File: new york.jpg (274.8 KB)
NEW YORK CITY, PRESENT DAY
Sounds of battle echo across the war-torn cityscape. The few heroes left standing fight desperately; this has become far more than just a battle for justice and the balance of the world. People used to joke about it, dismissing it as nothing more than a passing idea. With such a staggering number of supervillains compared to heroes, why didn't they all just team up and tip the scales in their favor? It used to be nothing but a joke—nobody thought it would ever become a serious issue.
Hundreds of fallen heroes litter the streets of New York City. Prominent figures from every division of the Avengers, the X-Men, and even smaller-scale groups like the Defenders all lie defeated. The few heroes left standing continue to fight desperately. Those who once clung tightly to their secret identities no longer care to hide them in this dire ultimatum.
A ragged, out-of-breath Spider-Man battles a horde of villains on the horizon. He no longer says anything, focused only on his breathing and the fight in front of him. He just has to hold them off a little longer.
At first, this seemed like nothing more than Mole Man carrying out his usual routine of trying to sink New York into the ground. The Fantastic Four were the first on the scene. Very quickly, however, the team realized this wasn't one of his usual attempts. No, this wasn't about burying the city—it was a strike from below.
That was when the first wave of villains began.
"Pete, please hang in there. It won't be much longer," a desperate Richards says to Spider-Man over one of the hundreds of communicators handed out to the other heroes.
There's no response back, only the sounds of pain from a poor boy fighting like his life depends on it.
Reed Richards, one of the founding members of the Fantastic Four, works tirelessly on a strange machine as the battle rages around him.
"Damn it all, Johnny, Ben, Susan... how could this have slipped by us? Well, it doesn't matter now. There's always a solution to be found in everything," Reed says in a frustrated tone.
The machine slowly whirs to life. Flashes of blue and white light caress the scrap metal fused around it. H.E.R.B.I.E slowly comes back online, his battery nearly drained.
"No time to waste. This is a big one, Herb," Reed begins, no longer able to hide the exhaustion in his voice. "You're going to deliver this isotope sample gathered from the initial breach. Bring it to S.H.I.E.L.D., and relay the recording of the attack to Fury. I did what I could with this hunk of junk. I can only send you back..." He struggles for breath. "Maybe a handful of years. It should be more than enough. Now go!" Reed commands the loyal robot.
H.E.R.B.I.E buzzes in response before stepping into the machine. Part of it descends around him, whirring as it locks into place around his body.
WHOOSH
Showing all 402 replies.
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File: 173.jpg (26.7 KB)
>Pair with Pietro
You walk up to the white-haired boy. His hair is styled back in a strange way, almost as if it's forming a boomerang shape. He looks you up and down quickly before letting out a sigh.
"Looks like I'm gonna be doing the heavy lifting this race," he says dejectedly. His accent is thick—so much so that, if it weren't for your acute hearing, you probably wouldn't have registered anything that came out of his mouth.
Coach Masters hands each group a baton, and Pietro lets you take ownership of it.
"It doesn't matter what order we go in. Just please don't make me have to work too hard," he instructs.
Pietro is extremely cocky. You simply raise an eyebrow at his remarks in response. It's hard to argue with him; you've never been the most physically inclined. You can't remember the last time you genuinely pushed yourself athletically.
The countdown begins over the speakers. Five, four, three, two, one...
A strangely horrifying, repetitive beeping noise blares, signaling the start of the event.
>Roll a 1d20
>There is no DC this time, higher is better
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>>6420605
No wait shooting still requires being athletic. Uh...magic? Otherwise, the best I got for a big brain build is minions.
>>6420608
Jessica already met him and probably has a crush on him as she has a thing for nerdy boys pre mindrape.
Otherwise, does chi count as magical BS? We do have a starter buff to that. So that could in fact work.
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>>6420568
>>6420596
Jesus Christ. We’re minmaxing this, aren’t we? Absolutely stellar at arts and sciences, so bad at phys ed that next update will probably involve breaking a limb. Our best chance at this point is probablymagicat this point, but that takes years to learn…
At least we have no chance in hell at becoming a generic puncher, so it’ll keep this quest unique?
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>>6420613
>>6420640
I mean we can joke but stuff like super soldier or lizard serum, alchemex spiders (there are more than the one that bites Parker), cosmic radiation, gene editing, etc etc etc etc does mean we CAN be physically capable, if not formidable. Marvel eggheads are more often than not, villain or hero.
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Ok, double 1's.. right. At the moment, Thomas has a long way to go physically, regardless of it being through innovation or sweat and hard work.
I will write the update tomorrow morning 10am EDT. Tomorrow will be slow for updates again, but we will resume a frequent pace Monday and Tuesday. I just want to take a moment and thank you all for your participation thus far. If you have any suggestions, again, I'm open.
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>>6420640
I mean, entirely by accident, yeah. Imagine playing a super who cannot fight for shit. An interesting playstyle and challenge for sure. Definitely not generic.
Honestly kind of has me stumped but in a good way. Support build? Minions build? Pilot build?
>>6420646
That doesn't fix our lack of talent for physical activity, but it only makes us fitter. The MC is clearly optimized for...thinking and not doing. Sure, we COULD become super fit, but it doesn't make us a great fighter or actually good at sports, you know? The knack for it just ain't there.
Tommy clearly ain't a fighter and is in really terrible shape. Like goddamn.
>>6420651
Confirmed for so terrible that even a super serum cannot save us. Holy shit.
Yeah, okay, plan around personally fighting at all costs...got it. Honestly kinda glad we ended up with the Taskmaster to kick our ass into shape. Not gonna lie. Still suck ass as a fighter, so hard we'll go down in history as his most well deserved worst student ever. Gonna give him nightmares for how terrible we are, but at least we'll learn how to run(very important) and get into shape.
Magic and chi will take years to learn...so tech to start with. Tech support build. Hm, need minions for protection because we cannot fight for shit. At least let us escape and tech can be used for support effects too. Fighting as a pilot should be doable but not in the short term. Big tech like that is costly and hard to hide.
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>>6420658
>Sure, we COULD become super fit, but it doesn't make us a great fighter or actually good at sports, you know? The knack for it just ain't there.
Connors is an example of someone weak and lacking aptitude and skill becoming highly physically effective after his change. Peter Parker too. Steve Rogers. It happens all the time, man. You get reflexes and instincts and senses along with the power and durability. But I think it could be interesting if we just swing a whole other way and stay a runny egg-head instead of a hard-boiled one.
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>>6420665
I agree and would rather take the trope seriously. So as a weak ass nerd how do we survive against all those supers? I would rather play it straight instead of just another bruiser that is a former nerd, instead of relying upon brains to beat brawn.
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>>6420646
Yeah, but pursuing it would be like trying to make a paraplegic fatass into a martial arts master (in a world without cybernetic implants and miraculous revivals)
At best, we’d be about as fit as peak human when given stuff that could make an athlete into a fucking god
No real point in focusing on it when we could be emphasizing our strengths
>>6420651
Thank you for being so communicative, QM! You’re doing good work.
>>6420658
>I mean, entirely by accident, yeah. Imagine playing a super who cannot fight for shit. An interesting playstyle and challenge for sure. Definitely not generic.
>Honestly kind of has me stumped but in a good way. Support build? Minions build? Pilot build?
Something ranged, for sure. That’s basically the only guarantee. A pilot build is just asking for trouble (the moment someone gets near the cockpit we’re screwed), and support would require a supporting CAST (of which we only have one guarantee so far)…
A minions build is curious. Do you mean drones? Summons? What in Marvel even qualifies for that? I’m seriously having a hard time recalling a single “summoner” hero that isn’t just magic or some sort of techy drone thing. Kid Kaiju, maybe?
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>>6420665
Ditto, it’d set us apart and make combat more interesting.
>>6420667
I’m going to repeat magic again, because it really is crazy busted (even with the long time to learn it— and that can be mitigated if your teacher is proficient enough to warp time), but psionics/telepathy and some sort of stealthy sniper build could also work. Physical powerhouses become less of a problem if they don’t know you’re there.
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>>6420671
The advantage of the cockpit option is being able to shove it full of failsafes for when something does and it triggers to save our ass. While serving a solid cocoon of protection for our weakass that would still let us be a threat. Of course, not by any means a short term option. However longer term it is VERY viable.
Otherwise when a threat reaches us its one of three options-
1 dead
2 KO
3 Captured
A support build also stacks with minions and actually serves as a huge force amplifier with them. Not just having to depend on other supers and even in that situation, we get stuck with being the weak ass link of obvious priority. The only super we have right now is Jessica, but no idea if she is even active as a hero currently. Albeit there isn't much of a secret about her being something else with the MC. Just not what she is doing with it.
Gates, summoning rituals, and portals are a thing for magical minions aka 'summons'. Otherwise taming, cloning, biotech and robotic minions are all viable or just play it straight with henchmen we drug/gear up.
>>6420673
The issue with stealth/snipers is plot armour. Otherwise, it would be far FAR more effective than plays out. In terms of psionics can be viable but again doesn't get around our weak ass body and book smarts. Magic has the most potential and we have a real chance of pulling off magitech in the long run or other strange sciences even MAD Science given our peculiar talents is more than just logic/raw brains but also some of mysticism/perception ability.
Avoiding fights in general with stealth is definitely viable in general and something I would suggest in general on account of if we get hit, we are kinda fucked. Best that they never notice and we avoid fighting at all. Hey everyone needs tech support or an whatever magickal bullshit science IT nerd is required.
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>>6420688
Best case scenario would be playing director or like a video game. Send out some minions we order around and control to do our bidding. While we hide somewhere in stealth to do whatever it is we are after. If we lose the minions, oh well, we still get away and try again later. Basically, fight and do jobs on our own terms. With minions and gear, we control the plans that we set up. Minimize the risk and blowback.
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>>6420667
>>6420673
I will step back to say that I just think it's interesting, I don't care if we are a shit-kicker or a wet noodle, I think there are pros and cons I am into either way.
If you guys want to lean wet noodle, we should consider how previous marvel characters have handled it. The Leader comes to mind immediately, and then.... Every super genius I can think of after that in Marvel has hands to back it up. Doom, Octavius, Stark, Banner, Osborne, Richards, T'Challa, Apocalypse, Sinister, McCoy, Kang, Pym... Maybe it's inescapable...
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>>6420688
>The only super we have right now is Jessica, but no idea if she is even active as a hero currently. Albeit there isn't much of a secret about her being something else with the MC. Just not what she is doing with it.
Actually the person we are closest to isElektra.
With her and Jessica in our orbit.... What if WE become Purple Man? Maybe that's how we do Minions. Good!Kilgrave could be really fascinating.
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>>6420699
>Make super serums/drugs to become super
>Yet they don't work for shit on us
>Turns out it works great on others though
>...well fuck me
minions it is
>>6420693
The answer to that is minions, support, stealth, masterminding, or piloting. Basically, avoid direct engagement at all costs.
>>6420703
Until some jackass shows up who's immune to illusions. What's better than illusions? Why not even be there, of course!
>>6420696
>>6420700Elektrais realistically older than us and in her twenties. Fisk is Mayor and thus busy fighting it out with Daredevil right now. She is, at best a younger relative of hersmy money is her being a mutant. Kinda hard to be a Good!Kilgrave with the whole mindrape powerset. You know kinda hard to be good when your power is literally mindrape...like shit even neutral is hard with that kind of power. Trying to not to be a horrible person with that kinda powerset would be...interesting, I'll admit.
I'll admit I have a soft spot for henchmen and all the shit they go through. They could really use someone who doesn't treat them like shit and actually looks out for them. Not easy being bossed around by villains and getting your ass kicked by heroes all the time.
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>>6420711
>Elektra is realistically older than us and in her twenties. Fisk is Mayor and thus busy fighting it out with Daredevil right now. She is, at best a younger relative of hers my money is her being a mutant.
Respectfully, man, you just made all of this up. We don't know if there is a Daredevil yet, or that Kaitlin is a relative of Elektra instead of just being her. I can concede that I am reaching a bit to assume Kaitlin is going to become Elektra or a version of her (decently common for alt universe characters having variations on the 616 name, like Penny Parker or Olivia Octavius etc). But I would say it's a reach that's inside reason.
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PART 1/2
>>6420565
ROLLED A 1
The blaring, repetitive noises from the speaker throws you off. Unsure of what's happening you're still at the starting point by the time some of the faster students have approached the halfway point of the relay. You start to shake a little, the pressure of all eyes on you and your physical ability becomes a bit overwhelming emotionally. Your relay partner, Pietro, looks a little pissed.
Pietro runs by your side for a moment, "What the hell, are you trying to screw with me?" He asks earnestly. The venom in his voice spews forth and only serves to halt you from starting more.
"GO!" He screams at you, his body shaking, knowing he's unable to recover in your stead.
Adrenaline floods your system as you try to figure out what the holdup is with your body. Slowly and shakily, one foot steps in front of the other until you manage a somewhat brisk jog down the track. The despair of being so severely outperformed in the race crashes over you like a tide of anguish, causing sweat and tears to form in your eyes.
You glance over at the coach for a moment. Masters visibly sucks in a sharp breath as he watches you. He tilts his head in confusion at your effort as you finally finish your half of the relay.
At last, you hand the baton off to Pietro. He doesn’t waste any time speaking. Almost as if he deems you unworthy of even the air it would take, he takes off running.
Both you and Coach Masters watch in complete shock as your relay partner rapidly surpasses most of the students who had gained such a massive head start. In mere seconds, the two of you have almost entirely recovered from the enormous time loss caused by your performance.
Visibly furious, Pietro closes the remaining distance and manages to finish in second place. He throws the baton onto the ground and shoots you a glare.
Seems like Pietro doesn't think very highly of you. You may want to steer clear of him for now.
The divide between Pietro and yourself has pushed him to a new height, unlocking his passive 'Blur' making him naturally much harder to hit with any form of attack
Pietro's bond level: -1/6 - Annoying Stranger
“Enough of that!” the coach yells at him. “Not everyone is a natural track star, Pietro. You would benefit from humbling yourself,” he sternly tells your partner before placing a hand on your shoulder.
Coach Masters looks at you, concern painted across his face. “Come to my office before you leave class, please,” he says.
He motions for you to head toward the bleachers. You’re unsure whether it’s because he’s genuinely concerned for you or simply because he doesn’t want you to embarrass yourself further. Either way, you feel horrible about yourself.
The rest of gym class passes fairly quickly and uneventfully. Eventually, the lunch bell rings, and everyone in the class leaves except for you.
You make your way to the coach’s office.
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PART 2/2
>>6420914
Coach Masters is already waiting for you in his chair.
“Thomas, please have a seat,” he says, motioning toward the chair across the desk from him.
You get the strange feeling that this isn’t a punishment. After all, how could it be? You didn’t do anything wrong.
The coach crosses his arms and closely examines you. “I’m not sure what happened out there. Are you feeling okay?” he asks earnestly, concern evident in his voice.
“Yeah,” is all you tell him.
Honestly, you’re not sure what happened out there either. You just froze. Sure, you’re not exactly the most athletic person in any room, but even that was new for you.
Masters thinks for a moment—a long moment at that.
“You know, Tom, I never really wanted to be a gym teacher. I used to be a high-level varsity athlete, on the verge of going pro, no less,” he confides in you.
Perking up a little, unsure of where he’s going with this, you remain quiet and allow him to continue.
“It was a long time ago, but I was never much of an athlete before I really started training either. I was lucky. I had a great mentor who pushed me in the right direction. I had someone who saw what I was capable of.” He pauses for a moment. “I see the same kind of person in you that I once was.”
It seems like the coach feels bad for you and might be extending a helping hand. You go to say something, but he interrupts you for a moment.
Shifting out of his seat, the athletically built coach offers you his hand.
“Come back after school whenever you want,” he says. “I can help train you, if you’d like.”
>Shake his hand, accept the offer
>Take his hand and thank him, but you're a little focused on other areas of improvement at the moment
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I will always support either magic or Weird Science, and I have a FEW or fucked up ideas for both, but I got interested on the minion build
We could be like Charmcaster in the original Ben 10! At least when the writers didn't gave up with making her a kinda jokey character that only uses laser beams: We make weird little idols of clay or mud etched with runes and we launch them to make little golems fight for us! Hell, we make the little oval shaped ones for regular minions, and if we wanna craft a special unit we basically make an action figure with more details and powers on it (for example, a knight who will be like a bruiser, maybe a Paladin that, if we're powerful or knowledgeable enough, we can give him some actual healing, etc) There's also a deck building game that I can't remember, and one of the units it's like a Candle-ghost, we could make some candle shaped golems that once they're lit, they grow and get alive to fight for us.
