Strongest In History
Slade's voice echoes from the breifcase.
"Holy shit, it is!"
"DIO is the ultimate being! The being of the future! Dare you not to rival me!"
Lucha Libre goddess
'''Supergirl—crowd"
"Lois Lane?" Do you mean she is alive here?" Lara said to the young man. The mere mention of that name made her open her eyes widely, landing in front of him. "Doctor, how can you be so cheerful? I feel scared." Lara stared at the floor with sadness for a few seconds. "This is wrong. Everything is wrong. This world is different, everyone looks at me as if they didn't know who I am. As if I had never existed. As if I shouldn’t exist." She touched her right arm as if she was cold.
"What has my father done in this world?" She raised an eyebrow. "He should be ruling over everyone not letting people be aimless and ending criminals forever."
She looked at the young man in the eyes. "Do you know him?" When he told her that she would get his attention Lara nodded. "Good. This symbol is my heritage. I need to talk with father, he would know what to do. He is not doing what he is supposed to do... And I feel lost without him. "
After the doctor himself, she raised an eyebrow. "You're making a huge gamble, Doctor. But rest assured I don't want your life. Yes, we should get that killer." She closed her fists. "But you should be more worried about a world that lets a killer loose and nobody knows what to do. Look at them: Humans running in fear and accusing each other aimlessly. If my father was in charge this wouldn't be happening. "
To the white wolf, she said. "Perhaps." She crossed her arms. "But then I don't think it's a coincidence all of this happened just as we arrived. Whoever brought us here must want us to help. It could be the only way we can get answers."
Then the half amazon turned to Deadpool. "None of us know what happened," she said in response to Deadpool and Dei.
The girl of steel hovered in the air for a few seconds to introduce herself to the group at once.
"I am Supergirl;I am Lara-el. I am the Daughter of Kal-El and Diana of Themiscyra. And I am just as lost you all are."
Edited by FallenLegend on Aug 31st 2018 at 9:40:33 AM
Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.
An Ordinary Oddball
The Doctor poked her head into the briefcase to talk to Slade.
"Door to your right—open it, there should be plenty of clothes to choose from."
She withdrew her head and let out an inquisitive "Hmm!" at Lara's statements.
"Well, I'm very scared for the children, scared for myself, and to top it all off, I'm lost too," she replied. "But we're scared and lost, together, and together we'll find our way."
"Those people running, pointing fingers...It's because they're scared too, lost for what to do. They feel the same as we do, right now."
"And it's good to be aimless, sometimes. Everyone feels aimless once in a while. The trick is not feeling scared, but finding the strength to go on, and make it an adventure instead."
"That's an important lesson. Life is aimless. That's its nature. But we can give it direction. We can all write a brilliant story. If someone does it for us, how are we supposed to grow, find the strength within us?"
"You are strong, Lara-El. The skies are open, but dark. Don't fear, and soar through them. There will be light eventually, and all will be well."
As the Doctor said the last few sentences, she looked forlorn, as if those were the words she told herself every day and they were wearing a bit too thin for comfort.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Aug 31st 2018 at 9:53:04 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Who and co.
“It’s good to meet you both,” Dei replied. “I’m Dei Guano, the Jade Dragon.”
Dei felt having a superhero name was somewhat flashy for someone of his character. Still, it was a fact of life that pretty much everyone with powers constructed their own identity for one reason or another.
“I cannot conceive of how that is possible.” Dei said, referring to the Doctor’s explanation of her briefcase. “But I suppose I cannot really argue with what I’m seeing with my own eyes.”
The Doctor’s doo dads were indeed strange, but there were more important things to think about right now. A child killer was on the loose in the city. The very thought chilled the dragonblooded man to the bone. Crime-fighting was not the first thing he thought to prioritize when he found himself in this strange city, but this was something he couldn’t in good conscience ignore. Hearing the conversation between the two girls, he decided to join in.
“I understand where you’re coming from,” he said to Lara. “A world where someone can get away with something as heinous as killing children is a grim, ugly one. It’s enough to make one feel like small good deeds are insufficient.”
