- Location
- Singapore
I was surprised that when the Ironclads came about, the CSS H. L. Hunley & the USS Alligator wasn't involved somehow.
-
Going forward, links to content from Twitter (now X) will no longer be embedded. Pre-existing links should not be affected.
Lex Sedet In Vertice: A Supervillain in the DCU CK2 quest
- Thread starter King crimson
- Start date
- Superhero
Red_Faux
私を終わらせる
- Location
- 'Straya M8
Now I just imagine mainline comic Joker having a conversation with this one. He'd be more offended/amused than meeting the Jester from Earth 2 or Bizzaro Joker. Because this Joker ain't obsessed with him, and that's totally cool. But the Canon Joker absolutely is, on a metaphysical level. They are intrinsically linked by actual literal fate in mainline DC.
There have been much more incongruent elseworlds before. Joker not particularly caring about Batman doesn't even enter the radar when compared to literally everything in the Dark Multiverse. Like Kid Green Lantern Necromancer Bruce Wayne, that one's much more different, not to mention "is literally a city" Batman, and that's just in one team.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Leland Luthor wasn't going to waste his time on a submarine when he had better plans.
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King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
I'll be honest I don't actually like "Canon Joker" all that much. I haven't liked the Joker in mainline comics for over half a decade now and there are a lot of takes on the character I just don't really like.
I didn't know that nowadays they're literally linked by fate, but I don't really like it as it seems to be a continued trend of elevating the Joker to be increasingly important to the harm of literally every other Batman rogue and ultimately Batman and his cast. I can't throw too many stones at stories I don't know, but I'm incredibly burnt out on modern Joker and don't really like him as a character any more.
At the end of the day I'm writing fanfiction. I try to ground my takes on characters in specific versions, or when I'm straight up reinventing a character I try to give some interesting grounding and motivation to demonstrate why I made that choice, but at the end of the day, I'm writing characters the way I like them to be written, and if I need to diverge from what's currently considered "canon" then that's fine.
I don't want to get too much into my thoughts on the Dark Multiverse here, I've said my piece about how I actively dislike pretty much everything that came out of it and how it poisoned a lot of things by association for me. I'll be honest I think you have to be actively trying to write worse more out of character comics than the Dark Multiverse stuff.
If we're talking about the history of the Joker as a character, the whole "complete obsession and linked by fate" thing is a very modern interpretation, and one I don't really like. I cited something from Batman the Animated series as the sort of dynamic I'm emulating, but I can also pull on say the Tim Burton Batman movie version of the joker from 1989, or something like Ed Brubaker's "Batman: the Man who Laughs" comic from 2005 and there's not the elements of destiny/obsession that have been so heavily coded into the character in modern times. I actually think the inception of the idea came from Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" (which also pushed heavily into romantically coding how the Joker feels about Batman which I also don't like), and then it got very popular some time after the second Nolan movie came out.
DC has made it's choices with regards to what they want to do with the character and apparently their target audience (which is not me anymore) seems to enjoy it so maybe they've made the right calls for themselves as a business. I don't want to spend too much time harping on how I don't like things (I don't think it's a productive use of time), but a good amount of things in this quest are informed not by "how would actual DC comics do this?" and instead by "what do I want to do with this?" and so certain things are just not included.
Edit: To kind of stop harping on the Joker, things that canonically happened in DC comics, like Lex transferring his mind to a de-aged clone body and dating Supergirl, Penguin being a cannibal, Red Lanterns being berserkers that can't really engage in higher thought, Lois Lane hypnotizing a de-aged Superman to marry her and more, aren't going to be in this quest because I'm not fond of them and don't want to include them.
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Red_Faux
私を終わらせる
- Location
- 'Straya M8
I'm a comic fan. Selectively ignoring bullshit is a requirement to enjoy them. But this IS Fanfiction, it's fun to read BECAUSE it's different from Canon. So no need to explain, keep doing what you're doing.
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
So some good news and a progress report. The update is almost complete to the point where I'm fairly confident I'll have it out after tomorrow which is the last day of finals. Thank you all for being very patient as IRL stuff has taken the priority for me when dealing with things.
Adrian XXIV
Average User, from Poland
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'm gonna use my 500 exp to buy this.
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
I'll add it to my catalog of things to finish up. This will come after the update proper and the Gotham Founders interlude, but I'll get around to it eventually.
Edit: Exp has been spent on the purchase and I've made a note of what's been purchased.
So I'll point out the basic history is covered here
I'll say that I hope it won't be too janky but because I'm not bound to chronological order I can jump to any point in the timeline or tell any story I want which might cause some weirdness with people less familiar with the material. I hope it's not but I do want to give the disclaimer that the omake itself might be somewhat confusing for people unfamiliar with this stuff.
Edit #2: This is not set in stone, but I kind of want to do a story about Steppenwolf which will involve characters who are not known by their common names and will be at an odd point in the timeline.
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A Little Piece of Metal
A Little Piece of Metal
The dim light of a back alley offered scant cover for Sanders as he ran, the briefcase in his hand bouncing with each frantic step. His heart raced as a faint whoosh overhead filled him with dread.
He ducked behind a dumpster, not even registering its stench, panting and clutching the metal briefcase tightly. "Not here. Not now," he muttered.
The whoosh grew louder, then stopped. The alley went eerily silent. Slowly, Sanders peeked out from behind the dumpster—and there he was. Superman. His red cape fluttered slightly as he hovered just above the pavement, arms crossed.
"You're cornered," Superman said, his tone calm but firm. "The bank wants their money back, and I'm here to make sure they get it."
Sanders stepped out from his hiding spot, his bravado returning in the face of desperation. "You don't scare me, Superman," he spat. "I've got something for you."
With a swift motion, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a jagged shard of glowing green Kryptonite. He held it out like a shield, grinning. "See this, Superman? A little piece of rock, and you fold like a wet towel! You're a fucking joke!" he mimed, waving his Kryptonite around mockingly.
Superman's eyes narrowed. His heat vision flared, and in an instant, the Kryptonite became unbearably hot to the touch, causing Sanders to instinctively fling it away in shock. Before Sanders could act any further, Superman's gaze shifted slightly to the man's left side.
"You've got another one in your jacket pocket," Superman said flatly. Sanders froze. "It's a nice jacket, too, and I'd rather not ruin it. Let's not force the issue."
Sanders hesitated, his hand twitching toward his jacket. "How did you—?"
Superman shook his head. "Don't."
The criminal lowered his hand, muttering a curse under his breath.
"Good choice," Superman said.
But Sanders wasn't finished. He reached into his pocket again, faster this time, pulling out a second shard. Before he could fully extend his arm, Superman's heat vision flashed once more, obliterating the Kryptonite in an instant. The attack was so fast and precise that Sanders didn't even feel the heat before the shard cracked and flew out of his hand, far away.
"You're really not getting the point, are you?" Superman said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "Luckily for me, I have my own trump card for this sort of situation."
Sanders stumbled backward, his bravado crumbling. His eyes darted around for an escape route, but Superman took a step forward, reaching into his cape. He pulled out a small, shiny piece of metal and held it up for Sanders to see.
"Do you know what this is?" Superman asked, his tone cool. "This is uranium. Highly radioactive—or so I'm told. I wouldn't really know, since I'm immune."
Sanders' face went pale. "U-uranium?!"
Superman's lips curved into a faint smirk. "What's the matter? It's just a little piece of metal."
Sanders stumbled, his back hitting the alley wall. "A-are you crazy? Get that away from me! I could get sick just standing near it!" His bravado was gone; he was shaking like a leaf, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Superman's expression hardened as he took a deliberate step forward. "Funny. That's exactly how I feel around Kryptonite," he said, his words sharp and cutting. "You didn't care about that, did you?"
Sanders stammered, his hands trembling. "I-I didn't think—"
"No, you didn't," Superman interrupted, his voice rising slightly. "So why should I?"
Sanders shook his head desperately as he was backed into the dumpster. Stumbling, he fell, landing gracelessly on his behind, scrambling and cowering. Superman sighed and crushed the "uranium" in his hand, revealing it to be a piece of broken scrap. He let the pieces fall to the ground deliberately.