And for Weird Science I like fucked up shit, so my first thought was just the powers from Prototype, the power Kimimaro has in Naruto, or even Luther Strode comics. But thinking a little more seriously, I do have some ideas
Pacific Rim Summoner: Lab grown bio monsters who we can pilot around, teleport from our base to whatever other place we want
Ghost council: We go around helping ghosts make it to the other side, maybe helping them to finish their business in this realm. While we do we have them around, granting us powers
Demon binder: This could be the most dangerous and the one that really takes time, but we could just fuck around with demons. Build up a repertoire of Imps and others low level beings, make small deals, and then make up a portal where they just come out to play and have fun while pummeling our enemies. We can always just not do shit for them and just go around binding them to make them work for us unwillingly, the downside will be when a proficient mage get the bindings off and they want to tear us apart the moment they get free can
>>6420919
>Shake his hand, accept the offer
Fucking awesome
>>6420926
>We’re going to end up a supervillain, aren’t w
That could be the whole plot, but I don't think so. If he's telling the truth and he's actually just a school teacher, we might be getting some cool sports opportunities for our future and shit. If he's a supervillain, but he just lied about the potential he saw in us and just felt bad, the results would be the same like the last example. BUT, if his story is true, and he's a supervillain, I do believe him just keeping an eye on us and groom us into a copy of him, but we can always just get out off the deep end and have a rivalry with our gym teacher. Running tracks in the day, stabbing each other to death by night.
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>>6420919
>Take his offer
You smile, the wave of dread from completely bombing the relay washes away, replaced with some ease from coach Masters offer to you. Sliding your chair out and standing, you take his hand and shake it.
"Deal," you tell him smiling. He only serves to smile back and nod his head.
You get the feeling Tony has warmed up to you!
The beginning of your bond has unlocked Tony's passive 'Heightened Learning' allowing him a bonus +3 to any roll requiring an INT, DEX, STR, PER check
Tony Masters bond level: 1/6 - Warmed up to you
He walks with you out of the gymnasium. “Feel free to drop in any day after school,” he says with a smile.
With that out of the way, the lunch period has officially started. Your phone buzzes in your pocket. It’s Kaitlin, asking if you want to have lunch together.
You take a moment to grab your lunch from your locker before heading to the cafeteria. Once there, you spot her along with some of the other people you’ve met during your first day at school.
As expected, Kaitlin is sitting at a table with a few of her friends. She notices you and waves excitedly.
“Hi, Thomas!” she calls out.
You wave back for a moment.
Jessica Jones is sitting at a nearby table with another girl. When Jessica spots you, she waves. You recognize the other girl from the bus. Her tanned skin reflects the sunlight shining through one of the cafeteria windows. Apparently, some of the kids on the bus earlier had nicknamed her “White Tiger.”
Peter Parker is sitting by himself, which doesn’t really surprise you. A tall, blond-haired boy stands nearby, and Peter seems visibly agitated by him. Someone you can only assume is one of the boy’s friends walks over and lingers for a second, laughing at whatever he’s saying. Before leaving the blond kid’s side, he gives him a high five and flips Pete off. Huh.
Pietro Maximoff is sitting at a table with a few people. One of them is a girl with long blonde hair and bangs who also appears to have a European accent from what you can hear. Beside her sits a colossal-sized student. His short, dark haircut is trimmed neatly, and his muscles bulge with every movement as he eats his food.
When Pietro notices you, he scoffs. Nudging the girl beside him, he points in your direction. Whatever he says causes her to laugh, though the massive boy sitting with them pays no attention to the remark.
>Sit with Kaitlin and her friends
>Go to Jessica's table
>See what's happening with Peter
>What does Pietro have to say?
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>>6420988>Colossus being buddies with the Maximoff twins
I’m more than okay with this.But where’s Ilyana?
Jessica Jones is fucking boring. Pietro will probably spend his time complaining about our performance and/or making fun of us to the other two.
Parker might be interesting— since he probably sees us as a rival, treating him nicely after he’s being picked on might endear him to us. Then again, having Spider-Man for an enemy/tense rival honestly sounds more interesting than trying to be his friend.
I think I might have to go with
>Sit with Kaitlin and her friends
Might be wise to get to know the OC, since she’s more of a black hole than anyone else here. (And easily the most likely to become a future ally.)
I am seriously 50/50 on picking her vs Parker, if only because I think most interactions with the latter might be interesting, but everything to do with Kaitlin will tell us something new while being friendly to Parker will just make him more of a known quantity to us (after all, Spider-Man being somewhat friendly and do-gooding is his default setting for most of his worthwhile comics).
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>>6420988
>Sit with Kaitlin and her friends
Wonder who Kaitlin is kicking it with. Gotta say I just am not really interested in buddying up with White Tiger, Colossus, Magik, or Pete (I agree with others that being rivals will be more interesting, I genuinely do wanna be kind of a foil to him, or he to us, and my mind is still on us becoming Purple Man somehow... So I am interested in Jessica, but only so much)
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>>6421081
Depends. Are the dice weighted in favor of certain things that make sense (ie for Midtown High, would you only be aiming for teenagers/young adults to be depicted outside of teaching positions? Are you rolling for anyone well-known and aging them down appropriately?), or are they utterly and completely random? Could we theoretically have similar odds of meeting Xandu as we do in meeting Tony Stark?
I want to say I might prefer a hand-picked selection, if only because it would probably be easier to plot, but I honestly think randomly rolling might be more interesting. It could give some lesser known heroes/villains a nice spotlight and shake up the plot depending on who gets rolled for what.
TL;DR: let’s go gambling. Randomness of the dice.
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>>6421085
The dice rolls are preselected to a degree (only by gender of the character). The rolling of characters mostly only constitutes optional allies/neutrals/enemies as the story progresses, I would never allow the dice to decide upon critical characters to the story (I.E. Kingpin, Black Cat, Fantastic Four, The main X-Men lineup in this story).
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>>6421081
>>6421091
I don't mind random so long as it's not too far out there(see makes 0 sense). Basically, as long it makes sense in theory for said character, that's fine. So long as the excuse is reasonable enough. I do like randomness.
>>6420988
>Go to Jessica's table
I'll admit my only major concern is the incoming mindrape from the Purple Man. That is gonna suck balls.
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>>6421123
>the incoming mindrape
Ok, ok man, we hear you! Noted!
>>6421081
It's a big world, QM, and while the lunch room doesn't have anyone I am that keen on based on their comic canon, I gotta trust that you will make them interesting to me as you write your story. I think keep cooking the way you have been, there's a lot to love about this quest already. The way you've characterized Taskmaster is already really surprising - not an NPC I would have expected to find endearing. Plus, if the dice are serving lots of D-listers and McNobodies now, just means we get closer to the chance of someone with a more interesting powerset/background/canon later.
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>>6421131
That usually works out by filtering out the cast over time by whoever the QM meshes with more. The characters that do better get more screentime and the ones with less get quietly relegated to the sidelines.
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PART 1/2
>>6420988
>Sit with Kaitlin
You've spent so much time today meeting new people that it's honestly become overbearing, and you just want to stick with what's familiar to you this time around. You walk up to Kaitlin's table, and she stands up to give you a quick hug.
"This is who I was talking about, guys!" she says excitedly. "Thomas has been one of my closest friends since... well, since forever," she says, hyping you up to them.
For the most part, they all seem friendly. One of them even stands up to introduce himself right away—a very tall, blonde-haired boy who has quite a bit of muscle on him, much like the boy sitting at Pietro's table.
"My name is Teddy, Teddy Altman," he says to you.
For such a brutish-looking kid, he has a very proper way of speaking. Honestly, it throws you off a bit.
The other two people around the table introduce themselves much more quickly: a long, black-haired girl named Laura Kinney and a Middle Eastern girl named Kamala Khan.
They're all fairly nice. Teddy is overly so, Laura is the most reserved, and Kamala is so excitable that it sometimes makes you want to be somewhere else when she speaks.
You all sit together chatting throughout the lunch period. Kaitlin brings up the idea of exchanging numbers so you can all text each other. Everyone agrees, even if you don't know these people as well as she does.
What could the harm be?
Eventually the lunch period ends and you're onto your second last class of the day, MSIP, uh, what's that?
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>>6421278
"Welcome to MSIP, the class everyone loves to skip," the teacher sarcastically tells you.
Standing ahead of the class is a rather large, older looking woman who borderline seems like she should be retired by now.
She huffs and she puffs after each sentence, "This is a break class meant to supplement any homework you may have for the day. It being your first day, of course you most likely don't have any. So I'll give you brats a pass if you want to leave for this period just this one time," she explains to you all before taking a seat.
It seems like you're being told by the teacher herself that it's ok if you'd like to get out for this period, as long as you return for the final one.
>Stay and study something
>Go out and see what's going on in the world
>Write in (write what you'd like to do)
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>>6421281
>Go out and see what's going on in the world
School is claustrophobic and the Burger King Kids Klub has our friend occupied
May as well get some fresh air (and a chance to see some hero-on-villain action)
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>>6421281
>Go and see what's out there in the world
Biotech and chemistry is the route I'd like, but I'd also like to see more people. Also, to the minion guy, it's not that deep. We can just give worse versions of the serum to our minions if we go that route or we can make a even better serum to make us strong enough to offset our physical abilities. Hell, we can improve ourselves by working out then take it.
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File: sanctum.jpg (8.2 KB)
>>6421281
>Go out and see the world
You’ve been cooped up inside Midtown for a little too long. Still shaking off your summer break habits, you’re itching to go outside and see what’s happening. The world you live in is no stranger to everyday, world-changing events, a sentiment your father carefully impressed upon you when you were much younger, trying to teach you to be cautious and follow the rules.
Attendance is taken, though nobody particularly eye-catching responds when their name is called. Once it’s finished, you gather your things and head outside.
Getting downtown is a much shorter trip from Midtown than it is from your home. Midtown is conveniently located near the Stark Industries Sports & Recreation Center, which itself is only minutes away from the downtown core.
As expected, it doesn’t take long to get there. When you arrive, there isn’t much going on at the moment. Construction noises from roads and buildings fill the air, overpowering the quiet caused by the low pedestrian traffic. It feels like the city is constantly being rebuilt, damaged, and rebuilt again.
On the edge of downtown stands a building shrouded in mystery: the Sanctum Sanctorum, home to Dr. Strange, one of the current core Avengers. However, it has been a long time since his presence filled that building. It’s falling apart, dilapidated, and as far as public knowledge is concerned, nobody seems to know what happened to him.
Getting anywhere near the building is considered illegal—not by the city or the state, but by S.H.I.E.L.D. affairs. People who don’t appear suspicious are simply shooed away if spotted nearby, but you’ve heard stories about particularly strange or ill-intentioned individuals going missing if they get too close.
You pass by a tech specialty store. Tons of HD 4K TVs inside are broadcasting the news, all displaying the headline MAYOR FISK TO MAKE IMPORTANT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW.
Distracted by the screens, you bump into a breathtakingly beautiful woman. A small vial slips from her black sweater and splashes onto your skin. It burns slightly before seeping in, though the sensation quickly fades away.
“Sorry, kid,” she says.
She brushes back her gray hair with one hand before bending down to retrieve the fallen object from the floor. Her generous amount of cleavage bares itself as she dips down.
You’re taken aback by the woman’s nonchalant behavior. Before you can say anything, she deftly picks up the object and saunters away, passing you with a smirk. Distracted by how beautiful she is, you barely notice her glance back and wink at you.
Shit. You think she caught you staring.
Quite a bit of time has passed since you left class. Still, you figure you can squeeze in one quick activity before you have to head back.
>Investigate the broken Sanctum Sanctorum
>Try to follow that beautiful woman
>Go inside the tech store, you have some spare change and they may have some interesting components
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>>6421473
>MAYOR FISK TO MAKE IMPORTANT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW.
Huh, I would’ve expected this evening. Must not be urgent.
>home to Dr. Strange, one of the current core Avengers
>[Sanctum is] falling apart, dilapidated, and as far as public knowledge is concerned, nobody seems to know what happened to him.
>Getting anywhere near the building is considered illegal—not by the city or the state, but by S.H.I.E.L.D. affairs
The fact that he’s not only public knowledge but actually on the Avengers is surprising. Maybe he ended up depowered and tossed into a different dimension?Or, if this is pulling from New Avengers, he could just be fucking with people for the sake of privacy as he tends to do.Not that that’s likely, given 0 mentions of any SHRA…
With S.H.I.E.L.D. being so heavily tied into the Avengers(?), I’m also wondering if this is taking more inspiration from the (original) Ultimate line than 616. This is all pretty curious.
>Try to follow that beautiful woman
I honestly doubt Tom’s mind would be anywhere else. A drop-dead gorgeous woman winking and smiling at a nerdy high schooler? No way she’s not being followed.There’s a 99% chance that this is Felicia, especially given the serum, but the proximity of this to the Sanctum and emphasis on clarifying the hair color is making my brain wonder about Clea. But the cleavage thing and dialogue makes me sure it’s just Felicia.
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>>6421473
>Investigate our hand while trying to follow that woman
I'm honestly more worried about what got on our hand than trying to woo Felicia. Plus, we have to leave Parker something since we poached the Jessica Jones option from him. You couldn't tell me you wouldn't be concerned that someone just got some liquid on you that slightly burned if you lived in the Marvel universe. I'd be so paranoid of anything
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File: felicia hardy.jpg (155.8 KB)
PART 1/2
>>6421473
>Try to follow that beautiful woman
>What was that weird fluid that burned you?
Unlike what happened earlier during your gym period, you quickly turn on your heels and head in the opposite direction to follow where she’s going.
Damn, this lady is fast.
Even her walking speed is brisk and stylish. The way her hips sway side to side as she moves, and she winked at you, dude!
You shake your head. Time to focus and stay in the game. You don’t even know how old she is, let alone who she is.
Oh man, she’s so hot though.
Tailing her is fairly easy at first. She turns left onto the sidewalk of a main road, followed by a few quick maneuvers through tighter walkways around the city, and then...
VISIONARY activates!
You notice the subtle movements of her neck as she walks, slightly turning to check behind her.
Shit.
You realize she’s onto you, and that you’ve fallen right into whatever path she intentionally set for you.
Stopping in your tracks before she can lead you any deeper into the alleyway proves to be a good decision, as she had steadily been guiding you toward a dead end. She gives up the act of exaggeratedly swaying her wide hips.
“My, my, you’re bold and persistent for your age, aren’t you?” she asks in a low, slow voice.
She stops several feet ahead of you and turns around. Her tight black top and brightly colored pants cling perfectly to the contours of her body. Her bright blue eyes focus on you with expert precision, as though examining every little detail. Her full lips curve upward into a taunting smile.
This is no time to get distracted.
“What was that stuff? Some of it got on me, and it hurt,” you tell her, trying to keep your composure.
Her guard drops slightly. Her smile fades as she gives you a more serious look.
“Sorry again, kid. I don’t know all the details, but it might be a good idea for you to get checked out,” she says.
WHAT?!
Your eyes widen, shock instantly taking over your face. What is that even supposed to mean? What the hell was that stuff?
Your mind races. Suddenly, your body grows hot, and your head begins pounding. You’re unsure whether it’s stress, dehydration, or regret from running into the beautiful but mysterious stranger. Maybe it’s all of the above.
One thing is certain, though: something feels... different.
You fall to your knees as your vision begins to dim. The last thing you see is the woman kneeling beside you.
“Hey, it’s gonna be okay, kid.”
For a moment, gravity seems to pull you upward. Your eyes finally close as unconsciousness overtakes you.
What is happening to you?
In your final moments of awareness, you feel yourself being lifted and rushed somewhere.
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PART 2/2
>>6421513
You wake up, your eyes fluttering open. The pain from the bright lights on the ceiling overwhelms you, causing you to force them shut again. Writhing in the bed you've woken up in, all of your senses feel overloaded. The noise from outside the room—people talking, cars driving down the street—pounds painfully against your ears. The smell of chemicals and disinfectants fills the room. You open your mouth to shout, but even that is met with the sensation of unfamiliar tastes wrapping themselves around your tongue.