“Trying to rule over people through fear and power rarely ends well, however. I say this as someone who has both lived through dictatorial rule, and once attempted to enforce my own ideals through violence and coercion. That is... a part of my life that I don’t wish to repeat.”
“I don’t know what to do about the root causes of evil that make people commit these heinous acts. I suppose your friend here is correct. Life is aimless, often random. There may not be a great deal we can do when it comes to changing people’s hearts or the reality of the world we live in, which is why in this case I want to focus on accomplishing the small deed of ensuring that no one else gets hurt.”
The Ice Queen
A scrap of newspaper caught Caity's eye.
"Metropolis?" she said to herself.
The headline grabbed her attention eve more quickly, however.
Child killer still uncaught
Well, wherever she was...maybe these people did need her help.
She continued moving closer to the sounds of the voices, until eventually she arrived at a police station.
Edited by Spottedleaf on Sep 4th 2018 at 7:44:22 AM
Toa of Anarchy
"I hear you." The innkeeper polished a mug. "Might want to be careful how much time you kill, though. We're about due for another pointless raid by our oh-so-esteemed law keepers."
"Black who?" The officer muttered, before remembering his manners. "Erm, sorry, ladies, but the letter's police property and-"
"Let them see it, Blake." This was a blonde man stepping out of the office of Commissar Stacy. "Face the facts, we need all the help we can get right now."
"...Yes, Commissar." The younger man hurried off, while Stacy looked the two up and down.
"With outfits like that, I'd say you two are either escapees from the Cabinets of Doctor Arkham, or would-be do-gooders in the vein of the Superman or the Blue Amazon. You certainly seem earnest, and you're asking permission to get involved, which is more than you'd expect from, say, the Nosferatu."
Unfortunately, Skeet's attempted scanning from the waiting room was a resounding failure. Whether from the distance or the construction of the place, moving closer would only make the reception better by increments, moving into the next room bumping it up by 25%. Meanwhile, Booster's check up could start at any moment.
King of Anime
Brushing off the new man's statement about her clothing, Jennifer beamed him a smile of appreciation. "Well maintaining a positive relationship with the law is important in our line of work so..." She let her words hang in the air for a few seconds before switching over into business mode.
"I'm assuming you've checked the handwriting between the letter and any records you have as well as the second letter in the news this morning. Either you know who the killer is but aren't sure how to make your move yet, in which case I can provide some muscle, or you don't, in which case I can provide a new pair of eyes, though I can't promise I'll be too helpful if that's the case. Either way, I'd like more details before agreeing to any sort of help." She turned to Mari.
"You mentioned earlier that I'd need to be able to protect myself so I'm guessing you're either not much of a team player or you're better at investigation style work than combat. Do you think you could help with the letters?"
The Ice Queen
Moving closer to the two unfamiliar women who were conversing at the station (Cait swore she heard something about maintaining a positive relationship with the law, whatever that meant), Cait finally held the paper in front of them.
"This paper says I'm in Metropolis. But I was there a month ago. Last time I checked, I was in Missouri. Can one of you please tell me what exactly is going on?" she said, trying to conceal any signs of the anxiety that was welling up inside her.
Edited by Spottedleaf on Sep 4th 2018 at 10:37:07 AM
Hospital
Skeets informed Booster of the scan difficulties.
He grumbled (as usual.) "So, we need to get into the actual morgue for the scanning to work?"
"Most likely."
Just then, a smiling nurse called him. "The Doctor will see you now!"
(Oh, great...)
At the Doctor's office:
The medic smiled and said, "Good day, sir. How may I help you?"
"Doctor, I want you to know, that I act only out of goodwill. I hope you can forgive me."
"Eh? What do you-"
"Now, Skeets."
*Tzzzt*.
A golden beam came out of the burlap sack Booster carried and hit the doctor!
"UUH!!" he gasped, and he fell off his chair, unconscious.
