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[OOC] One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG Page 3
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Lord Wraith Actually Three Otters in a Trenchcoat
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Retired "Hayao Miyazaki"
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As the loudmouth of the group, that's on me. New work schedule has me very busy.
Hybrid classrooms are fun, people. So fun.
EDIT: I said "loudmouth," but I meant "obnoxious asshole."
Hybrid classrooms are fun, people. So fun.
EDIT: I said "loudmouth," but I meant "obnoxious asshole."
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Master Bruce Winged Freak
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@AndyC@Retired The player who gets Spider-Man will be determined after conferring with my fellow GM's. Both apps are good, so this isn't quite as straightforward as we'd thought.
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Simple Unicycle ?
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... Is it that time again? I'm thinking it's that time again. Hopefully won't flake out for the fifty-seventh time in a row.
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Hound55 Create-A-Hero RPG GM, Blue Bringer of BWAHAHA!
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BACK! BY POPULAR DEMAND!
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L
THE BLUE BEETLE
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
T E D K O R D ♦ E N G I N E E R / V I G I L A N T E / H E R O / C . E . O / B L O C K B U S T E R M O V I E M E M B E R
♦ B O S T O N , K . O . R . D E A S T D I V I S I O N / “ T H E E M B A S S Y “ , M A N H A T T A N , N E W Y O R K
♦ K O R D O M N I V E R S A L R E S E A R C H & D E V E L O P M E N T / S U P E R B U D D I E S
♦ B O S T O N , K . O . R . D E A S T D I V I S I O N / “ T H E E M B A S S Y “ , M A N H A T T A N , N E W Y O R K
♦ K O R D O M N I V E R S A L R E S E A R C H & D E V E L O P M E N T / S U P E R B U D D I E S
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
“My greatest strength is an unfocused mind. This is because while you are all thinking of one idea, I’m thinking of five different ideas. My greatest weakness however is an unfocused mind. This is because while I’m supposed to be thinking about one thing, I’m actually thinking of five other things.”
Ted Kord is the pre-eminent astronomical engineer on Earth. He's also one of the most brilliant engineers in general. Unfortunately, he has been forced to swap his labcoat with a suit in order to take over the Chief Executive Officer role at the Research and Development company his father built, due to his rapidly declining health.
Gifted with an eidetic memory, more money than sense and that engineering brilliance he was inspired by a growing number of superheroes to try his hand at going down the same path.
After being publicly put in the spotlight, saving numerous lives during a crisis of some kind, Ted Kord chose to ride his wave of popularity to form his own privately funded Superhero team, called "The Superbuddies" which would combine human and metahuman/mutant heroes to show that collaboration across such lines was possible. Headquartering in New York, at a facility he designed called "The Embassy", the Superbuddies have become something of a joke in a Justice League/Avengers world.
Still, that won't stop Ted from throwing his weight around to do good. "Hey! That was another fat joke, wasn't it?" I don't know what you're talking about. "Alright, but I'm watching you."
Gifted with an eidetic memory, more money than sense and that engineering brilliance he was inspired by a growing number of superheroes to try his hand at going down the same path.
After being publicly put in the spotlight, saving numerous lives during a crisis of some kind, Ted Kord chose to ride his wave of popularity to form his own privately funded Superhero team, called "The Superbuddies" which would combine human and metahuman/mutant heroes to show that collaboration across such lines was possible. Headquartering in New York, at a facility he designed called "The Embassy", the Superbuddies have become something of a joke in a Justice League/Avengers world.
Still, that won't stop Ted from throwing his weight around to do good. "Hey! That was another fat joke, wasn't it?" I don't know what you're talking about. "Alright, but I'm watching you."
C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:
Ted's foremost motivation is to help. Almost to the point of naivete. He loves the idea, the notion of being a hero, which he got from watching his uncle Dan Garrett's Saturday morning superhero show "The Blue Beetle Power Hour" which has had the greatest influence on his life.
His goals are to make his private superhero group the Super Buddies a success, keep his father's legacy Kord Omniversal Research and Development - of which he is the CEO - growing strong, and maintain his relationships with his friends and loved ones. He's a good, yet brilliant, simple man leading a complicated life.
His goals are to make his private superhero group the Super Buddies a success, keep his father's legacy Kord Omniversal Research and Development - of which he is the CEO - growing strong, and maintain his relationships with his friends and loved ones. He's a good, yet brilliant, simple man leading a complicated life.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
Character and Equipment:
Ted Kord – Good natured and affable, unfocused yet brilliant. Ted Kord possesses an eidetic and photographic memory, the ability to demonstrate great logic and deductive reasoning and a love of film (particularly Bond and Mission: Impossible movies). Ted was a gymnast in high school (and a few pounds lighter, but hey, who’s judging…) which plays a heavy factor in his agility based hand-to-hand fighting style.
The Bug – Originally designed by Ted as a prototype for potential space travel (young Ted set his mind to Mars as NASA first began sending probes and rovers) it has since been repurposed for his foray into superheroics. Mimicking the series Star Trek: Enterprise, Ted found a way to provide shielding by magnetizing the airship’s hull. He also found ways to electrify the outer shell to protect it from unwanted boarders. Capable of withstanding the pressures of the deepest sea trench or space travel, the mostly solar-powered Bug is at the bleeding edge of modern crimefighting vehicular technology and Ted’s pride and joy. It’s also controllable by remote, capable of flying or hovering on auto-pilot without Ted needing to be at the helm.
The BB gun – Ted’s primary defensive weapon, the BB gun is capable of emitting either a blinding flash of light, a strong compressed air blast, or a single five second deafening sonic screech. The BB gun is also powered by solar charged battery cells that Ted keeps on his person.
Ted also has access to a ridiculous array of self-invented gadgetry and gimmicks, although most are limited in use and would require the foresight and planning to bring them to utilize.
The Superbuddies
This will be expanded upon after my first arc with available characters - I don't want to take too many off the board without giving people a chance to apply for them.
Maxwell Lord – A former CEO for a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, Maxwell Lord acts as a figurehead organizational leader planted by Ted Kord as a front for explaining where the money has come from in return for a share of the revenue streams. Unscrupulous and money-grubbing by nature, he can be quite a stringent taskmaster in keeping the team on mission to preserve their brand as heroes which makes up his mealticket.
BOOSTER FRIGGIN' GOLD!
– A schmuck from the 25th Century. Also happens to be Ted’s best friend, if only because he knows him personally in both his chosen identities. When he was younger he was sent back in time to ruin Ted’s life and send him on a trajectory that would teach him humility under the pseudonym “Carter Johns” by a person whose identity has thus far not been revealed… Neither he nor Ted knew this purpose at the time. He merely thought he’d met a new best friend.
The two became reunited in Year Three of this game’s continuity, after he grew bored with his dead-end job as a security guard at the Metropolis Space Museum, stole a bunch of superhero artefacts and decided to try and make something of his life in a simpler time. He’s barely held in check by the supervision of Skeets – the security/automated tour guide of the museum that took the trip with him.
He brings chaos to Ted’s life, but also friendship. But also chaos. Even for Ted’s already fairly chaotic lifestyle. He brings chaos.
Ice – Tora Olafsdotter was formerly a security officer for a branch of S.H.I.E.L.D known as the Global Guardians, who dealt with providing security for foreign dignitaries and private citizens of international importance. She was fired from this S.H.I.E.L.D branch before the advent of the Avengers, which may have put her skills to other use. She also happens to be Ted’s girlfriend. And a metahuman. Which is not why he dated her. I mean, not that that would be an issue for him not to either. Because he is not a bigot. She is cute, looks amazing in a cocktail dress, and can tolerate Ted’s more irritating quirks which previously subjected him to the single life (which may be a metahuman power in and of itself…). Ted has zero complaints.
Fire – Beatriz Da Costa was Tora’s best friend and almost like a bigger sister for her when the two worked previously for the Global Guardians. She barely tolerates Ted and trusts that this whole thing will soon end once Tora comes to her senses, sees him for the geeky dork he is and dumps him for someone better suited to her. She is extremely open and comfortable with her own body and sensuality, which makes Ted wrap a towel around himself anytime the team uses the on-site pool. She is extremely protective of Tora. She secretly enjoys the excitement of the Superhero lifestyle, but would never admit as much to Ted.
Chief Executive Officer - Ted Kord
Chief Operations Officer - Jeremiah Duncan
Chief Financial Officer - Veronica Sinclair
Chief Marketing Officer - Randall Truman
President of K.O.R.D East Division (based in Boston) - Melody Case
President of K.O.R.D Central Division (based in Chicago) - Curt Calhoun
President of K.O.R.D West Division (based in Pasadena) - Conrad Carapax
Secretary to the CEO - Angela Revere
Head of Cybernetics/Electronics/Online Security - Murray Takamoto
Chief Operations Officer - Jeremiah Duncan
Chief Financial Officer - Veronica Sinclair
Chief Marketing Officer - Randall Truman
President of K.O.R.D East Division (based in Boston) - Melody Case
President of K.O.R.D Central Division (based in Chicago) - Curt Calhoun
President of K.O.R.D West Division (based in Pasadena) - Conrad Carapax
Secretary to the CEO - Angela Revere
Head of Cybernetics/Electronics/Online Security - Murray Takamoto
S A M P L E P O S T:
Let’s get the morbid stuff out of the way first. All things being equal I’d rather not drag you through that at all - it’s not really my way - but if I didn’t mention it you’d probably blow it up to be a whole thing that’s bigger than it is. Claim I’m living in denial. Escapism or whatever. In this case it really is nothing but a river in Egypt.
I don’t really forget things. I mean, ever. I can still remember my mother and I haven’t seen her since my parents split when I was 3. And I mean REMEMBER her. Down to the fine lines and slight wrinkles of the face. The slight signs of crows feet that by now would surely be fully formed from a few decades time now passed. If you gave me a lump of clay, given enough time I could come up with a pretty good facsimile - soldering and working with nanotech gives you pretty steady hands - because it’s burnt in there. Saved to disk.
So yeah, “Wah, poor little rich boy barely got to know his mother”, that’s where I’m going to start with this. I mean, it’s not the sum total of the morbid stuff that I’m talking about, but I guess it informs on a fair bit of what I do, I guess. Or something.
And don’t worry, this isn’t that kind of story where we pan back out and I’m lying on a psychiatrist’s lounge saying all of this. Even if it feels like that right now. I just believe in laying it all out there up front, so then we don’t need to dwell on it anymore. We can get on with life. Life which is fun, crazy, beautiful, exciting and full of surprises.
I’m not normally this depressing either, trust me…
Actually, you know what? Let’s roll with some life first, and then come back to this. I already feel weird, and like I’m laying all my problems on you too thick as it is.
K . O . R . D . E A S T D I V I S I O N - C O N F E R E N C E R O O M 1
Present Day | Boston, Massachusetts
Fluorescent lights flicker on. Feminine hands lay out two boxes of donuts on the conference room table. She leaves and returns with a caterers platter of sandwiches.
Angela Revere. Secretary to the CEO. Receptionist. Employed by K.O.R.D for over a decade. Owner of two cats. Scourge of the unsolicited caller.
A man walks in wearing a tidy, conservative suit and a thin tie. He fingers a few of the donuts before making his selection and taking his seat at the table.
Abner Jenkins. Chief Financial Officer. Former mechanical and aeronautical engineer. Worked for 30 years in the industry, including previous employers Boeing and Ferris Air. Owns no cats. Has a plastic surgeon on speed dial to repair his face in case he ever smiles.
A man and a woman wander in together, but not together. Not for the man’s lack of trying. The man wears a suit that costs more than Abner Jenkins car, and his well coiffed hair takes longer in daily maintenance than Angela Revere spends on the Weekly Notices emails to the whole company. The woman is wearing neat business attire, is listening politely, but is holding a folder against her chest displaying very “closed off” body language. Both help themselves to first pick of the sandwich platter.
Randall Truman. Chief Marketing Officer. Employment History - Impressive, yet varied. Has never stayed at one workplace for more than 3 years. Wouldn’t be surprised if cats have mysteriously gone missing from his area. Has a plastic surgeon on speed dial for emotional support.
Melody Case. President of K.O.R.D East Division. Only ever worked at K.O.R.D. M.I.T graduate, attended Yale business school post grad to prepare for transition into executive positions. Doesn’t mind cats, but doesn’t have the time for them right now. Just as she has no need for a plastic surgeon.
A man in his early-to-mid twenties wanders in like he owns the place - In his defence, his name’s on the building. He spends some time considering the sandwich platter, before selecting a meatball sub with cheese and grabbing a donut for when he’s done. He sits himself at the head of the table as is expected of him, even though he’d be perfectly happy sitting on the side like everyone else.
Ted Kord. Chief Executive Officer. Only ever worked at K.O.R.D… except for a paper route his father made him take when he was a boy. Did not attend M.I.T. Between cats at the moment. Once got told he could “do with a tummy tuck”, but we don’t mention that.
Angela fiddles with the remote and the conference call equipment to make sure that both are working, and as the monitor warms up, two more executives are shown in split screen sitting at two tables elsewhere.
Curt Calhoun. President of K.O.R.D Central Division. Previously worked at Wayne Enterprises, poached by K.O.R.D as Wayne Enterprises were in the midst of a hostile takeover. Don’t ask him about cats. In fact, don’t ask him anything about life outside of business.
Conrad Carapax. President of K.O.R.D West Division. Previously held executive positions at 4 different Fortune 500 businesses. His wife owns a cat - it doesn’t care for him much, even though he’s often left feeding it and cleaning and replacing its litter tray. Highly regarded, but sometimes feels he’s slumming it at K.O.R.D even though his current title is the highest he’s held.
Finally, the last member of the board meeting comes scurrying in. An elderly man with his hands full of paper, as well as juggling a briefcase. Randall Truman makes an unkind joke, that gets neither laughs nor attention from its target. Ted takes the briefcase from him and helps him find his seat. Once he sits down in the empty seat next to Ted, he quickly sorts the paper and puts two thirds in his briefcase, and gets ready for the meeting. Finally getting back to his feet and grabbing whatever sandwich was closest as an afterthought.
