Superpowers - Blessing Or Curse (starting again cos it hit a brick wall)

Started by Lady Jenn, August 15, 2011, 03:57:35 AM

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Lady Jenn

The setting: In the summer of 1986 an unidentified object crashed deep into the heart of the Marianas Trench. At first it was ignored but then people begun developing superpowers. At first it was isolated incidents, but then it began to spread. Two decades later there are few places in the world unaffected, and with the increasing prevalence of powers governments are becoming fearful. So, hidden from the sight of their various populations, world governments began dealing with the threat, recruiting those willing to aid them, imprisoning those who they could deal with, and disposing of those they could not. But the threat has not vanished, it continues to worsen. What is the real source of these powers? Can their spread be stopped once and for all? And what darker secret may the object in the Marianas Trench really be hiding?

Rules:
This isn't a comic book, if people die in this story they are going to stay dead. I won't kill characters controlled by forum members though, unless they ask to leave the thread or they break the rules.
Only one power is allowed per character, so no characters allowed that resemble a Swiss Army Knife of special powers. Also choose your character's power carefully, you won't be allowed to change it once you'd decided on it.
No powermodding.
No godmodding.
Treat other people in this thread with respect.
I'm not expecting something to rival War and Peace but literate posts are expected. Don't feel pressured to write a miniature essay of a post if you cannot think of enough to write but equally don't expect me to accept two lines as a proper post.
In your first post please include a character outline with these details:
Name:
Age:
Power:
Alignment (i.e. good, bad, neutral):
Brief biography:
If you want to know more or have any questions feel free to PM me.

My character:
Name: Agent Riley
Age: 40
Powers: None known
Alignment: Unclear
Brief biography: One of the agents the CIA use to round up anyone discovered to have abilities of his own, Riley has a deep distrust, if not hatred, of many with powers after one killed his brother. He is keeping many secrets however, some of which would end his career, and put his life at risk.

First post:

Riley was sat looking at his computer, typing up a report on his latest mission. It had been a young man with the ability to phase through walls, unfortunately for him the CIA even had ways around that kind of power. It had exhausted him though, missions like that wore him out in no time. The other window he had open on his computer was the latest readings from the crash site. He wasn't sure why he had it open since nothing had changed for nearly a year, but he guessed he didn't want to be caught unawares if something did happen.

He was tall, middle-aged, with short brown hair which was so scruffy it was hard to tell when he had last used a hairbrush. He had piercing blue eyes and a strange scar running over his left eye, although no-one had yet managed to convince him to tell them what had happened.

He let out a sigh, glancing at the clock and feeling relieved that it was almost time to go home, he needed a good rest.

Haztur

Name: Agent Clarice Blackstone
Age:    25
Power: Precognition (she can look into the future for a few minutes, think a bit of Nicholas Cage's Next)
Alignment (good):
Brief biography: Clarice just recently graduated from the academy and has had very few missions, but what she lacks on experience she compensates it with enthusiasm. She longs for field work but her superiors keep her in operations as much as they can, the situation slowly eroding on her enthusiasm and individuality. Still her superiors think she can be turned into a major asset mixing her natural talent for tactics with her uncommon ability.

*******

Clarice sighed evaluating the last few missions she had been helping from operations, she wanted to understand every angle and everything that had gone well and bad, after all her her commander expected her report at first hour in the morning and she was already late. Maybe she needed a a few minutes to rest, maybe even take a quick shower and grab something to eat before preparing herself for another all-nighter.

Still as she blocked her computer she noticed the blond man, his piercing blue eyes staring into the computer. It was not that late yet, but the man's appearance told him he had been through some rough time, but what really called to her was his piercing sight, so casually she began maneuvering behind the man to look over his shoulders. But as they say, curiosity killed the cat and neither she was able to get a glimpse of what was he looking at nor did he took it to kindly. (no one likes to be spied on after all, much less CIA agents)

Clarice close her eyes and shook her head, the image on her failed maneuvering erasing itself immediate from her mind, I suppose I should had guessed so. So instead of maneuvering behind him she took the forward path, look as casual as a curious young agent with short blond hair and and shiny green eyes could be.

"Rough day?"
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

He nodded. rubbing sleep from his eyes in a vain attempt to look more awake than he was.

"I've spent the last two days tracking a kid who has healing powers. He must have help though cos everytime I think I've found him when an agent gets there he's long gone." He sighed. "For his sake I hope they find him soon cos it sounds like the boss is gonna send the big guns after him if I don't manage to track the guy down first."

