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In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
I can probably rattle off a couple of more Surfer posts this evening. It's probably best that the heroes attack more than one-by-one, so it doesn't seem like a weird call-and-response thing where each hero takes their turn to be slapped down while the others twiddled their thumbs.

Plus they have more chance of success if they work together.
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
“Don’t let the burns on the burns on the new uniform fool you Surfer. I’ve put you in your place once and trust me, I’m not in the mood so I’ll do it again with extreme prejudice.”


The Raft, New York

The Surfer regained his balance and looked towards the Flash. With the help of Superman, it had been Iris West that had “defeated” the Surfer the first time around. It had all been a ploy, of course, to test the limits of this world’s champions and to deliver the Surfer into the eager, waiting hands of SHIELD – had the Surfer not pulled his punches in their first fight this second challenge would never have happened.

And yet despite the Surfer’s best instincts, even his implacability seemed to falter as he looked towards the Flash. It wasn’t so much that his defeat at her hands had humbled him, but that the blow she had struck him with had managed to hurt him where nothing else had. She was a threat. One that needed to be eliminated.

“YOU USE BRAVADO TO DISGUISE FROM YOUR VULNERABILITY BUT I SEE THE WOUNDS THAT YOU ARE SO DESPERATE TO HIDE. YOU WILL FACE THEM, JUST AS YOUR WORLD WILL FACE IT’S DOOM SHOULD YOU NOT SUBMIT TO MY MASTER’S WILL.”

With a burst of light, the Surfer had clamped onto the Flash by the wrist of her right hand. He was moving so quickly that the other heroes had barely grasped what was happening. He squeezed the wrist, bending it at will, as Iris screamed out in pain – but the Surfer was not done there. He placed a hand onto the Flash’s head and used the power cosmic to reach deep into her mind. The painful memories she was repressing were brought forth and deployed like weapons. Each a searing knife into her brain.

“SPEED ALONE WILL NOT HELP YOU OUTRUN YOUR DEMONS, FLASH. YET YOU ARE TOO WEAK TO FACE THEM ON YOUR OWN. BUT FEAR NOT, SOON MY MASTER WILL BE HERE AND THROUGH HIS LOVE YOU WILL FIND THE MEANING OF TRUE SACRIFICE.”

Iris crumpled in pain, her body exhausted from the mental assault that the Surfer had forced her to endure. The attack reached a sudden stop and the herald and costumed superhero began to move at a speed the others could comprehend. The Flash hung limply in the Surfer’s grasp. He spotted the others making a dash towards him and flung Iris’ weakened body in their direction and prepared once more for the melee.

“YOU WILL ALL FIND THE MEANING OF SACRIFICE.”
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay

”SUUUURFEEEEERRR!”


The Raft, New York

The Surfer’s head turned towards the screeching motorbike. It moved at what felt like a snail’s crawl to the herald. They scream coming from its rider echoed around the prison. The lariat the rider was twirling latched around the Surfer’s arm and his passenger pointed an arm that had morphed into a cannon of some sort. Still the Surfer did not flinch. He waited until Reyes let a blast loose from his cannon to make his move.

“YOU INTRIGUE ME MOST OF ALL, JAIME REYES, BUT POTENTIAL ALONE IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR EXPERIENCE. THE POWER YOU WIELD IS FORMIDABLE – BUT IT IS AS NOTHING NEXT TO THE AWESOME MIGHT OF THE POWER COSMIC.”

With a wave of the Surfer’s hand he sent Jaime’s blast towards Spider-Woman. The other dragged the Vigilante with such a strength that it swung the rider and his vehicle. Reyes went flying clean from its back, crashing into one of The Raft’s remaining walls, whilst Vigilante was sent crashing into Wonder-Woman, bike and all. Still it seemed as if the Silver Surfer wasn't leaving first gear or approaching breaking a sweat.


“YOU STRUGGLE IN VAIN. EACH MOMENT THAT YOU PROLONG OUR BATTLE IS ANOTHER THAT THIS WORLD’S POPULACE CONTINUES TO WALLOW IN SUFFERING AND WANT. SUBMIT TO THE WILL OF DARKSEID AND ALLOW THEM TO BE SAVED.”

The group of assembled heroes seemed to be piecing together their bearings. One by one they staggered to their feet. The sneers on their faces were the only answer that the Surfer needed. He was overcome with contempt at their selfishness. He could feel them, the life-forms of this planet, toiling away in misery in despair because of avarice. These so-called ‘heroes’ would protect a world built on greed? On suffering? No, the Surfer thought as he gritted his teeth, only Darkseid could deliver this world from evil.