"Wonderful. Now I'm robbing people" he complained as he began stripping the doctor of his uniform. "How long before he wakes up?"
"About an hour. Plenty of time to find the bodies and scan them. Assuming of course, that nobody finds the doctor's half-naked body."
Booster quickly changed from his hobo clothes to his new doctor diguise, and as quietly as possible, left the office and let Skeets (who was now hidden inside a medical supplies box he carried) guide him to the morgue.
Green Goblin Inn
"Raids? The hell are you talking about?" Laura groaned.Mobs on the street, raids off the street. Seemed like the world was going out of its way to really piss her off - whatever world this was.
"Jesus Christ... it's never anything simple."
Mari held up a hand in resignation. "I said that because I didn't know if you had powers. Since you say you do, I'll trust you to protect yourself. And no, I'm not much of a team player yet. Usually either SHIELD or my...patron gives me a heads-up and I go. Haven't had much opportunity to team up, really, so I don't know how well I'd do watching your back.
She paused, considering. "I can investigate, since I have pretty good senses, but I'm not trained for it. Ask me to walk a catwalk, fight a robot or shmooze someone and I can usually figure it out." Mari turned around and noticed Cait. She softened her tone, seeing that the young lady was clearly freaking out a little bit. "We're trying to figure that out ourselves. If you'd like, you can stick with us and we're maybe get to the bottom of it together?"
The Ice Queen
She nodded. "I think that's my best option right now."
Lucha Libre goddess
Lara—Who mob
Lara looked at the doctor with sadness. Now came the irony of the bulletproof girl being the most scared of all. The Kryptonian teen blinked twice after looking at the others like Slade exiting from her portfolio. "How did he? Is that another dimension?" She used her X-ray vision trying to look through.
The doctor's inspiring words brought a second wind to the amazon girl as she smiled at him. "You really are a strange woman doctor. You speak as if you were my father. Are you sure, you are a young girl? Yet despite feeling lost I feel, I'm glad I don't have to face this alone. Look at us, we don't even know each other and now we are trying to solve a murder." She put her hands on her hips. "Thank you, doctor, you reminded me true strength comes from within"
Then to Dei guano, she smiled.
"I want to believe that. But that's what my father did for years. In my world that's how he was able to bring peace. He lost someone special to him because his best friend wouldn't stop an evil man. Never again he said. "
"It's nice to mee you," She told to Dei. "At the very least, let me help you right this wrong. "
Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.
An Ordinary Oddball
The Doctor held a finger to her own lips, tapping a few times.
"Appearances can be deceiving, Kara. Appearances can be deceiving."
And then she appeared to resign herself to being mysterious.
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Toa of Anarchy
As the two girls were joined by a third, the younger officer returned, and with gloved hands handed Stacy a small postcard. Stacy gestured the ladies into his office, and once the door was closed behind them, he set the card down on his desk and leant against the side.
"Now then," said Stacy, "We haven't as yet been able to match the handwriting to ones in our archives. Our graphologist says he's ascertained the madman's personality from it. I have my doubts, but he's the expert." He gestured at the card. "As you can see, it's written on postcard, which goes through so many hands that we've had a hell of a time finding a matching fingerprint. There's only a few clues we have left. The type of writing card, the red pencil used, and the subtle patterns in the letters left from writing over a hardwood table."
He moved to sit behind the desk to address the trio directly. "Chief Gord-son has also procured us a list of names, two lists in fact. One of recent migrants from the city of Heaven, listed in order of genetic instability, and the other of mental patients who've been deemed as cured or harmless enough to be released from Arkham in the past five years. None of you are on our payroll, so you might be able to visit them without suspicion, but inquires have to be discreet, do you understand?"
Once Booster and Skeets finally made their way to the morgue, a gloomy brickwork locale such as you might expect from the late 20's, they were finally close enough to either scan for the bodies or examine them firsthand. Whichever the case, it was NOT a sight for the faint of heart. There were only three bodies that matched size and shape of little girls, and all of them had been mauled, eviscerated even, beyond almost any recognition. Flesh had been turned to ribbons, organs and throats had been torn out, bones had been snapped, crunched and partially digested. Surely, no man could have been able to inflict this manner of damage.