Jeremiah Duncan. Chief Operations Officer. Only ever worked at K.O.R.D. One of founder Thomas Kord’s oldest friends. Has a cat, which his wife mostly attends to, knowing he’s generally too busy working late hours. Most plastic surgeons would shrug and consider him too far gone - neither he nor his wife are bothered though.
“So… we’re all here.” Ted started the meeting off. “Does Angela have to read the previous meeting’s minutes out, or did everyone read the email?”
Nobody said anything, but eyes fell on Jeremiah Duncan. Uncomfortable silence, until he realized people expected a response from him, even though the question was addressed to the room.
“No, no, no. I’m fine. Besides, this is the flagship product meeting. I think we should get to the point at hand, since it’s so important.” The old man replied.
“Fair point. Anyone want to lead us off?”
Abner Jenkins leaned forward and made his pitch, grabbing a second donut and using it as a confusing prop, waving it around with his hand gestures as sprinkles flew.
“Well, I think the common sense idea is the B.E.E.T.L.E suit. With Tony Stark introducing the world to the Iron Man armour and then promptly declaring it “Not For Sale” he’s created a unique opportunity with a vacuum of demand for a product that isn’t being sold…”
“We would have to re-purpose the suit. I mean, it’s not exactly designed for that kind of use.” Ted interrupted, considering Abner’s proposition.
“That’s true. But with a prototype that already exists, we’re well ahead of the curve on most…”
“And the B.E.E.T.L.E also doesn’t use repulsor tech…”
“That’s not really the important thing is it, though? We have a solid product that with some minor adjustments or additions would be highly desirable in the Defense force industry after what Stark showed them, and entitle us to those highly lucrative--”
“Whoa, whoa… Wait. Defense? You want to repurpose the B.E.E.T.L.E into a weapon? I’m surprised to hear you say that. I mean, that thing was your baby, Abner.”
“Well, Stark just showed us it pretty much is, Ted.”
“I thought the ‘E’ stood for ‘Exploratory’, Abe. Well, one of them anyway, not the other two. 'Breathable Exploratory Extreme Terrain Livable Exoskeleton'. I mean, that’s going to be the thing we’re going to have people wearing when we get the first people on Mars!”
“Jeremiah, finances aside, best case scenario, how far off are we from actually getting to Mars?
The old man started shuffling through his papers. “Umm-- well, that could be hard to say… we don’t know exactly what kind of--”
“Jeremiah.” The CFO pressed firmly.
The old man looked defeated and shot Ted an apologetic look. “We could maybe get a 2025 launch date. Maybe.”
“2025 is the earliest launch date. And I take it that’s only considering the business logistics on our end and not considering the fact that Mars only comes around to being at its closest in relation to the Earth every two years. And THEN it takes about a year to get there once WE DO launch.” Sprinkles flew, he was in full swing now.
“This is the flagship product meeting, Ted. We have to MAKE IT past 2025 as a business or else that becomes a moot point. Now we have something that is easily fabricated,” Abner started counting off, finger to donut, “would only need minor adjustments,” he held two fingers to the almighty donut, “AND people would ACTUALLY WANT, and you’re getting hung up on a moral issue that could keep our company from ever getting there at all.”
Ted sat at the table, hand to the side of his face in contemplation.
“We’ll table it for now and keep spitballing ideas. How about the solar panels?”
Using angular solar cells, a revolutionary new K.O.R.D patented silicon-doping system, and a far more efficient DC/AC inverter, Kord Omniversal had come up with solar panels that pushed the technology right to the edge of the Shockley-Queisser theoretical efficiency limit.
He'd come up with some pretty good solar panels, in other words.
Abner shuffled papers of his own and replied with the costs of production.
“They’re bleeding edge technology, Ted. But they’re still too expensive to mass-produce.”
“Yeah, but, maybe if--”
Jeremiah cut him off. “No, he’s right Ted. If you’re going to come at the energy industry, you need to have either something game-changingly revolutionary like arc reactor tech or cold fusion, or you need to be able to competitively price. it’s a cutthroat world to get into. I mean Roxxon alone, would--”
“Ok, ok. Solar panels are no good. Well, how about KORDEX? I mean we’re using it for this very meeting right now? You guys are hearing us fine, right Curt? Conrad?”
“Mr Kord. We’re hearing you fine!” “Thrilled to be here, Mr Kord.” The pair of telecommunicating executives replied.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Abner Jenkins muttered.
Ted looked at the grizzled old financial officer quizzically, before Randall Truman explained.
“He’s right to be derisive, Ted. The L-Pad is the dominant device across most of the world, and it’s L-isten, L-ook and L-ink software is the unparalleled frontrunner in online telecommunications. KORDEX is pretty much nothing but an in-house communications gimmick, with all due respect.” Truman explained, whilst giving no due respect whatsoever.
“Yeah, but it’s fully encrypted. I mean it’s technically superior software.”
“The man on the street doesn’t care.”
“What? How? How can they not care?”
“The man on the street would rather use Triple-L because everyone uses LLL. All of their friends use LLL. Everyone knows and understands the simple functionality of LLL. And it’s cool. They’re the market-leader by such a vast margin the runway is just incomparable. It’d be like trying to take on Coke with your grandmother’s cola recipe.”
Ted noticed there was no hesitation to suggest air quotes when calling LexCorp’s product ‘cool’, and immediately suspected his own CMO had a preference for product that was not even theirs.
“So Lex Luthor could be listening to every conversation ever and people would still rather it because it’s cool… What a world.”
“I’m pretty sure that a man as brilliant and successful as Lex Luthor would have better things to do than listen into people’s private conversations.” Randall Truman said, shaking his head and chuckling at the absurdity of the CEO’s assertion.
“Well, what else is there..?” Ted mused to himself.
“There’s the B.E.E.T.L.E…” Abner repeated, grumbling.
“Ted…” Melody began. “There’s alway the anti-car theft device.”
“Of course!” Exclaimed the CEO, as he scrambled to the laptop that Angela was taking notes on, ushered her away and began searching for relevant files.
“The Carjack Off Anti-theft and Immobilization device!”
“It needs a new name…” Randall uttered.
“That’s not important.” Ted refuted.
“It is if it’s ‘Carjack Off’...” Randall replied. “No way I could move something called that.”
“The testing phase worked great! In fact some of these test videos would work for the advertisement themselves…” Ted clicked on a video, and the monitor split screen to three panels with the two executives feeds moving to one side to play the test video unobscured.
In a concrete and steel parking garage an elderly woman is walking alone. A ‘carjacker’ armed with a rubber blade attempts to mug the old lady, who hits a button on her keys. The man is immediately blinded with an extremely bright flash of light from the key ring. The man clutches his face, and turns away from the light. Blinded, he starts to swing the rubber blade around in front of him, resorting to dumb luck in his hopes of striking the elderly lady. With a press of another two buttons a concussive sonar blast launches the man off his feet a good dozen or so feet, where he’s knocked out cold and lying on the cement. The elderly lady walked up to the fallen carjacker and whacked him with her purse, before walking back to her car. Dropping the keys before she got there, she had time to gingerly bend over and pick them back up, before opening the car door, adjusting her hair in the mirrors and slowly driving away.
“I mean, even if we don’t have a product here, we could send that in and get $500 off of America’s Funniest Home Videos…”
Another test video played. This time the ‘carjacker’ had a gun. The elderly woman pressed a button on her keys and handed them over. The carjacker ran over to her car, got behind the seat, and as he went to turn the engine over a set of secondary airbags in the car deployed, first knocking him out and secondly trapping him in a position from which he couldn’t escape. The hazard lights on the car flashed, an alarm went off and periodically a voice spoke over the top of the alarm warning people to stay clear, that a robbery had taken place, that the authorities had been called and to remain calm and clear of the scene until police resolved the matter.
“Jeremiah?” Ted asked his old COO, almost pleading that he have another viable option besides pumping out armoured suits for the military.
“It’s a good product. Compatible enough that we could make it work with most new model cars…”
Randall interjected. “And I do have an existing relationship with quite a few automakers. If I pull some strings I might be able to deal directly with dealerships.”
All in assembly turned to look at Abner Jenkins. Sensing the moment he took the opportunity to grab another donut.
“It’s not sustainable.”
“It is sustainable, Abner.” The COO dissented. “And you know it.”
“Not as a business plan. Yes, the… anti-theft device is a sustainable product for this year, but that’s just it. This year. If we roll out the B.E.E.T.L.E that could secure us for years to come. In fact with new versions, updates and upgrades it could even potentially carry us until we achieve our CEO’s Mars goal if Stark stays out of the Armour war.”
“We’re a Research and Development company, Abner. It says it right in the name. We’ll come up with another idea next year, or we shouldn't be calling ourselves that in the first place.”
“You’re crippling this company’s financial future for your own hyperactive morals, Ted. It’s a vacuum. It will be filled by someone. Might as well be us hauling that money away.”
“Not just my morals, Abe. A man who’s a second generation weapons manufacturer looked down the barrel of the camera and told the world ‘No. You’re not getting this.’ and decided to pivot away from that line of business altogether in the process. The least I can do is consider that and say ‘Me neither.’ when I have other alternatives.”
Ted got to his feet and started to stack his things to leave.
“Angela, can you make sure this food gets taken down to the engineers after the meeting?”
Ted took a beat for one more thought before he returned to close down the discussion with his CFO.
“And I don’t generally like to throw it in people’s faces, Abe. But as for my hyperactive morals, there’s another word in the company’s name besides ‘Research’ and ‘Development’. And I'm not talking about 'Omniversal'. If I’ve got to stick my name to something, I’m damn sure going to make sure it’s something I can believe in.”
T H E R E S I D E N C E O F T H O M A S K O R D
2 hours later | Elsewhere within Boston, Massachusetts
Ted stood on his father’s doorstep, with a brown paper bag in hand, his tie and suit jacket were now gone and his top button was undone with his sleeves rolled up.
A man who was pushing 50 opened the door and stared blankly at his son.
“Hello? Who is it?”
Ted stood there uncomfortably long, and then furrowed his brow in concern. Just before the dam burst and the edges of his father’s mouth curled into a smile. He couldn’t keep it in anymore and cracked up laughing.
“You know, that isn’t funny.” Ted said, as he walked in the house, closing the door behind him.
Wiping a single tear from his eye, the older man replied, “Then why do I laugh every time I do it?”
“Yeah, right up until the first time you don’t.”
“Yep. But by then I won’t know any better anyway.”
“No, I’ll be the one tearing up, and it won’t be because of laughter. Thanks Pop…”
“Way to kill the laughter and bring down the mood, Buzzkill.”
“Yep, that’s me alright.”
An uncomfortable silence passed between the two.
“So what’d you bring me?” Thomas pointed down to the paper bag.
Ted held up the paper bag “Two corned beef 6 inches and a peanut butter filled donut.”
“Oh, My boy! You remembered!”
“Remembered nothing… the engineers won’t touch the corned beef. You’re eating scraps.” Ted smirked.
“Let me guess? Quarterly financial meeting?”
Ted looked to see if he was joking this time. But picked up no sign, and his concern came creeping back.
“No. Annual flagship product meeting.”
“Oh right, right…” Thomas said. “That time of year again.”
Another uncomfortable silence.
“Are you serious?”
“Look, don’t look at me like that. I’m retired now. I don’t need to know what the date is every day, alright? I don’t have anywhere I need to be, I don’t have a calendar to keep track of every day. So drop it.”
“Alright, alright…” Ted said, but the concern wasn’t going anywhere.
“So how’d it go?”
“We’re going with an anti-car theft system I started on a few years back, and palmed off on the engineering pool when I had to start the monkey suit route.”
“Really? Just a car alarm?”
“It’s a bit more than just that.” Ted walked over to his father’s fridge and pulled a can of Soder out. “Dad, Abner Jenkins was trying to get me to militarize his B.E.E.T.L.E armour into generic Iron Man spin-offs.”
“Wow. That’s sad. Poor guy must really be losing hope.”
“Yeah, he went on this whole tirade about it being improbable we’d make it to 2025.”
“Well, where finances are concerned you should listen to him. It’s why I put him there for you. But I’m telling you right now, you’re going to need to watch him like a hawk.”
“Why’s that?”
“Nothing’s more scary than a man who feels his legacy is being threatened. If he’s saying that, he’s having doubts he’s ever going to see anything become of his B.E.E.T.L.E suit, and I have to tell you… that thing is a design work of art.”
“Well, I’m trying. Sometimes you’ve just got to live with finding a way to get on base until that fat, juicy one comes sliding across the inside of the plate for you to put into the bleachers.”
“So that’s all you had? Car alarm and Killer B.E.E.T.L.E?”
Ted took another deep swig before answering. “Had some other quality products, but nothing without marketing or manufacture difficulties to roll out as a flagship.”
“Let me ask you something… When Abner went on his tirade, how did Pasadena and Chicago respond? Calhoun and Carapax?”
“They didn’t say anything. Why?”
“Ehhh… maybe nothing. But you said ‘tirade’. Abner’s normally pretty steady. I don’t know Calhoun too well personally, he came recommended and I picked him up late during the whole Wayne Enterprises/Sionis takeover. And Carapax. Conrad has some ambition to him.”
“You left me a board filled with ambitious, power-hungry executives? Wow. Thanks Pops.” Ted sarcastically fired back.
“Ted, if I could have left you a company filled with Jeremiah Duncans I would have… unfortunately, in all my travels I’ve only ever found one. Be glad you’ve got him. As for Calhoun and Carapax. I’m just saying, Calhoun I don’t know at all, but I KNOW Carapax. Power-hungry or not, he IS good at his job. I only left him in charge of his own little corner of the world, and he’s good at that. Just don’t let him in a position where he can bite you. Because he will, if you give him a chance. And he’s crafty enough to wait for it. So if Abner was really bothered, I’d expect the two to be having some kind of discussion, if they hadn’t already before that meeting.”