“OR COME FORTH ONCE MORE IF YOU MUST – AND MEET YOUR END.”
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay


I'm sorry to hear that you've got some shit going on in your personal life at the moment. I hope that things quieten down for you on that front soon. Whilst it's a shame that you're not going to be taking part next season, you've got to do what's best for you. It goes without saying that you have an open invitation to return to the game if that's ever possible in the future.

Best of luck, brother.
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
My bad. Probably should have asked first. Will keep that in mind in the future.


No worries.

I get that people are anxious to get things going. I had one more post to get caught up with the F4 and the GMs had some things to iron out behind the scenes before we could get the ball rolling properly. You'll be pleased to hear that will amp up over the next couple of days.
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
GMs, it's cool I'm writing the Surfer in my posts, right?


I think we'd prefer it if you didn't, if only because once everyone is involved it might result in chaos if everyone is writing the Surfer – but given we hadn't really said not to publicly, I think we can probably look the other way this time.
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay

Manhattan, New York

Reed could hear it in the distance. The sound of Ben Grimm’s voice gravelly voice shouting his name. But why couldn’t he see anything? What was going on? His head was throbbing and there was a pain in his side. In the dark he could feel a cold substance sliding down his leg which he quickly deduced was blood. Why was he bleeding? The last thing he remembered was being knelt in front of Hector Hammond. What had happened since? He racked his brains to remember but drew a complete blank.

When the large piece of rubble that Richards was trapped beneath was lifted, it came flooding back to him. Hammond destroyed the Baxter Building with them in it. Sue had managed to put up a shield at the last second but it had only managed to mitigate the impact of the building crashing down to Earth. How long had he been out? He was about to ask Ben but a sore throat killed the words dead.

“He’s over here! Sue, Johnny, I’ve found him,” Ben called out as he reached down to lift Reed to his feet. “From the looks of it he’s been cut bad. We might need a medic over here!”

Reed shook his head, finally summoning the strength to use his voice.“I’m fine, Ben, it’s just a flesh wound. How are the others?”

“Sue and Johnny are alright. Luckily Wells was clear of the building with Guy before Hammond brought the whole thing crashing down. Whole city’s on lockdown ‘cause of the breakout at The Raft so nobody else got hurt, thankfully.”

The scientist nodded his head as he started to process his surroundings. There was rubble as far as the eye could see. The windows of the surrounding buildings had been shattered and a few parked cars had been crushed. In the space that the Baxter Building had once stood there was now a crater filled with rubble. The only home they’d known in this world was now destroyed – and so too were the few possessions the four of them had to their name.

Sue came hurtling over some rubble and threw her arms around her husband. Reed held her closely, coughing a little as he did so, and smiled as he noticed Johnny Storm appearing on the horizon also. They both looked a little worse for wear – though perhaps not as bad as he was – but their happiness at having found Reed seemed to have pushed their own wounds to the back of their minds.

“I thought we’d lost you there for a second.”

“Man, can you imagine that?” Johnny said with a smile. “Survived the end of the world, travelled across dimensions, but some creep with a head the size of a fridge drops a building on you and you kick the bucket? What a way to go that would have been.”

Reed let out a weak laugh. His lungs were filled with dust and god knows what else had been kicked up by an entire building collapsing with him inside of it. The rattling cough that pushed its way up through his throat saw to bring his laughter to an end. Perhaps the pain brought Richards back to reality some as their uninvited visitor suddenly came to mind.

“Where’s Hammond?”

“Don’t worry, Stretch, I found the ugly SOB trying to sneak away after the drop and put him down for good this time. He won’t be waking up again anytime soon – and when he does he’ll be in the infirmary at The Raft nursing more than a few broken bones, I’ll tell you that much.”

Each second Reed spent upright he felt his faculties returning to him. He remembered more clearly what had happened, down to the words Hammond had used, and the way his god-awful breath had smelled. But there was still something bothering him. There was still a piece of the puzzle missing.

“You ask me,” Johnny started with a smirk. “Hammond deserves more than a few broken bones. All that time Reed and Wells spent on rebuilding that timecraft? It’s going to take weeks to build that thing from scratch – maybe even months.”

The timecraft. Reed could feel his heart pounding in his throat as he remembered watching it crumple beneath the weight of the Baxter Building. Without a word, Richards pushed past his three teammates and began climbing up the rubble. His side screamed with pain as he lifted pieces of it aside, tossing them out of the way desperately, in search of the machine that would transport the four of them home.