"They're on the hunt for that child-murdering serial killer," said the innkeeper. "Eight months without luck and they're getting desperate-"
Just then, a woman in a fur coat ran down the steps from the entrance and shouted "Police!" At once, the customers leapt from their seats and charged for the exit.
"Ach! Every hour on the hour..." muttered the innkeeper. Turning a window, she dropped a barred portcullis over her bar window, breaking a glass in its wake.
Even as the tide of people surged up the exit, a chorus of police whistles grew louder and louder, and the crowd found itself shoved back down the steps. In amongst the disgruntled chattering, one could hear the sounds of tough men shouting "Police! Get back!" and one particular woman snarling "Let me go, you son of a bitch! Let go!"
"Let her go, you pig!"
"Quiet! Quiet!"
Edited by LizardOfAus on Sep 6th 2018 at 10:41:56 AM
Strongest In History
A fedora popped out of the briefcase, followed by Slade in a trenchcoat, pants, and long-sleeved shirt.
"Haha! Completely incognito!"
He picked up the fedora and put it on his head.
"DIO is the ultimate being! The being of the future! Dare you not to rival me!"
Green Goblin Inn
Police raid. Just her luck...On the other hand, Laura probably wouldn't have to pay for that drink. Ten bucks was ten bucks.
She groaned loudly and sprawled her arms out on the bar (the part that wasn't behind the divider, at least) in frustration as she considered things.
Child serial killer? That was some shit. She could guess from the context that it was a serial killer who targeted children, rather than a child who happened to be a serial killer, or else they wouldn't really be hitting up bars and the like.
Eight months? That was some even more bad shit. Your typical murderer couldn't hide from the cops for eight hours, let alone eight months. And killing a whole bunch of kids while doing it was just adding to the complexity of the whole thing. Either this guy was a human, and the fucking Michaelangelo of murdering kids, or he was a mutant. A mutant, or one of the millions of others of descriptions they gave for why someone had mutant powers.
Sighing, she stood up and ran a hand through her hair. May she should have just stayed in the street and tried to wait out the traffic.
Too late now.
"Get the fuck outta my way," she growled as she started to push her way up the spiraling staircase.
I have a plan.
The Who Group
White Wolf folded his arms. "Well, we know there's a murderer on the loose, and we know their modus operandi. What we need to figure out now is where to start searching," he added.He placed a hand on his mask, contemplating. "You think we should talk to the police about this? Maybe they know something."
Edited by TailsDoll on Sep 5th 2018 at 6:47:29 AM
"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"
King of Anime
Jennifer backed Mari up, nodding towards the newcomer. "Glad to have you onboard. The more help the better," she cracked a smile as she followed after Captain Stacy.
Taking in his words, but ignoring his question, she drummed her fingers against her arms. "If you can't find them in your database, they're probably not from around here. I'm not sure what Arkham is but maybe we can rule out anyone from there since they might be in your database if it's run by the government here. Could you tell us more about this...Heaven?"
She shot Mari a glance. "You said you worked for something called SHIELD? I'm not sure what that is but it sounds official. Do you know if they have a database you could compare the letter to?"
The sudden shift in geography was unexpected, though at the very least she had prior experience in such events occurring. Going from the foggily inclined streets of San Francisco to the bustling streets of Metropolis took some getting used to but now the latest newcomer was able to slot herself into the sea of humanity after calming herself enough to throw up a mental nudge into ensuring that the ordinary joe didn't afford her a second look.
Wandering around the area had led to a few key discoveries such as the fact that there was a giant floating landmass up in the sky that seemed to orbit the more earthbound city below as well as the fact that the time period seemed to be from the earlier parts of the prior half of the 20th century judging by fashion, mentality, and architecture.
Walking slowly around to acclimate herself with the overall tone, the woman was at least thankful that she had been taken in her civilian garb- that of a woman's trenchcoat thrown over cashmere sweater.
