csyphrett

Herocles, the world's strongest man, is really Barney Strife, a rail thin man, who happened to gain a collection of artifacts resembling souvenirs from the Twelve Labors.
CES 

Bernard creates vast amounts of snow wherever he goes during a robbery. He also likes to drink a little too.
CES
 

Darius Darcy is Pitt. He only has one power. He creates sinkholes in solid substances. This allows him to tunnel anywhere the gang has to go as he can turn his power in any direction.
CES

Pekingese is the martial artist of the group despite being the smallest member of the team.
CES 

Gates/Ex Movement/ etc may be defined as a teleport power, but let's keep it simple. The power only works on Nightcrawler and his family, and other teleporters like that, where the character pops from place to place instead of opening holes in the air, or being turned into electrons, shot to the destination, and then being put back to carbon.
CES

Fen, the teleport power can be written as teleportation, usable as attack (Defense is not to use teleports), only to pull teleporters to character, triggered versus teleports. I'll let you sort the range and weight. gates and portal users would not be affected by this power.
 
The ego attack mind link thing would probably be ego attack, only through person linked with, must have mind link to person then linked to normal mind link. Whichever has the most points is the dominant power and the link goes on that I think for the discount
CES   

Herocles, the world's strongest man, is really Barney Strife, a rail thin man, who happened to gain a collection of artifacts resembling souvenirs from the Twelve Labors.
CES 

First Book: Light Men Starring  Alan Scott, Jade, Hal Jordan,  Kate Corrigan, Kulak, and Hank Pym
Found in the desert, studied and worked on for decades, Hank Pym finally made the star gate work which led to the founding of the Star Gate Command. Engineer Alan Scott tested the gate and became the first Light Man, using a ring created by the Star Gate to channel other reality forces. Scott was lost during an expedition with only a message returning that Kulak must be stopped before he uses the Star Gate Network to destroy the Earth.
 
Hal Jordan and Jade Scott lead the Light Men in the search for the first Light Man while protecting the universe from Kulak's evil forces.     
 
Second Book: Private Eyes Starring John Taylor and Boston Brand
Mentored by Johnny Thunder, John Taylor sets up his own detective agency finding things that have been lost. He takes on Boston Brand since a ghost is not the weirdest thing he has seen,  and Micheal Carpenter, a paladin that needs a cause to fight for, as partners. 
 
But John and Micheal have to deal with Dormmannu  and Mab's  ongoing struggle for control of their little bit of reality. And both sides want them as dead as Brand.
 
And then John's mother shows up and things just keep getting worse from there.
  
Third Book: Race Against Time Starring Ben Ten, Gwen Ten, Hope Pym, and Hydro Man  
Max Tennyson used to be a Light Man, but he gave up the traveling and the ring to retire and putter around.  His grandchildren Ben and Gwen Tennyson have been sent to visit him  for the summer. When Ben is implanted with offworld tech, and Gwen begins to manipulate reality, he asks for Hope Pym, the daughter of the founder of the Light Men for help.
 
Trying to solve the problem leads to the appearance of Vilgax and a race for the secret buried with the long vanished hero, Hydro Man.
 
Can the Tennysons and Hope Pym save the world in their Race Against Time.
 
Fourth Book : The Immortals Starring The Immortal Man,  and Mordru.
The Immortal Man and Mordru have contested across the centuries, battling to see which strategies would save the day. They have caught up others in their conflict  from  Ibis the Invincible, to the Secret Service agents Jim West and Artemis Gordon,  to flying Monster Buster G-8 and his battle aces, to Daredevil, to Hank Pym's protege Scott Lang.
 
Mordru's command of magic and science through Undead Thomas Edison,  and Lord Heisengard, must be opposed before he ruins the world and takes all of its mana for his own.
 
 

First Book: Light Men Starring  Alan Scott, Jade, Hal Jordan,  Kate Corrigan, Kulak, and Hank Pym
Found in the desert, studied and worked on for decades, Hank Pym finally made the star gate work which led to the founding of the Star Gate Command. Engineer Alan Scott tested the gate and became the first Light Man, using a ring created by the Star Gate to channel other reality forces. Scott was lost during an expedition with only a message returning that Kulak must be stopped before he uses the Star Gate Network to destroy the Earth.
 
Hal Jordan and Jade Scott lead the Light Men in the search for the first Light Man while protecting the universe from Kulak's evil forces.     
 
Second Book: Private Eyes Starring John Taylor and Boston Brand
Mentored by Johnny Thunder, John Taylor sets up his own detective agency finding things that have been lost. He takes on Boston Brand since a ghost is not the weirdest thing he has seen,  and Micheal Carpenter, a paladin that needs a cause to fight for, as partners. 
 
But John and Micheal have to deal with Dormmannu  and Mab's  ongoing struggle for control of their little bit of reality. And both sides want them as dead as Brand.
 
And then John's mother shows up and things just keep getting worse from there.
  
Third Book: Race Against Time Starring Ben Ten, Gwen Ten, Hope Pym, and Hydro Man  
Max Tennyson used to be a Light Man, but he gave up the traveling and the ring to retire and putter around.  His grandchildren Ben and Gwen Tennyson have been sent to visit him  for the summer. When Ben is implanted with offworld tech, and Gwen begins to manipulate reality, he asks for Hope Pym, the daughter of the founder of the Light Men for help.
 
Trying to solve the problem leads to the appearance of Vilgax and a race for the secret buried with the long vanished hero, Hydro Man.
 
Can the Tennysons and Hope Pym save the world in their Race Against Time.
 
Fourth Book : The Immortals Starring The Immortal Man,  and Mordru.
The Immortal Man and Mordru have contested across the centuries, battling to see which strategies would save the day. They have caught up others in their conflict  from  Ibis the Invincible, to the Secret Service agents Jim West and Artemis Gordon,  to flying Monster Buster G-8 and his battle aces, to Daredevil, to Hank Pym's protege Scott Lang.
 
Mordru's command of magic and science through Undead Thomas Edison,  and Lord Heisengard, must be opposed before he ruins the world and takes all of its mana for his own.
 
