- Pronouns
- He/Him
That was a part of my plan!!!!!! We are on such a similar wavelength it's scary.
Project Prometheus (Original Setting Superhero Quest)
huh yeh it would mean delaying apiart for turn 3 but the synergy does seem great and could mean memorial not only for Justice Unlimed but eveyone who died in QZ
Back Issue #5: And Justice for All
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The regimented nature of life in Global Justice could grate on some, but Silvio Serra Fernandes, also known as Stockpile, thrived on it.
Take this for example: when there was a knock on his dormitory's door, his uniform was already pressed, his boots were already shined, and his bed was crisply made in an instant. He was fully dressed and awake in under a minute flat.
"Sir!" Silvio said, opening his door, "Good morning, First Lieutenant Thompson!"
The officer in front of him was like a block of obsidian carved in the shape of a person. Lamar Thompson, Steadfast, the unkillable man, was massive, towering over Silvio. He gruffly acknowledged Silvio's salute and jerked his head over his shoulder.
"At ease," he said, "Captain wants to talk to you. Talk to both of us actually."
"Yes, sir!" Silvio said. If the Captain wanted him, he was there! But before he could say that, there was a loud growl from his stomach.
The First Lieutenant gave him an unimpressed look. "Hungry?"
Silvio tried not to blush. "Y-yes, sir. I was up late last night trying to make sense of the equipment our techs recovered from Justice Unlimited."
Steadfast look at him for a moment before walking down the hall. Silvio followed him without a word.
Or, at least, without a word for a few seconds.
"Sir? The Captain's quarters are in the opposite direction. . . "
"We're going to the mess hall," Steadfast said without looking at him, "You're still growing. You need to eat."
"B-but the Captain—"
"Can wait. Kaitlyn will keep. Now, come on."
Silvio was so thrown off at the First Lieutenant using the Captain's first name that he lagged behind. He had to jog to keep up with the larger man's long strides.
As he did, he walked by a group of enlistees changing shifts. They immediately snapped to attention as he raced by, and Silvio threw a sloppy salute back at them. It always weird him out that he was considered an officer by dint of being a metahuman. That there were non-powered security agents—all of whom were older than him—who would show him respect, of all people, was always a trip.
Eventually Silvio caught up right as the First Lieutenant arrived at the mess hall. Already there were several of the other metahumans of Global Justice. Indemnity was in the corner, sitting by himself as usual. At the table in front of them, Joules was loudly regaling Perspective and Shutdown with the same story he had been telling for weeks. Plasticity sat at the same table, ignored and grinding his teeth.
"—so I get there and Valiant Silver's on the ground, lying in a pool of her own blood with her armor in pieces everywhere. So I think to myself, 'finders keepers!' and I start collecting it. Then that chump Adamant and his girlfriend Leizi show up and they're all 'what are you doing, stop' and I go 'maybe if you leader didn't want to share, then she should take better care of her stuff?' and then—"
"Hadn't Valiant Silver just beaten thirteen of the Catch-22?" Perspective said, determined to not make eye contact."
"Only 'cuz I hadn't gotten there yet!" Joules said, throwing a wink at Shutdown. "Ain't that right, babe?"
"I'm gay, Finley. I don't know how many times we have to have this conversation."
Plasticity snored and continued eating. Joules narrowed his eyes.
"What's that, tough guy? Something funny?"
Plasticity looked at his sister, who shook her head. For a second, he looked like was going to heed Perspective, but then he blurted, "I just don't know you're so proud about scavenging someone else's armor after a fight."
Joules slapped him in the back of the head and leaned over, "The point, trench monkey, is that Adamant and Leizi backed off because they were too scared to rumble with yours truly."
"Or they wanted to take their teammate to the hospital."
"Wait," Silvio interrupted, "That's how we got parts of Valiant Silver's armor? We stole it?"
Every head in the room turned to Steadfast and Stockpile in the entryway. Joules got up from the table and approached them.
"Well, well, if it isn't the pipsqueak and Chump Sr.! You grace us with your presence."
"Chief Warrant Officer," Steadfast rumbled in greeting.
"Tch." Joules made a sound at the reminder of the difference in their rank. "I still can't believe they promoted a turncoat like you over an ace like me. What? You leave the service to go run around in colored underwear, come crawling back, and they fast-track you to Lieutenant? Bullshit."
"Jesus Chirst, it was twenty years ago, Finley. Give it a rest!" Shutdown called, "And the First Lieutenant doesn't have a dozen complaints filed against him with HR!"
Joules ignored her and continued, "It's a shame I didn't get to throw-down with Chump Jr. I would have sent him running home to daddy and then showed Lady Leizi what it's like to be with a real man."
He illustrated his point with a wiggle and thrust.
"Eww!"
"Disgusting!"
"Chief Warrant Officer Finley Sharp!" Indemnity shouted as he slammed his table and stood up, "You have crossed the line!"