◊ It wasn't outright a match for the setting's fashion sense but the colors were similar enough and her psychic field would help to ensure that excessive attention wouldn't be paid for the most part.
Why, the transfer had even been kind enough to allow the keeping of her paper cup of coffee, the vessel emblazoned with the ever familiar green logo of a stylized mermaid and still steaming hot under its cardboard cup holster. Enjoying the caffeine sip by sip, Kannon idly turned her exploration towards the nestled pathways in between the buildings after listening to the gossip about the currently uncaught child murderer prowling about on the loose.
Though her face remained sedate, the eyes couldn't help but glint with the sort of desire to stick her foot into the whole business despite being a relative stranger to just about the entire area. Such a mentality came from wanting to do the right thing, to not ignore what was already seen. Though she couldn't save everyone or even those who had been victimized, at the very least she could be lucky enough to cut off the threat at its source to ensure that this particular evil would be stopped.
Judging from the the fact that the civilian populace was caught up in a tizzy as the ineffective police force performed their clockwork forceful inspections out in the open, the decision to waltz into the darker side of the city was perhaps of particular merit even if it wasn't something she was prepared for. And so the coffee sipping ninja continued her stroll for clues, slipping through the shadows like a fish through water while casting her psychic sense out like a net to try to catch a whiff of darker emotions.
Edited by Makaioh on Sep 5th 2018 at 11:50:37 AM
Morgue
HUUUURRLL!! Booster vomited the moment he saw the mauled children's bodies. He had to turn his force field off, or he would have choked.
"G...gasp... Its-its worse than I- expected..." he said, weakly, as he leaned against a wall.
Skeets was of course, unaffected by the grim spectacle. Flying out of the box, it began its scan.
After a moment, it announced: "Booster, these bodies were not just dismembered. They were partially consumed."
"Consumed- you mean EATEN??" UGHH!! (Hurls again)
"Booster, we need to get out of here. Also to get you food to replace the one you just lost."
"SHUT UP!" he managed to snap. "This- this isn't a serial killer. It is an actual monster! We must find and kill it!! Get back into the box!"
The tiny flying robot did as commanded, and a still-queasy Booster picked it up and made his way out of the hospital.
Somewhere amid the streets of Metropolis, a young, black haired girl stepped out of an alley, eyes scanning the environment as she attempted to work out what had happened. She had been inside a building hidden in the wilderness, perusing her most recent target. Somewhere in the course of the mission, she had happened on a strange bracelet. Something she should have ignored. It had no bearing on the mission. Yet, something had caused her to stop and pick it up. Why....?
She shook her head, refocusing on the current situation. She reached for her ear, tapping a small, almost hidden earpeice, her contact point with her owners. All she got for her trouble was static, followed by a "No signal" tone. That alone was cause for concern. She had been assured that this machine could put her in contact with them from any point on earth, through most substances that blocked signals up to a thickness of 50 feet. And her owners were not the joking or lying kind when it came to mission information.
She finished her scan of the environment, and walked over to a trachcan, where she had spotted a discarded newspaper. She picked it up, ignoring the large headline "KILLER WRITES TO THE PAPERS!" in favor of checking the date and location stamp. Metropolis, 1927. She dropped the paper back to the ground, having acquired the information required, and began walking, no destination currently in mind, but just standing still for an extended period would look out of place and may draw attention. She calmly evaluated the facts. She was in a major city that she was certain did not exist in 1927, had somehow gone backwards in time, and had no direct way to contact her owners. The logical conclusion was that somehow, she had ended up on another world.
The cause, fortunately, was simple to identify. That bracelet. Where had it come from, why did some unremarkable business owner have it in his house, why did it activate at her simply touching it? All valid questions, but also questions that could wait. It was clear she would be stuck here for at least some time. The bracelet had already vanished when she arrived, and it would by no means be easy to relocate it in such a large city. She was already noticing people starting to point and stare at her, and quickly concluded that her current attire was unsuited for blending into this environment. In her mind, an objective list started to form.