 

Well, the Unite the Reich Right 2 "rally" took place in DC today, with 24 participants, who were provided their own train car(sans their weaponizable flagpoles, of course).  They were vastly outnumbered both by cops and counterprotesters, and left without major incident.  Wait, though...I was told that punching Nazis only makes them stronger.  I am SO confused right now.  Weird that all these Aryan culture warriors all had to get their hair done, babysit or reorganize their historical war memorabilia collections this weekend(more likely, Mom said they couldn't go).  

4
Clonus groaned. He rubbed his face. He didn’t need the trouble now. How did he get
rid of Tribe?
 
The thin man walked toward the trucks outside of the lair. It had been a good move
to install cameras for security. How did he handle this problem?
 
He certainly couldn’t let Assault know their security was compromised. The criminal
mastermind was obsessed with no one knowing he was still alive. He would lose his
mind if he knew that Tribe was that close to exposing him to the world.
 
Clonus considered what he should do as he watched the hero approach the trucks. He
needed them to transport Assault’s prize. He couldn’t let them be sabotaged.
 
He also couldn’t let Assault know that Tribe was outside the secret lair. That would
invoke a row that he didn’t need.
 
He decided that he could put Tribe in one of the other buildings long enough to get
Assault’s target, and clear out. It would take a moment’s bit of work.
 
He split until he could reach the skylight in the ceiling of the renovated building. It
had taken a few days to get it to where he wanted it before he furnished it. With Tribe
so close, he would have to abandon it before the authorities started searching for it.
He snarled as he pulled himself out of the skylight and drew in his clones. He walked
over to the edge of the building where he could see Tribe walking around the trucks.
The thin man must be casting about for a trail.
 
At least he had a chance to deal with things before they got even more out of hand.
He split to drop down to the lot. He kept splitting so his army approached in a silent
wave. He couldn’t let Tribe fight back. Everything depended on taking the hero apart
before anything else could go wrong.
 
The clone army fell on top of the intruder. There was no time for any mercy. Tribe
went down under the fists and feet of his opponent before he could defend himself.
He groaned as one man army looked for a place to hide him until his business was
done. He saw a truck loading up cargo at one of the other industrial places nearby.
It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it might buy time until he could make his move for
Assault’s prize. It would also get Tribe away from the scene and shipped to a random
location until he could move his things out.
 
On the other hand, as soon as he had put Tribe on the road, he would have to start
moving his things to his next hideout to avoid giving another beating.
 
He doubted Assault would understand the move, but he wasn’t going to explain it. He
didn’t want any trouble with the pain in the neck.
 
He gathered Tribe up. He didn’t care about the broken bones he had handed out
making things more painful for the hero. He needed to get the dingo away from the
site for as long as he could.
 
He carried the nuisance across the space in a wave of bodies, throwing him over the
fence around the other property, and flinging him in the back of the truck with the
already loaded cargo. The driver and loaders were nowhere to be found. He put one
of his guys behind the wheel after strapping Tribe down with the cargo. He closed the
door and told his clone to start driving.
 
He watched the truck pull out of the lot. That should buy him enough time to relocate.
He had to hurry if he wanted to get things done before Tribe brought the authorities
back to his headquarters.
 
He decided not to warn Assault. He didn’t need the headache of the other villain
complaining about how he did things, and he didn’t care about the other villain
wanting to keep his survival under wraps.
 
If he was there when Tribe came back, then he could deal with Tribe.
 
Clonus planned to be at his backup place so he could avoid any problems for himself.
He flowed back to his headquarters. He started packing everything up and loading the
loot on the trucks. He thought that was how Tribe had tracked him down. He should
have hidden them better from the street.
 
He looked around for Assault. The last thing he needed was to exchange words with
his contractee. Maybe he could beat Assault into the ground, maybe he couldn’t. He
was getting paid not to try while he was needed to steal something for the blowhard.
He would have to watch his back after the job was over. He didn’t need Assault trying
to clean house by burying him in the Outback somewhere.
 
He finished packing and inspecting his former lair in a few minutes. He would have
to find another place where no one cared about trucks waiting at the loading docks
of the building.
 
Assault would have to find his new lair, but that should be a breeze for the master
villain.
 
Clonus smiled at that. Assault probably had something that tracked his movements
and called him to show that the duplicator was out and about. Nothing he could do
about that.
 
He checked on-line adverts for anything he could use as a lair. He also put in a search
for closed companies so he could move in those places.
 
He found a ranch on the edge of the city that was up for sell. No one seemed to have
moved in yet. It might be perfect for what he wanted.
 
At the very least he could put in a bid for it.
 
He still didn’t have any information on when the pieces were coming in. He decided
that he should at least let Assault know that he was moving. That would prevent the
temper tantrum he saw in the future.
 
At the very least, it might cause Assault to hurry his end of things up so problems
could be smoothed away by fast action.
 
That would make it easier to lead him into a trap and get rid of his threat at the same
time.
 
He liked that. He would have to get another truck, but that was child’s play.
 
And with Tribe wandering around the city in the back of a cargo truck, he could
truthfully say he was covering his tracks.
 
Assault wouldn’t like it, but that wasn’t his problem.
 
Clonus sent a text to his boss. He waited for the inevitable reply.
 
He smiled when his phone buzzed as he moved out with his trucks and loot. How did
he put this in the best light? He scratched his head. He had no idea that there was a
best light. It was best to break the news straight so the emotional outburst could be
dealt with and they could move on.
 
“How’s it going?,” asked Clonus.
 
He held the phone away from his ear as he directed his clone to drive. He waited until
he couldn’t hear the enraged voice any more.
 
“Did that feel good?,” he said. “You need to work on that bad temper. That kind of
thing leads to strokes and heart attacks.”
 
He waited for the next tirade to end before he spoke again. He wanted to keep his
hearing in that one ear.
 
“I loaded him into a truck and sent him out of town,” said Clonus. “I’m moving my
lair right now. How much longer before you know when you need me to move?”
 
