[Mutants & Masterminds / DC Adventures] Freedomverse Issue #1 "Black & White"

[hero4hire]

The Lighthouse: 22,300 miles above Earth.

[sblock=Lighthouse]The Lighthouse is the Freedom League’s main headquarters, a self-contained satellite in high Earth orbit, accessible by either spaceplane or dedicated “teleportals” on Earth. This provides the Lighthouse with considerable security in addition to making it Earth’s first line of defense against any danger from outer space.
The Lighthouse was designed by Daedalus, based on designs the Star Knights use for their deep space and orbital facilities, and supplemented with alien technologies Daedalus studied during his years in space. The Freedom League funded and built it using their resources (including the personal fortunes of Daedalus, Raven, and Bowman). The League applied for and received permission from the United Nations and UNISON to operate the Lighthouse in Earth orbit, although the approval of the world’s nations was by no means unanimous.
The cylindrical satellite has several decks, including a hangar deck for the Pegasus spaceplanes, an observation deck (with a spectacular view of Earth), dormitories for League members staying on board, a mess hall, gymnasium, laboratories, and an infirmary. The main control center includes monitoring facilities keeping watch over the Earth.
The Lighthouse has a fusion power core supplemented by solar collectors on its exterior surface. Its systems are maintained by a sophisticated computer mainframe, containing the Freedom League’s extensive case files. The command deck has a teleportal, able to instantly transport passengers to any other portal on Earth. The League has teleportals in the world capitals and major cities. The Freedom City teleportal is located in Freedom Hall, which is used as the League’s local “embassy” and outpost in the city. [/sblock]

You may be sparring in the Satellite’s “Wreck Room” or enjoying lunch in the mess hall or even enjoying the spectacular view on the observation deck. But no matter your location each of you receives a telepathic summons from Core League Member Pseudo.
There is an emergency in Freedom City. Please report to the Command Deck ASAP.

OOC: Okay here is your chance to intro your character as they make their way to the Command Deck. What exactly does s/he do while at the Lighthouse? How do they feel about the jarring telepathic summons? Do they stay at the Lighthouse dorms or just visit?

 

[tglassy]

The LIghthouse. The home base of the Freedom League. He'd made it. Since that day all those years ago in his dad's R&D lab, through all those years moonlighting on the streets in that ridiculous Hawk costume, he never thought...even when he made the arrangements with Laura to start "Heroing" again, he never thought he'd get invited to the League.

It was the ultimate validation of his abilities. Recognition that he was indeed becoming as powerful as he believed. It was his chance to take on cases that could really matter.

So why did it just make him feel trapped?

There he was, standing on the observation deck, looking out over the world. He'd flown high. Very high. He'd flown high enough to see the curvature of the earth. But he'd never been this high. And yet all he could feel is that he was more restricted now than ever.

Laura wasn't happy. They had decided to stay in their home in Freedom City, as it would be easier on the kids. He would just commute to work, thanks to the teleporters. She also felt he would be gone more. She was probably right. Adam was almost a teenager. Jessie was nine. She said they needed their father. She was probably right. He just...couldn't stand by when he could help. He could make a difference. What kind of person would he be if he didn't do everything he could to help the world around him? What kind of Father would his kids be able to look up to?

So why couldn't he stop thinking about her?

There is an emergency in Freedom City. Please report to the Command Deck ASAP.

He jumped, grabbing his head. He hated that. It was an intrusion on the one thing he'd always had as his own: his own thoughts.

Either way, he needed to be focused right now. Time to show them what he could do.


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[jonathonhawke]

Prometheus hangs in space, about 50 yards from the hanger deck, watching the stars. He didn't get to spend much time up here, and this was how he preferred to relax.
Then came Pseudo's message. He eased himself through the atmospheric shield and flew up to the Command Deck.

 

[tglassy]

As Hawk turns to head to the Command Deck, he notices Prometheus flying in.

Space Flight. That would be nice. No reason why Hawk couldn't do the same, though he'd have to have some kind of protection against the vacuum. Maybe he could upgrade his suit with a LIfe Support system? Make it able to handle the rigors of space travel.

He'd have to think about that.

He catches up to Prometheus as they head to the Command Deck.

"What's it like, hovering in space like that?"


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[Shayuri]

Close your eyes. Think of nothing.

