We can send Commander to mind control Slate. Supervillain trying to take control of science lab is just business as usual, even if discovered no one will find it suspicious or link it back to LexCorp.
Lex Sedet In Vertice: A Supervillain in the DCU CK2 quest
- Thread starter King crimson
- Start date
- Superhero
Sirrocco
Pedantic
Well, they will if they know we captured him, or if someone else captures him and he spills.
Though... there was that one group who promised that they could assassinate anyone. Sure setting them on Superman wouldn't likely work all that well, but a guy like Slate? Given that they're not really trying to figure out the identity of their employers, we should be able to swing a good enough intrigue score to hire them without leaving any trails leading back to us.
We can use Villain, too, for that extra layer of deniability. Make sure that there's some opportunity for him to take advantage. Like... tell him that we want him to hire them to make three hits, with Slate being one of them, and then two others to throw off investigators as to motive, and let him pick the two others as long as it's no one we'd miss. He'd eat that kind of job up with a spoon.
No one currently knows we captured him. And we can make it so he does not think that he works for LexCorp when doing it or use his own tech or Pamela pheromones to mind control him into not being able to spill his allegiance.
Hiring more people for job can certainly help, but it is better done through proxy. Like using Commander to hire them, although Talia can do it too.
Adrian XXIV
Average User, from Poland
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Problem with using Pamela's pheromones, is that we can get similar outcome as with Noi Komarow, where Commander will (subcounciously) say "I don't work for LexCorp/Lex Luthor" every time someone asks him.
- Pronouns
- Reader
too much risk of villain choosing someone with strong plot armor as one of the other two. instead, improve the life model decoys, have one impersonate a masked by otherwise recognizable member of the Wayne board of directors, one with a particular build. have the LMD meet the mercenaries outside Gotham at the same time we lure that particular board member out with some manner of threatened blackmail. put some of our own facilities on the hit list as well as garrison slate and some other competitor.
brainwash him to think of himself as his own man who's does what he wants to. that said, probably stay away from that. LMD is way better with a bit of improvement.
Valid concern, but still something that can be overcome with additional planning. We need to use Commander somehow and we can't throw hero units to our allies forever, there would be diminishing returns at some points.
It is not even necessary to have Commander believe that he works for LexCorp instead of someone else. We can have Talia "rescue" him from his current prison in exchange for working for her. Or for Pamela to arrange escape while remaining anonymous due to concealing clothes and then brainwash Commander into following her orders.
I considered replacing Slate with LMD but technology is not quite there yet. Plus we would still need some false leads as to who kidnapped Slate and used LMD especially if Toyman has alibi and can prove it to heroes.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
Strong Plot Armor isn't actually a concern, though?
It's like this:
- We go to Villain. We ensure that he has access to enough money to hire three assassinations, from people who (supposedly) are quite good at assassination. We tell him that we want one of these people to be Slate, and he can pick whoever he likes for the other two as long as they aren't people we care about. Villain likes this because he can totally find a way to use those two extra assassinations to further he own villainous schemes.
- Villain goes to the assassins, and hires them to kill three different people. He's good enough at intrigue that they probably don't find out who he is.
- The assassins attempt to kill three different people. If we're lucky, Slate dies. If we're not? His life gets a bit more hectic, and we've lost very little of any real value. In the meantime, two other assassinations are being carried out at more or less the same time by more or less the same people, targeting folks who we don't have strong reason to wish dead. Maybe they succeed, maybe they don't. Doesn't matter. It's muddying the waters and it's letting Villain feel like he's getting his grift in, and that's all that we actually care about here.
- In order to implicate us in these murders (or attempted murders) they'd have to figure out who the attackers are, somehow get information out of them, then trace that info back to Villain, then trace it back to us. The chances of anyone actually pulling this off are very low.
It's true, we could complicate this with false flag operations and Even More Villainy, but I honestly think that keeping it simpler is better... especially since Life Model Decoys really aren't good at pretending to be human yet.
We... don't, though? Like, we really don't need to use him.
Also, handing off villains to our allies may have somewhat diminishing returns eventually, but it's delightfully low-risk. I don't see a reason why we can't just make it our standard MO for captured supervillains who we don't want to recruit directly. It makes our allies (and semi-allies) happier, and it almost inherently means that they're doing things that heroic vigilante types would disapprove of.
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Even then nothing forces us to do it immediately, instead of say using him for a scheme first and dealing with him later, like having him conduct kidnapping or hiring assassins through him, and disposing him immediately after. Like in your plan using Villain is potential vulnerability if one of the assassins is good enough to beat his intrigue and learn identity of his employer. Commander on the other hand can meet and greet assassins, give them targets and then just disappear. This is if we still go with assassination plans of course.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
Yeah... but then we have to depend on Commander to not spill the beans. We also have to depend on him to follow through int eh way we want him to follow through. He's... kind of an incompetent idiot? Honestly, I trust Villain more, here.
Unfortunately those look like the best options to me. We could probably arrange for Pamela to meet with him and nudge him into committing suicide, though his plot armour might get in the way of that and it's up for debate whether or not having him sell some shares first would be more suspicious than it's worth.
We could also have Leslie try to cause an accident that kills him in a way that keeps our hands clean while also tanking S.T.A.R Labs stock.
Of course I suppose we could just not kill him and instead have Pamela focus exclusively on getting him to sell his shares. It might look suspicious to anyone that knows Slate well enough but they couldn't prove anything and it wouldn't be as suspicious as him suddenly dying.
Why would we use Commander as part of a convoluted plot when we have Pamela?
Unfortunately I feel like any plan that has us benefit from Slate's death is going to look suspicious. Even if we're seemingly uninvolved him dying and us suddenly swooping in to buy up all his shares is going to look questionable to anyone looking closely enough.
Also I very much don't like the idea of giving Villain that much leverage. He is exactly the sort of guy that would keep a record of us ordering him to hire an assassin in case he ever needs to use it as ammunition against us. If we were to go the assassination route id rathe have Talia make contact since I trust her a lot more, she'd be good at it and she'd probably appreciate it even more.
Though that does make me think, if we ask Talia to have the League deal with Slate and make it obvious that they did so it may alleviate some of the suspicions levied at us because we're a known enemy of the League of Shadows.
Iirc the Komarov situation was because we were too blunt with it. Pamela is infinitely more subtle and nuanced in her manipulations.
While I don't necessarily agree with you it is worth considering that the Commander is one of the few people we have access to that has his own reason to target S.T.A.R Labs, primarily that they are researching his technology and trying to find a way to deal with them.
Theoretically if we wanted to squeeze every bit of value from the man we could have him tell us how his devices work and then send him to try to assassinate Slate with Pamela convincing him it was his own idea. If he succeeds then great, if he fails then we can have Pamela meet with Slate to "convince" him to sell his shares because clearly it is putting this and his family in danger.
This is basically what I suggested except with kill Slate instead of having Commander mind control him. Personally I think that due to how plot armor work mind controlling hero unit would not be harder than killing him and even potentially a bit easier. If Commander succeeds to ambush and control Slate he can make him focus STAR labs studies on improving his mind control device, say making giant mind control device to affect whole town. We of course will make sure to be well protected from it and when whole scheme falls apart we can swoop in and claim that STAR labs are obviously safer in our hands.
On the other hand if we plan to kill Slate we have much more professional assassins for hire than Commander available, unless idea if for Commander to fail intentionally.
Why would we need to release the Commander? He could snitch on us later on. If we really want the Commander to be blamed we got all of his gear and Leslie can shapeshift.
I am not entirely sure, but I think that Leslie still can't turn into male form.
And releasing Commander should be done only either after brainwashing him with Pamela help or by arranging his convenient escape, so he can't point at LexCorp.
Edit: We can send Leslie or Talia along(or both) to keep an eye of him if we think that he will utterly fail at his task.
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Adrian XXIV
Average User, from Poland
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
What if we use/modify one of Livewire's disguises (either Sophia Sage or Regan Killton), to create "persona" of "criminal/supervillain, that managed to steal and/or replicate Commander's gear" ("Lady Tenant", as pun on "Lieutenant")
Can work, but at this point we barely lose anything by having Commander himself present to add his own stats to the roll. Well nothing, except for Leslie finding the man insufferable. Potential problem is that Leslie would not have all her stats in disguise, so there is no guarantee that she would manage the task better than Commander himself. Talia would be better at this role imho or we will need to mind control Commander into cooperation for them to work together, or do everything without him but with some serious hero support and just pin everything on him afterward.
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
Just a potential point of clarification on Livewire's disguises/personas, you don't need to use the already existing ones you could create new ones.
For example for the idea posted above, you don't need to use the Sophia Sage or Regan Killton disguises/personas, you can create a brand new one with its own fake stats and appearance and have it be its own identity solely linked to that scheme.
If all we want to do is mind control Slate then we have significantly easier ways to do so than depending on Commander, for example just having Pamela do it herself or even having her plant the seeds that he should visit Bialya. There's no real reason why we should outsource that to a rogue element.
Especially since we don't really want to overly complicate things. All we really care about is getting our hands on Slate's controlling share in the company without overly implicating ourselves. Plus even if we did pull that scheme off it doesn't solve anything, Slate easily could still refuse to sell and there's nothing we could do about that.
If Slate is killed by some random assassin and we then swoop in and buy up all his shares we immediately become suspect number one, even if there's no actual evidence. Similarly, if to a lesser extent, if he suddenly does a 180 on his stance on Lex with no reason that will make people who know him suspicious.
Theoretically by having Commander be the one who tries to assassinate Grant, even if we give him a bit of help, it goes one of two ways: 1) He succeeds and we can step and buy the shares without looking particularly suspicious because there is an obvious suspect. 2) He fails and we have Pamela meet with Grant to "convince" him that between the recent controversies and now this assassination attempt he really should retire and divest himself from unnecessary involvement with the company to keep him and his family safe.
Not if Pamela convinces him that it's all his own idea and that none of this ever happened.
I believe that she can, it's just a lot harder for her to maintain for any length of time.
I would be hesitant to have Talia stick around Commander for any length of time considering mind control is his whole thing and we know for a fact that he isn't above using it on attractive women for… certain purposes.
Leslie on the other hand is immune to his technology because of her unique physiology and could probably be fine working with him as long as she's aware that he's an unknowing patsy. As for her not applying her full stats, iirc that's only the case if she loses an Intrigue roll otherwise she still uses all of her own stats it's just that nobody else notices.
Hell, if we really wanted to stack the odds in our favour we can loan him the services of the 74 thugs we just got plus Regan Killton to make it a nice round 75.
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
So slight status report. I might cut the update short to get it to arrive earlier as I'm already about 10K words in and there's more left. That being said I've already wrapped up 8 or so separate POVs. The update should be coming soon. Thank you all for your patience.
Edit: The Red Tornado update is also approaching completion, though I've somewhat put it on the backburner.
Edit: The Red Tornado update is also approaching completion, though I've somewhat put it on the backburner.
Fight Club 20
1# You do not talk about Fight Club
- Location
- North Carolina
- Pronouns
- He/Him
@King crimson, what do you think about my Adventures with Superman season 2 since it's finished now.
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
I have not actually seen the finale of the second season as of right now. I can broadly guess what'll happen but I haven't seen the final episode as of right now. I have some problems and nitpicks with what I have seen, notably I think that Brainiac so effortlessly disposing of all of Waller's agents while he's piloting Superman's body kind of weakens them as future antagonists. I think there should've been more of a fight, but by and large My Adventures with Superman is a good show and I had fun watching it.
Edit: Potentially controversial opinion time, I think they should just kill Slade Wilson in the next season. He's got none of the things that make Deathstroke in other media interesting, his personality and powerset could be better filled by an actual Superman villain, he doesn't have an interesting motivation and the second season kind of took away all the menace he had, after they already had to artificially make him more of a threat in season one by giving him power armor. Damage and Atomic Skull are inherently cooler to me by virtue of being Superman villains and by me not really expecting much out of their character beyond being a physical threat for an episode or two.
I honestly think the most interesting thing they could do with the character at this point is have him die and then have one of his kids go on a rampage trying to avenge him.
Edit #2: If they want to really do a strong parallel, they could contrast Kara trying to fit in on earth and move past the legacy of her "father" while contrasting this with say Ravager, who wants to live up to her father's legacy. It gives Kara an opportunity to basically confront a twisted mirror of herself and it makes fighting her difficult since I can imagine that the goal isn't just to beat her in a fight but to convince Ravager to not make the same mistakes Kara did (in which case just beating her up would still be a bit of a loss because Ravager would go on to keep trying to be like Slade).
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King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
So status report/update. The update is dropping today. I ended up cutting a good amount of stuff and still ended up being over 12k words in total. I hope you guys enjoy it and if you catch something odd in the update, let me know. I'm going to do some proofreading myself before dropping it, hopefully before 9 pm PST. Thank you for your patience.
Interlude: Meeting New People
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
So the winning vote from last time is as follows
I don't know if I've mentioned it before but you guys generally play more careful than I would. Granted my position is arguably skewed since I have access to an am biased by a lot of information you guys aren't but I did want to note that the thread generally makes choices different from what I would if I were in their shoes.
This next bit is going to be exceedingly busy and we're going to get into a whole hell of a lot of stuff with these next few interludes. Guess who has two thumbs and a lot of ambition to cover a lot all at once. The funny thing is I actually have cut a lot of stuff that I want to show up later. There's also a lot of different POVs and I hope things aren't too disjointed for people.
I'll also state that a lot of the subvotes in this section potentially require write-ins. This is because I wanted to save a bit of time on my end and so I included it. If it proves problematic I'll try and cut down on this. As I stated there's a ton going on here and I'm admittedly worried if I got all of the character voices down right. The fact that I wrote most of this while suffering from the heat (my apartment gets really hot in the summer) probably doesn't help my confidence in everything going perfectly.
I can quibble and worry tell the end of time but I've got an update to drop eventually. I hope you guys end up enjoying this update regardless and I am ultimately happy to put out more content for you guys.
Interlude: Meeting New People
Carol Ferris AKA Ultraviolet
Carol would freely admit that for all of the skills she'd picked up over the years as a superhero, interrogation hadn't exactly been one of them. She was even more so less equipped to do so with people watching her and picking up on what she was doing. It was a downside of being an icon, people had expectations of you and if you failed to live up to them, it could prove problematic. As such Carol was going to be handing off the lead to someone else to tackle this.
It made Carol feel a little bit bad to be potentially shirking her duty as the most senior superhero involved in this assignment, but at the same time it would be better to do things this way and let Beatriz take point on the actual interrogation. With a teenager watching it likely would be best to keep things at least somewhat toned down and a basic good cop-bad cop approach was viable enough. Beatriz was friendly and personable and Carol was at least competent at glowering intimidatingly at someone.
It took a fair bit of time and it ultimately didn't feel like it amounted to all that much but eventually they were able to get something from the magic user without too much issue. A name, William Herge, wasn't much but it was enough to begin pulling his background up. William Herge was a failing comic book artist who grew to resent the industry and began to view all art created under a corporate mandate as inherently inferior to original works created by independent artists. It was unclear how exactly he gained his powers, apparently having "awakened to them" following Brainiac's invasion and with the destruction of his livelihood, William Herge eventually turned to using his powers in an attempt to get rich.
As far as Carol could tell William Herge hadn't put an incredible amount of thought into his scheme beyond causing chaos and a figure to blame for it while he got away with the money. There was of course an element of revenge in trying to get people to hate and fear commercialized characters but the core motivation appeared to be getting away with money in order to start funding his own art projects. The most clever part of the scheme in her opinion, the use of invisible ink drawings to survey the situation and give him an understanding of how to play his cards, seemed to be born more out of a discovered necessity rather than any real brilliance on his part.