Riley shivered, he knew what the big guns meant. If the CIA sent who he expected after the kid he stood no chance at all. He stared at the file he had left on his desk, the words "Project Hero Hunters" on the front and a large stamp on the front saying classified. He had forgotten to store it away and he guessed it wasn't something Clarice would know about.

"You fancy getting a coffee?" he asked.

Haztur

Clarice listened intently to the Riley's words, trying herself not to look worried, If she had learned something in operations is that people don't need adding your worries to their own, it quickly becomes a vicious cycle. Instead she walks closer to the agent and just lays her hand reassuringly over his shoulder, her words are accompanied by her more confident smiles. "I am sure you will find him before there is need of that."

Clarice smiles at the offer. She suspected that the agent (and she was sure about herself) needed a bit of distraction before refocusing his ideas. Besides, considering she was already planning to grab something to eat the idea passed from an appealing idea to something really tempting.

"I would love to." she said her cheerful smile never leaving her eyes until she saw the folder in the table. Clarice valuated the odds and though this might be part of Riley's worry, but could be sparse information about the boy, and though very tempting she knew than even if she was able to look into the future, she wouldn't be able to see anything if there is it was impossible for an outcome to occur. Then she smile to herself.

"Just let me leave this at my desk," said Clarice as she turned around, her movement "accidentally" throw the file from the table. "I am sorry! Sometimes I am so clumsy." she said as she knelt and began pushing the papers inside the folder, she tried to focus quickly while Riley moved to her side to recover the folder from her hand.

Clarice turned around and moved to her desk leaving the files on top of it. She had palled after watching part of that information, as part of operations she knew what to look for, it was not much but now she understand a bit better Riley's worry. She gave herself just a moment to clear her mind and returned to the other agent with her best smile. "I am ready."

((tell me if Clarice was able to see anything relevant on the file if you think she had enough time to see something in her vision before Riley's future self recovered it. And Clarice is rather new, of course to be in the CIA she needs to be a good liar, but if you think that Riley would through her since he is quite more experienced than she is, please be my guest and react accordingly.))
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

((the only thing I can think of is if she is new she might not realise the "Hero Hunters" are mostly ex-convicts. The one he was especially worried about is a guy called Breaker, she might have seen his police picture, like you see in all those classic films...if that makes sense lol))

He raised an eyebrow at the "accident". He may not be the oldest person on the team but he was experienced enough to spot someone playing funny business. Unsure what she had seen though he picked the file up and put it in his briefcase as he put his coat on and walked over to her desk.

"I know an old friend who runs a cafe a couple of blocks from here, he makes the best coffee in the city," he said, smiling slightly. "At least that's what he'll tell you anyway. Makes a mean milkshake too."

What he was reluctant to tell her, or any of her colleagues was who the old friend really was, but he couldn't risk revealing the man's identity, there was too much at stake if he did, the least of which was his job. He kept his gun holstered under his jacket, hidden from view unless he needed it, which he was hoping he wouldn't, he wasn't even sure he could fire straight when he was this tired.

Haztur

((Ohhh k that sounds good. Lol Clarice was trying to peak into the future, I see she botched it :P))

Seeing who the "Hero Hunters" makes her happyy of having joined the CIA before her own skills were realiced by others, not that it was easy, but after all her boss have found her, didn't he?

"Sounds like a good place, and if its trully good he might have found a nother customer, sometimes I ask myself who I need to kill to get some decent coffee in this city." Clarice said smiling without losing a beat as they begin leaving the building, the secuirty card telling security and their bosses they were leaving the premises. But its not untile they leave the building she realices Riley still brings his gun with while hers is in her desk's drawer as expected from the regulation.

"So, how is the place of this friend's of yours?"
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

"Its quite a quiet cafe," he said, smiling. "He relies on word of mouth to get customers, doesn't like drawing attention to himself for some reason, never figured out why though."

After five minutes they came to a small corner cafe, painted lime green on the outside, which contained only a young couple sat staring into each other's eyes. As they opened the door a tall man stood behind the counter smiled at Clarice, nodding to Riley. He mouthed the words 'We need to talk' to Riley, hoping Clarice wouldn't notice.

"What do you want to drink?" he asked Clarice, picking a table in the corner. "He does every kind of coffee and milkshake you can think of, and a few you probably had never imagined as well."

Haztur

Clarice smiles at the description of the place, "those tend to be the best places, I knew a couple of those before, unfortunately after the marketing and the new customers they felt quite plastic."