“Ugh… I thought I left high school drama, backstabbing and politics behind me.”
“This is the business world, Ted. If you leave politics and backstabbing behind you--”
“--then your back is going to get some pretty deep holes in it.” They said together. “Yes. I know… I know.”
“I just wish I could have stuck around longer to help you out.”
“I know. But you did the right thing pulling the pin early.”
“If they’d have found out you have early onset alzheimer's they’d have forced you out before you could have made your own choice on who to pass it down to...”
So yeah, I guess that’s where it is really.
Poor little rich boy with a perfect memory, can remember his own parents splitting up.
Poor little rich boy with a perfect memory had to take over his father’s business early.
Poor little rich boy with a perfect memory is going to have to watch as his father’s mind turns to mush and live in and recall every single moment of it.
Oh. And Alzheimer’s is hereditary, and autosomally dominant.
So that’s pretty much where the morbid ends. You won’t read another word about it from me.
Because here’s where the fun starts...
So remember it.
P O S T C A T A L O G:
1. “I mean, even if we don’t have a product here, we could send that in and get $500 off of America’s Funniest Home Videos…”
2. He grabbed his sky wire and looked down the hatch at the lights of the city and rooftops far below. “Well, if I screw this next bit up, at least I won’t have to worry about what I’m going to do for long…”
3. “Whoa! No-no-no-no-no-no… Don’t want to do-- wait… do I?” Ted thought for a beat. “No. Lucrative as that side of robotics may well be… let’s leave that to more… driven men. Shower, delete preference profile ‘looking for a good time’.”
4. “See!” He pointed at her. “Still the boss! Respect commanded!” The elevator door opened. He walked in and turned around. “Now please call ahead so that I can see the Research and Development engineers in my Research and Development company...” He called back to Angela as the elevator doors closed.
5. “I just realized this is the most I’ve been able to speak to a fellow scientist’s wife or girlfriend at one of these events without either her eyes completely glazing over, or outright running away and going to talk with Tony Stark instead…”
6. “Yeah, you know how it is, Hank. All these kids out there these days… All hopped out of their gourds on... Fizz.”
7. “I’m not going to kill him, Jeremiah.” He mumbled whilst deep in facepalm. “I might shave him bald and feed him each of his $5,000 suits, and the expensive Italian loafers he purchased with his undeserved senior executive salary, garnishing it generously with his own hair… but I’m not going to kill him.”
7b. Back-end of Blue Beetle/Spider-Man crossover courtesy of @DocTachyon
8. Tora nodded, and straightened up, hands on her hips. “I should get out of here. Make sure we get your B.B. Suit clear from when the police get here and do their sweep. Did I say that right?”
“No, it doesn’t work like that. B.B. gun is a play on words. You know ‘Pew! Pew!’ like the kid’s toy?” Ted said, making finger-guns.
9. “How do you even put a thing like that on? I mean it looks like it’d hurt your neck anyway, but... Oh he’s wearing gloves! Well that makes sense. You wouldn't put a helmet like that on without gloves…”
10. “That’d be right. You drive around in a hotrod like this, all of a sudden you’ve got every two-bit wallcrawler out to make a buck stepping off the curb in front of you to drop a lawsuit.”
10b. Crisis/Event Spider-man/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of @DocTachyon
10c. Crisis/Event Spider-Man/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of DocTachyon
10d. Crisis/Event Spider-Man/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of DocTachyon
10e. Crisis/Event
10f. Crisis/Event Culmination - Captain America/Wonder Woman/Arsenal/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of @Lord Wraith, @Webboysurf and [@Star Lord]
Epilogue. “Just-- please don’t destroy the universe. It has all of my stuff in it and I just got it how I like it.” Ted facepalmed.
Season Two:
1. First Post - The Embassy Opens and Ted's Hero
2. Post Two - Pool Antics and What's Hank Been Up To?
3. Post Three - Exit: The Scarab And Janet Van Dyne: New Sensation
4. Post Four - Enter: Scott Lang
5. Post Five - The Palmer MediTech Heist
6. Post Six - Tora
7, Post Seven - DaCosta Family Values
8. Post Eight - More Dan Garrett/Veronica Sinclair/Intro Terry Sloane and "A New Marketing Campaign?"
2. He grabbed his sky wire and looked down the hatch at the lights of the city and rooftops far below. “Well, if I screw this next bit up, at least I won’t have to worry about what I’m going to do for long…”
3. “Whoa! No-no-no-no-no-no… Don’t want to do-- wait… do I?” Ted thought for a beat. “No. Lucrative as that side of robotics may well be… let’s leave that to more… driven men. Shower, delete preference profile ‘looking for a good time’.”
4. “See!” He pointed at her. “Still the boss! Respect commanded!” The elevator door opened. He walked in and turned around. “Now please call ahead so that I can see the Research and Development engineers in my Research and Development company...” He called back to Angela as the elevator doors closed.
5. “I just realized this is the most I’ve been able to speak to a fellow scientist’s wife or girlfriend at one of these events without either her eyes completely glazing over, or outright running away and going to talk with Tony Stark instead…”
6. “Yeah, you know how it is, Hank. All these kids out there these days… All hopped out of their gourds on... Fizz.”
7. “I’m not going to kill him, Jeremiah.” He mumbled whilst deep in facepalm. “I might shave him bald and feed him each of his $5,000 suits, and the expensive Italian loafers he purchased with his undeserved senior executive salary, garnishing it generously with his own hair… but I’m not going to kill him.”
7b. Back-end of Blue Beetle/Spider-Man crossover courtesy of @DocTachyon
8. Tora nodded, and straightened up, hands on her hips. “I should get out of here. Make sure we get your B.B. Suit clear from when the police get here and do their sweep. Did I say that right?”
“No, it doesn’t work like that. B.B. gun is a play on words. You know ‘Pew! Pew!’ like the kid’s toy?” Ted said, making finger-guns.
9. “How do you even put a thing like that on? I mean it looks like it’d hurt your neck anyway, but... Oh he’s wearing gloves! Well that makes sense. You wouldn't put a helmet like that on without gloves…”
10. “That’d be right. You drive around in a hotrod like this, all of a sudden you’ve got every two-bit wallcrawler out to make a buck stepping off the curb in front of you to drop a lawsuit.”
10b. Crisis/Event Spider-man/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of @DocTachyon
10c. Crisis/Event Spider-Man/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of DocTachyon
10d. Crisis/Event Spider-Man/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of DocTachyon
10e. Crisis/Event
10f. Crisis/Event Culmination - Captain America/Wonder Woman/Arsenal/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of @Lord Wraith, @Webboysurf and [@Star Lord]
Epilogue. “Just-- please don’t destroy the universe. It has all of my stuff in it and I just got it how I like it.” Ted facepalmed.
Season Two:
1. First Post - The Embassy Opens and Ted's Hero
2. Post Two - Pool Antics and What's Hank Been Up To?
3. Post Three - Exit: The Scarab And Janet Van Dyne: New Sensation
4. Post Four - Enter: Scott Lang
5. Post Five - The Palmer MediTech Heist
6. Post Six - Tora
7, Post Seven - DaCosta Family Values
8. Post Eight - More Dan Garrett/Veronica Sinclair/Intro Terry Sloane and "A New Marketing Campaign?"
Retired "Hayao Miyazaki"
Member
Seen
0-24 hrs ago
I'll definitely be reading all of the old Blue Beetle catalog this weekend.
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Sep Lord of All Creation
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3 hrs ago
@Master Bruce I was about to ask what about me but then I've got another hour to go.
This is what I like to see.
BACK! BY POPULAR DEMAND!C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A LTHE BLUE BEETLEC H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:T E D K O R D ♦ E N G I N E E R / V I G I L A N T E / H E R O / C . E . O / B L O C K B U S T E R M O V I E M E M B E R
♦ B O S T O N , K . O . R . D E A S T D I V I S I O N / “ T H E E M B A S S Y “ , M A N H A T T A N , N E W Y O R K
♦ K O R D O M N I V E R S A L R E S E A R C H & D E V E L O P M E N T / S U P E R B U D D I E SC H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:“My greatest strength is an unfocused mind. This is because while you are all thinking of one idea, I’m thinking of five different ideas. My greatest weakness however is an unfocused mind. This is because while I’m supposed to be thinking about one thing, I’m actually thinking of five other things.”
Ted Kord is the pre-eminent astronomical engineer on Earth. He's also one of the most brilliant engineers in general. Unfortunately, he has been forced to swap his labcoat with a suit in order to take over the Chief Executive Officer role at the Research and Development company his father built, due to his rapidly declining health.
Gifted with an eidetic memory, more money than sense and that engineering brilliance he was inspired by a growing number of superheroes to try his hand at going down the same path.
After being publicly put in the spotlight, saving numerous lives during a crisis of some kind, Ted Kord chose to ride his wave of popularity to form his own privately funded Superhero team, called "The Superbuddies" which would combine human and metahuman/mutant heroes to show that collaboration across such lines was possible. Headquartering in New York, at a facility he designed called "The Embassy", the Superbuddies have become something of a joke in a Justice League/Avengers world.
Still, that won't stop Ted from throwing his weight around to do good. "Hey! That was another fat joke, wasn't it?" I don't know what you're talking about. "Alright, but I'm watching you."
C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:Ted's foremost motivation is to help. Almost to the point of naivete. He loves the idea, the notion of being a hero, which he got from watching his uncle Dan Garrett's Saturday morning superhero show "The Blue Beetle Power Hour" which has had the greatest influence on his life.
His goals are to make his private superhero group the Super Buddies a success, keep his father's legacy Kord Omniversal Research and Development - of which he is the CEO - growing strong, and maintain his relationships with his friends and loved ones. He's a good, yet brilliant, simple man leading a complicated life.C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:Character and Equipment:
Ted Kord – Good natured and affable, unfocused yet brilliant. Ted Kord possesses an eidetic and photographic memory, the ability to demonstrate great logic and deductive reasoning and a love of film (particularly Bond and Mission: Impossible movies). Ted was a gymnast in high school (and a few pounds lighter, but hey, who’s judging…) which plays a heavy factor in his agility based hand-to-hand fighting style.
The Bug – Originally designed by Ted as a prototype for potential space travel (young Ted set his mind to Mars as NASA first began sending probes and rovers) it has since been repurposed for his foray into superheroics. Mimicking the series Star Trek: Enterprise, Ted found a way to provide shielding by magnetizing the airship’s hull. He also found ways to electrify the outer shell to protect it from unwanted boarders. Capable of withstanding the pressures of the deepest sea trench or space travel, the mostly solar-powered Bug is at the bleeding edge of modern crimefighting vehicular technology and Ted’s pride and joy. It’s also controllable by remote, capable of flying or hovering on auto-pilot without Ted needing to be at the helm.
The BB gun – Ted’s primary defensive weapon, the BB gun is capable of emitting either a blinding flash of light, a strong compressed air blast, or a single five second deafening sonic screech. The BB gun is also powered by solar charged battery cells that Ted keeps on his person.
Ted also has access to a ridiculous array of self-invented gadgetry and gimmicks, although most are limited in use and would require the foresight and planning to bring them to utilize.The Superbuddies
This will be expanded upon after my first arc with available characters - I don't want to take too many off the board without giving people a chance to apply for them.
Maxwell Lord – A former CEO for a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, Maxwell Lord acts as a figurehead organizational leader planted by Ted Kord as a front for explaining where the money has come from in return for a share of the revenue streams. Unscrupulous and money-grubbing by nature, he can be quite a stringent taskmaster in keeping the team on mission to preserve their brand as heroes which makes up his mealticket.BOOSTER FRIGGIN' GOLD!
– A schmuck from the 25th Century. Also happens to be Ted’s best friend, if only because he knows him personally in both his chosen identities. When he was younger he was sent back in time to ruin Ted’s life and send him on a trajectory that would teach him humility under the pseudonym “Carter Johns” by a person who’s identity has thus far not been revealed… Neither he nor Ted knew this purpose at the time. He merely thought he’d met a new best friend.
The two became reunited in Year Three of this game’s continuity, after he grew bored with his dead-end job as a security guard at the Metropolis Space Museum, stole a bunch of superhero artefacts and decided to try and make something of his life in a simpler time. He’s barely held in check by the supervision of Skeets – the security/automated tour guide of the museum that took the trip with him.
He brings chaos to Ted’s life, but also friendship. But also chaos. Even for Ted’s already fairly chaotic lifestyle. He brings chaos.
Ice – Tora Olafsdotter was formerly a security officer for a branch of S.H.I.E.L.D known as the Global Guardians, who dealt with providing security for foreign dignitaries and private citizens of international importance. She was fired from this S.H.I.E.L.D branch before the advent of the Avengers, which may have put her skills to other use. She also happens to be Ted’s girlfriend. And a metahuman. Which is not why he dated her. I mean, not that that would be an issue for him not to either. Because he is not a bigot. She is cute, looks amazing in a cocktail dress, and can tolerate Ted’s more irritating quirks which previously subjected him to the single life (which may be a metahuman power in and of itself…). Ted has zero complaints.