"Hey, go back to the infirmary, Doc!" Joules shouted back, "I'm having a little chat with the traitor, here!"
Joules got in Steadfast's face, and Silvio grew worried that he wouldn't stop until he provoked a reaction from the First Lieutenant. But, before the situation could escalate, a new voice joined the conversation.
"What appears to be the problem here, everyone? This isn't true to the Global Justice spirit!"
Everyone except Steadfast grabbed their ears at the explosion of sound. First Lieutenant Xander Mars, City Crier himself, had a power that turned his voice into a sonic weapon. It also meant that he did not have an "indoor" voice.
"Nothing!" Joules protested, "I was telling the traitor here—"
"First Lieutenant Thompson."
"Ah, shit—!"
"Language!"
"Okay! Okay! Jesus Christ. I was telling First Lieutenant Thompson that . . . um . . . the omelet bar is about to close so he better get a move-on."
"Ooh, thank you for the tip! I can't start my day without spinach and goat cheese folded in eggs!" City Crier turned to Steadfast, "First Lieutenant, wasn't Captain Meyers-Williams looking for you and young Warrant Officer Serra Fernandes here?"
"He hasn't eaten," Steadfast said, pointing to Silvio, "We're here for a quick meal and we'll head over."
"Yes, well, do be prompt! Early is on-time, on-time is late, and late is unacceptable!"
"Indeed." As City Crier walked away, Steadfast leaned over to Stockpile and muttered, "I used to know someone else who was fond of saying that. She was an asshole too."
The Captain's quarters were a massive room in the center of Global Justice headquarters. The building they were in was owned by AGL, and parts of it connected to the American Embassy. Silvio, being a citizen of Horizon and not the United States, had never been there. But as he and the First Lieutenant walked forward he was again struck by the size of the complex. It could house thousands, but only played host to a few hundred soldiers and a dozen metahumans.
As they approached, a voice rang out in Silvio's mind:
"EDICT: ALL CITIZENS ARE TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES BY TWENTY-ONE HUNDRED HOURS. PUNISHMENT: VIOLATORS TO BE RENDERED INSENSATE FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS."
The words reverberated through the world and Silvio knew instinctively, somewhere deep down in his bones, that he would suffer if he did not comply.
"A curfew?" Steadfast questioned, "With such a harsh penalty? Something must be happening."
"W-what do you think it is, sir?"
"I don't know," Steadfast said as he opened the doors to the Captain's chambers, "But I intend to find out."
The Captain's room was filled with hundreds upon hundreds, maybe thousands, of cameras showing surveillance footage all over the Foot of Ladder. In the center of the room sat Justiciar, Captain Kaitlyn Meyers-Williams, in a chair that fed a great number of needles connected to tubes into her skin. On her head was a red, winged helmet that covered her eyes and that she would occasionally operate by twitching her neck.
The great secret of Justiciar was this: she could set down Edicts that could instantly inflict a punishment on anyone who broke them, but with two conditions. One, she had to know a person had broken an Edict for the punishment to take effect, and two, her power was only active while she was awake.
The screens fed her information from all over Global Justice's territory. If a violation of any of her edicts was flagged, she would instantly toggle over and confirm the violation and trigger the punishment. The tubes running into her body provided her with nutrition, removed waste, and delivered into her blood a specialty cocktail of stimulants made by Lethal Anodyne. Silvio knew for a fact that the Captain slept less than two hours a day, and only in the dead of night.
Silvio had once approached Mendicant about a safer alternative than a drug made by Delt Death. When they found out what it was for, Mendicant had just said, "Holy shit, kid," and "Fuck no, that sounds like Hell, what is wrong with you people?"
Silvio understood their perspective. But what people didn't understand was that this was a sacrifice that the Captain willingly made. The Foot of the Ladder was the safest place in Horizon. Not even the Defiance Unit had dared attack here. The people could live in peace, and they lived that way because they had Justiciar to protect them.
Silvio stood proudly at attention while they waited for the Captain to acknowledge them. After a long while, she stopped twitching her neck and the visor on her helmet raised. She blinked for a second before seeing him and the First Lieutenant.
With a papery-smile, she said, "At ease. Thank you for joining me. I hope I haven't kept you too long?"
"No, ma'am!" Silvio barked, "It is our pleasure, ma'am!"
"Don't worry, Kaitlyn," Steadfast added, "I made sure the boy ate first."
"Good. I'll get directly to the point in a moment, but first, Stockpile, I have a question for you."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Why did you join Global Justice? You're not from the States. As an Algernon-type, you could have had your pick of corporate job or even joined New Dawn if you wished. Why us?"
Silvio frowned. Why was she even asking? "Because I wanted to serve the people directly, ma'am. Global Justice stands for peace, not profit. We're not like corps, and we don't need money like Powers or even New Dawn. We're here to help, and that's it!"