YOUR HEAD IS POUNDING!
With your eyes squeezed shut, you try to steady yourself and perform a breathing exercise. In, and now out. You continue until you feel at least a little more in control, though the overwhelming new sensations still pulse wildly, threatening to overpower you.
When you finally open your eyes, you realize you're in the nursing station back at the school. Your focus falls on a cupboard with a glass panel in its door. You're unsure how, but the moment you get a good look at the brand-name medications inside, you're somehow able to list their chemical ingredients from memory. More of that same blunt sensation hammers at your head.
You clutch your skull with both hands, trying to do something—anything.
"S-stop..." you weakly say.
It doesn't matter. The pain continues hammering away at your head.
"I... I SAID STOP IT!" you scream.
Your focus remains locked on the cupboard as a pressure builds within your head—not a painful one. You feel the cupboard rip itself free from the wall and float in midair.
Your nose begins to bleed slightly, and the pressure keeps building. Your focus remains fixed on that goddamn medicine cabinet as a huge surge swells within your brain. The floating cupboard suddenly implodes violently, scattering pills and medicine across the room.
The people you'd overheard talking outside rush into the nursing station after hearing the noise. Your parents, Coach Masters, the nurse, and several faculty members are now crowded inside.
"Are you okay, hun?!" the nurse asks, concerned. The others stare around the room in alarm, all except Masters. He only glances briefly at the splintered wood, shattered glass, and medicine scattered everywhere before narrowing his eyes and locking his gaze onto you. He looks worried, like he wants to say something, but doesn't.
"W-what happened... to me?" you weakly ask.
The nurse explains how you ended up here. Supposedly, a strange woman ran into Coach Masters outside the school. Masters doesn't add anything, only nodding along with the story. Apparently, she shoved your unconscious body into his arms and took off without saying much. The coach immediately brought you here, and that's when your parents were called.
Coach Masters kneels beside your bed.
"Do you remember anything about what happened, Thomas?" he asks, his eyes searching deeply into yours for an answer.
>Tell the truth
>No, I think I'm ok now
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>>6421516
>No, I think I'm ok now
I don't want to endanger our parents or the nurse. We are Big Smart now so can probably make that calculation despite the stress, fear, and pain. We'll confront Masters at the soonest opportunity in private to see what the deal is.
He might have rescued us from Black Cat, and come up with this story as a cover. Or he is working for Fisk as a talent scout, in such case I wouldn't mind walking the well trod path of starting out as one of Kingpin's underlings and having a redemption arc be part of our origin story. Lots of great heroes start out as street level crooks.
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>>6421516
>No, I think I'm ok now
Fucking Black Cat, man... Bitch is just carrying dangerous super serums around on the streets, HOLDING IT ON HER HANDS AS IT'S NOTHING and splashing it into people.
I was going to vote on the last post to maybe even call the police and tell them. Hell, that could've been acid for all we knew, but it's worse. She can be a competent thief, but making a "mistake" like that just shows she's dumb as fuck
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>>6421516
>No, I think I'm ok now
My autistic ass says this wouldn’t be particularly in-character, but we barely know our character yet so fuck it.
There’s no reason Black Cat would know we go to this specific school. There’s even less reason she would randomly shove us into the coach’s arms if she really cared about making sure we were safe. This story stinks of something nasty.Psionics and enhanced senses, then?
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>>6421528
>Spoiler
Currently kind of reminding me of the 100% of the brain nonsense from Lucy, or Atom Eve's ability to ambiently perceive molecular makeup and alter it - the latter of which I think does mesh with our being an Egghead + Artiste, right? Being able to see the world granularly and make it into something better?
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>No, I think I'm ok now
You shake your head. "I can't remember a thing," you earnestly tell Coach Masters.
He stays with you for a moment, studying your expression before a sigh escapes him.
"Well, we're all just glad you're okay, Tommy," he says as he looks toward your parents. "Guess our training session will have to wait for another day," he jokes.
The people in the room chuckle lightly at his remark.
After one final assessment, the nurse and other faculty members excuse themselves from the room. Your mom hugs you tightly, and your dad keeps patting your back before you all leave the school grounds. They continue talking about how worried sick they were when they got the call from the school about your condition.
You feel something tugging at your attention, though. It's a strange sensation pulling you away from your parents' conversation.
"Yeah, I'm kind of tired. Sorry, guys," you say dismissively.
Trying to fight off the urge to sleep, even a little, proves to be a losing battle. Your eyes slowly shut once more as reality sinks into the blackness of your fading vision.
For the first time in your life, you feel truly trapped.
SOMEWHERE DARK, BUT STRANGELY FAMILIAR
Falling, falling. All you ever do is fall. It feels like this has been happening for hours. You're sinking into nothingness, flailing helplessly.
"Oh, Mr. Axeford, what a show you do put on indeed."
A strange voice surrounds you within the black shroud you're trapped in, leaving you floating weightlessly and helplessly.
You look all around, even trying to focus your strangely sharpened senses, but it's still no use. The echo of the voice repeats itself over and over until, finally, you land.
SPLAT
You lay there, dying. Your body partially burst open into a mess of sinew and bone. The pain easily overshadows the mess you were in the school earlier.
A chuckle surrounds you in this dark land, inescapable, "Do relax, dear boy. We all fall once in a while don't we?" You hear someone snapping their fingers for a brief moment beyond the shroud.
The mess of flesh that was once your body reforms, you're standing upright now, though not of your muscles own volition, you feel weightless through it all.
"Tell me, dear boy.. do you believe there's always a logical explanation behind everything?" The voice intently asks, silence fills the ever present void, awaiting your response.
>Yes
>No
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>>6421540
>No
Why would the artsy nerd think everything has to be logical? Especially after the last however-long?
I’m also kicking myself for not guessing hallucinogens earlier.Though there’s no way this is hallucinogens. This is definitely something magical. The dialogue makes me think of Loki specifically, but I’m still fixated on the Sanctum appearance and emphasis on darkness.
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>>6421540
>No
>Inspired by horror films and heroic comics, say "Show yourself, who are you? It's not fair you apparently now everything about us, and we don't even know who you are"
I doubt it's Loki... I mean, he might be, but I feel like we haven't talked or did anything related to their mythos to get his attention.
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File: IMG_8615.jpg (3.0 MB)
>>6421549
We didn’t do much to get Black Cat’s, either, yet here we are.
It’s possible Kingpin’s in league with some otherworldly entity and that’s what we’ve gotten ourselves caught up in. It’d explain
>the magnitude of destruction in the intro (and if it’s magic, explain why so many heroes couldn’t do squat about it)
>how/why Kingpin knows about the tape from the future (high-level magic and time travel are very closely linked; not to mention, lots of magical entities don’t really experience time properly, so if Kingpin’s client is magical it would’ve been able to inform Kingpin about the tape)
>all the shit we’re currently experiencing and the ambiguity around whether it’s real or not
>Strange being either absent or busy with something so important that he wants people to think he is
The weird bits it *wouldn’t* explain are stuff like the test tube, Felicia’s usefulness in… any of this, and why/how the hell Kingpin even learned of magic in the first place, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’s dabbled in magical affairs.
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File: mephisto.png (312.5 KB)
>No
VISIONARY & ASPIRING BRANIAC activate!
You remain upright, the hazy, bleak darkness still enshrouding you. The question the booming voice asked lingers in the dark like a predator, though you don't allow it to overshadow your sense of reason.
"No. Logic is just one tool among many. Sometimes, you need to feel things through," you respond to the darkness.
The voice laughs hauntingly, filling the darkened atmosphere with a terrifying aura. It brings to mind the many horror movies you've watched with your dad, though it doesn't fill you with nearly as much terror as it should. You close your eyes, drawing upon the bravery you always tried to show your father in those memories, along with the courage of heroes you've read about in comics and seen throughout real life.
"Show yourself. Who are you? It's not fair, these situations I've been thrown into back to back," you ask the strange force.
The darkness around you tingles with excitement, like hungry eyes laid upon a freshly made feast.
"That would surely be quite the treat for us both, wouldn't it, dear Thomas?" it responds.
What reveals itself to you comes only in flashes, an oasis of visions flooding your mind. A man cloaked in red light appears before you, wiry and hungry-looking, yet packed with lean muscle. His irises are completely awash in a crimson glow. He looks at you, and you can feel him looking inside you. Perversion, disgust, pleasure, horror—countless thoughts and emotions flood your brain, leaving you confused and overwhelmed.
"I am called many things, boy, but you may call me Mephisto," he politely instructs.
His voice tickles at your brain, causing you to shudder.
You freeze, unsure of what this creature truly is. "Why are you doing this to me?" you ask.
Another haunting laugh echoes through the void.
"I'm merely a VERY interested observer. You could even say I have some stake in an approaching calamity, one in which you now play an ever-growing part," he tells you. "Oh, dear Thomas, I feel nothing but pity for a boy in your position. The causality of greed and power has dragged you into an approaching disaster and forced your involvement," he explains.
YOUR HEAD FEELS LIKE IT'S ABOUT TO BURST!
"My, all that power from one small tube. The girl is clever, but she knows little of what her employer truly sees in it," the creature says, sucking in a sharp breath. "You've been delivered a gift, one quite rare for an ordinary human. Wouldn't you like help harnessing it to its full potential? I can do that for you, you know..." His voice trails off.
>I don't need help from.. whatever you are
>What can you do to help me?
>Accept the offer
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>>6421553
>What can you do to help me?
>"I don't think you are so willing to help, as you're willing to win with whatever is going to happen."
Fuuuuuuuuck dude, we got fucking Mephisto... >>6421550 was right, Kinping IS doing some shit with magic, or at least with levels that are truly evil. I thought this was going to be like in the first Doctor Strange movie.withthe weird magical cult, but this is something else
Anyway, I want to call out his bullshit right on, I have the feeling that Black Cat didn't have a literal Evil Demonic Satan's Blood vial carrying around like that. If anything, I believe maybe it's somewhat magical in Nature, and Mephisto just went right in to buy us out under whatever other magical entity would be interested.
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>>6421553
>Mephisto
Motherfucker, I’d been blanking that lazy excuse for a villain from my mind. Fuck him.
>I don’t need help from… whatever you are
He’s already told us enough with his incessant vagueposting. We’ve gotten powers from that tube (strong ones), we’re somehow embroiled in a ploy for “greed and power” (this is New York, we can probably figure out that he’s referring to CEOs/the government), he doesn’t have our best interests in mind but has the balls to lie to us about it.
Ditch him and try to focus on returning to reality somehow. If we really are a Proteus-level reality warper, or somehow involved in magical shit, maybe just yelling for Masters might help?
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>>6421559
Follow-up: lazy excuse for a villain IN THE COMICS. QM can probably do better with him, the bar is in Mephisto’s realm. I’m just bitter about how he’s only ever been used in the stupidest, cruelest plots published this century.
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>>6421568
That's true, but I believe there's a lot more to lose than there is to gain. My idea was for Tommy to go around and dabble with minor demons and bind them, but going with someone with Mephisto right out the gate? It's way to dangerous
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>>6421553
>What can you offer me?
Power? A gift? Like a superpower? That would explain what happened in the school's nursing station. You think about it for a moment. What exactly is this gift? Controlling things with your mind?
The creature's offer to help hangs motionless in the air, as if time itself has frozen. Is any of this even real? You find it all so hard to believe.
VISIONARY activates
The pulsing and pounding sensations within your head intensify, driving you nearly insane. It's far too vivid to be a dream. You're definitely not in your world at the moment. No matter how impossible it seems, this is real.
"What can you do to help me? You mentioned having personal stakes in some disaster. It sounds more like you just want to win whatever prize is waiting at the end of all this," you tell it.
Stillness spreads through the void, as though all the air within the bleak darkness has suddenly vanished. Visions of a plotting smile flood your mind from countless angles, giving you glimpses of every grinning tooth this monster possesses.
The blackness erupts.
"My stakes are my own. Much of my power is tethered to another creature within your reality," it tells you. "I merely seek agency through other means to guarantee myself a backdoor. Honesty is not something I am known for, I admit, but I see potential in you that can only be unlocked through my guidance," he explains.
"And what exactly are you offering?" you ask.
The atmosphere shifts, less tense now.
"A more efficient means of developing your abilities," he replies.
The snap of fingers echoes through the void once more.
"A token of appreciation, to express my interest earnestly," he finishes.
YOU FEEL SOMETHING WARP INSIDE YOUR MIND!
Your eyes roll back into your head as countless obscured visions flood your mind. A cloaked wraith stands upon the dimly lit Earth you came from. When the cloak is removed, your own form is revealed beneath it.
You've gained the mental ability 'Reflective Coating,' allowing you to obscure your physical body and become invisible!
"Of course, even if you deny my help, you may keep the token. Just know that I will still be watching. You will not have the safety I can offer you, nor the further acceleration of my future gifts," he concludes.
>Ok, you have a deal
>I don't need your help
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>>6421574
Mephisto wants to have a backdoor through us. That sounds suspicious, B U T, it means he wants us spreading his influence. Which most probably means that the means of progression will do it on its own. AKA, it's related to demon magic and, this is the kicker, AND, will lead to more plot hooks later down the line.
>Ok, you have a deal
He's said nothing about removing whatever latent means of gaining power we already have. I'm in favour of getting some demon magic to help progress whatever this serum is. It would be a bit of a waste to forgo it, desu, but I understand why some anons are paranoid. What do you all think?
>>6421572
True, this would be reckless as hell, but he's not offering us a contract. I think he just wants us using demonic means to advance our powers. That sounds like more of a horizontal sidegrade to me than a strict pact.
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>>6421578
Let's review Tom's character traits:
>Aspiring Brainiac
>Visionary (triggers with use of this psychic ability, related to expanded senses)
>YOU FEEL SOMETHING WARP INSIDE YOUR MIND!
Since the psychic ability is tied to the visionary trait, it seems to be something like "imagine X in reality" and some effect tied to X manifests. Imagine a cloaked wraith -> Tom is invisible like a cloaked wraith. Thus, it stands to reason that the power is based on whatever Tom is capable of imagining. Mephisto hard-codes a kind of imaginary program into Tom's mind, which Tom can then execute rather than go through the hard work of figuring it out ("painting it") for himself.
On these grounds, I'm opposed to letting Mephisto. Granting a mysterious demonic entity carte-blanche to meddle with your mind is a bad idea. Additionally, I imagine that Tom's mental energy/space is limited such that if we accept Mephisto's offer we will be largely limited to what he is willing to help Tom "learn".
Sidebar, very curious what we'll end up doing with the brainiac trait since it isn't tied to what looks like Tom's main powerset.
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>>6421574
>I don't need your help
Nothing good comes from deals with the devil. NOTHING, EVER. Better we go see an expert on the matter than immediately give in to the demon taking up residence in our head.
>>6421578
>I'm in favour of getting some demon magic to help progress whatever this serum is
Literally any other method would be preferable. The fucking Darkhold isn’t as twisty as this. If we’re going to go for demon magic, better we do it literally any other way.
>he's not offering us a contract. I think he just wants us using demonic means to advance our powers. That sounds like more of a horizontal sidegrade to me than a strict pact.
Anon, this is exactly how he gets people. “It’s not a contract, just a written statement with a place for signatures at the bottom.”
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>>6421583
Hahaha. I'm 99% sure Taskmaster has plans for us, but I don't know what those could be. We are definitely no physical combatant.
>>6421584
That is some concise reasoning. I suspect you may be correct. Nonetheless, I think it'd be cool to go the demon route, since it's rare for cape quests and escaping the fine print would be a fun story arc.
>>6421585
Are we sure we'll be able to find another route? Think about it. Infernal magic right there, on tap, just waiting for us to reach out and take it. All we've got to do is nod our head. Anything besides mono-tech is good.
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>>6421590
>Infernal magic right there, on tap, just waiting for us to reach out and take it.
Lent to us by a man known for wringing his clients for everything they’re worth, constantly screwing them over, and not even being able to trounce most other magical deities. This is an extremely raw deal that we shouldn’t touch with a fifty-foot pole.