Fire – Beatriz Da Costa was Tora’s best friend and almost like a bigger sister for her when the two worked previously for the Global Guardians. She barely tolerates Ted and trusts that this whole thing will soon end once Tora comes to her senses, sees him for the geeky dork he is and dumps him for someone better suited to her. She is extremely open and comfortable with her own body and sensuality, which makes Ted wrap a towel around himself anytime the team uses the on-site pool. She is extremely protective of Tora. She secretly enjoys the excitement of the Superhero lifestyle, but would never admit as much to Ted.Chief Executive Officer - Ted Kord
Chief Operations Officer - Jeremiah Duncan
Chief Financial Officer - Veronica Sinclair
Chief Marketing Officer - Randall Truman
President of K.O.R.D East Division (based in Boston) - Melody Case
President of K.O.R.D Central Division (based in Chicago) - Curt Calhoun
President of K.O.R.D West Division (based in Pasadena) - Conrad Carapax
Secretary to the CEO - Angela Revere
Head of Cybernetics/Electronics/Online Security - Murray TakamotoS A M P L E P O S T:
Let’s get the morbid stuff out of the way first. All things being equal I’d rather not drag you through that at all - it’s not really my way - but if I didn’t mention it you’d probably blow it up to be a whole thing that’s bigger than it is. Claim I’m living in denial. Escapism or whatever. In this case it really is nothing but a river in Egypt.
I don’t really forget things. I mean, ever. I can still remember my mother and I haven’t seen her since my parents split when I was 3. And I mean REMEMBER her. Down to the fine lines and slight wrinkles of the face. The slight signs of crows feet that by now would surely be fully formed from a few decades time now passed. If you gave me a lump of clay, given enough time I could come up with a pretty good facsimile - soldering and working with nanotech gives you pretty steady hands - because it’s burnt in there. Saved to disk.
So yeah, “Wah, poor little rich boy barely got to know his mother”, that’s where I’m going to start with this. I mean, it’s not the sum total of the morbid stuff that I’m talking about, but I guess it informs on a fair bit of what I do, I guess. Or something.
And don’t worry, this isn’t that kind of story where we pan back out and I’m lying on a psychiatrist’s lounge saying all of this. Even if it feels like that right now. I just believe in laying it all out there up front, so then we don’t need to dwell on it anymore. We can get on with life. Life which is fun, crazy, beautiful, exciting and full of surprises.
I’m not normally this depressing either, trust me…
Actually, you know what? Let’s roll with some life first, and then come back to this. I already feel weird, and like I’m laying all my problems on you too thick as it is.K . O . R . D . E A S T D I V I S I O N - C O N F E R E N C E R O O M 1
Present Day | Boston, Massachusetts
Fluorescent lights flicker on. Feminine hands lay out two boxes of donuts on the conference room table. She leaves and returns with a caterers platter of sandwiches.
Angela Revere. Secretary to the CEO. Receptionist. Employed by K.O.R.D for over a decade. Owner of two cats. Scourge of the unsolicited caller.
A man walks in wearing a tidy, conservative suit and a thin tie. He fingers a few of the donuts before making his selection and taking his seat at the table.
Abner Jenkins. Chief Financial Officer. Former mechanical and aeronautical engineer. Worked for 30 years in the industry, including previous employers Boeing and Ferris Air. Owns no cats. Has a plastic surgeon on speed dial to repair his face in case he ever smiles.
A man and a woman wander in together, but not together. Not for the man’s lack of trying. The man wears a suit that costs more than Abner Jenkins car, and his well coiffed hair takes longer in daily maintenance than Angela Revere spends on the Weekly Notices emails to the whole company. The woman is wearing neat business attire, is listening politely, but is holding a folder against her chest displaying very “closed off” body language. Both help themselves to first pick of the sandwich platter.
Randall Truman. Chief Marketing Officer. Employment History - Impressive, yet varied. Has never stayed at one workplace for more than 3 years. Wouldn’t be surprised if cats have mysteriously gone missing from his area. Has a plastic surgeon on speed dial for emotional support.
Melody Case. President of K.O.R.D East Division. Only ever worked at K.O.R.D. M.I.T graduate, attended Yale business school post grad to prepare for transition into executive positions. Doesn’t mind cats, but doesn’t have the time for them right now. Just as she has no need for a plastic surgeon.
A man in his early-to-mid twenties wanders in like he owns the place - In his defence, his name’s on the building. He spends some time considering the sandwich platter, before selecting a meatball sub with cheese and grabbing a donut for when he’s done. He sits himself at the head of the table as is expected of him, even though he’d be perfectly happy sitting on the side like everyone else.
Ted Kord. Chief Executive Officer. Only ever worked at K.O.R.D… except for a paper route his father made him take when he was a boy. Did not attend M.I.T. Between cats at the moment. Once got told he could “do with a tummy tuck”, but we don’t mention that.
Angela fiddles with the remote and the conference call equipment to make sure that both are working, and as the monitor warms up, two more executives are shown in split screen sitting at two tables elsewhere.
Curt Calhoun. President of K.O.R.D Central Division. Previously worked at Wayne Enterprises, poached by K.O.R.D as Wayne Enterprises were in the midst of a hostile takeover. Don’t ask him about cats. In fact, don’t ask him anything about life outside of business.
Conrad Carapax. President of K.O.R.D West Division. Previously held executive positions at 4 different Fortune 500 businesses. His wife owns a cat - it doesn’t care for him much, even though he’s often left feeding it and cleaning and replacing its litter tray. Highly regarded, but sometimes feels he’s slumming it at K.O.R.D even though his current title is the highest he’s held.
Finally, the last member of the board meeting comes scurrying in. An elderly man with his hands full of paper, as well as juggling a briefcase. Randall Truman makes an unkind joke, that gets neither laughs nor attention from its target. Ted takes the briefcase from him and helps him find his seat. Once he sits down in the empty seat next to Ted, he quickly sorts the paper and puts two thirds in his briefcase, and gets ready for the meeting. Finally getting back to his feet and grabbing whatever sandwich was closest as an afterthought.
Jeremiah Duncan. Chief Operations Officer. Only ever worked at K.O.R.D. One of founder Thomas Kord’s oldest friends. Has a cat, which his wife mostly attends to, knowing he’s generally too busy working late hours. Most plastic surgeons would shrug and consider him too far gone - neither he nor his wife are bothered though.
“So… we’re all here.” Ted started the meeting off. “Does Angela have to read the previous meeting’s minutes out, or did everyone read the email?”
Nobody said anything, but eyes fell on Jeremiah Duncan. Uncomfortable silence, until he realized people expected a response from him, even though the question was addressed to the room.
“No, no, no. I’m fine. Besides, this is the flagship product meeting. I think we should get to the point at hand, since it’s so important.” The old man replied.
“Fair point. Anyone want to lead us off?”
Abner Jenkins leaned forward and made his pitch, grabbing a second donut and using it as a confusing prop, waving it around with his hand gestures as sprinkles flew.
“Well, I think the common sense idea is the B.E.E.T.L.E suit. With Tony Stark introducing the world to the Iron Man armour and then promptly declaring it “Not For Sale” he’s created a unique opportunity with a vacuum of demand for a product that isn’t being sold…”
“We would have to re-purpose the suit. I mean, it’s not exactly designed for that kind of use.” Ted interrupted, considering Abner’s proposition.
“That’s true. But with a prototype that already exists, we’re well ahead of the curve on most…”
“And the B.E.E.T.L.E also doesn’t use repulsor tech…”
“That’s not really the important thing is it, though? We have a solid product that with some minor adjustments or additions would be highly desirable in the Defense force industry after what Stark showed them, and entitle us to those highly lucrative--”
“Whoa, whoa… Wait. Defense? You want to repurpose the B.E.E.T.L.E into a weapon? I’m surprised to hear you say that. I mean, that thing was your baby, Abner.”
“Well, Stark just showed us it pretty much is, Ted.”
“I thought the ‘E’ stood for ‘Exploratory’, Abe. Well, one of them anyway, not the other two. 'Breathable Exploratory Extreme Terrain Livable Exoskeleton'. I mean, that’s going to be the thing we’re going to have people wearing when we get the first people on Mars!”
“Jeremiah, finances aside, best case scenario, how far off are we from actually getting to Mars?
The old man started shuffling through his papers. “Umm-- well, that could be hard to say… we don’t know exactly what kind of--”
“Jeremiah.” The CFO pressed firmly.
The old man looked defeated and shot Ted an apologetic look. “We could maybe get a 2025 launch date. Maybe.”
“2025 is the earliest launch date. And I take it that’s only considering the business logistics on our end and not considering the fact that Mars only comes around to being at its closest in relation to the Earth every two years. And THEN it takes about a year to get there once WE DO launch.” Sprinkles flew, he was in full swing now.
“This is the flagship product meeting, Ted. We have to MAKE IT past 2025 as a business or else that becomes a moot point. Now we have something that is easily fabricated,” Abner started counting off, finger to donut, “would only need minor adjustments,” he held two fingers to the almighty donut, “AND people would ACTUALLY WANT, and you’re getting hung up on a moral issue that could keep our company from ever getting there at all.”
Ted sat at the table, hand to the side of his face in contemplation.
“We’ll table it for now and keep spitballing ideas. How about the solar panels?”
Using angular solar cells, a revolutionary new K.O.R.D patented silicon-doping system, and a far more efficient DC/AC inverter, Kord Omniversal had come up with solar panels that pushed the technology right to the edge of the Shockley-Queisser theoretical efficiency limit.
He'd come up with some pretty good solar panels, in other words.
Abner shuffled papers of his own and replied with the costs of production.
“They’re bleeding edge technology, Ted. But they’re still too expensive to mass-produce.”
“Yeah, but, maybe if--”
Jeremiah cut him off. “No, he’s right Ted. If you’re going to come at the energy industry, you need to have either something game-changingly revolutionary like arc reactor tech or cold fusion, or you need to be able to competitively price. it’s a cutthroat world to get into. I mean Roxxon alone, would--”
“Ok, ok. Solar panels are no good. Well, how about KORDEX? I mean we’re using it for this very meeting right now? You guys are hearing us fine, right Curt? Conrad?”
“Mr Kord. We’re hearing you fine!” “Thrilled to be here, Mr Kord.” The pair of telecommunicating executives replied.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Abner Jenkins muttered.
Ted looked at the grizzled old financial officer quizzically, before Randall Truman explained.
“He’s right to be derisive, Ted. The L-Pad is the dominant device across most of the world, and it’s L-isten, L-ook and L-ink software is the unparalleled frontrunner in online telecommunications. KORDEX is pretty much nothing but an in-house communications gimmick, with all due respect.” Truman explained, whilst giving no due respect whatsoever.
“Yeah, but it’s fully encrypted. I mean it’s technically superior software.”
“The man on the street doesn’t care.”
“What? How? How can they not care?”
“The man on the street would rather use Triple-L because everyone uses LLL. All of their friends use LLL. Everyone knows and understands the simple functionality of LLL. And it’s cool. They’re the market-leader by such a vast margin the runway is just incomparable. It’d be like trying to take on Coke with your grandmother’s cola recipe.”
Ted noticed there was no hesitation to suggest air quotes when calling LexCorp’s product ‘cool’, and immediately suspected his own CMO had a preference for product that was not even theirs.
“So Lex Luthor could be listening to every conversation ever and people would still rather it because it’s cool… What a world.”
“I’m pretty sure that a man as brilliant and successful as Lex Luthor would have better things to do than listen into people’s private conversations.” Randall Truman said, shaking his head and chuckling at the absurdity of the CEO’s assertion.
“Well, what else is there..?” Ted mused to himself.
“There’s the B.E.E.T.L.E…” Abner repeated, grumbling.
“Ted…” Melody began. “There’s alway the anti-car theft device.”
“Of course!” Exclaimed the CEO, as he scrambled to the laptop that Angela was taking notes on, ushered her away and began searching for relevant files.
“The Carjack Off Anti-theft and Immobilization device!”
“It needs a new name…” Randall uttered.
“That’s not important.” Ted refuted.
“It is if it’s ‘Carjack Off’...” Randall replied. “No way I could move something called that.”
“The testing phase worked great! In fact some of these test videos would work for the advertisement themselves…” Ted clicked on a video, and the monitor split screen to three panels with the two executives feeds moving to one side to play the test video unobscured.
In a concrete and steel parking garage an elderly woman is walking alone. A ‘carjacker’ armed with a rubber blade attempts to mug the old lady, who hits a button on her keys. The man is immediately blinded with an extremely bright flash of light from the key ring. The man clutches his face, and turns away from the light. Blinded, he starts to swing the rubber blade around in front of him, resorting to dumb luck in his hopes of striking the elderly lady. With a press of another two buttons a concussive sonar blast launches the man off his feet a good dozen or so feet, where he’s knocked out cold and lying on the cement. The elderly lady walked up to the fallen carjacker and whacked him with her purse, before walking back to her car. Dropping the keys before she got there, she had time to gingerly bend over and pick them back up, before opening the car door, adjusting her hair in the mirrors and slowly driving away.
“I mean, even if we don’t have a product here, we could send that in and get $500 off of America’s Funniest Home Videos…”
Another test video played. This time the ‘carjacker’ had a gun. The elderly woman pressed a button on her keys and handed them over. The carjacker ran over to her car, got behind the seat, and as he went to turn the engine over a set of secondary airbags in the car deployed, first knocking him out and secondly trapping him in a position from which he couldn’t escape. The hazard lights on the car flashed, an alarm went off and periodically a voice spoke over the top of the alarm warning people to stay clear, that a robbery had taken place, that the authorities had been called and to remain calm and clear of the scene until police resolved the matter.
“Jeremiah?” Ted asked his old COO, almost pleading that he have another viable option besides pumping out armoured suits for the military.
“It’s a good product. Compatible enough that we could make it work with most new model cars…”
Randall interjected. “And I do have an existing relationship with quite a few automakers. If I pull some strings I might be able to deal directly with dealerships.”
All in assembly turned to look at Abner Jenkins. Sensing the moment he took the opportunity to grab another donut.
“It’s not sustainable.”
“It is sustainable, Abner.” The COO dissented. “And you know it.”
“Not as a business plan. Yes, the… anti-theft device is a sustainable product for this year, but that’s just it. This year. If we roll out the B.E.E.T.L.E that could secure us for years to come. In fact with new versions, updates and upgrades it could even potentially carry us until we achieve our CEO’s Mars goal if Stark stays out of the Armour war.”