Sandra sat on her bed in her room in the dormitory area of the Lighthouse, legs crossed with a large leathery tome spread in her lap. Thinking of nothing. Except that thought itself was more than nothing, which negated the entire point of the exercise...

"You're not centering!" snapped an irritable voice from the book. A gruff, older man's voice that fluttered the pages.

Her eyes popped open and she glared down into the columns of strange runes and sigils emblazoned in the book.

"Yes, and you scolding me is definitely solving that problem."

"Nngh. Any apprentice in my day who'd shown a tenth the lip you've shown me..."

They were interrupted by a buzz from the little dresser stand by the bed. Sandra leaned over to get a look at its screen and saw 'MOM' flashing there. Her heart sank. She needed to be getting her act together, coming up with a good litany of half-truths and lies about her 'ongoing studies' and 'internship program.' Right now, she just didn't have it in her.

"It's no wonder you can't quiet your mind," the book grumped. "Every few minutes something distracts you. Learning the Art takes years of study and practice. You can't do it living minute to minute!"

Sandra scowled and sat back. "The pace of communication's increased since the day we sent messages by horse or pigeon, okay? And that...has its upside and its downside."

"When I suggested secluding yourself in a forgotten tower, I meant in a way no one could talk to you. Ideally they wouldn't even know you're alive. Solitude and isolation...they are essential..."

Abruptly a feeling that Sandra always associated with having cool water dumped down the back of her shirt came over her. Everything seemed to get a little quieter, and Pseudo's calm mental voice shivered in her mind like something she's heard a few minutes ago but was only just now remembering.

There is an emergency in Freedom City. Please report to the Command Deck ASAP.

Her heart leapt in her chest; excitement and fear. The Grimoire in her hands immediately sensed the change in her and interrupted his rant to ask curiously, "What is wrong, child?"

"They need us."

She got to her feet and with a looping gesture and a murmured set of syllables summoned her 'costume.' A construct of magic and light, shaped aorund her to change her appearance rather thoroughly. Gone was the straight black hair that hung down to just past her shoulders, and the slightly too-big glasses on a face she always thought was pretty nondescript. As Hex she was pretty; with windswept hair of glossy raven with an electric magenta stripe. Her hoody went from blah grey to a tighter black and indigo, with pink-purple whorls describing the Third Tier of the Celestial Ladder for those who knew enough magic to recognize it. Her jeans that always seemed hopelessly baggy on her became a short skirt with an ornamental belt, and mesh tights. It was daring and the kind of look she'd never be able to pull off herself.

[sblock=The Heroic Hex!][/sblock]

Magic made a lot of things possible.

The Grimoire 'hmphed,' and Sandra...no, Hex...looked down at it. "Show them your power," he suggested with grim satisfaction. "Take the Thunder Road."

"Grim...it's literally like twenty steps out my door to the elevator," she protested. Grim knew by now though when her protests were real, and when they were just what she felt she ought to say.

"And any place in this strange flying castle is but a recitation away. You were not born to walk, little one. Spread your wings, I say!"

The book flung itself open in her hands, and the pages flipped on their own until the spell he was recommending was shown.

He had a point. Why not use it? It'd be faster than taking the lift and a much more dramatic entrance.

Hex read from the book, tracing her hand to draw the sigils in the air. Swirling clouds of red and pink and violet gathered around her hands and left trails behind them as she moved them around. Arcs of lightning began snapping away from them, like tiny angry serpents.

Her hair...her real hair, not the glamour of her costume...began to lift up a little as the air around her buzzed. There was a smell, like a thunderstorm just before the first stroke of lightning.

And then there was light, and a cacophony of noise.

Sandra's room was empty.

========

An instant later, in the command center, a light breeze stirred up. Screens flickered briefly, and St Elmo's Fire blazed on the edges of metal surfaces.

With a crack of thunder that sent loose objects flying, a bolt of pink-and-purple lightning erupted down from the ceiling to the floor, leaving Hex standing there awkwardly in the midst of the consternation.

Immediately the idea of coming to the inside of a space station via magic lightning bolt seemed like an incredibly bad one. Oh hindsight...why were you never foresight?

"Uhh..." she stammered.

Grim came to her rescue with, "Behold! She commands the very elements! Kneel down lest her wrath fall upon you!"

