legionmissions | GODS AMONG US - Fighting the Regime [modplot]

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plot: gods among us

GODS AMONG US - Fighting the Regime [modplot]

Who| Everyone who signed up
What| "Gods Among Us," the fight against the Regime.
Where| Earth, the 21st century
When| If relevant, like if you want to note it's after an event.
Warnings/Notes| N/A for now

They'd done it. It had been a race against time itself, but they'd won. With the Four driven off, unfortunately a capture had proven impossible every time, but the alterations had been averted and the Legion of Super Heroes could return home and bask in victory.

Or so they'd thought.

As they sat in the Time Sphere, on the way home after a stressful mission, the floor underneath them jolted, sending the team sprawling. Alarms blared, warning them that they were caught in a violent chronal wake as something much larger and more powerful than them tore through the timestream. An actual, honest-to-God flying saucer tore around them, burning history at the speed of seventeen dreams a minute. Visions of times that would now never be flashed by in the multi-hued chaos as it pulled ahead of the timesphere, slowing down to match their speed.

A hatch opened, lowering a ramp as it sped around, and William Leather stepped out. Smirking, he gave the Legionnaires a cocky wave. Then rolled something at them, shoving it down the ramp with a booted foot. It was big, painted in bright yellow with black stripes, egg-shaped, and the type of odd box sometimes called a "California Parachute" welded to the end. When it hit, everything went hot white and the concussive force ensured that no one remained conscious.

When they wake up, they're surrounded by construction work. Their hasty exit from the time stream has caused steel beams to age enough to twist and rust, and has de-aged the concrete underneath them until it has become wet again, threatening to harden around them where they lay.

The Time Sphere itself is nowhere to be found. There isn't even any wreckage.

What's immediately evident, however, is that someone's rolled out the red carpet in the form of men. Lots of men, wearing black armor with a distinctly stormtrooper-ish design. Above the red lenses of their goggles is a possibly familiar pentagon-shape filled in with red. No "S" in that shield, but the shape is evident. All of them are armed, some with assault rifles and others carrying weapons of infinitely more sophisticated design.

One of them -- impossible to say what rank when he wears the same black body armor as the rest -- growls.

"Stay on your knees. Hands behind your heads. If you think you want to get cute, we’ve got the real Flash, Nightwing, and Yellow Lantern on their way." He raises his shotgun and pumps it dramatically, pausing as the unfired shell spirals out the ejection port and hits the ground. "...And they ain’t gonna be happy to see some bad Halloween costumes.”

The situation, as bad as it is, isn't helped when the local "heroes" arrive. A crimson comet speeds through the ranks of the Regime's troops, and a yellow force beam blasts the ground between the main group and the soldiers. Of the threatened Nightwing, there is no sign, but Flash and Yellow Lantern come to a stop on their end of the line. Barry Allen folds his arms over his chest, glowering, and Hal Jordan jabs a finger at the team, a glowing yellow hand above him echoing his movements. "You’re all unauthorized superhumans. Out after curfew! Surrender now or..."

His threat is left unvoiced, however, as the team is wrapped in purple smoke, a woman’s voice echoing in a language that even the telepathic ear plugs can’t work out.

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As the smoke envelops them, the air around them changes, the smell of construction and dust being replaced with...esperation. And machine oil. And the smell of someone who hasn’t changed out of his battle armor in a long, long time.

Bruce Wayne hasn't worn the Batman mask in a while, not in private, and he hasn't bothered to put it on now. A redhead woman also wearing a Bat uniform stands nearby, a batarang dangling from her fingertips as she watches them warily. And, waving smoke away from her face, is a woman in fishnets and a stage magician’s outfit, moving to sit heavily behind them.

"It’s been a long time. You people have a talent for showing up at the worst points of someone's life, don't you?" Humor isn’t something Bruce has had a lot of time to indulge in. His mouth barely quirks into a smile before dropping into the familiar Batman scowl. "I'm not sure why the Legion of Super Heroes has taken so long to take an interest, but I could use your help again. Not that you have a choice, the Regime's taken your Time Sphere and locked it away in the Hall of Justice."