- Objective 1-Obtain a new set of clothes
- Objective 2-Gather information about the city and any recent, strange occurrences which may be linked to the bracelet
- Objective 3-Locate the bracelet and return to her world
Naturally, as she lacked any sort of cash, she would have to resort to theft to gain a new outfit. Nothing new to her. She started walking around, searching for opportunities. Large storefronts would have the most selection, but also higher levels of security. Ideally, she would find a clothesline with suitable clothing hanging off of it that she could just walk past and pick up.
Meanwhile, as she made another turn, she would end up slightly in front of Psyren, back turned to her as she continued talking forward, making a slow, methodical scan of the area.
Toa of Anarchy
"Well, let's see..." Stacy scratched his chin. "Here's what we know for sure about Heaven, or at least what our leaders have seen fit to tell us. It was the second major city built after the Time of Soot and Smoke, by one of the 'Savanti' who lead the pilgrims across the Black Sea all those years ago. While Jon-Kent and Lutor were working on Metropolis, Paula von Gunther struck out on her own and built her own little barony from the ground up...so to speak. Using her own patented 'purple ray' technology, she used archived genetic seed to grow her own people, and filled her land up with human animals like some kind of latter-day Circe. Women who were cheetahs, hawk women, spider women, and the occasional animal man if she felt like it. The only creation of hers you could call human was Diana, heir apparent to Heaven. Eventually, however, the people there started suffering from 'genetic fragmentation', making them turn deformed and irrational. Even staged a bloody coup before Diana took charge again. That's the main reason Heaven opened borders to us below. They needed to refresh the gene pool by harvesting man's seed- their words, not mine."
"Keep back, madam," said the policeman barring her way, while another three coppers formed a barrier at the bottom step to keep the equally unruly crowd back. As they did so, a woman in police uniform came down the stairs and held up a hand for silence.
"Look! The head cop!" called someone in the crowd, raising a few laughs.
"Quiet!" she barked, "You'd like that, wouldn't you? Police orders: no one leaves. Get your papers ready."
The crowd groused and griped over this, quickly giving way to whistles and jeers. While all this was going on, a second, auburn haired police woman came down the stairs, flanked by two of her men.
"Shush, shush, shush, shush!" She went until the hubbub finally died down. "Come on, kids, let's not be stupid here."
"Ah! It's Princess Gord-son," cooed one of the patrons as if he'd just spotted the first-prize winner of a Little Miss Beauty Contest.
"Gord-son! Gord-son! Gord-son! Gord-son! Gord-son!" chanted the crowd as the whistles and jeers returned.
"Quiet!" shouted Gord-son, "Quiet! You'll just wear yourselves out."
"How was the ride on those dearly departed coattails?"
"RIGHT, you've officially crossed the line. Wolff, cuff that woman."
"Yes, Chief," said the first 'head cop'.
"You want to take out your anger," shouted another woman, "It'd be better if you grabbed the killer!"
"Yes!" cried the crowd, "Yes, much better!" The whistles started to return.
"Quiet!" went Gord-son, "Be reasonable! Now come on, spread out. Form an orderly line. Papers ready, come on!" More officers filed down the stairs, as the rest of the crowd was shoved into a more manageable state.
Who Group
The Jade Dragon nodded in agreement with the White Wolf's suggestion.
"Indeed. In situations like this, it is best to consult the proper authorities. What say you, friends?"
He turned to the Doctor, Deathpool, and Lara as he asked this.
The Doctor turned to Dei, unfazed.
"Oh, hello there! Are you a newcomer? Did you happen to touch some kind of strange bracelet? If so, welcome to the party."
She cleared her throat and became more serious.
"There's been a child killer on the loose, and people are launching witch hunts on the smallest provocation. Some people in our very recently and hurriedly formed group need a change of clothes, and that's why this fine fellow is stepping into by briefcase."
"And as for how it works, well, it's bigger on the inside."
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.