The one eye on the cover of the book closed and opened as she stared down at it in horror. A wink.

"That...is not...I didn't..." Hex quickly mashed Grim against her side to muffle him and let her breath out. "I'm just going to sit down. I'm really sorry about that."

She took her seat, wishing for a spell that would make her turn invisible or something...but that was a trick she hadn't mastered.

 

[jonathonhawke]

Hawk catches up to Prometheus as they head to the Command Deck.

"What's it like, hovering in space like that?"

"Peaceful. There is no sound out there, and Helios warms me with his regard."

 

[hero4hire]

"Peaceful. There is no sound out there, and Helios warms me with his regard."

As if on cue, a thunderclap of sound interrupted the two men. The explosion of noise tapered off slowly. It most certainly had come from their destination; the command deck.

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[tglassy]

Hawk looked towards the Command Deck and launched himself in the air, reducing his weight to nothing (despite the ship's artificial gravity) and then drawing himself forward. HIs wings flapped, though they didn't actually help. By now, it was just reflex.

He made it to the Command Deck and looked around for trouble, only to see Hex sheepishly sit down. Hawk shivered. Magic was creepy. Sure, he could bend space at will, something most people called "gravity manipulation", but his powers were from the combination of an experiment and an accident. It was science. He bent space, causing things to 'fall' towards the middle of his gravity wells. He could also "unbend" space, or make an object immune to the bent space some massive objects, like a planet, creates, effectively making it 'weightless.' It was very scientific.

But this girl? She just waved her hands and made things happen through unknown energies, rewriting the laws of physics entirely. How did that even work?

"Hex," he said, nodding to her. He liked her well enough as a person. Her powers just creeped him out.

He moved to the table to sit down.


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[Quickleaf]

[SECTION]To remain still while hurtling in orbit aboard above the Earth. It was a paradox, but one that Kevin navigated with characteristic temperance. If the Mystic Fist could find calmness in the midst of violence, these unfamiliar surroundings too could be mastered. Breath calming, he remained in ready stance a moment longer, gauging the athletic man across from him until a faint smile flickered across Kevin's face. Closing his stance, he bows with left hand over his right fist. "Your kung-fu is strong, Tarantula. If the monks who trained me had a pupil like you..." He trails off with a grin, heading over to the gym towels, wiping the sweat from his face and bare chest.

Aboard the Lighthouse, the 30 year-old man is out of his element, having been in his teens when news of the station's development was made public. When the call to the Command Deck telepathically insinuates through his mind, Kevin's eyes narrow and he glances at the Tarantula before grabbing his mask and shirt. In the monastery, the Grandmaster could speak without words, a skill cultivated after decades of dedication; it was only mildly disconcerting to hear Pseudo's telepathic voice, but also vaguely familiar. Leaving the Wreck Room, Kevin begins to head in the wrong direction before correcting himself and catching up with the Tarantula, securing his mask in the process. "As the great master, Dai Lai Min, said: 'The house is not burned down by the resting monkey. It is burned down by the monkey with his tail on fire.'"

Stretching his top across his lithe torso, Kevin pulls it into place. The dark green, brown, and ochre-gold pattern is meant to blend into the dull colors of the urban environment, causing him to stand out in the pristine space station environment. "Any idea why they spent all that money launching us into space, if the emergency is back in Freedom City?" he inquires, the wryness in his voice undisguised.[/SECTION]

OOC: Back to you [MENTION=6801242]GreenKarl[/MENTION]!

 

[GreenKarl]

Tarantula was having a good time sparing with Mystic Fist, although he was still having a hard time believing that he was in space! Actual space, training with fellow Freedom League member, in a danger room. It was almost too good to be true. His wildest dreams never imagined that it could possibly be true. But here he was jumping, kicking, flipping and sparing with another metahuman... in Space!!

"No monks in my past I am afraid my Mystic friend of the Fist. Its all al-natural, hidden spider master powers. Not that I would not mind meeting some ancient martial art monk masters as I bet they would know all kinds go great secrets to life and stuff..." he had mentioned.

As the pair where leaving and heard the alarms going off, he listened to Mystic Fist he joins him in racing towards the command center adding "Well to be fair, Freedom City seems to draw disasters and random invasions like the most people change their soaks..."