[R]Evolution

[Eosin]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

MENTAK

“What did you say?”

 

The Task Force agent swallowed nervously, looking each way to check his backup. Mentak was #3 on the most wanted list, “I said you are under arrest for Crimes Against Humanity.”

 

The deep belly laugh erupting from the man surrounded by a dozen agents and mech support was unsettling.

 

“Crimes Against Humanity, you have a twisted sense of humor there. How could I possibly commit crimes against humanity? Can you commit crimes against cows or horses? Well, can you? ANSWER ME, you little piece of pond scum or I will pull your pathetically small brain out of your nostrils.”

 

The Task Force commander froze. When did it all go wrong? His team had hunted Mentak down finally boxing him in and confronting him. Only now, he wonders if the powerful mentalist had ever even acknowledged them as a threat. It certainly seemed like it was Mentak who held them rather than the other way around.

 

The two mech units powered down. Crap, he is pulling a mindscrew. His brain gave all the signals to fire his weapon but nothing occurred. It was like a dream where you try to run but can’t — no matter how hard you try your legs and body just won’t take the signal to move.

 

To the left his second in command raised his gun and placed the barrel in his mouth. He couldn’t even turn away or close his eyes.

 

“Now, little cretin, now that we know it is I who should be feared in this dark little alley. I will ask you again, can you commit a crime against chicken or frogs?”

 

Tears leaked from the corner of his eyes but his mouth found the strength to rise above a squeak, “No, sir” he said.

 

Mentak walked among the Task Force commando team in a way that evoked a teacher among her young students — fearless and the absolute source of all knowledge. Confident in the knowledge that none present could question her authority or wisdom.

 

“There. That’s better. You see how easy it was? Men cannot commit crimes against chicken and toads or roaches or flies because mankind lives in a reality far greater then those lesser creatures. Much as you live in a reality far below my own.” Mentak stopped in front of the commander. The commander felt the oddest desire to feel those strong hands rub his head — to be rewarded like a good dog.

 

“Get.. out.. of..” his mouth stopped working before he could finish.

 

“You have a strong mind for a human,” Mentak said with the same tone that an adult would use to praise a child for his strength. “But then human minds are such insipid little things filled with filth and carnal desire. Tell me Stevie, did you like seeing your sister in the shower? What about those firecrackers that you knew the dog would smell? Was it satisfying when they blew off part of his nose? Did that make you feel powerful and strong?”

 

The commander of the most elite commando team in the United States — Steven Franks, little Stevie to his mom and sister — shook with rage and shame. He shook with impotence.

 

Mentak cupped his hands around the strong jaw, “I’ll tell you what Stevie. I’ll do to you exactly what you did to the dog. How does that make you feel? I want to let you savor it for a minute, then I’ll wipe this conversation from your mind and in the morning when you report to work you will head down to the arms depot and set off the largest explosion that you can. You and dozens of your fellow soldiers will die and you won’t know why you are doing it — only that your instinct tells you to.”

 

*

 

Steven Franks walked out of the alley. His head hurt from a fall, one that had apparently saved his life. The rest of his team were either unconscious or dead but the sirens were getting closer. Help was on the way. The injury would put him in the infirmary over night but in the morning he would be cleared and allowed to finish his paperwork.

 

Steven sat down. He had the nagging feeling that he needed to do something else in the morning but could not recall what specifically. No worries, it would come to him.

[kingk]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

Awesome. I like the twist on Magneto.

[CoreBrute]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

Actually I think it's a take on Menton from the Hero System, but it is a very nice take. I approve.

 

I would rep, but I need to spread more rep around first.

[Eosin]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

Awesome. I like the twist on Magneto.

 

Actually I think it's a take on Menton from the Hero System, but it is a very nice take. I approve.

 

I would rep, but I need to spread more rep around first.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Mantak started with this concept; What if Professor X was evil ?

 

Would a world class telepath see mankind as worthy and noble or would he see them as cockroaches? What if his powers constantly exposed him to every petty impulse and desire that flashed across our minds?

 

It started with a conversation with my wife who shuddered at the thought of having telepathy. She was convinced that such people would be deeply disturbed by the time they got out of their teens.

 

In this game, Telepaths are typically evil manipulators with profound psych issues. There will be some good telepaths but the "good ones" will typically have come into their powers in a controlled manner.

 

I did channel some Magneto into that.... and he had Menton's powers. The Mageneto part was unintentional but once it showed up I went with it rather than fight.

 

Next up is Dementia. I am thinking about how I will do that vignette but so far I am drawing a blank.

