Welcome to New Athens, a city of adventure and intrigue. In New Athens, a hero is made every day and a villain every night. A thriving metropolis, New Athens is a modern city, built in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. Over the years the city thrived with coal mining being it's main source of revenue however New Athens quickly became a leading industrial city on the eastern 'States with several noteworthy corporations' factories and plants. Westman Chemical Plant, Napier Valley Ammunition Plant, Pepsi Cola Bottling Company, and Wells Helicopter are just a few of the reasons people choose to live and work in the grand city of tomorrow. The Olympian Gazette is widely known for its stories of new superhumans and celebrities, as well as the general local news. Midtown is where most of the action is, as well as the Mercury Mall. Subdivisions, landmarks, and schools include Lee Heights, the Kirby River, Shuster Elementary School, Universal Avenue [one of the longest streets in America], Simon Middle School, Kubert High School, Riverview [ghetto subdivision], Highland Park, Warpath State Park [in the mountains], the Museum of Tomorrow [tech museum], etc. The city sees a number of tourists as well, all trying to get a glimpse of superhumans in action. New Athens has more superhumans than any other major metropolitan city in America with a general population of over three hundred and sixty thousand residents with an estimated fifteen thousand superhumans possibly within city limits. And who are these superhumans?

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Rules:

1.) No back-to-back posting.

2.) PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND SET-UPS!!

3.) Make sense. If we can't make heads or tails of your posts they're likely to get skipped over.

4.) Get permission before using another player's character in your posts if it involves changing the scene or making actions. Everybody will take beatings in this game in battle however, so don't get pissed if you get punched or blasted into a wall by the bad guys! Namely me controlling the badguys...

5.) Problems with the game or players should be sent directly to me through PM's. I don't want a bunch of bickering in the OOC.

6.) Abandoned characters will be used as NPC's or killed off within the context of the story.

7.) “I was waiting for [insert player/character] to make a move” is not how this game is played.

8.) There is no rule #8.

9.) My word is law.

10.) Obey the law.

11.) In the event that I'm offline for any period of time, the Co-GM @Dblade26 will take control and HIS/HER word will then be law.

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UNIVERSAL Titanpad
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New Athens, 1:30 PM...

A dark giant of a man climbed out of the Kirby River. In some woodland area behind the Mercury Mall the behemoth leaped into the air like a villain out of a comic book traveling a great distance. His target was Westman Chemical Co. The first building to crumble under his giant feet was a Westman Credit Union, one of nearly three hundred across the region. Shayd, the Indestructible Man was headed towards the main reactors in the city like establishment on the edge of the city. The corporation had nearly two hundred thousand people employed between a total of three states. To say their home base was huge was a gross understatement. The ebon giant was nearing his target, would any heroes stand in his path?

Highland Park, 6:17 PM...

A dark haired man picked himself up out of the bushes. It was in the spring, his clothes were ripped, and he'd looked like he had seen better days. He dusted the dirt off of his shoulder, and tried throwing his long-ish hair back with a comb through using his hand.

"I should've stayed out of that fight. I wasn't on the scene in wolf form maybe a minute or two before that big black guy sent me flying across town with a backhand..." JD began to think, "I need to get back to the apartment and eat something before the sun goes down. I don't want to tear into any muggers on an empty stomach..."

Walking to the bus stop on foot JD could see the damage across the city from earlier.

"Somebody must've succeeded in taking that guy down. I should probably stick to the street level perps. No sense in fighting a super man and getting tossed across town. My healing factor is exceptional but I doubt I could recover from a broken neck..." JD thought as he got on the bus and traveled to another part of town where his apartment was located. He could hear the sultry voice of the local New Athens DJ over the bus radio...

"...That was the latest song by the Gorillaz. Natalee Nova here on 99.3 Z-Rock. Earlier today the man known as Shayd once again made an attack on Westman Chemical, no known fatalities have been reported thus far but several citizens of New Athens are receiving medical attention at Napier Valley Hospital. If not for the intervention of several superhumans the situation could have been far worse. I don't know about you, New Athens, but I'm glad there are a few good men and women out there who do the right thing with their powers. Can't say I'd be a hero, but I wouldn't be ALL bad.... here's the latest from Blink 182..."

