calls Slugger (the team's best hitter, who was kicked off when his brick powers were discovered) and Bat Girl (the teenage martial artist who during the season acts as the team's bat girl). Tells them he's had a shock, one of those aliens that shot the President tried to break into his apartment and kill him and can he stay with them? Will they pick him up? He'll be right there.

 

With Slugger driving, Bobby Joe tells them the absolute truth and that they have to take him to Washington D.C.. Unless the two come up with a better plan he will shoot the Vice President in the head and using BatGirl's cellphone leave phone messages to the National Inquirer, Art Bell, and every conspiracy website he can find explaining why he did what he did. Then he goes to a church and gives confession, and stays there until he knows, one way or another.

 

As a secret mutant with a very odd, Invisible power and 20 years training with small ranged projectiles, he is unlikely to miss, and unlikely to be spotted.

[Farkling]

FlameJet:: Jet is most likely one of those supers supporting the present administration, and is angling for some of those juicy construction contracts for his company. He'd keep an eye on the VP and VIPER though...he would have a chink in his acceptance from these apparently selfless actions.

 

Lighning:: Ah. He's dead? He can only help me then. Time to turn this body over to the government and take my rightful place in the administration. Where I will be much more likely to observe what exactly is going on. If I can wrangle some credentials out of this, perhaps I can investigate the location the President is suposedly being held at...

[Alex Raven]

Make sure he didn't bleed on my floor. Blood stains are the devil to get out of shag carpeting.

 

Screeching tires?? Nothing new in my neighborhood. I would call the authorities and inform them that the President's supposed assassin is dead on my door step and could they kindly come and remove the refuse.

 

Being a total conspiracy theorist, I would have no problem believing the theory that the VP is a bad guy. I would inform my "team" (using the term very loosely) and set out to expose the VP.

 

If that didn't work, I would begin constructing a plan to assassinate the VP.