“We’re a Research and Development company, Abner. It says it right in the name. We’ll come up with another idea next year, or we shouldn't be calling ourselves that in the first place.”
“You’re crippling this company’s financial future for your own hyperactive morals, Ted. It’s a vacuum. It will be filled by someone. Might as well be us hauling that money away.”
“Not just my morals, Abe. A man who’s a second generation weapons manufacturer looked down the barrel of the camera and told the world ‘No. You’re not getting this.’ and decided to pivot away from that line of business altogether in the process. The least I can do is consider that and say ‘Me neither.’ when I have other alternatives.”
Ted got to his feet and started to stack his things to leave.
“Angela, can you make sure this food gets taken down to the engineers after the meeting?”
Ted took a beat for one more thought before he returned to close down the discussion with his CFO.
“And I don’t generally like to throw it in people’s faces, Abe. But as for my hyperactive morals, there’s another word in the company’s name besides ‘Research’ and ‘Development’. And I'm not talking about 'Omniversal'. If I’ve got to stick my name to something, I’m damn sure going to make sure it’s something I can believe in.”T H E R E S I D E N C E O F T H O M A S K O R D
2 hours later | Elsewhere within Boston, Massachusetts
Ted stood on his father’s doorstep, with a brown paper bag in hand, his tie and suit jacket were now gone and his top button was undone with his sleeves rolled up.
A man who was pushing 50 opened the door and stared blankly at his son.
“Hello? Who is it?”
Ted stood there uncomfortably long, and then furrowed his brow in concern. Just before the dam burst and the edges of his father’s mouth curled into a smile. He couldn’t keep it in anymore and cracked up laughing.
“You know, that isn’t funny.” Ted said, as he walked in the house, closing the door behind him.
Wiping a single tear from his eye, the older man replied, “Then why do I laugh every time I do it?”
“Yeah, right up until the first time you don’t.”
“Yep. But by then I won’t know any better anyway.”
“No, I’ll be the one tearing up, and it won’t be because of laughter. Thanks Pop…”
“Way to kill the laughter and bring down the mood, Buzzkill.”
“Yep, that’s me alright.”
An uncomfortable silence passed between the two.
“So what’d you bring me?” Thomas pointed down to the paper bag.
Ted held up the paper bag “Two corned beef 6 inches and a peanut butter filled donut.”
“Oh, My boy! You remembered!”
“Remembered nothing… the engineers won’t touch the corned beef. You’re eating scraps.” Ted smirked.
“Let me guess? Quarterly financial meeting?”
Ted looked to see if he was joking this time. But picked up no sign, and his concern came creeping back.
“No. Annual flagship product meeting.”
“Oh right, right…” Thomas said. “That time of year again.”
Another uncomfortable silence.
“Are you serious?”
“Look, don’t look at me like that. I’m retired now. I don’t need to know what the date is every day, alright? I don’t have anywhere I need to be, I don’t have a calendar to keep track of every day. So drop it.”
“Alright, alright…” Ted said, but the concern wasn’t going anywhere.
“So how’d it go?”
“We’re going with an anti-car theft system I started on a few years back, and palmed off on the engineering pool when I had to start the monkey suit route.”
“Really? Just a car alarm?”
“It’s a bit more than just that.” Ted walked over to his father’s fridge and pulled a can of Soder out. “Dad, Abner Jenkins was trying to get me to militarize his B.E.E.T.L.E armour into generic Iron Man spin-offs.”
“Wow. That’s sad. Poor guy must really be losing hope.”
“Yeah, he went on this whole tirade about it being improbable we’d make it to 2025.”
“Well, where finances are concerned you should listen to him. It’s why I put him there for you. But I’m telling you right now, you’re going to need to watch him like a hawk.”
“Why’s that?”
“Nothing’s more scary than a man who feels his legacy is being threatened. If he’s saying that, he’s having doubts he’s ever going to see anything become of his B.E.E.T.L.E suit, and I have to tell you… that thing is a design work of art.”
“Well, I’m trying. Sometimes you’ve just got to live with finding a way to get on base until that fat, juicy one comes sliding across the inside of the plate for you to put into the bleachers.”
“So that’s all you had? Car alarm and Killer B.E.E.T.L.E?”
Ted took another deep swig before answering. “Had some other quality products, but nothing without marketing or manufacture difficulties to roll out as a flagship.”
“Let me ask you something… When Abner went on his tirade, how did Pasadena and Chicago respond? Calhoun and Carapax?”
“They didn’t say anything. Why?”
“Ehhh… maybe nothing. But you said ‘tirade’. Abner’s normally pretty steady. I don’t know Calhoun too well personally, he came recommended and I picked him up late during the whole Wayne Enterprises/Sionis takeover. And Carapax. Conrad has some ambition to him.”
“You left me a board filled with ambitious, power-hungry executives? Wow. Thanks Pops.” Ted sarcastically fired back.
“Ted, if I could have left you a company filled with Jeremiah Duncans I would have… unfortunately, in all my travels I’ve only ever found one. Be glad you’ve got him. As for Calhoun and Carapax. I’m just saying, Calhoun I don’t know at all, but I KNOW Carapax. Power-hungry or not, he IS good at his job. I only left him in charge of his own little corner of the world, and he’s good at that. Just don’t let him in a position where he can bite you. Because he will, if you give him a chance. And he’s crafty enough to wait for it. So if Abner was really bothered, I’d expect the two to be having some kind of discussion, if they hadn’t already before that meeting.”
“Ugh… I thought I left high school drama, backstabbing and politics behind me.”
“This is the business world, Ted. If you leave politics and backstabbing behind you--”
“--then your back is going to get some pretty deep holes in it.” They said together. “Yes. I know… I know.”
“I just wish I could have stuck around longer to help you out.”
“I know. But you did the right thing pulling the pin early.”
“If they’d have found out you have early onset alzheimer's they’d have forced you out before you could have made your own choice on who to pass it down to...”
So yeah, I guess that’s where it is really.
Poor little rich boy with a perfect memory, can remember his own parents splitting up.
Poor little rich boy with a perfect memory had to take over his father’s business early.
Poor little rich boy with a perfect memory is going to have to watch as his father’s mind turns to mush and live in and recall every single moment of it.
Oh. And Alzheimer’s is hereditary, and autosomally dominant.
So that’s pretty much where the morbid ends. You won’t read another word about it from me.
Because here’s where the fun starts...
So remember it.P O S T C A T A L O G:1. “I mean, even if we don’t have a product here, we could send that in and get $500 off of America’s Funniest Home Videos…”
2. He grabbed his sky wire and looked down the hatch at the lights of the city and rooftops far below. “Well, if I screw this next bit up, at least I won’t have to worry about what I’m going to do for long…”
3. “Whoa! No-no-no-no-no-no… Don’t want to do-- wait… do I?” Ted thought for a beat. “No. Lucrative as that side of robotics may well be… let’s leave that to more… driven men. Shower, delete preference profile ‘looking for a good time’.”
4. “See!” He pointed at her. “Still the boss! Respect commanded!” The elevator door opened. He walked in and turned around. “Now please call ahead so that I can see the Research and Development engineers in my Research and Development company...” He called back to Angela as the elevator doors closed.
5. “I just realized this is the most I’ve been able to speak to a fellow scientist’s wife or girlfriend at one of these events without either her eyes completely glazing over, or outright running away and going to talk with Tony Stark instead…”
6. “Yeah, you know how it is, Hank. All these kids out there these days… All hopped out of their gourds on... Fizz.”
7. “I’m not going to kill him, Jeremiah.” He mumbled whilst deep in facepalm. “I might shave him bald and feed him each of his $5,000 suits, and the expensive Italian loafers he purchased with his undeserved senior executive salary, garnishing it generously with his own hair… but I’m not going to kill him.”
7b. Back-end of Blue Beetle/Spider-Man crossover courtesy of @DocTachyon
8. Tora nodded, and straightened up, hands on her hips. “I should get out of here. Make sure we get your B.B. Suit clear from when the police get here and do their sweep. Did I say that right?”
“No, it doesn’t work like that. B.B. gun is a play on words. You know ‘Pew! Pew!’ like the kid’s toy?” Ted said, making finger-guns.
9. “How do you even put a thing like that on? I mean it looks like it’d hurt your neck anyway, but... Oh he’s wearing gloves! Well that makes sense. You wouldn't put a helmet like that on without gloves…”
10. “That’d be right. You drive around in a hotrod like this, all of a sudden you’ve got every two-bit wallcrawler out to make a buck stepping off the curb in front of you to drop a lawsuit.”
10b. Crisis/Event Spider-man/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of @DocTachyon
10c. Crisis/Event Spider-Man/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of DocTachyon
10d. Crisis/Event Spider-Man/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of DocTachyon
10e. Crisis/Event
10f. Crisis/Event Culmination - Captain America/Wonder Woman/Arsenal/Blue Beetle team-up courtesy of @Lord Wraith, @Webboysurf and [@Star Lord]
Epilogue. “Just-- please don’t destroy the universe. It has all of my stuff in it and I just got it how I like it.” Ted facepalmed.
Season Two:
1. First Post - The Embassy Opens and Ted's Hero
2. Post Two - Pool Antics and What's Hank Been Up To?
3. Post Three - Exit: The Scarab And Janet Van Dyne: New Sensation
4. Post Four - Enter: Scott Lang
5. Post Five - The Palmer MediTech Heist
6. Post Six - Tora
7, Post Seven - DaCosta Family Values
8. Post Eight - More Dan Garrett/Veronica Sinclair/Intro Terry Sloane and "A New Marketing Campaign?"
This is what I like to see.
1x Like
Retired "Hayao Miyazaki"
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0-24 hrs ago
I just wish he had edited out "Les Wein" at the bottom with his username, instead.
Zoey Boey Spider!
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5 hrs ago
Okay, here she is. Let me know what you think!
Year One
There was a crash of glass and splitering wood. The criminal, in his ruined one thousand dollar suit, fell hard onto the concrete streets he exploited for his own personal gain. A knife clattered out of his hand and skittered against the red brick wall. In the orange light that shone through the broken window and into the midnight alley, a vaguely feminine shadow appeared. He looked fearfully up at the woman before a burst of electricity struck him in the chest and he fell unconsious with a thump.
The woman sighed, catching her breathe, stepping out into the cold air. She was wearing a mostly black bodysuit, with red highlights, enforced with thin but extremely durable and damage absorbing material. A utility belt contained various tools, and two handguns, and one baton. The other baton was in her left hand, and she had just finished firing a stunning round from a mechanical gauntlet device on her right hand. Over her face was a balaclava that hid everything except for her steely, large hazel eyes that were done up with faded make up. That, and a loose strand of red hair.
"SHIELD, this is Black Widow. Eight suspects have been neutralized. No casualties." She reported calmly as she put away her weapons and fiddled with her weapon, the Widows bite. Black Widow had a slight russian accent. She could easily obscure it, and for a majority of her time in America, she did. But now that she was on the Avengers and social camoflauge wasn't so required, she felt comfortable with the harsh edges of a Moscow tongue.
"Roger that, Black Widow, clean up crew in enroute. ETA five minutes." A male voice reported in over her ear piece.
"Sounds good. I feel great. These guys are pretty small fry, though are we sure-" Widow interrupted herself, having noticed something creeping behind a dumpster. She made eye contact with the shadow, and it stood up. Widow prepared her Bite, just in case.
"Are you BLack Widow?" A mousy little girl with ratty clothes asked, peering from behind the dumpster.
"Black Widow? Are you all clear?" The other SHIELD agent asked over communications, having noticed Black Widow cut herself off.
"Uh, yeah, just gimme a minute." Black Widow said, turning off her comms with a tap of an index finger against her ear.
"You are!? Wow!" The girl replied, having assumed Black Widow was talking to her. She trotted up excitedly, looking up at the shadowy agent. "You're my favorite avenger!"
"Oh?" Black Widow asked flatly, standing with her arms hanging awkwardly at her sides.
"Yeah, cause you're a girl, and I am too!" She said, smiling and nodding enthusiastically.
"I, uh...okay." She replied uneasily, looking down at the unconscious man. "That is great, but I am kind of in the middle of something here-"
"When I grow up, I wanna kill bad guys, just like you! Is that a bad guy!?" She pointed at the man. "Did you kill him!? So cool!" She punched the air triumphantly. Inwardly, Black Widow's mind was going into overdrive and her heart was melting.
Okay, okay. Um...what would Steve do? Natasha thought to herself, knowing that she should probably do something...heroic. What would a hero say? She was a hero, right? Something had to be done about this little girl and her misconceptions.
Natasha leaned down, hesitated, and then crouching down instead into a squat. She reached out to pat the girls shoulder but then stopped, letting her hand fall onto her own knee."Hey, uh, listen here...little one. My job is not to kill bad guys. My job is too...save good guys. There's a difference." She concluded to the best of her ability. She smiled, but the little girl could only see it in her eyes.
The homeless child seemed to ponder this for a moment. "Are...are you Russian?"
Natasha blinked. "Uh...only when I want to be." She replied with a shrug. The little girl seemed to think that was immensely impressive, which made Natasha feel something that was hard to describe.
"Well, okay. When I grow up, I want to be from Russia and save good guys. Just like you!" The little girl concluded triumphantly, pointing at Black Widow.
"Okay, good," Black Widow replied, her voice breaking a little bit. "And uh...no, this bad guy is still alive. I captured him. Maybe one day he could be a good guy again." She gestured with her masked head towards the man.
The kid seemed puzzled. "Bad guys can be good guys?" Natasha considered this a moment, staring at the ground. When she made eye contact, there was more resolve there. "Yes. Yes, I believe so. I...I was once a bad guy, myself."
The child gasped. "Really?"
"Da." Black Widow nodded solemnly. "But with some help, I am no longer such a bad guy." Natasha explained summing up her life story in a short sentence.