JD got off the bus at his stop and made his way into his third story apartment. He changed his clothes, and put on a pair of sweat pants and a shirt.

"I'm getting tired of tearing through all of my good clothes." he thought looking out of his window at the city outside.

~KL~

As the dark giant that was Shayd closed in on his target, a chemical plant, as soon as he reached one specific crossroads near the entrance of the factory a horrible noise was heard. Not dissimilar to an explosion throwing metal fragments around, the source soon revealed itself as an odd circular portal grew at an angle above the center of the converged roads.

Soon, the color and material could be made out of this serenely floating disc; it was a piece of perfectly made glass, speckled with various colored dots upon its black surface, akin to a view of deep space for all intents and purposes.

It simply stood there above the ground as it slowly rotated on its own horizontal axis, until it stopped utterly. Immediately afterwards, frantic thumping could be heard with no discernible source, until a single metal fist blasted through the center of the glass vortex. A head popped out, two blue glowing eyes could be seen through an armored fully-enclosed helmet. This man, if it was one, landed with a thud as he broke through, shards of glass-like material losing all color and turning into regular glass as they fell.

Landing on three points, the horrendous creature simply looked around itself in curiosity, seeing the stumped giant that was Shayd and apparently having a blast of clarity, if only for a moment, as it stood up halfway straight to bring out a single saber-like sword, engraved like a piece of damaged art.

It yelled something in a sort of black speech, but everyone present that could hear it could just tell that it was something akin to, 'I am your enemy!'. The creature then began to slowly walk counter-clockwise, yet still inching ever closer to the ebon giant as it finished processing the event that just unfolded.

Wordlessly, Shayd started the fight proper, bluntly rushing towards the abyssal creature like a predator, hands ready to crush its head. The Knight simply side-stepped before impact, then went for Shayd's backside and quickly stabbed him there, the curved sword being used as a handhold so he could simply climb upon Shayd's back and start slashing away.

A few decent cuts later and the Knight dodged another blow from Shayd to his own back, leaving his sword in apparently as an insult while he got out another, a smaller, straighter one.

Shayd ripped out the curved sword with pain, but with his 'unique' physiology it wasn't as horrible of a wound getting in and out as it would be for anyone else. He asked this thing a question, a deep bass voice intrigued. "What... are you?", Shayd questioned, looking at the shards around them.

The Knight didn't answer, still slowly prowling around Shayd in a circle. The two, strong warriors then resumed their quiet fight, watching eachother as they slowly rotated around a center point, until Shayd went in for another rush. Swinging the Knight's own curved sword, he actually managed to strike true.

The Knight's entire left arm arced through the air, landing near a lamp post. Yet, Shayd found the Knight himself with his hand plunged into Shayd's right knee, his rapier exiting the other side. Ripping himself out with force, the gaping wound looked just as horrible as it was as Shayd was effectively immobilized, if only for a short while.

As his leg recovered, the Knight simply walked to his own arm and sheathed his sword, before grabbing his limb and muttering in the same disgustingly foreign language. Holding his arm to its socket, meaty strings re-attached it before the two warriors' eyes.

For once, the Knight spoke, a silky yet old tongue befitting a king or duke.

"I hath conquered the formless steppes, have dined upon the souls of the ancient snow-drakes, and hath plunged into the abyss before taking its powers for mineself. I am an Emperor, an Overlord, and I shall do as my gods commanded in this world."

He tested his fingers as his armor went and pulled itself together. "Mortal injuries art nothing to me, mine objectives shalt be reached. These lands will know a great peace and a golden age, even if I must bring it by force of arms."

He then resumed his stance, low to the ground and ready to counter-attack.

[ACTIVATE INTRODUCTION MUSIC!]