"This? It got caught on my cape when I landed," Superman said, his tone laced with dry humor. "But I need you to understand how reckless you've been."
Sanders sank to his knees, dropping the briefcase. "I... I didn't mean—"
"You did," Superman responded. He crouched to pick up the briefcase, then extended a hand to Sanders. "What's your name, friend?"
The man hesitated before taking it, allowing Superman to help him to his feet. "Sanders," he mumbled. For however much the situation had deteriorated, that was all Superman was getting out of him.
"Kryptonite is dangerous to me, Sanders, but it's not harmless to you either," Superman said, his voice more conversational than before—admonishing, yet almost compassionate. "It's radioactive, unstable, and handling it improperly could have long-term effects on your health. Do you even know what you're dealing with?"
In truth, Sanders didn't. Kids on the street could probably find a dealer for the stuff. Nobody really knew how it worked, except for maybe Baldy Luthor himself.
"I'm giving you a second chance," Superman said. "Pulling Kryptonite on me was a bad decision, but I'm willing to forgive that. Still, there are other people you hurt that you need to answer to." He gestured toward the street. "Come on. Let's return the money you took."
Defeated, Sanders followed Superman out of the alley, carrying the briefcase like a weight he couldn't bear to let go of.
As they approached the bank, the security guard at the entrance straightened, his stern gaze fixed on Sanders. Superman handed the briefcase over, nodding to the guard.
Sanders hesitated at the threshold, glancing at Superman. "This… this was a mistake. A huge mistake," he muttered. Why did I think I could get away with this?
Superman gave him a small, reassuring smile. "Mistakes happen. What matters is what you do next. One day you'll get out of this mess, and hopefully, you'll be better for it."
For all his power, Superman was way too naive, Sanders thought, and found some solace in that.
Superman watched the guard apprehend Sanders, then turned and took to the sky, his cape trailing behind him like a beacon of hope for a city that always needs its protector. For all of his recent struggles, at the moment he did well, and was content.
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King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
Woo, Omake review time!
So one little comment before I dive into specifics. On the whole this was solidly written and I enjoyed reading it. That being said I do recommend varying the paragraph size and structure a bit as a way to potentially improve your writing in the future. It's oftentimes a little tricky, and it can be difficult to do (I'm sure I have sections of my writing where I use too much of one kind/size of paragraph) but it will improve the writing. For me as I was reading this, the repeated use of the one sentence paragraph, even when it didn't involve spoke dialogue, got really old fast and made it a little less engaging to read.
Cards on the table, this is the sort of critique that goes to a much higher standard than spelling or grammar errors. It's fine to leave it as changed, but I do want to give constructive feedback and I think building upon what you've got and learning how to vary paragraph length and structure a little more will continue to improve your writing further.
Additionally this is way past what I'd expect from most people, including you, but I have gotten dinged on this once or twice in law school so I figured I'd pass this on. You use "em dashes" for stutters when you should be sticking solely to hyphens. The length of the line between the letters has grammatical significance and so as such outside of "u-uranium", I believe every stutter was grammatically incorrect.
I like this opening. It was a nice way to quickly establish Sanders desperation and make Superman seem impressive without going too far into it. It's fast, to the point and effective.
So this is actually one of the two points that render the current version non-canon. Kryptonite doesn't melt when exposed to heat, it explodes. Liquid kryptonite would still be just as radioactive as solid kryptonite (liquid uranium for example is still radioactive. The incredible heat needed to reach melting point is problematic but the state of matter does not prevent it from being radioactive).
As such it should be reduced to smoke and a blackened spot on the pavement or something if you want this omake canonized.
I enjoyed this little interaction. It's got some humor to it and it shows Superman trying to talk down his problems rather than immediately blasting threats and neutralizing them through force. It's a little bit of characterization but I enjoy it.
So again, the kryptonite here shouldn't be melting, it should be exploding. I'd have it get knocked out of Sanders hand again, or have him drop it due to the heat or something. This is the other sentence that needs to be changed if you want the omake canonized
Additionally comic books can allow for some willing suspension of disbelief, but holding molten rock/minerals is almost certainly going to give you severe burns if you're not using very specialized equipment. Not really a critique, more just me giving some comments.
So I know I quoted a large section but I rather enjoyed this. It's similar to climax of one of my favorite Superman stories, "What's so Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?" in miniature. This moment very much felt right to me.
There are a few other moments of it, but I like that Superman tried to negotiate and be friendly with this guy. I don't feel like I get to show off Superman's more personable side all that often but I do like that you included it here in this omake.
That's the last part I specifically want to quote before talking about the omake in general. All in all this was a really fun read. It was a simple small-scope story that focused pretty much just on Sanders and benefitted for it and showed how Superman could have a positive impact. I rather liked it and thought it was a good story.
Because of the wonkiness with how kryptonite was made to act (melting instead of exploding when sufficiently heated), I can't canonize it right now but I otherwise would. Fix those two sentences and I'll award you 500 exp and canonize the omake, but please let me know you have done so. If I don't receive word of any changes by the 19th, I'll assume that you are content with keeping it non-canon and getting 400 exp.
Entangled Minds
Hello @King crimson, I've made the edit.
Alex Hayes had been a software engineering tech lead at LexCorp for several years, specializing in cryptography. Most of his job involved protecting the company's digital infrastructure and developing advanced encryption systems. He was one of the people who made Lexcorp's cybersecurity truly world class. However, reverse-engineering a quantum computer from salvaged Brainiac technology? That was a challenge unlike anything he had encountered—equal parts thrilling and overwhelming. For this project, Alex worked under Felicity Smoak, head of computer development, directly. Her reputation as both brilliant and approachable had drawn some of LexCorp's best talent to her side, and Alex considered himself lucky to learn from her. Felicity had a knack for breaking down complex concepts into manageable steps and fostering collaboration, an essential skill on a project of this magnitude.
Today, the team met with Dr. Meena Dhawan, a physicist whose expertise in quantum mechanics was matched only by her abysmal attention span. Meena could rattle off the intricacies of quantum entanglement one moment and dive into abstract multiverse theories the next. Keeping her focused was no small task, but thankfully Felicity was up to it.
"So, the core issue here is entanglement stability," Meena began, pacing the room with a marker in hand. She sketched a pair of intricate, circle-like shapes on the whiteboard. "When qubits—the basic units of quantum information—are entangled, their states are linked no matter the distance between them. That's what makes quantum computing so powerful. But the moment they interact with their environment, the entanglement breaks. We call that 'decoherence', and the cause 'quantum noise.'"
Felicity nodded. "Decoherence leads to errors. For context, our current superconducting qubits—the ones we've prototyped so far—have error rates around 0.1 to 0.5 percent per logic gate operation. In any computational methodology, this sort of result isn't scalable." Frankly, that was putting it mildly. Quantum processing logic was an odd thing to grasp, but such a failure rate made it utterly unfeasible for most purposes. "And let's not forget the security implications," Felicity continued, turning to the team. "A fully functional quantum computer could brute-force its way through all modern encryption systems, breaking everything from banking protocols to national defense networks. If we can get ahead of that curve, LexCorp could revolutionize cybersecurity… or render its current variation utterly obsolete." She ended with a light tone, making the dark implication sound like a joke.
The ramifications were mind-boggling. A quantum computer could potentially dismantle the encryption algorithms Alex had spent years refining. Even the most advanced systems could take millions of years to crack a single key. A quantum computer? It could do so in... "Five minutes," Alex muttered, shuddering at the thought of how much would need to change to keep sensitive data safe. Meena's intense gaze snapped to him.
"Ah, but that's the crux of the matter, isn't it?" she said. "For this to work, our precious little qubits need to be held at effectively absolute zero temperatures, and even then, they can only maintain coherence for a few microseconds. Five minutes? That's an eternity and a half." Given that woman's pace, it probably was
"On the flip side," Felicity added, "imagine offering unbreakable quantum encryption as a service. The implications for modern modeling technology are enormous. Every field of research could be impacted. Companies would pay a fortune not to be left behind."