The Captain studied him for a long, long while before blowing out a breath. Then she chuckled. "You're really as straightforward as you seem, aren't you?"
"Ma'am?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it. It's just . . . nostalgia. I once thought like you."
The Captain stared around the room, taking in each screen, before looking at her arms. "Do you know why I agreed to live like this? Why I let them hook me into this machine?"
". . . to help people, ma'am?"
"That's exactly right. I wanted to make up for the sins I committed in the name of my country. I thought it was a just punishment that would let me do what little good I could at the same time." Her smile turned sour. "Tell me, Stockpile. Do you know what I spend my days doing?"
"N-no, ma'am."
"I watch over people who have no regard for anyone but themselves. Who live safe, comfortable lives and who have forgotten what it is like to not have a parent hovering over their shoulder."
The Captain let out a bitter laugh that turned into a long, hacking cough.She grabbed a thermos of water with shaking hands and drank greedily. Once she soothed her parched throat, she continued.
"I can issue three Edicts at a time. Every day, I am petitioned to change them. 'My neighbor's children play too loudly. Make them be quiet.' 'My wife is spending us out of house and home. Stop her.' 'My rival intends to humiliate me. Could you make it illegal for her to host her party?' Petty complaint after petty complaint. That is my existence."
Silvio felt cold, "M-ma'am? Why are you telling me this . . .?"
"I'm sorry, Stockpile. I didn't mean to upset you," the Captain said, "I actually summoned you here for a different reason. Have you had much luck understanding Valiant Silver's armor?"
Shame made the back of Silvio's neck feel hot. "No, ma'am. It's . . . amazing. I don't even know where to start. I could probably make headway if I could use my power—"
"Absolutely not," the Captain interrupted, "Not for this. Never for this."
"What is this about, Kaitlyn?" Steadfast asked, "What was with that last Edict?"
The Captain nodded. "What I'm about to say doesn't leave this room."
"Ma'am!"
"Understood."
After the acknowledgements, she wet her lips and said, "Our informant has told us that Valiant Silver believes someone is attempting to disrupt the Leviathan's slumber. We have been given orders if that comes to pass."
Silvio broke out in a cold sweat, "But . . . the Leviathan is dead. I-isn't it?"
He looked around for confirmation and found none. Steadfast didn't break eye contact with Justicair.
"Reliable, this source?"
"They have been, in the past."
Steadfast merely grunted. "I see."
"S-so what do we do?" Silvio asked.
"We? Global Justice has been given orders should the Leviathan awaken," the Captain said, "Which is why, as of today, I am placing you on a leave of absence, Stockpile."
"Ma'am!?"
"That's an order," she said, "Whatever comes to pass, you must not be part of it."
"What exactly are the higher-ups thinking?" Steadfast growled.
"Something very foolish."
"Ma'am, I—"
Whatever protest Silvio had on his lips, died forever as every screen in the room changed to the same image of a silvery hologram of a girl with short hair. The image flickered before changing again to a heroine dressed in blue.
Uiara.
"The Leviathan has begun to arise," she said, eyes burning, "Justice Unlimited is moving to the QZ to intercept it. To every metahuman in the city who wants to live to see tomorrow—join us. Today is the day the promise of the Looming God comes to pass. We will not fall. One day the world will end, but today is not that day."
Then the image winked out.
The Captain rose to her feet, for the first time in months. "First Lieutenant, summon Global Justice and our emergency response team, STAT!"
"Where do you think you're going?" Steadfast demanded, "What good are you going to do against that thing?"
"I have my orders," Justiciar said, closing her eyes, "They're no more than I deserve."
Silvio was breathing fast, his body cold. "B-but what does this mean, what do we do?"
"We? As I said, this is a matter for Global Justice. You are on leave, Stockpile."
"You can't—"
"You can't die!" she shouted, silencing Silvio's protest, "I won't have the blood of any more children on my hands!"
"B-but . . . ma'am. Please."
"No, Silvio. You stay. We will return."
But they never did.
Take this for example: when there was a knock on his dormitory's door, his uniform was already pressed, his boots were already shined, and his bed was crisply made in an instant. He was fully dressed and awake in under a minute flat.
"Sir!" Silvio said, opening his door, "Good morning, First Lieutenant Thompson!"
The officer in front of him was like a block of obsidian carved in the shape of a person. Lamar Thompson, Steadfast, the unkillable man, was massive, towering over Silvio. He gruffly acknowledged Silvio's salute and jerked his head over his shoulder.
"At ease," he said, "Captain wants to talk to you. Talk to both of us actually."
"Yes, sir!" Silvio said. If the Captain wanted him, he was there! But before he could say that, there was a loud growl from his stomach.
The First Lieutenant gave him an unimpressed look. "Hungry?"
Silvio tried not to blush. "Y-yes, sir. I was up late last night trying to make sense of the equipment our techs recovered from Justice Unlimited."