The response was a little more pensive than he was used to from his employer.
 
“All right,” said Clonus. “I don’t know where I’m going to hide at the moment. I’ll
let you know when we quit driving. You let me know of the general location of the
targets so I can do the job.”
 
He waited out the brief storm of words.
 
“You can always hire someone else,” Clonus said. He hung up before he had to listen
to another diatribe.
 
“Some people,” he said to his clone.
 
“I know, right,” said the clone. “Always talking, always with the threats. Like we
don’t have feelings or something.”
 
“We really need to expose him and make sure he gets taken in,” said Clonus. “I don’t
like the idea of having him at our back.”
 
“You’re telling me,” said Driver Clonus. “He might try to kill us to preserve his
precious anonymity. Probably doesn’t want to run into a big timer like the Leaguer
while he’s trying to get his scheme going.”
 
“Nobody wants to run into the Leaguer,” said Clonus. “Take us to that house I was
looking at, and we’ll see if we can fix it up into a new lair.”
 
“Might not be able to with Assault running around,” said Driver Clonus.
 
“I know,” said Clonus. “That’s why I want to cut him out if we can.”
 
“I’ll say,” said Driver Clonus. He gave Clonus a thumb’s up in agreement.
 
“Keep your eyes on the road,” said Clonus. “We don’t want to run into any blue boys
while we’re moving.”
 
“You don’t have to tell me, brother,” said Driver Clonus.
 
The little parade rolled through town as Clonus waited for Assault to call him back.
Did the master villain have the contacts to get the job done? Did any of them know
who they were dealing with, and what he would do if they found out?
 
He didn’t think so.
 
A murderer never let the victim know they were the target unless they couldn’t help
it.
 
Assault would never tell his assets for whom they were working. That would be
asking for trouble in the criminal dog eat dog world.
 
And it would destroy his precious anonymity if he missed someone bragging about
him being their boss.
 
Clonus smiled when he saw the property he wanted coming into view. It was outside
the city proper with some acreage, and a nice looking building. He needed some
security put in but he could do that after he settled on how to pay for the thing.
 
You could steal a house, but that only lasted as long as it took someone from
the authorities to come around and ask why you were living in someone else’s
property.
 
It was far better to buy the house and pretend you were a law abiding citizen.
 
Then the coppers had to get warrants and such to even touch your property.
It appealed to him to try and make them prove he was Clonus and he had stolen
everything in the house.
 
He smiled at the thought, but knew that the police only needed probable cause to
arrest him. Warrants for searches would come after when he couldn’t hide anything.
His clones would make sure they wouldn’t find anything.
 
He could dig out the space under the house and reinforce it for personal use. An army
of manpower would help that along when he was ready.
 
The pyramids weren’t built in a day, but they were built with so many hands that
combined individual strengths. He did the same thing.
 
Clonus directed the convoy to the back of the house, and told the drivers to wait. He
needed some regular clothes and the number of the real estate agent.
 
He went to the back of one of the trucks. He opened the door and climbed in. He
climbed out a few minutes later in what was usually called business casual. He
walked to the front of the house to examine the sign for the selling agency.
 
Time to settle down in an old disguise.

2
Clonus tried out his new easy chair. He smiled as he eased the foot rest out. He
looked around. Even with Tribe interfering, he had been able to furnish his place with
ease.
 
He could remain there for the next little while until he felt like getting some new
decor.
 
“What are you doing?,” asked his visitor.
 
“Enjoying the fruits of my labor,” said Clonus. “I thought I had an alarm installed.”
 
“The job I paid you to do?,” said the other masked man. He wore a helmet covering
his face. A gold A shone against the red background.
 
“It’ll get done as soon as the Army stops moving the pieces around,” said Clonus. “I
have an eye on things.”
 
“And you’ve attracted the attention of Tribe,” said the A man. “He won’t stop now
that he has confronted you once.”
 
“I can handle Tribe,” said Clonus. “He’s no match for me.”
 
“You’re not the first person to say that,” said the visitor. “I’ve said that. And we have
all been wrong. Quit attracting his attention, and do what I tell you to do.”
 
“I don’t have to do this job, Assault,” said Clonus. “You can do it yourself.”
 
“Do you really want to go that route with me, Clonus?,” said Assault. Red light
burned in his eyes.
 
“Hold on, mate,” said Clonus. He raised his hands and waved them in front of his
body. “There’s no need for violence.”
 
“There’s always need for violence,” said Assault. The red fire dimmed. “I need you
to act as my cover. No one must know what I am after, or what I am doing.”
 
“I assure you that no one will,” said Clonus. “No matter what Tribe does, he won’t
be able to stop me. None of them can. Just take it easy, and call me in a couple of
days. If the things have landed, I will pick them up straight away, and we can have
a meeting so I can hand them off.”
 
“That’s a better attitude to take,” said Assault. “I would hate to dispense with your
services and let the world know I’m still alive.”
 
“Everything will go like clockwork,” said Clonus. He looked at the various clones
doing anything but looking like they were working on a scheme. “No one will know
you wanted the pieces until you want them to know.”
 
“Your ability to create an army is impressive and useful,” said Assault. “But it makes
you egotistical and careless. If you err doing this, I will be angered enough to take
action.”
 
“Don’t worry, mate,” said Clonus, gesturing with both hands in a placating way.
“Things will go all right.”
 
“They had better,” said Assault. He turned to walk away. “I will await your call.”
 
Clonus considered attacking the other masked man as he walked away. He stopped
thinking about it as soon as he got to the part where if he didn’t deal with Assault on
the first move, the other man would fry him and any clones he created like shrimp on
a barbie.
 
Clonus eased back on his couch. Now that his employer was leaving, he could relax.
It might be days before he had to move to get the other villain what he wanted.
He didn’t need the stress. He just wanted some smash and grabs. Now he had to take
care of things for a conqueror that should have given up when the Arc had lit him up.
 
Egomaniacs always thought they could do what the wanted until they couldn’t.
 
Clonus rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. How did he get out of this
without Assault coming after him? He didn’t think handing over anything to the
maniac would be good for his peace of mind.
 