The man was uninterested in being a superhero and was fairly uncooperative. Carol doubted they'd get any cooperation out of him and while he'd proven to be quite adept at acquiring the supplies necessary to bring his creations to life, he didn't have many exceptional skills beyond a powerset that he didn't fully understand. Apparently he didn't even know if the power was magic or not. Raven declared after the interrogation that his powers derived from magic but it was an exercise in frustration.
Ultimately Carol had done what she could in terms of getting information on the man's identity, motivations and capabilities but she wasn't able to get much more than the general arc of these elements.
David Boyd AKA Commander
David woke up with a pounding headache in some sterile cell he had never seen before. As he came to he recounted what had gone on. Some bitch had gone and blasted him after he'd tried to use his tech on her. That had hurt. By all means it should have been completely impossible, his tech worked on all humans. Toby Merlino wasn't good for much but he'd provided David with more than enough subjects to fully test the effects of his devices. The only way it wouldn't have worked was if the woman wasn't human.
Superman had been immune to the tech and David wondered just how many aliens were hiding in Metropolis. The non-standard biology would make it so that his mind control tech was a little less viable as a catch-all solution than he'd thought it would be. David would just have to come up with a solution, he was good at that. Plus he'd made sure that the tech, while simple to operate wasn't something people could operate without his cooperation. Whoever had taken him was probably interested in the tech considering they'd taken his suit and lift him in what looked like a modified prison jumpsuit.
Still a plan could be made. David hadn't set up too many contingencies for his capture but he had a few in place that he could still try and spring. For now it was better to play his cards close to his chest and he'd figure things out from there, especially since the whole reason why he had gotten caught was because of a plan to deal with Superman gone wrong.
His plan to break into Bruce Wayne's event and mind control the rich elites there was a simple one. With all of the rich and wealthy following the Commander's orders, David would be able to live out the rest of his life comfortably in seclusion while siccing his new minions to use their wealth and connections to make life hell for Superman. It probably wouldn't work now, especially since there was at least one person with non-human brain structures there.
David could wait. He'd wait to figure out where he was, wait to figure out how to escape and then wait to come up with a plan to keep Superman or whoever had imprisoned him from catching him once he was loose. Then the Commander could get back to business and retire out of sight and out of mind.
Amanda Waller
Amanda Waller had finally met the Superman. They'd finally come face to face and frankly Amanda Waller wasn't impressed. Superman was not a threat yet, but his disregard for any authority but his own as well as his own moral self-righteousness meant he'd inevitably become one. Frankly the way he attempted to loom over Amanda and intimidate her into revealing state secrets had only made her contempt for him grow. Amanda Waller had hardly flinched working for a skull-faced man with a cynaide touch, if Superman wanted to scare her, he'd need to try a lot harder than his current attempts.
Amanda Waller was still satisfied with what she'd accomplished thus far. She'd kept Superman out of the governments business and retrieved the key individuals she'd been looking for. Secretary Eiling as ever hemmed in Amanda and kept her and Lex Luthor at least nominally on the same page. Amanda didn't trust Luthor to hold an ice cream cone without trying to turn it to his advantage, but for now she'd tolerate him as an ally.
She'd made sure to scrub any involvement of what ARGUS was in Metropolis for, with both Metallo and Dr. Albert Michaels being moved covertly in the dead of night in inconspicuous vehicles. She'd made sure Superman wasn't in the area before letting her forces begin moving things and only once she'd made it back to DC did she fully relax. Dr. Michaels attempted to escape but he was quickly shown the error of his ways.
Of the two Metallo was by far the more useful of the two. True the cyborg had been reduced to little more than a head and a back up power supply but upon rigging him up with an extra power source, Metallo had proven remarkably cooperative. All she had to do was point out that he could kill Superman and the cyborg was eager to talk and pass on information to get involved in the project. Metallo was still violent and unstable but the levers to controlling him were simple enough. Amanda had no intention of letting Metallo ever get control of a body that could move on its own, but she was more than happy to involve him as a consultant on killing Superman. Thaddeus Killgrave was to be kept away from him but so long as those two didn't link up then Waller was certain she could coerce each of them individual and keep them firmly under her thumb and working for the good of the United States.
The real problem was Dr. Michaels. He was meant to get a place in either Project Damocles or Project Cadmus as a coerced collaborator. Unfortunately the man was too untrustworthy to be left alone for long and Amanda would not risk him creating some kind of monster to rampage and kill her men. Her current attempts at controlling him was through food. The more Dr. Michaels would refuse to cooperate, the more Amanda would cut back on his food, starving him until he complied. When he complied and passed on his notes effectively and productively, then Amanda rewarded him with more meals and his choice of meals. It wasn't a perfect strategy and Amanda Waller was sure that the bleeding heart ethicists of the world would decry her if they figured out what she was doing but it was a simple and effective way to get Dr. Michaels to produce solid enough work without risking him doing more damage in an attempt to seize power or escape.
One way or another the threat of Superman needed to be dealt with. The United States government needed to have the ability to put down people like Superman, else they merely existed at his tolerance. As much as Amanda distrusted Lex Luthor, there were at least methods to deal with him. Superman was a problem without a solution. The presence of another Kryptonian only amplified this. Luckily Amanda Waller was good at finding solutions to problems. They wouldn't be pretty or clean but Amanda was confident that her leadership of ARGUS would result in the problems of this new superhuman era being solved.
The projects were slow to get started but soon enough they would begin to pay dividends and Amanda Waller would have done her job and protected her country.
Edward Nygma
Quite frankly Edward Nygma often astounded and amazed himself with his adaptive acumen and analytical approach allowing the abrogation of attempted anonymity. His mind was as sharp as a steel saber and as swift as a shooting star. Most people would have struggled to pierce the sanguine veil cloaking the circumspect cult coalition called the Church of Blood. Not so for Edward. True Ms. Meld had prove an able assistant and administrator, organizing and overviewing minutia and myopic multitudes to allow Edward to find the solution faster, but increased efficiency was not in effect an estimate of inferiority of the intellectual architect assembling the intended element into their illumination orientation.
The Church of Blood ultimately proved inefficient in their steps to secure secrets and Edward was able to find out quite a bit about them. The Church of Blood was an organization dedicated to ultimately securing immortality through the spilling of blood of others in order to extend their own lives. The exact details didn't quite make sense to Edward, he wasn't nearly enough of an imbecilic religious nutjob to buy any of the utter tripe being sold to the members of the cult, but it had become clear that the current head of the Church of Blood, one Sebastian Blood the eighth, had gotten a vision of "Trigon the Terrible" and was seeking to bring about his presence on earth in order to hasten the apocalypse and reap the rewards of the sacrificed souls. It was all very melodramatic.
Interestingly the cult didn't seem to know too much about how to bring about Trigon's return and so their current goals and plans mostly consisted of obtaining enough power and magic users in order to have the strength necessary to gather the power to thin the divide between realms. Again very melodramatic but it did lead to real world results, most notably the acquisition of resources from HIVE, most notably including some robot known as I.N.S.T.G.A.T.O.R., a magic user Kyd Wykkyd and a metahuman going by the alias "Angel".
Beyond that there were a few other notable figures in the Church of Blood. Bethany Snow was a journalist who at least nominally helped assist with recruitment into the cult, the man known only as "the confessor" was their "chief inquisitor" and was an expert torturer though Edward was far from impressed in his skills at keeping secrets hidden, Sister Sade and Sister Soul were a pair of intelligence officers who Edward frankly felt lacked intelligence, and most interesting of all was May Bennet.
May Bennet was a high ranking member of the Church of Blood and sometime lover of Sebastian Blood the eighth. A little bit of digging into her past and one could find the records that she'd given birth to a Sebastian Blood the ninth, though records of him remained hidden even still. It was certainly some kind of scandal or secret salaciously scintillatingly signaling something to be solved but for now Edward would cease to scope out the situations since by this point Luthor would probably want what he had gotten, as Edward had gotten a lot.
Edward didn't concern himself much more with the cult beyond that. He'd confirmed who they were and what they were about, for now it is up to other to further dig into the matter.
Superman
Clark wasn't exactly happy nowadays. He did his best to tamp down on it but it was hard not to get a little negative sometimes. ARGUS had stonewalled him and while Waller was clearly scheming something, it also was equally clear that she wouldn't hesitate to escalate things into a fight if he pushed too hard too fast. Superman wasn't opposed to fighting against the government if it was the right thing to do, but doing so rashly would likely lead to a huge mess later on down the line. For now the plan was to hold off and attempt to investigate them as Clark Kent, hopefully being a little less likely to give them reason to violently escalate. It was all he could do for now.
Attempting to investigate LexCorp had also been a bust. Lois had mentioned plenty of times that LexCorp was practically a black box and mentioned that the company constantly was acting to lock down information, but Clark had still underestimated just how far LexCorp would go. As such it resulted in his attempts at investigation getting out and people beginning to lambast him for his actions. Clark had never been to Japan but already their government was critical of him for potentially stealing state secrets.
Unlike with ARGUS, Clark Kent couldn't look into the company. The Daily Planet was already on fairly rocky grounds with LexCorp and with their acquisition by Wayne Enterprises, LexCorp could theoretically escalate Clark's actions as belonging to the Daily Planet at large. Sure a court case probably wouldn't be won but LexCorp could do a lot of reputational damage and make things very painful for all involved.
Lex Luthor did his best to broadly remain out of the public eye, as much as a figure like him could, and so any investigation would need to be very well put together and thought out, Clark couldn't afford to make mistakes. He'd briefly considered trying to get some answers from Cassandra Luthor, but from what little he had seen of Lex Luthor's daughter, the teenage heiress was unlikely to be friendly or in awe of Superman. As such she wouldn't willingly talk to him on her own, and while there were other avenues available to him, confronting or covertly tailing a teenaged girl was unlikely to end well and honestly just felt wrong to Clark's sensibilities.
Of course his brief meeting with Cassandra had also touched on the other big thing bringing Superman down as of late, namely that Lois was dating Bruce Wayne. Clark knew that Lois owed him nothing, but he still couldn't help but be irked and irritated at how he'd missed his shot. Clark Kent couldn't compete with Bruce Wayne. He wasn't as suave, charming and well-connected as Bruce Wayne. The man relatively recently bought the Daily Planet to put things into perspective. Even the things that would usually be a knock against Bruce Wayne, Lois seemed to overlook. And the worst part was that contrary to all of the rumors of Bruce Wayne being a playboy and a lay-about, what little Clark had seen indicated that Bruce was a genuinely decent person and got along well with Lois. It was incredibly frustrating to see the woman he'd been working up the nerve to ask on a date swoon over someone else whom Clark couldn't really compete with.
Granted Clark had been seeing a lot less of Lois as of late. Apparently she and Bruce were constantly working on something big together and spending more and more time together. It naturally lead to Clark being a little off as of late. Still Clark tamped down on the jealousy and the irritation. It was beneath him and he was going to wish Lois the best in whatever relationship she did end up in. Now he had his work as Superman to deal with.
The Joker was a fairly notorious criminal from Gotham and Superman had been attempting to track him down for quite a while. He'd picked up a trail leading to an old farmhouse but the Joker hadn't turned up there and the farmhouse had been blown up once again. Now Superman was once again trying to look into a new lead, hoping to find the Joker.
The clown had gone to ground following Superman's first attempt at bringing him in, but the underworld still talked and the woman previously spotted looking for hires for the Joker was mentioned entering a few other seedy establishments. Superman calmly intimidated a few crooks into spilling the beans and now he had a location, a small motel in the Hobbs Gate borough. Superman flew off, ready to confront the crook from Gotham and bring him down.
Superman decided to try and be cautious this time. He attempted to fly over the motel to try and peer through it to see how things were going. Superman got just enough time to confirm that the Joker was indeed in the building alongside several hostages, when a small rocket propelled grenade flew at him. Superman promptly moved out of the way. He wasn't going to be given much more time to think. Superman flew down towards where the shooter was. The man panicked and the pair of goons near him attempted to open fire. Superman fairly easily dodged the lasers before grabbing their guns and hurling them away. He then lightly froze the three men in place, knowing that they'd be there for the police to pick up. Now he just had to make his way further in.
Superman smashed through the roof and into the room with the Joker and his hostages. A quick check revealed no robot duplicates, so this wasn't a Toyman trap, but Superman didn't have too much time to analyze things.
"You know I had this whole speech prepared for this shindig and you just had to go and skip straight to the end" The Joker mocked "Honestly you almost make me miss Batman. He's rude but at least he has the decency to play along with the game rather than cut right to the chase"
The Joker drew a gun and Superman promptly surged forwards and knocked it away, before then lifting Joker into the air by his lapels.
"Well I don't suppose you're up for some charades?" The Joker questioned seemingly meekly but Superman knew something was coming. "You can go first and play dead!"
If he were an ordinary human then the Joker's prompt drawing of a knife from somewhere within his sleeve before spinning it into a downwards thrust might have surprised him. Instead Superman was able to see it coming. Seeing that there was no kryptonite and the knife didn't appear to have any special properties, Superman decided to let the blow connect, hoping it would intimidate the Joker enough to get him to stop struggling. The knife promptly crumpled and bent against Superman's shoulder.
"Oh poo" The Joker nervously declared.
"I'm not interested in games Joker" Superman responded before flying the Joker up and freezing the Joker to the ceiling. The Joker struggled reaching for his collar but was unable to resist getting stuck. Superman would deal with that later.
"You're going to regret not playing a game Stuporman" The Joker taunted, his mood once more mercurially shifting back to elation. "Now you won't get to see the surprise I left the studio audience"
Superman interpreted that as a threat. He was not going to let this madman kill innocents. Superman promptly raced to free all of the hostages. However for the most part nothing happened and Superman was able to get everyone out of the motel without incident. It seemed too easy but as he came back to the Joker struggling to get out of the ice he was encased in on the ceiling, Superman couldn't help but feel like he might've gotten one over on the clown.
"You missed the one in the closet" Joker cackled. Superman attempted to peer into the closet of the room they were in but he couldn't see into it at all. He couldn't use his heat vision to cut through it if there was a hostage in there, but if it was a trap rushing in blindly would be dangerous. Luckily Superman was confident he could outmaneuver the Joker, because he was thinking in three dimensions.
Superman flew up and over the closet and confirmed that there was a person tied up in there and some kind of mechanical device behind what appeared to be a sheet of lead. Superman promptly flew in from the top, once more smashing through the motel to get to his intended destination.
"Are you alright?" Superman asked, hoping to comfort and calm down the hostage "I'll get you right out of here in a sec, just you wait"
Superman took a quick look at the device and saw that while it was a countdown clock of some kind, it was complex enough that Superman wouldn't be able to disarm it easily. He decided to try and free the hostage first before he'd take the device out over the ocean to safely go off far away from anyone else.
As Superman untied the hostage though things quickly went wrong. The formerly bound man promptly spat out a chunk of kryptonite right onto the ground in front of Superman and Superman promptly fell over, his strength leaving him as he was wracked by pain. The hostage seemed to sneer at Superman, giving him a kick in the tibs before moving the pane of lead out of the way of the closet door. As Clark lay on the floor wracked with pain from constant exposure to kryptonite, the man left the room and soon Clark could hear thumping noises as the Joker yelled at the man to get him down from there. Superman had been outwitted.
He'd grown too complacent and he'd ended up paying the price for it. Still Superman could make it out of this. He slowly tried to crawl forwards, hoping to get to the lead pane in the hopes of using it as an impromptu shield against kryptonite radiation.
However before he could get too far he heard a massive crash and the sound of more footsteps as others entered. Before long Superman saw a woman in a form fitting red and black full body jester's outfit looming over him.
"Nu-uh Superman" The woman tutted "I don't know what you're planning but we don't want any tricks or surprises."
The woman then promptly bent over and picked up the chunk of kryptonite and placed it on his chest. Superman screamed as the kryptonite began to burn even more. His suit was still providing some protection but the near direct contact with kryptonite still seared his flesh.
