Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

In the deepest, darkest recesses of the American intelligence community, it was decided that the CIA would need a talented team of thieves to separate those would would do America harm from the means to do so. Four men and one woman, all sitting in Federal prison for spectacular crimes, were pulled out of confinement and given an offer they couldn't refuse; work for a government agency so secret even the President had no knowledge of its existence or meet a quiet and anonymous demise. wanting to live, they accepted and recieved training and augmentation to their reflexes to become Team Booster. The final step was to implant mini-computers of incredible complexity into their bodies so they would have instant access to all the data they would need on the job. Finally, they were sent our on their first mission, which was to steal a viral and irreplaceable part that would prevent the North Koreans from refining weapons-grade nuclear material.

 

Except that the job was a set-up, designed to fail. The plan they were asked to carry out was incomplete, their information was false, and what they were supposed to steal was in an entirely different location. Although the agents code-named Crimson, Azure and Silver died in the attempt and Agent Black turned himself in to the North Koreans, Agent Gold -- formerly cat-burglar and con-artist extraordinaire Amy Barako, not only managed to get the part but also found, and downloaded to her mini-computer, conclusive proof that the true purpose of the mission was to smuggle advanced bio-technology to the North Koreans, and that the men who had organized the Booster program were in fact carrying out a complex scheme to give the Kim Il Jung regime weapons so powerful that America would be forced to sweep in and destroy the regime -- and that this was only the beginning of this nameless cabal's treachery.

 

But they have made her a weapon against her own country, but that wasn't a game Amy was going to play. Project Booster was no more, but Booster Gold is still going to save America -- even if she has to save it from itself -- with her inborn and augmented talents. And she is determined to find out why those who have made her what she is did it, because she knows that whatever world they conceive as their ideal has no room for her.

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Arlo "Booster" Reynolds worked his way up from the bottom of crime, from the simple smash and grab operations that gave him his nickname right up the moment when he had his big break, a patron who was prepared to bankroll a fully kitted-out heist crew complete with the latest in borderline supergear, including skin-tight armour and hi tech stunners. All he had to do was carry out massive gold thefts she planned and she'd buy everything he could steal.

 

On his second such job, one of his men was careless, addressing him by his nickname in front of a witness. It was assumed by the media and the authorities that "Booster" referred to the jetpack he wore on the job so that he could make a getaway if things went south and somewhere down the line, because this new supervillain only stole gold, they started calling him Booster "Gold".

 

What Booster doesn't know is that his employer is actually a dragon. She needs the gold to create the right kind of incubator for her eggs and she needs a lot of it, because she's laying a lot of eggs.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Joshua Gold was a master jeweler, he had a gift for using gold and gems to make unsual and expensive items. One day a strager came to he's shop, they wanted him to reset a ring.

 

Gold started working on the ring, he melted down the gold of the ring itself and was able to make a new one, but while he did he noticed that the metal wasn't gold but something he had never seen. Gold put that out of he's mind and finished the ring.

 

He now took the gem and cleaned it as he did he once again found that the stone was unlike any he had ever worked with. He found if he held it, it would slowly begin to glow, the longer held the stronger the glow.

 

He finished the ring and reset the stone and a strange feeling came over him, placing the ring on he's finger he was changed. The ring was a storehouse of great power, a power that was primal, primal goodness.

 

Joshua Gold was changed in that moment, he became a new man, younger, stronger. The inate goodness of this man who had lived in hell, having seen he's family die in German death-camps. Joshua became 'Booster' Gold.

 

As Booster Gold he would become a superhero, one that would fight for everyone, the homeless, the poor, none would be beyond he's view. In the end he found that the ring was to be his all along the stranger that gave it to him was an Angel. The Angel told Booster that he was now the one that must take up the job of being a protector of mankind. Joshua took up the mantel and for the rest of he's life, a long one filled with joy and pain, lasting many hundred's of years.