Steadfast look at him for a moment before walking down the hall. Silvio followed him without a word.
Or, at least, without a word for a few seconds.
"Sir? The Captain's quarters are in the opposite direction. . . "
"We're going to the mess hall," Steadfast said without looking at him, "You're still growing. You need to eat."
"B-but the Captain—"
"Can wait. Kaitlyn will keep. Now, come on."
Silvio was so thrown off at the First Lieutenant using the Captain's first name that he lagged behind. He had to jog to keep up with the larger man's long strides.
As he did, he walked by a group of enlistees changing shifts. They immediately snapped to attention as he raced by, and Silvio threw a sloppy salute back at them. It always weird him out that he was considered an officer by dint of being a metahuman. That there were non-powered security agents—all of whom were older than him—who would show him respect, of all people, was always a trip.
Eventually Silvio caught up right as the First Lieutenant arrived at the mess hall. Already there were several of the other metahumans of Global Justice. Indemnity was in the corner, sitting by himself as usual. At the table in front of them, Joules was loudly regaling Perspective and Shutdown with the same story he had been telling for weeks. Plasticity sat at the same table, ignored and grinding his teeth.
"—so I get there and Valiant Silver's on the ground, lying in a pool of her own blood with her armor in pieces everywhere. So I think to myself, 'finders keepers!' and I start collecting it. Then that chump Adamant and his girlfriend Leizi show up and they're all 'what are you doing, stop' and I go 'maybe if you leader didn't want to share, then she should take better care of her stuff?' and then—"
"Hadn't Valiant Silver just beaten thirteen of the Catch-22?" Perspective said, determined to not make eye contact."
"Only 'cuz I hadn't gotten there yet!" Joules said, throwing a wink at Shutdown. "Ain't that right, babe?"
"I'm gay, Finley. I don't know how many times we have to have this conversation."
Plasticity snored and continued eating. Joules narrowed his eyes.
"What's that, tough guy? Something funny?"
Plasticity looked at his sister, who shook her head. For a second, he looked like was going to heed Perspective, but then he blurted, "I just don't know you're so proud about scavenging someone else's armor after a fight."
Joules slapped him in the back of the head and leaned over, "The point, trench monkey, is that Adamant and Leizi backed off because they were too scared to rumble with yours truly."
"Or they wanted to take their teammate to the hospital."
"Wait," Silvio interrupted, "That's how we got parts of Valiant Silver's armor? We stole it?"
Every head in the room turned to Steadfast and Stockpile in the entryway. Joules got up from the table and approached them.
"Well, well, if it isn't the pipsqueak and Chump Sr.! You grace us with your presence."
"Chief Warrant Officer," Steadfast rumbled in greeting.
"Tch." Joules made a sound at the reminder of the difference in their rank. "I still can't believe they promoted a turncoat like you over an ace like me. What? You leave the service to go run around in colored underwear, come crawling back, and they fast-track you to Lieutenant? Bullshit."
"Jesus Chirst, it was twenty years ago, Finley. Give it a rest!" Shutdown called, "And the First Lieutenant doesn't have a dozen complaints filed against him with HR!"
Joules ignored her and continued, "It's a shame I didn't get to throw-down with Chump Jr. I would have sent him running home to daddy and then showed Lady Leizi what it's like to be with a real man."
He illustrated his point with a wiggle and thrust.
"Eww!"
"Disgusting!"
"Chief Warrant Officer Finley Sharp!" Indemnity shouted as he slammed his table and stood up, "You have crossed the line!"
"Hey, go back to the infirmary, Doc!" Joules shouted back, "I'm having a little chat with the traitor, here!"
Joules got in Steadfast's face, and Silvio grew worried that he wouldn't stop until he provoked a reaction from the First Lieutenant. But, before the situation could escalate, a new voice joined the conversation.
"What appears to be the problem here, everyone? This isn't true to the Global Justice spirit!"
Everyone except Steadfast grabbed their ears at the explosion of sound. First Lieutenant Xander Mars, City Crier himself, had a power that turned his voice into a sonic weapon. It also meant that he did not have an "indoor" voice.
"Nothing!" Joules protested, "I was telling the traitor here—"
"First Lieutenant Thompson."
"Ah, shit—!"
"Language!"
"Okay! Okay! Jesus Christ. I was telling First Lieutenant Thompson that . . . um . . . the omelet bar is about to close so he better get a move-on."
"Ooh, thank you for the tip! I can't start my day without spinach and goat cheese folded in eggs!" City Crier turned to Steadfast, "First Lieutenant, wasn't Captain Meyers-Williams looking for you and young Warrant Officer Serra Fernandes here?"
"He hasn't eaten," Steadfast said, pointing to Silvio, "We're here for a quick meal and we'll head over."
"Yes, well, do be prompt! Early is on-time, on-time is late, and late is unacceptable!"