[CoreBrute]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

Well what are her powers? All I get is some head of a technology organisation who can improve the soldiers, but that's rather vague. Is she like ARGENT, selling it's technology to the underworld, some mutant hate group what?

[Eosin]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

She is actually a mutant augmenter - she can activate mutant powers or enhance them. She is willing to use the whole spectrum of power (tech, experimental, and mutant) to enhance her own troops.

 

Dementia thinks that other metahumans are out to get her. That there is some kind of cosmic "King of the Hill" game going on between them. Her goal is to destroy or convert the enemy.... meaning anyone with superpowers.

 

Anyone who is augmented gets "The Blessing," which is a cellular level alteration that allows her to destroy you at will. She can take your powers or your life with but a thought.

[matrix3]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

She is actually a mutant augmenter - she can activate mutant powers or enhance them. She is willing to use the whole spectrum of power (tech, experimental, and mutant) to enhance her own troops.

 

Dementia thinks that other metahumans are out to get her. That there is some kind of cosmic "King of the Hill" game going on between them. Her goal is to destroy or convert the enemy.... meaning anyone with superpowers.

 

Anyone who is augmented gets "The Blessing," a cellular level alteration that allows her to destroy at will. She take your powers or your life with but a thought.

 

 

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players..."

 

It's all a grand game, the greatest game of all: her versus the universe itself. She is the only "person" the only one who has rights and sentience. She can turn human to metahuman and back again. She is a goddess, and everyone else, human or metahuman, are just pawns. "They" don't hurt, "they" don't have needs or rights, "they" just exist to further her position in the game...

[Eosin]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players..."

 

It's all a grand game, the greatest game of all: her versus the universe itself. She is the only "person" the only one who has rights and sentience. She can turn human to metahuman and back again. She is a goddess, and everyone else, human or metahuman, are just pawns. "They" don't hurt, "they" don't have needs or rights, "they" just exist to further her position in the game...

 

Exactly, now I just need to figure out how to SHOW that in fiction form. Really, it is about getting the right set-up and allowing the dialogue/action take care of the rest.

[Eosin]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

DEMENTIA PART I

 

The walls of the bunker surrendered themselves to the charts, pictures, and details of superhumans. As Simon strolled towards his meeting with Dementia, it dawned on him that she knew more about people in capes or cowls than the government. The walls themselves were a unique blend of transparent data screen and scotch tape.

 

He stopped to look at an area dedicated to Oracle. It had everything; weaknesses, locations, psychological profiles, tax records — Everything. There was enough at each shrine to fill a book. Shrine?

 

“Mr. Anderson, we should be moving along,” said the little person assigned to escort him. They called him the Minder. Although he was half the size of a normal man he was undoubtedly one of the toughest beings on earth. He enforced the rules around here and when he said “move along,” the smart ones listened.

 

“Would you like to see the arena Mr. Anderson?” Minder always used his name and with that annoying inflection from the Matrix. It was a tired joke to Simon but everybody seemed to think that they were the first to have thought of it.

 

“Sure.”

 

Minder’s pride in the arena was apparent, “the pit is an amazing piece of technology. It uses holographic images, synaptic feedback, and cutting edge force technology. The whole thing runs on a dozen 1080thz synched photonic processors with a library of every person known to posses the ability to run with the big dogs. If you want to know what it is like to tussle with Sanction or the Prometheans this is the place to learn and develop strategies.”

 

“Who is that person watching?” Simon asked. He pointed towards the slight bald woman in head gear much like those below. She radiated creepy.

 

“She’s called the Soviet. Russian girl, or maybe Latvian. She psychically enhances the simulation. A real gem,” he said with a shudder.

 

Simon was through with the theatrics, “when do I see Dementia,” he asked?

 

“You don’t,” said Minder. “The Mistress blesses those who come to her willing to serve but you already have another master, don’t you Mr. Anderson?”

 

Simon started to protest but was cut off.

 

“Before you go pissing me off — you should know a cyberpath neutralized all your shielding equipment the moment you walked in. We’ve been rooting around in your mind for the last hour and you have some nasty little secrets inside that skull of yours. I know that you are wondering if you could take me right now — with a little surprise who knows maybe you could. But you don’t have surprise. Walk away Mr. Anderson. Go tell your boss that we know who he is and that we will be coming for him. He chose to make himself our enemy. That is not an enviable position to occupy.”

 

GM Notes: Man, I didn't even get to actually introducing Dementia - just her organization.