It takes some time but he explains it all in fairly simple terms: five years ago, the Joker kidnapped Superman's pregnant wife, Lois Lane, implanted a device in her that would trigger a bomb when her heartbeat stopped, then drugged Superman with kryptonite-laced fear gas so that he accidentally killed her, thinking he was fighting one of his enemies. When her heart stopped the detonator triggered, causing a nuclear bomb to also destroy Metropolis.

The bomb, plan, and detonation device were given to the Joker, however, from an outside influence -- most likely the four Time Travelers.

In the five years since, Superman's become lost to his grief, gone mad with power, and taken over the world with a soul-crushing totalitarian regime, in an attempt to stop all crime. Many heroes and innocents have died opposing him, civil rights are being trampled on. Several powerful heroes -- like The Flash and Yellow Lantern -- have aligned with him.

"I did my research after the incident in the hospital with Barbara. I've discovered traces of the time travelers' interference in historical records, digital surveillance, and the personal accounts of other heroes -- countless alterations to history that undermine the defenses of the planet. If they're the ones that equipped the Joker five years ago, they're responsible for the nightmare the world is facing now, and they're probably preparing the planet for something even worse. We need to get your time machine out of the Regime’s hands. If you can go back and prevent the incident that set Superman down this path, this nightmare will be over and we'll undermine the Four's plans -- but we'll have to defeat the Regime to get to it.”

He speaks like a man who doesn't expect any opposition to what he's saying. In his mind, there's no other choice. As far as he's concerned, defeating the Regime is the only way to set things right. Even if their mission to travel back in time and prevent the Regime from forming makes this entire struggle pointless.

[ooc: This thread can be used to ask the Resistance npcs questions, and for characters to take a breather, talk to their friends, make IC plans, etc.]

Edited 2017-05-23 05:14 (UTC)

There’s not a lot of time to spare. But if they want to scrounge for weapons and allies, or maybe get some of Superman’s friends alone to try to turn friends into foes, now’s the time to do it.

[ooc: This thread can be used for characters to make preparations from the fight, whether that's by finding weapons, asking heroes to come out of retirement, or convinces some of Superman's allies to turn against him.]

Batman, Batwoman, Deadman (who usually talks to others by possessing one of his allies), and Zatanna seem fairly willing to talk to the Legionnaires and answer any of their questions.

[ooc: This subthread can be used if a character wants to talk to one of the Resistance npcs for more information or a more personal thread. Please note the npc you'd like your character to speak to in the subject of your comment.]

They've promised to help, but this is a ruined timeline. It shouldn't have happened. The best thing to do is to go back in time and punch the Joker in the face before he begins his mad scheme that will lead the world to ruin. But first they have to get to the Time Sphere to avert this possible past. All of their planning and preparations have lead up to this.

[ooc: After plotting with each other, players should set up subthreads with any partners they find that want to fight a particular Regime villain. Each villain will have their own subthread where all the Legionnaires fighting them can tag into to add attacks. We reccommend that people fighting the same Regime villain plot closely with everyone else that wants that villain, to decide how things are going to go down. Please note the villain your group has opted to fight in the subject of the first comment. Please also consult your fellow plotmates to make sure villains that PCs attempt to turn against Superman aren't placed in conflicting roles of still fighting on his side.]

When they exit the Time Sphere, the sun is shining. The sky is a clear and brilliant blue, and they're hovering above a sprawling Metropolis. The Metropolis. Underneath is Century Park, with the golden memorial to Superman smiling, arm upheld to allow an eagle to land on it directly beneath them.

The day seems fairly harmless, except for the two clowns approaching the base of the statue. One of them, painfully familiar to some present as the Joker (only not inverted in his coloration) rants and raves bombastically, while his female follower strains to drag a bag behind her, hastily nodding whenever the Clown Prince of Chaos stops to take a breath.