"Indeed." As City Crier walked away, Steadfast leaned over to Stockpile and muttered, "I used to know someone else who was fond of saying that. She was an asshole too."
* * *
The Captain's quarters were a massive room in the center of Global Justice headquarters. The building they were in was owned by AGL, and parts of it connected to the American Embassy. Silvio, being a citizen of Horizon and not the United States, had never been there. But as he and the First Lieutenant walked forward he was again struck by the size of the complex. It could house thousands, but only played host to a few hundred soldiers and a dozen metahumans.
As they approached, a voice rang out in Silvio's mind:
"EDICT: ALL CITIZENS ARE TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES BY TWENTY-ONE HUNDRED HOURS. PUNISHMENT: VIOLATORS TO BE RENDERED INSENSATE FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS."
The words reverberated through the world and Silvio knew instinctively, somewhere deep down in his bones, that he would suffer if he did not comply.
"A curfew?" Steadfast questioned, "With such a harsh penalty? Something must be happening."
"W-what do you think it is, sir?"
"I don't know," Steadfast said as he opened the doors to the Captain's chambers, "But I intend to find out."
The Captain's room was filled with hundreds upon hundreds, maybe thousands, of cameras showing surveillance footage all over the Foot of Ladder. In the center of the room sat Justiciar, Captain Kaitlyn Meyers-Williams, in a chair that fed a great number of needles connected to tubes into her skin. On her head was a red, winged helmet that covered her eyes and that she would occasionally operate by twitching her neck.
The great secret of Justiciar was this: she could set down Edicts that could instantly inflict a punishment on anyone who broke them, but with two conditions. One, she had to know a person had broken an Edict for the punishment to take effect, and two, her power was only active while she was awake.
The screens fed her information from all over Global Justice's territory. If a violation of any of her edicts was flagged, she would instantly toggle over and confirm the violation and trigger the punishment. The tubes running into her body provided her with nutrition, removed waste, and delivered into her blood a specialty cocktail of stimulants made by Lethal Anodyne. Silvio knew for a fact that the Captain slept less than two hours a day, and only in the dead of night.
Silvio had once approached Mendicant about a safer alternative than a drug made by Delt Death. When they found out what it was for, Mendicant had just said, "Holy shit, kid," and "Fuck no, that sounds like Hell, what is wrong with you people?"
Silvio understood their perspective. But what people didn't understand was that this was a sacrifice that the Captain willingly made. The Foot of the Ladder was the safest place in Horizon. Not even the Defiance Unit had dared attack here. The people could live in peace, and they lived that way because they had Justiciar to protect them.
Silvio stood proudly at attention while they waited for the Captain to acknowledge them. After a long while, she stopped twitching her neck and the visor on her helmet raised. She blinked for a second before seeing him and the First Lieutenant.
With a papery-smile, she said, "At ease. Thank you for joining me. I hope I haven't kept you too long?"
"No, ma'am!" Silvio barked, "It is our pleasure, ma'am!"
"Don't worry, Kaitlyn," Steadfast added, "I made sure the boy ate first."
"Good. I'll get directly to the point in a moment, but first, Stockpile, I have a question for you."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Why did you join Global Justice? You're not from the States. As an Algernon-type, you could have had your pick of corporate job or even joined New Dawn if you wished. Why us?"
Silvio frowned. Why was she even asking? "Because I wanted to serve the people directly, ma'am. Global Justice stands for peace, not profit. We're not like corps, and we don't need money like Powers or even New Dawn. We're here to help, and that's it!"
The Captain studied him for a long, long while before blowing out a breath. Then she chuckled. "You're really as straightforward as you seem, aren't you?"
"Ma'am?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it. It's just . . . nostalgia. I once thought like you."
The Captain stared around the room, taking in each screen, before looking at her arms. "Do you know why I agreed to live like this? Why I let them hook me into this machine?"
". . . to help people, ma'am?"
"That's exactly right. I wanted to make up for the sins I committed in the name of my country. I thought it was a just punishment that would let me do what little good I could at the same time." Her smile turned sour. "Tell me, Stockpile. Do you know what I spend my days doing?"
"N-no, ma'am."
"I watch over people who have no regard for anyone but themselves. Who live safe, comfortable lives and who have forgotten what it is like to not have a parent hovering over their shoulder."
The Captain let out a bitter laugh that turned into a long, hacking cough.She grabbed a thermos of water with shaking hands and drank greedily. Once she soothed her parched throat, she continued.
"I can issue three Edicts at a time. Every day, I am petitioned to change them. 'My neighbor's children play too loudly. Make them be quiet.' 'My wife is spending us out of house and home. Stop her.' 'My rival intends to humiliate me. Could you make it illegal for her to host her party?' Petty complaint after petty complaint. That is my existence."
Silvio felt cold, "M-ma'am? Why are you telling me this . . .?"
"I'm sorry, Stockpile. I didn't mean to upset you," the Captain said, "I actually summoned you here for a different reason. Have you had much luck understanding Valiant Silver's armor?"