"Yeah! Now you're a hero!" The child agreed with a big smile. "I didn't know that. Do you think there will be no more bad guys? One day?" She asked.
Black Widow wasn't so sure. But she found it hard to say no. "Yeah. One day." She responded. The child wrapped her arms around the Widow's shoulders and squeezed her as tight as she could, which wasn't very tight. "I love you!"
"Wh-wha-" Black Widow froze up. "Okay- no you don't. But that is very, uh, nice of you to say. But you- I am- hey, don't-" She gently pushed the child off of her. She was glad she was wearing a mask because her face was as red as the emblem on her torso.
"What- what is your name?" She asked.
"Christina!" She replied.
"Do you- have somewhere to stay? You are street child, yes?" Natasha asked simply, glancing down at her torn up shoes. Christina nodded.
"Okay. That is okay. I know a place for kids like you to stay. Would you like to sleep in a bed and have a sandwich?" Natasha asked, a little too wordily. "For, uh, for free." She added.
"Yeah, sure! My mommy didn't want me anymore." She said plainly, causing the agent to wince. She chuckled slightly before stopping herself, her face turning even more red. "I'm sorry. That is not funny. I just...I didn't expect you to say that and...that is not funny. I am sorry that happened to you. You're safe now." She cleared her throat, feeling terrible. Stupid, Natasha, stupid!
Fortunately, Christina didn't seem offended. She just stood there with a little smile on her face. Was she in shock? Or maybe she was just tough. Just a tough kid who's had a tough life.
---
The last of the criminals was loaded into the back of a police van, the powered individual among them being carried away in a super secure SHIELD carrier. Little Christina was by Widow's side as they watched the bad guys be carried away.
"Okay. All right. Here, one of these nice police men will take you to the place. I will-" Natasha began.
"Could you take me?" Christina asked, looking up at Widow with big eyes.
Natasha tensed up again. "...Are you sure?" She asked quietly. Christina nodded. "Mhm."
A few minutes later, Natasha had secured the closet thing she had to a Black Widow mobile. A subtly powerful black sports car that smelled nice and was extremely comfortable. Christina was in the backseat.
"Seatbelts." Natasha reminded her as she buckled herself in. Christina nodded, sagely, and did the same. Realising they were alone, Black Widow wondered what she should do. Adjusting the rearview mirror, she pulled the balaclava off her face. Her red hair, tied into a tight bun with red hair that stuck up in every which way. That recieved another gasp.
"Wow! You're pretty!" Christina exclaimed.
"Tch," Natasha replied with a small smile, starting up the car. The electric engine silently rumbled to life. "Thanks, I guess." She replied. Natasha contemplated the child. She did not know much about child pyschology, but this girl probably needed a therapist. Hopefully she would get the help she needed. Natasha sure as hell couldn't give it to her- Christina was a force of nature.
They drove along. Street lights came and went, painting the car with soft light. Christina began to tell Natasha her entire life story. To say the least, it wasn't good. Black Widow just listened, feeling sorry for her. Sorry for Christina's rough lot in life. It wasn't an uncommon story, but Natasha had never taken a front seat to a kid like this before. She was tough, though. But it was clear she needed someone she could rely on.
They pulled infront of the shelter. Natasha was gripping the wheel tight. Underneth her gloves, her knuckles were turning white. "All right," Natasha announced, her voice coarse. "This is the place, Christina." She opened the car door and let Christina out. The inside was lit with stark white lighting. Encouraging if generic posters lined the walls and people, homeless and staff both, milled the walls. Black Widow stuck out like a sore thumb, even if she had left all of her weapons in the car she was still dressed to kill. People looked at her with awe, admiration, wonder, suspicion. She tried not to look at any of them, keeping her face down.
"I am here to drop off this homeless child," Black Widow declared seriously to the receptionist. He seemed a little surprised at who he was talking too, but quickly went into professional mode. "Oh, of course." He smiled down at Christina.
"You know her name?" He asked.
"Christi-"
"Christina!" She replied for herself, chirpily.
"Well, Ms. Christina, come right this way. It's dinner time, we're serving turkey and gravy. We'll get you taken care of." Things moved quickly after that. Before she knew it she had signed some paperwork officially catalouging the incident and Christina would be protected and moved to where she needed to be. Maybe her mom would face criminal charges, maybe she wouldn't. Maybe things would work out for her...or maybe they wouldn't.
Christina gave Black Widow one last hug, which the woman returned this time as best as she could, since she was quite unexperienced with the act. It was stilted, Widow's elbows too far out to the side. Christina didn't seem to mind though.
"Bye Black Widow!" She said goodbye for the fifth time, waving as she lead by the hand into another room.
"Goodbye Christina. You can call me Natasha, if you'd like." Natasha said quietly, too quietly for anyone to hear her and stop the farewells yet another time. Black Widow was alone in the sparseley populated room. Some people looking at the back of her red head wondering if it would be appropriate to ask for a selfie or an autograph. It seemed all of them concluded that the young looking agent was not in a good mood for it. They let her drift out of the shelter unpestered.
Natasha Romanoff sat in the front of her car, gliding it into a nearby parking lot that was only lit by a distant, flickering street lamp. She remained there in silence, her eyes staring off into the middle distance. Her eyebrows knit together and her lower lip began to tremble, and for the first time in an exceptionally long time, Natasha began to cry. She quietly mourned for the childhood that Christina and herself had lost; she silently rejoiced that despite that, hope could still find them both.
I'm open for collab with anyone. The only real concret plan I have for her is that I'd like to get her involved in other people's storylines.
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L
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B L A C K W I D O W
NATASHA ROMANOV ♦ SPY ♦ GLOBAL ♦ S.H.I.E.L.D. AND THE AVENGERS
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
"I've been thinking a lot about life and death. When something surrounds and madly engulfs your entire existence, you can't help but give it more than just casual consideration. Life is fluid. Some 90% of what we are is made up of water. Without this precious liquid we are nothing. We cease to exist. We're dead. This water's carried around in thin-skinned sacks. We must all be insane to race recklessly about in world filled with so many sharp and pointed dangers. That's just asking for trouble."
This Black Widow is going to be a mix of MCU and some comics. Her backstory is that she used to be a KGB agent, and was biologically modified to have an extended lifespan. She actually fought through the 60's-80's as a KGB agent. At the end of the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Union she began to seek answers regarding what it meant to be a warrior and came to the conclusion that the Red Room was not just, righteous, and worth fighting for. So she defected, and joined SHIELD where she has been operating ever since. This puts her at about 80 years old, but she still as healthy as she was in her prime because of the Red Room modifications. She was the most successful Soviet attempt at a super soldier like Captain America. So while she is more known for not having super powers, this Black Widow will have some version of enhanced capability like in the comics.
I'm planning on having Black Widow figure herself out in a wholesome kind of way. The darkest part of her life is behind her, she is on the road to recovery and living a fulfilled life. She has already found the place where she belongs, now she is just struggling with questions like if she deserves it at all. Or what to do now, why people are heroes in the first place, what do people really mean too each other? Even if she cannot find definite answers to all the things she is looking for, she will at least come to peace with that and not let it get in the way of her sense of fulfillment.
There are some darker aspects of her character of course. But she is two years into her tenure with the Avengers and many more years into her experience as an Agent of SHIELD. At some point she was a cold, aloof, emotionless killer, but she has moved beyond that into being a reserved, friendly, socially awkward dork of a killer instead.
I'm planning on having Black Widow figure herself out in a wholesome kind of way. The darkest part of her life is behind her, she is on the road to recovery and living a fulfilled life. She has already found the place where she belongs, now she is just struggling with questions like if she deserves it at all. Or what to do now, why people are heroes in the first place, what do people really mean too each other? Even if she cannot find definite answers to all the things she is looking for, she will at least come to peace with that and not let it get in the way of her sense of fulfillment.
There are some darker aspects of her character of course. But she is two years into her tenure with the Avengers and many more years into her experience as an Agent of SHIELD. At some point she was a cold, aloof, emotionless killer, but she has moved beyond that into being a reserved, friendly, socially awkward dork of a killer instead.
C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:
I want to play a lighter, more opened up Black Widow. Something like what I imagine post-Endgame Black Widow would have been had that been explored, but combined with a longer, more clearly defined backstory as a cold-blooded killer. She still has a lot of unresolved guilt and trauma but she has found a close network of friends she trusts, and she loves being an Avenger, which is something she could not say about her KGB work or even her previous SHIELD work. While before she was only doing what she did out of moral obligation and a desire to be useful, now she is doing what she wants to do. Help people, make the world better, and find a way to be happy and sad in peace and among friends.
She is only two years into her work as an Avenger, and she is still fairly new to this whole being genuinely compassionate thing. I like the hypothetical contrast between her being a master manipulator and social engineer with her enemies but being somewhat of a goober around her allies. In her long life she has been many people, but she has never really been herself until recently. So she is still working out all the knots and kinks. Serious and professional is still her default state, but it doesn't take much for her to try and express herself better.
She is only two years into her work as an Avenger, and she is still fairly new to this whole being genuinely compassionate thing. I like the hypothetical contrast between her being a master manipulator and social engineer with her enemies but being somewhat of a goober around her allies. In her long life she has been many people, but she has never really been herself until recently. So she is still working out all the knots and kinks. Serious and professional is still her default state, but it doesn't take much for her to try and express herself better.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
Allies I'd Like
Nick Fury- Black Widow's mentor, though she is older than him and she even joined SHIELD slightly before him, he has been an authoritative and reassuring figure in her time at SHIELD. While of course she follows all of his orders, she also trusts him as a person, not just as her leader.
Hawkeye- Natasha and Clint have always been best friends. I don't see any reason to discontinue this trend here, so I will talk to Hawkeye's player about their relationship. They are kindred spirits, both independant agents who have come together into a team. Ideally they knew each other before the Avengers project, preferably far before.
Captain America- I'd like for Natasha to be friends with Steve Rogers. While she is more suspicious of things like patriotism no doubt she would admire someone like him who is sound in his principles and cares about the lifes of individuals and liberty.
Iron Man and Thor- These characters could be a lot of different people but since they are all on the Avengers project I'd like them to be close friends aswell. Or at least they try to be nice too each other. At this point they have been Avenging things for 5 years so hopefully they have gotten over whatever roadblocks or personality clashes they may have had, at least somewhat.
Bruce Banner- Both of these characters have done lots of things they regret in situations they really had little to no control over, but perhaps feel like they did. I don't plan on having them be romantically involved as of right now but I think they could be close friends aswell, though they probably won't be the cheeriest two when they are together.
All other Agents of SHIELD- Natasha has been at this for a while now, though she was a lot more serious and gloomy in the past as she was still kind of in KGB mode for the last few decades even with SHIELD. So I would like to have at least passing acquaintance with whatever characters end up in SHIELD.
Street level heroes- I would like Natasha to go out on recruitment or scouting missions to meet with more heroes, be they Marvel or DC. People SHIELD has a vested interest in monitoring or getting under their thumb. Kind of like Phil Coulson but for people they don't know the secret identities of. Or maybe there could be some plot line that catches SHIELDS attention. Point is Black Widow has the potential to make cameos in other people's stories which is one of her best aspects. I'm totally down for this. Ask me anytime, I may even come to you but if you would like to have a person to roleplay with Black Widow can be there.
Nick Fury- Black Widow's mentor, though she is older than him and she even joined SHIELD slightly before him, he has been an authoritative and reassuring figure in her time at SHIELD. While of course she follows all of his orders, she also trusts him as a person, not just as her leader.
Hawkeye- Natasha and Clint have always been best friends. I don't see any reason to discontinue this trend here, so I will talk to Hawkeye's player about their relationship. They are kindred spirits, both independant agents who have come together into a team. Ideally they knew each other before the Avengers project, preferably far before.
Captain America- I'd like for Natasha to be friends with Steve Rogers. While she is more suspicious of things like patriotism no doubt she would admire someone like him who is sound in his principles and cares about the lifes of individuals and liberty.
Iron Man and Thor- These characters could be a lot of different people but since they are all on the Avengers project I'd like them to be close friends aswell. Or at least they try to be nice too each other. At this point they have been Avenging things for 5 years so hopefully they have gotten over whatever roadblocks or personality clashes they may have had, at least somewhat.
Bruce Banner- Both of these characters have done lots of things they regret in situations they really had little to no control over, but perhaps feel like they did. I don't plan on having them be romantically involved as of right now but I think they could be close friends aswell, though they probably won't be the cheeriest two when they are together.
All other Agents of SHIELD- Natasha has been at this for a while now, though she was a lot more serious and gloomy in the past as she was still kind of in KGB mode for the last few decades even with SHIELD. So I would like to have at least passing acquaintance with whatever characters end up in SHIELD.
Street level heroes- I would like Natasha to go out on recruitment or scouting missions to meet with more heroes, be they Marvel or DC. People SHIELD has a vested interest in monitoring or getting under their thumb. Kind of like Phil Coulson but for people they don't know the secret identities of. Or maybe there could be some plot line that catches SHIELDS attention. Point is Black Widow has the potential to make cameos in other people's stories which is one of her best aspects. I'm totally down for this. Ask me anytime, I may even come to you but if you would like to have a person to roleplay with Black Widow can be there.
Enemies
The Red Room- The organization named after a place where killers are made. This secretive organization was thought to be destroyed after Black Widow betrayed and lead the hunt against her former trainers, and killed Ivan Petrovitch, her "father figure". The Red Room is now being lead by Madame B, who has co-opted the forgotten sect of the KGB for her own nefarious purposes, once again beginning to train elite female assassins to gain power from the shadows. Potentially allied with another mysterious organization of another player's backstory?
Yelena Belova: Another Black Widow that survived the destruction of the Red Room, thought to have been killed. Natasha knew Yelena as children and they served on some missions together, but Yelena was always envious of Natasha's success. She did not take being #2 very well, which was only compounded when Natasha betrayed The Red Room at the end of the Cold War. Now she seeks her revenge and to prove that is the world's most lethal assassin.