Frankly, if we want to go the demonic minion route, it’d be a much better idea to aim for someone like Dormammu if we *need* a patron (which, given how Mephisto is talking about our power set, we might not). Mindless Ones and wraiths would be infinitely more useful in most combat scenarios than shitty little imps.
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>>6421606
>Mindless Ones and wraiths would be infinitely more useful in most combat scenarios than shitty little imps.
Hey! You're right, but that doesn't mean you have to be mean to the little guys!
If you're going to be a infernal summoner, is good to have the court jester caste of Imps to make things a little bit funny!
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>>6421590
>Infernal magic right there, on tap, just waiting for us to reach out and take it. All we've got to do is nod our head.
Have you ever read Faust? The story that Mephisto gets his name from? Which is essentially repeated every single time he is thrown into a plot by Marvel writers? Whereby someone makes a deal with him and suffers disproportionate tragedy in return for whatever boon he promises them up front?
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>>6421622
Well, honestly that's a really fair point. I think I would rather have to do that with a character I find more interesting or complex, to bounce off of. Kingpin, sure, or maybe Osborne, or Connors since he has an interest in our juicy nine-inch brain. But I think overall I am more inclined towards a mentor than a 'patron'.
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>>6421622
There’s no point in handicapping ourselves this hard before we even know our own capabilities, let alone our character. If there were a more fully-formed PC to go off of, I might see your point. As it is now, you’re essentially suggesting we jump off a cliff before we look in a mirror.
>>6421608
The court of imps can be accrued very easily without being on loan from Mephisto.
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>>6421574
>I don't need your help
Oh boy this is a lot to unpackage. Horny option turned out to be the worst trap option unsurprisingly. Alas despite being a boy genius he still fell for the honey trap and into the villain's trap. Black Cat knows Taskmaster and drugged him with a serum before luring him away. So Tommy was already scouted by villains previously. Most likely this is due to his genius HOWEVER we cannot ignore the much smaller possibility that his other gift was somehow detected too. Question is does Kingpin know about it? As Blackcat is being blackmailed and Taskmaster is someone who gets around.
Blackcat left him with Taskmaster who now knows the truth and was already monitoring him. Question is do they know what the serum was?
Then we get caught and summoned by a demon who also wants dibs. Not just villains interested in recruiting. With magick involved this implies that whatever we got dosed with isn't psionic but magical. Reality warping perhaps? Getting marked by hell isn't good as a person of diabolical interest. An easy target of opportunity by a demon who already knows a kid is being scouted and trained by villains. Even if turn it down it doesn't change that Timmy has certain associations now.
Kinda hard to shake that now when you've been given a specific hell power involving stealth and minions. Even if we refuse it doesn't change the 'inspiration' or origins that it stems from. Fucker got us good. Good news is if we refuse it still opens the doors for other entities to show up and make their own offers. Allowing us to play them off each other. The downside is that it depends on what kind of tier of entity we are dealing with.
It's likely we can get an easy freebie to quickly learn how to summon wraiths to help us out, to start with. Sneaky wraiths too. VERY helpful and stealth shroud spell too easy enough. However Asmodeus has competition that will also be interested in us and we are being actively monitored with our true identity known to unknown villain networks. At least one of them knows we got dosed with a serum too now. We do not know what originally caused us to draw their attention. Was it our genius or something...else?
Poor Tommy talk about getting thrown off the deep end because horny teenager...so much for that big brain of his. I guess stealthy minion build is great and easy start. That will be fun.
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>>6421578
We already got tainted by a demon and directly marked by hell itself. With a direct infusion of demonic magic giving us our very first ability...which is something we can NEVER escape from. That is highly problematic, especially given our two initial power seeds and whatever the serum did to us.
Making a deal with the perpetrator who flat out went 'lol I call dibs' is a terrible idea. By refusing the deal, we at least can keep our options open instead of outright selling our soul and damning ourselves to hell. That doesn't mean we are safe of course because of the afore mentioned being marked and tainted is meant to keep its options open. Give hell additional access. Basically its a win win for hell. Even if we refuse it doesn't change that we got marked. IF we sell out Hell directly gains another channel and a soul to champion its cause.
Of course, being marked means we unlocked demon magick...yay. We are gonna get stuck, followed by demons forever, also 'yay'. I mean, we DID skip the years of training to unlock magick...you know, in exchange for being haunted by demons. So silver lining there, I guess. Talk about the worst way ever to unlock magick, though. Seriously.
>>6421584
Mind not psychic ability or brain. Asmodeius specifically pointed out that it was magic not psionics, he was doing/teaching. What he did was unlock magic as a gesture of 'goodwill' specifically through demonic hell magic. Albeit by warping his natural ability to gain magical ability.
So right now the MC has three? Powersets unlocked Genius. Psychic. Magic. We don't know what exactly the serum did, just that it packed one hell of a punch, according to the demon. The demon wants in, hence it directly unlocked the magic, skipping years of training at a...'cheap cost' in exchange.
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My theory of what happened is that neither Felicia nor Masters know their civilians life, so maybe Masters was really trying to help Tommy to remember and see if they could maybe call the police for help
I believe that maybe Tom ended up in something like Peter in the comics, where he was chosen by destiny or whatever to be Spider-Man, and also the reason why in other dimensions there's always a Spider-Man even if it's some bizarre iteration.
Maybe Tommy got hit by the serum AND THEN Mephisto caught wind of him and wanted to get him (and basically, everything being just a coincidence). Or maybe, by some cosmic power Tommy was chosen, things worked out so Felicia and Tommy found themselves on the streets and everything else is coming to plan, and Mephisto was waiting for the right moment (now) to come and ask for a deal.
I really don't believe that Tommy was being scouted before all of this by Fisk
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>>6421590
Taskmaster specializes in training villains so is a likely talent scout? Only we aren't a bruiser but even combatants need tech support. Still unknown what his exact angle his but he's definitely got one.
We already have infernal magic unlocked and are being watched by hell. So yeah that is gonna be fun. At least we skipped the years long training required for gaining magick. You know in exchange for demons. I very much doubt hell is just gonna give up that easily after dragging us down there for a chat and marking the MC after forcefully unlocking his magick ability via hell magick. They even gave him the best possible starter ability for survival for a weak ass wet noodle of a drippy egghead. That isn't exactly a small investment for a gesture of goodwill. Even if Mephisto fails, other demons is gonna show up and keep showing up instead. They already have an in after all.
>>6421668
Then why did Blackcat take us to the school infirmary with Taskmaster right there? Seems like they know each other and she handed us to someone she knew who won't rat about the fuckup.
>>6421622
Fair point but I think trying to avoid getting chased by demons after getting directly marked by hell is also gonna be a lot of fun and plenty interesting. Its not like we can unlearn magick or get rid of our very first actual power you know? Especially one perfectly suited to keep us alive because holy shit did Hell get us good with perfectly suited starter power.
I wouldn't mind considering pacts when we aren't completely clueless and hopelessly weak. As is getting scouted by villains and having our real identity known is already gonna be enough of a clusterfuck. We are already in straight up nightmare difficulty mode as is. No need to upgrade straight to hell difficulty with selling our soul immediately.
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>>6421682
I hope so. Best case scenario they don't know but its odd we ended up at the school infirmary instead of hospital which bodes very ill in terms of villains. The most obvious option is villains recruiting eggheads again, which is how Thomas got noticed. They likely didn't expect him getting dosed with the serum or knew about his other 'gift'. Searching for geniuses and physical fitness is rather easy; looking for more obscure talents is a very different story.
The most obvious is that Tom was just labeled as another egghead recruit for villain recruitment. As it would have been difficult for them to know about his other talent. Which wouldn't have been too big a deal until he got dosed by a serum and brought back by Blackcat who seems to know Taskmaster, who helped cover it up. So we have TWO villains who know but one of those villains despises the Kingpin but we don't know who Taskmaster is working for. Blackcat will no doubt lie to the Kingpin but Taskmaster knows something is up and has already planned to train Tom.
For Taskmaster that egghead he was planning to recruit suddenly became a lot more valuable. Taskmaster does have a thing for teaching. He also suffers from side effects from a serum as well that haunts him. So it's personal for him too. We just don't know who he's working for or who is currently scouting for talent among villains.
For Mephisto, Tommy is a target of opportunity. He saw a chance and decided to take it. Rigged it in such a way that no matter what happens, he'll profit no matter what. Hell managed to squeeze in and it's more a matter of how much influence they reign in on Tommy over time. How much Mephisto can personally gain or if some other demons manage to beat him to the punch. That is assuming some other entity doesn't decide to throw its hat into the ring, either, instead of allowing only Hell to fight over a juicy morsel.
Yeah, it's not confirmed if Fisk knows about Tommy. Could easily be other villains scouting for talent.
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>PART 1/2
>>6421574
>I don't need your help
Visions of a wraith, Mephisto, a calamity approaches. Your invisible shell encompasses your body involuntarily, the sensation is new and it sends a shock through your entire being.
Through the process of this all, this 'free' gift, you're left feeling a little tainted.
Aspiring Braniac activates!
What's this remind you of? You remember reading a comic line about a powerful sorcerer. What did they refer to this type of gift by? That's it, you understand now. Infernal magic!
"These gifts and promises, they're just your way of convincing me to accept a horrible offer," you tell Mephisto.
Visionary activates!
Though you can't see him, you hone in, finally getting somewhat adapted to your enhanced senses in this strange realm. You feel him recoil at your words, surprised that you hadn't taken his offer. In a flood of images an infernal grimace is painted across your mind, disappointment.
"Keep the parlor trick," the voice says tauntingly. "There is death and pain riddled across the road you tread on, Thomas. In the coming weeks, very soon, you will come to despair and wish you had accepted my patronage," the darkness around you speaks, it's words are something infernal, something is bubbling up from the darkness.
"Go, boy. Watch your friends become enemies, your enemies become fallen, stand on your high horse so you get a good view of everything you could've changed," it finishes.
Whatever was keeping you upright had slipped away! You feel yourself falling helplessly once more.
"Gnillaf, gnillaf. Lla uoy reve od si llaf," the darkness taunts you.
When your ascension hits peak speed, your eyes flutter shut. For the first moment in hours, you feel a sense of safety again.
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PART 2/2
>>6422102
ou shoot forward and jump out of your bed, soaked in sweat. The heat of the afternoon sun blazes through the windows of your bedroom. There's no more pain in your head. You touch and feel around your entire body. You're in one piece. You're safe.
On the end table beside your bed sits a giant card.
WE LOVE YOU, THOMAS
You open it and see signatures from your friend Kaitlin, her mother and father, along with a cute scribble of their pet cat that Kaitlin undoubtedly added herself. The gesture briefly takes your mind away from the horrible events of the last little while.
As you stare at the card, a thought crosses your mind. You realize you rarely ever see much of Kaitlin's mom. You've met her, of course—Elektra Natchios. Kaitlin used to open up to you about her before, confiding that her mom not being around much worries her. Elektra has always been pretty hush-hush about her occupation, though she eventually settled on telling you that she works for a third-party agency connected to the government.
Looking around the room some more, you notice an envelope. The front of it is labeled The Little Spy. You open it to find a short letter written in cursive.
Hope that serum didn't mess you up too bad, kiddo.
That's all that's written, followed by a small drawn heart at the end. You let out a sigh. If only that lady knew the half of it.
According to the time on your phone, it's around 2 PM. Neither of your parents seem to be home, as the house is completely silent. No doubt your dad is at work, and your mom is out grocery shopping or spending time with one of her friends.
It seems like you have the whole house to yourself today.
>Reflect on everything that happened, supposedly you have powers now
>Go watch TV
>Study for school
>Write-in
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>>6422104
I feel like Thomas is way to smart and way to clever for his own good. Or well, that would be the theme for him lmao
>Reflect on everything that happened, supposedly you have powers now
>Investigate in the internet more about Mephisto, and maybe consider looking for ways to ward off evil beings like it
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>>6422104
>Write-in
Try to contact Coach Masters. He is the only one that might know more, right now. We don't know his deal in character, but he claims that Black Cat handed us off to him abruptly and then vanished.
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>>6422107
>>6422114
+1 to both of these, though if I had to choose I’d probably pick Masters. If we get to him, at the very least we can either find out if he was lying about Black Cat or get more information about her if we don’t.
Going to a church after being haunted by the devil might not be the best idea, especially since we don’t know how to control our powers yet. But we should probably study.
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PART 1/3
>>6422104
>Reflect on everything that's happened
>Investigation time!
>Try to contact Coach Masters
You take a pause in time to reflect on everything that's happened in the last 24 hours. Sitting on the hard wooden chair at your computer desk, you think about Mephisto, the calamity they mentioned, your abilities.. wait, you haven't even made another attempt at using your powers. Maybe you could somehow practice and get better at using them if you will it so?
Looking around your room, you try to find a suitable object to focus on. Starting small, you target a stress ball that sits directly on the desk you're seated to.
You feel a very small pressure build inside your head!
It.. holy shit! It's starting float. The ball in front of you lifts itself off the desk, you don't lose sight of it for a moment. You try squeezing it with your mind, it works. You hit it against the wall in front of you in different spots and bounce it up and down off your desk.
"Incredible," you say to yourself.
You practice dropping the ball, and picking it back up again with your mind. After a while you look for something harder, your computer tower!
The pressure in your head builds! Your nose begins bleeding slightly
This is hard to do, but compared to your sudden awakening in the nurses station yesterday it feels quite a bit easier to manipulate things. You don't do anything too risky with it, instead you just slowly lift it up and down off the ground, as if it were a weight in your own arms. After a while you let it go very gently.
Thinking for a moment, you try to find something even harder, something to really push yourself. The bed catches your sight from the corner of your eye, you focus on it, internalizing the object from the inside out, the steel frame, the heavy mattress. Your focus is undeniable.
You begin getting a bad headache! Blood is steadily trickling down your nose into your lip
"Damnit, come on," you say in frustration.
The bed drops hard onto the carpeted flooring, seems like this is pushing you a bit too hard, maybe with some practice you can get better at it?
You've become more adept with your telekinesis!
You can now lift slightly larger objects and creatures with your mind!
Telekinesis mastery: Beginner
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PART 2/3
>>6422161
>Investigation time!
>Try to contact Coach Masters
Heading into the bathroom, you grab a tissue to wipe your nose. It takes a few tissues until the flow stops, you feel a bit lightheaded and sit back down on your chair. After resting for a few moments you turn your computer on, half inspecting it to ensure you haven't broken anything and the other half with the intent to research into occult matters.
It boots up just fine, your home screen comes up after typing in your password along with the annoying reminder to update your PC to Windows 11, you groan slightly at the annoyance and quickly hit the exit button. You go into incognito mode on your browser, not wanting your parents immediate suspicion and begin scouring the internet for any sort of lead on Mephisto or something to ward off supernatural entities in the future.
Your efforts don't provide much, the only thing that seems even semi-reliable to go off of is a post from a strange forum you found online. The paranormal section of a website called 4pans details things like how to summon succubi, remove or manifest something called a tulpa, and other strange, borderline schizophrenic things being discussed. A post about a strange red creature named Mephisto comes up, there's not many replies and even less serious ones discussing the topic. You do gain some knowledge though, apparently things like dream webs and salt circles around designated areas can provide additional protection against certain entities, though you're unsure if this would do any good against that thing that kept you hostage.
Eventually, you give up your search. You feel a little more knowledgeable on the matter, maybe if you ever get in touch with someone more spiritually in tune you could utilize their services somehow.
You've discovered how to utilize minor protections against the supernatural!
You've learned how to form salt circles and utilize the effects of dream webs properly
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PART 3/3
>>6422167
>Try to contact Coach Masters
The coach mentioned that a strange woman handed you off to him, but how would she have even known where to take you? It seems like Masters is the only one who has the answer to that.
You dial the school's number on your cell phone, and after a few rings, a receptionist picks up. You tell her your name and explain that you're a student trying to get in contact with the gym teacher, Tony Masters. She tells you he's still in his office and forwards the call to him.
The line beeps while you're on hold until you finally hear him pick up. A slight lisp carries through the connection as he speaks.
"Thomas, I'm glad to hear you're doing okay," he tells you.
You thank him, updating him that you're starting to feel better and that you'll probably be able to return to school tomorrow. A television plays in the background on his end, something about the mayor making an important public announcement in a couple of hours.