Unlike most superheroes, Marvin wasn't flying or running or driving some insanely cool vehicle, nope he was taking the bus like you average low income working class America, except Marvin was still waiting for his papers to go through and get full citizenship. He had to admit that this wasn't what he would call proper traveling methods for a hero, but until he made it big then he would have to settle with this very mundane mode of transportation. On the bust there were people staring at him and one annoying bum was talking endlessly about his imaginary friends.

The bus soon came to his stop and Marvin quickly got off the bus. His destination was the downtown bank where he had heard of a bank robbery on the police radio he had. Now he would have to get in the action and bust some robbers. He summoned his spectral hand and it floated beside him as he approached the bank. He didn't want to have an altercation with the police so Marvin decided to keep out of sight from law enforcement. He slowly approached the bank and decided to enter through the back entrance.

"This is gonna be a piece of cake" he said to himself as he slowly moved through bank to where the robbers were hold and with hostages. Keeping the hostages safe was going to be difficult, but he wasn't going to give up, especially if it was chance to get famous and be a celebrity among heroes.

"This should make me popular, now that I live in a universe that doesn't have godlike heroes, I can finally be the most famous hero that the world's ever seen" Marvin said to himself with a smug grin.

First world bank, hermes and pluto Av.
Sirens rang on the street corner of hermes street and Pluto avenue. Police forces surrounded the local branch of the first world bank. The robbers had been inside for quite some time. Had it been any other day, the special response unit would be breaching the building already. Most of the force had been dispatched towards the fight between titans going on elsewhere in the city though, so the best the beleagured cops could manage was an uneasy standoff with the perps.

"Come out with your hands up and you will not be harmed!" the police negotiator spoke again. And again the men inside did not respond. That is, unless the occasional potshot from one of them counted as a response. Things were tense, the masked robbers had declared they would kill a hostage if they weren't let go. the deadline for those demands was mere moments... And it looked like the guy in charge of the police on scene was calling the robbers bluff.

All throughout the hostage situation, the ground had been shaken by the distant super-fight going on. None of the robbers had noticed one such tremor seemed a bit nearer than seemed comfortable. Finally, the moment of truth came, and the robbers silently grabbed a hostage and dragged her into full view of the cops outside. It was a young woman, just another civilian in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Last chance cops!" the ringleader of the robbers shouted, waiting a moment to see if he would get a reaction... but none came.

"Heh, stupid idiots... nothing personal love" The man had a heavy british accent. He leveled a heavy pistol at the woman's head an squeezed the trigger... A shot rang through the air, and with a wet thud... the ringleader fell to the floor, a hole spurting blood where his head was just a moment ago. The other robbers turned to the source of the shot... A towering figure, clad in heavy ballistic armor and holding a still smoking assault shotgun. "The only withdrawal you worms are gonna make today is gonna be in lead!" The newcomer shouted as he fired another salvo.

The three remaining robbers bolted for cover, one fell to the ground, cluthing his spurting... The entire foot gone from another shotgun slug. Two robbers returned fire to the man... one was shot in the chest, painting the wall behind him with his lungs. One robber hunkered down behind cover... For a moment, it looked like he could formulate a plan. Then a slug tore through the overturned table he was behind, shattering his upper spine with frightening accuracy.

The entire exchange of fire had taken around six seconds. The armored man looked around at the shellshocked hostages aroun him... Slowly and intently, he spoke. "Any other perps left?" His question was pointed to no one in particular. On average, there was likely to be at least one person still fit to answer such questions. "Upstairs!" The woman shrieked. She was a sobbing wreck, but her eyes shone of an impressed thankfulness.

There was a moment of relative quiet. Someone cleared their throat to speak, but was quickly shut up by a raised hand from the armored shotgunner. Feet coul be heard upstairs, running quickly towards the stairs. Suddendly, the shotgunner snapped to attention and fired a shot. It shattered the upper step of the spiral staircase, and another man fell through with an infernal crash, losing his rifle in the fall. By the time he got his bearings he was looking down the barrel of an assault shotgun. He raised his hands in surrender. "Alright alright! I surrender! go on! cart me off to the slammer already!"