"Oh, sure," Meena interrupted, waving a hand dismissively. "Profit. Always about money. But the real benefit here is in the theoretical framework. For instance, if we explore topological qubits—"
"Hold that thought, Meena," Felicity interjected with a patient smile. "We'll get there, but let's stay focused on our immediate steps for now. Once we have a working model, Lex will pour in as much money as necessary and we'll revisit that idea."
Meena sighed, folding her arms. "Fine, practical steps. But you're missing the beauty of this whole system," she muttered, almost pouting.
"So, about the error correction," a power and performance engineer said, clearly trying to redirect the conversation. "We're focusing on dynamic error correction algorithms, right? Traditionally that would imply redundancy—multiple physical qubits to stabilize a single logical qubit. But the overhead for that is enormous." Meena did not seem too happy with that particular consideration.
"Exactly," Felicity said. "That's why we're exploring probabilistic error cancellation. we run calculations in a way that the errors cancel each other out by accounting for the noise affecting the qubits. It's not flawless, but it means we don't need as much backup. We can conduct meaningful tests and optimize the system further later as we go." At that, Meena seemed to calm down a bit. It was an interesting observation that as long as things were framed in the context of an efficiency problem rather than a resource problem, that brilliant woman could be talked into being quite reasonable.
"And then there's designing circuits that can handle errors better," she continued. "If we can make circuits that stop errors from spreading, the whole system will be more stable and easier to improve."
"Speaking of stability," Meena cut in, her eyes lighting up, "did you know Brainiac's systems might use topological qubits? These qubits are theoretically immune to local noise because their states are encoded in the system's topology rather than individual particles. Professor Kitaev from MIT wrote several essays about it, though they were all quite rudimentary—" Alex tried to follow but quickly felt out of his depth. The ideas were so far removed from his day-to-day work they bordered on science fiction.
"That's a fascinating idea," Felicity said, masterfully steering the conversation. "Let's focus on making our quantum bits work together better so we can act on it later on. If they can check each other without disrupting their quantum state, it could solve a major problem in our research."
"Sure, sure," Meena said, pacing again. "Integrating self-referential entanglement mechanisms into our existing qubits, to get them to check each other's states without collapsing the wavefunction... well, there are several ways—"
This time, Felicity was quicker to intervene, addressing her team. "Then we know our next steps. Mr. Frost will join tomorrow to discuss budgetary concerns. Let's reconvene then to finalize our modeling and touch base with R&D." The team murmured their agreement, and the meeting adjourned.
"This whole process is too slow," Alex overheard Meena say to Felicity as they packed up. "We're crawling when we should be running."
"Meena, you're right—this is a steep learning curve, and much of the theory goes over our head at the moment," Felicity replied calmly, "but we're making progress. Creating something usable takes time." Meena sighed but nodded grudgingly.
As Alex headed home, he reflected on the day. The interplay between Meena's untamed brilliance and Felicity's practical leadership was something to behold. Despite the challenges, he felt a spark of optimism. If anyone could crack Brainiac's tech, it was this team. And if they couldn't? Well, in his field, failure was just another data point.
Entangled Minds
Alex Hayes had been a software engineering tech lead at LexCorp for several years, specializing in cryptography. Most of his job involved protecting the company's digital infrastructure and developing advanced encryption systems. He was one of the people who made Lexcorp's cybersecurity truly world class. However, reverse-engineering a quantum computer from salvaged Brainiac technology? That was a challenge unlike anything he had encountered—equal parts thrilling and overwhelming. For this project, Alex worked under Felicity Smoak, head of computer development, directly. Her reputation as both brilliant and approachable had drawn some of LexCorp's best talent to her side, and Alex considered himself lucky to learn from her. Felicity had a knack for breaking down complex concepts into manageable steps and fostering collaboration, an essential skill on a project of this magnitude.
Today, the team met with Dr. Meena Dhawan, a physicist whose expertise in quantum mechanics was matched only by her abysmal attention span. Meena could rattle off the intricacies of quantum entanglement one moment and dive into abstract multiverse theories the next. Keeping her focused was no small task, but thankfully Felicity was up to it.
"So, the core issue here is entanglement stability," Meena began, pacing the room with a marker in hand. She sketched a pair of intricate, circle-like shapes on the whiteboard. "When qubits—the basic units of quantum information—are entangled, their states are linked no matter the distance between them. That's what makes quantum computing so powerful. But the moment they interact with their environment, the entanglement breaks. We call that 'decoherence', and the cause 'quantum noise.'"
Felicity nodded. "Decoherence leads to errors. For context, our current superconducting qubits—the ones we've prototyped so far—have error rates around 0.1 to 0.5 percent per logic gate operation. In any computational methodology, this sort of result isn't scalable." Frankly, that was putting it mildly. Quantum processing logic was an odd thing to grasp, but such a failure rate made it utterly unfeasible for most purposes. "And let's not forget the security implications," Felicity continued, turning to the team. "A fully functional quantum computer could brute-force its way through all modern encryption systems, breaking everything from banking protocols to national defense networks. If we can get ahead of that curve, LexCorp could revolutionize cybersecurity… or render its current variation utterly obsolete." She ended with a light tone, making the dark implication sound like a joke.
The ramifications were mind-boggling. A quantum computer could potentially dismantle the encryption algorithms Alex had spent years refining. Even the most advanced systems could take millions of years to crack a single key. A quantum computer? It could do so in... "Five minutes," Alex muttered, shuddering at the thought of how much would need to change to keep sensitive data safe. Meena's intense gaze snapped to him.
"Ah, but that's the crux of the matter, isn't it?" she said. "For this to work, our precious little qubits need to be held at effectively absolute zero temperatures, and even then, they can only maintain coherence for a few microseconds. Five minutes? That's an eternity and a half." Given that woman's pace, it probably was
"On the flip side," Felicity added, "imagine offering unbreakable quantum encryption as a service. The implications for modern modeling technology are enormous. Every field of research could be impacted. Companies would pay a fortune not to be left behind."
"Oh, sure," Meena interrupted, waving a hand dismissively. "Profit. Always about money. But the real benefit here is in the theoretical framework. For instance, if we explore topological qubits—"
"Hold that thought, Meena," Felicity interjected with a patient smile. "We'll get there, but let's stay focused on our immediate steps for now. Once we have a working model, Lex will pour in as much money as necessary and we'll revisit that idea."
Meena sighed, folding her arms. "Fine, practical steps. But you're missing the beauty of this whole system," she muttered, almost pouting.
"So, about the error correction," a power and performance engineer said, clearly trying to redirect the conversation. "We're focusing on dynamic error correction algorithms, right? Traditionally that would imply redundancy—multiple physical qubits to stabilize a single logical qubit. But the overhead for that is enormous." Meena did not seem too happy with that particular consideration.
"Exactly," Felicity said. "That's why we're exploring probabilistic error cancellation. we run calculations in a way that the errors cancel each other out by accounting for the noise affecting the qubits. It's not flawless, but it means we don't need as much backup. We can conduct meaningful tests and optimize the system further later as we go." At that, Meena seemed to calm down a bit. It was an interesting observation that as long as things were framed in the context of an efficiency problem rather than a resource problem, that brilliant woman could be talked into being quite reasonable.
"And then there's designing circuits that can handle errors better," she continued. "If we can make circuits that stop errors from spreading, the whole system will be more stable and easier to improve."
"Speaking of stability," Meena cut in, her eyes lighting up, "did you know Brainiac's systems might use topological qubits? These qubits are theoretically immune to local noise because their states are encoded in the system's topology rather than individual particles. Professor Kitaev from MIT wrote several essays about it, though they were all quite rudimentary—" Alex tried to follow but quickly felt out of his depth. The ideas were so far removed from his day-to-day work they bordered on science fiction.
"That's a fascinating idea," Felicity said, masterfully steering the conversation. "Let's focus on making our quantum bits work together better so we can act on it later on. If they can check each other without disrupting their quantum state, it could solve a major problem in our research."