One of Sue’s gentle hands grabbed his forearm and stopped him from lifting. “Reed, honey, what are you doing? You’re going to get hurt.”

There was concern in Sue’s eyes – but she had chosen the wrong target for it. Reed was fine. At least, he was as fine as one could be after having a building dropped on them. He looked to Ben and Johnny, who had similarly concerned looks on their faces, and then let out a defeated sigh. Het let a rock that was resting between his hands fall to the ground.

“Where is the timecraft?”

“What are you talking about?” Ben said with a chortle. “We were lucky enough to make it out with our lives, there was no way we were getting the craft out of there in one piece. It ate the big one, Stretch. That and just about everything else we owned.”

Perhaps Reed should have known better than to respond with despair but he couldn’t suppress it. He sunk to his knees, his head in his hands, muttering defeatedly to himself under his breath. They didn’t understand. Sue knelt beside him, trying to prize one of Reed’s hands away from his eyes, as she inspected the wound on his side.

“What’s wrong, Reed? Is it your cut? Do you need help?”

When Reed removed his hands from his eyes, there were tears around them. He shook his head gravely as he fought them back, trying several times over to speak but finding himself without voice. There was resignation in Johnny’s face, as if he had grasped the seriousness of the moment, but Ben and Sue were looking at him with oblivious expressions.

“Don’t you see? There is no rebuilding the craft. The only reason we were able to repair it in the first place was because it survived the initial journey in relatively good shape. Without the craft, without our Victor von Doom, there’s no way of rebuilding it. It’s gone. The timecraft is gone for good – and with it so too has any hope of us ever getting home. We’re stuck here. There’s no way back.”

Sue staggered backwards in shock. Reed watched as her face contorted into a canvass of sadness and disappointment. Johnny stood, hands balled into fists and teeth gritted, taking long, deep breaths designed to calm himself down. Most heartbreaking of all was the bemused smile on Ben’s face. Before he even opened his mouth, Reed knew what his old friend was going to say to him. The titter that left his lips as he spoke all but confirmed it.

“You’re kidding, right? You must be kidding. You built that thing while Superman was breaking down the door to the Latverian throne room, Stretch. There’s no way that you can’t do it again. I don’t wanna hear all this ‘there’s no way back’ talk. You hear me? You’re Reed Richards. You can do anything. You don’t need that bum Doom around holding your hands. Wells will help you again and … give it a month, maybe two, and we’ll be on our way home.”

Reed wanted to be able to tell Ben all those things were true, that his faith in him would be repaid, but he knew better than that. Though the timecraft had been completed in Doom’s throne room, it was built on years of Victor’s work – and buoyed by his knowledge of the dark side of the arcane arts. They were trapped in this world for good. No matter what Ben wanted to think.

“Ben, you don’t understand, there’s n-”

“I said I don’t wanna hear it,” Ben growled as he grabbed Reed by the collar. “You’re going to get us home, Stretch, because you always get us home. That big brain of yours always comes through in the end. We’re going to see all of our friends again. Johnny’s gonna see Peter and I’m gonna see Alicia and the boys on Yancy St-”

Ben’s voice faltered slightly before giving out to a full on sob. Johnny’s anger seemed to wane, his hands unballing as he climbed over the rubble and placed a supportive hand on Ben’s back. Had he not cried a hundred times for their lost world already, he might have joined him in sobbing. Instead he stayed stoic.

“Easy there, big fella. If Reed says it can’t be done, it can’t be d-”

Acting on instinct, Ben unthinkingly struck out at Johnny and sent him hurtling down the rubble. His eyes widened with shock as he realised what had happened and went skipping down after him.

“Jeez, kid, I didn’t mean it, I swear I didn’t mean it.”

Johnny dabbed at his bloody nose with his sleeve and let out a pained sigh. He accepted Ben’s hand and climbed to his feet, brushing himself down of dirt, and then throwing his arms around Ben’s shoulders with a supportive smile. Relief washed over the Thing’s scarred face as he gratefully received the hug.

“Whatever happens, we’re always going to have one another, Ben.”

Sue’s fingers knotted between Reed’s and the two held hands. He could see the shock in her fiance’s eyes. Though she had been in favour of staying to help this Earth defeat Galactus, the plan had always been to return home eventually and save their friends, but now the plan was gone. Their world was gone for good – but that didn’t mean they couldn’t save this one.

“Johnny’s right. This might not be our world but there are billions of people on this planet that need our help. We honour the people we lost, the world we lost, by protecting them from evil just as readily as we would protect our world from it.”