It was too bad he couldn’t just turn Assault over to Tribe and let them duke it out.
That would help him out of his corner immensely.
 
He turned the idea over in his mind. He liked the risk of it, but the reward was great
too.
 
He needed to get out from under Assault’s thumb. Turning him in seemed to be the
only way. How did he do it without getting killed?
 
He split off five or six clones and set them to devising a plan that he could live with
after everything went down. He was going to have to live with a rat label if he was
exposed. He didn’t want the extra trouble that would cause.
 
He couldn’t have both sides chasing him even though he was more than a match
for most of them.
 
While his clones worked on his counterassault, others were going over where his
target might land, how to get in the various places, what kind of security he might
expect.
 
The only thing he worried about was gas attacks. He had found a gas mask to wear
in case one of the defenders got smart before he could overwhelm them.
 
If he could keep one clone in range, he could escape and get away without too
much of a problem.
 
Dealing with Assault was going to be the key problem with any plan. It was one thing
to say to yourself, you can walk away, you’re invincible. It was another to run for
your life as beams of hellish fury sliced through anything in their way as they tried
to cut you down as you fled.
 
Clonus had been on both sides of the problem dealing with the Arc, and Assault. He
wanted to keep his skin intact.
 
He watched television as the clones worked and played. He expected the study group
to give him something he could use. Then he could break it down into steps and carry
it out.
 
The perfect plan would be to draw Tribe and Assault into a showdown and walk away
with the prize. Then he could figure out some alternative person to sell the stolen
material too. He still knew some fences that might be able to help him.
 
He made a note not to mention Assault when he tried to sell the thing. He didn’t need
refusals based on the fact no one wanted to die.
 
His clones presented a plan to him halfway through Dr. Blake solving a mystery. He
went over the moving parts with them. They assured him it was the best way for him
that they could see.
 
“This means moving back into the shadows,” said Clonus. “I’ll have to live off the
grid more than this if it works.”
 
The clones shrugged. The brain wanted an answer. They researched the answer. Their
job was done.
 
The fact that the answer had a lot of moving parts that could get the brain killed in
a spectacular accident was not their problem.
 
“I need to sleep on this before we start trying to make it work,” said Clonus. He
absorbed the clones and sat back down. The fact that he would be turning the tables
on Assault by faking his death while outing the other villain appealed to him.
 
He wondered what Assault would think when he wound up facing Tribe and anyone
else who might show up after the theft. If he took some do-gooders with him, that
would just leave the field even more open for a man with a brain and useful abilities.
 
He might be able to take over a city and call it Cloneville.
 
He decided that was taking things too far. The Leaguer would come down on him like
a hammer on an egg shell.
 
It was better to steal what you could and avoid the authorities where possible. And
dealing with a suit of armor capable of blocking a tidal wave with a force shield
was just asking for more trouble than he wanted to cause.
 
And there were a lot of lesser do-gooders out there who just wanted a chance at
taking him on like a scene from when Australia was the home of bush rangers like
Ned Kelly.
 
It was better to ply his trade under the notice of anyone who wanted to bring him in
for trial.
 
And being dead would throw Tribe off the scent.
 
The only problem with the plan that he could see was what happened if Assault
figured it out before he could execute his getaway. Bad feelings would be
demonstrated with the use of hellfire applied to his person.
 
He considered how he could move Tribe into the execution zone while he fled the
scene in some kind of disguise.
 
He smiled. As long as he kept one of his minions at the edge of his range, he could
escape. Merging would bring them together across the distance.
 
Dispersing any acting clones while it looked like he had been trapped and killed
would convince the authorities that he was dead. Then he could steal again without
anyone making the connection between what he could do with his powers.
 
You didn’t have to smash and grab when you could just burgle a place.
 
And burgling a place meant you generally didn’t have to fight the masked monkeys
trying to stop you.
 
He smiled as he drifted off to sleep. The clones would wake him up if he needed to
say something more complex than ‘Get off my lawn!’

3
Tribe wandered the streets. He wore his cloak around him as he tried to discern where
Clonus would have gone. Once he knew that, he needed to plan the next step to solve
his problem.
 
Dealing with the clones had to be done if he wanted to stop whatever was going on.
He had no way of doing that.
 
If he knew of a way to cut off the central brain, that might be a solution. On the other
hand, there might not be a central brain. The clones might be pieces of the same brain.
If he attacked the mind, he might be able to beat all of the clones at the same time.
 
His mind kept going back to how he didn’t know how Clonus’s power actually
worked, and how to stop him from cloning. If he could do that, the rest should be
easy. His physical strength was immense inside a settlement of people.
 
Maybe he should go to university and see what he could learn there.
Someone must know of a way to beat the one man army.
 
Tribe picked the biggest school in the city. He walked the streets until he reached the
borders. He looked for a place he could sit and meditate. He picked a building marked
for science and engineering.
 
He climbed to the roof and settled on the gravel. He closed his eyes and thought about
what he was trying to find.
 
Chains of symbols erupted around him. He walked through them in his mind as he
tried to understand the concepts and how they manifested in the Dreamtime. He found
one road and walked down it a while before deciding it was the wrong path. He
returned to the start and found another path and walked down that. He smiled. This
was what he needed.
 
The problem was how did he prevent Clonus from activating his powers long enough
for his solution to kick in.
 
He would have to attack when the man was altogether, and concentrating on
something else. Once he had that, the rest would be easy.
 
Now he needed the ingredients to power his trap. Once he had those, the rest would
be finding Clonus and stopping him before he could split apart. If one got away, then
he had escaped the trap.
 
Tribe pulled his mind out of the Dreamtime and stood. He had a list in his mind of
what he needed. He jumped from the roof and landed lightly on the grass next to the
building.
 
He decided to talk to someone at the Zoo. They might have what he needed. If they
did, that would make things that much simpler for him.
 
Tribe walked across town. The sun was going down by the time he reached the wall
around the Zoo. He scaled the wall and dropped down inside the grounds. He worked
his way toward the administration area.
 