"Sure, sure," Meena said, pacing again. "Integrating self-referential entanglement mechanisms into our existing qubits, to get them to check each other's states without collapsing the wavefunction... well, there are several ways—"
This time, Felicity was quicker to intervene, addressing her team. "Then we know our next steps. Mr. Frost will join tomorrow to discuss budgetary concerns. Let's reconvene then to finalize our modeling and touch base with R&D." The team murmured their agreement, and the meeting adjourned.
"This whole process is too slow," Alex overheard Meena say to Felicity as they packed up. "We're crawling when we should be running."
"Meena, you're right—this is a steep learning curve, and much of the theory goes over our head at the moment," Felicity replied calmly, "but we're making progress. Creating something usable takes time." Meena sighed but nodded grudgingly.
As Alex headed home, he reflected on the day. The interplay between Meena's untamed brilliance and Felicity's practical leadership was something to behold. Despite the challenges, he felt a spark of optimism. If anyone could crack Brainiac's tech, it was this team. And if they couldn't? Well, in his field, failure was just another data point.
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King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
Hello, I've checked and it looks good to me. As such this omake earns 500 exp and canon status. That being said I've got another omake to review from you.
So this was solid. One thing I noticed is that you incorporated the feedback on the previous omake and started to incorporate more varied paragraph-size and structure. It's good and it feels like a substantial improvement. The one day turnaround only makes it more impressive.
By and large this was really good and I don't have much to talk about. I think you kind of nailed Meena and she's a pretty tricky character to get down, due to being both really smart and fairly unfocused. I want to comment on Meena because I feel like she can easily become hell to write or easily devolve into a caricature of herself, but I think you did a solid job of making her smart and distracted and keeping her fairly grounded. It's good stuff.
Now onto more specific commentary.
This is a really solid basic explanation of a few different concepts all at once. I was expecting vague generalities and comic book technobabble (which is not an indictment of writing quality, I do this a fair bit as well), but you really solidly nailed down the basic elements here.
You have other solid explanations of things (though terms like "logic gates" get thrown out without explanation, which isn't a bad thing, it just requires me to use google to accurately parse what's being said), but this stood out to me as a clear cut explanation of what various aspects were on a fairly complicated area of study. In general simplifying complex concepts into plain language people can understand is often tricky so it's impressive to see you do it well here.
So I want to complement this as a stylistic choice. The use of italics to show internal thought processes very quickly was snappy and punchy and it communicated information fast whilst not separating it too much from the dialogue. When I do this sort of stuff, I generally have a character "monologue" their thoughts to the reader in a separate paragraph which causes some spacing between the dialogue that might make it feel slower. I may want to try and use this trick for myself as I think it's a clever stylistic bit of slight of hand that improves the section.
So this does sidle up a bit against my "please don't involve real world figures who haven't been dead for twenty or so years rule". I personally feel a little weird about involving public figures who are still alive in this quest. Like the Beatles probably exist in some capacity in quest, but I'd feel really, really weird if someone wrote an omake where Lex started funding Paul McCartney. It's something I'm uncomfortable with and so I'm going to make stuff like that non-canon.
This isn't something I'm uncomfortable with, and it's a single not really focused on line, but I do want to mention it again and make it clear not to push too far on this sort of stuff. I did something similar with the "Azarath Metrion Christmas" omake if I remember correctly.
Basically this one is fine as is, and the omake is not getting dinged on it, but in general the thread should be fairly careful in depicting "Professor Kitaev from MIT" who is a real person who is not dead.
All in all that's most of my specific comments. Not too much to say here, this one was really solid and the thing about quality writing is that it gives me less to talk about/comment on. This omake earns canon status and gets you another 500 exp.
Adrian XXIV
Average User, from Poland
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Interesting Thought: Quest!Lex "uplifts" both people & environment around him, so they can both do better their jobs and help him "ensure his own legacy".
If someone wanted to do Evil Counterpart of Quest!Lex, then he could be someone who drags people & environment (around himself) "downward", so they don't "endanger his legacy".
If someone wanted to do Evil Counterpart of Quest!Lex, then he could be someone who drags people & environment (around himself) "downward", so they don't "endanger his legacy".
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
Lex doesn't just uplift the people and environment around him. It's been talked about a bit, but Lex has a messiah complex and wants to be the savior of mankind. His entire conflict with Superman is arguably Lex being unable to get over Superman fitting a messianic archetype and as such actively going out of his way to tear Superman down to protect his legacy and self-image.
Additionally, I'd like to note that Lex is pretty unabashedly evil. He's not the worst, but he's actively propped up awful regimes, willingly worked with supervillains and assassins, and actively done things like torture, murder and alter people through mind control. There wouldn't be a "evil counterpart" to Quest!Lex as that implies he's not evil. There'd instead be an "Eviler Counterpart", or someone who shows that he's actively worse.
Edit: This is more just a comment on who could fit the role you described, and while I don't think it's perfect, I think my take on Vandal Savage kind of fits that role. He's the world's angriest old man and actively wants to revert the world back to a more violent uncivilized age where he thinks humanity was stronger. Granted Vandal actively moves the goalposts of what kind of reversion in society he wants to bring about and how he's interested in tearing things down, but I do think he fits the broad strokes of what you're looking for.
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Interlude: The New Normal
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
So thank you all for being patient as this update took three months to come out. I don't ever want to do anything like that ever again but law school has ways of surprising me with IRL problems, so I can't make any guarantees. That being said this should be the end of the turn 32 stuff, leaving just World News, bookkeeping, and then we're off to the next turn.
I struggled a fair bit with writing this. There was originally a Amanda Waller POV included but I lost my work on that, and there was a solid attempt at a Mercy Graves POV showing her perspective of the members of the Church of Blood but I struggled heavily with information balancing and making it interesting and so ended up scrapping it. As such a lot of these POV's are just kind of dealing with a look into a few characters personal lives and how they're adjusting to the changing circumstances of their lives. It's fairly small scale, but I think it's interesting.
I hope you guys enjoy this update, it's been a long time coming!
Interlude: The New Normal
Rose Wilson
Rose hadn't fully processed what had gone down. She'd never really liked Grant but he was still her brother. Finding out he'd gotten in over his head and involved Joseph in some nonsense with a terrorist group wasn't exactly something she'd expected. Of course the whole team up with her dad wasn't exactly leading to the warm fuzzies either.
Deathstroke was incredible as a mercenary but Rose wanted a dad, not a drill sergeant or a commanding officer. Sure they generally stayed on the same wavelength and they worked together well enough, but Rose had kind of expected more. All of her life Rose had heard legends about her dad and while her mom had tried to bury the information, Rose had still built up expectations of what her dad was like. Heck she'd even joined up in an army program just so she could be more like him.
And yet he wasn't really a dad. He'd probably never be a dad. Rose didn't even know what she wanted from him any more. She saw him shoot Grant. Grant was an asshole but that was her brother. And after a year of working with her and tracking down Joseph, he ended things by telling her to go home, no acknowledgment of what he'd done or who she was. She was his goddamn daughter and he just brushed her off like she was some kind of overly pushy fan. She had a literal psychic link to him and he still didn't want anything to do with her. It pissed her off.
She couldn't fully hate him though either. Maybe she was wrong for it, but Wintergreen's explanation had soothed the worst of her feelings. Deathstroke had just been forced to put down one of her brothers to save the other. And Grant was pretty clearly acting out due to a desire to be like their dad. She got why having to kill your son because he made an ass out of himself trying to be like you would make you reluctant to have your daughter follow in your footsteps but it was still bullshit.
Rose had a lot more respect for her mom though. Rose's mom was still in the wrong for how she treated Rose but her dad being an ass really gave a whole new perspective on why that was the case. Deathstroke had refused to call her and so Rose had to make the call to her mom that Grant was dead. Hearing her mom break down over the phone was an awful experience.
It wasn't a secret that Joseph was her mom's favorite but hearing how her mom reacted to the news about Grant really solidified that her mom cared about her. She couldn't say the same thing about her dad. Wintergreen claimed it, but her dad's ambiguously platonic life partner wasn't exactly an unbiased source of information. He often had a point but too often he had to step in and explain shit her dad should have been talking about.