As you speak with Coach Masters, he seems distracted by the broadcast, only giving vague or half-hearted responses to your update.
"Well, I'm glad to hear everything is going alright," he says after you finish speaking. "Was there anything I could do for you?"
>Can you tell me anything else about what happened yesterday?
>I'd like to start training, is it ok if I come by the school today?
>Do you know anything about something called a Mephisto?
>If I tell you something, can you keep it a secret? (tell him about your abilities)
>If I tell you something, can you keep it a secret? (tell him everything)
(Choose 2)
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>>6422171
>Can you tell me anything else about what happened yesterday?
>I'd like to start training, is it ok if I come by the school today?
Too soon to tell him anything, too bad an idea to immediately bring up Mephisto. These two options are at least innocuous, and if he’s seriously concerned for our health then his response to the second question will clue us in. That can help us further determine whether he’s lying to our face about the Black Cat meeting or just embellishing details to keep us from worrying.
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>>6422173
+1 to this, but depending on his answers I would be open to telling him everything. This version of Masters seems to be a good guy, and he is poised to be a perfect mentor for us. One of the most interesting characters so far, so I'm inclined to get in close with him.Would be super fucking cool for him to be like a second dad to us eventually, and then later he's attacked by Kaitlin's mom, and we realize it's her, and our loyalties get split
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>>6422171
>Can you tell me anything else about what happened yesterday?
>I'd like to start training, is it ok if I come by the school today?
So we have a threefold powerset. Genius. Magic. Psychic. Still have no idea wtf the serum did exactly. An incoming calamity that the demons are very confident will force us to align with Hell more will happen in a few weeks. We got tainted by hell in exchange for the 'free' magick lessons, allowing us to skip years of magical studies that unlocked our first magic which was infernal.
>>6422176
Taskmaster is an interesting villain in that, strictly speaking he's not a real bad guy. He's just suffering from his super serum side effects, that gives him amnesia through regular mindwipes that causes him to regularly lose chunks of his memory, which is being easily exploited by others, which is how he turned into a villain. He's never an independent villain but works as a contractor.
The kicker is he knows about the side effects but hasn't been able to do anything about it cause lol memory loss and regularly gets into fights with his 'employers' whenever he finds out he's being screwed over(again).
He is also a top tier teacher, which is why he is highly prized by villainous training institutions who notably are one of his few employers who don't screw him over. Probably why he likes teaching so much, to be honest. Well, besides his power being perfectly tailored for mentorship anyway.She first met Daredevil in college, if I remember correctly? Him and Batman both have a taste for bad girls. Is her Dad a lawyer by any chance?
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Looks like we're a few votes in for:
>Finding out what happened after we passed out
>Starting our initial training with the coach
All choices would've been significant in their own direction they'd take you down. I'm gonna call it early for this vote and start updating now.
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>>6422178
>So we have a threefold powerset. Genius. Magic. Psychic.
I am only reading it that we are a genius and have psychic powers - being able to do minor wards or stuff like salt circles feels like something that anybody in the world of Marvel could do with a little bit of reading; it's not proper Magic with an M so much as it is simple garden variety rootwork, yaknow? Being a telekinetic is dope, but I am very curious about our ability to list the chemical makeup of various drugs, is that sensory perception part of an expanded intellect, or is it an extension of the telekinesis, where we are physically feeling stuff around us with this new lens which is also able to move them. Does that make sense? Like whatever part of us is moving objects mentally, that is also able to 'feel' objects at a subatomic level, allowing us to more deeply perceive size, composition, etc. I think with Taskmaster's skills, having that kind of extra perception could make us really dangerous in a fight. I know there is still an urge to minionmaxx but I wanna lean into the story QM is telling, and the NPC's the dice have been serving us. We can still get a bunch of hired hands and wargame with them after a while.
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PART 1/2
>>6422171
>Can you tell me anything about yesterday?
>Can I come train today?
There's a pause for a moment, "Thomas.. you still there?" Coach Masters asks, the awkward momentary silence ceases when you sigh over the line.
"Something is bothering me, actually," you come clean to him. "That lady that brought me to you, how did she know to come to Midtown? I never had my school ID on me, or anything," you say.
There's a pause on his end now, longer than the previous one.
Visionary activates!
You get the feeling there's a bit of tenseness and something being premeditated on Coach Masters end.
"Mr. Connors has told me you're a pretty smart kid, Thomas," he tells you. "I like you, I'm not going to lie to you. That woman got lucky figuring out where you went to school, that's no lie. Me and her used to do a little bit of contractual work together before I became a teacher, she knows I work here, it was just luck she ran into me," he tells you.
"Luck?" You question him.
He just laughs a little over the phone, "Yeah, she hasn't changed much. She's got a weird amount of it too," he vaguely tells you.
Bond level: 1/6 activates!
There's a shuffling noise over the line, an uncomfortable one. Coach Masters lets out a cough and half a word before he stops himself. "Listen, Thomas, if you see her again try to steer in the other direction. I hear she's involved with bad people nowadays," he informs you.
You just agree and tell him you may.
"Good, is there anything else?" He asks
You ask if he's available for a quick training session. He responds with a hearty laugh, "Ambitious, you're very ambitious, Thomas," he says before laughing again.
"Well," he sucks in a breath. "I suppose I did promise you that I'd take you in and help, eh? Alright. But not too long today, I got some business to take care of this evening. Come swing by and try to make it before 5, ok?" He tells you.
You agree and hang up the phone.
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PART 2/2
>>6422184
Once the call ends, you race around your room as quickly as possible, gathering clothes you don't mind working out in. It doesn't take long to find a random pair of sweatpants and a light hoodie. Your bedroom door slams shut behind you as you rush downstairs and out the front door. Fortunately, you're just in time to catch the city bus.
You pay the fare, and the bus gets moving. The ride takes a little while, as usual, and it's accompanied by all sorts of strange pedestrians. Inside, a blind man and his larger friend discuss what the public announcement Mayor Fisk is making in an hour could possibly be about. The visually impaired man speaks strangely vaguely, while the larger one jokes and throws out ridiculous possibilities. The blind man doesn't seem too amused by the jokes, though.
Eventually, the bus stops in front of Midtown High. You quickly rush behind the school toward the gymnasium, where Coach Masters waits for you in the center of the court.
"Thought you'd never make it," he says jokingly, a smile on his face. "Got a lot of prep work done while you were on your way. What would you like to work on specifically?" he asks.
>I want to be faster
>I want to be stronger
>I want to be tougher
>Ask if the coach has any special regiments in mind
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>>6422183
The demon shoved infernal magic into Tom's head, remember? Unlocked magic and bypassed years' worth of magical learning in exchange for being 'tainted' and marked by Hell. Very confident that it won't be the end of their relationship because of the incoming calamity in several weeks.
Still don't know what exactly the serum did either. Our Genius powerset is directly compared to our Psychic powerset as being on the same level as the starter set. The only new thing is the magic with Infernal being the starter.
The problem is that Taskmaster is a bruiser and our physical ability is absolute trash of the highest order. We are a wet noodle of a drippy egghead. While Taskmaster is indeed an amazing teacher unfortunately his teachings really aren't very compatible with our lack of physical ability.
>>6422184
Confirmed that we were previously scouted. Both the villains know each other. The good news is that super serums are personal for Taskmaster, given how he got screwed by the side effects, too. Looks like they do not share the same employer currently. It's not Kingpin we had to worry about getting scouted by. When/if Kingpin finds out, he will have to feud with whoever it is to reach Tom. Could be worse.
>>6422187
>I want to be faster
Speed is survival...as in run the fuck away.
>Ask if the coach has any special regiments in mind
I am curious about this though.
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>>6422187
>I want to be faster
Let's start with our reflexes and speed, it'll help us use our powers and keep up in a scrap. I am interested in improving across the board, though.
>Ask if the coach has any special regiments in mind
Also... I think that once the training session is over, before we leave, we should let Masters know about our power. Tom isn't stupid. If that woman is involved with bad people, spilled a weird serum on us that gave us powers, and used to be a contractor with Masters, who Tom knows to have been a pro athlete of some kind in the past... It stands to reason that Masters has something bigger going on and is someone Tom can trust, and if I were his age, dealing with this, I wouldn't be ready to tell my parents but would know better than try to deal with it alone. Do other anons have arguments for or against bringing in the coach on our situation?
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>>6422187
>>Ask if the coach has any special regiments in mind
He should know best, ask if he has any recommendations for extracurricular teams we could join. A healthy habit to have as a teenager both physically and socially
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>>6422187
>Ask if the coach has any special regiments in mind
I’m curious about the wild card. Speed is the obviously good choice of the pre-set options, but I’m the type that needs to press the mysterious button in front of me. I want to see what this special regiment is all about.
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>>6422194
The issue is we the players know the Taskmaster can likely be trusted but his employers cannot be. We the players know Blackcat is being blackmailed by Kingpin and will run cover for Tom about what happened to his missing serum.
The problem Tom doesn't know this. Tom only knows that some hot chick spilled some shady ass serum on him, which resulted in getting dragged into hell, shaken down by a fucking demon that gave him infernal magic and literally marked him by hell. The coach knew something and helped cover it up but didn't come clean and knew the lady who had the serum.
Why wasn't he taken to the hospital instead? Why did he end up back in school with the coach? Why did they cover it up?
OOC we know villainy is afoot but IC the MC doesn't know that. He just knows a demon is breathing down his neck, shit is about to hit the fan in a few weeks, and the coach knows something more but is holding back for...reasons.
The MC has a big brain but he only has a reason to believe the woman is a shady bitch, not the coach(why would the coach be a supervillain lol). He has no reason to realise that villains have him zeroed in. He's just a genius kid way in over his head and he is just beginning to realise he's in really deep shit. He only knows about the demons part but not the villains. He has no idea about the heroes. His real identity is already blown and he has no clue.
He is smart enough to know he is in over his head but he's a kid and a genius who thinks he can handle it because he has powers, right? Plus, he has no idea to believe he's already been marked by villains and info about demons or magic isn't easily available. He's flying blind.
>>6422298
I think he already knows about the serum since Blackcat likely told him. Otherwise, why avoid taking the MC to the hospital and have him help run cover at the school? Its just the kid doesn't want to admit it because obviously he's in a rather fucked situation and it's likely neither of those two knew what the serum would do either. Taskmaster is likely hoping to get some clues during the training. Serums are quite the personal sore spot for him.
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>>6422305
>The issue is we the players know the Taskmaster can likely be trusted but his employers cannot be.
I don't really know that as a player, there isn't really an indication that Masters is working for anyone bad through dialogue or narrative. I, as a player, genuinely think he is a free agent and could be a 'good guy' in this universe.
What Tom knows is that this is an adult he can trust, not in his family, who really went out on a limb for him to be supportive when he failed and then possibly saved his life later in the same day. He is the guy I would open up to at this point.
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>>6422307
Taskmaster isn't an independent supervillain. He is always working for someone else. It's a side effect of his super serum that was taken advantage of and became part of his character arc. He suffers from memory loss, which gets heavily exploited. If he ever got his memory back, he likely wouldn't stay a villain(albeit there would be a LOT of hell to pay first). That is OOC, though.
I disagree. Tom knows he was drugged by a mysterious super serum but wasn't taken to the hospital; instead dropped off at school with a cover up that involved the coach. Which is obviously shady as hell. Then he got dragged straight to hell(literally) for a shakedown and gesture of 'goodwill' because of said serum and an interesting event soon in the future. That rattled him.
The coach was initially supportive but then did something shady immediately afterwards and than started holding back info. Both of them are holding back info. Why not take him to shield? Why not a proper medical facility? Why the infirmary and cover up? Why do those two really know each other? Tom is a smart kid but he doesn't know what he doesn't know. Like Taskmaster being much more trustworthy than he looks. The problem is...he really doesn't look that trustworthy atm.
Now if Tom finds out about being headhunted by villains and they were running cover for him? That would be a VERY different story now wouldn't it? But he doesn't know that. He only knows about the demons.
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PART 1/2
>>6422187
>I want to be faster
>Got anything special in mind?
The gym has various pieces of equipment and obstacles set up all around it. There's a short race section, an intense-looking weightlifting area, and stations for practically every category of fitness improvement. You already have something specific in mind, however—you want to be faster.
Deep down, you know you're not much of a fighter, at least not physically. Who knows what these powers you've gained will turn into over time? No, right now you're focused on speed. The ability to move from point A to point B as quickly as possible.
"I was thinking I'd like to become at least a little faster," you tell Coach Masters. "I was also wondering if you have anything special up your sleeve?" you ask him.
He places a hand under his chin, rubbing at the stubble there as he thinks of a regimen to improve your agility.
"Well, I suppose that's no problem. One thing you need to understand, Thomas, is that speed can only be improved so much. There are people with the ability to move at supersonic levels. However, unless you're a mutant or have some special means of achieving it, you as a human can only become so much faster naturally than you already are," the coach explains.
You nod in understanding. Regardless, you still tell him you want help becoming faster.
"As for any special training..." the coach begins, "I do have something in mind. It's very specific. I went through it myself years ago with my mentor. It was a program specifically tailored toward my own abilities, but you're smart, and I can see you adapting to it. It's very intense, though," he warns.
After coming back from speaking to some mysterious demon, you doubt a little exercise is going to scare you away. You express your interest anyway.
That seems to perk the coach up. He squints, studying you for a moment before smiling again.
"Well, let's kill two birds with one stone. Saves time, and you get to see what this old man used to be capable of by doing it yourself," he tells you.
He spends some time adjusting the setup of the gym, pulling certain stations closer together to form an obstacle course. He rigs various gym machines and miscellaneous storage equipment into place. Finally, he wipes some sweat from his brow and looks at you.
"Let's get started!" he yells excitedly.
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PART 2/2
>>6422314
ONE HOUR LATER
"Too slow!" the coach yells.
You try to catch your breath and let out a frustrated sigh. It's no use—you only manage to gag on the air your body is greedily trying to suck in. What in the hell kind of course is this?!
He's got some insane obstacle course set up where you're ducking, weaving, and wall-running—or at least attempting to—around strange objects like rounded shields, plastic arrows, and these weird clips that latch onto your skin and give you minor electric shocks.
You do your best, though it's unbelievably intense. Still, you can feel yourself improving, even if only little by little.
One thing is for sure, though...
YOUR BODY IS SCREAMING, BEGGING YOU TO GIVE IT A REST
Despite your best efforts to push forward, the lactic acid building in your muscles reaches such levels that it hurts even to stand still during the few brief moments you're allowed to rest.
ATTEMPT #16
You dive for cover from a shield being hurled at you.
"Too sloppy! Weave your head, don't throw your whole body down!" the coach yells.
ATTEMPT #30
Coach Masters has you trying to tag a wooden football dummy attached to a motor, causing it to move at an unfair speed. You fail miserably and end up tripping after an arrow clips your shin.
"Clumsy! You'd risk stable footing just to gain a modicum of speed? Restart!" he shouts.
ATTEMPT #-
No. No more. You can't take it anymore.
YOU'RE BATTERED, BEATEN—YOUR MUSCLES HURT IN PLACES YOU NEVER EVEN REALIZED HAD MUSCLES!
The coach gets the message. Feeling a little bad, he shuts down the stations and walks over to your side.
"Here," he says, handing you a bottle of water filled with electrolytes.
You thank him and wipe the sweat drenching your face. Some gets into your eyes, but compared to everything else, you barely even notice it.
"I'm proud of you, Thomas," the coach tells you. "It takes guts to walk into something like this on your first day and roll with the punches. Don't worry about your performance. Nobody does well their first time. Not even me," he confides.
The two of you sit side by side on the bleachers. He places an arm around your back and gives you a reassuring pat.
"You did good, kid," he says with a genuine smile.
You feel like your athletic ability has greatly increased! You now naturally move a bit faster and gain a permanent +1 to any roll requiring a PHYS check
You've survived the first set of Coach Masters special training! You've gained the physical passive 'Reflexive' allowing you to automatically dodge any one hit that would've been guaranteed to connect with you
Coach Masters has warmed up to you some more, you feel like this is the opportunity to gain more trust with him!
>Why did you train like that and who was your mentor?
>Are you sure there's nothing more you can tell me about yesterday?
>What kind of work did you used to do in the past?