 

In the end the name Booster Gold was know as one of the greatest heroes the world had ever know.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

How many more entries will we need before a winner is declared?

 

(Maybe I should take up a collection for a new keyboard, as I seem to be in dire need of one. A stuck ")" key prevents me from using the numeric keypad, and the system in general doesn't like it. I actually have a wireless keyboard and mouse, but no drivers for it.)

[NestorDRod]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Ed Gruberman, you must learn patience.

 

I'm working on the concept of allowing a week for all your bubbly brains to ferment and spew forth some character-goodness, so expect a decision from me Tuesday night (or probably Wednesday morning, seeing how my schedule is).

 

Let us meditate on this wisdom now. Ooooohhhhmmmm....

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Let us meditate on this wisdom now. Ooooohhhhmmmm....

 

Oh man, a Padme home.

[freakboy6117]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

michael you should be abvle to find teh drivers on the manufacturers website or just by typing the keyboards model number and + drivers into google.

[Robyn]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

I'm working on the concept of allowing a week for all your bubbly brains to ferment and spew forth some character-goodness' date='[/quote']

 

 

. . . I got nothing.

 

I've been waiting for the next winner to be declared so a name will emerge that I can do something with.

 

I could do something really interesting with Green Lantern, but I came to this too late for that, so

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

HEY-----Who WON!!!!!!

[NestorDRod]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Wha! huh? Oh, man, you woke me up just when I was getting to the good part.

 

Oh, yeah, the contest. Dang, this was hard, but I think I'm passing the baton to Michael Hopcroft. What can I say, I have a soft spot for super-spy agents.

 

You're on, Michael!

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Wha! huh? Oh, man, you woke me up just when I was getting to the good part.

 

Oh, yeah, the contest. Dang, this was hard, but I think I'm passing the baton to Michael Hopcroft. What can I say, I have a soft spot for super-spy agents.

 

You're on, Michael!

 

I am happy to have woke you for this. Now I hope I don't have to do this again.

 

joking

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Thank you very much.

 

For future reference, I would like to know whether we are limited to the Big Two publishers, to North American releases, or to characters originally published in English as sources for our little game.

 

However, for the moment I am going to assume we are. Here's one that will hopefully produce some interesting results:

 

The Question

 

I will take either the first six entries or however many are in by Thursday night, whichever comes first.

[NestorDRod]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

No worries.

 

Seriously, I got swamped at work, which meant late nights and no time for posting. We're close to software release and everyone's doing the headless chicken dance.

 

Why is poor planning on someone's part always end up being an emergency on mine?

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Alexander Tyburn was quite smart, but very maladjusted, an egotistical Peter Pan with a solipsistic view of the world. One night he visited the nightclub where entertainer/superhero Doctor Fate was doing his psychic act and something about that posturing phony just rubbed him the wrong way. Whether it was his predictions of the future that implied a predestination that was anathema to a man who felt his was the master of his own course, or the way Doctor Fate looked at him, sized him up, and seemed to find him wanting as he moved on to a different member of the audience. Hotshot "police psychic" conartist...who did he think he was?

 

So, Tyburn wrote Doctor Fate a letter, one that opened:

Are you really a psychic?

Can you guess my name?

Do you know what I'm going to do next?

 

He'd hint at crimes he was planning, profitable but elaborate and vicious crimes like poisoning a jewellery exchange's water cooler and robbing it while everyone was incapacitated or deliberately causing a power failure during a heat wave in order to rob a police evidence locker. Doctor Fate was surprisingly successful at guessing what the Question (as he became known from his distinctive trademark of starting every communication with questions) was planning, if only at the last minute, but the Question's flunkies tended to get caught while he beat a hasty retreat, allowing the two of them to continue their duel for quite a while before the Question was first caught. Inside, the Question amused himself by planning escapes, prison riots and murders, and made sure to keep in touch.

[Sundog]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Mickey "The Mouse" Bernadetti had never quite lived up to expectations.