Clarice smile just grows at watching the couple, a romantic at heart who needs to deal with ahrder truths she know she wouldn't have the time for a relationship like that, but one can dream.

Fro a moment Clarice was distracted by her own thought, but not enough to forget her training, with the corner of the eye she noticed the man mouthing silently to Riley, but chose not to do a fuss of it. One thing was to be curious, antoher to push herself into the man's personal life.

Clarice smiles widens as she thinks thoroughly as she follows Riley to their table letting him move the chair for her. She sits comfortably, her elbow against the dark wood and her hand supporting her chin as she looks toward Riley, "surprise me."
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

He walked over to the counter, smiling as he and the man met eyes. If the CIA knew who this man was Riley would be out of a job at the very least.

"Coffee for me and chocolate and vanilla milkshake for my friend," he said, making himself comfortable on one of the stools. "What's the news from the underground? Any sign of this kid we seem so desperate to find?"

"Not a word," the man replied. "Someone's helping him but it sure as heck ain't me. I'm guessing our old friend is being readied to 'deal with the situation?'" he asked, Riley nodding in response. "Damnit Riley, the kid doesn't stand a chance against someone like that."

"I know Cypher," Riley said, biting his lip. "I've seen what he's capable of first-hand. If you find the boy get him out of here as soon as you can, I'll keep Breaker distracted for as long as I can but there's only so much I can do." He got up, taking the drinks from the man and returning to the table. "Chocolate and vanillia milkshake, to my knowledge you can't buy this anywhere else, certainly not in this state anyway." He sat down, trying to stifle a yawn.

Haztur

"Sounds curious, I give you that," says Clarice smiling as she takes the long glass and tentatively takes a sip of her drink, her smile just growing in honest surprise, "it does taste really good."

Noticing Riley's Clarice bends her neck lightly to the side, her eyes meeting his, "sorry, I am boring you?" She hopes to surprise Riley, but before he is able to said anything she smiles mischievously "yeah, I know you are tired, maybe I should let you get some rest." continues drinking her milkshake, this time resting her back against the chair.

"Riley, its fine I call you that? I mean we are not in the office anymore." blushes lightly as she says it, but doesn't stumble over the words, just tries to get a decent exit from that. "I still have some reports to finish so if you want I can go back and maybe..." she moves forward  bending lightly over the table not realizing that the position its a bit compromising, with two buttons of after leaving the work the movement makes  her lose one more, getting Riley a sight she hadn't expected as her golden crucifix fall between her breasts "when I finish I check your data about the lost kid, I am more rested and maybe a fresh and different perspective lets me find something you might have missed."
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

Riley froze, having to think quickly before answering. He was in a no-win situation, he might seal the boy's fate whatever answer he gave.

"Its fine," he said. "The kid can't get far. If he's got help they'll know we're looking for him, they'll have to figure out a way to get him out without us noticing..." At that moment a sharp stabbing pain in his head hit, sufficiently severe to cause him to black out and collapse.

"Ah damnit, not again," Cypher said. He was glad to see the other couple had left as he ran over to where Riley was prone on the floor. "I know we need your help but if you wind up killing yourself trying to hide what you are you're no use to me," he said through gritted teeth before remembering the girl was there. "Oh...oops, I don't think you were meant to hear that."

Haztur

Clarice began sighing at Riley's words, it was clear he though that she either would slow him or that she would be uncapable of helping him, well so much for an interesting evening... or so she though until the man suddenly collapsed over their table bringin down his coffee along, her mikshake only safe because as she moved back she had brought it with her, having seen the nasty cut Riley would have earned  if he had fall on top of it, at least his coffee was not that hot as to wound him.

While Cypher runs toward Riley, Clarice is already by his sight making sure he is not wounded and he is still breathing, and without thinking recovering  the older agent's gun just to be in the safe side.

"I suppose no, you will tell me about that later... and no I won't believe it has to do with permisions for this place... but for now wee need to take care of him, do you have a backrrom where he can rest?" says Clarice,, who afterfing a brief but very strong moment of wanting to panic, had her mind force her to return to her training, becoming quite professional and efficient. "Unless we want to risk calling the 911." somehow her cell was on her hand showing the number big on the screen, she only needed to push the send button.
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

"No," Cypher said, shaking his head. "He turns up in hospital and it'll take a matter of minutes for them to figure it out" he saw Riley regaining conciousness and sighed. "She doesn't know about you does she?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If I'd said she would've gone to the boss. Heck, I would if someone told me that," he said, laughing slightly. "Well, I've sorta blown your cover anyway so I may as well introduce you properly. Clarice, meet...well, I don't know what his real name is, the Hero Underground gave him the codename Cypher, he has a knack for making information...'disappear' when he needs to..."