He felt they would have what he needed in their veterinarian area. He could probably
mix everything together in a few minutes. Then he would have to focus on finding
Clonus, or guessing where he would go on another spree.
 
Tribe wished the human world was less complicated. The Dreamtime didn’t have all
this to deal with. You moved into the spot you wanted to settle, and you kept it
steady.
 
Roaming interactions weren’t that important there.
 
He walked the space of the veterinarian’s clinic. He spoke small sounds to calm the
beasts. He was a stranger, and they didn’t like strangers in their area at the best of
times.
 
He found his ingredients and poured them into a bowl. He mixed them together with
a finger until they felt right. He poured the mixture into a bottle. He cleaned the bowl
and put everything back where it went. He corked the bottle and slipped that under
his poncho cape.
 
One touch of his brew would be all she wrote for Clonus.
 
He made his way to the wall of the Zoo. He vaulted over and walked deeper in the
city.
 
He needed to find Clonus before he committed his next spree. If he was too late, he
had to wait until he could track the man back to his hole. His strength was no match
for an army that kept expanding as you tried to deal with it.
 
He might be able to apply the substance in the middle of a fight. There was no telling
if Clonus would recombine and be affected, or if the clone would be affected and
drop wherever it passed out.
 
He couldn’t count on that. It was much better if he found the man and applied the
ointment before the criminal had time to do anything else. Then he could return to the
Dreamtime and enjoy his place in the sun.
 
Maybe Clonus had stolen enough things that he wasn’t going on another spree again.
What would Tribe do if Clonus didn’t need anything else?
 
A thief always needed something else. All he had to do was figure out what the next
thing happened to be, and then get there ahead of time. Then he could put his mixture
to work.
 
Tribe decided the best thing to do was go back to the original place where they had
clashed. Maybe there was some trail from the battlefield to where Clonus had made
his lair. If there was, he could confront the man on his home ground.
 
That appealed to the hero. Clonus had wrecked his garden in the Dreamtime with his
shenanigans. Forcing him from his home would be payback for that minor misdeed.
Revenge was not something he should indulge but he was willing to put that aside for
this one time.
 
The only good thing to come out of this was the arrival of the turtles. They were
stabilizing his piece of the world better than he could himself.
 
And he liked turtles for the most part.
 
Tribe walked into the battlefield and took his spot where memory said he had
confronted Clonus the first time. How did he use this?
 
He searched his memory of the events of the fight. He saw the images conform to
what he remembered.
 
He looked around for things that he had seen but hadn’t remembered at first glance.
Images of Clonus carrying his prizes to moving vans appeared. He paused. Had he
seen what kind of moving vans? They were probably stolen. It might be something
he could use.
 
Had Clonus kept the moving vans? If he had, he had to park them somewhere. If they
could be found, then the one man army had to be close by if he was going to use them
on his next spree.
 
Tribe walked in the direction the trucks pulled off in. He counted at least three. That
was enough to contain the big haul that Clonus had pulled down.
 
Tribe followed the trucks until he lost sight of them. He realized that was where his
memory had run out. He looked around. Did he have more memory he could use?
 
He saw the trucks heading for a freeway. They climbed up a ramp, and disappeared
into traffic.
 
He looked down the freeway as much as he could. The memory just wasn’t there. But
he had a direction. Where could Clonus go using that road and still stay in the city?
 
Tribe realized there were plenty of places the freeway could take his designated
enemy. He closed his eyes and ruled out all the places with residences. That left him
with spots of industrial activity.
 
He decided to check those places out and see if rental trucks were parked anywhere
close.
 
Once he was sure that the trucks weren’t sitting somewhere waiting to be found,
he would try something else.
 
He only had to be right once. And when he was, he had to make being right count.
Clonus just couldn’t be allowed to run free to do what he wanted.
 
At least he didn’t want to take over the country. That would put a desperation into
things to oust him from the continent. The Dreamtime would suffer as long as he was
wrecking things.
 
It had taken long enough to stabilize things when the whites had first came.
 
Tribe climbed up to the freeway. Traffic was light. He needed to move faster if he
wanted to check out the dark spots on his head map before the sun came up. He
decided he needed to hitch a ride.
 
He saw a truck advertising croc removal barreling down the road. He waited until it
was past before running after it and grabbing the tailgate. He pulled himself onboard
and knelt so he could see the signs for the exits he wanted.
 
He frowned when he realized the croc hunter was heading into a residential area. He 
jumped over the side of the truck and let it keep going down the ramp. He started
walking. He was closer than he had been. He needed another ride going his way.
 
He picked out his next transport within a few minutes of walking. He climbed on the
back bumper and let the truck roll on. When he thought he was close enough, he
jumped off and walked to the shoulder of the road. He looked at the stack of
warehouses and factories.
 
He spotted three moving trucks parked next to one of the warehouses. He nodded.
Now he had to get down there before Clonus made his next move.
 
He looked for a fast way down that didn’t involve jumping from the freeway to the
streets below. He went down the side of the road until he found an exit. He ran down
the hill the exit was founded on.
 
He had to get to Clonus before he went on his next robbery spree.

4
Clonus groaned. He rubbed his face. He didn’t need the trouble now. How did he get
rid of Tribe?
 
The thin man walked toward the trucks outside of the lair. It had been a good move
to install cameras for security. How did he handle this problem?
 
He certainly couldn’t let Assault know their security was compromised. The criminal
mastermind was obsessed with no one knowing he was still alive. He would lose his
mind if he knew that Tribe was that close to exposing him to the world.
 
Clonus considered what he should do as he watched the hero approach the trucks. He
needed them to transport Assault’s prize. He couldn’t let them be sabotaged.
 
He also couldn’t let Assault know that Tribe was outside the secret lair. That would
invoke a row that he didn’t need.
 
He decided that he could put Tribe in one of the other buildings long enough to get
Assault’s target, and clear out. It would take a moment’s bit of work.
 