Shame made the back of Silvio's neck feel hot. "No, ma'am. It's . . . amazing. I don't even know where to start. I could probably make headway if I could use my power—"
"Absolutely not," the Captain interrupted, "Not for this. Never for this."
"What is this about, Kaitlyn?" Steadfast asked, "What was with that last Edict?"
The Captain nodded. "What I'm about to say doesn't leave this room."
"Ma'am!"
"Understood."
After the acknowledgements, she wet her lips and said, "Our informant has told us that Valiant Silver believes someone is attempting to disrupt the Leviathan's slumber. We have been given orders if that comes to pass."
Silvio broke out in a cold sweat, "But . . . the Leviathan is dead. I-isn't it?"
He looked around for confirmation and found none. Steadfast didn't break eye contact with Justicair.
"Reliable, this source?"
"They have been, in the past."
Steadfast merely grunted. "I see."
"S-so what do we do?" Silvio asked.
"We? Global Justice has been given orders should the Leviathan awaken," the Captain said, "Which is why, as of today, I am placing you on a leave of absence, Stockpile."
"Ma'am!?"
"That's an order," she said, "Whatever comes to pass, you must not be part of it."
"What exactly are the higher-ups thinking?" Steadfast growled.
"Something very foolish."
"Ma'am, I—"
Whatever protest Silvio had on his lips, died forever as every screen in the room changed to the same image of a silvery hologram of a girl with short hair. The image flickered before changing again to a heroine dressed in blue.
Uiara.
"The Leviathan has begun to arise," she said, eyes burning, "Justice Unlimited is moving to the QZ to intercept it. To every metahuman in the city who wants to live to see tomorrow—join us. Today is the day the promise of the Looming God comes to pass. We will not fall. One day the world will end, but today is not that day."
Then the image winked out.
The Captain rose to her feet, for the first time in months. "First Lieutenant, summon Global Justice and our emergency response team, STAT!"
"Where do you think you're going?" Steadfast demanded, "What good are you going to do against that thing?"
"I have my orders," Justiciar said, closing her eyes, "They're no more than I deserve."
Silvio was breathing fast, his body cold. "B-but what does this mean, what do we do?"
"We? As I said, this is a matter for Global Justice. You are on leave, Stockpile."
"You can't—"
"You can't die!" she shouted, silencing Silvio's protest, "I won't have the blood of any more children on my hands!"
"B-but . . . ma'am. Please."
"No, Silvio. You stay. We will return."
But they never did.
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HOly fuck is Stockpile the only Metahuman survivor?
Maybe some diserters like I wouldnt be suprised if Joules ran.
It really sucks how we cant help this guys, especially since stockpile is gonna be forced to overuse their power. The worst part of being a hero, Sometimes you really cant just save everyone.
As for teh Foot good riddance on assholes and shame on real innocents there.
Maybe some diserters like I wouldnt be suprised if Joules ran.
It really sucks how we cant help this guys, especially since stockpile is gonna be forced to overuse their power. The worst part of being a hero, Sometimes you really cant just save everyone.
As for teh Foot good riddance on assholes and shame on real innocents there.
Kermie
Just A Karate Bugman/Bugwoman/Bugthing
- Location
- Somewhere On The Planet
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
My honest reaction to that information:
(I had to deadass put down the phone for a second. Jesus.)
Dammit. Now I want to do his mission.
Not enough time in the world, though.
Honestly? She's completely valid for being so angry. Go off queen. And rest in peace. (Literally, you needed that sleep.)
This is what they saw when the awakening happened… damn.
Well, now I can't decide who to leave behind now. I want to help all the superhero teams!
…ah man, somebody's gonna have to die. Shit.
- Pronouns
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You guys rolled well enough on the ESPIONAGE check that you'll know before the mission, so I'll tell you now: Plasticity and Perspective survived.
Their powers suck.
yeh it really is gonna be who do you fail to help as their fuck over by the Chaos and Villains.
Like we picked missions that got us ap so we can meet up with 2 teams but we would have needed to sacrifice maddie to form an alliance with heroes, along with failing to regain trust and control of Workers Mitt.
Like we picked missions that got us ap so we can meet up with 2 teams but we would have needed to sacrifice maddie to form an alliance with heroes, along with failing to regain trust and control of Workers Mitt.
Kermie
Just A Karate Bugman/Bugwoman/Bugthing
- Location
- Somewhere On The Planet
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
Yes!
NO!
How can you be a Plastic Man expy and be garbage. How. Horizon's metahumans are all either evil or throwing, dear god.
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Ha! He wishes!
Did Joule die or desert?
Asshole seems like someibe whod talk big but actually break in a crisis.
Also Justice still has Silvers old armor and not meating probably means Stockpile will end using his power to figure it out under orders. Dont know if that would let them get intel about leviathan though.