"Not that that's my real power," Cypher said, a slightly annoyed look on his face. "I can form nigh-on impenetrable forcefields, its saved my life on more than one occasion."

"Clarice," Riley said, sitting up carefully. "If you want to tell the CIA was going on here you're more than welcome to, I'm not going to try and stop you."

Haztur

Clarice sits on the floor just in front of Riley, pondering both men words and stying one another deeply before actually returning Riley his service gun, but not before looking as far into the future to learn that indeed neither men represented a danger to her.

"I am no rat... but your position is not a good one, I suppose you are helping this Hero Underground escaping from guys like the one in the file right? Still as good as your intentions are they will arrest you as traitor... of course they will need o find any evidence for that and I am sure..." looks to the smaller man "Cypher, right? well I am sure he will gone when the teams arrive, Thai would leave your word against mine, without evidence my boss will have my ass served on a tray, if I am lucky he will sent me o some base in Alaska where I won't embarrass him further. And even if they found you guilty I am sure that no one would trust me." Lays her back against the wall looking very serious, "its Thai or becoming an accessory with the chance of being arrested for reason when they find you."

For a moment Clarice pondered her options, then she moved forward toward Riley, using her hands and knees to move herself to a position where her nose almost brush against Riley's own. "so if I might be arrested as accessory for treason I would want to know why. And sill you will owe me big time.... "
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

Riley nodded, as Cypher went over to his briefcase and took out the file she had seen earlier, throwing it on the floor.

"Officially the CIA are rounding people with powers up to 'help' them," Riley said. "Its a cover story though. They've become terrified that, if this apparent plague of powers doesn't stop, this could pose a threat to national security, or worse world security. So they set up Project Hero Hunters," he said, pointing to the file.

"When they find someone with powers they are given two choices," Cypher said. "Join the Hero Hunters or get thrown in a jail they'll probably never leave. Those are the lucky ones though, anyone who tries to resist has a tendency to...'disappear' or have convenient accidents. Of course not that you could prove the CIA had anything to do with it even if you tried."

"Most of the Hero Hunters are ex-convicts," Riley said, opening the file and passing the top page to Clarice. It showed a middle aged man, whose face was covered in scars, next to the words "Codename: Breaker". "Each of them have their own powers, honed over years of experience and in some cases enhanced by CIA experiments. That guy there's superpower is superhuman strength, its just about the only thing Cypher's forcefields are no protection against." Underneath his codename the file revealed a string of murders Breaker had committed, all with the wods 'Official Pardon' printed next to them.

Haztur

Clarice begin watching the file, she has learned for wha to look on each of this things, but one thing she has never seen is the long list of murders.

"God, this is madness. How is possible that our goverment allows this kind of monster walks among the people? Fear I suppose." says the woman as she is checking the information. "But more importantly how do they track people to make this possible?" When she ask she actually looks worried, her boss found her by chance years ago but since her own power was not exactly the best in the field he chose to put her in tactics where she could "guess" at future events and reacts to situations before they actually happened. Also the fact that besides him and some of the guys on the top she actually believes no one else knows about her true capabilities. Still if they have mind readers or a way totrack people that would make anyone special impossible to hide.
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

"People like Breaker have an advantage over me," Cypher said. "I'll follow orders but only to a point. I won't kill innocent people just because someone told me too. Breaker doesn't have those boundaries, you tell him to go dispose of a problem and he won't stop till the problem's gone away or he's given the order to stop. Its the same with every other member of the team."

"Tracking comes through one of two ways," Riley said. "Sometimes someone is unfortunate enough to reveal their powers in front of an agent. Failing that, considering how scared most people are of anyone who's 'different', people will tip the local police off and then it gets passed to the CIA. Once they know about you the only thing you can do is run and hope you can stay a long way away from them. If they knew I was developing my own powers God knows what they'd do with me."

"There's more to it than this though," Cypher said. "As bad as the Hero Hunters are the CIA are sitting on a far bigger secret than that, one even Riley doesn't have clearance to know about: Project Archangel."

Haztur

Clarice sits there, just digesting everything she is being told, so much information, so many secrets, she needs to put into her most attentive mentality to organice her ideas just to not get into a shock, yeah sheknew she was working for an agency that deals on secrets and death... but not of this kind, she just nods to both men as if she were hearing a mission's debriefing.