The shock started to melt from Sue’s face and a familiar phrase came to mind. “With great power comes great responsibility.”

On the horizon a sudden explosion lit up the New York skyline. It had come from the direction of The Raft. With Hammond secured and the craft destroyed, the Fantastic Four had almost forgotten that the breakout was still ongoing – and that New York, as ever, needed their help.

“Heh, looks like there’s still some ‘responsibilities’ that need taking care of over at The Raft. What do you say, Matchstick? You in?”

Johnny nodded, hands balling into fists once more, as he prepared to ignite. His trademark catchphrase was on the tip of his tongue but he stalled at the last moment. Even now Johnny noticed there were traces of guilt burrowed away in Ben’s wounded gaze. He knew the best way to put it to bed. He cleared his throat and erupted into a maelstrom of flames with a cathartic shout that echoed through the Manhattan streets.

“IT’S CLOBBERIN' TIME!”
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Put me down as being very anti-team at this point.

I think it has been a long time since the formation of a team in one of these games has been a net benefit. What tends to happen is that people rely too much on interaction within the team, get bogged down in it, and then suddenly, after one or two people drop out, find themselves stuck in a pretty awkward situation with no easy way out. I understand why people are tempted to form them, but given how early into the journey we are – coupled with the success we are having as is – I'd certainly advise not rushing into something like that.
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay

Baxter Building, New York

The Fantastic Four set upon Hector Hammond in unison. It was like poetry in motion. Every punch, kick, or blast from one was followed by an equally potent action by another – the years of fighting alongside one another clear to even the untrained eye. For his part, Hammond battled valiantly, but as each second passed it was clear that he was outmatched. He had little to no prior knowledge of the Fantastic Four and, perhaps most importantly of all, he was fighting towards selfish ends.

Hammond’s telekinetic constructs were weakening. Where once it took several of Ben’s punches to crack them, now they were shattering upon impact. The super-villain looked paniced, his moves had become frantic and badly thought-out, until finally they had subsumed him.

A vicious punch for Ben sent Hammond sprawling across the laboratory into a heap on the ground. He struggled to lift himself with his mind before sinking into the corner with a defeated sigh.

“Give it up, Hammond. You can’t win. Whatever power boost you’ve been given by the Surfer is already fading. If even we can see that, you must know it too. Stop this rampage of yours, return to The Raft, and we’ll give you all the help we can.”

~Help me? How could you help me? ~

Reed knelt in front of Hammond. The villain’s breath was so rancid it made the scientist take a sharp inhale. He did his best to disguise his discomfort and lent towards Hammond earnestly.

“I’ll do everything in my power to make you the man you were before again.”

At first Hector’s twisted features softened. It appeared as if he were considering his life before the experiment. As quickly as the softening occurred, it passed, and Hammond let out a laugh that reverberated around the room.

~You mewling infant. I don’t want to be the man I was. That Hector Hammond was weak – he stood by and watched while Franklin Storm stole everything from him and did nothing about it. But now I am strong.~

Ben directed a derisive laugh towards their downed opponent. “You sure about that? ‘Cause you’re not looking strong at the minute, Hector.”

~Strong enough to see through his lies. Do you truly believe he could not fix you if he wanted, create? You are his plaything. A golem to be commanded into battle at a whim. Nothing more, nothing less.~

The comment stung Reed almost as much as Ben. Ever since the flight that had gifted the Fantastic Four their powers, he had toiled for a cure for his friend. Richards had untied all manner of Gordian knots over the years – curing ailments once considered deadly, inventing machines that boggled the mind, even managing to cross time and space – but Ben’s condition was the one challenge that he had proved unequal to. It was a source of constant guilt.

Yet it was Ben that bore the weight of Reed’s failure. It was Ben that arose each morning to be hit by the awful reminder that his body had been transformed into something monstrous – and now, thanks to Hammond, he bore an ungainly scar on the side of his face. Ben was determined not to let the super-villain know that it bothered him.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

There were some things Hector Hammond did not need telepathy to deduce. Despite Grimm’s best efforts, his displeasure showed on his face, and Hector seized upon it within seconds.

~I know that he trained at Storm’s side. He may not be of Franklin, but he is the inheritor of that philanderer’s lies all the same. When the time comes, he will betray you, just as Franklin betrayed me.~

Sue cleared a path between Ben and Reed. She placed her hand on her still-kneeling fiance’s shoulder and looked down at Hammond. From his vantage point, the couple looked the picture of love and support. They had been anything but in the past few weeks. Their encounter with Namor – and the argument that followed it – still loomed large over their every interaction. In the height of crisis, they had set aside their issues and come together, as all families did.