Enemies of SHIELD- Other than that, Natasha will battle evil wherever it is found. As far as she is concerned, she died up all of her loose ends when she got revenge on Ivan. The Red Room storyline is not particularly high priority to me. My main focus is on Black Widow's relationships with her fellow heroes rather than that of pre-determined villains.
The Red Room- The organization named after a place where killers are made. This secretive organization was thought to be destroyed after Black Widow betrayed and lead the hunt against her former trainers, and killed Ivan Petrovitch, her "father figure". The Red Room is now being lead by Madame B, who has co-opted the forgotten sect of the KGB for her own nefarious purposes, once again beginning to train elite female assassins to gain power from the shadows. Potentially allied with another mysterious organization of another player's backstory?
Yelena Belova: Another Black Widow that survived the destruction of the Red Room, thought to have been killed. Natasha knew Yelena as children and they served on some missions together, but Yelena was always envious of Natasha's success. She did not take being #2 very well, which was only compounded when Natasha betrayed The Red Room at the end of the Cold War. Now she seeks her revenge and to prove that is the world's most lethal assassin.
Enemies of SHIELD- Other than that, Natasha will battle evil wherever it is found. As far as she is concerned, she died up all of her loose ends when she got revenge on Ivan. The Red Room storyline is not particularly high priority to me. My main focus is on Black Widow's relationships with her fellow heroes rather than that of pre-determined villains.
S A M P L E P O S T:
Year One
There was a crash of glass and splitering wood. The criminal, in his ruined one thousand dollar suit, fell hard onto the concrete streets he exploited for his own personal gain. A knife clattered out of his hand and skittered against the red brick wall. In the orange light that shone through the broken window and into the midnight alley, a vaguely feminine shadow appeared. He looked fearfully up at the woman before a burst of electricity struck him in the chest and he fell unconsious with a thump.
The woman sighed, catching her breathe, stepping out into the cold air. She was wearing a mostly black bodysuit, with red highlights, enforced with thin but extremely durable and damage absorbing material. A utility belt contained various tools, and two handguns, and one baton. The other baton was in her left hand, and she had just finished firing a stunning round from a mechanical gauntlet device on her right hand. Over her face was a balaclava that hid everything except for her steely, large hazel eyes that were done up with faded make up. That, and a loose strand of red hair.
"SHIELD, this is Black Widow. Eight suspects have been neutralized. No casualties." She reported calmly as she put away her weapons and fiddled with her weapon, the Widows bite. Black Widow had a slight russian accent. She could easily obscure it, and for a majority of her time in America, she did. But now that she was on the Avengers and social camoflauge wasn't so required, she felt comfortable with the harsh edges of a Moscow tongue.
"Roger that, Black Widow, clean up crew in enroute. ETA five minutes." A male voice reported in over her ear piece.
"Sounds good. I feel great. These guys are pretty small fry, though are we sure-" Widow interrupted herself, having noticed something creeping behind a dumpster. She made eye contact with the shadow, and it stood up. Widow prepared her Bite, just in case.
"Are you BLack Widow?" A mousy little girl with ratty clothes asked, peering from behind the dumpster.
"Black Widow? Are you all clear?" The other SHIELD agent asked over communications, having noticed Black Widow cut herself off.
"Uh, yeah, just gimme a minute." Black Widow said, turning off her comms with a tap of an index finger against her ear.
"You are!? Wow!" The girl replied, having assumed Black Widow was talking to her. She trotted up excitedly, looking up at the shadowy agent. "You're my favorite avenger!"
"Oh?" Black Widow asked flatly, standing with her arms hanging awkwardly at her sides.
"Yeah, cause you're a girl, and I am too!" She said, smiling and nodding enthusiastically.
"I, uh...okay." She replied uneasily, looking down at the unconscious man. "That is great, but I am kind of in the middle of something here-"
"When I grow up, I wanna kill bad guys, just like you! Is that a bad guy!?" She pointed at the man. "Did you kill him!? So cool!" She punched the air triumphantly. Inwardly, Black Widow's mind was going into overdrive and her heart was melting.
Okay, okay. Um...what would Steve do? Natasha thought to herself, knowing that she should probably do something...heroic. What would a hero say? She was a hero, right? Something had to be done about this little girl and her misconceptions.
Natasha leaned down, hesitated, and then crouching down instead into a squat. She reached out to pat the girls shoulder but then stopped, letting her hand fall onto her own knee."Hey, uh, listen here...little one. My job is not to kill bad guys. My job is too...save good guys. There's a difference." She concluded to the best of her ability. She smiled, but the little girl could only see it in her eyes.
The homeless child seemed to ponder this for a moment. "Are...are you Russian?"
Natasha blinked. "Uh...only when I want to be." She replied with a shrug. The little girl seemed to think that was immensely impressive, which made Natasha feel something that was hard to describe.
"Well, okay. When I grow up, I want to be from Russia and save good guys. Just like you!" The little girl concluded triumphantly, pointing at Black Widow.
"Okay, good," Black Widow replied, her voice breaking a little bit. "And uh...no, this bad guy is still alive. I captured him. Maybe one day he could be a good guy again." She gestured with her masked head towards the man.
The kid seemed puzzled. "Bad guys can be good guys?" Natasha considered this a moment, staring at the ground. When she made eye contact, there was more resolve there. "Yes. Yes, I believe so. I...I was once a bad guy, myself."
The child gasped. "Really?"
"Da." Black Widow nodded solemnly. "But with some help, I am no longer such a bad guy." Natasha explained summing up her life story in a short sentence.
"Yeah! Now you're a hero!" The child agreed with a big smile. "I didn't know that. Do you think there will be no more bad guys? One day?" She asked.
Black Widow wasn't so sure. But she found it hard to say no. "Yeah. One day." She responded. The child wrapped her arms around the Widow's shoulders and squeezed her as tight as she could, which wasn't very tight. "I love you!"
"Wh-wha-" Black Widow froze up. "Okay- no you don't. But that is very, uh, nice of you to say. But you- I am- hey, don't-" She gently pushed the child off of her. She was glad she was wearing a mask because her face was as red as the emblem on her torso.
"What- what is your name?" She asked.
"Christina!" She replied.
"Do you- have somewhere to stay? You are street child, yes?" Natasha asked simply, glancing down at her torn up shoes. Christina nodded.
"Okay. That is okay. I know a place for kids like you to stay. Would you like to sleep in a bed and have a sandwich?" Natasha asked, a little too wordily. "For, uh, for free." She added.
"Yeah, sure! My mommy didn't want me anymore." She said plainly, causing the agent to wince. She chuckled slightly before stopping herself, her face turning even more red. "I'm sorry. That is not funny. I just...I didn't expect you to say that and...that is not funny. I am sorry that happened to you. You're safe now." She cleared her throat, feeling terrible. Stupid, Natasha, stupid!
Fortunately, Christina didn't seem offended. She just stood there with a little smile on her face. Was she in shock? Or maybe she was just tough. Just a tough kid who's had a tough life.
---
The last of the criminals was loaded into the back of a police van, the powered individual among them being carried away in a super secure SHIELD carrier. Little Christina was by Widow's side as they watched the bad guys be carried away.
"Okay. All right. Here, one of these nice police men will take you to the place. I will-" Natasha began.
"Could you take me?" Christina asked, looking up at Widow with big eyes.
Natasha tensed up again. "...Are you sure?" She asked quietly. Christina nodded. "Mhm."
A few minutes later, Natasha had secured the closet thing she had to a Black Widow mobile. A subtly powerful black sports car that smelled nice and was extremely comfortable. Christina was in the backseat.
"Seatbelts." Natasha reminded her as she buckled herself in. Christina nodded, sagely, and did the same. Realising they were alone, Black Widow wondered what she should do. Adjusting the rearview mirror, she pulled the balaclava off her face. Her red hair, tied into a tight bun with red hair that stuck up in every which way. That recieved another gasp.
"Wow! You're pretty!" Christina exclaimed.
"Tch," Natasha replied with a small smile, starting up the car. The electric engine silently rumbled to life. "Thanks, I guess." She replied. Natasha contemplated the child. She did not know much about child pyschology, but this girl probably needed a therapist. Hopefully she would get the help she needed. Natasha sure as hell couldn't give it to her- Christina was a force of nature.
They drove along. Street lights came and went, painting the car with soft light. Christina began to tell Natasha her entire life story. To say the least, it wasn't good. Black Widow just listened, feeling sorry for her. Sorry for Christina's rough lot in life. It wasn't an uncommon story, but Natasha had never taken a front seat to a kid like this before. She was tough, though. But it was clear she needed someone she could rely on.
They pulled infront of the shelter. Natasha was gripping the wheel tight. Underneth her gloves, her knuckles were turning white. "All right," Natasha announced, her voice coarse. "This is the place, Christina." She opened the car door and let Christina out. The inside was lit with stark white lighting. Encouraging if generic posters lined the walls and people, homeless and staff both, milled the walls. Black Widow stuck out like a sore thumb, even if she had left all of her weapons in the car she was still dressed to kill. People looked at her with awe, admiration, wonder, suspicion. She tried not to look at any of them, keeping her face down.
"I am here to drop off this homeless child," Black Widow declared seriously to the receptionist. He seemed a little surprised at who he was talking too, but quickly went into professional mode. "Oh, of course." He smiled down at Christina.
"You know her name?" He asked.
"Christi-"
"Christina!" She replied for herself, chirpily.
"Well, Ms. Christina, come right this way. It's dinner time, we're serving turkey and gravy. We'll get you taken care of." Things moved quickly after that. Before she knew it she had signed some paperwork officially catalouging the incident and Christina would be protected and moved to where she needed to be. Maybe her mom would face criminal charges, maybe she wouldn't. Maybe things would work out for her...or maybe they wouldn't.
Christina gave Black Widow one last hug, which the woman returned this time as best as she could, since she was quite unexperienced with the act. It was stilted, Widow's elbows too far out to the side. Christina didn't seem to mind though.
"Bye Black Widow!" She said goodbye for the fifth time, waving as she lead by the hand into another room.
"Goodbye Christina. You can call me Natasha, if you'd like." Natasha said quietly, too quietly for anyone to hear her and stop the farewells yet another time. Black Widow was alone in the sparseley populated room. Some people looking at the back of her red head wondering if it would be appropriate to ask for a selfie or an autograph. It seemed all of them concluded that the young looking agent was not in a good mood for it. They let her drift out of the shelter unpestered.
Natasha Romanoff sat in the front of her car, gliding it into a nearby parking lot that was only lit by a distant, flickering street lamp. She remained there in silence, her eyes staring off into the middle distance. Her eyebrows knit together and her lower lip began to tremble, and for the first time in an exceptionally long time, Natasha began to cry. She quietly mourned for the childhood that Christina and herself had lost; she silently rejoiced that despite that, hope could still find them both.
P O S T C A T A L O G:
Nothing yet!
I'm open for collab with anyone. The only real concret plan I have for her is that I'd like to get her involved in other people's storylines.
Simple Unicycle ?
Member
Seen
1 mo ago
EDIT: Sample post has been added.
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L
T H E P U N I S H E R
F R A N K C A S T L E ♦ C A S H I E R / R E T I R E D V I G I L A N T E ♦ N E W Y O R K C I T Y ♦ I N D E P E N D E N T
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
"I'm just an old killer looking for an excuse. But I guess it's better than not needing one."
You know the basics already. Ten years ago, Frank Castle's family was murdered. He gave up his career as a detective to become the Punisher and take his revenge on the people who murdered his family. After killing those responsible, Frank continued his crusade on crime, waging a one-man war on the criminal underworld of New York City.
Except that's not what happened.
After killing the men responsible for his family's deaths and taking down an entire crime syndicate in the process, Frank called it quits. He got what he wanted. His short-lived career as the Punisher was over before it truly began. For the past decade, he's been Charles Forte, a middle-aged divorcee working as a convenience store cashier and living in a rundown apartment in the Bronx. Keeping a low profile and holding back that part of himself that wants to go back to vigilantism. But with a new gang moving in on his neighborhood, the Punisher might need to come out of retirement.
Except that's not what happened.
After killing the men responsible for his family's deaths and taking down an entire crime syndicate in the process, Frank called it quits. He got what he wanted. His short-lived career as the Punisher was over before it truly began. For the past decade, he's been Charles Forte, a middle-aged divorcee working as a convenience store cashier and living in a rundown apartment in the Bronx. Keeping a low profile and holding back that part of himself that wants to go back to vigilantism. But with a new gang moving in on his neighborhood, the Punisher might need to come out of retirement.
C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:
Ah shit, here we go again.
To start off, I'll discuss my reasons for playing the character. It seems like every character I've tried since Punisher has flopped horrifically in some way or another. My attempt at Blade was half-baked and every time I tried to play the Question, I realized I had no idea how to write solo adventures with him. With that in mind, I decided to look back to my first character in one of these Hype style comic games: Frank Castle. Writing him was fun because I had an idea of where I wanted the story to go and I could write some cool ass action scenes along the way. It's pretty hard to mess up "angry man shoots bad guys". Since then, I've always wanted to return to the character. So, I figured "what the hell? I'll shoot my shot." And so once again I am asking to play the Punisher.
My story's gonna be simple and straightforward. Frank's retired, a new gang moves in on his neighborhood and starts trying to extort his employer, he decides to return as the Punisher to take them down. Pretty basic. Once that initial arc is finished, I'll probably focus on doing crossovers and maybe take a page from past me and have Frank go on a cross-country road trip like he did in Ultimate One Universe. The sky's the limit.
In terms of inspirations (because I always have those), first and foremost I'm trying to recapture the spirit of my original Punisher run. So as it was there, John Woo's heroic bloodshed films are the primary inspiration. Beyond that, there's also Max Payne 3, Logan, and The Dark Knight Returns, all of which feature that archetypal "old man returns to being a badass" storyline that I'm doing with this run. As usual, you can expect some recommended listening tracks with my posts every once in a while.