"Ok, so no supernatural ways to do it... I suppose that is a blessing, still... with the best intelligence and the more advanced tech in the world is not hard to imagine few people actually escape them, right?" says Clarice asking herself how much she can trust this men. And for a moment the facade of optimism, professionalism and enthusiasm falls from her, showing her quite vulnerable and scared. "Well then I suppose everyone of us have some kind of secret... I have powers too, that is why I work for the Agency, just not in this program, I am not sure how many besides my boss now what can I do. Its not something as cool as using force fields or super strength... its just well practical. I can see the future, not much unless it involves me directly, sometimes I have dreams and when I am awake  I realize that things are going to happen then and there, but most of the time I can force myself to look into the future, from just a few second to up to 5 minutes, of course every time I look into the future it changes, because sometimes I don't follow the script and do something else altering the patter... and sometimes that causes problems in itself..."

For a moment she looks relieved after saying that, she had kept it secret for so long that she didn't know what she will do if she meet others like her. But now she thought she could trust them, at least she hoped so.
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

"Plenty of people escape them," Cypher said. "The Underground are full of people the CIA would love to get their hands on, the Inner Circle of the Underground contains the five most wanted people on the Hero Hunters hit-list. I rarely hear from them though, if the wrong person listened in on our conversations the Underground's cover would be blown and kids like the one Riley's been tracking would be left alone to face people far stronger than him."

"Don't worry Clarice," Riley said. "If Cypher can hide this close to the CIA without anyone noticing him you're safe. Plus he has a few tricks up his sleeve if we had a problem. Computer hacker, gadget expert, if its technology he's probably good with it. Its how information keeps...'disappearing' from the CIA mainframe," he said, smiling ruefully. "What's this Project Archangel anyway?" he asked. "I've never even heard the name before."

"That's because the CIA know if the truth about it came out it'd change the world, and not necessarily in a good way," Cypher replied. "Clarice, what have you been told about the Marianas incident? The crash that started all this I mean."

Haztur

For a moment she really feels quite lost, but if Riley had been doing it surely she can do it too, besides at least she know she will see them coming.

But when asked about the Marianas incident she just shook her head, "not really, something about that in the news a few years ago, but not nothing else. They don't really tell me tat much, they just pass me files to store and missions to help them with... I have seen a few clasified files but I don't often see inside them."
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

"There are two versions of what happened that day," Cypher said. "The official version the press get told, and the version only the highest ranks of the CIA are aware of," Cypher said. "Most people think it was an asteroid, or maybe an alien spaceship. It isn't though. The craft is called the USS Archangel."

"The USS Archangel? But that..." Riley froze. "...that makes it a US craft. Which means we caused this. Tell me this is a joke?" He went pale as Cypher shook his head.

Haztur

Clarise blinks surprised "USS Archangel? So the US have space capabilities? and even more the technology to cause this? or it was simply a freak accident they lost control?"

Clarice can only think about the madness of all this, on what her own people might be doing to each other, but more importantly WHO is behind this, its simply too big for the CIA alone, some really high up or even a shadow partner must be pulling the strings.

"She should go to this place and look by ourselves what is happening. Maybe its the only thing that will bring us closer to the truth, of course if you want I can try to search among my boss files and see what can I find."
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

"This is beyond current US technology," Cypher replied. "This is beyond any KNOWN technology on planet Earth. Its surviving at a depth below the ocean that would crush any current submarine in a matter of minutes. While no-one would openly admit it there are those who believe this ship comes from some point in our future. The exact purpose of its prescence here is known only to a very select few."

"Clarice has a good idea," Riley said. "Its too risky to go back into the office though, in case someone discovers what you're doing. I think you and Cypher could combine your skills though. His hacking skills combined with your knowledge of where to look for the information would hopefully help the process go far more speedily."

Haztur

"We need to learn more of what is happening, just tell me how can I help." says as she stands.

"Mmmm among those who are in the Hero Underground there is no one who can resist that kind of presure? maybe supported by one of your force fields?"
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained"
-Mark Twain

Lady Jenn

"Not that far down," Riley said. "The amount of concentration required to maintain a forcefield at that depth against pressure of that magnitude would be too risky. It might work but its equally likely the effort would kill me and anyone with me."

"What we need is to find the files on Project Archangel," Riley said, turning to her. "It must be on their system somewhere, they wouldn't risk relying on people's memories to store the information. They'll have one heck of a firewall around it though. Admittedly that might be a way of finding it."