"Come on Superman we've got a TV special to film" the Joker taunted as he pulled out a roll of duct tape, and promptly began taping the kryptonite to Clark's abs. Apparently the Joker wanted the S shield insignia on Superman's chest clear. Superman struggled to formulate a plan through the constant pain and searing weakness.
"The Death of Superman is can't miss TV" the Joker mocked "Why just think of all the ratings! I could never do something like this in Gotham, Batman doesn't have the same face for TV like you"
Superman grimaced as he got dragged out of the completely trashed motel room. Something needed to happen and fast in order for things to work out.
Lois Lane
Lois Lane was surprised by how much she liked Bruce. Before she'd met the Gotham based billionaire, Lois hadn't been a fan on principle. Sure he'd been good looking but like with most billionaires, she was sure he'd had some dark skeletons in his closet. Sure Lois focused on LexCorp and its connections to the military-industrial complex, but she doubted that the medical industry Wayne Enterprises made its bread and butter was much more ethical. As such she'd been a little cold towards him at first and she certainly hadn't been happy with him purchasing the Daily Planet in what appeared to be a move purely to assuage his own ego.
Lois's perceptions of Bruce Wayne had flipped on their head when he'd suddenly called her saying he had to meet with her. At first Lois hadn't taken it seriously but when Bruce clarified that involved a story he could not talk about over the phone, Lois had ended up heading to his hotel room. Hearing the news about what the board of directors at Wayne Enterprises had done had certainly gotten Lois seething at the injustice of it all, and with Bruce's help, Lois had managed to get the scoop force and she'd unequivocally condemned Wayne Enterprises.
As they worked on the article together Bruce revealed his true character to Lois a little more. He'd grown to distrust wealthy businessmen himself after having learned what that his maternal uncle had cut deals with the Gotham mob behind his back. He'd gained at least nominal control of Wayne Enterprises following his uncle getting exposed and had tried to keep his company in check and acting ethically. That being said the moment he'd turned his back, the board of directors had made moves he never would have countenanced and would have acted to prevent. As such he wanted to bring them to justice and he figured the best way to break the board of directors was to name and shame them, hence why he'd approached Lois in the first place. Lois learned that Bruce's sense of justice was even why he purchased the Daily Planet in the first place. With LexCorp building up its own news services and many wealthy individuals in Gotham investing in the existing news networks there, Bruce wanted to preserve a place for honest journalism to act as a check and a potential spotlight to keep all sorts of powerful but unethical people at least toeing the line.
Lois enjoyed working with Bruce. He was passionate, charismatic and intelligent. More than that he respected Lois and trusted her to do the right thing. They meshed well personality-wise and Lois found herself somewhat falling for him. After the first article, Lois and Bruce had ended up deciding to date for a little bit. They'd kept it subtle so that the tabloids wouldn't pick up on it, but Lois was honestly contemplating seeing how things would go. Bruce was honest, charming, sophisticated and good looking. She enjoyed her dates with him and it was nice to be appreciated. Lois wasn't sure if she wanted to move to Gotham or anything, but she was interested in continuing the relationship with Bruce.
Lois had kept on working with Bruce. They both wanted Wayne Enterprises to reverse their decision to effectively hold medical suppliers hostage in order to raise their own profit margins, and so Lois was working with him on a massive expose. Compared to the frustration that was trying to figure out how to get into the black boxes that made up LexCorp, having access to all of Wayne Enterprises made things practically a cakewalk. Lois was happy with the way things were going.
Lois ended up spending a lot of time with Bruce and despite all the doubts Lois had begun to have about Superman as of late, it was nice to know that someone out there was fighting for truth, justice and a better tomorrow. Of course their time dating wasn't always peaceful as it was after one of their dates the Joker decided to put on a show for all of Metropolis
The date itself was a fairly impromptu thing, they'd gone together to a five star restaurant that prided itself on catering to celebrity clientele's need for privacy, enjoyed a nice meal and gone to watch a movie together back at Bruce's hotel room. As they slowly settled on what to watch and began enjoy each other's presence, the tv signal was quickly hijacked.
Quickly as the static faded and the image became clearer, both Lois and Bruce were stunned by what they saw.
"Good evening Metropolis!" The Joker preened. He appeared to be in some kind of warehouse and most disturbing of all Superman appeared to be chained up and tied to some kind of tower of pylons behind him with something taped to his chest. "Don't touch that dial! We've got a TV special here that no one's going to want to miss!"
Bruce had the presence of mind to grab the tv remote and attempt to change the channel but no matter what channel they were on, the Joker's message continued to play. Lois managed to put together what the tower of pylons was, a tv broadcast tower. Bruce's test had confirmed that somehow the Joker had hijacked the local airwaves by directly messing with the signal the broadcast tower was putting out.
"Tonight I hijack your idiot boxes in service of a good cause. Superman's life hangs in the balance and only you, fair citizens of Metropolis can save the flying blue lummox." Joker continued to grandstand as a woman dressed in a form-fitting jester's costume, with white make up and a mask, sauntered behind him carrying a placard. "Our goal to night is to raise 10 million dollars for the life of Superman. If we don't have that money by midnight, I'm afraid Superman is done for"
The woman in the jester's costume promptly flipped around the placard and on it Lois could make out a graphic stating the Joker's goal of 10 million dollars as well as a column for both 'save' and 'kill'.
"Of course if for some reason you don't want spaceman Supes to survive, you can donate to our 'kill Superman' fund" The Joker bombastically declared "For every dollar and cent you donate, the people wanting to save the man of steel will need to match that payment on top of the initial 10 million"
The Joker let out a laugh as Lois looked at Bruce who was glaring at the television screen intensely. Lois tried to comfort him a bit by holding his hand. Bruce looked at her for a moment and let his gaze soften before grasping her hand firmly and returning to look at the TV.
"Our operators are standing by so don't hesitate to donate now!" The Joker concluded before the camera zoomed in to his face. "And for those of you who wish to donate in person I regret to inform you that anyone who approaches the broadcast tower will cause the program and Superman to be terminated prematurely."
Lois and Bruce discussed what was going on and how to handle things. Bruce was going to use his connections to try and handle things while Lois would begin to investigate the situation from closer afield. Their date would be cut short but before Lois left to head out to the field, Bruce provided her with a small device that upon being activated would let him know that she thought she was in danger. If Bruce saw this he'd rush to come help her.
Lois appreciated the offer and took the device. She then headed out into the field to try and get to figuring out how exactly the Joker had managed to take down Superman and what was going on in the first place here.
Mina Chaytan
Mina was at the end of the day a student of history. Admittedly her work oftentimes fell more on the anthropological side of things but one couldn't learn about the culture of her people and not learn of the history of the United States and the land it was built upon. The Luthor's were present in the story of the nation. Not always front and center but you could generally find them if you were digging deep enough. Upon running into Luthor and being given her offer of employment, Mina had begun to do her research.
Alexander "Lex" Luthor was the latest in a long line of Luthors. His mother, Lilian Luthor came from nothing and died when he was young, followed shortly by his grandmother, Lorelei Luthor. His father, Lionel Luthor was a fairly notable figure in the modern day history of Metropolis, though it was difficult to determine what stories were accurate and what was apocryphal solely through research via second-hand sources. Mina could have dug further if she wished, using her ability to commune with spirits but she was only interested in the family history as a means to get a sense of who Lex Luthor was.
Lex Luthor did his best to keep some element of privacy and the man did his best to control his image and keep views of him generally positive. Mina read through what she could on him, including that which his detractors said, but in the end it was his hiring practices that gave the most away. Lex Luthor liked to keep his employees loyal. He found those society in some way disregarded and discarded and then gave them what they wanted. Money, respect, stability and more, Lex dispensed a fraction of his resources in terms of granting this to his people and in turn they loyally followed his commands. It appeared to pay dividends for the man thus far.
Even more interestingly, Lex Luthor appeared to be willing to give his employees a lot of leeway in seeing what they wanted occur. The man outright said as much in Mina's discussion with him regarding the job, but the amount of products coming out of something like Lightyear Entertainment that appeared to be more or less passion projects, or the green initiatives adopted after Pamela Isley joined the company suggested that it wasn't merely braggadocio on Luthor's part.
Mina would certainly appreciate having LexCorp's backing for her project, namely the preservation and protection of her people's culture and history. It was why she'd gotten her professorship in the first place. At the time it seemed the best way to gain access to things and be able to remove them from environments where ignorant rubes would tarnish and destroy them. Of course professorship came with its own problems. There was the usual politics and stupidity interfering with her work but Mina oftentimes found it just as irritating that she needed to teach students who very clearly didn't want to be there.
For all that Mina was for the preservation and protection of her people's history and culture, she felt no need to share them with others. Those not descended from those who came before the Europeans had no right to the information and Mina felt no obligation to teach ignorant hicks. Those that sought to learn were fine, but it was not something Mina was obligated to do. If she could cut out everyone but herself in the process of preserving culture and history she would have. As such the fact that her classes were filled with people seeking to get an easy grade, treating the subject matter as a joke only resulted in Mina being infuriated at the whelps wasting her time. It was something she definitely wouldn't miss about academia.
In that sense Luthor was ideal. The fact that being able to preserve the artifacts and the history could be justified as providing her with ways to increase her magical capabilities. The remnants of her people wouldn't be available for all to see but they would remain and Mina would be able to access them.
Mina would admit that this did feel a touch like selling out, but in the United States there wasn't a way to live with any real power without selling out in some capacity. Mina could have lived a life sticking her head in the sand, pretending that the reservation was anything more than pity and a method of containment, but the death of her father and the way the system ignored it all proved that wrong. Mina could have attempted to rage against the system to attempt to burn it all down in the hopes of something better and new rising from the ashes, but Mina was also aware that such an attempt would almost certainly end up with her killed and nothing changing. And so Mina sold out. She still had principles and lines she couldn't cross, but you had to give to receive in order to make anything happen one way or another. And so LexCorp was the group she ended up signing on with.
She knew their history, the history of the people in control and was willing to work with rather than against. She could swallow her anger at anything that annoyed her, prove herself useful and capable and then get what she wanted out of the deal. Mina didn't really care about LexCorp, about Metropolis or even most people. She cared about her goals and LexCorp made for an excellent cudgel against the system. Stay within its lane, feed the beast its meals, and you could move through the system in ways previously impossible.
Mina ended up agreeing and subsequently headed out to Metropolis. It was the best choice for seeing what she wanted get done. As she entered a city of gleaming chrome, Mina reviewed what her responsibilities at LexCorp would be. She'd almost certainly be asked to perform rituals and create magical items. Lex Luthor had the resources for the more high end rituals and Mina was fairly confident that a businessman wouldn't pass on the ability to sell people a limited amount of magic for a price. Beyond that her work as a superhero on this new team LexCorp was funding would likely involve more immediate applications of magical might, shapeshifting, weather manipulation and maybe speaking to spirits to find unknown information. Mina had control over her costume and image at least so it would be tolerable enough. Besides while superheroics wasn't especially appealing to Mina, it wasn't intolerable and was a reasonable enough use of her capabilities.
Mina didn't mind the obligations that came with the job, she'd looked into things as best she could and found it all agreeable enough to sign on. There were irritants of course but when Mina sent in her letter of resignation she was confident that she was moving up in the world. She'd ended up using a little bit of hypnotism and a bit of pressure from LexCorp to get out faster but she was confident that everything would go well enough.
Mina wasn't a pawn, but at the same time she was more interested in learning history than making history. So long as she got what she wanted, and LexCorp let her live as she pleased and let her preserve her people's past history, she didn't really care all that much about what they had her doing at large. Mina was content with things being that way.
Beatriz Da Costa
Beatriz couldn't help but be jubilant in the past few days. She'd done it, she'd hit the big time. Beatriz liked being a hero and she wanted to help people in a way that she couldn't have back when she was operating in Brazil. LexCorp's newest campaign had already gotten her name out there, and while she hadn't done anything too incredible just yet, it was still incredible to see that people knew who Fire was and she was getting recognition for helping to save the day.
Even more impressive was the formation of Bastion. Sure China had their own superteam but this new LexCorp team was international in a way nothing had ever been before. While a LexCorp team had strong US roots, half the founding roster wasn't American and Beatriz couldn't help but find that incredible. Beatriz had been pouring over the documents about how exactly things would work and she was very excited to see how things would go. Obviously there would be some kinks that would need ironing out but still it was world changing news and Beatriz got to be a part of it as well.
Beatriz liked and got along with pretty much all of her teammates and she was excited to get to work alongside them. They'd fairly quickly elected Ultraviolet as the person they wanted as chairman, though Mina had notably abstained from voting, and Beatriz was pretty confident she would be approved by LexCorp. Beatriz also generally liked the support teams as well. The tech guys knew how to make things easy to understand for her, and the image people generally listened and worked with her rather than against her. Admittedly it was almost certainly because it was primarily LexCorp workers as of now but still it was an achievement for a fledgling organization to have so many things working and working well.
Admittedly Beatriz was less excited about Edward Nygma's involvement. Objectively she understood the whole "hero intelligence officer" thing but Edward Nygma often took to lording things over others and making things unnecessarily complicated. She could deal with it but she hoped that Nygma could eventually get replaced. She'd wait until Nygma did anything egregious and the team was a bit more stable before bringing it up, but she'd do so eventually.
Beatriz often spent time celebrating with her friends and teammates as the organization got off the ground. Not too much but it was hard not to feel euphoric as the world was changing, in Beatriz's opinion for the better, now that people were attempting to make teams to pool superhero resources and help the whole world. It was exciting and while the work would no doubt be coming in soon, and Beatriz would need to work hard to ensure that everything continued to work out as well as it did, for now Bastion had taken the first steps forward and Beatriz could celebrate being a part of something great.
Nathan Craig Jones AKA Coldcast
Nathan was a simple guy. Sure he had some crazy powers but that didn't make him complicated, it just meant he could beat up anyone who thought they could mess with him. Fact of the matter was, Nathan had the ability to choose whatever he wanted to do in life, because he had enough power that no one could stop him. Nathan decided he wanted to be a hero.
Sure he could've become the greatest gang lord in all of Chicago, nobody could step to him with his powers, but at the same time that wasn't what his powers were for. He'd gotten them after losing his eye in a fight to protect his brother. His powers made him the strongest guy there was, but the fact that he got them while protecting his little brother was a sign for what his powers were meant to be used for. Nathan took up name Coldcast and decided he was going to be a hero.
That didn't mean Nathan wanted to be some kind of superpowered cop, going around into neighborhoods he didn't understand and trying to police them. Nathan wasn't exactly made for that and it almost certainly was going to end ugly. Yeah if the world needed saving from aliens or something, Coldcast would show up wherever people needed him to be a hero, but on the day to day Nathan wanted to stick close to home and deal with the stuff he knew.
If there hadn't been a bunch of laws about needing a sponsor if you wanted to be a superhero then Nathan would've just started being a vigilante but cause of the law he needed some kind of sponsor. Nathan didn't really know the ins and outs of the law, and there wasn't exactly anyone he saw day to day that could help him with that but he did know that LexCorp sponsored a whole bunch of superheroes as of late. As such he'd ended up speaking with them. Things initially hadn't worked out but he'd gotten into contact with a bunch of people and managed to arrange a meeting.
As such Nathan was now sitting in a derilict coffeeshop wearing his old suit hoping to make a good impression. Nathan didn't exactly wear suits in the day to day but he figured if he was talking to a bunch of corporate types, it might be best to try and meet them on their level rather than be out and out himself from the get-go, boost his odds of getting them to not judge him off his looks first thing.
It took a bit but Nathan quickly spotted a pair of chicks in suits and what looked like a little kid dressed up for a funeral following them. That was the people he was supposed to be meeting. Nobody that nicely dressed, came into an empty building without having another reason for it. There was some introductions and Nathan learned that the kid was apparently some kind of super-genius cause she had an important position with LexCorp's marketing, and one of the two chicks was named Lucy and apparently she was a big shot lawyer. Nathan didn't know what the other woman, Rene did, but he didn't feel too much of a need to ask. They were taking this seriously and Nathan didn't want to out any ignorance or stupidity on his part. He could try that whole fake it till you make it type of deal.
