Stopping Time

[Samloyal23]

So I am writing a story in which the villain has somehow gained the power of stopping time, a la Hiro Nakamura. He is power mad, he takes whatever he wants, even if it is a young girl in the middle of the mall. What are some sneaky applications of his power? How do the good guys stop someone who can stop time? All suggestions welcome. Also, what are the ethics of using a power like this? Discuss freely...

 

[Nagol]

Since you mention him taking things, this version of the power obviously lets the user manipulate the environment while time is stopped.

Almost all the applications of the power are sneaky by definition: no one else can know anything is being done until after the fact. Depending on time restrictions and other limitations, properly used it should be almost impossible to identify the perpetrator of the crimes short of finding him in possession of stolen goods/abducted people. Sneaky applications include planting evidence on others both to embarrass and to frame once the crimes are detected. Assassination is easy; stop time place the target in a potentially lethal situation (like on the wrong side of a balcony railing or holding a shotgun against his chest with the trigger pulled), leave and allow time to restart. If people are stupid enough to carry weapons near the villain, stop time take a gun from one shoot at the rest, put the gun back where you got it, move back to where you were and let time restart and see how good your aim was. The survivor can have a merry time explaining to the police why his gun -- the one found in his holster at the scene -- is the one that shot the rest of his team.

As for stopping the villain, I recommend a sniper from 500+ yards or poison subtly administered. You have to inflict sufficient damage to negate his ability before he becomes aware he is being targeted.

Like most powers, it is ethically neutral. What matters is what one does with it. Few would quibble if one decides to take extra-long hot baths and time was stopped to facilitate reading more pages of a book before the kids come home. Most would object if murder, abduction, and mayhem were the result of the power.

 

[Ryujin]

Does time stop for the villain, or does it continue for him when he is pulling his nefarious deeds? In other words is he aging while everyone else is frozen? If he is, then the heroes might not have to do much but let him age himself to death. I also wonder how quickly he might be able to react in a surprise situation. Put a bomb on what he is presumably going to steal and when he comes out of hyper-time, BOOM.

As you might be able to tell I generally played Aberrant aligned "dark heroes" in "Heroes Unlimited." Frank Castle went too easy on 'em.

As to what he can do, you can start with it being a rather extreme version of a speedster like The Flash or Quicksilver. Look at what Quicksilver did in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" for example.

 

[Richards]

As for stopping the villain, I recommend a sniper from 500+ yards or poison subtly administered.

Careful with the poison option. What if you poison him, he starts to realize something is wrong, he stops time -- and then he dies? Is time stopped forever?

I guess it matters whether he's actually stopping/restarting time throughout the universe or just pulling himself out of the time stream temporarily. But food for thought.

Johnathan

 

[Eltab]

Old TV-movie: "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything". The movie may be one of a pair; faulty memory.
A guy had a stopwatch that did basically the same thing. He could stop time for some limited period (I think 5 minutes all to himself, per day) then it began to move again.

One time he pulled the watch, deflected a load of shotgun buckshot aimed at himself (girlfriend's dad was a suspicious old coot) and resumed his place; Dad shot the mailbox all to pieces.

Another time he pulled the watch, ran into a burning ship, hauled his (frozen-stiff) girlfriend off the ship, and barely made it to cover before the watch ran down and the ship exploded. (Then he had to explain to her what just happened.)

 

[Samloyal23]

So far I have allowed him to only use small electronic devices he can carry on his person while time is frozen, so he can take pictures with his phone or use the calculator app but he cannot drive his car. To steal a motor cycle he had to unfreeze the wheels and push. Crimewise, he goes into banks daily and removes cash from all the teller's drawers, goes to the mall and picks up whatever he likes and puts it in his car. He goes to his local mall every day and picks a hot chick to bend over a table on the foodcourt and use like a sex doll (he checks there phones for text messages and FB posts so he can virtually stalk them).

He definitely spends more than 5 minutes in his subjective time, maybe an hour or two at a time. I imagine he ages normally but in the subjective time's rate. I am guessing he spends maybe an nanosecond of real time per hour in his subjective time, so he ages an hour in a nanosecond. That could really add up over time. I do not think he is literally stopping the flow time through the whole continuum, more like he is slipping out of phase with normal time.

 

[Samloyal23]

I remember The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything. That was a great movie, and I think there was a sequel...

 

[Samloyal23]

Careful with the poison option. What if you poison him, he starts to realize something is wrong, he stops time -- and then he dies? Is time stopped forever?

I guess it matters whether he's actually stopping/restarting time throughout the universe or just pulling himself out of the time stream temporarily. But food for thought.

Johnathan

I am thinking if he is entering a subjective time out of phase with normal time, so if he dies or even loses consciousness eventually he will just return to normal time.

 

[Tonguez]

what about the perception of people in 'frozen time'. Do their eyes still perceive light, so that when time restarts they would notice the skip? could that be used by an observant hero to track the time thief?

 

[Ryujin]

what about the perception of people in 'frozen time'. Do their eyes still perceive light, so that when time restarts they would notice the skip? could that be used by an observant hero to track the time thief?

I suppose that would depend on the way that the villain is "stopping time." Is he stopping time for the entire universe? For just a localized area?Is he "stepping out of time", himself, and the universe just keeps on a-rollin'? This sort of thing would need to be considered.