[Eosin]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

EVENT HORIZON

 

06/44: First sighting of the Omaha Being. First Signal Event.

02/45: Last sighting of the Omaha Being

03/47: Project Apex launched

07/69: Appearance of Firewall and Hanoi. Second Signal Event.

04/74: Discovery of Karbite

03/81: Agent Bolt takes a bullet on live television without injury

12/86: Formation of Project Echelon.

07/86: Optical Crystal Computer Tech Introduced

06/91: Metroplex Battle with Control

11/91: Founding of The Promethean Center

02/92: Katharine Pride vs. the District of Columbia

06/92:

05/94: Kastor Power Armor Disaster

10/95: Karbite Test Ban

01/02: Formation of the Task Force under newly minted Department of Homeland Security

09/03: Northwest Blackout. Attempted Oracle Apprehension

[RadeFox]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

Repped, ya!! Keep up the great work! Making me itch like crazy to run a game in this world. Thank you for all the effort and skill on our behalf, and sharing it. KUDOS

[Eosin]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

More should be flowing soon. I've been slaving away at the real job.

[Eosin]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

THE VIGILANTE

“Listen to me Bruce — you are a man, not some dark god of vengeance. You are a man and you need help. We need help.”

 

The gym was cold and empty except for the two men and the amazing array of devices used to hone bodies into the finest weapons on earth.

 

“I’ve been doing this for awhile Rich. I know what it is like out there. This city needs me. The underworld needs to fear me or they will fall on the citizens like a pack of hyenas.”

 

Rich looked at the aging man who had been his mentor and father. He studied the lines of scars across the back and arms. He remembers how Bruce had gotten most of those. The scars had been collected the last few years. They came as Bruce started to slow down. How do you tell a man who has spent his life trying to undo one moment that he has to lay down the quest? Rich wasn’t even sure if Bruce could walk away from The Vigilante. He wasn’t even sure which one was the real person and which was the alias. He was sure that with more and more metahumans turning to crime that it was a matter of time before The Vigilante ended up in a body bag. That one failure — being mortal — would undo everything that Bruce had worked and sacrificed his life to achieve. The Vigilante needed to be something greater than one man. It needed to be the unrelenting enmity of the underworld , an undying spirit that always stands between thugs and the huddled masses.

 

“I agree. Look Bruce, I don’t want to tell you to stop, both of us know that won’t happen. Let me talk to some people. We can make a plan… you know… a, um, plan for the future.” Rich could not bring himself to actually discuss death. He had already lost one father.

 

“Talk to Tim, Jason, and a few of the others who have helped out. Maybe you can come up with something workable.”

 

The Vigilante and The Vigil

 

The Vigilante is both a person and an organization. After the meeting between Bruce and Rich ten years ago The Vigilante ceased his career as a lone crusader, becoming an organization built around a carefully constructed myth of an ageless, unstoppable, omnipresent, and all-seeing creature of the night. Multiple persons now wear the costume of the Vigilante, taking care to maintain the illusion of a single incredibly capable operative. Many believe that The Vigilante is capable of teleportation or duplication and make the assumption that whoever he is — he is a metahuman. The reputation serves the Vigilante so it is allowed to flourish.

 

This is a obvious riff off Batman and the Bat-family inspired by "The Sons of the Bat" and a post on M&M. Think of this as an "Ultimate" style Batman. The Vigilante costume/armor is worn by 5-6 people who all claim to be "The Vigilante." Their actions are coordinated through The Vigil - a massive command center under the direction of a paraplegic with severe insomnia and a 50 something patriarch who remains the soul of the organization. The Vigil has infiltrated every layer of local government to stay ahead of the bad guys. Bruce has even used his wealth to finance his proteges political rise to the office of the DA.

[Eosin]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

PROJECT LEGACY

 

Dr Ed Collins knew that Omaha held all the keys to taking mankind beyond the stars. Omaha was the answer to nearly every crisis facing the earth. The only snag was that Omaha was in a persistent vegetative state and his blood samples were difficult to work with. For Doctor Collins, Omaha was like staring into the eyes of god but being struck mute by the glory. He could see the future but it languished in an eternal tomorrow that would never arrive.

 

The Legacy Project would bring that future to the here and now. Only the project had been shelved after being deemed “too uncontrollable” by the DoD. Dr Collins played along with the short sighted fools until he had the chance to leave Project Omaha — he’d secreted away genetic materials long before approaching his superiors about Project Legacy.