They got to talking and Nathan quickly figured out that there was some kind of disconnect between him and them. They got to talking about economic opportunities and investment in the city and it sounded nice, but Nathan wasn't going to trust a lawyer and a PR person just cause they could make things sound nice. He instead got to talking about what he wanted and what he needed.
Nathan wanted to mostly stay in Chicago cause that's what he knew and the place he knew how to help. He was fine with going to other cities on a semi-regular basis, but he still wanted to be able to spend at least half of his time in Chicago, unless there were emergencies in which case dealing with those took priority, and he wanted to be partnered with at least one other superhero when deployed there. Nathan knew he didn't have the time to learn about each place and he knew rushing in without context and his powers could lead to him messing things up. It'd be better if there was another superhero with more education giving him orders so he could do his job well even if the context and the people were unfamiliar.
Nathan didn't care about a tower in Chicago and he didn't need someone else building a house for him. What Nathan wanted was a place to practice with his powers and a fund for his younger brother's education. The rest could be dealt with later. Nathan was broadly fine with working with LexCorp, he wanted to be able to give two weeks notice if for some reason shit didn't work out but for the most part things sounded pretty good to him.
Rene smiled at him when Nathan got done explaining what he wanted and Nathan couldn't help but feel relieved he hadn't messed anything up. If people were smiling that meant they weren't angry about him wanting something different from what they wanted.
Centurion
Centurion was cautious about the deal he was being presented with. It seemed almost too good to be true but it was there in writing. Centurion was not all that familiar with contracts. Sure he could orate but that didn't exactly translate to knowing what was good or bad for work. LexCorp seemed to be good and the deal they were offering seemed to be good, but if things that always seemed good were, liars wouldn't be able to get anywhere. Centurion had approached LexCorp with a very similar offer but he wanted to make sure that the company wasn't trying to take advantage of his relative inexperience with contracts or labor negotiations.
As such Centurion did not immediately agree to said deal even if he'd already gotten most of what he wanted. It was better to check to see if there was anything going on with that modified term in order to determine just how good it was.
As such before Centurion agreed to anything he asked a few questions regarding what it meant that he couldn't undermine the team's collective image. Was he unable to say anything negative about the team? Was he unable to criticize LexCorp or LexCorp affiliates due to that reflecting badly on the team? Was he obligated to pretend to be a team member's friend if said team member lied about it publicly? Perhaps it was a little pedantic but Centurion wanted that clarified before he agreed to anything. From there Centurion would decide if he wanted to take the deal or if he wanted to attempt further negotiations.
Centurion was rather fond of freedom of speech and he knew exactly how frustrating it could be to be unable to speak your mind but at the same time a lot of it didn't intuitively jump to him. As such he wished to have the altered term clarified before he made any commitments one way or another.
Besides in a subtle way this was a test to see how well he could actually mesh in LexCorp. How well would they explain things and how would they react to being asked to explain? Centurion had no doubt that he'd ask plenty of questions about the modern day and so showing his hand early and revealing that he'd want to no more about plenty of things would help show if he would be a good fit or not.
Count Vertigo
Count Vertigo did not enjoy his trips to the United States. The flights were always miserable and the entire country was a barbarous backwards place. While there was no questioning that the US was a superpower, the fact that it prided itself on apparently being a democracy, where the idiotic rabble got to drag their superiors down with them always turned Vertigo's stomach ever so slightly.
Of course all that being said, when Lex Luthor insisted on a meeting Count Vertigo couldn't refuse. Lex Luthor was the closest thing the United States had to a nobleman, and more importantly he was Count Vertigo's ally and the one with far more power and control between the two of them. While Count Vertigo had secured plenty of power and a stable future for Vlatava under his reign, if he offended Lex Luthor, Vertigo had no doubt that suddenly every rebel force and neighboring country would suddenly be armed with cutting edge technology. Serial Peacemaking was a useful tool and Count Vertigo had no interest in seeing what would happen if Lex Luthor's private military company suddenly switched sides and started spilling secrets. No, Count Vertigo had no option but to do what Lex Luthor wanted.
Count Vertigo was determined to get this done quick. He didn't actually want the peace negotiations to succeed and he was confident that the people he'd left behind could at least stall till he returned, but every day he was out of the country was another day his schemes could go awry. He'd speak to Luthor, get things out of the way and then hopefully be able to arrange things just right as things came to a close.
Count Vertigo covertly made his way to Lex Luthor's office and as he arrived in place he was surprised by the presence of a small Asian child. After the opening pleasantries of conversation, Lex Luthor introduced the girl as his adopted daughter who was apparently here to watch and learn. Count Vertigo found it disappointing that the man adopted, blood was what defined a family but if he wanted to squander a legacy by not passing on his heritage to those that came after him, and instead let cuckoos into his nest, Count Vertigo wouldn't say anything one way or another. Offending Luthor would almost certainly result in issues later down the line.
The girl didn't do much, merely pulling out a notepad and pen and every so often her eyes would dart around the room taking everything in. She seemed competent enough and she wouldn't actively be disturbing anything and so Count Vertigo proceeded to begin with the meeting.
Zatanna Zatara
Zatanna was back in Metropolis. It was a picturesque sort of winter, mild enough to be easy enough to deal with if you put on some boots and a warm coat, but still cold enough that snow was still giving a light coating to the city as a whole. Zatanna found she rather enjoyed being back here as she went over the magical defenses LexCorp had in place for their tower. It was rather calm all things considered.
She finished checking the magical defenses LexCorp had in place around their tower, making sure that nothing was outright destroyed or decayed and headed back inside. She'd already given her gift to Lex, the three enchanted watches were accepted and appreciated as a gift and while they'd chatted for a bit, the actual substance of the meeting would be today.
Zatanna wasn't too worried about things, she was here to help pay back Lex. She wasn't going to be stupid about it but she was ultimately here to help and she doubted Lex would make things unnecessarily difficult. And so as Zatanna made her way to Lex Luthor's office she was fairly relaxed, taking off her coat and lounging in one of the chairs he had in his office.
"It's good to see you again" Lex opened, a small smirk on his face "though I have to admit I was not expecting you to arrange a meeting with me"
Zatanna smiled back.
"Just because I didn't sign on to work with you as a superheroine doesn't mean I didn't want to keep working with you" Zatanna responded "I appreciate you helping me out with the legal side of things, it's made things easier on that front"
Lex remained unmoved, still slightly smirking.
"I figured it was the least I could do to help." Lex magnanimously responded "Though I will admit to being surprised at you potentially wanting to put on a mask and fight crime"
Zatanna shrugged.
"It's less that I want to and more that I might need to" Zatanna replied "There's a lot of nasty magical entities out there and as someone with the training and expertise to handle them sometimes I might need to step in and save the day. I don't want to make it my day job but if I need to I'm willing to step up and do what needs to be done. Having you cover the potential legal ramifications is helpful on that front."
"Speaking of superheroics" Lex pivoted "I'm actually quite curious as to how you'll handle being a member of Bastion. I'm happy you agreed but none of the other individuals I've recruited are celebrities in their civilian lives, are you sure you'll be fine without additional support?".
Zatanna appreciated the attempt to help. It wasn't needed but it helped validate to her that Lex genuinely was interested in working with her.
"I've got a trick or two to keep my identities separate" Zatanna admitted "I have been debating if I want to indulge in a costume and a name, but I'll speak with the image people at Bastion before committing to anything now"
Admittedly Zatanna was fairly confident that her idea would be accepted. She knew showmanship and public appeal and while she'd never been a superhero before she knew enough about managing her own image that she was confident she could handle it. A small glamor to keep people from recognizing her and a costume switch and Zatanna was confident she'd be able to keep her civillian and superhero life seperate. She was admittedly considering throwing a cape into her costume. Zatanna had already established a look for herself as a magician so it might be fun to go with something a little more extra than what she usually wore.
The conversation then shifted to the handling of various potential magical threats and what Zatanna expected to come up if Bastion ended up getting involved with it. Zatanna did her best to answer but she admitted openly that part of why she'd agreed to join the team was due to not being able to answer things without knowing specifics of the situation as a lot of magic was highly contextual.
The conversation moved onwards when Lex floated the idea of Zatanna going to work for LexCorp part-time in order to assist them in handling the difficult matters of magic. Zatanna didn't let her smile dim even if she was grimacing on the inside. She wracked her brain to see what she could come up with. Zatanna wasn't really interested in doing work outside of her job as an entertainer, but at the same time she didn't want to completely deny Lex yet again, she owed him something at least. Zatanna demurred a bit before she came up with a solution.
"I'd be willing to do it" Zatanna eventually conceded, "but it'd come with a few caveats"
Lex Luthor's eyes gleamed as the negotiation moved forwards in earnest.
"Any of the work I did would be in place of time I would otherwise spend supporting Bastion" Zatanna began. The fact of the matter was that Zatanna didn't have the time to handle her show, a job at LexCorp and a position on a superhero team. On of those things had to give and Zatanna wasn't giving up her magic show any time soon.
"I will be paid, listed and registered under an alias" Zatanna continued "And I will not do any part time work that involves my image outside of LexCorp. I will not do public appearances and I will be kept out of the public's eye at this point in time"
Lex appeared to ponder this before he ended up giving his response.
Funnyface Prison Decision subvote
You have Funnyface in your custody and you've managed to learn a decent amount about him. William Herge does not strike you as an exceptionally useful individual. The man didn't know how he got his powers and in addition his strong anti-corporation bent meant he likely wouldn't be pliable to your own uses of his own free will. That being said his powers were useful enough that you could see the benefit in subverting his mind and making use of his powers. Ultimately it would be your call to make as to what the best option was. Please pick your favorite option from the list below. Write-ins are available for this subvote but as always all write-ins are subject to QM approval. As always there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [FFPD] Turn Funnyface over to the authorities covertly
[ ] [FFPD] Turn Funnyface over to the authorities in a public spectacle to celebrate your superheroes' capabilities and successes
[ ] [FFPD] Keep Funnyface locked up against his will in an attempt to study him
[ ] [FFPD] Attempt to use the Merlino mind control device to forcefully make Funnyface into a loyal minion
[ ] [FFPD] Attempt to use the pheromone spray to influence Funnyface before releasing him back onto the streets
[ ] [FFPD] Attempt to covertly ship Funnyface to Bialya
[ ] [FFPD] Attempt to have Pamela mind control Funnyface
[ ] [FFPD] Write-in
Coldcast Counteroffer subvote
In speaking with Coldcast, the man has outed himself as a bit of a simpleton. Almost all of your offers regarding the prosperity of Chicago were brushed off and instead Coldcast offered you a counter-offer that from your perspective required even less of a commitment. Coldcast wanted was to spend at least half his time in Chicago, wanted a place to practice with his powers, wanted funding for his younger brother's education and wanted to be deployed with another superhero giving him orders when outside of Chicago. The requirement to have another superhero deployed with him to give him orders was a sign that you could very, very easily manipulate him if need be. Coldcast was not a shrewd negotiator and you were fairly confident you could get him to agree to an even worse deal for himself. The question was how far exactly did you want to push? Please pick your favorite option from the list below. Write-ins are required for one option but as always all write-ins are subject to QM approval. As ever there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [CC] Accept Coldcast's counter offer as is
[ ] [CC] Offer your own counteroffer (this option requires you to write-in your counter offer)
[ ] [CC] Reject Coldcast's counteroffer and end negotiation
Centurion Speech subvote
Centurion has proven to be a difficult individual to negotiate with. Despite having reached agreement on most of your terms, he has spent time quibbling and asking for clarification on the one term you altered in your counter offer. Specifically Centurion wanted to know what it meant that he couldn't undermine the team's collective image. Would he be unable to say anything negative about the team? Would he be unable to criticize LexCorp or LexCorp affiliates due to that reflecting badly on the team? Would he be obligated to pretend to be a team member's friend if said team member lied about it publicly? With Centurion asking for more information you'd need to provide a response if you wanted to get him on board. Write-ins are required for one option of the two below but as always all write-ins are subject to QM approval. As always there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [CS] Write-in an explanation of what it means that Centurion cannot undermine the Team's collective image
[ ] [CS] Cease negotiating with Centurion
Meeting with Count Vertigo subvote
Count Vertigo has flown out of Vlatava to meet with you. Cassandra is in attendance for this meeting and it'll be your opportunity to ensure that you and Count Vertigo remain on the same page moving forwards from here. As such it's up to you to determine what the topics of conversation will be. Please pick as many options as you would like to from the list below. Be aware both that write-ins are strongly encouraged for this subvote and that the more subjects you vote for, the less likely you are to get all of them. All write-ins are as ever subject to QM approval. As always there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [CV] Discuss Queen Perdita's education
[ ] [CV] Discuss the peace negotiations
[ ] [CV] Discuss Metagene research
[ ] [CV] Discuss testing stolen Atlantean devices in Vlatava
[ ] [CV] Discuss Vertigo's quixium experiments
[ ] [CV] Discuss the castle Vertigo will be sending to you
[ ] [CV] Discuss installing a Zeta beam transmat stations
[ ] [CV] Write-in
Zatanna Contract subvote
Zatanna has met with you and while you haven't gone through too much with her, you have once again floated the idea of her working part time for Lexcorp. This time Zatanna has tentatively agreed, albeit with some caveats. Namely the time she spends working for LexCorp would come from time she otherwise would've spent being part of Bastion. Zatanna also wants her employment by LexCorp to be obscured and she insists on using an alias of some kind within the company. Lastly Zatanna does not want to do any public appearances as a LexCorp employee and refuses to let LexCorp use any of her public image. It's a deal that comes with caveats but it is forwards progression in getting Zatanna to work for you. Now you just have to decide if the deal is worth taking. Please pick your favorite option from the list below. Write-ins are required for one of the options but as always all write-ins require QM approval. As always there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [ZC] Accept Zatanna's offered employment deal
[ ] [ZC] Attempt a counteroffer (this option requires you to write-in a counteroffer)
[ ] [ZC] Pass on Zatanna's current deal and move to other subjects
[X] [IL] Plan Better Rifles
-[X] [IL] Improve laser firepower (3 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly) X 2
-[X] [IL] Improve laser precision (3 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly) X 2
-[X] [IL] Lower laser energy cost (5 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly)
-[X] [IL] Increase laser ease of repair (4 points) (this option can be taken multiple times)
-[X] [IL] Improve laser cost (3 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly) X 2
[X] [Bone] Plan a Medical Miracle
-[X] [Bone] No visible deformities (30 points) (this option is mutually exclusive with any option that involves more extensive bone shape alterations)
-[X] [Bone] Lighter bones (5 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly) X2
-[X] [Bone] Reduced required calcium intake (2 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly)
-[X] [Bone] Improved rate of regeneration (1 point) (this option can be taken up to 17 times)
[X] [Policy] Plan International Cooperation
- [X] [Policy] Bastion is an international superhero team that where possible works in conjunction with but is not subservient to the appropriate authorities.
-[X] [Policy] Two positions will be created from within the ranks of Lexcorp to help Bastion. These positions are not a part of the team but are officially under Lexcorp's employ and are charged with aiding the team and managing their needs.
--[X] [Policy] Hero Operations Director: oversees all superhero activities within Lexcorp, including but not limited to recruitment, logistics, establishing mission protocols, and public relations. Will also serve as the liaison between superheroes and Lexcorp. Appointed: Brittney Meld
-- [X] [Policy] Hero Intelligence Officer: manages intelligence, including background checks, information security, and investigative support. Appointed: Edward Nygma.
- [X] [Policy] The team itself will be helmed by chairman with the position being indefinite outside of abdication, LexCorp choosing to remove them or a majority vote of no confidence by the rest of the team. In which case a new chairman shall be selected by LexCorp though a non-binding election may be held by the team to gather opinions.