Rose was untethered for a bit. She liked combat and piloting giant mechs and more importantly she was good at it. Getting back to LexCorp was a nice stable thing. There were a bunch of new faces and Metropolis had been rebuilt in a new way, but it was familiar. Familiar was good for now, Rose needed to ground herself.
It was easy to sink into the everyday monotonous grind of just doing what was comfortable and familiar and expected. There was no need to question if you were a real person or some weird psychic reflection shaped into the semblance of a person. Rose kind of wanted to kill Grant again for introducing that little bit of existential dread to her. Then again nothing good really came of the fact that Grant was dead.
Joseph at least was safe. If anything good came out of this, him still being in one piece was a positive. Rose wouldn't have known how to cope with things if she was the last Wilson kid left standing. Her mom would probably nag her to death or lock her up with some kind of bubble wrap straightjacket or something if that happened and while Rose unfortunately kind of got where her mom was coming from now, that didn't mean she wanted to play house either.
For now rest and relaxation came in the form of the Ravager suit. Rose missed the suit. Sure it was too conspicuous to be used most of the time, but there were a few moments where Rose would've liked to be able to rain very literal hellfire on her opponents. Plus being good with the suit was something that definitively came from her, what little her dad talked to her about such suits indicated that he had strategies for fighting them but didn't know how to pilot them. The Ravager suit was something Rose could call her own, albeit with the caveat that LexCorp owned the thing.
And so Rose was kind of left to pick up where she'd left off. Her dad was back in the wind, Joseph was safe, and mom was heartbroken but at least willing to talk. Rose had a nine to five where she didn't have to think and question and push and no one confronted her over all the little bits of herself that felt a little too much like someone else. For now Rose was content to let that shit die with Grant. It'd come home to roost eventually but Rose wanted some peace and quiet and a sense of control over her life at least for a little bit before she dove back in to hurting herself over figuring out who exactly Deathstroke was to her.
Barbara Gordon AKA Batgirl
Barbara's time with LexCorp was almost up. She didn't regret making the choice to leave the internship she had. LexCorp was an incredible place to work and Barbara was plenty aware of how incredible an opportunity it was to have someone like Ms. Smoak act as a mentor, but it didn't change the fact that it wasn't her calling. Computer science was a passion of hers, but big business wasn't what was going to change Gotham for the better.
Barbara relished being able to be Batgirl. Taking down bad guys, busting crimes, and stopping supervillains that regular cops were all things she relished. She wouldn't claim to be saving the city, Barbara was well aware that no one person could fix the issues in Gotham, but by handling the worst Gotham could throw at people, Barbara made it easier for ordinary systems to kick in and do their job and make a difference. And the systems had made a difference.
The gang problems weren't gone, but the worst of the Italian mafia had mostly been put behind bars. They were nowhere near the threat Barbara remembered them being way back when her dad had first stepped up to be the police commissioner. That was something to celebrate and hopefully as things got better the rest of the gangs would be headed the same way.
Really all that was left of the old school mob families that once ruled this city was Cosa Nostra. Admittedly some people would argue that the Penguin was a remnant of that time but Oswald Cobblepot was his own kind of crook, mixing in some of the worst parts of politicians, and arms dealers all while keeping himself clean enough that no one had brought him in on anything. The Penguin was a beast all his own in Barbara's opinion and one she wasn't prepared to tackle. Instead she'd be handling Cosa Nostra.
One of the heads of the organization, Stephen Mandragora apparently died in a house fire recently and with Batman out of town, it was up to her and Robin to ensure that nobody took advantage of the ensuing chaos. Robin was busy keeping an eye on the Menagerie for now, so it was up to Batgirl to keep an eye on some of the remnants of Cosa Nostra. In particular, she was watching Henry Aquista.
Henry was an old school gangster but he apparently was trying to adapt to the changing times by trying to find a few costumed crooks he found tolerable. Barbara had learned that he'd reached out to someone called "Ratcatcher" for information gathering, someone called "Big Uncle" in Metropolis for access to pieces of advanced tech, and most recently some guy claiming to be an actual-factual warlock. It was all cause for concern.
Ratcatcher had managed to get eyes inside GCPD headquarters, meaning Barbara was going to politely nag her dad to lay out some more traps, and Barbara did not want to go up against mobsters in mech suits. That being said the meeting with the warlock was a little more concerning.
Batgirl was currently sitting on a rooftop, watching the meeting through a drone. The audio and video was a little tinny, but that was the kind of compromise you made when you wanted to keep the drone stealthy.
The talk was fairly mundane all things considered though there was some concerning things. Apparently the warlock could speak with dead people if he had a complete body. Mandragora's body was ashes now so that was apparently a bust but what Aquista was searching for was interesting in and of itself. Apparently Mandragora had both a child who was hidden, and several hoards of wealth to be used. Henry Aquista had been reaching out to the warlock in the hopes of being able to use his powers to get Mandragora to confirm where the money was located and how it could be accessed now that Mandragora himself was dead. That was something to look into.
Barbara made a note to pass on that information to Robin, having a necromancer to speak with the dead seemed like an invaluable tool in crime scene investigations. She'd never met a necromancer but she could recognize that at the very least it was not much stranger than a shapeshifting mass of sentient mud like Clayface.
Aquista was attempting to build up to something, Mandragora's missing money would provide a whole lot of power to whoever scooped it up, and gaining control of Mandragora's child would likely let whoever had him rally whatever loyalists there might be to their side. It was worth considering how things might go. The meeting wrapped up fairly quickly as the warlock handed Aquista a business card and the two parted ways. Barbara couldn't snag a picture of the card with the drone without revealing its presence and so she recalled the drone and prepared to head out to track the warlock.
Aquista was likely the bigger player in the Gotham underworld but the magic man was a complete unknown as far as Barbara knew and so she wanted more intel on him and his capabilities. The drone was just barely packed away as Barbara began to move towards where she believed the warlock was, her grapple gun firing out as she began to swing over the streets of Gotham.
Her eyes snapped to the red convertible which the warlock had driven away from the meeting place and Barbara needed to make another snap decision. She likely wouldn't be able to get too much closer without blowing her cover and revealing that she was tailing him. As such Barbara found a tall building with an old gargoyle that oversaw the road the warlock was driving down. She set up shop there and pulled out her binoculars. She spotted the car and zoomed in on its license plate before taking a few pictures of it. Later on down the line, she could run the plate numbers and try and find out more about the warlock.
For now, Barbara was going to double back to some known locations Henry Aquista frequented, watch him for a bit longer and then reconvene at the Batcave to go over things with Robin. The situation in Gotham was heating up and Batgirl was more than willing to do her part in keeping things from escalating, but it was a school night and Barbara Gordon still needed to keep up with the pressures of high school even still.
Amy Winston
Amy felt like she'd been gone for ages. It wasn't that long in the grand scheme of things but it was enough to change her life forever. It was kind of funny in a messed up way, Amy had wanted to go home the entire time she was in Gemworld, but now that she was back everything felt off and wrong. Amy wasn't who she had been before Gemworld and so she couldn't fully settle back. She did her best to try and be normal but it all felt slightly loose and ill-fitting, like she was acting in a play and reading her lines right, but the unseen audience was judging her for some mistake she didn't know she was making.
This wasn't the typical happy ending in fairy tales. Normally after the big bad dies everyone's happy and the world continues on better than it was before. Amy killed the big bad and she now had to live with it. He was a monster but it was still different than killing actual monsters. Amy tried to reassure herself that she didn't have a choice, but those last few moments where he told her she looked so much like her mother were haunting. Amy didn't think there was any sort of redemption for him but it still lay bare that he was a person and she'd killed him.
Well Amy could stuff that back into the "slowly processing" part of her brain. She'd gotten fairly decent at compartmentalization and every day nonsense was pretty good at distracting her from things. Her dad's need to smother her was annoying, but it did keep her from dwelling on things for too long.
Her dad had apparently gotten LexCorp involved in searching for her before she'd returned. Amy felt bad about abandoning her parents but at the same time she'd also learned that they weren't her real parents and she had a whole mess of tangled complicated emotions that she wasn't exactly interested in processing right this moment.
