Dblade26

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

@BounceYes! The Gayest Gang of Global Guardians to Quixotically Quest after Queer and Questionable Quarry!

Translation

They're friends and they fight crime and weird phenomena!

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

@Bounce

Ted Kord's gonna be available real shortly and His first few posts or so were going to be dedicated to some stuff that does happen to involve aliens...

Also I see Damian's in New York...looks like that CIA case Moon Knight didn't want to take has accidentally followed him here...although I have no idea if they'll actually meet or if Moony will follow up in any way

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

That's the new Moon Knight done, exploring just a bit of Marc's past, bringing up one of his aliases for information gathering too.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

---

Gena's Diner,
Corner Booth,
The Big Apple at Dusk

"Y'know, it's a nice little corner of the world you have here, really."

Jake Locksley set down his coffee mug, freshly filled, to regard the man in front of him. Amos Lardner of the CIA, currently one of the most well-connected agents of the U.S. government stateside not to be at work for one of its' more irregular branches, not that you could tell by looking at him. He'd spent his life sitting at desks, poring over case files, speaking into the occasional earpiece and thereby quietly changing the world in massive seismic-level ways. He was here on a personal favor rather than on behalf of the government, a rare occurrence ever since...well...

Marc Spector pushed the memories back down, picked up his coffee mug and took a long, slow sip. Bitter of course, but with a slightly fruit-like undertone and slightly burnt-out. Gina's diner was a good place, certainly. A table where his back was to the wall and slightly away from windows, an easygoing place run by a single mother with two boys who didn't mind passing on the occasional bit of on-the-street gossip to a discerning, well-tipping cab driver like Locksley. More importantly it was the sort of place where Amos could meet with an old high-school friend who'd been significantly more down on his luck than the big-time CIA desk-jockey, catch up on old times. Marc appreciated that right about now. He took another sip of the coffee. Was it a cherry undertone he was detecting underneath the slightly burnt and bitter coffee bean? Gina must've switched brands.

"Well, the coffee's not Yemeni, but it's satisfying anyways. So's the work. Speaking of, what've you got for me? Our first meeting in years, you must have a gift right?"

The older man frowned and shook his head, giving a little sigh of frustration along with it as he answered.

"I'm sorry, I tried, I really did. I even called in a few favors higher up for you, knocked on some doors I normally stay away from, but as far as I can tell there IS no organization calling itself The Committee. It's a complete dead end, pal. Your source's emails, I checked them too as best I could but as far as we can tell the trail goes cold after some spambot account and the money he received involved a bunch of Swiss Bank Account style stuff, a real pain to get into. That'd be worrying by itself if this were an on-the-books case, but officially we aren't investigating so that's all I can give you. You're pretty much chasing ghosts."

Well, then at least he was back in familiar territory. He put down his half of the bill plus tip and stood up to go.

"It's fine Amos, I've worked dead ends before. It just tells me how in-depth this whole thing must be. Lemme know if I can do anything for you."

"Wait, before you leave, since you mentioned it there's one thing!"

"Really? Well that was fast, what is it?"

"Yesterday, there was a killing in Bludhaven and-"

Marc held up a hand.

"Amos I don't do that sort of work anymore, I've told you half a dozen times. I'm out, that's final."

"Just- Alright, I won't ask you to work the case with The Company, but at least look at the crime scene pictures and tell me what you think? You were always one of our best when it came to synthesizing intel into a real picture, y'know? Please? Lives are at stake."

"What am I, your own personal Sherlock Holmes?"

"No, but I was hoping you could do a decent Nero Wolfe impression."

Marc sat back down as Amos handed him a manila envelope full of labelled pictures. A massacre-no, a controlled assassination. Multiple gunshot victims, a single decapitated body with an odd bruise on the remains of the throat. Strange bloody wheel marks on the table, fragments of a flashbang grenade, a few bloody footprints...all too quickly the full picture locked into place in Marc Spector's mind.

"Your assassin is a male, ambidextrous, nine or ten years old. He's highly skilled for his age too, well-nourished and the training hasn't stunted his growth...yet. probably somebody's pet weapon rather than the mass-produced village kids you normally get, not that they're bad shots. The wakizashi's an interesting touch, don't see that much nowadays, plus the cut was made while the last vic was still alive, probably all some symbolic 'ninja' thing."

Amos stared at Marc for a minute, though he was polite enough and experienced enough with the other man's work not to actually gape.