- [X] [Policy] All team members must sign an NDA to ensure they do not disclose secret identities or LexCorp secrets.
- [X] [Policy] Any hero may apply for membership and countries can put forth heroes for consideration but all will be subject to a background check and LexCorp retains the right to refuse membership.
- [X] [Policy] Countries may choose to contribute funding and personnel for a dedicated Bastion/LexCorp facility to be built and maintained there.
- [X] [Policy] LexCorp retains the rights to all heroes in regards to association with Bastion itself. Outside of that heroes may choose to retain the rights to their own image and brand but in exchange for selling it to LexCorp would be granted access to LexCorp's PR team, image consultants and a cut of all profits while still having a saying how their image is used.
- [X] [Policy] Similarly, any hero that depends on/utilises technology may choose to entrust LexCorp with maintenance of them in exchange for LexCorp being granted the right to study and potentially attempt to replicate the technology in question. Should the research in question lead to any breakthroughs the hero shall receive at least partial credit and a cut of any profit. However, should a hero refuse this service they will still be granted access to LexCorp equipment and facilities to conduct their own repairs and maintenance.
- [X] [Policy] Bastion members are to seek approval for any unscheduled public appearances or political statements. Should they not receive approval they may still go through with it but must make it clear that they are not acting on behalf of Bastion or LexCorp and that their views are not necessarily shared with either group.
[X] [Team] Plan Grateful Eight
-[X] [Team] Ultraviolet
-[X] [Team] Fire
-[X] [Team] Ice
-[X] [Team] Nightshade
-[X] [Team] Mina Chaytan
-[X] [Team] Silver Banshee
-[X] [Team] Roxanne Sutton
-[X] [Team] Zatanna Zatara
[X] [CC] Promise Coldcast that he will not have to permanently leave Chicago, pointing out that Ultraviolet still lives in her hometown, but he will have to be willing to at least temporarily visit other cities across the US or even the world. In exchange for him agreeing to that, agreeing to work for LexCorp and to join Bastion we promise to build a tower in Chicago that would contain a residence for Coldcast and any family he may have should he choose to use it, to invest in the city's economy and hint that we have a way to significantly reduce the time it would take him to get to and from the city.
[X] [CN] Attempt to offer Centurion a counter-offer: Centurion will work as a LexCorp Superhero and receive the standard wage of the average Lexcorp security worker, as he is in the business of protecting people. He shall have his severance clause in the exact terms presented. He shall have control over his own image, but cannot undermine the teams own collective image.
[X] [Crooks] Plan Supervillain Shuffle
-[X] [Crooks] Send the survivalists and unnamed criminals to the usual holding facilities. Ask Queen Bee if she would have any interest in some of the superpowered criminals and if so transfer them to her via Zeta Tube, if not then attempt to covertly move them to a secret US government holding facility.
[X] [MM] Plan You'll Love Working Here
-[X] [MM] Ask Zatanna to take a part time position at LexCorp
-[X] [MM] Inform Zatanna about Trigon but let her come to her own conclusions.
-[X] [MM] Offer to let Zatanna spend the day with Jinx
[X] [School] Actively assist Diana in pushing for a second school on the outskirts of Alexandria and offer to help fund it in exchange for having it be named after Lorelei Luthor.
[X] [Vertigo] Have Lex Luthor meet with Count Vertigo with Cassandra also attending.
[X] [R&R] Plan Rebuilding and Preparing for the Future
-[X] [R&R] Synch Metropolis's traffic light system to make it more efficient (5 points)
-[X] [R&R] Improve Metropolis' roads (3 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Improve Metropolis' water supply systems (2 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Improve Metropolis' lighting systems (4 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Improve Metropolis' sewer systems (2 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Further improve Metropolis' public transportation system (4 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Continue to alter the city's archetecture to be more in line with LexCorp towers and to make the city look more uniform and orderly (1 point)
-[X] [R&R] Build a city wide announcement/alarm system (4 points)
-[X] [R&R] Set up wards that benefit LexCorp wherever reasonably possible (35 points)
-[X] [R&R] Improve Metropolis' electrical systems (7 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Build a citywide surveillance system (9 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Begin introducing kryptonite powered streetlights (5 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Make it easier for LexCorp drones to land on various buildings (2 points) X3
[X] [Promote] Plan Teamwork
- [X] [Promote] Promote Ice and Fire as international heroines willing to work to stop the big world ending threat and move superheroics into a more global direction.
- [X] [Promote] Promote all of your heroes as greater than the sum of their parts and more effective as a team
- [X] [Promote] Promote Nightshade as a hero willing to get her hands dirty to get the job done
[X] [Lab] Plan Every Little Helps
- [X] [Lab] Kryptonite
--[X] [Equipment] Cell phone integration (37 points)
-- [X] [Equipment] More monitoring (6 points can be taken repeatedly) × 2
- [X] [Lab] Demonology
-- [X] [Equipment] Better data monitoring and collection (9 points)
-- [X] [Equipment] Automated assistance (12 points, can be taken repeatedly)
-- [X] [Equipment] Isolation (3 points)
- [X] [Lab] Wards
-- [X] [Equipment] High powered computers (20 points)
-- [X] [Equipment] More monitoring (4 points can be taken repeatedly)
[X] [Location] Plan Coast to Coast
- [X] [Location] LexCorp tower in Alexandria
- [X] [Location] LexCorp tower in Tokyo
- [X] [Location] Ferris Aerospace in Coast City
- [X] [Location] LexCorp tower in Rome
[X] [Tower] Plan Safe and Secure
-[X] [Tower] Install more security around the zeta beam transmat station (6 points) (can be taken repeatedly)
- [X] [Tower] Set up an additional layer of wards around the floor on which Raven's room is on (3 points) (can be taken up to 4 times) X 3
- [X] [Tower] Move Jade's room to a larger more luxurious room (17 points)
[X] [Thief] Allow Talia to handle him as she pleases. Indicate that you wish him to have sufficient reason to regret his previous life choices, and that you want him to serve as a cautionary tale to those criminals who might think to follow his example.
[X] [Austria] Accept Austria's offered deal
-[X] [IL] Improve laser firepower (3 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly) X 2
-[X] [IL] Improve laser precision (3 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly) X 2
-[X] [IL] Lower laser energy cost (5 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly)
-[X] [IL] Increase laser ease of repair (4 points) (this option can be taken multiple times)
-[X] [IL] Improve laser cost (3 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly) X 2
[X] [Bone] Plan a Medical Miracle
-[X] [Bone] No visible deformities (30 points) (this option is mutually exclusive with any option that involves more extensive bone shape alterations)
-[X] [Bone] Lighter bones (5 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly) X2
-[X] [Bone] Reduced required calcium intake (2 points) (this option can be taken repeatedly)
-[X] [Bone] Improved rate of regeneration (1 point) (this option can be taken up to 17 times)
[X] [Policy] Plan International Cooperation
- [X] [Policy] Bastion is an international superhero team that where possible works in conjunction with but is not subservient to the appropriate authorities.
-[X] [Policy] Two positions will be created from within the ranks of Lexcorp to help Bastion. These positions are not a part of the team but are officially under Lexcorp's employ and are charged with aiding the team and managing their needs.
--[X] [Policy] Hero Operations Director: oversees all superhero activities within Lexcorp, including but not limited to recruitment, logistics, establishing mission protocols, and public relations. Will also serve as the liaison between superheroes and Lexcorp. Appointed: Brittney Meld
-- [X] [Policy] Hero Intelligence Officer: manages intelligence, including background checks, information security, and investigative support. Appointed: Edward Nygma.
- [X] [Policy] The team itself will be helmed by chairman with the position being indefinite outside of abdication, LexCorp choosing to remove them or a majority vote of no confidence by the rest of the team. In which case a new chairman shall be selected by LexCorp though a non-binding election may be held by the team to gather opinions.
- [X] [Policy] All team members must sign an NDA to ensure they do not disclose secret identities or LexCorp secrets.
- [X] [Policy] Any hero may apply for membership and countries can put forth heroes for consideration but all will be subject to a background check and LexCorp retains the right to refuse membership.
- [X] [Policy] Countries may choose to contribute funding and personnel for a dedicated Bastion/LexCorp facility to be built and maintained there.
- [X] [Policy] LexCorp retains the rights to all heroes in regards to association with Bastion itself. Outside of that heroes may choose to retain the rights to their own image and brand but in exchange for selling it to LexCorp would be granted access to LexCorp's PR team, image consultants and a cut of all profits while still having a saying how their image is used.
- [X] [Policy] Similarly, any hero that depends on/utilises technology may choose to entrust LexCorp with maintenance of them in exchange for LexCorp being granted the right to study and potentially attempt to replicate the technology in question. Should the research in question lead to any breakthroughs the hero shall receive at least partial credit and a cut of any profit. However, should a hero refuse this service they will still be granted access to LexCorp equipment and facilities to conduct their own repairs and maintenance.
- [X] [Policy] Bastion members are to seek approval for any unscheduled public appearances or political statements. Should they not receive approval they may still go through with it but must make it clear that they are not acting on behalf of Bastion or LexCorp and that their views are not necessarily shared with either group.
[X] [Team] Plan Grateful Eight
-[X] [Team] Ultraviolet
-[X] [Team] Fire
-[X] [Team] Ice
-[X] [Team] Nightshade
-[X] [Team] Mina Chaytan
-[X] [Team] Silver Banshee
-[X] [Team] Roxanne Sutton
-[X] [Team] Zatanna Zatara
[X] [CC] Promise Coldcast that he will not have to permanently leave Chicago, pointing out that Ultraviolet still lives in her hometown, but he will have to be willing to at least temporarily visit other cities across the US or even the world. In exchange for him agreeing to that, agreeing to work for LexCorp and to join Bastion we promise to build a tower in Chicago that would contain a residence for Coldcast and any family he may have should he choose to use it, to invest in the city's economy and hint that we have a way to significantly reduce the time it would take him to get to and from the city.
[X] [CN] Attempt to offer Centurion a counter-offer: Centurion will work as a LexCorp Superhero and receive the standard wage of the average Lexcorp security worker, as he is in the business of protecting people. He shall have his severance clause in the exact terms presented. He shall have control over his own image, but cannot undermine the teams own collective image.
[X] [Crooks] Plan Supervillain Shuffle
-[X] [Crooks] Send the survivalists and unnamed criminals to the usual holding facilities. Ask Queen Bee if she would have any interest in some of the superpowered criminals and if so transfer them to her via Zeta Tube, if not then attempt to covertly move them to a secret US government holding facility.
[X] [MM] Plan You'll Love Working Here
-[X] [MM] Ask Zatanna to take a part time position at LexCorp
-[X] [MM] Inform Zatanna about Trigon but let her come to her own conclusions.
-[X] [MM] Offer to let Zatanna spend the day with Jinx
[X] [School] Actively assist Diana in pushing for a second school on the outskirts of Alexandria and offer to help fund it in exchange for having it be named after Lorelei Luthor.
[X] [Vertigo] Have Lex Luthor meet with Count Vertigo with Cassandra also attending.
[X] [R&R] Plan Rebuilding and Preparing for the Future
-[X] [R&R] Synch Metropolis's traffic light system to make it more efficient (5 points)
-[X] [R&R] Improve Metropolis' roads (3 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Improve Metropolis' water supply systems (2 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Improve Metropolis' lighting systems (4 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Improve Metropolis' sewer systems (2 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Further improve Metropolis' public transportation system (4 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Continue to alter the city's archetecture to be more in line with LexCorp towers and to make the city look more uniform and orderly (1 point)
-[X] [R&R] Build a city wide announcement/alarm system (4 points)
-[X] [R&R] Set up wards that benefit LexCorp wherever reasonably possible (35 points)
-[X] [R&R] Improve Metropolis' electrical systems (7 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Build a citywide surveillance system (9 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Begin introducing kryptonite powered streetlights (5 points) X2
-[X] [R&R] Make it easier for LexCorp drones to land on various buildings (2 points) X3
[X] [Promote] Plan Teamwork
- [X] [Promote] Promote Ice and Fire as international heroines willing to work to stop the big world ending threat and move superheroics into a more global direction.
- [X] [Promote] Promote all of your heroes as greater than the sum of their parts and more effective as a team
- [X] [Promote] Promote Nightshade as a hero willing to get her hands dirty to get the job done
[X] [Lab] Plan Every Little Helps
- [X] [Lab] Kryptonite
--[X] [Equipment] Cell phone integration (37 points)
-- [X] [Equipment] More monitoring (6 points can be taken repeatedly) × 2
- [X] [Lab] Demonology
-- [X] [Equipment] Better data monitoring and collection (9 points)
-- [X] [Equipment] Automated assistance (12 points, can be taken repeatedly)
-- [X] [Equipment] Isolation (3 points)
- [X] [Lab] Wards
-- [X] [Equipment] High powered computers (20 points)
-- [X] [Equipment] More monitoring (4 points can be taken repeatedly)
[X] [Location] Plan Coast to Coast
- [X] [Location] LexCorp tower in Alexandria
- [X] [Location] LexCorp tower in Tokyo
- [X] [Location] Ferris Aerospace in Coast City
- [X] [Location] LexCorp tower in Rome
[X] [Tower] Plan Safe and Secure
-[X] [Tower] Install more security around the zeta beam transmat station (6 points) (can be taken repeatedly)
- [X] [Tower] Set up an additional layer of wards around the floor on which Raven's room is on (3 points) (can be taken up to 4 times) X 3
- [X] [Tower] Move Jade's room to a larger more luxurious room (17 points)
[X] [Thief] Allow Talia to handle him as she pleases. Indicate that you wish him to have sufficient reason to regret his previous life choices, and that you want him to serve as a cautionary tale to those criminals who might think to follow his example.
[X] [Austria] Accept Austria's offered deal
This next bit is going to be exceedingly busy and we're going to get into a whole hell of a lot of stuff with these next few interludes. Guess who has two thumbs and a lot of ambition to cover a lot all at once. The funny thing is I actually have cut a lot of stuff that I want to show up later. There's also a lot of different POVs and I hope things aren't too disjointed for people.
I'll also state that a lot of the subvotes in this section potentially require write-ins. This is because I wanted to save a bit of time on my end and so I included it. If it proves problematic I'll try and cut down on this. As I stated there's a ton going on here and I'm admittedly worried if I got all of the character voices down right. The fact that I wrote most of this while suffering from the heat (my apartment gets really hot in the summer) probably doesn't help my confidence in everything going perfectly.
I can quibble and worry tell the end of time but I've got an update to drop eventually. I hope you guys end up enjoying this update regardless and I am ultimately happy to put out more content for you guys.
Interlude: Meeting New People
Carol Ferris AKA Ultraviolet
Carol would freely admit that for all of the skills she'd picked up over the years as a superhero, interrogation hadn't exactly been one of them. She was even more so less equipped to do so with people watching her and picking up on what she was doing. It was a downside of being an icon, people had expectations of you and if you failed to live up to them, it could prove problematic. As such Carol was going to be handing off the lead to someone else to tackle this.
It made Carol feel a little bit bad to be potentially shirking her duty as the most senior superhero involved in this assignment, but at the same time it would be better to do things this way and let Beatriz take point on the actual interrogation. With a teenager watching it likely would be best to keep things at least somewhat toned down and a basic good cop-bad cop approach was viable enough. Beatriz was friendly and personable and Carol was at least competent at glowering intimidatingly at someone.
It took a fair bit of time and it ultimately didn't feel like it amounted to all that much but eventually they were able to get something from the magic user without too much issue. A name, William Herge, wasn't much but it was enough to begin pulling his background up. William Herge was a failing comic book artist who grew to resent the industry and began to view all art created under a corporate mandate as inherently inferior to original works created by independent artists. It was unclear how exactly he gained his powers, apparently having "awakened to them" following Brainiac's invasion and with the destruction of his livelihood, William Herge eventually turned to using his powers in an attempt to get rich.