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>>6422305
>Why wasn't he taken to the hospital instead? Why did he end up back in school with the coach?
Anon, schools have clinics. Hospitals are bureaucratic and anal about children having guardians. It would have probably been a safer bet to drop Tom off at Midtown than some random New York hospital.
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>>6422322
>>Why did you train like that and who was your mentor?
>Write-in
>"I... Want to tell you something else, about earlier. That woman, your old friend? Before I passed out, she spilled something on, something from a vial. It burned when it touched me, but didn't leave a rash, or scar. Do I need to be worried about that? Is she a chemist or something?"
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>>6422322
+1 to >>6422330, this is pretty much exactly what I was asking to do last time. Confide in him about the serum without admitting it gave us powers. Now that we’ve done training, I’m sure it’ll be even more effective.
If write-ins aren’t an option, i’d pick
>Why did you train like that and who was your mentor?
but it seems like you’re taking every response with substantial backing, so please refer to my +1 first and foremost.
On a slightly related note, good fucking job updating this frequently and to this quality. You seem to have an actual system behind this (with very generous benefits that are making me concerned at the huge DCs we might have to clear lol) and the fact that you’re maintaining it, *alongside* updating 2+ times a day (on workdays, no less!) is extremely impressive.
Seriously, QM, bravo. Looking forward to the next update. :)
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>>6422335
Yeh, I think depending on how he takes the serum comment, I would still be down to coming all the way out about our situation - he may even intuit it or just watch us very closely on suspicion and figure it out for himself anyways. I definitely want to keep training with him. I yearn for the Rock Lee training weight moment of Tommy starting out a scrap JUST using his Taskmaster martial arts, but hitting a draw and then suddenly whipping out telekinesis.
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>>6422330
+1
And just like >>6422335 said it's really impressive what you're doing here QM! I'm more of a Marvel guy even if I also enjoy DC, so seeing this quest running this good and being this consistent really has me excited! Specially because I wanna see what other surprises we get
Also, for anons who like to talk about our powers or routes, honestly there is someone we completely disregarded into our archetype: Dr. Doom
Magic + High Tech, in talks with demons... I don't know if in the comics he can beat people up thanks to some training he went through, but if it's the case, his route seems fairly similar to Tommy. But now? In the case we're not just using Masters' training as to build a good foundation and not sucks in the physical, I can see ourselves as something similar to Zemo? Except magically/supernaturally enhanced: Peak physical performance, intellect and creativity that lets us see beyond normal people normally notice, and some powers to gain an edge with more enhanced people. We're not some Machiavellian schemer (yet?), but we could be maybe a good strategist
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>>6422346
>Peak physical performance, intellect and creativity that lets us see beyond normal people normally notice, and some powers to gain an edge with more enhanced people.
Yeah, that sounds like the wave to me! If we didn't run into Masters I would've been down for minioning or piloting but it's just an insane opportunity to pass up. His fighting style synergizes really well with our intellect and creativity.
Would be cool to hone our telekinesis to fight with melee weapons that we levitate around us (thinking maybe of Alucard and his flying sword), or using telekinetic bursts to block and redirect strikes in close combat, trip people, etc - that would also require less energy and maybe not give us a nosebleed every time, in the short term. I bet Coach can even teach that exact kinda strategy.
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>>6422350
I wanna bring up Ermac from MK X (I think) where he has an variant that basically body slams himself with telekinetic force to basically shake the ground and fuck people up lol. Imagine some kind of luchador wrestling style where Tommy just levitate someone from the ground and powerbomb their ass lmao
I like your approach of levitating weapons and more precise uses like you said, but I'm a STR enthusiast so I couldn't stop myself from fantasizing something like what I said
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>>6422346
>>6422350
Our physical ability is absolute dogshit and the serum didn't seem to affect us physically whatsoever. So we are still dogshit physically talent and potential wise. As in Tom is very much a wet noodle of a leaky egghead character not a hardboiled egghead. Being able to learn to run at all is simply so we don't trip and break our leg in order to run away.
All our powersets are the opposite of the physically inclined...which means we need to avoid direct confrontation at all costs and most importantly fight SMART. We only have a few weeks to not get rolled instantly over by whatever is coming.
We have two initial powers that hint at our initial 'self preservation' setup. A stealth summoner and telekinesis. We also have hints for our first genius power being biochem related involving serums and drugs. Especially since we passed up visiting the tech store.
Gaining access to our very first minions the Wraiths via the summon wraiths will be absolutely priceless. Sneaky. Adaptable. Magical. Who knows what else they can do. With tinkering we can also gain other spells like shroud and who knows what else relatively easily.
Taskmaster will teach someone as squishy, weak, and fragile as us...how to not instantly get KOed in a fight. Preferably we don't get in said fight in the first place but you never know when shit will hit the fan. With telekinesis, we at least aren't completely screwed however that doesn't solve us being weak. Quite the opposite. It just makes us a bigger, more fragile target.
However someone like Taskmaster has something far more helpful to Tom...CONNECTIONS. Taskmaster knows a LOT of people and he knows how they fight and how to counter them. He'll know who can teach Tom about hell and infernal magick or at least where to get the learning materials from. For a genius that is far more helpful. Especially one who is also a psychic and can use magic.
So what resources and learning materials does Tom need most? That will be key.
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>>6422366
>Our physical ability is absolute dogshit and the serum didn't seem to affect us physically whatsoever. So we are still dogshit physically talent and potential wise.
Anon you have a bad habit of asserting things as fact that are purely speculative or based on your personal interpretation of what the QM has provided.
>You feel like your athletic ability has greatly increased! You now naturally move a bit faster and gain a permanent +1 to any roll requiring a PHYS check
>You've survived the first set of Coach Masters special training! You've gained the physical passive 'Reflexive' allowing you to automatically dodge any one hit that would've been guaranteed to connect with you
This indicates to me that we have already, from one training, become much more physically capable. It indicates to me that more training will continue to significantly improve our condition.
We fumbled one roll to run a lap, and that mainly manifested as us having a panic attack - not having a shortness of breath or poor coordination. That doesn't define us or make Tom a physical defect.
Tom can and should just keep training. If benefits continue at this pace and stack, I think just three or four more sessions will have us able to physically subdue a Shield Agent or hold our own against a lower tier physical scrapper like Swordsman, or maybe Crossbones.
>Gaining access to our very first minions the Wraiths via the summon wraiths will be absolutely priceless.
That isn't the power we were granted, though? The power that Mephisto offered us in the vision was to become invisible, not to summon wraiths. We don't seem to know any *real* magic, but I imagine we could learn it with training the same way we have begun to learn close quarters combat techniques.
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>>6422377
The QM outright stated we were given infernal magic and became tainted by hell. Also our physical stats were so fucking shit that we needed to get very innovative with our genius powers to catch up and train a lot...which we don't have time to do when shit hits the fan in several weeks.
No, we don't have the summoning spell yet but it's close enough to our initial magic power that it shouldn't be hard to unlock. A super obvious hint. I would rather quickly gather a few low hanging fruit that we can quickly snap up that preferably have great utility.
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>>6422379
I think you're just grabbing little hits that were given and exaggerating or going the extra mile anon. We don't know if the race we hit two 1 were to determine our base physical level, or if it was a normal check that we sucked at. Instead you come and say "Guys our character is an anemic, asthmatic, glass-bones mf, we NEED to go the minion route IS THE ONLY AVAILABLE WAY", and it looks like once you got that image you're not willing to let it go at all.
In the updates it is said that Tom is not good in physical sports, because we basically chose the nerd/art hoe options, and that's a given, we chose the Int+Cha specs instead of Str+Dex, it's obvious we would be on the low tier because of that.
The result of the 1 looked like maybe Tom got a mental block, like as if he was stunned by the noise on top of all the attention, like when you get so mad that you're really paralyzed in shock. MAYBE that's something that will come up the first time Tom has to use his powers to save his or someone's lives, but that's it, some kind of mental block that happened in that instant, going straight to discard everything else just for that is too much.
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I'll be writing the update most likely tomorrow evening at 5pm EDT. Thank you everyone for telling me you're enjoying the quest so far.
I remember years ago when Homeless Mutant Quest first started it was my first ever quest I participated in here. I've been a long time lurker, and I've always had love for this board.
My favorite marvel comics lines are Astonishing X-Men, Ultimate Spider-Man (not the newer reboot), Frank Millers Daredevil run, and Superior Iron Man.
I'll see you all tomorrow for the next update!
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>>6422379
>The QM outright stated we were given infernal magic and became tainted by hell.
No?
>>6421574
>You've gained the mental ability 'Reflective Coating,' allowing you to obscure your physical body and become invisible!
>Mental ability
Not 'magic ability' or 'spell', it's a psychic power.
You are getting hung up on
>>6422102
>Through the process of this all, this 'free' gift, you're left feeling a little tainted.
He says we are feeling a little tainted, not that the 'free gift' is. Brainiac activated to give us an insight
>What did they refer to this type of gift by? That's it, you understand now. Infernal magic!
It seems that he put a minor curse on us for rebuking him, seemingly on Reflective Coating itself. Possibly on our psychic ability at base, maybe causing the nosebleeds, but that feels like a reach; we probably just need training.
Hopefully if we are able to open up to coach Masters more he can put us in touch with a psychic or telepath capable of honing that ability.
Anyways, man, I just feel like you need to slow down. When you state these things like fact when they aren't fully established yet, or construe what the QM has written a certain way, you are potentially confusing or misleading incoming players that skim through to catch up. It also just bogs down discussion generally. Your enthusiasm as a player is amazing, but I think you need to reel it in a touch.
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PART 1/3
>>6422322
>Who was your mentor, why did you train this way?
>Coach.. I need to be honest
You both sit together on the bleachers. The entrance to the school gym has been propped open, allowing a warm evening breeze to occasionally drift in from outside. The setting sun begins to dim the horizon of the New York skyline.
Coach Masters and you are simply sharing friendly banter. For the first time in your life, it feels like a real adult has finally let their guard down around you. The coach seems completely at ease, as though the burden of professional boundaries has lifted, even if only slightly.
"Hey, Coach. You keep mentioning a mentor. Why would they train you like this for some kind of varsity sport?" you ask.
Masters freezes for a moment, caught off guard by his own comfort and loosened defenses. He winces slightly.
"Well..."
Your growing bond with Tony Masters causes him to open up!
A heavy silence lingers between the two of you.
"Thomas, the mentor I've mentioned before... they saw potential in me," he begins. "But if I'm being honest... if I could take back all that training and opportunity, I would," he admits.
Visionary and Aspiring Brainiac activate!
You focus on the coach. Without meaning to, your enhanced senses kick in. When you truly hone in on him, you're somehow able to tell that his heartbeat is racing faster than usual. The strain in his eyes catches your attention, like he's holding himself back from tears.
"Coach, I'm sorry. I didn't mean t—"
You're cut off.
Coach Masters wipes at one of his eyes. "It's okay, Thomas. I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt here. Let me tell you a story..." he begins.
You feel much closer to Tony Masters!
Your strengthened bond has unlocked a deeper sense of trust with Coach Masters, you get the feeling the coach has a soft spot for you!
Tony Masters bond level: 2/6 - Trusted Friend
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File: professor thornton.jpg (82.1 KB)
PART 2/3
>>6422537
ALBERTA, CANADA - 24 YEARS AGO
The cold climate of the ever shifting season has a chokehold over the playing field. The well maintained field has many spectators bedazzling the sidelines, cheering for your team. This playing season has brought a lot of excitement, you were enrolled to this university on a sports scholarship for rugby. An up and coming prodigy, your coach could seldom believe your game IQ and ability to adapt to different strategies.
Today, somethings different though. Among the cheering spectators is a man, dressed very sharp given it's a rugby event. His eyes seem drawn to you, and the guards by his side stand ready, causing some minor tension within his vicinity of the crowd.
The start of the match begins! Your opponents gain advantage and try to score past your pitch, it's a failed attempt! You hook the running man heading straight into your pitch under his arm, causing confusion and allowing you to sweep the mans leg, bringing him to one knee and allowing you to reverse the initial game start.
"TONY MASTERS TAKES THE BALL FOR THE ALBERTA AIRHAWKS!"
The crowd cheers wildly for you, you weave and easily sideline your opposing team and manage to slip into their pitch! Score! You slam the ball on the ground and gain a 5 point try!
"MASTERS, MASTERS, MASTERS!" the crowd cheers, your teammates all rush into you for a moment, colliding and celebrating.
80 MINUTES LATER
The crowd is celebrating your easy victory, the other team is completely dismantled morally, your team makes their way to inside the locker room. You're stopped by the strange man in the suit, his guards eye you carefully.
"Hell of a game, Mr. Masters, hell of a game," he tells you.
You thank him, trying to be curt and getting back to be with your team, a large man cuts you off from the door and stands in front of you.
"Amazing skill, you're truly an adaptable man. Don't you want to strive for more though? I can help take you there," he says, a cheap smile painted on his face.
You sigh, frustrated, "Who are you?" Is all you ask, your slight lisp trailing off at the end.
The man fishes a card from his pocket, PROFESSOR, ANDRE THORTON it reads. "I'm a man in charge of a program that few people are lucky to enlist in," he tells you.
You study the card, it seems legit. "What's the program?" You ask, interested in the offer.
Another smile, something sinister behind this one, "One carefully designed for top military personnel, undergoing civillian trials," he says, pausing for a moment. "It's located in this province, called The Weapon X Facility," he finishes.
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PART 3/3
>>6422544
>Coach.. I need to be honest
Coach Masters finishes telling his story. You get the sense there's much more to it, though he doesn't let on and instead stops at a convenient point.
"The long and short of it, Thomas, is that I want to offer you a safer way of improving than the opportunity I was given," the coach tells you.
You pause for a moment. His honesty reaches you in a way that feels genuinely sincere. You're moved by how much he's opened up to you.
"Coach..." you begin, "I need to be honest with you about something."
That immediately catches Masters' attention.
"That woman—your old friend? Before I passed out, she spilled something on me. Something from a vial. It burned when it touched me. No rash, no scar... Is she some kind of chemist? Do I need to be worried?" you ask sincerely.
He stares at you sternly. A moment of thought passes behind his eyes.
"Be completely honest with me, Thomas. It's important that you are. Has anything strange been happening to you since then?" he asks.
>Be honest
>Go halfway
>Lie
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>>6422545
>Play from Mephisto's handbook and vaguepost
>"Perhaps..."
Jk, I'll vote for real now
>Be honest
I'm surprised he is really telling us this in our first day of school, but if us with our heightened senses could tell that he was telling the truth of his origin and everything he has said, I don't see it as a problem to tell the truth. And if this is some kind of betrayal then it will suck but it's going to be an awesome arc when we uncover it
Also good morning QM! It really is a surprise to see you around at this time.
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PART 1/2
>>6422545
>Be honest
Coach Masters' questioning causes you to pause. You mull it over in your head for a minute. How much of the truth do you even tell him? In the end, only one answer comes to mind: all of it.
"When I woke up in the nurse's station yesterday, everything felt weird... painful," you confide in him.
He looks concerned. "Weird and painful?" he asks.
"It's like all my senses became stronger. I could hear things loud and clear from outside the school, and if I look at something and really focus, I'm somehow able to just know what compounds are involved in its makeup," you explain.
Completely caught off guard, the coach stands up from the bleachers and steps onto the hard, polished gym floor.
"You sure you're not a... you know?" he asks. "A mutant?" he finally says.
You shake your head. You tell him this is almost certainly because of that strange liquid the woman splashed onto you.
"I'm also able to lift things with my mind now. I can't do anything too crazy with it yet—it hurts too much. But I've practiced a tiny bit so far, and I feel like it can become stronger. Or maybe I can do different things with it," you admit.
Masters stares at the floor for a moment before looking back at you.
"And you're not pulling my leg? This is serious, Thomas," he says, clearly disturbed by the news.
You nod. Honestly, part of you wishes it wasn't true.
Outside, the bright sunlight has faded into a dim orange glow. The evening light stretches across half of the coach's body as he stands there. He seems more tense now after hearing what you told him, as though he's carefully thinking through how to respond.
Tony Masters Bond Level: 2/6 activates!
He suddenly jogs to his office and returns a moment later with a small ripped sheet of paper.
"Thomas, if you're ever in trouble or need help, don't go doing anything crazy with those abilities. Call this number if something's going on and you need it," he says, handing you the note.