LexCorp's involvement had lead to some bigwig from the TV stuff they did showing up and coming to talk with her. Mr. Loomis seemed nice enough, his willingness to talk about video games for a bit was pretty cool even if he did seem a little unfamiliar with things, and Amy had done her best to reassure him that everything was fine. Regurgitating the same lie she'd told her parents felt gross but it kept suspicions down and would hopefully keep everybody calm enough
Mr. Loomis had talked a bit about some opportunities available at LexCorp including getting an education there rather than going back to a traditional school. He'd also mentioned the state of the art training facilities where various superheroes practiced using their powers. That was tempting. Amy had powers, just because she'd come home didn't mean she'd lost them. Moreover Amy was good with her powers but she never really got to seriously train. She'd learned how to fight from her friends in Gemworld but she'd never had a safe place to see what her limits and capabilities actually were. As such a state of the art training room was interesting in that sense.
Amy had wanted to go back to her normal life but it was kind of becoming clear that she wasn't a normal girl anymore. She wasn't in Gemworld anymore but she was still Princess Amethyst. Maybe checking out what LexCorp had to offer wouldn't be so bad. She'd at least get to hang out with Jinx and she doubted it would hurt her in any meaningful way.
And so Amy had agreed to visit with her dad and Mr. Loomis ended up leaving. Amy spent the next few days hanging out with her mom and dad, trying to recenter and find some new normal for herself moving forwards from here.
Twins Trait Subvote
The D'Aramis twins have managed to continue to impress with their ability to quickly and efficiently create labs and structures to suit LexCorp's needs. With their continued excellence, they've managed to prove that they can go and beyond what would be expected of the average person in this pursuit. Please pick your favorite option for [Viv] and [Con] from the list below. There is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [Viv] Twin Bond
Vivian's trait "Twin Bond" is modified to work on constructing specialized labs even if Constance is not assigned to the action
[ ] [Con] Twin Bond
Constance's trait "Twin Bond" is modified to work on constructing specialized labs even if Vivian is not assigned to the action
[ ] [Viv] Mandatory Minimum
Vivian gains the trait Mandatory Minimum, which turns the construction of specialized labs into an auto-success and grants 50 points to be used for sure
[ ] [Con] Mandatory Minimum
Constance gains the trait Mandatory Minimum, which turns the construction of specialized labs into an auto-success and grants 50 points to be used for sure
[ ] [Viv] Architect's Eye
Vivian gains the the trait Architect's Eye, which reduces the DC of building any building or room by 5
[ ] [Con] Architect's Eye
Constance gains the the trait Architect's Eye, which reduces the DC of building any building or room by 5
[ ] [Viv] The Nose Knows
Vivian gains the trait The Nose Knows, which causes her to add +15 to any research action that necessarily involves chemical processes
[ ] [Con]The Nose Knows
Constance gains the trait The Nose Knows, which causes her to add +15 to any research action that necessarily involves chemical processes
[ ] [Viv] Twintuition
Vivian gains the trait Twintuition which makes it so that if Vivian leads an action on the same turn in which Constance is assigned to an action involving construction, and the natural roll of Constance's action is higher than Vivian's, Vivian replaces her roll with Constance's so long as it is not less than the original roll by 20 or more
[ ] [Con] Twintuition
Constance gains the trait Twintuition which makes it so that if Constance leads an action on the same turn in which Vivian is assigned to an action involving construction, and the natural roll of Vivian's action is higher than Constance's, Constance replaces her roll with Vivian's so long as it is not less than the original roll by 20 or more
[ ] [Viv] Foxy Financing
Vivian gains the trait Foxy Financing, which causes any object or structure Vivian assists in building through an intrigue action to become harder to discover via raising the DC of investigating who built it by 15
[ ] [Con] Foxy Financing
Constance gains the trait Foxy Financing, which causes any object or structure Constance assists in building through an intrigue action to become harder to discover via raising the DC of investigating who built it by 15
[ ] [Viv] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
Vivian gains the trait Pharmaceutical Forewoman, which allows her to add +20 to any action wherein she is developing pharmaceuticals
[ ] [Con] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
Constance gains the trait Pharmaceutical Forewoman, which allows her to add +20 to any action wherein she is developing pharmaceuticals
I struggled a fair bit with writing this. There was originally a Amanda Waller POV included but I lost my work on that, and there was a solid attempt at a Mercy Graves POV showing her perspective of the members of the Church of Blood but I struggled heavily with information balancing and making it interesting and so ended up scrapping it. As such a lot of these POV's are just kind of dealing with a look into a few characters personal lives and how they're adjusting to the changing circumstances of their lives. It's fairly small scale, but I think it's interesting.
I hope you guys enjoy this update, it's been a long time coming!
Interlude: The New Normal
Rose Wilson
Rose hadn't fully processed what had gone down. She'd never really liked Grant but he was still her brother. Finding out he'd gotten in over his head and involved Joseph in some nonsense with a terrorist group wasn't exactly something she'd expected. Of course the whole team up with her dad wasn't exactly leading to the warm fuzzies either.
Deathstroke was incredible as a mercenary but Rose wanted a dad, not a drill sergeant or a commanding officer. Sure they generally stayed on the same wavelength and they worked together well enough, but Rose had kind of expected more. All of her life Rose had heard legends about her dad and while her mom had tried to bury the information, Rose had still built up expectations of what her dad was like. Heck she'd even joined up in an army program just so she could be more like him.
And yet he wasn't really a dad. He'd probably never be a dad. Rose didn't even know what she wanted from him any more. She saw him shoot Grant. Grant was an asshole but that was her brother. And after a year of working with her and tracking down Joseph, he ended things by telling her to go home, no acknowledgment of what he'd done or who she was. She was his goddamn daughter and he just brushed her off like she was some kind of overly pushy fan. She had a literal psychic link to him and he still didn't want anything to do with her. It pissed her off.
She couldn't fully hate him though either. Maybe she was wrong for it, but Wintergreen's explanation had soothed the worst of her feelings. Deathstroke had just been forced to put down one of her brothers to save the other. And Grant was pretty clearly acting out due to a desire to be like their dad. She got why having to kill your son because he made an ass out of himself trying to be like you would make you reluctant to have your daughter follow in your footsteps but it was still bullshit.
Rose had a lot more respect for her mom though. Rose's mom was still in the wrong for how she treated Rose but her dad being an ass really gave a whole new perspective on why that was the case. Deathstroke had refused to call her and so Rose had to make the call to her mom that Grant was dead. Hearing her mom break down over the phone was an awful experience.
It wasn't a secret that Joseph was her mom's favorite but hearing how her mom reacted to the news about Grant really solidified that her mom cared about her. She couldn't say the same thing about her dad. Wintergreen claimed it, but her dad's ambiguously platonic life partner wasn't exactly an unbiased source of information. He often had a point but too often he had to step in and explain shit her dad should have been talking about.
Rose was untethered for a bit. She liked combat and piloting giant mechs and more importantly she was good at it. Getting back to LexCorp was a nice stable thing. There were a bunch of new faces and Metropolis had been rebuilt in a new way, but it was familiar. Familiar was good for now, Rose needed to ground herself.
It was easy to sink into the everyday monotonous grind of just doing what was comfortable and familiar and expected. There was no need to question if you were a real person or some weird psychic reflection shaped into the semblance of a person. Rose kind of wanted to kill Grant again for introducing that little bit of existential dread to her. Then again nothing good really came of the fact that Grant was dead.
Joseph at least was safe. If anything good came out of this, him still being in one piece was a positive. Rose wouldn't have known how to cope with things if she was the last Wilson kid left standing. Her mom would probably nag her to death or lock her up with some kind of bubble wrap straightjacket or something if that happened and while Rose unfortunately kind of got where her mom was coming from now, that didn't mean she wanted to play house either.