His father expected him to be a good son, go to college, and take over the family bakery. Well, Mickey didn't quite get good enough marks to go to college, so he went to the local technical school instead. And...he failed to graduate. And...he sort of got into trouble a lot. When the time came, it was his sister Margretta who inherited the business.

It was probably just as well. Mickey just never seemed able to concentrate for long enough on things.

Mickey got involved with the local mob, just small scale stuff. Not that he wouldn't have liked to do more, but somehow...that always went to the other guys. The guys who kept their eyes on the business instead of chasing girls. Or getting drunk.

It was the latter that caused all the trouble.

Mickey woke up one day, with a powerful urge to go out into the woods. He got dressed, put on his clothes, and headed out of town. Unfotunately, the road out of town led straight past Easy's - Mickey's favourite drinking hole.

Five hours later and drunk as a skunk, Mickey staggered into a clearing.

That's all he remembers for a little bit. Then he remembers a bright light and a booming, triumphant voice:

"...and you shall be the answer to that question!"

Looking up from where he was lying, Mickey could see a swirling disc of colours rising away from him at great speed. And Mickey realised he was no longer drunk.

In fact, as he found out over the next few days, he couldn't GET drunk. His body was now far more efficient than it had ever been before, strong enough to carry a car without difficulties, faster than a striking snake, able to run at 30 MPH all day without tiring, or leaping effortlessly betwen buildings.

Mickey had no one to talk over these things with; no real friends, and his family had disowned him. He saw himself at last as what he was: a loser - and it was all his own fault.

Hell, he didn't even know what he was supposed to do with these powers!

Mickey stopped hanging out at Easy's. He stopped working for the mob. He got a job as a busboy in the town hotel, and then he made himself a costume. Then he set out to destroy the local mob.

He still didn't know what he was supposed to do, but he decided that was okay. He'd wait for The Answer; for now, he would be The Question.

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

The thought strikes me that remaining as a fringe mob associate means that he'll never be called on to do something significantly bad, but he's in a great position to hear stuff he can use as his alter-ego.

[Sundog]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Yeah, but A) Mickey's not that quick on the uptake, and He's trying to make a clean break, be a new and better man. Too much chance of falling back into old habits if he kept hanging with the boys.

[Whitewings]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Mitchell Fries has always been a student of philosophy. A bit of a dillentante, actually, not a serious student of the subject. He was a fairly ordinary fellow, he worked in retail helping to run a chain bookstore, and had no more than the minimum dealings with bureaucracies. But he had some, and one day a particularly obnoxious clerk at the Motor Vehicle Branch irritated him greatly and he snapped out "What is your purpose!?" The man immediately fell into a trance-like state, and after a few moments, Mitchell decided to just turn the screen around, pull the keyboard up onto the counter and enter his information himself. He then left, and let the other customers do the same. Eventually, the fellow came out of his trance, and was very upset with all the people who'd ignored "proper procedures."

 

Since then, Mr. Fries has discovered that by asking people, in a firm and commanding tone, philosophical questions, he can force them into contemplative trances. Not being a particularly vicious fellow, he mainly uses this ability to sidestep the terminally indecisive (the person who dithers for twenty minutes at the movie concession stand, for example), avoid time-wasting morons, and to cut through red tape. His peculiar ability has led to his being nicknamed "The Question," and though officially a criminal and a wanted man, the truth is that the local police have far higher priorities.

[nexus]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

The Question is one of Hudson City's stranger vigilantes in that, to any one's knowledge he has never killed anyone. The few that have actually seen him report that he is a man of average height, slight build dressed in a impeccable tailored but otherwise unremarkable white suit, black tie and features black mask with a white fedora. Sttrange but particularly fearsome or menacing.

 

His methods are just as atypical as his appereance. The Question seems to know everything about his opponents, their deepest secrets, their hidden fears and dreams. How he comes by this information isn't known but its suspected that he is highly skilled psyhcologist, perhaps even a crinimal profiler as he able to construct an intricately detailed analysis of his target's history, personality and psychological make up.