A phone number is scribbled on it with only the initial "T" written above it.
You look down at the note, then back up at the coach, and tell him you will.
"It's getting late. I've got some work to catch up on tonight, and you should get back home. Your parents are probably worried," he tells you.
He's right. You've been gone from the house forever by now. Your parents are probably freaking out.
You thank him for everything today—the training, the guidance—and tell him he's been an amazing teacher.
He only smiles in response.
As you leave the gym, you hear him call out one last time.
"Oh, and Tommy..." he starts. "Don't go downtown today. A lot of people are attending the mayor's speech. Might be some weirdos out tonight," he says, concern clear in his voice.
Nodding, you head out the door.
The last thing your enhanced hearing picks up is the coach sighing softly.
"Oh... kid, I'm sorry."
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PART 2/2
>>6422745
The crisp evening air bites at your sweat-slicked skin. Tinges of cold wrap around your face and damp hair, a reminder that fall is slowly arriving and summer is beginning its gradual departure.
You walk to the bus stop by Midtown High, where two other people are having a conversation inside the shelter.
"You headed to the mayor's announcement?" one of them asks.
The other simply nods in agreement.
"Heard there's gonna be a lot of people attending. Apparently, it's really important," she says.
Thinking about it now, there's even a chance your parents might not be home right away because of the mayor's event. Though they've never explicitly expressed much interest in things like this to you, you're reminded of the many times they dragged you along to similar public announcements when you were younger.
You figure this is probably just the mayor announcing some massive new building project with his name slapped on it, or something along those lines.
Still, you can't help but feel a little curious about it.
>Go to the event, your parents are probably somewhere there anyhow
>Just go home, take the coaches advice
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>>6422752
>Just go home, take the coaches advice
Coach knows things, it's better if we listen up and learn. If anything we can watch it in the news or maybe put the Livestream in our PC while we're gaming
Or studying, whatever happens first
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I feel a bit stupid for not realizing “be honest” = “tell masters about your powers.” Oh well, changing my vote wouldn’t have done anything anyways.
Still. Can’t help being suspicious.
>>6422752
>Just go home, take the coaches advice
We’ve had basically no time to rest since that serum, and it’s pretty late. May as well wind down at home. Throw a livestream of the event up on a second monitor, boot up Minecraft or something, try and relax before bed. Anything important can wait for tomorrow.
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PART 1/2
>>6422752
>Just go home and watch what's happening
The coach's ominous advice convinced you that heading straight home was probably the better option.
You board the bus when it arrives, only to find it incredibly crowded. Seldom do you see it this packed outside of rush hour. Families trying to avoid the heavy traffic by using public transit fill nearly every seat. Everywhere you listen, people are discussing what this announcement could possibly be about.
Eventually, the bus stops near your house. It idles as you step off and make your way home.
Unlocking the front door, you call out, "Hello! I'm back!"
Only a single set of footsteps answers.
It's Kaitlin.
She descends the stairs from your room, and your heart drops the moment you realize she's holding the letter from Coach Masters' old friend.
"My little spy?" she asks inquisitively. "And what's this about a serum?" she adds, raising one eyebrow slightly.
You massage your forehead, trying to ease the stress building there. Damn, you hadn't truly realized how exhausting the last couple of days had been. The constant chaos and excitement are really starting to wear on you.
"Kait, you know it's rude to go through other people's letters," you scold her.
For a moment, you feel more like her parent than her friend.
Kaitlin Natchios' Bond Level: 3/6 activates!
She scrunches her nose at your scolding.
"Ew, you sound like my dad," she says, though there's a slight hint of regret afterward.
Kaitlin shrugs her shoulders. "Well, whatever, I guess. You had me worried sick though, Thomas!" she says, placing the letter back onto the small table near the front door.
She rushes forward and hugs you tightly, and you quickly return the embrace.
"I was just spending some time back at the school. Coach Masters is actually a pretty cool guy," you tell her.
She looks genuinely surprised.
"You? Working out?" she laughs at the thought.
Whatever, you think. You'll show her.
"Anyway, wanna watch whatever this announcement is?" you ask.
Kaitlin simply nods and walks into the living room, where she drops onto the couch and pats the seat beside her.
You take a seat and flip over to the news, where a live broadcast is already playing.
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PART 2/? (ended up being a bit longer than I thought)
>>6423071
"This is Eddie Brock, live on the scene at Times Square where Mayor Wilson Fisk is preparing to make an important announcement," The tall, broadly built man says.
The screen flickers back to a newscaster sitting back at their desk, "What's the atmosphere like over there, Eddie?" They ask.
"A mixture of tension, and confusion at the sudden announcement," Eddie replies.
Mayor Fisk steps onto the podium mid sentence as Eddie speaks, Eddie stops himself and signals to the camera crew to focus. The view peters out from Brock and the rest of the crowd and focuses on the stand where Mayor Fisk now begins his speech.
He stands there, huge and imposing in front of the microphone, there's an air of elegance behind the brutish build he sports though, "I want to thank you all for coming.." he starts, "There has been chaos in the streets of New York for too long now," Mayor Fisk says.
A huge screen flashes images that a projector displays on it, pictures from the press of mutant riots, peaceful protests being interrupted, and statistics of the casualties that have taken place through all of these events.
"I'm afraid.. this is going to be hard for some of you to watch," Fisk admits. There's audible confusion from the crowd, until a video is played over the projector.
In the video, New York is laid to ruins. Strange heroes you've never seen, and some who are all to familiar line the roads with their bodies, alongside their adversaries. "Commander Fury, this is Reed. Something terrible happened here," the voice says.
Visionary activates!
You recognize the all too familiar voice of Reed Richards, one of the founding members of the Fantastic Four. How could you not? The man is a genius that helped revolutionize the sciences behind multiple industries.
The video has a weird skip for a second, more gruesome images of bodies flood the screen. "The mutants, Fury. They had enough of everything happening to them, they finally got pushed too far," he says concerned.
Aspiring Braniac activates!
Wait a minute.. something seems off about the footage, that weird jump between the initial start and now. You can't quite put a finger on it.
The video abruptly stops, Fisk stands there rubbing and inspecting the shiny, huge ring on his finger before he looks up at the crowd once more. "Mutants, we all may have our own thoughts and feelings on the matter. The video, however, speaks for itself.." Fisk says as he sucks in a sharp breath.
"This is bullshit!" Someone shouts from the crowd, others start to join in, angry from the video displayed.
Fisk knocks heavily on the wooden podium, "Please, everyone calm down.." he says, "Now for the reason behind the announcement, as Mayor of this fine city.. I am issuing an order for all mutants to be banned from New York, effective immediately," he firmly finishes.
Most of the crowd cheers, some shift uncomfortably.
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PART 3/3
>>6423076
Those who shift uncomfortably are accused of being mutants or mutant supporters. It doesn't take long for the crowd to become aggressive. Police interference begins as a huge escalation of violence erupts from the crowd. It does little to stop the massive gathering of people at the scene. The broadcast camera cuts out as a flood of people begin fighting around it.
Kaitlin takes the remote from you and shuts the TV off. She looks at you with a deeply concerned expression on her face.
"Both my parents are there... both of OUR parents are there!" she exclaims, a tear forming in her eye.
It's true. Your parents have never missed a rally or a mayoral announcement regarding important matters. You try to look confident. You try to convey that things will be alright, but in truth, you're not sure yourself at the moment.
Kaitlin hugs you tightly again. "Please, Thomas... we have to go and find them! They might be in a lot of trouble," she pleads.
>No it's too dangerous
>Ok, but stay close to me
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>>6423078
>Ok, but stay close to me
>While trying to go there let's call our parents to know where they are
It would be really stupid if we get there, throw ourselves to the middle of the crowd and they're already out. I'm also thinking of not going, because either things will go bad for the two of us or something
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>>6423081
+1
>>6423076
Odd how Kingpin seems focused on the mutants? It seems a bit incongruent with everything else. Either he’s trying to get them out of the way or he’s covering up for what he’s really doing (latter makes sense if it’s magic at least).
I do wonder if the shoddy editing is what caused the riots. Could be that people saw through the propaganda and got upset. It *is* New York, after all, lol.
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>>6423078
>Ok, but stay close to me
Of course you're going. You have to. Your parents could be in serious trouble.
You nod to Kaitlin. "We're going, but stay close to me," you tell her.
She agrees. "I have some pepper spray, and my mom's shown me how to fight a little if we run into trouble," she responds.
That's good to know, though if the riot has escalated at all, you're unsure how martial arts and pepper spray will protect you against any rogue mutants who are actually in that audience.
Stepping outside, you're both greeted by an unwelcome sight. Off in the distance, toward Times Square, smoke billows into the sky from what is most likely the location where the announcement had taken place.
"Oh no!" Kaitlin says, anxiety laced within her tone.
There's no time to waste. Opting not to wait for the bus—if they're even running at the moment—you both decide to continue on foot. You maintain a steady, unrelenting pace despite your physical exhaustion.
After a while, you're both winded and tired, but much closer to the scene of the riots. You hear yelling and screaming in the distance from every direction.
Aspiring Brainiac activates!
You have an idea. Pulling out your phone, you dial your dad's cell. It rings for a moment before someone answers. The line clicks, and you're greeted by the sound of an alarm on the other side.
"Dad...?" you say, wanting to hear something—anything—from him. It's futile. A crumpling noise is all you receive, followed by the call disconnecting.
Stress begins to swell in your head, causing an odd sensation mixed with your enhanced senses... wait a minute, that's it!
Though you're still some distance away from the center of the riot, the noise and voices are clear as day. You try to focus. This isn't a game, Thomas. Your parents could be in serious trouble.
An alarm. Somewhere with a siren.
You fixate on the chaos ahead of you, searching for anything that might be a clue. Kaitlin grabs your hand. "You okay?" she asks, concerned.
You say nothing.
Visionary + Set The Scene activate!
>Roll a 1d20+4
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>>6423587
"C'mon, come on..." you whisper to yourself.
Your eyes are locked shut as you push yourself further. The seconds continue to tick by, each one counting as you strain against your limits. Something wraps itself around the inside of your head, the sensation coating your brain unlike anything you've felt up to this point. A location enters your mind, much farther away from where you and Kaitlin currently are. Yet you see it live and in person, as if you were truly there... though it's not quite you, is it?
VISIONARY IS PUSHED TO THE LIMIT!
No... it's not you at all. You don't know who you are. You're looking through the eyes of another civilian caught in the riot as it rages on. In the corner of your vision, you see your parents—your mom and dad huddled together, attempting to hide for safety.
You're inside some sort of building. It's still mostly intact, for the most part anyway. The windows have been smashed in. It looks like they're in a reception area of some sort. The stranger's vision focuses on a door inside the building for only a moment. Whoever works here has their names printed on the glass:
NELSON & MURDOCK
You don't have the faintest idea who they might be, but at least you have something to go off now.
Fading... fading away...
You return to yourself. Shaking your head for a moment, you notice Kaitlin looking extremely worried about you. What the hell was that? You're not even sure how you did it. Whatever, you think. What matters now is that you have a rough idea where to go.
"We need to go deeper into the riot," you tell her.
Kaitlin only blinks for a moment, staring at you. "How do you know?" she asks, genuine confusion and concern written across her face.
You shake your head. How could you possibly explain what just happened? There's simply not enough time.
"I have a really good feeling. My parents know a place with a good view around Times Square," you lie.
She doesn't bother questioning you any further, only shrugging and following along at this point. The two of you rush deeper into the chaos. Some small businesses are engulfed in flames, fire cascading out of shattered windows. Those currently out on the streets are too busy fighting one another to notice any new faces entering the middle of it all.
>Take your chances and continue pushing forward in the open
>Try to find a detour, you'll be safer if you find one but it will come at the cost of time
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>>6423630
>>6423630
>Take your chances and continue pushing forward in the open
Unless some maniac or psycho is out to try and hurt two kids in the middle of a violent riot, I think that the ones fighting against themselves won't notice.
>>6423632
I think that's an option, but we haven't used it once, and we risk of just blowing it all in front of Katlin using our powers right now like that
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>>6423630
>Take your chances and push forward through the riot
The masses engaging in fighting are too distracted by their own pursuits to notice either of you, at least that's what you figure. You continue forward, out in the open of the main street and gain quite a bit of distance without running into trouble. Something is in the back of your head though, like a premonition. You stop in your tracks, Kaitlin does as well right with you.
"Thomas? What's going on?" She asks, unsure as to why you stopped.
Can you do that trick again? You try to focus, honing your senses, you push and push. Trying desperately to see through the eyes of that person once more, it's no use however. The frustration hits you, is this what's bothering you? No. It's something else, something feels off. Something feels like..
You get the feeling you're being tracked!
You give it another push, but this time you're only listening and feeling around the surrounding area. Closing your eyes you try to envision strings, connected and all around you, scattered into different directions.
You become awash in sensation, seemingly connected to the sentience around yourself!
SOMEWHERE VERY FAMILIAR
Your efforts have paid off, and with little time to waste. In this realm there is just yourself manifested, the echoes of the surrounding landscape in real time are just like waves crashing into your essence. You walk a brightened plane, unlike the infernal one you found yourself trapped in, this one is of your own. Your desire, what you seek is right in front of you. If only you wish of it, if only you focus on it.
>Focus on both your parents
>Focus on who or what is following you
>Tune in on any other abilities you're currently able to reach out for
>Something else.. (write in)
(Pick up to 2)
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>>6423888
>Focus on both your parents
>Focus on who or what is following you
If this is like a personal mental plane that we can access, we can discover the other abilities later. We need to get our parents and get out
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>>6423888
>>Focus on both your parents
>>Focus on who or what is following you
Making a note for later that we have a kind of thread to Daredevil, and a direct one to Elektra - Stick could probably do a lot with this extra-sensory dimension to our powers, Tommy could actually end up being really, really gifted as a fighter. I'm sure Coach will be able to work with it as well though maybe not in quite the same way.
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PART 1/2
>>6423941
You need only look through the strings. There is one among them all that leads you down the right path. Standing still in the euphoria of the state you've seemingly achieved, one thing comes to mind.
You've unlocked the passive ability, 'Flow State,' an incredible mental ability.
Through rigorous mental training, you've gained enough foresight to achieve a near-omniscient fighting style. It's as if you can see seconds into the future, allowing you to more easily predict your opponent's next move. You gain a +2 to any roll requiring an AGI check.
This realm of your mind serves only to guide you. Without even needing to command it, the strings reveal themselves to you, the correct one flying toward you on its own.
You lightly grasp it, giving it a tug. The moment you do, you're flooded with sounds rapidly approaching.
"We need to stay here, Stephanie," your father says.
Absorbing the essence of where the voice is coming from, you pull harder on the string. Your father's voice grows louder until...
NELSON & MURDOCK
"Stephanie! Are you listening to me?" She's not listening. Fear seems to have gripped her a little too tightly.
She's not wrong, though. Neither of you are as young as you used to be. Thinking about that while standing near the center of a riot only serves to make things worse.
"Hun, listen... we're going to be safe, but we need to stay here and listen to what this guy is saying," you instruct her calmly, your eyes fixed on the man dressed in red leather.
It's honestly hard to take your eyes off him. He's a peculiar sight. You've heard of this guy before—'Daredevil,' the man labeled by the mayor as the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.
This is a mess, you think to yourself. Can you really trust this guy? More than half of these types end up being fucking crazy. You've never admitted it before, but you think the world is better off without people like them. What's the difference between a mutant and someone like this guy?
You pause after hearing that thought from your father. It strikes a chord within you. Would he look down on you if he knew what you could do?
Fading... falling...
Your eyes shoot open. It's as if only seconds have passed. Kaitlin is still staring at you, worried.
"Thomas, you're scaring me..." she says under her breath.
"I'm sorry, Kaitlin. Please... I just need one more second, I promise," you assure her.
Shutting your eyes again, this time you understand. Taking a deep breath and stepping into the essence is all you have to do.
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File: sabertooth.jpg (209.0 KB)
PART 2/2
>>6423946
The surrounding area is littered with the small ropes that guide you to the hundreds of people living within this part of New York.
One of them stands out to you almost immediately. The way it lifts without command and becomes agitated feels strange to you. You walk up to it and lightly hold it in place.