As far as Carol could tell William Herge hadn't put an incredible amount of thought into his scheme beyond causing chaos and a figure to blame for it while he got away with the money. There was of course an element of revenge in trying to get people to hate and fear commercialized characters but the core motivation appeared to be getting away with money in order to start funding his own art projects. The most clever part of the scheme in her opinion, the use of invisible ink drawings to survey the situation and give him an understanding of how to play his cards, seemed to be born more out of a discovered necessity rather than any real brilliance on his part.
The man was uninterested in being a superhero and was fairly uncooperative. Carol doubted they'd get any cooperation out of him and while he'd proven to be quite adept at acquiring the supplies necessary to bring his creations to life, he didn't have many exceptional skills beyond a powerset that he didn't fully understand. Apparently he didn't even know if the power was magic or not. Raven declared after the interrogation that his powers derived from magic but it was an exercise in frustration.
Ultimately Carol had done what she could in terms of getting information on the man's identity, motivations and capabilities but she wasn't able to get much more than the general arc of these elements.
David Boyd AKA Commander
David woke up with a pounding headache in some sterile cell he had never seen before. As he came to he recounted what had gone on. Some bitch had gone and blasted him after he'd tried to use his tech on her. That had hurt. By all means it should have been completely impossible, his tech worked on all humans. Toby Merlino wasn't good for much but he'd provided David with more than enough subjects to fully test the effects of his devices. The only way it wouldn't have worked was if the woman wasn't human.
Superman had been immune to the tech and David wondered just how many aliens were hiding in Metropolis. The non-standard biology would make it so that his mind control tech was a little less viable as a catch-all solution than he'd thought it would be. David would just have to come up with a solution, he was good at that. Plus he'd made sure that the tech, while simple to operate wasn't something people could operate without his cooperation. Whoever had taken him was probably interested in the tech considering they'd taken his suit and lift him in what looked like a modified prison jumpsuit.
Still a plan could be made. David hadn't set up too many contingencies for his capture but he had a few in place that he could still try and spring. For now it was better to play his cards close to his chest and he'd figure things out from there, especially since the whole reason why he had gotten caught was because of a plan to deal with Superman gone wrong.
His plan to break into Bruce Wayne's event and mind control the rich elites there was a simple one. With all of the rich and wealthy following the Commander's orders, David would be able to live out the rest of his life comfortably in seclusion while siccing his new minions to use their wealth and connections to make life hell for Superman. It probably wouldn't work now, especially since there was at least one person with non-human brain structures there.
David could wait. He'd wait to figure out where he was, wait to figure out how to escape and then wait to come up with a plan to keep Superman or whoever had imprisoned him from catching him once he was loose. Then the Commander could get back to business and retire out of sight and out of mind.
Amanda Waller
Amanda Waller had finally met the Superman. They'd finally come face to face and frankly Amanda Waller wasn't impressed. Superman was not a threat yet, but his disregard for any authority but his own as well as his own moral self-righteousness meant he'd inevitably become one. Frankly the way he attempted to loom over Amanda and intimidate her into revealing state secrets had only made her contempt for him grow. Amanda Waller had hardly flinched working for a skull-faced man with a cynaide touch, if Superman wanted to scare her, he'd need to try a lot harder than his current attempts.
Amanda Waller was still satisfied with what she'd accomplished thus far. She'd kept Superman out of the governments business and retrieved the key individuals she'd been looking for. Secretary Eiling as ever hemmed in Amanda and kept her and Lex Luthor at least nominally on the same page. Amanda didn't trust Luthor to hold an ice cream cone without trying to turn it to his advantage, but for now she'd tolerate him as an ally.
She'd made sure to scrub any involvement of what ARGUS was in Metropolis for, with both Metallo and Dr. Albert Michaels being moved covertly in the dead of night in inconspicuous vehicles. She'd made sure Superman wasn't in the area before letting her forces begin moving things and only once she'd made it back to DC did she fully relax. Dr. Michaels attempted to escape but he was quickly shown the error of his ways.
Of the two Metallo was by far the more useful of the two. True the cyborg had been reduced to little more than a head and a back up power supply but upon rigging him up with an extra power source, Metallo had proven remarkably cooperative. All she had to do was point out that he could kill Superman and the cyborg was eager to talk and pass on information to get involved in the project. Metallo was still violent and unstable but the levers to controlling him were simple enough. Amanda had no intention of letting Metallo ever get control of a body that could move on its own, but she was more than happy to involve him as a consultant on killing Superman. Thaddeus Killgrave was to be kept away from him but so long as those two didn't link up then Waller was certain she could coerce each of them individual and keep them firmly under her thumb and working for the good of the United States.
The real problem was Dr. Michaels. He was meant to get a place in either Project Damocles or Project Cadmus as a coerced collaborator. Unfortunately the man was too untrustworthy to be left alone for long and Amanda would not risk him creating some kind of monster to rampage and kill her men. Her current attempts at controlling him was through food. The more Dr. Michaels would refuse to cooperate, the more Amanda would cut back on his food, starving him until he complied. When he complied and passed on his notes effectively and productively, then Amanda rewarded him with more meals and his choice of meals. It wasn't a perfect strategy and Amanda Waller was sure that the bleeding heart ethicists of the world would decry her if they figured out what she was doing but it was a simple and effective way to get Dr. Michaels to produce solid enough work without risking him doing more damage in an attempt to seize power or escape.
One way or another the threat of Superman needed to be dealt with. The United States government needed to have the ability to put down people like Superman, else they merely existed at his tolerance. As much as Amanda distrusted Lex Luthor, there were at least methods to deal with him. Superman was a problem without a solution. The presence of another Kryptonian only amplified this. Luckily Amanda Waller was good at finding solutions to problems. They wouldn't be pretty or clean but Amanda was confident that her leadership of ARGUS would result in the problems of this new superhuman era being solved.
The projects were slow to get started but soon enough they would begin to pay dividends and Amanda Waller would have done her job and protected her country.
Edward Nygma
Quite frankly Edward Nygma often astounded and amazed himself with his adaptive acumen and analytical approach allowing the abrogation of attempted anonymity. His mind was as sharp as a steel saber and as swift as a shooting star. Most people would have struggled to pierce the sanguine veil cloaking the circumspect cult coalition called the Church of Blood. Not so for Edward. True Ms. Meld had prove an able assistant and administrator, organizing and overviewing minutia and myopic multitudes to allow Edward to find the solution faster, but increased efficiency was not in effect an estimate of inferiority of the intellectual architect assembling the intended element into their illumination orientation.
The Church of Blood ultimately proved inefficient in their steps to secure secrets and Edward was able to find out quite a bit about them. The Church of Blood was an organization dedicated to ultimately securing immortality through the spilling of blood of others in order to extend their own lives. The exact details didn't quite make sense to Edward, he wasn't nearly enough of an imbecilic religious nutjob to buy any of the utter tripe being sold to the members of the cult, but it had become clear that the current head of the Church of Blood, one Sebastian Blood the eighth, had gotten a vision of "Trigon the Terrible" and was seeking to bring about his presence on earth in order to hasten the apocalypse and reap the rewards of the sacrificed souls. It was all very melodramatic.
Interestingly the cult didn't seem to know too much about how to bring about Trigon's return and so their current goals and plans mostly consisted of obtaining enough power and magic users in order to have the strength necessary to gather the power to thin the divide between realms. Again very melodramatic but it did lead to real world results, most notably the acquisition of resources from HIVE, most notably including some robot known as I.N.S.T.G.A.T.O.R., a magic user Kyd Wykkyd and a metahuman going by the alias "Angel".
Beyond that there were a few other notable figures in the Church of Blood. Bethany Snow was a journalist who at least nominally helped assist with recruitment into the cult, the man known only as "the confessor" was their "chief inquisitor" and was an expert torturer though Edward was far from impressed in his skills at keeping secrets hidden, Sister Sade and Sister Soul were a pair of intelligence officers who Edward frankly felt lacked intelligence, and most interesting of all was May Bennet.
May Bennet was a high ranking member of the Church of Blood and sometime lover of Sebastian Blood the eighth. A little bit of digging into her past and one could find the records that she'd given birth to a Sebastian Blood the ninth, though records of him remained hidden even still. It was certainly some kind of scandal or secret salaciously scintillatingly signaling something to be solved but for now Edward would cease to scope out the situations since by this point Luthor would probably want what he had gotten, as Edward had gotten a lot.
Edward didn't concern himself much more with the cult beyond that. He'd confirmed who they were and what they were about, for now it is up to other to further dig into the matter.
Superman
Clark wasn't exactly happy nowadays. He did his best to tamp down on it but it was hard not to get a little negative sometimes. ARGUS had stonewalled him and while Waller was clearly scheming something, it also was equally clear that she wouldn't hesitate to escalate things into a fight if he pushed too hard too fast. Superman wasn't opposed to fighting against the government if it was the right thing to do, but doing so rashly would likely lead to a huge mess later on down the line. For now the plan was to hold off and attempt to investigate them as Clark Kent, hopefully being a little less likely to give them reason to violently escalate. It was all he could do for now.
Attempting to investigate LexCorp had also been a bust. Lois had mentioned plenty of times that LexCorp was practically a black box and mentioned that the company constantly was acting to lock down information, but Clark had still underestimated just how far LexCorp would go. As such it resulted in his attempts at investigation getting out and people beginning to lambast him for his actions. Clark had never been to Japan but already their government was critical of him for potentially stealing state secrets.
Unlike with ARGUS, Clark Kent couldn't look into the company. The Daily Planet was already on fairly rocky grounds with LexCorp and with their acquisition by Wayne Enterprises, LexCorp could theoretically escalate Clark's actions as belonging to the Daily Planet at large. Sure a court case probably wouldn't be won but LexCorp could do a lot of reputational damage and make things very painful for all involved.
Lex Luthor did his best to broadly remain out of the public eye, as much as a figure like him could, and so any investigation would need to be very well put together and thought out, Clark couldn't afford to make mistakes. He'd briefly considered trying to get some answers from Cassandra Luthor, but from what little he had seen of Lex Luthor's daughter, the teenage heiress was unlikely to be friendly or in awe of Superman. As such she wouldn't willingly talk to him on her own, and while there were other avenues available to him, confronting or covertly tailing a teenaged girl was unlikely to end well and honestly just felt wrong to Clark's sensibilities.
Of course his brief meeting with Cassandra had also touched on the other big thing bringing Superman down as of late, namely that Lois was dating Bruce Wayne. Clark knew that Lois owed him nothing, but he still couldn't help but be irked and irritated at how he'd missed his shot. Clark Kent couldn't compete with Bruce Wayne. He wasn't as suave, charming and well-connected as Bruce Wayne. The man relatively recently bought the Daily Planet to put things into perspective. Even the things that would usually be a knock against Bruce Wayne, Lois seemed to overlook. And the worst part was that contrary to all of the rumors of Bruce Wayne being a playboy and a lay-about, what little Clark had seen indicated that Bruce was a genuinely decent person and got along well with Lois. It was incredibly frustrating to see the woman he'd been working up the nerve to ask on a date swoon over someone else whom Clark couldn't really compete with.
Granted Clark had been seeing a lot less of Lois as of late. Apparently she and Bruce were constantly working on something big together and spending more and more time together. It naturally lead to Clark being a little off as of late. Still Clark tamped down on the jealousy and the irritation. It was beneath him and he was going to wish Lois the best in whatever relationship she did end up in. Now he had his work as Superman to deal with.
The Joker was a fairly notorious criminal from Gotham and Superman had been attempting to track him down for quite a while. He'd picked up a trail leading to an old farmhouse but the Joker hadn't turned up there and the farmhouse had been blown up once again. Now Superman was once again trying to look into a new lead, hoping to find the Joker.
The clown had gone to ground following Superman's first attempt at bringing him in, but the underworld still talked and the woman previously spotted looking for hires for the Joker was mentioned entering a few other seedy establishments. Superman calmly intimidated a few crooks into spilling the beans and now he had a location, a small motel in the Hobbs Gate borough. Superman flew off, ready to confront the crook from Gotham and bring him down.
Superman decided to try and be cautious this time. He attempted to fly over the motel to try and peer through it to see how things were going. Superman got just enough time to confirm that the Joker was indeed in the building alongside several hostages, when a small rocket propelled grenade flew at him. Superman promptly moved out of the way. He wasn't going to be given much more time to think. Superman flew down towards where the shooter was. The man panicked and the pair of goons near him attempted to open fire. Superman fairly easily dodged the lasers before grabbing their guns and hurling them away. He then lightly froze the three men in place, knowing that they'd be there for the police to pick up. Now he just had to make his way further in.
Superman smashed through the roof and into the room with the Joker and his hostages. A quick check revealed no robot duplicates, so this wasn't a Toyman trap, but Superman didn't have too much time to analyze things.
"You know I had this whole speech prepared for this shindig and you just had to go and skip straight to the end" The Joker mocked "Honestly you almost make me miss Batman. He's rude but at least he has the decency to play along with the game rather than cut right to the chase"
The Joker drew a gun and Superman promptly surged forwards and knocked it away, before then lifting Joker into the air by his lapels.
"Well I don't suppose you're up for some charades?" The Joker questioned seemingly meekly but Superman knew something was coming. "You can go first and play dead!"
If he were an ordinary human then the Joker's prompt drawing of a knife from somewhere within his sleeve before spinning it into a downwards thrust might have surprised him. Instead Superman was able to see it coming. Seeing that there was no kryptonite and the knife didn't appear to have any special properties, Superman decided to let the blow connect, hoping it would intimidate the Joker enough to get him to stop struggling. The knife promptly crumpled and bent against Superman's shoulder.
"Oh poo" The Joker nervously declared.
"I'm not interested in games Joker" Superman responded before flying the Joker up and freezing the Joker to the ceiling. The Joker struggled reaching for his collar but was unable to resist getting stuck. Superman would deal with that later.
"You're going to regret not playing a game Stuporman" The Joker taunted, his mood once more mercurially shifting back to elation. "Now you won't get to see the surprise I left the studio audience"
Superman interpreted that as a threat. He was not going to let this madman kill innocents. Superman promptly raced to free all of the hostages. However for the most part nothing happened and Superman was able to get everyone out of the motel without incident. It seemed too easy but as he came back to the Joker struggling to get out of the ice he was encased in on the ceiling, Superman couldn't help but feel like he might've gotten one over on the clown.
"You missed the one in the closet" Joker cackled. Superman attempted to peer into the closet of the room they were in but he couldn't see into it at all. He couldn't use his heat vision to cut through it if there was a hostage in there, but if it was a trap rushing in blindly would be dangerous. Luckily Superman was confident he could outmaneuver the Joker, because he was thinking in three dimensions.
Superman flew up and over the closet and confirmed that there was a person tied up in there and some kind of mechanical device behind what appeared to be a sheet of lead. Superman promptly flew in from the top, once more smashing through the motel to get to his intended destination.
"Are you alright?" Superman asked, hoping to comfort and calm down the hostage "I'll get you right out of here in a sec, just you wait"
Superman took a quick look at the device and saw that while it was a countdown clock of some kind, it was complex enough that Superman wouldn't be able to disarm it easily. He decided to try and free the hostage first before he'd take the device out over the ocean to safely go off far away from anyone else.
As Superman untied the hostage though things quickly went wrong. The formerly bound man promptly spat out a chunk of kryptonite right onto the ground in front of Superman and Superman promptly fell over, his strength leaving him as he was wracked by pain. The hostage seemed to sneer at Superman, giving him a kick in the tibs before moving the pane of lead out of the way of the closet door. As Clark lay on the floor wracked with pain from constant exposure to kryptonite, the man left the room and soon Clark could hear thumping noises as the Joker yelled at the man to get him down from there. Superman had been outwitted.