 

Armed with this information he will approach the target, ususally at some time when they wil vulnerable or frightened (in their bedrooms, private sancutaries, when they thought they were alone) and pose a single question. This question always relates to some pivital mo,ent in their lives a moment that could have lead them down a different path, some thing feel guilty about or a secret they thought no one knew or they'd tried to forget. Then he vanishes.. only to appear again, time and tiime forcing his subject to dwell on his query. Some fly into a self destructive rage, some have emotional breakdowns, a few have turned themselves over to the authorities or reformed from the guilt, at least three killed themselves None have been untouched by The Question's inescapable interrogation.

 

Given his unsusual MO, The Question isn't particularly sought after by the HCPD who have bigger more violent menaces to deal with such as the Blue Moon Killer. He has become something a legend among the criminal population though with some of the more intelligent masterminds scoffing about his alleged abilities and almost looking forward to answering his query.

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Once the thread goes off the front page, it's not likely the current challenge will get more entries.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

The winner of this one is nexus. Although I'll keep David's take around as a nemesis for Dr. Fate.

[nexus]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

All right next up

 

Nightwing

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

--bump--

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

In the 1920s, a small amount of metal from a dead civilisation was discovered by a German archaeologist named Dietrich Adler, a black alloy which had the peculiar property of entirely absorbing radio emissions. Adler was murdered by members of a criminal organisation looking for the stuff but his son, Gerhardt, grew up intent on studying the amazing alloy and avenging his father. He believed the English criminals were agents of their government and so naturally offered his services to the State to fight them as it became increasingly obvious that there would be war. The alloy was almost impossible to duplicate, but he managed to coat an entire experimental STOL airplane with it. Using his virtual invisibility at night, he could fly into British airspace on a regular basis, carrying messages back and forth and executing daring infiltration operations to steal British secrets as Nachtflugel (Nightwing).

 

He engaged in several encounters with Bright Angel, the legendary British aviatrix who, unable to get a position as a fighter pilot due to her sex, took to the skies in her own custom designed plane to fight. The fights tended to be inconclusive because he could break off fairly easily as long as it was dark. On one occasion he shot her down, while on another she managed to guess his route back to Europe and found him as the sun rose. That time she shot him down over the sea, and although he made it back to land, it wasn't until after the war that he was given the opportunity to salvage his plane and the precious corrosion proof coating, as a result of a deal he made with the American authorities. Throughout the 50s, he flew covert missions for the CIA as Nightwing all over the world, but he never let go of his grudge against the English.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

There are the Angels and there are the Devils, Angels who fell from Grace from their pride. To say the two sides of the Eternal Struggle do not get along is an understatement; on many occasions the conflict between the two has threatened to escalate to the point that it spills into the mortal world and wreaks havoc. But neither side is monolithic in their ideas and goals, for even Angels and Devils have Free Will. There are Angels so fed up with the world's corruption that they are willing to speed up the timetable to the Apocalypse, while there are Devils who seek to foster the welfare of those on Earth who have already "come to their bosom" as opposed to simply spreading chaos. With this struggle ongoing, keeping the peace is an imperative if Man is to retain his life and freedom.

 

The responsibility of keeping this peace has fallen to a band of beings, taken from both the Heavenly anf Infernal Hosts, who are known to Man only in whispers and rumor. Called the Nightwings, they have forsaken both Heaven and Hell for the thankless task of guarding the Earth from the excesses of both sides. It is a lonely calling, to which they have sacrificed all they once were -- compelled to walk the world clad in flesh and call only fleetingly upon the near-infinite powers they once possessed. Their only reward is the opportunity to take part in human life, in all its joys and sorrows.

 

Yet not one of them would trade their lot for that on any of their brethren. Angels and Devils may scorn them, and seek their ends, but to the Nightwings it is all worthwhile because, due to their efforts, Man continues to be free.