For now rest and relaxation came in the form of the Ravager suit. Rose missed the suit. Sure it was too conspicuous to be used most of the time, but there were a few moments where Rose would've liked to be able to rain very literal hellfire on her opponents. Plus being good with the suit was something that definitively came from her, what little her dad talked to her about such suits indicated that he had strategies for fighting them but didn't know how to pilot them. The Ravager suit was something Rose could call her own, albeit with the caveat that LexCorp owned the thing.
And so Rose was kind of left to pick up where she'd left off. Her dad was back in the wind, Joseph was safe, and mom was heartbroken but at least willing to talk. Rose had a nine to five where she didn't have to think and question and push and no one confronted her over all the little bits of herself that felt a little too much like someone else. For now Rose was content to let that shit die with Grant. It'd come home to roost eventually but Rose wanted some peace and quiet and a sense of control over her life at least for a little bit before she dove back in to hurting herself over figuring out who exactly Deathstroke was to her.
Barbara Gordon AKA Batgirl
Barbara's time with LexCorp was almost up. She didn't regret making the choice to leave the internship she had. LexCorp was an incredible place to work and Barbara was plenty aware of how incredible an opportunity it was to have someone like Ms. Smoak act as a mentor, but it didn't change the fact that it wasn't her calling. Computer science was a passion of hers, but big business wasn't what was going to change Gotham for the better.
Barbara relished being able to be Batgirl. Taking down bad guys, busting crimes, and stopping supervillains that regular cops were all things she relished. She wouldn't claim to be saving the city, Barbara was well aware that no one person could fix the issues in Gotham, but by handling the worst Gotham could throw at people, Barbara made it easier for ordinary systems to kick in and do their job and make a difference. And the systems had made a difference.
The gang problems weren't gone, but the worst of the Italian mafia had mostly been put behind bars. They were nowhere near the threat Barbara remembered them being way back when her dad had first stepped up to be the police commissioner. That was something to celebrate and hopefully as things got better the rest of the gangs would be headed the same way.
Really all that was left of the old school mob families that once ruled this city was Cosa Nostra. Admittedly some people would argue that the Penguin was a remnant of that time but Oswald Cobblepot was his own kind of crook, mixing in some of the worst parts of politicians, and arms dealers all while keeping himself clean enough that no one had brought him in on anything. The Penguin was a beast all his own in Barbara's opinion and one she wasn't prepared to tackle. Instead she'd be handling Cosa Nostra.
One of the heads of the organization, Stephen Mandragora apparently died in a house fire recently and with Batman out of town, it was up to her and Robin to ensure that nobody took advantage of the ensuing chaos. Robin was busy keeping an eye on the Menagerie for now, so it was up to Batgirl to keep an eye on some of the remnants of Cosa Nostra. In particular, she was watching Henry Aquista.
Henry was an old school gangster but he apparently was trying to adapt to the changing times by trying to find a few costumed crooks he found tolerable. Barbara had learned that he'd reached out to someone called "Ratcatcher" for information gathering, someone called "Big Uncle" in Metropolis for access to pieces of advanced tech, and most recently some guy claiming to be an actual-factual warlock. It was all cause for concern.
Ratcatcher had managed to get eyes inside GCPD headquarters, meaning Barbara was going to politely nag her dad to lay out some more traps, and Barbara did not want to go up against mobsters in mech suits. That being said the meeting with the warlock was a little more concerning.
Batgirl was currently sitting on a rooftop, watching the meeting through a drone. The audio and video was a little tinny, but that was the kind of compromise you made when you wanted to keep the drone stealthy.
The talk was fairly mundane all things considered though there was some concerning things. Apparently the warlock could speak with dead people if he had a complete body. Mandragora's body was ashes now so that was apparently a bust but what Aquista was searching for was interesting in and of itself. Apparently Mandragora had both a child who was hidden, and several hoards of wealth to be used. Henry Aquista had been reaching out to the warlock in the hopes of being able to use his powers to get Mandragora to confirm where the money was located and how it could be accessed now that Mandragora himself was dead. That was something to look into.
Barbara made a note to pass on that information to Robin, having a necromancer to speak with the dead seemed like an invaluable tool in crime scene investigations. She'd never met a necromancer but she could recognize that at the very least it was not much stranger than a shapeshifting mass of sentient mud like Clayface.
Aquista was attempting to build up to something, Mandragora's missing money would provide a whole lot of power to whoever scooped it up, and gaining control of Mandragora's child would likely let whoever had him rally whatever loyalists there might be to their side. It was worth considering how things might go. The meeting wrapped up fairly quickly as the warlock handed Aquista a business card and the two parted ways. Barbara couldn't snag a picture of the card with the drone without revealing its presence and so she recalled the drone and prepared to head out to track the warlock.
Aquista was likely the bigger player in the Gotham underworld but the magic man was a complete unknown as far as Barbara knew and so she wanted more intel on him and his capabilities. The drone was just barely packed away as Barbara began to move towards where she believed the warlock was, her grapple gun firing out as she began to swing over the streets of Gotham.
Her eyes snapped to the red convertible which the warlock had driven away from the meeting place and Barbara needed to make another snap decision. She likely wouldn't be able to get too much closer without blowing her cover and revealing that she was tailing him. As such Barbara found a tall building with an old gargoyle that oversaw the road the warlock was driving down. She set up shop there and pulled out her binoculars. She spotted the car and zoomed in on its license plate before taking a few pictures of it. Later on down the line, she could run the plate numbers and try and find out more about the warlock.
For now, Barbara was going to double back to some known locations Henry Aquista frequented, watch him for a bit longer and then reconvene at the Batcave to go over things with Robin. The situation in Gotham was heating up and Batgirl was more than willing to do her part in keeping things from escalating, but it was a school night and Barbara Gordon still needed to keep up with the pressures of high school even still.
Amy Winston
Amy felt like she'd been gone for ages. It wasn't that long in the grand scheme of things but it was enough to change her life forever. It was kind of funny in a messed up way, Amy had wanted to go home the entire time she was in Gemworld, but now that she was back everything felt off and wrong. Amy wasn't who she had been before Gemworld and so she couldn't fully settle back. She did her best to try and be normal but it all felt slightly loose and ill-fitting, like she was acting in a play and reading her lines right, but the unseen audience was judging her for some mistake she didn't know she was making.
This wasn't the typical happy ending in fairy tales. Normally after the big bad dies everyone's happy and the world continues on better than it was before. Amy killed the big bad and she now had to live with it. He was a monster but it was still different than killing actual monsters. Amy tried to reassure herself that she didn't have a choice, but those last few moments where he told her she looked so much like her mother were haunting. Amy didn't think there was any sort of redemption for him but it still lay bare that he was a person and she'd killed him.
Well Amy could stuff that back into the "slowly processing" part of her brain. She'd gotten fairly decent at compartmentalization and every day nonsense was pretty good at distracting her from things. Her dad's need to smother her was annoying, but it did keep her from dwelling on things for too long.
Her dad had apparently gotten LexCorp involved in searching for her before she'd returned. Amy felt bad about abandoning her parents but at the same time she'd also learned that they weren't her real parents and she had a whole mess of tangled complicated emotions that she wasn't exactly interested in processing right this moment.
LexCorp's involvement had lead to some bigwig from the TV stuff they did showing up and coming to talk with her. Mr. Loomis seemed nice enough, his willingness to talk about video games for a bit was pretty cool even if he did seem a little unfamiliar with things, and Amy had done her best to reassure him that everything was fine. Regurgitating the same lie she'd told her parents felt gross but it kept suspicions down and would hopefully keep everybody calm enough
Mr. Loomis had talked a bit about some opportunities available at LexCorp including getting an education there rather than going back to a traditional school. He'd also mentioned the state of the art training facilities where various superheroes practiced using their powers. That was tempting. Amy had powers, just because she'd come home didn't mean she'd lost them. Moreover Amy was good with her powers but she never really got to seriously train. She'd learned how to fight from her friends in Gemworld but she'd never had a safe place to see what her limits and capabilities actually were. As such a state of the art training room was interesting in that sense.