He split until he could reach the skylight in the ceiling of the renovated building. It
had taken a few days to get it to where he wanted it before he furnished it. With Tribe
so close, he would have to abandon it before the authorities started searching for it.
He snarled as he pulled himself out of the skylight and drew in his clones. He walked
over to the edge of the building where he could see Tribe walking around the trucks.
The thin man must be casting about for a trail.
 
At least he had a chance to deal with things before they got even more out of hand.
He split to drop down to the lot. He kept splitting so his army approached in a silent
wave. He couldn’t let Tribe fight back. Everything depended on taking the hero apart
before anything else could go wrong.
 
The clone army fell on top of the intruder. There was no time for any mercy. Tribe
went down under the fists and feet of his opponent before he could defend himself.
He groaned as one man army looked for a place to hide him until his business was
done. He saw a truck loading up cargo at one of the other industrial places nearby.
It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it might buy time until he could make his move for
Assault’s prize. It would also get Tribe away from the scene and shipped to a random
location until he could move his things out.
 
On the other hand, as soon as he had put Tribe on the road, he would have to start
moving his things to his next hideout to avoid giving another beating.
 
He doubted Assault would understand the move, but he wasn’t going to explain it. He
didn’t want any trouble with the pain in the neck.
 
He gathered Tribe up. He didn’t care about the broken bones he had handed out
making things more painful for the hero. He needed to get the dingo away from the
site for as long as he could.
 
He carried the nuisance across the space in a wave of bodies, throwing him over the
fence around the other property, and flinging him in the back of the truck with the
already loaded cargo. The driver and loaders were nowhere to be found. He put one
of his guys behind the wheel after strapping Tribe down with the cargo. He closed the
door and told his clone to start driving.
 
He watched the truck pull out of the lot. That should buy him enough time to relocate.
He had to hurry if he wanted to get things done before Tribe brought the authorities
back to his headquarters.
 
He decided not to warn Assault. He didn’t need the headache of the other villain
complaining about how he did things, and he didn’t care about the other villain
wanting to keep his survival under wraps.
 
If he was there when Tribe came back, then he could deal with Tribe.
 
Clonus planned to be at his backup place so he could avoid any problems for himself.
He flowed back to his headquarters. He started packing everything up and loading the
loot on the trucks. He thought that was how Tribe had tracked him down. He should
have hidden them better from the street.
 
He looked around for Assault. The last thing he needed was to exchange words with
his contractee. Maybe he could beat Assault into the ground, maybe he couldn’t. He
was getting paid not to try while he was needed to steal something for the blowhard.
He would have to watch his back after the job was over. He didn’t need Assault trying
to clean house by burying him in the Outback somewhere.
 
He finished packing and inspecting his former lair in a few minutes. He would have
to find another place where no one cared about trucks waiting at the loading docks
of the building.
 
Assault would have to find his new lair, but that should be a breeze for the master
villain.
 
Clonus smiled at that. Assault probably had something that tracked his movements
and called him to show that the duplicator was out and about. Nothing he could do
about that.
 
He checked on-line adverts for anything he could use as a lair. He also put in a search
for closed companies so he could move in those places.
 
He found a ranch on the edge of the city that was up for sell. No one seemed to have
moved in yet. It might be perfect for what he wanted.
 
At the very least he could put in a bid for it.
 
He still didn’t have any information on when the pieces were coming in. He decided
that he should at least let Assault know that he was moving. That would prevent the
temper tantrum he saw in the future.
 
At the very least, it might cause Assault to hurry his end of things up so problems
could be smoothed away by fast action.
 
That would make it easier to lead him into a trap and get rid of his threat at the same
time.
 
He liked that. He would have to get another truck, but that was child’s play.
 
And with Tribe wandering around the city in the back of a cargo truck, he could
truthfully say he was covering his tracks.
 
Assault wouldn’t like it, but that wasn’t his problem.
 
Clonus sent a text to his boss. He waited for the inevitable reply.
 
He smiled when his phone buzzed as he moved out with his trucks and loot. How did
he put this in the best light? He scratched his head. He had no idea that there was a
best light. It was best to break the news straight so the emotional outburst could be
dealt with and they could move on.
 
“How’s it going?,” asked Clonus.
 
He held the phone away from his ear as he directed his clone to drive. He waited until
he couldn’t hear the enraged voice any more.
 
“Did that feel good?,” he said. “You need to work on that bad temper. That kind of
thing leads to strokes and heart attacks.”
 
He waited for the next tirade to end before he spoke again. He wanted to keep his
hearing in that one ear.
 
“I loaded him into a truck and sent him out of town,” said Clonus. “I’m moving my
lair right now. How much longer before you know when you need me to move?”
 
The response was a little more pensive than he was used to from his employer.
 
“All right,” said Clonus. “I don’t know where I’m going to hide at the moment. I’ll
let you know when we quit driving. You let me know of the general location of the
targets so I can do the job.”
 
He waited out the brief storm of words.
 
“You can always hire someone else,” Clonus said. He hung up before he had to listen
to another diatribe.
 
“Some people,” he said to his clone.
 
“I know, right,” said the clone. “Always talking, always with the threats. Like we
don’t have feelings or something.”
 
“We really need to expose him and make sure he gets taken in,” said Clonus. “I don’t
like the idea of having him at our back.”
 
“You’re telling me,” said Driver Clonus. “He might try to kill us to preserve his
precious anonymity. Probably doesn’t want to run into a big timer like the Leaguer
while he’s trying to get his scheme going.”
 
“Nobody wants to run into the Leaguer,” said Clonus. “Take us to that house I was
looking at, and we’ll see if we can fix it up into a new lair.”
 
“Might not be able to with Assault running around,” said Driver Clonus.
 
“I know,” said Clonus. “That’s why I want to cut him out if we can.”
 
“I’ll say,” said Driver Clonus. He gave Clonus a thumb’s up in agreement.
 
“Keep your eyes on the road,” said Clonus. “We don’t want to run into any blue boys
while we’re moving.”
 
“You don’t have to tell me, brother,” said Driver Clonus.
 
The little parade rolled through town as Clonus waited for Assault to call him back.
Did the master villain have the contacts to get the job done? Did any of them know
who they were dealing with, and what he would do if they found out?
 