Finally. Their job, as described by Batman, is simple. Save Metropolis. Get the atomic bomb away from Harley Quinn and the Joker. And keep Superman’s hands clean.

[ooc: This is the final confrontation with the Joker and the Four. We recommend that this part not be started until previous parts have reached a decent level of completion.]

"Hi," Barry says, raising his hand to grab Batman's attention, "You said why Superman snapped. Do you have any idea why my alternate suddenly decided to abandon all common sense to join the side with the actual Stormtroopers."

It was necessary information to have. Barry, and Grif, are the only people on the team fast enough to keep up with the other Flash. The answer would determine whether or not Barry would be able to talk him down, or just skip straight to trying to beat sense into his counterpart with his fists.

After the explanation from Batman, Danny didn't really feel like talking to any of the other heroes. Not because he didn't have questions, but because this was all way too familiar for him to feel comfortable with it. Big explosion that killed his family, leading to him becoming a super villain and taking over the world. It was exactly like Dark Dan, and the whole thing just left him with a sick feeling in his stomach.

As such, Danny went off to be by himself. Looking for an weapons vault of some sort, to maybe find something that would fit him when he was out fighting crime. Blasters would work, if he could get his hands on one. It may not have been the same as his family's weaponry, but he was smart enough to make it work. Maybe.

He needed something other than his fists, anyway.

Edited 2017-05-24 23:35 (UTC)

To say that Bruce doesn't entirely trust this other Barry Allen is an understatement. If anything, he trusts the total strangers that are here more -- especially... especially the three that had been there that horrible day in Crime Alley. And it goes without saying that he trusts Nightwing most of all.

But he swallows it down as best as he can for now. If this version of Barry genuinely is still on the side of angels, perhaps he'll be able to use insight into his own psychology to influence the other Barry somehow.

"As far as we can tell, Allen signed on due the massive loss of life in Metropolis. The prospect of a world where crime was tightly controlled enough that another disaster like that could never reoccur proved too tempting, especially after Jordan joined the Regime. That said, we have seen signs of...hesitation. The Regime has caused untold suffering and some of our sources say Allen is unhappy with it."

Edited 2017-05-24 07:15 (UTC)

"Central City. Home, not-so-sweet right now home."

During the run to the city, Barry had veered off for a moment to buy a couple of bags of what sounded like metal canisters, one of which he passes over to Grif.

"We're gonna need to get the other Barry's attention. I figure you know what my logo looks like by now. There should be enough yellow spray paint in the bags to make sure it ends up all over town."

It's exactly the kind of thing that would grab his attention. Privately, Barry hopes he and his counterpart aren't that different in that respect.

Edited 2017-05-26 02:07 (UTC)

Barry sighed as he rubbed at the bridged of his nose. He could certainly understand the desire to keep something like Metropolis happening again, even though he would never consider even remotely supporting anything like the Regime.

"How do you think he'd react to another version of him pointing out that this is literally the worst way of going about that possible? I can guess what I'd do in that situation, but there were differences between him and I even before the timeline was messed with.

"If I understood any of his choices, I could've possibly prevented him from joining the Regime in the first place. Even though you're from another world you most likely have more insight than I do."

A pause.

"That said, if you wanted to try to convince him to turn against Superman, you're probably one of the only people on the planet that would be fast enough to escape if it doesn't work."

Edited 2017-05-26 06:00 (UTC)

That was definitely a sulk that seemed to be coming on, and while the situation was depressing, Rich wondered if it was more than just depressing -- maybe for Danny it was somehow personal.

The kid seemed to play things close to the vest, and had talked on the network about superhero-ish things in his world (like ghosts) while claiming to have no part in them, but what didn't mean he was completely un-involved. Look at how Jason had been devoted to keeping his secret ID for a while.

Whatever the case, Rich figured he could use someone to talk to. So when Danny wandered off, Rich followed.

"Hey, kid, how are you holding up?"