So yeah, that's that. I'll try not to flake out again, folks.
To start off, I'll discuss my reasons for playing the character. It seems like every character I've tried since Punisher has flopped horrifically in some way or another. My attempt at Blade was half-baked and every time I tried to play the Question, I realized I had no idea how to write solo adventures with him. With that in mind, I decided to look back to my first character in one of these Hype style comic games: Frank Castle. Writing him was fun because I had an idea of where I wanted the story to go and I could write some cool ass action scenes along the way. It's pretty hard to mess up "angry man shoots bad guys". Since then, I've always wanted to return to the character. So, I figured "what the hell? I'll shoot my shot." And so once again I am asking to play the Punisher.
My story's gonna be simple and straightforward. Frank's retired, a new gang moves in on his neighborhood and starts trying to extort his employer, he decides to return as the Punisher to take them down. Pretty basic. Once that initial arc is finished, I'll probably focus on doing crossovers and maybe take a page from past me and have Frank go on a cross-country road trip like he did in Ultimate One Universe. The sky's the limit.
In terms of inspirations (because I always have those), first and foremost I'm trying to recapture the spirit of my original Punisher run. So as it was there, John Woo's heroic bloodshed films are the primary inspiration. Beyond that, there's also Max Payne 3, Logan, and The Dark Knight Returns, all of which feature that archetypal "old man returns to being a badass" storyline that I'm doing with this run. As usual, you can expect some recommended listening tracks with my posts every once in a while.
So yeah, that's that. I'll try not to flake out again, folks.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
Supporting characters list TBA.
S A M P L E P O S T:
Location and Time: New York City; Starlight Lounge - 10:42 PM; Ten Years Ago
Issue #0: Exhale
Interaction(s): None
Previously: N/A
The pulse-pounding beat from the club's sound system keeps me on edge. Jimmy Rossi is sitting at a table with some of his friends. Can't hear what they're talking about from where I am, could be anything. Probably nothing important. Rossi stands, says something to the group, and starts making a b-line for the restrooms. I get out of my seat and follow him. A few eyes are drawn to me, watching my every move like a predator waiting for one fatal mistake from its prey. I think they mixed up who's who in this situation though.
Rossi enters the men's restroom. I wait outside the door for a minute before walking in. He flushes the urinal and turns towards the sinks, only to see me standing in front of the door. He quirks a brow at me, as if wondering if he's seen me before. We both know he has, but I don't think he wants to admit from where. "Jimmy Rossi?" I ask, staring into his eyes and remembering the unbridled joy they held as he pulled the trigger.
"Yeah? What's it to ya?"
"You took something of mine from me."
"I tend to do that a lot, so excuse me if what I took from you is slippin' my mind. Who are you again?"
I pull the Beretta from my coat and level it at his head. His eyes widen with shock for just a moment before returning to normal. He was already expecting this. "A week ago you shot me, my wife, and my children. Your aim was a bit off, missed my heart by an inch or two. My family wasn't quite so lucky." I take a step closer. "I'm here to pay you back."
Rossi gives a sigh and shakes his head. "Right, you're that cop. Castle, was it? Look, I know you got your heart dead set on icin' me right here and now, but if you do that you ain't walkin' out of this club alive. If you leave now, you still got a shot at livin'. I'll even talk my boss into giving you a week's headstart before we come after you." He gives a smug grin.
He thinks he can scare me into backing off. A smarter man might've backed off. Too bad for him, I wasn't exactly very smart. "Tempting," I say, seeming to mull over his words. "But I'll pass on that offer." He only has a moment for the reality of the situation to dawn on him before I fire, sending the bullet flying through his skull. His blood and brain matter splatters onto the wall behind him, forming something like a macabre Jackson Pollock painting.
Rossi's body hasn't even had time to slump to the floor before the door to the bathroom flies open, one of his friends aiming a gun at me and shouting a dozen or so curse words per second. I duck, spin around, and fire twice into his torso before he can get a shot off. He falls to the ground with a yell, a pool of blood forming beneath him. I sprint through the open door, leaving the dead man and the dying one behind.
I barely have time to think about my next move before I'm dropping to the floor at the sound of gunshots. A guard is firing at me as the club goers scatter, running and shoving their way towards the nearest exit. I roll behind a pillar as the guard continues to fire, standing up and flattening myself against it. Inhale. Count to ten. Exhale. Keep calm. Don't be rash. One wrong decision and it's lights out.
I dive away from the pillar, firing once (grazed his left leg), twice (missed), three times (got him right below the shoulder) at the guard. He curses in pain, falling to a kneel and grasping his wounded arm. I put a round in his throat and he hits the floor. I barely have time to process my surroundings before I'm rolling to avoid a bullet to the head. One of Rossi's buddies firing at me only a couple feet away with a revolver. I charge at him. He fires again, hitting me in the shoulder, but I keep going and tackle him to the floor. Sitting on top of him, I whip him once in the face with the barrel of my pistol before sticking it in his mouth and firing.
It's all a blur from there. Bullets flying through the air and blood spilling onto the dance floor. The saying goes that violence breeds violence, and it rings especially true on this night. The easiest way to describe it is a massacre. The media would later report that there was nineteen dead and twelve wounded. Four of them died in the hospital later.
Do you ever let the blood on your hands get to you, Frank?
You've had all these years to think about what you've done. One guy killed your family so what did you do? You made dozens of widows and orphans in response.
The screams haven't stopped since then, but you've learned to block them out, haven't you? Or do you just relish in them, enjoying all the pain you've caused?
Do you like hurting other people?
My eyes snap open as I wake with a start. My eyes are drawn to the alarm clock on my nightstand. 7:08 AM. A bit earlier than usual but otherwise good enough. I clear my throat and throw the covers off of me, stifling a yawn with my fist. Rolling my shoulders, I stand up and head to the counter to start up my coffee maker, then get dressed while it brews. Only an hour until work.
Ten years ago, the nightmares were worse. I would wake up in a cold sweat every night. Used to need a bottle of Jack to get me through the day. They're rarer now, only about once every month or so, and all it does is get up me up earlier than usual. I've made quite a bit of progress, but I don't think they'll ever go away completely. Still, a guy can hope.
I pour myself a cup of coffee. My eyes are drawn to the whiskey bottle next to the sugar, my hand trembling slightly at the sight of it. I sigh in defeat, grab it, and splash a bit into my coffee. Good thing I didn't listen too much during the AA meetings. When it comes down to it, abstinence and moderation are two sides of a knife. One is a phantom pain that hurts less as time goes on, the other is a painful smack every once in a while. The smack is easier to deal with for me.
I walk over to my sofa and sit down in front of the TV, grabbing the remote to turn it on. Flipping through channels, all I see is stuff I don't want to watch, as usual. I give up on finding something good and leave the TV on a 24/7 shopping channel for jewelry. I take a long swig of my coffee while I watch, letting my mind wander as an overly-enthusiastic windbag prattles on and on about overpriced rings and necklaces.
Before I know it, it's time for work. I place my mug in the sink and fill it with water before leaving my apartment and heading down the street to Mr. Green's Goods. It's a quaint little convenience store masquerading as a grocer's, tucked between a hair salon and a pawn shop. Standing in front of the door, I take a moment to ready myself for a long day.
Inhale. Count to ten. Exhale.
Another day, another dollar.
Rossi enters the men's restroom. I wait outside the door for a minute before walking in. He flushes the urinal and turns towards the sinks, only to see me standing in front of the door. He quirks a brow at me, as if wondering if he's seen me before. We both know he has, but I don't think he wants to admit from where. "Jimmy Rossi?" I ask, staring into his eyes and remembering the unbridled joy they held as he pulled the trigger.
"Yeah? What's it to ya?"
"You took something of mine from me."
"I tend to do that a lot, so excuse me if what I took from you is slippin' my mind. Who are you again?"
I pull the Beretta from my coat and level it at his head. His eyes widen with shock for just a moment before returning to normal. He was already expecting this. "A week ago you shot me, my wife, and my children. Your aim was a bit off, missed my heart by an inch or two. My family wasn't quite so lucky." I take a step closer. "I'm here to pay you back."
Rossi gives a sigh and shakes his head. "Right, you're that cop. Castle, was it? Look, I know you got your heart dead set on icin' me right here and now, but if you do that you ain't walkin' out of this club alive. If you leave now, you still got a shot at livin'. I'll even talk my boss into giving you a week's headstart before we come after you." He gives a smug grin.
He thinks he can scare me into backing off. A smarter man might've backed off. Too bad for him, I wasn't exactly very smart. "Tempting," I say, seeming to mull over his words. "But I'll pass on that offer." He only has a moment for the reality of the situation to dawn on him before I fire, sending the bullet flying through his skull. His blood and brain matter splatters onto the wall behind him, forming something like a macabre Jackson Pollock painting.
Rossi's body hasn't even had time to slump to the floor before the door to the bathroom flies open, one of his friends aiming a gun at me and shouting a dozen or so curse words per second. I duck, spin around, and fire twice into his torso before he can get a shot off. He falls to the ground with a yell, a pool of blood forming beneath him. I sprint through the open door, leaving the dead man and the dying one behind.
I barely have time to think about my next move before I'm dropping to the floor at the sound of gunshots. A guard is firing at me as the club goers scatter, running and shoving their way towards the nearest exit. I roll behind a pillar as the guard continues to fire, standing up and flattening myself against it. Inhale. Count to ten. Exhale. Keep calm. Don't be rash. One wrong decision and it's lights out.
I dive away from the pillar, firing once (grazed his left leg), twice (missed), three times (got him right below the shoulder) at the guard. He curses in pain, falling to a kneel and grasping his wounded arm. I put a round in his throat and he hits the floor. I barely have time to process my surroundings before I'm rolling to avoid a bullet to the head. One of Rossi's buddies firing at me only a couple feet away with a revolver. I charge at him. He fires again, hitting me in the shoulder, but I keep going and tackle him to the floor. Sitting on top of him, I whip him once in the face with the barrel of my pistol before sticking it in his mouth and firing.
It's all a blur from there. Bullets flying through the air and blood spilling onto the dance floor. The saying goes that violence breeds violence, and it rings especially true on this night. The easiest way to describe it is a massacre. The media would later report that there was nineteen dead and twelve wounded. Four of them died in the hospital later.
Do you ever let the blood on your hands get to you, Frank?
You've had all these years to think about what you've done. One guy killed your family so what did you do? You made dozens of widows and orphans in response.
The screams haven't stopped since then, but you've learned to block them out, haven't you? Or do you just relish in them, enjoying all the pain you've caused?
Do you like hurting other people?
---
My eyes snap open as I wake with a start. My eyes are drawn to the alarm clock on my nightstand. 7:08 AM. A bit earlier than usual but otherwise good enough. I clear my throat and throw the covers off of me, stifling a yawn with my fist. Rolling my shoulders, I stand up and head to the counter to start up my coffee maker, then get dressed while it brews. Only an hour until work.
Ten years ago, the nightmares were worse. I would wake up in a cold sweat every night. Used to need a bottle of Jack to get me through the day. They're rarer now, only about once every month or so, and all it does is get up me up earlier than usual. I've made quite a bit of progress, but I don't think they'll ever go away completely. Still, a guy can hope.
I pour myself a cup of coffee. My eyes are drawn to the whiskey bottle next to the sugar, my hand trembling slightly at the sight of it. I sigh in defeat, grab it, and splash a bit into my coffee. Good thing I didn't listen too much during the AA meetings. When it comes down to it, abstinence and moderation are two sides of a knife. One is a phantom pain that hurts less as time goes on, the other is a painful smack every once in a while. The smack is easier to deal with for me.
I walk over to my sofa and sit down in front of the TV, grabbing the remote to turn it on. Flipping through channels, all I see is stuff I don't want to watch, as usual. I give up on finding something good and leave the TV on a 24/7 shopping channel for jewelry. I take a long swig of my coffee while I watch, letting my mind wander as an overly-enthusiastic windbag prattles on and on about overpriced rings and necklaces.
Before I know it, it's time for work. I place my mug in the sink and fill it with water before leaving my apartment and heading down the street to Mr. Green's Goods. It's a quaint little convenience store masquerading as a grocer's, tucked between a hair salon and a pawn shop. Standing in front of the door, I take a moment to ready myself for a long day.
Inhale. Count to ten. Exhale.
Another day, another dollar.
P O S T C A T A L O G:
- Issue #0: Exhale
Byrd Man El Hombre Pájaro
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9 days ago
...
Why?
Would you get my hopes up like that, my son?
Why?
Would you get my hopes up like that, my son?
1x Laugh
Simple Unicycle ?
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1 mo ago
...
Why?
Would you get my hopes up like that, my son?
I had to do it to 'em.
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Byrd Man El Hombre Pájaro
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9 days ago
<Snipped quote by Byrd Man>
I had to do it to 'em.
It just means I'll use a Punisher hider for my inevitable Howard app.
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Simple Unicycle ?
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Hound55 Create-A-Hero RPG GM, Blue Bringer of BWAHAHA!
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1 hr ago
I just wish he had edited out "Les Wein" at the bottom with his username, instead.
Who do you think I am? @Lord Wraith? @Master Bruce? Someone who isn't a complete basketcase with coding and images?
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Byrd Man El Hombre Pájaro
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<Snipped quote by Retired>
Who do you think I am? @Lord Wraith? @Master Bruce? Someone who isn't a complete basketcase with coding and images?
At this point we're lucky you didn't post a broken image. Let's cut our losses.
Hound55 Create-A-Hero RPG GM, Blue Bringer of BWAHAHA!
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Retired "Hayao Miyazaki"
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<Snipped quote by Retired>
Who do you think I am? @Lord Wraith? @Master Bruce? Someone who isn't a complete basketcase with coding and images?
I believe in you, man. You can do this.
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Master Bruce Winged Freak
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