He didn’t think so.
 
A murderer never let the victim know they were the target unless they couldn’t help
it.
 
Assault would never tell his assets for whom they were working. That would be
asking for trouble in the criminal dog eat dog world.
 
And it would destroy his precious anonymity if he missed someone bragging about
him being their boss.
 
Clonus smiled when he saw the property he wanted coming into view. It was outside
the city proper with some acreage, and a nice looking building. He needed some
security put in but he could do that after he settled on how to pay for the thing.
 
You could steal a house, but that only lasted as long as it took someone from
the authorities to come around and ask why you were living in someone else’s
property.
 
It was far better to buy the house and pretend you were a law abiding citizen.
 
Then the coppers had to get warrants and such to even touch your property.
It appealed to him to try and make them prove he was Clonus and he had stolen
everything in the house.
 
He smiled at the thought, but knew that the police only needed probable cause to
arrest him. Warrants for searches would come after when he couldn’t hide anything.
His clones would make sure they wouldn’t find anything.
 
He could dig out the space under the house and reinforce it for personal use. An army
of manpower would help that along when he was ready.
 
The pyramids weren’t built in a day, but they were built with so many hands that
combined individual strengths. He did the same thing.
 
Clonus directed the convoy to the back of the house, and told the drivers to wait. He
needed some regular clothes and the number of the real estate agent.
 
He went to the back of one of the trucks. He opened the door and climbed in. He
climbed out a few minutes later in what was usually called business casual. He
walked to the front of the house to examine the sign for the selling agency.
 
Time to settle down in an old disguise.

1
He felt the tugging on his form again. He looked around at his home. He had finally
gotten the flowers just so. If he left, he would have to start over.
 
His tiny space shook from the outside pushing on it. If he didn’t stop that, his place
could be completely destroyed. He couldn’t have that. He hadn’t put a tree in and
nurtured it to lose it to the world.
 
He needed to look into things. Why couldn’t his space not be linked to the Earth. It
was at the edge of the Dreamtime. If he could move it, he wouldn’t have to put up
with repairing everything when there was trouble on Earth.
 
He reached into the air and pulled open a hole. He stepped through the opened door
from his garden to the real world. He took a moment to link to the people in the city
as he looked around for the trouble that had summoned him.
 
He paused at the sight of men in identical tan body suits with face masks running into
the local stores and coming out with loot in their hands. He surveyed the scene. The
group of identical men were everywhere.
 
A group of the robbers surrounded a security guard trying to stop them. The uniform
went down under the onslaught of hundreds of fists and kicks.
 
“Hey!,” he shouted as he charged forward. “Stop that.”
 
All of the masked men turned at the sound of his voice. They smiled at him. He didn’t
like that at all.
 
“So it’s Tribe, is it?,” said the group, each mouth taking a syllable of the speech. It
was like listening to a wave at a sports stadium. “Come to stop me, wanker?”
 
“I guess so,” said Tribe. He wondered where that name had come from. He had not
called himself that. “I want you to stop what you’re doing. You can leave after that.”
 
“You want me to stop what I’m doing?,” said the group in a mockish high voice.
“And you’ll let me leave? Really?”
 
“Yes,” said Tribe. Why did these humans make things so difficult?
 
“I don’t think you understand,” said the man in tan. “I’m Clonus. I can do whatever
I want, whenever I want. Why don’t you stop a purse snatcher or something? That’s
about your speed.”
 
“I’m not trying to arrest you,” said Tribe. “I just want you to stop doing this and move
on and do something useful. If I have to resort to violence, you won’t like it.”
 
“You and what army, wanker?,” asked Clonus. More of him appeared as some of the
group continued to carry off their loot.
 
“Is that how it’s going to be?,” asked Tribe. He looked down at his thin, brown hands
at the end of  his thin arms. He hated using violence. “All I want is a peaceful
resolution to this problem.”
 
“Think again,” said Clonus.
 
An expanding flood of fighters charged Tribe in a human wave. He noted the rest not
actively fighting him were making off with their loot. He grimaced as the first punch
tried to knock his face off. He blocked with one arm, and punched with the other. His
opponent blew apart like a bursting bubble.
 
So he could get rid of them with single punches. That was good.
 
He took a punch to the face. It hurt, but linked in with the city, his body should repair
the damage almost instantly. More punches and kicks followed. The pain built up
from the impacts.
 
He could lose the fight if the Clonus clones kept hammering him. He needed to get
some room so he could think of a solution to his problem.
 
Tribe straightened, flinging his arms wide. Criminals shattered when they hit anything
solid. He had cleared a space to fight from. He had to capitalize on his effort.
 
He grabbed one of the masked men and swung him like a bat. Weapon and targets
went up in a cloud of dust. He grabbed a fist reaching for his face and swung that
clone through the crowd. Some of the duplicates blew up as well as his weapon.
 
Tribe leaped clear of the cloud. He had to stop the thefts. Stopping the villain seemed
out of reach for the moment.
 
He realized he wasn’t going to be able to do either with the way Clonus kept
expanding his army.
 
The stolen goods surged away from the battle he was conducting against the
increasing wave of duplicates. Ten more popped into existence with every one he
punched apart.
 
There was no way he could combat that tide.
 
The clones began disappearing as he punched several in the face. He paused as they
ran down the length of the shopping area as they vanished.
 
Tribe paused. What did he do now? His enemy had escaped. The property was gone.
Things should go back to normal unless Clonus had more places to rob.
 
He didn’t know how he was going to fix the damages caused to the stores. Maybe this
was something the owners could do for themselves.
 
Clonus had overwhelmed him. He had not contested with another with that skill set
in a long time. Suddenly fighting an army had set him back.
 
Clonus was not going to stop. So he had to be stopped by someone else. Did he
handle that, or leave it to the police?
 
He decided to go home. He had to fix his space. If Clonus struck again, he would
have to do something to intervene.
 