"I'll spell it out for you. We get relative positioning off of this thug killed at close range, which was obviously the case given the burns on his skin, no detectable change in foot positioning or weight distribution during that shot so we can assume the killer just switched hands for it. Height comes mainly off of this fourth man to die as the bullet entered from the throat but up at an angle to create the exit wound at the back of the skull, suggesting an uncomfortable position for the shooter unless he was roughly the size of a nine or ten year old child. The angle, shape and force of the cuts coupled with positioning substantiates the body metrics along with the nature of the weapon, the post-mortem bruising on the neck gives a guess at hand size to further back that up. The way the weight is distributed during those cuts and with the wheel marks indicates male. Highly trained is just obvious from the fact that your killer never missed a shot, never gave his targets the chance to return fire and was finished and out before the police arrived on scene even in a city like Bludhaven. Not too many non-child assassins wear child-sized Heelys to their kills. That enough information for you?"

"Ah...yeah, thanks. But...well you're good but this is still educated guesswork right? How can you be sure the assassin's a kid?"

At the question, ghosts of the past floated up before Marc Spector's eyes. Children, the faces always changing but the eyes always the same, empty, alone. Clutching at guns like security blankets, living for the praise that came with taking a life whether it came as words or food or drugs...or just an end to the pain. So many in so many places...he'd forgotten their names...

"Kids like that, you don't forget what the signs look like. I'm sure."

Amos Lardner thanked him again, got up, left. Marc Spector took another long sip of his coffee.

He'd been wrong about the taste. It was just bitter.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

S'all good, looking it over myself after getting some sleep and food, I realize I legitimately threw it in at the very last minute for reasons I can't quite remember and I was considering removing it anyways XD Ted really is more unique if I leave it out, or just mention him selling tech to SHIELD as part of his general 'inventing technology to help people/battle villains'

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

Well, in terms of my lack of posting here, aside from another hospital stay THIS is what I've been working on!

BWAH-HA-HA-HA!

Name: Edward "Ted" Stephen Kord A.K.A. The Blue Beetle!

Alignment: Neutral Good

Affiliation: None

History: Even as a very young child, Ted Kord was exponentially more brilliant than the average human being, skilled at just about any task he put his mind to. Ted was the son of Thomas M. Kord, CEO of the famous Kord Omni-Research and Development Industries and by the age of nine he was already attempting to assist his father's scientists in their labs at first to their annoyance, but as time went on to their amazement. Unfortunately, even tinkering with and improving upon his father's designs was not enough for Ted Kord and the boy went looking for even greater intellectual challenges. At the age of 13 Ted successfully hacked into the most secure and intimate portions of the Department of Defense's computer network, though his actions were eventually discovered and lead to a raid on his home and his subsequent arrest. He was later released after it was confirmed that he was a minor and that his actions were driven by non-malicious boredom. Nevertheless it was enough to gain the wunderkind a certain degree of notoriety and ensure that the U.S. government kept a close eye on him from then onward.

Still, Ted's parents knew that something had to be done about their son's increasing need for mental stimulation. Thus at age fourteen, he was enrolled at the prestigious Excelsior Academy alongside such future luminaries and members of the North American elite as Bruce Wayne, Anthony Stark, Alexander Luthor and Oliver Queen. Ted relished the new access to knowledge and information the academy gave him, as well as the chance to socialize with some equally bright or even brighter minds. One more exciting opportunity awaited Ted Kord at Excelsior in the form of his history and archaeology professor, Daniel Garrett. Garett needed a student to help him on one of his 'famous research trips' and young Ted being the eager and somewhat dorky mind that he was, enthusiastically volunteered despite most of his classmates assuming he would be in for days sitting in musty libraries and baking in hot, boring old ruins. To Ted's surprise Garrett turned out to be an archaeologist of the more adventurous type and Ted instead found himself battling cultists and grave-robbers, dodging through booby-trapped tombs and sealing away the occasional dark elder god within the week. While Ted found the mystical side of all this to be a little out of his purview, he did find the adventuring life to be extremely morally satisfying and exciting and decided to stay on as Garrett's assistant full-time. Thus during school breaks and vacations. While this was far before the prominence of beings claiming the title of "superhero" Dan Garrett did have experience with the arcane along with access to a mysterious Blue Scarab artifact, which he could draw upon in times of need to enhance his strength and durability and occasionally project bolts of energy. With Ted's inventiveness and quick mind and Garrett serving as a mix of muscle, mentor and authority on all things ancient and arcane the duo had numerous adventures across the globe for four exciting years until Ted graduated from the Academy four years later.

Ted continued to study a wide range of topics and it was at Harvard that he first met and befriended Bruce Banner. The two struck up a strong friendship albeit mostly at Ted's insistence. After graduating he continued his personal studies in fields as varied as chemistry and aircraft design. In particular he later went on to study the various properties, applications and related fields of Solar Energy, a topic that became a lifelong passion. But not all was well in Ted Kord's life, because while he was away his uncle Jarvis Kord had seized control of Kord Omniversal from his father and begun using its' advanced technologies in a plot to achieve world domination.