“Hector, Franklin is dead. Let whatever grievance you had with him die with him. There’s still a way back for you – but not unless you’re willing to put aside this crusade of yours and face the consequences of your actions.”

~The consequences? And what of the consequences of your father’s lies? What of his thievery? Who will pay for those?~

Johnny let out a frustrated sigh at the comment. “Didn’t you hear her, egghead? Franklin Storm is dead.”

Sue shot her brother a disapproving look. He lifted his hands apologetically and took a step backwards. Convinced she was breaking through to Hammond, Sue reached her hand towards the villain. He flinched as it neared him but Sue’s reassuring smile seemed to put him at ease.

“Let us help you.”

Hammond could not feel Sue’s hand as it gently cupped one of his but the gesture seemed to move him all the same. It was the first time in nearly two decades that he had been shown comfort. Greater still, it was a comfort that he did not deserve.

A pang of guilt seemed to strike Hammond. He grimaced as he considered what he’d allowed his thirst for revenge to twist him into. He could feel Sue inviting him into her mind and followed the call. He appeared in able-bodied form, his head returned to normal size, and saw Sue standing before him, silently leading him through her memories. There was death, destruction, and a carnage the likes of which Hammond had never seen before – but there was also love.

~You… you are not of this world.~

Hammond muttered as he snapped back. When he opened his eyes, he seemed to see Ben, Johnny, Reed and Sue in a new light. The villain’s newfound clarity was not lost on them. For all the rage he had felt earlier, Ben managed to muster something resembling a smile.

“Y’know, Hammond, for a guy that’s supposed to be able to read people’s minds, you’re pretty damn slow on the uptake, aren’t you?”

Reed stood up and placed his arm around Sue.

“We know what loss is more than most. Whatever you’ve been through, whatever Franklin Storm did to you, it's as to nothing as to what the four of us have suffered through. There is nothing you could do to us that could come close. So, as Sue said, why not let us help you instead?”

Hammond was on the brink of a nod when a memory as sharp as a knife slipped into his mind. It was twenty-nine years ago, Franklin Storm and Hector Hammond were stood together at a dance sipping on fruit punch. There was a girl across the hall with blonde hair like woven sunlight. She made a beeline across the hall for Hector and asked him to dance. It was the happiest day of his life.

Or at least it was until Franklin cut in after a few minutes. Young Hector stood and watched while the couple danced late into the light. He felt his heart break into a million pieces the girl with hair like woven sunlight planted a gentle kiss on Franklin’s lips.

Her name was Mary.

Hector burst into motion. He knocked his way past Reed and Sue, evading an attempt to catch him by Ben, and hovered in the centre of the lab beside the craft that Reed and Wells had spent weeks repairing. Hammond’s eyes locked on the four of them, bursting with renewed contempt, and the room began to shake.

~No! This is another lie – another one of Franklin’s tricks. You’re liars! You’re trying to confuse me. I refuse to be taken for a fool. Not again! I’ll destroy this place and all of you in it even if it costs me my own life.~

The shaking intensified. What little of the power cosmic remained in Hammond’s system, he seemed determined to expend. Windows smashed, tiles from both the ceiling and the floor came loose, and the Fantastic Four found themselves bombarded by debris among the maelstrom. Suddenly a loud crack appeared in the ceiling above them and the ground began to crumble beneath their feet.

“The whole building’s coming down!”

Reed glanced out through one of the Baxter Building’s broken windows at the city outside. He gasped as he noticed that Hammond seemed to have torn the building from its very foundations. Hector’s nose was bleeding profusely and the veins on his head looked like they were about to burst from the strain. Hector’s grimacing ended and Reed felt the rush of the Baxter Building being dropped to the ground.

“Suzie!”

Ben shot his the Invisible Woman a desperate look. Sue nodded and extended her hand towards Hammond, trapping him within a hard-light bubble, and erected one around the four of them. They braced themselves as their home hurtled towards the Earth with enough force to reduce the buildings to cinders. Only milliseconds before landing did Reed’s eyes lock on the craft – just in time to see it crumple on impact.
In CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One → 6 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
I'm sitting on one more F4 post (that I'm waiting for a socially-acceptable amount of time to have passed since my last post to put up) and will likely need to write another after that to actually get the F4 to The Raft but I shouldn't be too far out.
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