He didn’t like it, but he didn’t see anything else he could do. He needed a way to deal
with a horde of Clonus clones if he wanted to stop the man from making off with
anything he wanted. That just wasn’t in his skill set, and he needed time to try to think
of a solution.
 
He hated to admit defeat, but he had been beaten by the army of duplicates.
 
He let the link to the city’s denizens go so he could open a door back to his home in
the Dreamtime. He stepped through and closed the door behind him. He looked at his
wrecked garden. He had to put things right before he could relax and watch the
moonglow.
 
He needed to find a way to prevent damage from events from the outside. He knew
that people’s fears were what had shaken the space earlier. There was nothing he
could do about that. The Dreamtime responded to the waking world’s fears and joys.
He picked up a turtle that had been turn over on its back and set it on its legs. He
watched it trundle away. That was the easiest fix he could see in his garden.
 
How did he fight a one man army? Clonus would not stop until his greed was satiated.
Maybe what he had stolen would be enough. Maybe it was only the start.
 
He needed to research tactics he could apply against his enemy in case the man struck
again. He didn’t want to fix his space every time the clones attacked.
 
He sat down on the ground. The grass reformed and took shape, springing up around
him in a circular lawn. Some of the blades danced.
 
He pushed out a bubbling brook broken off from the Big River that ran through the
Dreamtime. It flowed in rivulets constructed to carry it among the flowers he grew,
and water the animals that might be attracted to his place.
 
He put together bushes and trees to edge in the garden of colored flowers coming
back to life. He smiled as the trees waved their limbs with happy expressions on their
knotty faces.
 
He nodded. He used four rocks to mark off the edges of his domain. In the vast
landscape of the Dreamtime, his part was so small he could walk across it in a few
minutes.
 
It was also unstable thanks to his connection to the outside reality. Anything that
stirred up enough of the human minds touching the Dreamtime, caused the vast reality
to shake its contents in the hopes of averting the mental problems that might come
into play.
 
He didn’t want to be the official representative of the uber nature he lived in, but
he was the one who could reach out and minimize damage.
 
Tribe noted his turtle friend had come back with a host of his friends. They settled
next to the flowing water and croaked at him.
 
He smiled at the display. He wondered what else was going to try to make his refuge
their home.
 
He watched the turtles and wondered how could he stop a one man army from
overwhelming the city and taking anything he wanted.
 
What was the solution to the problem?

I would like to go with Support: Hank Pym, anything Scott Lang and Hope Pym.
CES 

You misunderstand, or misrepresent. I'm not voting Democrat to spite the Republicans; I'm voting Democrat to stop the Republicans. If you can't see a meaningful difference between the policies and goals of the two parties, then your understanding of the world is so different from mine that I don't see how we can have a meaningful conversation on this subject.

Supporting Character: The Green Lantern Corps
Hero : John Taylor
Villain: Undead Thomas Edison from Atomic Robo

You know, I completely agree with Vondy that thinking about the long term is very important, and that preventing fires is better than putting out fires, metaphorically speaking. The problem is that we are currently on fire. The Republicans are running actual Nazi candidates in some places, FFS.
 
I don't care much for the Democrats. They're too hawkish, too much in the pocket of big business, and too afraid to push for significant fixes. The republicans, on the other hand, are actively opposing everything Vondy says he's for. Anyone who values "maximizing personal liberty and opportunity and prosperity for every single American" needs to be opposing the Republicans wherever they can. Help us put this fire out, and then we can talk about fire prevention.

Villain Dormmannu
Hero Hal Jordon
Supporting Character Boston Brand, Deadman
CES 

Who do you include in "the radical progressive 'left'"? Especially, what "morality" do you see them trying to impose on others?
 
Because I don't see what passes for the left (i.e., the Democratic Party) in this country as being anywhere near to the GOP, in policies, tactics, or outcomes.
 
The Democrats want to make sure every eligible person can vote.
The republicans are doing their best to disenfranchise as many minorities as possible. 
 
The Democrats are trying to prevent discrimination, whether based on religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity.
The GOP is trying to enshrine discrimination into the law.
 
The Democrats are trying to maintain a social safety net for all.
The GOP is trying to tear it down.
 
The Democrats are trying to make sure everyone has access to adequate healthcare.
The GOP is fighting this tooth and nail.
 
The Democrats are trying to secure our elections from interference by foreign entities.
The GOP is stopping them.
 
I agree that both parties are too beholden to corporate interests. I agree that many politicians in both parties are often more worried about their own reelection than their the good of their constituents, but the GOP is standing by while the current administration, at the direction of the President, sells this country off to the highest bidder. They pretend to investigate his possible connection to the interference with the 2016 elections, while keeping the Democrats from calling relevant witnesses. They take money from the NRA, which, has become essentially a front for funneling money from Russian oligarchs to political campaigns here. There is not an ounce of integrity left in the national Republican Party.
 
So, are the Democrats perfect? Not even close. But to group them as even close to the current incarnation of the Republican Party is not supportable.
 
 
 

I am drafting the SGC as my support character.
Alan Scott as my hero.
Kulak as my villain.
CES 

One of the toddlers separated from his immigrant family has been reunited with family in Honduras
CES

Oh come now, I have always been the meekest and mildest of men

Anyway, nice to see all the comments - Old Man contacted me and mentioned this thread, so I thought I would post. I wasn't actually banned back in the day, but Simon did give me a warning about making rude comments in a political thread during the last US presidential elections. I didn't think the comment was terribly out of line, to be honest, but these are Simon's boards, and I appreciated the effort he goes to in maintaining them, so rather than giving offence I said I'd bow out during the elections and come back when things were quieter.
 
That was actually the plan buuut ... you know how these things go. By the time the election was over, I had a new job in a new country, and I was busy with all kinds of stuff (work, and being a tourist, mostly). Then there came another international move, and then we bought an old house that we are doing up, and I was active on other sites .... basically, I kept meaning to drop in, but never got around to it. 
 
I'm still gaming regularly and carrying on much as before: hope everything is cool with you guys.
 
cheers, Mark

After seeing who was elected, I'd question US intelligence as well...