Ted turned back to his old mentor for help with one last adventure. The two battled through hordes of robotic minions and deadly high-tech traps in a secret battle not just for the soul of KORD Industries but also the fate of the world. In a hard-fought final confrontation Ted was able to sabotage his uncle's suit of powered armor as Dan wrestled with it using the Scarab's might, but unbeknownst to Ted his frantic efforts had worked too well. Rather than harmlessly short circuiting the armor overloaded and in the subsequent explosion both Ted's uncle and his mentor were mortally wounded. As his dying request, Dan Garrett urged his protege not to mourn his death or fall into despair but instead take the Scarab and use it to do good, always looking to make a brighter future.

Ted tried to honor the late professor's request, but found that the Scarab would not respond to him as it had to Dan. Determined to nevertheless become a force for good in the world, Ted began training himself up to a physical peak beyond even what he had managed as Garrett's assistant. He took especially well to acrobatics, free-running and the general skills of a gymnast, becoming potentially one of the world's top acrobats. He also turned towards martial arts and began honing his body into a finely trained fighting machine with a style aimed at finesse, soft power and turning his opponents' strengths and aggression against themselves focusing mainly on Aikido, Jujitsu, Judo, Taichi and other grappling soft power martial arts, though he also studied more aggressive styles like Karate.

At the same time, Ted took over as CEO of KORD industries for his ailing father and began building the company up almost single-handed. He put his genius to work openly to create inventions on both world-changing and common scales and increasingly bring the Kord name closer to the likes of Stark, Luthor and Wayne in terms of research and development capability as well as becoming one of the leading advocates and designers for clean energy in the form of solar power. Finally-armed with his wits, agility, skills and all the funding and self-made gadgets he could ask for-Ted was ready to follow through on his mentor's wishes. Ted created his costume, his airship and his identity as the Blue Beetle using his old mentor's mystical Scarab as inspiration, ready to help the world hands on even as his company helped it on a bigger scale. Since then he has been fighting crime and improving the world with his physical skills, an array of high-tech non-lethal gadgetry and most importantly his brilliant intellect as: The Blue Beetle!

Supporting Cast:

Allies:

Will be elaborated on IC

Enemies:

The Beetle: A former engineer and mechanic in the employ of Kord Omniversal, Abner Jenkins stole and modified a suit of powered armor designed by Ted and attempted to destroy his company due to feeling under-appreciated and undermined at his job. Ted defeated him once before but was unable to imprison him, resulting in his escape. Currently works as a mercenary using the suit as he plots his revenge on Blue Beetle.

Promethium Man: Curt Calhoun was a foreman at a KORD Industries experimental site who was accidentally coated in molten Promethium. Ted was able to save his life, but not remove the Promethium coating around him. Enraged at being forever disfigured and unable to feel, he has declared himself an enemy of Blue Beetle.

The Masked Marauder: A costumed crime-lord, super-genius and enemy of Blue Beetle.

More to be revealed IC

How (if at all) does the New Frontier version of your character differ from the original?: Ted has a lot more experience battling all sorts of foes in far different situations than does his original counterpart. This version of Ted was an an intrepid boy genius sidekick to adventuring archaeologist Dan Garrett before he was a solo act genius inventor/vigilante. Some of Ted's rogues are also a little different or else borrowed from Marvel in the case of The Beetle and Marvel's version of the Masked Marauder. In addition while he'll still be goofy, lighthearted and wise-cracking I also intend to showcase his genius at times, as the comics often forgot to do and potentially tie-in the Scarab's connection to The Reach. Overall it's the same old Ted, but with a slightly different backstory and hopefully really given a chance to stretch his diaphanous wings and fly a little.

Post References:
See my earlier stuff and my Moon Knight work.

I know we don't want every character being trained by someone or having some connection to SHIELD, but I just really feel like it fits with Ted and explains some of his more physical abilities well, plus it links into potential for more stories down the line provided this hasn't died.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

Sadly, Moon Knight has never done anything cool involving major characters, and the coolest thing Blue Beetle II has ever done is die.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

I mean, intelligence itself is hard to define to begin with and certainly some characters might excel more in certain topics than others might despite being very intelligent.

Batman probably has more tactical intelligence than Hank Pym, but probably not the same knowledge of Pym Particles and their attendant subjects.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

I wonder where Ted would fit in terms of smart guy rankings in a shared universe...

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

I actually really do like Ted Kord. He'd kind of be a polar opposite for Spector, another gadget-wielding hero with a silent flying airship and his own big company, but eternally optimistic, operating in the open and in daylight hours and with more science-based adventures rather than mystical ones, yet both with ties to bizarre ancient Egyptian artifacts funnily enough.