"Love the younger meat. Guess I can play around before I find you and fuck you up, James." the voice says to itself.
You get a horrible feeling from this rope!
You give it a harder pull anyway and slowly begin weaving it into yourself.
BROADWAY AVENUE
Your claws pierce the brick as you stalk your prey alongside the apartment building. The grip strength in your hands easily pulverizes the structure, giving you an easy time carving your own path along the wall.
Gotta be quick. There's bigger fish to kill, after all. Ever since the X-Men touched down near the site of the riot, you're running on limited time. You know that prick is trying to find you too.
Cackling bitterly to yourself, you think times like these make for great stress relief. That boy seems a little interesting. The way he pauses and acts so sure of himself... you think you'd love to play with him the most. The girl's too young, though, even by your standards.
Your yellow-and-brown costume clings to the orange brick building, causing you to blend in poorly. The wind blows your long blond hair behind you, along with your thick facial hair to boot.
It doesn't really matter if people spot you. You think to yourself that they'd probably shit their pants if someone like you came by. Your deep laugh echoes out once more.
Focusing on your prey, you spot the young boy and dark-haired girl stopped once again. You lick your sharp teeth and grin.
"Yeah... maybe I'll mess with you first, kid," you say with a squint, clearly interested in the young man.
You feel your heart drop. The terror nearly kicks you out of your flow state entirely.
Your heartbeat quickens, racing with fear as you're forcefully pulled out of the essence and lose focus!
Your eyes shoot open this time, a look of shock overtaking your face as you stare at Kaitlin. It only serves to push her deeper into a state of fear.
>We need to run
>Don't worry, I'm going to protect you
>Quickly tell her about the huge man following you both
>There's no time! (Use Reflective Coating)
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>>6423957
>There's no time! (Use Reflective Coating)
Bad idea, but the other options are worse and I can’t think of a write-in right now.
So, so far, we can…
>use telekinesis
>possess people (not with autonomy, but we can see things through their eyes AND mind)
>predict attacks seconds before they hit
>turn ourselves invisible
>astral project(??)
Is that everything? Let me know if I’m missing anything.
This is a huge hodge-podge of OP shit that makes me wonder what the hell the main threat behind all this is. We are painfully, blindingly, obviously not street level. We are Charles Xavier with Spider-Senses who stole Nightcrawler’s invisibility and made it better. This is all a sham. There is no way our world is one in which Kingpin, Taskmaster, Daredevil, and the X-Men are major threats or helpful allies.
Someone in Mephisto’s tier is probably more appropriate to our power level, which makes me think that the grandmaster pulling the strings is one of his ilk. Nobody as ridiculous as Shuma-Gorath or an abstract, but some kind of middling demon lord that 90% of street-levels would consider their biggest threat ever (but high-level sorcerers would probably be able to dispatch in a few panels if they put their minds to it).
N’astirh, maybe? Just because of the X-Men mention? Then again, I’m not sure he’d be able to trounce more than a dozen heroes without getting his shit kicked in by someone like Thor or Dr. Strange. But someone like Satannish seems *too* powerful to be making deals with Kingpin and/or fighting us…
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>>6423957
>There's no time! (Use Reflective Coating)
There's no time to think any further! You need to do something, now.
You try to ground yourself. There's an easy way out of this... so why does it feel so wrong?
Temptation overtakes your mind for a moment.
"Kaitlin, I'm sorry I never told you earlier," you say, offering her only a weak smile.
A strange aura surrounds you and climbs toward Kaitlin, her hand still in yours. It tightens when it fully forms around the two of you.
Once it completely envelops you, something doesn't feel right. You try to see what that horrifying man is thinking, but it's as though your powers struggle to function within this ability.
Quickly, you realize you won't even need to read him.
With a massive leap from a distant building, he crashes down not far from where you both had just been standing. He looks shocked, albeit disappointed.
"Damn... and which one of you was that, huh?" he asks.
He sniffs the air, but sighs in frustration when nothing comes up.
After one final desperate sweep of the area, you and Kaitlin manage to slip around him easily.
"Fuck it. Buncha damn kids," he mutters before taking off toward another part of the city.
The aura releases its hold on you once he's gone, leaving behind a strange sensation.
It's all over. The crushing pressure from moments ago finally lifts from your shoulders. Quickly trying to see if the aura has done anything to you, you suddenly feel something stirring inside your head. A migraine slams into you for a moment, the intrusion of foreign thoughts overwhelming your mind.
You feel as though someone else is looking through your eyes.
The feeling never truly goes away either—you simply begin to grow accustomed to it.
Kaitlin stares at you in shock.
"Thomas... are you a—"
She's cut off. Time freezes for a moment.
"Okay, dear Thomas. Allow me to take it from here."
Mephisto's voice echoes through your head, interrupting your thoughts and pulling you away from yourself for a moment. You feel weightless within your own body, as though you've been temporarily plucked out of it.
All you can do is watch.
>Roll a 1d20 to try and take back control of yourself.
"DC is 20, though if you allow us to be closer I could be swayed" Mephisto says
>Let me see a contract
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>>6424470
>"Mephisto! Don't make me use the name of the Lord in vain! I'm not the religious type, but if you're gonna be the slimy creature that you are then I'll call someone else to take part in this!"
Dude this mf SUUUUUUCKS. If we flipped him off the first time we could do a second one. Call Archangel Michael for protection or something idk, but we have to call out his shit now
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>>6424499
Oh btw, I wanna point out that for this vote Tommy gets inspiration of not only whatever he knows about Christianity but also the movies about Exorcism and possessions that he saw. And of course the fundamental key to it: True Faith (either from truly believing in God and his protection, or in the case of Tommy, a nerdy kid, in the more meta sense of actually believing that having unshakable faith in his strategy is enough for it to work)
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>>6424498
If we get locked into one we can call the Coach and find someone like Strangeor maybe Mordo depending on who this version of Masters has in his rolodex...to cleanse our shit. Pain in the ass, though, I cannot STAND Mephisto. So malignant and a jobber to boot. Always, always loses BAD. At least with a patron like Dormammu we might take in some W's occasionally... But whatever happened to being a free agent?
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>>6424516
I mean, if we get into a contract with Mephisto and thus escape the possession, we can have that contract nullified by the right wizard, I'm sure. Even if we don't make a deal, this condition will have to end sooner than later - this is a quest, after all, we can only lose agency for so long before it ceases to be a game. We need some kind of wizard to rinse the curse off of this ability, if we ever wanna use it again, and just be free of the infernal taint altogether. We know where the Sanctum is, so that's a start. If we train with Coach Masters a bit more (or maybe Elektra, or Matt, if it ends up on the table), I bet we could sneak inside without getting scooped by [insert government agency here].
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>>6424518
Honestly, at this point, I am seriously considering whether or not we should just give up the whole secret identity thing entirely. We already have 3 villains who know our real face after all. I'm less worried about SHIELD than some other villain organization. Well, except for Hydra, since they love LARPing as SHIELD anyway. Seems like trying to keep a low profile is quickly proving to be futile as fuck.
I think we need a magick teacher more than anything. Taskmaster is a great teacher...for fighting but we don't have any innate advantage for that. Currently, magick is the only thing that can keep the demons off our ass.
That serum side effect is a real bitch and a half. Directly painting a giant glowing metaphysical neon sign over the MC apparently. The sickness at least wore off quickly.
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>>6424470
>Roll a 1d20 to try and take back control of yourself
So we’re a puppet of Mephisto now? Due to events largely outside of our control. Great.
The invisibility not working with our other powers is a decent balancing measure, I guess, but I think it’ll just lead us to use it way less. Why bother with invisibility when you can stick to 5ish other powers that let you affect things more directly?
>>6424513
Agreed, though if we’re talking about villainous wizards with which to banish Mephisto I’d sayDOOOOOMis a much better bet. He’s triumphed at least once in freeing people of the devil’s torment.
>>6424518
For fuck’s sake, do not sneak into New York Merlin’s mansion of magic. Especially when he’s obviously doing something to try and keep people away from it, and we’re a teenage boy in a big city. Sneaking into the fucking Pentagon is a better idea.
>>6424527
We don’t even have a secret identity yet, and haven’t shown off our powers in front of anyone but Sabertooth (although I guess Masters *knows* about our powers, I don’t think he’s seen them in action? Correct me if I’m wrong). Let’s not get hasty.Also, secret identities are fun and I want one. :(
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>>6424470
>Try to take back control
[red]"You've all chosen to defy me? A humorous effort, but a wasteful one"[/red]
Your body quakes under the tension as you fight with all your strength against the insidious thing possessing you. The effort is wasted, and you feel yourself drifting further away—floating, falling.
You're helpless as Mephisto wraps your arm around Kaitlin's back.
"No, I'm not a filthy mutant," he tells her through you.
"You see, I've entered a sort of understanding with a more powerful force," he says through your body. The smile creeping across your face only makes Kaitlin more reluctant to remain in your embrace.
Your grip around her tightens. "Oh? There's a power within you too, girl. It would seem you carry the mutant gene," he says to her.
"Get away from—"
Kaitlin is cut off as your mouth collides with hers in a passion-bound kiss. Mephisto sees your defeated spirit and gives you a wink.
As Kaitlin is released, something behind her eyes glimmers with a fiery red light.
"A little help from me to you," he whispers in her ear.
She shakes her head wildly. "What is happening to me? What is—" She stops.
"Shhh... dear, sweet Kaitlin, you will understand in time," Mephisto tells her, puppeteering your body like a toy.
Her eyes glow more intensely. "Y-yes, sir," is all Kaitlin says. Something tells you it isn't her own will that's causing her to submit.
"Very good. Now, I leave for the time being," Mephisto says through you.
The body is suddenly uninhabited. You feel your sense of self slowly bubbling back to the surface. When you finally regain control, you find Kaitlin staring at you.
"Kaitlin!" you exclaim. "Are you okay?"
She looks at you, confused. "Yeah, I'm fine," is all she says.
She seems frustrated with you. "Are we going to save our parents or what?" she asks in a moody tone.
[green]Visionary activates![/green]
You observe her closely for a second. A sigil of some sort flashes red behind her eyes.
>Try to see what's going on with her
>You're right let's get a move on
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>>6424795
Depends on who Taskmaster decides to hook us up with for a magic teacher after we finally tell him about the super serum side effects. Doom would be sick tho too bad he is on the other side of the world... then again the guy would probably hook us up with a teleporter or something suitably villainous to show off.
Secret identities require our real identity to be a secret...and not known by 3+ villains and counting. At this point, I think we might be better off doing fake identities instead or something. We are failing hard at the whole having a secret identity thing.
Taskmaster knows our powerset doesn't affect us physically or in a fight directly as his powerset would have tipped him off. So he knows that our powerset is something more indirect.
>>6424902
Fucking demons, man.
>Try to see what's going on with her
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>>6424902
>Try to see what's going on with her
I fucking HATE Mephisto dude, this mfer could give an aspirin a headache...
>>6424906
>Taskmaster knows our powerset doesn't affect us physically or in a fight directly
No longer true, man, please refer to: >>6423946
>Through rigorous mental training, you've gained enough foresight to achieve a near-omniscient fighting style. It's as if you can see seconds into the future, allowing you to more easily predict your opponent's next move. You gain a +2 to any roll requiring an AGI check.
This absolutely affects us physically and in a fight, it's basically a spidey-sense, or more accurately I'd compare it to Daredevil's total awareness of his surroundings, which allows him to anticipate and defend against all kinds of attacks. With this kind of a buff to agility checks, we could end up easily surpassing Taskmaster as a brawler if we commit to learning his photographic reflexes.
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>>6424902
>You're right let's get a move on
We don’t have time for this and clearly aren’t equipped to be bothering with demonic shit yet. We need to ignore Mephisto as much as possible before we get ourselves to a magical medic. God knows how long it’s been since we’ve gotten here, and our parents were already in some danger before we just ignored them for [insert time since we got here here].
>>6424906
…anon, Doom is a sorcerer. Sorcerers can teleport. He is also a super scientist with various tiers of personal aircraft and the resources of an entire country at his disposal. He can reach us, lol.
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>>6424912
My bad. I meant that he hasn't seen our power yet so his power wouldn't have activated either. Which is arguably a good thing since that would mean he wouldn't suffer from the side effects of memory loss. Like am tempted but I'm not sure if its worth making it worse for him.
>>6424953
Doom likes his showmanship and handing over a teleporter(also a test to see if we can figure out it works) makes it easy for us to visit his place for lessons. Especially once he also finds out we have a brain too, besides magic. Doom would be an amazing teacher and hilariously he is a legit great leader on the few occasions he succeeded. He proved to know what he was doing and turned out to be such a benevolent dictator the ancient Greeks would have been proud.
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PART 1/2
>>6424902
>Try to see what's going on with her
>Let's get a move on
Kaitlin's demeanor is noticeably different since Mephisto took over your body and handled her the way he did. You try to search behind her eyes.
Aspiring Brainiac activates!
It's incredibly subtle, but it's almost as if Kaitlin is trapped somewhere between REM sleep and being fully awake. The sigil you noticed glowing deep within her eyes has dulled significantly, attempting to hide itself.
You try to make sense of this. Has Mephisto possessed her?
You quickly rule that out, as there are still moments where the real Katie shines through. Frustrated, you give up. You can't make heads or tails of what's happening to her, though it's hard not to think about it. The way she looks at you... there's a side of her surfacing that you've never seen before.
"Never you mind, boy. What's mine becomes mine alone," he tells you.
Mephisto's influence over Kaitlin has risen significantly!
You try to shake away the words echoing through your head. His alone? This is your close friend, the one you've practically grown up beside your entire life.
"Katie, if you need anything, you know that I'm here... right?" you ask desperately, trying to bring some humanity back into your friend, trying to reassure her that everything is going to be okay.
She shakes her head.
"You can be such a baby sometimes," she laughs, her tone carrying ill intent.
Kaitlin's bond level: 3/6 activates!
Something shines through for a brief second. Not the infernal mark embedded within her, but a different faint color—one you've never seen before.
"Thomas, I..." she pauses, unable to stay free from Mephisto's influence for long.
Kaitlin slips back into her influenced state and simply stands there, giving you a raised, expectant brow.
Defeated, you sigh.
"Yeah... let's get a move on," you tell her.
You make a mental note that somehow, some way, you're going to fix her.
"Fat chance of that, dear boy," Mephisto adds.
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PART 2/2
>>6425221
It's time to get a move on. You've spent God knows how much time distracted by everything going on. The situation is a mess. Off in the distance, a jet with a giant X marked across its wings hovers above the center of where the riots have taken place, while more S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers are dispatched into the chaos. Agents spread throughout the riot, attempting to bring the situation under control.
You close in on the center of it all, finally spotting the sign you've been searching for.
NELSON & MURDOCK
Huh. It's a law firm. Kind of an ironic twist, being kept supposedly safe by someone calling themselves a devil.
You steadily close the distance. As you approach, you're stopped by a guard—Kaitlin's mom.
"What the hell? What are you both doing out here?!" she asks, attempting to mask the rage in her voice.
You've seldom spent much time around Kaitlin's mother, but at least now you get to understand what she truly does for work. Her long black hair cascades across her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, the light padding of the suit offering some protection from the violence of the riot. However, it looks like she hardly even needs it. Her suit has barely suffered a scratch despite being at the center of the chaos.
"Answer me. What are you both doing here, now?" She looks at Kaitlin sternly in particular.
Kaitlin huffs.
"Trying to find you. Sorry for being worried for nothing, I guess," she replies in a moody tone.
Elektra raises a questioning eyebrow at her daughter, ignoring the remark for the moment.
"You both need to go home now. It's not safe here. Let me escort you out."
Your parents are being held inside that building. Who knows what's happened between the time you first saw them and now? Is it really such a smart idea to turn back at this point?
They may be safe, but so much has happened. You can almost guarantee the situation has changed one way or another. While this area is relatively safer, you still haven't laid eyes on them in what feels like forever.
>Please let us through, Mrs.Natchios
>Let Kaitlin handle this
>Obey her command to leave
>Write-in
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Also gonna plan to tell her about Kaitlin at the first opportunity so she can help deal with this annoying fucking Mephisto bullshit, sooner it's out of her head and out of the story the better imo. We have enough on our plate with Kingpin and the coming apocalypse.
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