History Literature / Curveball

** Officially, [[spoiler:Agent Grant]] has the power of teleportation. However, his particular type of teleportation is the {{Twinmaker}} kind. There's a split second when he exists at both the origin and destination points simultaneously. He learned at a fairly young age [[MesACrowd how to interrupt the process at that point]]. However, since his powers didn't originally involve cloning himself, they don't provide any help at all in keeping track of his [[WhichMe various bodies]].

** Officially, [[spoiler:Agent Grant]] has the power of [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleportation]]. However, in his particular type of teleportation, there's a split second when he exists at both the origin and destination points simultaneously. He learned at a fairly young age [[MesACrowd how to interrupt the process at that point]]. However, since his powers didn't originally involve cloning himself, they don't provide any help at all in keeping track of his [[WhichMe various bodies]].

** [[FlyingBrick Regiment]] doesn't like [[{{Superman}} "faster than a speeding bullet"]] jokes because he doesn't want to get sued.

* CodeName: It's traditional that every person with powers has some kind of code name, even if they don't have a {{secret identity}} to protect. This is especially important to the members of Crossfire, who [[InsistentTerminology absolutely insist]] on calling people with powers by their code name. [[SuperSpeed Red Shift]] discovers that this can be pretty inconvenient when talking about a new metahuman who hasn't had time to think of a code name yet.

** Gladiator is basically the money and business sense of [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Ozymandias]] with the suit of armor and morals of Franchise/IronMan.

* LivingLieDetector: Agent Henry. What's more, while he's making direct eye contact with you, you lose the ''ability'' to lie at all.[[note]]Out of courtesy to others, he keeps his sunglasses on [[SunglassesAtNight at all times]].[[/note]]

** [[SuperSpeed Red Shift]] generates a force field around himself whenever he exceeds a certain speed, so that he can travel at supersonic velocity without the slipstream tearing his arms off. It also apparently keeps him in contact with the ground, as he was able to run up a staircase at nearly supersonic speeds without launching himself into the air. He's been known to use it [[BarrierWarrior as a weapon in and of itself]], by running just fast enough that the force field forms, then running into people.

%%* DeadpanSnarker: CB, on occasion.
%%* DefiantToTheEnd: Liberty.

%%* ResurrectiveImmortality: Vigilante.

%%* WretchedHive: Farraday City.

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* BadassLongcoat: CB's trenchcoat.

* DeadpanSnarker: CB, on occasion.
* DefiantToTheEnd: Liberty.

* ResurrectiveImmortality: Vigilante.

* {{Superhero}}: Well, duh.

* WretchedHive: Farraday City.
* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: When Street Ronin calls Red Shift by his real name rather than [[InsistentTerminology his code name]], he knows that something major is wrong.

''[[https://www.eviscerati.org/fiction/curveball/novel Curveball]]'' is a WebSerialNovel centered around the eponymous [[HeelFaceTurn villain turned hero]] who discovers his former partner [[CaptainPatriotic Liberty]] was murdered under mysterious circumstances.

* AllPartOfTheShow: Back before they both retired, Alex and CB got into a little fight over CB dating (and sleeping with) Alex's daughter. The fight only ended when they both fell off the [[ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding under-construction building]] they were on, [[WindowPain through a skylight]], and into a [[UsefulNotes/JewishLifeEvents Bar Mitzvah celebration]]. Fortunately, the father at the celebration was pretty quick on his feet, and introduced them as though he were expecting them. Alex and CB [[IMeantToDoThat played along]], and a good time was had by all.

* InstantSedation: The fire sprinklers in [[spoiler:Agent Travers']] office don't spray water, they spray an instantly paralyzing neurotoxin. (And I do mean ''instantly''. As in, one whiff and you drop like a discarded toy.)

-->'''Red Shift''': I thought she was too young for SchoolhouseRock.

* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: [[NighInvulnerability Regiment]] uses the phrase verbatim when he starts contacting the former members of [[SuperTeam The Gladiators]] to deal with the global conspiracy Curveball's managed to stumble into.

* PunchClockVillain: The board of directors (and the employees that are in the know) of Haruspex Analytics. They draw their paychecks, hang out after work, and most have families. This is the same group that ordered the assassination of [[CaptainPatriotic Liberty]], and are killing people in highly unethical medical experiments.

* BottomlessMagazines: Whenever Agent Grant puts ammo into his gun, all his [[MesACrowd clones]] have access to it. Thus, one of his clones can blaze away without pause, so long as he has another clone in a safe location swapping magazines.

** Officially, Agent Grant has the power of [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleportation]]. However, in his particular type of teleportation, there's a split second when he exists at both the origin and destination points simultaneously. He learned at a fairly young age [[MesACrowd how to interrupt the process at that point]]. Because his powers didn't originally involve cloning himself, they don't provide any help at all in keeping track of his various bodies.

* TapOnTheHead: Agent Grant is able to take down over a dozen bank robbers by using his [[TeleportSpam super]] [[MesACrowd powers]] to get behind them, then either [[StaticStunGun using a cattle prod as a tazer]] or hitting them in the head. He later mentions that he wouldn't have brought the cattle prod if he knew that hitting them would be so effective.

* WhichMe: Alan Grant can make several copies of himself in distant locations. Unfortunately, this didn't come with the ability to [[RequiredSecondaryPowers keep track of which clone is doing what]] -- he had to learn how to do that through experience. So, he always refers to his clones in the first-person singular, because to him, they are him.

* AllPartOfTheShow: Back before they both retired, Alex and CB got into a little fight over CB dating (and sleeping with) Alex's granddaughter. The fight only ended when they both fell off the [[ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding under-construction building]] they were on, [[WindowPain through a skylight]], and into a [[UsefulNotes/JewishLifeEvents Bar Mitzvah celebration]]. Fortunately, the father at the celebration was pretty quick on his feet, and introduced them as though he were expecting them. Alex and CB [[IMeantToDoThat played along]], and a good time was had by all.

** Officially, Agent Grant has the power of [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleportation]]. However, in his particular type of teleportation, there's a split second when he exists at both the origin and destination points simultaneously. He learned at a fairly young age [[MesACrowd how to interrupt the process at that point]]. Because his powers didn't originally involve cloning himself, they don't provide any help in keeping his various bodies separate, he had to learn how to do that himself.

** Gladiator is much more of a straight-up good guy, but beyond that, you'd have some trouble telling him and [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Ozymandias]] apart.
*** As a hero, he was an IronMan type: high-tech combat armor, neural interface, the whole bit.

* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: When Street Ronin calls Red Shift by his real name rather than [[InsistentTerminology his code name]], he knows that something major is wrong.

* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: [[NighInvulnerability Regiment]] decides to put [[SuperTeam The Gladiators]] back together to deal with this global conspiracy Curveball's managed to stumble into.

* NotWearingTights: Curveball did have a costume when he was with The Gladiators, but since he "retired," he does most of his crimefighting in a {{badass longcoat}}. [[spoiler:Jenny[=/=][[MyHeroZero Zero]]]] hasn't had time to put together a costume yet, so makes do with some borrowed [[BoringButPractical body armor]].

* SuperheroesWearTights: Having your own costume is another tradition of supers, for both the hero and villain types (although, supervillains are more likely to break with this tradition than are superheroes, naturally).

* NotWearingTights: Given the number of {{differently powered individual}}s running around, it should be no surprise that quite a few use spandex for their costumes. But [[BoringButPractical body armor]] is a much more common choice.