Asshole seems like someibe whod talk big but actually break in a crisis.
Also Justice still has Silvers old armor and not meating probably means Stockpile will end using his power to figure it out under orders. Dont know if that would let them get intel about leviathan though.
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Dragon of the New Dawn Rewards: (Unlocks mission Long Shadows of Night, Unlocks mission The Air in the Valley, Unlocks mission Grand Theft Person, Chance of New metahuman DNA, Intel about ???, Income, Unlocks University District as potential territory for Justice Unlimited)
Olympus Has Fallen Rewards: (Chance of new metahuman DNA, Income +2000, Chance of ???, Intel about ???, Unlocks Foot of the Ladder as territory for Justice Unlimited)
Both have a chance of DNA. Both unlock territory. Both have some Intel. Putting aside story stuff, the difference seems to be immediate cash infusion for Global Justice vs leads and missions for New Dawn.
Olympus Has Fallen Rewards: (Chance of new metahuman DNA, Income +2000, Chance of ???, Intel about ???, Unlocks Foot of the Ladder as territory for Justice Unlimited)
Both have a chance of DNA. Both unlock territory. Both have some Intel. Putting aside story stuff, the difference seems to be immediate cash infusion for Global Justice vs leads and missions for New Dawn.
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Lady Leizi doesn't know. He's officially listed as KIA.
Kermie
Just A Karate Bugman/Bugwoman/Bugthing
- Location
- Somewhere On The Planet
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
Oh dammit. I just realized that means that he can probably help us out with the EXCEED-BEYOND armor that Silver mentioned. Us not helping him might make him a boss fight in that armor later… but then leaving the Four Seasons might get them mind controlled by Petit Prince! Or dead!
Dammit, I'm actually considering leaving New Dawn now… agh, decisions decisions…
LucidProp
Pocky Eating MafiaDoka
Justiciar's existence sounds like hell. The US had designs for Leviathan it seems, but I still don't understand why they decided to mobilize Justiciar for the job when her power is wholly ill-suited for it. It was a gambit that failed spectacularly, and now their foothold on Horizon is basically gone.
I still want to help Stockpile, he's a kid and deserves that much, but that would mean dropping either New Dawn or Four Seasons...
Technically, Four Seasons is the least pressing, but we have a personal connection to them.
We've theorized that Powers will likely move in to bump Global Justice out of the Foot, so that's a problem we'll need to deal with.
I still want to help Stockpile, he's a kid and deserves that much, but that would mean dropping either New Dawn or Four Seasons...
Technically, Four Seasons is the least pressing, but we have a personal connection to them.
Global Justice is also important in that our base is in the Ladder, and GJ controls the entrance (The Foot).
We've theorized that Powers will likely move in to bump Global Justice out of the Foot, so that's a problem we'll need to deal with.
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wait actually Dragons has "Income" listed but no hard number, was that an error Bitterman or would Leizi not know how much they'd pay us?
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At the time, no
Since you guys got a critical success on the ESPIONAGE roll, you'll know what all of the "???" are when the missions are posted again.
When the fist mission was posted, you didn't know since it wasn't like Stockpile who was offering cash up front.
Since you guys got a critical success on the ESPIONAGE roll, you'll know what all of the "???" are when the missions are posted again.
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New Dawn didn't like us because we were... 'traitors' might be a strong word, but 'deserters', maybe? We split and formed our own team because we disagreed.
Global Justice are US agents, and thus our reasons for opposing them are mostly just not wanting to be super cops. I think. If I'm reading that right.
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Side note, I'm starting to be reminded to some degree of superhero XCOM-ish game Capes, which I quite liked even if there's not really any of the base building, research, tactical layer stuff I like in XCOM. It's a good time, and it's written in part by the Freedom Force guy, and it's interesting to see him shift from the goofy Silver Age pastiche of those games to an early-mid Bronze Age, when superhero comics were starting to become soap operas with superpowers and becoming more character-driven.
Global Justice are US agents, and thus our reasons for opposing them are mostly just not wanting to be super cops. I think. If I'm reading that right.
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Side note, I'm starting to be reminded to some degree of superhero XCOM-ish game Capes, which I quite liked even if there's not really any of the base building, research, tactical layer stuff I like in XCOM. It's a good time, and it's written in part by the Freedom Force guy, and it's interesting to see him shift from the goofy Silver Age pastiche of those games to an early-mid Bronze Age, when superhero comics were starting to become soap operas with superpowers and becoming more character-driven.
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Plus it has a pyrokinetic livestreamer as a playable character. So, you know, peak fiction.
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Oooh, good rec.
Kermie
Just A Karate Bugman/Bugwoman/Bugthing
- Location
- Somewhere On The Planet
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
You could say her videos… catch fire.
(I am immediately kicked in the face by 9 different factions of metahumans)
Pitchouli’s Candidate
It appears that there are plenty of people submitting characters, and at least one adapting a TTRPG character, so it is my duty as a lurker to contribute with one of my own.