He'd grown too complacent and he'd ended up paying the price for it. Still Superman could make it out of this. He slowly tried to crawl forwards, hoping to get to the lead pane in the hopes of using it as an impromptu shield against kryptonite radiation.
However before he could get too far he heard a massive crash and the sound of more footsteps as others entered. Before long Superman saw a woman in a form fitting red and black full body jester's outfit looming over him.
"Nu-uh Superman" The woman tutted "I don't know what you're planning but we don't want any tricks or surprises."
The woman then promptly bent over and picked up the chunk of kryptonite and placed it on his chest. Superman screamed as the kryptonite began to burn even more. His suit was still providing some protection but the near direct contact with kryptonite still seared his flesh.
"Come on Superman we've got a TV special to film" the Joker taunted as he pulled out a roll of duct tape, and promptly began taping the kryptonite to Clark's abs. Apparently the Joker wanted the S shield insignia on Superman's chest clear. Superman struggled to formulate a plan through the constant pain and searing weakness.
"The Death of Superman is can't miss TV" the Joker mocked "Why just think of all the ratings! I could never do something like this in Gotham, Batman doesn't have the same face for TV like you"
Superman grimaced as he got dragged out of the completely trashed motel room. Something needed to happen and fast in order for things to work out.
Lois Lane
Lois Lane was surprised by how much she liked Bruce. Before she'd met the Gotham based billionaire, Lois hadn't been a fan on principle. Sure he'd been good looking but like with most billionaires, she was sure he'd had some dark skeletons in his closet. Sure Lois focused on LexCorp and its connections to the military-industrial complex, but she doubted that the medical industry Wayne Enterprises made its bread and butter was much more ethical. As such she'd been a little cold towards him at first and she certainly hadn't been happy with him purchasing the Daily Planet in what appeared to be a move purely to assuage his own ego.
Lois's perceptions of Bruce Wayne had flipped on their head when he'd suddenly called her saying he had to meet with her. At first Lois hadn't taken it seriously but when Bruce clarified that involved a story he could not talk about over the phone, Lois had ended up heading to his hotel room. Hearing the news about what the board of directors at Wayne Enterprises had done had certainly gotten Lois seething at the injustice of it all, and with Bruce's help, Lois had managed to get the scoop force and she'd unequivocally condemned Wayne Enterprises.
As they worked on the article together Bruce revealed his true character to Lois a little more. He'd grown to distrust wealthy businessmen himself after having learned what that his maternal uncle had cut deals with the Gotham mob behind his back. He'd gained at least nominal control of Wayne Enterprises following his uncle getting exposed and had tried to keep his company in check and acting ethically. That being said the moment he'd turned his back, the board of directors had made moves he never would have countenanced and would have acted to prevent. As such he wanted to bring them to justice and he figured the best way to break the board of directors was to name and shame them, hence why he'd approached Lois in the first place. Lois learned that Bruce's sense of justice was even why he purchased the Daily Planet in the first place. With LexCorp building up its own news services and many wealthy individuals in Gotham investing in the existing news networks there, Bruce wanted to preserve a place for honest journalism to act as a check and a potential spotlight to keep all sorts of powerful but unethical people at least toeing the line.
Lois enjoyed working with Bruce. He was passionate, charismatic and intelligent. More than that he respected Lois and trusted her to do the right thing. They meshed well personality-wise and Lois found herself somewhat falling for him. After the first article, Lois and Bruce had ended up deciding to date for a little bit. They'd kept it subtle so that the tabloids wouldn't pick up on it, but Lois was honestly contemplating seeing how things would go. Bruce was honest, charming, sophisticated and good looking. She enjoyed her dates with him and it was nice to be appreciated. Lois wasn't sure if she wanted to move to Gotham or anything, but she was interested in continuing the relationship with Bruce.
Lois had kept on working with Bruce. They both wanted Wayne Enterprises to reverse their decision to effectively hold medical suppliers hostage in order to raise their own profit margins, and so Lois was working with him on a massive expose. Compared to the frustration that was trying to figure out how to get into the black boxes that made up LexCorp, having access to all of Wayne Enterprises made things practically a cakewalk. Lois was happy with the way things were going.
Lois ended up spending a lot of time with Bruce and despite all the doubts Lois had begun to have about Superman as of late, it was nice to know that someone out there was fighting for truth, justice and a better tomorrow. Of course their time dating wasn't always peaceful as it was after one of their dates the Joker decided to put on a show for all of Metropolis
The date itself was a fairly impromptu thing, they'd gone together to a five star restaurant that prided itself on catering to celebrity clientele's need for privacy, enjoyed a nice meal and gone to watch a movie together back at Bruce's hotel room. As they slowly settled on what to watch and began enjoy each other's presence, the tv signal was quickly hijacked.
Quickly as the static faded and the image became clearer, both Lois and Bruce were stunned by what they saw.
"Good evening Metropolis!" The Joker preened. He appeared to be in some kind of warehouse and most disturbing of all Superman appeared to be chained up and tied to some kind of tower of pylons behind him with something taped to his chest. "Don't touch that dial! We've got a TV special here that no one's going to want to miss!"
Bruce had the presence of mind to grab the tv remote and attempt to change the channel but no matter what channel they were on, the Joker's message continued to play. Lois managed to put together what the tower of pylons was, a tv broadcast tower. Bruce's test had confirmed that somehow the Joker had hijacked the local airwaves by directly messing with the signal the broadcast tower was putting out.
"Tonight I hijack your idiot boxes in service of a good cause. Superman's life hangs in the balance and only you, fair citizens of Metropolis can save the flying blue lummox." Joker continued to grandstand as a woman dressed in a form-fitting jester's costume, with white make up and a mask, sauntered behind him carrying a placard. "Our goal to night is to raise 10 million dollars for the life of Superman. If we don't have that money by midnight, I'm afraid Superman is done for"
The woman in the jester's costume promptly flipped around the placard and on it Lois could make out a graphic stating the Joker's goal of 10 million dollars as well as a column for both 'save' and 'kill'.
"Of course if for some reason you don't want spaceman Supes to survive, you can donate to our 'kill Superman' fund" The Joker bombastically declared "For every dollar and cent you donate, the people wanting to save the man of steel will need to match that payment on top of the initial 10 million"
The Joker let out a laugh as Lois looked at Bruce who was glaring at the television screen intensely. Lois tried to comfort him a bit by holding his hand. Bruce looked at her for a moment and let his gaze soften before grasping her hand firmly and returning to look at the TV.
"Our operators are standing by so don't hesitate to donate now!" The Joker concluded before the camera zoomed in to his face. "And for those of you who wish to donate in person I regret to inform you that anyone who approaches the broadcast tower will cause the program and Superman to be terminated prematurely."
Lois and Bruce discussed what was going on and how to handle things. Bruce was going to use his connections to try and handle things while Lois would begin to investigate the situation from closer afield. Their date would be cut short but before Lois left to head out to the field, Bruce provided her with a small device that upon being activated would let him know that she thought she was in danger. If Bruce saw this he'd rush to come help her.
Lois appreciated the offer and took the device. She then headed out into the field to try and get to figuring out how exactly the Joker had managed to take down Superman and what was going on in the first place here.
Mina Chaytan
Mina was at the end of the day a student of history. Admittedly her work oftentimes fell more on the anthropological side of things but one couldn't learn about the culture of her people and not learn of the history of the United States and the land it was built upon. The Luthor's were present in the story of the nation. Not always front and center but you could generally find them if you were digging deep enough. Upon running into Luthor and being given her offer of employment, Mina had begun to do her research.
Alexander "Lex" Luthor was the latest in a long line of Luthors. His mother, Lilian Luthor came from nothing and died when he was young, followed shortly by his grandmother, Lorelei Luthor. His father, Lionel Luthor was a fairly notable figure in the modern day history of Metropolis, though it was difficult to determine what stories were accurate and what was apocryphal solely through research via second-hand sources. Mina could have dug further if she wished, using her ability to commune with spirits but she was only interested in the family history as a means to get a sense of who Lex Luthor was.
Lex Luthor did his best to keep some element of privacy and the man did his best to control his image and keep views of him generally positive. Mina read through what she could on him, including that which his detractors said, but in the end it was his hiring practices that gave the most away. Lex Luthor liked to keep his employees loyal. He found those society in some way disregarded and discarded and then gave them what they wanted. Money, respect, stability and more, Lex dispensed a fraction of his resources in terms of granting this to his people and in turn they loyally followed his commands. It appeared to pay dividends for the man thus far.
Even more interestingly, Lex Luthor appeared to be willing to give his employees a lot of leeway in seeing what they wanted occur. The man outright said as much in Mina's discussion with him regarding the job, but the amount of products coming out of something like Lightyear Entertainment that appeared to be more or less passion projects, or the green initiatives adopted after Pamela Isley joined the company suggested that it wasn't merely braggadocio on Luthor's part.
Mina would certainly appreciate having LexCorp's backing for her project, namely the preservation and protection of her people's culture and history. It was why she'd gotten her professorship in the first place. At the time it seemed the best way to gain access to things and be able to remove them from environments where ignorant rubes would tarnish and destroy them. Of course professorship came with its own problems. There was the usual politics and stupidity interfering with her work but Mina oftentimes found it just as irritating that she needed to teach students who very clearly didn't want to be there.
For all that Mina was for the preservation and protection of her people's history and culture, she felt no need to share them with others. Those not descended from those who came before the Europeans had no right to the information and Mina felt no obligation to teach ignorant hicks. Those that sought to learn were fine, but it was not something Mina was obligated to do. If she could cut out everyone but herself in the process of preserving culture and history she would have. As such the fact that her classes were filled with people seeking to get an easy grade, treating the subject matter as a joke only resulted in Mina being infuriated at the whelps wasting her time. It was something she definitely wouldn't miss about academia.
In that sense Luthor was ideal. The fact that being able to preserve the artifacts and the history could be justified as providing her with ways to increase her magical capabilities. The remnants of her people wouldn't be available for all to see but they would remain and Mina would be able to access them.
Mina would admit that this did feel a touch like selling out, but in the United States there wasn't a way to live with any real power without selling out in some capacity. Mina could have lived a life sticking her head in the sand, pretending that the reservation was anything more than pity and a method of containment, but the death of her father and the way the system ignored it all proved that wrong. Mina could have attempted to rage against the system to attempt to burn it all down in the hopes of something better and new rising from the ashes, but Mina was also aware that such an attempt would almost certainly end up with her killed and nothing changing. And so Mina sold out. She still had principles and lines she couldn't cross, but you had to give to receive in order to make anything happen one way or another. And so LexCorp was the group she ended up signing on with.
She knew their history, the history of the people in control and was willing to work with rather than against. She could swallow her anger at anything that annoyed her, prove herself useful and capable and then get what she wanted out of the deal. Mina didn't really care about LexCorp, about Metropolis or even most people. She cared about her goals and LexCorp made for an excellent cudgel against the system. Stay within its lane, feed the beast its meals, and you could move through the system in ways previously impossible.
Mina ended up agreeing and subsequently headed out to Metropolis. It was the best choice for seeing what she wanted get done. As she entered a city of gleaming chrome, Mina reviewed what her responsibilities at LexCorp would be. She'd almost certainly be asked to perform rituals and create magical items. Lex Luthor had the resources for the more high end rituals and Mina was fairly confident that a businessman wouldn't pass on the ability to sell people a limited amount of magic for a price. Beyond that her work as a superhero on this new team LexCorp was funding would likely involve more immediate applications of magical might, shapeshifting, weather manipulation and maybe speaking to spirits to find unknown information. Mina had control over her costume and image at least so it would be tolerable enough. Besides while superheroics wasn't especially appealing to Mina, it wasn't intolerable and was a reasonable enough use of her capabilities.
Mina didn't mind the obligations that came with the job, she'd looked into things as best she could and found it all agreeable enough to sign on. There were irritants of course but when Mina sent in her letter of resignation she was confident that she was moving up in the world. She'd ended up using a little bit of hypnotism and a bit of pressure from LexCorp to get out faster but she was confident that everything would go well enough.
Mina wasn't a pawn, but at the same time she was more interested in learning history than making history. So long as she got what she wanted, and LexCorp let her live as she pleased and let her preserve her people's past history, she didn't really care all that much about what they had her doing at large. Mina was content with things being that way.
Beatriz Da Costa
Beatriz couldn't help but be jubilant in the past few days. She'd done it, she'd hit the big time. Beatriz liked being a hero and she wanted to help people in a way that she couldn't have back when she was operating in Brazil. LexCorp's newest campaign had already gotten her name out there, and while she hadn't done anything too incredible just yet, it was still incredible to see that people knew who Fire was and she was getting recognition for helping to save the day.
Even more impressive was the formation of Bastion. Sure China had their own superteam but this new LexCorp team was international in a way nothing had ever been before. While a LexCorp team had strong US roots, half the founding roster wasn't American and Beatriz couldn't help but find that incredible. Beatriz had been pouring over the documents about how exactly things would work and she was very excited to see how things would go. Obviously there would be some kinks that would need ironing out but still it was world changing news and Beatriz got to be a part of it as well.
Beatriz liked and got along with pretty much all of her teammates and she was excited to get to work alongside them. They'd fairly quickly elected Ultraviolet as the person they wanted as chairman, though Mina had notably abstained from voting, and Beatriz was pretty confident she would be approved by LexCorp. Beatriz also generally liked the support teams as well. The tech guys knew how to make things easy to understand for her, and the image people generally listened and worked with her rather than against her. Admittedly it was almost certainly because it was primarily LexCorp workers as of now but still it was an achievement for a fledgling organization to have so many things working and working well.
Admittedly Beatriz was less excited about Edward Nygma's involvement. Objectively she understood the whole "hero intelligence officer" thing but Edward Nygma often took to lording things over others and making things unnecessarily complicated. She could deal with it but she hoped that Nygma could eventually get replaced. She'd wait until Nygma did anything egregious and the team was a bit more stable before bringing it up, but she'd do so eventually.
Beatriz often spent time celebrating with her friends and teammates as the organization got off the ground. Not too much but it was hard not to feel euphoric as the world was changing, in Beatriz's opinion for the better, now that people were attempting to make teams to pool superhero resources and help the whole world. It was exciting and while the work would no doubt be coming in soon, and Beatriz would need to work hard to ensure that everything continued to work out as well as it did, for now Bastion had taken the first steps forward and Beatriz could celebrate being a part of something great.
Nathan Craig Jones AKA Coldcast
Nathan was a simple guy. Sure he had some crazy powers but that didn't make him complicated, it just meant he could beat up anyone who thought they could mess with him. Fact of the matter was, Nathan had the ability to choose whatever he wanted to do in life, because he had enough power that no one could stop him. Nathan decided he wanted to be a hero.
Sure he could've become the greatest gang lord in all of Chicago, nobody could step to him with his powers, but at the same time that wasn't what his powers were for. He'd gotten them after losing his eye in a fight to protect his brother. His powers made him the strongest guy there was, but the fact that he got them while protecting his little brother was a sign for what his powers were meant to be used for. Nathan took up name Coldcast and decided he was going to be a hero.
That didn't mean Nathan wanted to be some kind of superpowered cop, going around into neighborhoods he didn't understand and trying to police them. Nathan wasn't exactly made for that and it almost certainly was going to end ugly. Yeah if the world needed saving from aliens or something, Coldcast would show up wherever people needed him to be a hero, but on the day to day Nathan wanted to stick close to home and deal with the stuff he knew.
If there hadn't been a bunch of laws about needing a sponsor if you wanted to be a superhero then Nathan would've just started being a vigilante but cause of the law he needed some kind of sponsor. Nathan didn't really know the ins and outs of the law, and there wasn't exactly anyone he saw day to day that could help him with that but he did know that LexCorp sponsored a whole bunch of superheroes as of late. As such he'd ended up speaking with them. Things initially hadn't worked out but he'd gotten into contact with a bunch of people and managed to arrange a meeting.