 

The project began under the auspices of a private venture involved with the human genome back when most people wondered if the word was made up. Hexion Industries covered the enormous bill for Legacy but reaped the rewards of the unethical research.

 

Volunteers were screened and examined for 22 years as a cover. Doctor Collins selected hundreds of sexually active females to implant with Omaha material. The subjects were allowed to gestate and deliver normally. The offspring were tracked until 2 years ago when the cyberpath Oracle discovered the experiment. Before the computer systems could be isolated she had managed to destroy over half the database.

 

The aging Doctor Collins has spent two years trying to rebuild the list of subjects but several dozen subjects remain at large — untracked and unmonitored. All of the offspring of Project Legacy are metahumans and many of the mothers developed low grade powers as well.

[Eosin]

Re: [R]Evolution

 

PARADOX

 

Dr. Seth Wallace watched the subject. The guards on either side of him were much more in-control than your standard orderlies that work in regular mental institutions. The “normal orderly” was, in his experience, little more than a large man who could find no other work. A psychiatric orderly was a man who didn’t mind getting rough with the “retards” every once in a while. They had nothing else going for them save their mass but that was enough to feed grandiose ideas of their place in the world. As if being 350 pounds qualified you for anything other than bariatric surgery. Still, these men with their juvenile fantasies served a function in a normal institution. Today Dr Wallace wasn’t in a “normal” psychiatric institution. Today he was in Bellows Institute for the Criminally Insane and the orderlies standing next to him were far from ordinary. They reminded him more of Secret Service than hospital staff. Like the SS, they wore polarized glasses even while indoors. They had one of the high tech, less-lethal sidearms something that you would never see inside of a state run facility. Guns are a big no-no, they intimated the patients and prevent effective therapy.

 

Bellows wasn’t about effective therapy. It was the place where they held the real nut jobs like the boy in front of him. It was an experimental facility and the testing grounds for new drugs designed to mentally neuter men and women who were far too gone to ever be allowed to walk in the daylight world. Men like Bill Moxley, known to most as Paradox.

 

Dr Wallace looks through the chart one more time. It is a guidebook on how to create a psychopath. Even if Billy Moxley had not been born with an unusual form of Autism his childhood was a classic example of what not to do if you don’t want your child to eat other people. But Moxley was Autistic — actually, if the DSM would recognize savantism he would have another diagnosis but there just wasn’t a diagnosis for someone with a superhuman ability to see the patterns of society and unravel them. As it stands in official diagnostics Billy is a metahuman with Autism, a load of bull.

 

Dr Wallace watched while Billy stretched his hands into a giant Rubik’s Cube with hundreds of squares to a side. He chuckled behind the glass, at least he can entertain himself.

 

Billy stopped working the oversized Rubik’s Cube and turned toward the glass. His left ear enlarged to about four times its normal size. Dr Wallace stifled his laugh. Beside him hands dropped to the fancy pistols.

 

“I want to go,” said Billy. His fingers contorted into numbers and letters while he looked into the one way mirror with a giant eyeball. “I want to GO!”

 

“It has been 164 days, 6 hours, 4 minutes and 30 seconds since I came here. I want to GO!”

 

“DO YOU HEAR ME?”

 

Dr Wallace watched as Billy slowly worked himself down. Billy didn’t “feel” things like sorrow or remorse but his posture was closed off like someone waiting for news of a loved ones surgery. His shoulders slumped and his head was craned foreword.

 

“Have the news crews started calling yet?”

 

Dr Wallace looked to the two men standing beside him. They shrugged in that non-committal way. He activated the intercom, “What news crews?”

 

Billy smiled, his eyes were flat and dead like a shark. “Come on doc. You are a smart man, figure it out. Some things have been bugging you, like where did the 45 million dollars go? And how did a police officer catch me? Come on doc, thing big… No, think small think close. Real close.”

 

Dr Wallace was white when he asked the monitor room to play back the conversation. He watched Billy make numbers and letters with his hands. There were hundreds of them.

 

He hit the intercom again, “Billy what were the numbers and letters you were writing?”

 

Billy still had an exaggerated grin stretching the whole of his face.

 

“Addresses.”

 

I got the idea for this one from a thread somewhere around here. A shape-shifting, psychotic, Joker homage. Paradox actually has two primary power sets - the first is to see patterns, numbers, weakness, etc in social structures/conventions. This is a savant like ability rather than a true "power." In the example above he wanted out of the funny farm so he arraigned to have family members of the staff taken hostage. The second power set is a Reed Richards/Plastic Man stretching ability with a little Mystique thrown in for good measure - a metamorph.