Amy had wanted to go back to her normal life but it was kind of becoming clear that she wasn't a normal girl anymore. She wasn't in Gemworld anymore but she was still Princess Amethyst. Maybe checking out what LexCorp had to offer wouldn't be so bad. She'd at least get to hang out with Jinx and she doubted it would hurt her in any meaningful way.
And so Amy had agreed to visit with her dad and Mr. Loomis ended up leaving. Amy spent the next few days hanging out with her mom and dad, trying to recenter and find some new normal for herself moving forwards from here.
Twins Trait Subvote
The D'Aramis twins have managed to continue to impress with their ability to quickly and efficiently create labs and structures to suit LexCorp's needs. With their continued excellence, they've managed to prove that they can go and beyond what would be expected of the average person in this pursuit. Please pick your favorite option for [Viv] and [Con] from the list below. There is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [Viv] Twin Bond
Vivian's trait "Twin Bond" is modified to work on constructing specialized labs even if Constance is not assigned to the action
[ ] [Con] Twin Bond
Constance's trait "Twin Bond" is modified to work on constructing specialized labs even if Vivian is not assigned to the action
[ ] [Viv] Mandatory Minimum
Vivian gains the trait Mandatory Minimum, which turns the construction of specialized labs into an auto-success and grants 50 points to be used for sure
[ ] [Con] Mandatory Minimum
Constance gains the trait Mandatory Minimum, which turns the construction of specialized labs into an auto-success and grants 50 points to be used for sure
[ ] [Viv] Architect's Eye
Vivian gains the the trait Architect's Eye, which reduces the DC of building any building or room by 5
[ ] [Con] Architect's Eye
Constance gains the the trait Architect's Eye, which reduces the DC of building any building or room by 5
[ ] [Viv] The Nose Knows
Vivian gains the trait The Nose Knows, which causes her to add +15 to any research action that necessarily involves chemical processes
[ ] [Con]The Nose Knows
Constance gains the trait The Nose Knows, which causes her to add +15 to any research action that necessarily involves chemical processes
[ ] [Viv] Twintuition
Vivian gains the trait Twintuition which makes it so that if Vivian leads an action on the same turn in which Constance is assigned to an action involving construction, and the natural roll of Constance's action is higher than Vivian's, Vivian replaces her roll with Constance's so long as it is not less than the original roll by 20 or more
[ ] [Con] Twintuition
Constance gains the trait Twintuition which makes it so that if Constance leads an action on the same turn in which Vivian is assigned to an action involving construction, and the natural roll of Vivian's action is higher than Constance's, Constance replaces her roll with Vivian's so long as it is not less than the original roll by 20 or more
[ ] [Viv] Foxy Financing
Vivian gains the trait Foxy Financing, which causes any object or structure Vivian assists in building through an intrigue action to become harder to discover via raising the DC of investigating who built it by 15
[ ] [Con] Foxy Financing
Constance gains the trait Foxy Financing, which causes any object or structure Constance assists in building through an intrigue action to become harder to discover via raising the DC of investigating who built it by 15
[ ] [Viv] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
Vivian gains the trait Pharmaceutical Forewoman, which allows her to add +20 to any action wherein she is developing pharmaceuticals
[ ] [Con] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
Constance gains the trait Pharmaceutical Forewoman, which allows her to add +20 to any action wherein she is developing pharmaceuticals
Duke William of
I really need to finish my quests. :V
- Pronouns
- He/Him
How on earth is Rose Wilson, daughter of Deathstroke, one of our more well-adjusted heroes? I'm not complaining, though, it's nice seeing her trying to put back the pieces that are her family.
Internet osmosis has forever cursed me to associate this with Steven Universe.
- Location
- USA
While tempting to double up on traits, probably best if each twin gets a different trait.
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
Semi-joking answer, Adeline Kane being present in her life, being a decent if not perfect mom, and actively taking steps to ensure she ends up more mentally stable than the her father or eldest brother.
Adeline Kane is not a perfect parent, the fact that there's clear favoritism for Joseph isn't great for example, but she did try to do right by Rose and that probably helped make Rose much more well adjusted than she otherwise could be.
As someone who to this day knows really little about Steven Universe, I kind of wish I'd leaned into that aesthetic a little more. It's too late to do it now, but I think it would have been really fun to lean into that more and give it a very unique vibe.Internet osmosis has forever cursed me to associate this with Steven Universe.
Edit: There are a bunch of characters who I feel could benefit a lot from a more fantastical design that incorporates the aesthetics of the gem they're named after into their body proper.
Edit #2: I have thoughts on how the Steven Universe Style could fit really, really well for the characters, but the one that stands out to me is Lady Aquamarine, where I'd straight up steal a character design from Steven Universe (I think the character is called Blue Diamond) from the show since it would tie to the gem she's named after and communicate her character better than the more human looking design she normally has.
Edit #3: I love Gemworld but man could incorporating at least some of Steven Universe's aesthetic design add a lot to making the designs feel less "standard swords and sorcery fantasy" and effectively communicate things about the characters through just the design. I'm willing to offer exp to any artist who wants to take a shot at drawing this sort of stuff.
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King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
So the vote's open is people want to take a shot at picking traits.
Duke William of
I really need to finish my quests. :V
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] [Viv] Mandatory Minimum
Vivian gains the trait Mandatory Minimum, which turns the construction of specialized labs into an auto-success and grants 50 points to be used for sure.
[X] [Con] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
Constance gains the trait Pharmaceutical Forewoman, which allows her to add +20 to any action wherein she is developing pharmaceuticals
Vivian gains the trait Mandatory Minimum, which turns the construction of specialized labs into an auto-success and grants 50 points to be used for sure.
[X] [Con] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
Constance gains the trait Pharmaceutical Forewoman, which allows her to add +20 to any action wherein she is developing pharmaceuticals
Fight Club 20
1# You do not talk about Fight Club
- Location
- North Carolina
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] [Viv] Mandatory Minimum
Vivian gains the trait Mandatory Minimum, which turns the construction of specialized labs into an auto-success and grants 50 points to be used for sure.
[X] [Con] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
Constance gains the trait Pharmaceutical Forewoman, which allows her to add +20 to any action wherein she is developing pharmaceuticals
Vivian gains the trait Mandatory Minimum, which turns the construction of specialized labs into an auto-success and grants 50 points to be used for sure.
[X] [Con] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
Constance gains the trait Pharmaceutical Forewoman, which allows her to add +20 to any action wherein she is developing pharmaceuticals
- Location
- USA
[X] [Viv] Mandatory Minimum
Vivian gains the trait Mandatory Minimum, which turns the construction of specialized labs into an auto-success and grants 50 points to be used for sure.
[X] [Con] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
Constance gains the trait Pharmaceutical Forewoman, which allows her to add +20 to any action wherein she is developing pharmaceuticals
Vivian gains the trait Mandatory Minimum, which turns the construction of specialized labs into an auto-success and grants 50 points to be used for sure.
[X] [Con] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
Constance gains the trait Pharmaceutical Forewoman, which allows her to add +20 to any action wherein she is developing pharmaceuticals
- Location
- Singapore
....if only she knows. Big Business IS preventing the systems from making Gotham better.
Debatably "The Nose Knows" is better since it is more widely applicable. The extra +5 is nice but a wider application is good for versatility.
Edit: I am willing to go all in on Pharmaceuticals.
[X] [Viv] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
[X] [Con] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
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Sirrocco
Pedantic
Depends on the traits. Some of those traits stack *very* nicely, and apply to things where we'd want to be sending both of them in anyway. Doubling up on Pharmaceutical Forewoman, for example....
[X] [Viv] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
[X] [Con] Pharmaceutical Forewoman
More to the point, it depends on whether we want to keep them together or split them up. The traits that we *woudln't* want to double up are all traits that are better when we're not stacking them. For example, Mandatory Minimum is a "set one person to makign labs, and know that it will work". It doesn't stack at all well with their already strong existing synergy.
...and if we're giving one of them a "split them up" trait, we might want to look at giving both of them different "split them up" traits. Personally, I like the idea of keeping them together and really cranking that specialty.
That depends entirely on how much we're going to be doing pharmaceutical stuff as compared to non-pharmaceutical chemical stuff.
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