As such Nathan was now sitting in a derilict coffeeshop wearing his old suit hoping to make a good impression. Nathan didn't exactly wear suits in the day to day but he figured if he was talking to a bunch of corporate types, it might be best to try and meet them on their level rather than be out and out himself from the get-go, boost his odds of getting them to not judge him off his looks first thing.
It took a bit but Nathan quickly spotted a pair of chicks in suits and what looked like a little kid dressed up for a funeral following them. That was the people he was supposed to be meeting. Nobody that nicely dressed, came into an empty building without having another reason for it. There was some introductions and Nathan learned that the kid was apparently some kind of super-genius cause she had an important position with LexCorp's marketing, and one of the two chicks was named Lucy and apparently she was a big shot lawyer. Nathan didn't know what the other woman, Rene did, but he didn't feel too much of a need to ask. They were taking this seriously and Nathan didn't want to out any ignorance or stupidity on his part. He could try that whole fake it till you make it type of deal.
They got to talking and Nathan quickly figured out that there was some kind of disconnect between him and them. They got to talking about economic opportunities and investment in the city and it sounded nice, but Nathan wasn't going to trust a lawyer and a PR person just cause they could make things sound nice. He instead got to talking about what he wanted and what he needed.
Nathan wanted to mostly stay in Chicago cause that's what he knew and the place he knew how to help. He was fine with going to other cities on a semi-regular basis, but he still wanted to be able to spend at least half of his time in Chicago, unless there were emergencies in which case dealing with those took priority, and he wanted to be partnered with at least one other superhero when deployed there. Nathan knew he didn't have the time to learn about each place and he knew rushing in without context and his powers could lead to him messing things up. It'd be better if there was another superhero with more education giving him orders so he could do his job well even if the context and the people were unfamiliar.
Nathan didn't care about a tower in Chicago and he didn't need someone else building a house for him. What Nathan wanted was a place to practice with his powers and a fund for his younger brother's education. The rest could be dealt with later. Nathan was broadly fine with working with LexCorp, he wanted to be able to give two weeks notice if for some reason shit didn't work out but for the most part things sounded pretty good to him.
Rene smiled at him when Nathan got done explaining what he wanted and Nathan couldn't help but feel relieved he hadn't messed anything up. If people were smiling that meant they weren't angry about him wanting something different from what they wanted.
Centurion
Centurion was cautious about the deal he was being presented with. It seemed almost too good to be true but it was there in writing. Centurion was not all that familiar with contracts. Sure he could orate but that didn't exactly translate to knowing what was good or bad for work. LexCorp seemed to be good and the deal they were offering seemed to be good, but if things that always seemed good were, liars wouldn't be able to get anywhere. Centurion had approached LexCorp with a very similar offer but he wanted to make sure that the company wasn't trying to take advantage of his relative inexperience with contracts or labor negotiations.
As such Centurion did not immediately agree to said deal even if he'd already gotten most of what he wanted. It was better to check to see if there was anything going on with that modified term in order to determine just how good it was.
As such before Centurion agreed to anything he asked a few questions regarding what it meant that he couldn't undermine the team's collective image. Was he unable to say anything negative about the team? Was he unable to criticize LexCorp or LexCorp affiliates due to that reflecting badly on the team? Was he obligated to pretend to be a team member's friend if said team member lied about it publicly? Perhaps it was a little pedantic but Centurion wanted that clarified before he agreed to anything. From there Centurion would decide if he wanted to take the deal or if he wanted to attempt further negotiations.
Centurion was rather fond of freedom of speech and he knew exactly how frustrating it could be to be unable to speak your mind but at the same time a lot of it didn't intuitively jump to him. As such he wished to have the altered term clarified before he made any commitments one way or another.
Besides in a subtle way this was a test to see how well he could actually mesh in LexCorp. How well would they explain things and how would they react to being asked to explain? Centurion had no doubt that he'd ask plenty of questions about the modern day and so showing his hand early and revealing that he'd want to no more about plenty of things would help show if he would be a good fit or not.
Count Vertigo
Count Vertigo did not enjoy his trips to the United States. The flights were always miserable and the entire country was a barbarous backwards place. While there was no questioning that the US was a superpower, the fact that it prided itself on apparently being a democracy, where the idiotic rabble got to drag their superiors down with them always turned Vertigo's stomach ever so slightly.
Of course all that being said, when Lex Luthor insisted on a meeting Count Vertigo couldn't refuse. Lex Luthor was the closest thing the United States had to a nobleman, and more importantly he was Count Vertigo's ally and the one with far more power and control between the two of them. While Count Vertigo had secured plenty of power and a stable future for Vlatava under his reign, if he offended Lex Luthor, Vertigo had no doubt that suddenly every rebel force and neighboring country would suddenly be armed with cutting edge technology. Serial Peacemaking was a useful tool and Count Vertigo had no interest in seeing what would happen if Lex Luthor's private military company suddenly switched sides and started spilling secrets. No, Count Vertigo had no option but to do what Lex Luthor wanted.
Count Vertigo was determined to get this done quick. He didn't actually want the peace negotiations to succeed and he was confident that the people he'd left behind could at least stall till he returned, but every day he was out of the country was another day his schemes could go awry. He'd speak to Luthor, get things out of the way and then hopefully be able to arrange things just right as things came to a close.
Count Vertigo covertly made his way to Lex Luthor's office and as he arrived in place he was surprised by the presence of a small Asian child. After the opening pleasantries of conversation, Lex Luthor introduced the girl as his adopted daughter who was apparently here to watch and learn. Count Vertigo found it disappointing that the man adopted, blood was what defined a family but if he wanted to squander a legacy by not passing on his heritage to those that came after him, and instead let cuckoos into his nest, Count Vertigo wouldn't say anything one way or another. Offending Luthor would almost certainly result in issues later down the line.
The girl didn't do much, merely pulling out a notepad and pen and every so often her eyes would dart around the room taking everything in. She seemed competent enough and she wouldn't actively be disturbing anything and so Count Vertigo proceeded to begin with the meeting.
Zatanna Zatara
Zatanna was back in Metropolis. It was a picturesque sort of winter, mild enough to be easy enough to deal with if you put on some boots and a warm coat, but still cold enough that snow was still giving a light coating to the city as a whole. Zatanna found she rather enjoyed being back here as she went over the magical defenses LexCorp had in place for their tower. It was rather calm all things considered.
She finished checking the magical defenses LexCorp had in place around their tower, making sure that nothing was outright destroyed or decayed and headed back inside. She'd already given her gift to Lex, the three enchanted watches were accepted and appreciated as a gift and while they'd chatted for a bit, the actual substance of the meeting would be today.
Zatanna wasn't too worried about things, she was here to help pay back Lex. She wasn't going to be stupid about it but she was ultimately here to help and she doubted Lex would make things unnecessarily difficult. And so as Zatanna made her way to Lex Luthor's office she was fairly relaxed, taking off her coat and lounging in one of the chairs he had in his office.
"It's good to see you again" Lex opened, a small smirk on his face "though I have to admit I was not expecting you to arrange a meeting with me"
Zatanna smiled back.
"Just because I didn't sign on to work with you as a superheroine doesn't mean I didn't want to keep working with you" Zatanna responded "I appreciate you helping me out with the legal side of things, it's made things easier on that front"
Lex remained unmoved, still slightly smirking.
"I figured it was the least I could do to help." Lex magnanimously responded "Though I will admit to being surprised at you potentially wanting to put on a mask and fight crime"
Zatanna shrugged.
"It's less that I want to and more that I might need to" Zatanna replied "There's a lot of nasty magical entities out there and as someone with the training and expertise to handle them sometimes I might need to step in and save the day. I don't want to make it my day job but if I need to I'm willing to step up and do what needs to be done. Having you cover the potential legal ramifications is helpful on that front."
"Speaking of superheroics" Lex pivoted "I'm actually quite curious as to how you'll handle being a member of Bastion. I'm happy you agreed but none of the other individuals I've recruited are celebrities in their civilian lives, are you sure you'll be fine without additional support?".
Zatanna appreciated the attempt to help. It wasn't needed but it helped validate to her that Lex genuinely was interested in working with her.
"I've got a trick or two to keep my identities separate" Zatanna admitted "I have been debating if I want to indulge in a costume and a name, but I'll speak with the image people at Bastion before committing to anything now"
Admittedly Zatanna was fairly confident that her idea would be accepted. She knew showmanship and public appeal and while she'd never been a superhero before she knew enough about managing her own image that she was confident she could handle it. A small glamor to keep people from recognizing her and a costume switch and Zatanna was confident she'd be able to keep her civillian and superhero life seperate. She was admittedly considering throwing a cape into her costume. Zatanna had already established a look for herself as a magician so it might be fun to go with something a little more extra than what she usually wore.
The conversation then shifted to the handling of various potential magical threats and what Zatanna expected to come up if Bastion ended up getting involved with it. Zatanna did her best to answer but she admitted openly that part of why she'd agreed to join the team was due to not being able to answer things without knowing specifics of the situation as a lot of magic was highly contextual.
The conversation moved onwards when Lex floated the idea of Zatanna going to work for LexCorp part-time in order to assist them in handling the difficult matters of magic. Zatanna didn't let her smile dim even if she was grimacing on the inside. She wracked her brain to see what she could come up with. Zatanna wasn't really interested in doing work outside of her job as an entertainer, but at the same time she didn't want to completely deny Lex yet again, she owed him something at least. Zatanna demurred a bit before she came up with a solution.
"I'd be willing to do it" Zatanna eventually conceded, "but it'd come with a few caveats"
Lex Luthor's eyes gleamed as the negotiation moved forwards in earnest.
"Any of the work I did would be in place of time I would otherwise spend supporting Bastion" Zatanna began. The fact of the matter was that Zatanna didn't have the time to handle her show, a job at LexCorp and a position on a superhero team. On of those things had to give and Zatanna wasn't giving up her magic show any time soon.
"I will be paid, listed and registered under an alias" Zatanna continued "And I will not do any part time work that involves my image outside of LexCorp. I will not do public appearances and I will be kept out of the public's eye at this point in time"
Lex appeared to ponder this before he ended up giving his response.
Funnyface Prison Decision subvote
You have Funnyface in your custody and you've managed to learn a decent amount about him. William Herge does not strike you as an exceptionally useful individual. The man didn't know how he got his powers and in addition his strong anti-corporation bent meant he likely wouldn't be pliable to your own uses of his own free will. That being said his powers were useful enough that you could see the benefit in subverting his mind and making use of his powers. Ultimately it would be your call to make as to what the best option was. Please pick your favorite option from the list below. Write-ins are available for this subvote but as always all write-ins are subject to QM approval. As always there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [FFPD] Turn Funnyface over to the authorities covertly
[ ] [FFPD] Turn Funnyface over to the authorities in a public spectacle to celebrate your superheroes' capabilities and successes
[ ] [FFPD] Keep Funnyface locked up against his will in an attempt to study him
[ ] [FFPD] Attempt to use the Merlino mind control device to forcefully make Funnyface into a loyal minion
[ ] [FFPD] Attempt to use the pheromone spray to influence Funnyface before releasing him back onto the streets
[ ] [FFPD] Attempt to covertly ship Funnyface to Bialya
[ ] [FFPD] Attempt to have Pamela mind control Funnyface
[ ] [FFPD] Write-in
Coldcast Counteroffer subvote
In speaking with Coldcast, the man has outed himself as a bit of a simpleton. Almost all of your offers regarding the prosperity of Chicago were brushed off and instead Coldcast offered you a counter-offer that from your perspective required even less of a commitment. Coldcast wanted was to spend at least half his time in Chicago, wanted a place to practice with his powers, wanted funding for his younger brother's education and wanted to be deployed with another superhero giving him orders when outside of Chicago. The requirement to have another superhero deployed with him to give him orders was a sign that you could very, very easily manipulate him if need be. Coldcast was not a shrewd negotiator and you were fairly confident you could get him to agree to an even worse deal for himself. The question was how far exactly did you want to push? Please pick your favorite option from the list below. Write-ins are required for one option but as always all write-ins are subject to QM approval. As ever there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [CC] Accept Coldcast's counter offer as is
[ ] [CC] Offer your own counteroffer (this option requires you to write-in your counter offer)
[ ] [CC] Reject Coldcast's counteroffer and end negotiation
Centurion Speech subvote
Centurion has proven to be a difficult individual to negotiate with. Despite having reached agreement on most of your terms, he has spent time quibbling and asking for clarification on the one term you altered in your counter offer. Specifically Centurion wanted to know what it meant that he couldn't undermine the team's collective image. Would he be unable to say anything negative about the team? Would he be unable to criticize LexCorp or LexCorp affiliates due to that reflecting badly on the team? Would he be obligated to pretend to be a team member's friend if said team member lied about it publicly? With Centurion asking for more information you'd need to provide a response if you wanted to get him on board. Write-ins are required for one option of the two below but as always all write-ins are subject to QM approval. As always there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [CS] Write-in an explanation of what it means that Centurion cannot undermine the Team's collective image
[ ] [CS] Cease negotiating with Centurion
Meeting with Count Vertigo subvote
Count Vertigo has flown out of Vlatava to meet with you. Cassandra is in attendance for this meeting and it'll be your opportunity to ensure that you and Count Vertigo remain on the same page moving forwards from here. As such it's up to you to determine what the topics of conversation will be. Please pick as many options as you would like to from the list below. Be aware both that write-ins are strongly encouraged for this subvote and that the more subjects you vote for, the less likely you are to get all of them. All write-ins are as ever subject to QM approval. As always there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [CV] Discuss Queen Perdita's education
[ ] [CV] Discuss the peace negotiations
[ ] [CV] Discuss Metagene research
[ ] [CV] Discuss testing stolen Atlantean devices in Vlatava
[ ] [CV] Discuss Vertigo's quixium experiments
[ ] [CV] Discuss the castle Vertigo will be sending to you
[ ] [CV] Discuss installing a Zeta beam transmat stations
[ ] [CV] Write-in
Zatanna Contract subvote
Zatanna has met with you and while you haven't gone through too much with her, you have once again floated the idea of her working part time for Lexcorp. This time Zatanna has tentatively agreed, albeit with some caveats. Namely the time she spends working for LexCorp would come from time she otherwise would've spent being part of Bastion. Zatanna also wants her employment by LexCorp to be obscured and she insists on using an alias of some kind within the company. Lastly Zatanna does not want to do any public appearances as a LexCorp employee and refuses to let LexCorp use any of her public image. It's a deal that comes with caveats but it is forwards progression in getting Zatanna to work for you. Now you just have to decide if the deal is worth taking. Please pick your favorite option from the list below. Write-ins are required for one of the options but as always all write-ins require QM approval. As always there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [ZC] Accept Zatanna's offered employment deal
[ ] [ZC] Attempt a counteroffer (this option requires you to write-in a counteroffer)
[ ] [ZC] Pass on Zatanna's current deal and move to other subjects
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I'm fine with the Coldcast and Zantanna deals. Some of the actions we can put Coldcast on are gonna be fine if they're in Chicago. And we have enough Superheroes that it won't be to hard to get one who can team up with him when he's outside of it.
Zantanna's caveats are a lot more tolerable since we aren't giving up another magic hero for them. Unlike the magic vote.
I think we should just hand Funny Face to the authorities. His attack was to high profile for him to just slip away after his defeat without anyone noticing.
Zantanna's caveats are a lot more tolerable since we aren't giving up another magic hero for them. Unlike the magic vote.
I think we should just hand Funny Face to the authorities. His attack was to high profile for him to just slip away after his defeat without anyone noticing.
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King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
So heads up, if you want to vote you can do it now. There hasn't been a lot of discussion (likely in part because I dropped over 10K words for people to go over late on a weekday), but you can do it now. If there's something unclear to people, especially in translating time duration to actual turn effects, please feel free to ask me and I'll do my best to answer as soon as I reasonably can.
No vote on what to do with Commander? Or is it something you decided to leave for later?