Name: Michiko Katou
Age: 17
Stats: HIT 3, ESPIONAGE 1, REPUTATION 1, OPERATIONS 3
Tolerance: 8
Chaucer's Notes: Michiko is a student attending a well regarded private academy, though her status does not seem to reflect her actions. She's more likely to be found fighting people in airsoft matches than participating in the school ecosystem. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she was very fast to express intent in working with Justice Unlimited regardless of how minor the position is as a necessary part of her cirriculum.
When interviewed about being able to develop superpowers in an entirely hypothetical scenario posed as a question during her hiring process, Michiko was initially surprised before proving herself to be very receptive to the idea. In particular, Michiko discussed her enjoyment of heroes with Energy or Elemental Manipulation abilities, including our own Black Swan, and directly stated that she would want abilities in a similar vein if given the choice.
Leizi's Notes: You don't get into a prestigious school without good reason. During an incident where Michiko was in the immediate vicinity of 'villainous activity', she was the one who initially alerted emergency services by taking the taser off of a downed guard and using it to shock the sprinkler system of a nearby steakhouse into activation. Rescue operations would later find her in the walk-in freezer of the same steakhouse, having broken the doors' padlock by using the kitchen's gas stove to heat a metal knife to the point of being able to cut the lock off. She has more creativity in her than she would want to admit.
Name: Michiko Katou
Age: 17
Stats: HIT 3, ESPIONAGE 1, REPUTATION 1, OPERATIONS 3
Tolerance: 8
Chaucer's Notes: Michiko is a student attending a well regarded private academy, though her status does not seem to reflect her actions. She's more likely to be found fighting people in airsoft matches than participating in the school ecosystem. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she was very fast to express intent in working with Justice Unlimited regardless of how minor the position is as a necessary part of her cirriculum.
When interviewed about being able to develop superpowers in an entirely hypothetical scenario posed as a question during her hiring process, Michiko was initially surprised before proving herself to be very receptive to the idea. In particular, Michiko discussed her enjoyment of heroes with Energy or Elemental Manipulation abilities, including our own Black Swan, and directly stated that she would want abilities in a similar vein if given the choice.
Leizi's Notes: You don't get into a prestigious school without good reason. During an incident where Michiko was in the immediate vicinity of 'villainous activity', she was the one who initially alerted emergency services by taking the taser off of a downed guard and using it to shock the sprinkler system of a nearby steakhouse into activation. Rescue operations would later find her in the walk-in freezer of the same steakhouse, having broken the doors' padlock by using the kitchen's gas stove to heat a metal knife to the point of being able to cut the lock off. She has more creativity in her than she would want to admit.
Michiko was a character I played in a Persona TTRPG (she was the Devil Arcana, if you were going to ask) that used some homebrew magic rules, and the elemental imbuement spell I had chose to give her ended up getting quite a lot of creative usage; both the "electrocute the fire alarms on" and "heat metal to effectively blowtorch off a lock" moments shown in Leizi's notes are real ways I used the spell during the campaign, though obviously reworked to fit Michiko's nonmagical background. It's because of those kinds of moments that I tried to set up Michiko as someone who wants to use some form of manipulation ability and can make good on that request by having the potential to make the most out of its' use cases.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
This is exactly what I was thinking when I was mulling over who to pick and when Bitterman started warning us of the consequences of leaving a time limited action. Granted, around when I started, I didn't know about Le Petit Prince and was hyper focused on Scarlet Maturity. Hence why Four Seasons was a lock for me even back then, despite the advantages New Dawn could give. Global Justice was my last pick mainly cause while I feel bad for the kid (prior to this issue), I also felt wary of what the American organization behind the team was gonna ask of us.
With the revelation of this issue tho, Stockpile's position is a lot worse than I thought. I still refuse to let go of Four Seasons so it's New Dawn or Global Justice for me. Hmmmm
TimEd
Meteor maker
Global Justice really does have the feel of being so in the US gov's pocket as to have had most of their membership list be made up of the normal government office worker mix of people just going to a 9-5 even if the work uniform is spandex.
So with that, I have a feeling that the reason Justicar was sent to that suicide mission was to issue an Edict to prevent anyone from running away from the Leviathan. After all, it's an impossible demand to order government employees to their deaths as what a "real hero" would have done.
I wonder if Justicar or someone else left Stockpile all or at least some of the skeletons in the closet to give him information when the US gov tries to do what it did with them again, suicide mission included.
So with that, I have a feeling that the reason Justicar was sent to that suicide mission was to issue an Edict to prevent anyone from running away from the Leviathan. After all, it's an impossible demand to order government employees to their deaths as what a "real hero" would have done.
I wonder if Justicar or someone else left Stockpile all or at least some of the skeletons in the closet to give him information when the US gov tries to do what it did with them again, suicide mission included.
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