The iron-faced man towering above the robber slowly shook his head. "And waste the honest taxpayers money on keeping your useless ass locked up? I'm sorry, but that's not acceptable." The robber looked shocked at this statement. "Hey man! I have rights! I deserve a proper court..." the man was cut off by a shotgun barrel being forcibly shoved in his mouth. "I'll be your judge... your sentence is death... goodbye". He pulled the trigger, and a final shot rang through the bank.

By the time the police outside had caught on to what was going on, the mysterious saviour was already gone. In the basement, they found a tunnel leading into the city's abandoned sewer tunnels. The police commisioner on scene called off the chase in frustration... Anyone from down there could easily outrun any of the officers on-site in their sleep. "Call HQ! tell em the Judge got some more notches on his rifle... No direct contact, suspect escaped scene before that could happen... As usual."

The commisioner was named Jim O'Malley. An old veteran of the force who had spent half his life making the city a better place. The vigilantism of the judge frustrated him to no end. In his mind, the mysterious armored man was little better than the criminals he regularly massacred. He had sworn before the Mayor again and again that he would deal with the Judge... Yet never had he even come close to finding out who this guy was.

Jim sighed and turned to a fellow inspector. "Anyone up for a beer once cleanup gets here? I feel like we could use it."

---

Athena city sewer town, three hours later
Luke nesmith fell down into his favorite sofa. As usual, he had been welcomed back with a cheer and a beer from his fellow outcasts. He quite liked this place, it was out of the way,barely even a blip on the NAPD's radar... The perfect place for a vigilante like himself to make his safehouse. With a groan, he leaned forward to get his remote. There wasn't much to see on TV. Just more pointless blabbing about the superhero fight that tore through the city today. The news was playing another clip of the black monster fighting some armored joker. Luke didn't even bother to look whether it was recorded footage or a real-time event. All he cared about was how the thing was being used to distract from the real important news... About the scum he had meticulously reduced to ground beef. Sure, he could kill them as fast as they popped up, but as long as enough of the desperate degenerates of society fancied their chances pretty well, it would be an uphill battle. And the news not reporting on his merciless actions wasn't helping his cause at all.

Sighing, he retrieved an aged mobile phone from the table between him and the TV. He dailed a familiar number to check up on how the police responded. One ring, two rings, three rings. The familiar voice of Mike could be heard through the phone. "Luke? the fuck ahve you been doing? O'Malley's on the warpath again! I'm stuck doing overtime just for not putting enough sugar in his coffee! And it's unpaid overtime too!"

Luke silently chuckled. It seemed the force hadn't changed a bit since he quit. O'Malley still sounded like the same old asshat, and his friend Luke was as loyal a buddy as always. "Didn't ya hear? six notches in the bank robbery... I was in and out in thirty seconds... Sewr entry." 'Notches'... It was what luke had taken to calling the criminals he killed. Degenerate was too much of a mouthful and perps sounded too official.

"Yeah, I heard... I also heard your intervention saved the life of a hostage... And I approve of that." Luke had always been thankful of Murphy saving bystanders, even if such was usually just a pleasant side-effect of killing violent and dangerous criminals quickly and efficiently. Still, it made him quite the icon to the young edgy crowd online. It had been quite jarring to see police footage of himself being used in internet memes, but he had grown accused to it over time. After all, it meant there were people out there that supported what he did, and that was all he needed to keep going.

" Yeah... I take it there's no leads on me, like usual?"

"Nope, ost of the inspectors are still argueing on what your skin color is, nevermind your identity."

"Oh come on, isn't it obvious I'm black? I mean seriously, back when I was on the force they could at least argue about shit that actually mattered... Anyway, I gotta go, say hi to Jess for me, will ya?"

Jess... Mike's little daugther. Caught up in the crossfire of a robbery gone south, much like the woman Luke had saved earlier. And similiarly saved by Luke's intervention. He could still remember the tears of joy streaming over Mike's face...and the look he gave luke that day. The look of a man that would be his buddy till the day it was his own turn to go six feet under. Luke finished his beer and went off to his workbench... He had some bullets to dig out of his vest and some magazines to start reloading.