Edited 2017-05-26 06:04 (UTC)

Danny really didn't want to talk to anyone right now, he kept telling himself. The whole thing was too personal to really talk about, especially given how much effort he was putting into hiding his Phantom persona. He'd deal with it, like he always did, and get back out there to knock some sense into this stupid version of Superman.

But of course, he just couldn't be left alone, could he.

"Oh, I'm doing great," Danny said, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm. A big scowl on his face, as he opened a crate, and began sorting through some of the weaponry inside. "We're just fighting some overpowered alien superhero who got turned into a supervillain and is basically holding our only way out of this messed-up present hostage. You know, normal day."

It wasn't like Nightwing wasn't listening, because he was. There was just a lot to take in. It seemed like the entire world had gone off the rails five years ago and that was going to take a little time to get his head around.

So, once the questions were done and they had split up to do other things, Dick went exploring. He ended up in front of the uniform cases. Or, more realistically, the memorial cases. Because Dick hadn't seen any proof of any members of the Bats other than Bruce and Kate still being around.

He stopped in front of the Nightwing uniform and made a face. "Guess there had to be a trade off."

Grif grins. This may be big, important superhero business? But it's also one of those things that every person has probably wanted to do at some point.

...Well, every person who thinks like him. A bit of high speed vandalism just sounds like a good time, even without a legitimate mission at hand.

Grif takes up his paint with an apparently serious and somber air, shaking it with great purpose. He looks at Barry.

"First one through their cans wins!"

He's barely finished saying it before he's gone, leaving a rash of emblems in his wake. He's not the neatest, some of them get a bit more "backwards Zorro" than "lightning bolt", but they'll almost certainly be recognizable to this universe's Barry.

Barry laughs before bolting off in the other direction. Grif might have a head start, but Barry has been at this for nearly three years now, and is somewhat faster because of it. He easily begins to catch up to Grif's lead, especially once he decides to circle around the town, turning Central City itself into one giant Flash symbol visible from the air.

"There's also Grif," Barry felt the need to point out, "but between the two of us I probably have the best chance of talking him down. I might bring Grif along as backup anyways."

"Is the other Barry still working out of Central City?"

"Yes."

A pause.

"If you plan to confront him, I won't let Zatanna risk her life for an extraction. It's on your head."

"I wasn't planning on asking for one." Barry admits. If things went completely wrong, Barry's plan is to hold of his counterpart long enough for Grif to make a run for it.

"No matter what happens, I'm going have to confront him at some point. I have the best shot at talking him down, and if things go south I have the most experience fighting other speedsters out of everyone here. Both of those things will be much easier to manage in neutral territory than they would in the middle of a fight with the entire Regime."

"Yeah, kinda is," he said cheerfully. He sobered up a little. "I know it seems a little overwhelming right now, especially with how powerful Superman is, but this is doable. He's just another meta -- a powerful one, sure, but not invincible."

Just...really invulnerable. But Rich'd seen plenty of invulnerable bad guys go down hard.

"Look, I don't need a pep talk, okay?" Danny snapped, glaring. Although he wasn't so much angry at Rich, as he was just... frustrated at the whole situation. "I've been here. I've done this. This isn't my first alternate timeline, or even my first time travel. In fact, this is way too close to home, and that's kind of the problem right now!"

He was too frustrated to really think about what he'd said, what it implied. He just wanted to get that off his chest, and hopefully get them to maybe not act like he needed his hand held.

"Those sure are a whole lot of interesting things for a civilian to have experience with."

He'd seen Danny talking on the comms about ghosts and whatnot, making it sound like he was just a civilian in a town with strange events.

"Unless said civilian is secretly a superhero or something," he added slyly. " You wouldn't know anything about that kind of thing, would you?"

Any other time, Danny would've been a lot better about hiding his secret identity. But right now, after venting like that, he couldn't help but be caught unaware by his response. It was obvious too, the way he couldn't help but furrow his brow, as if not sure what he was talking about. The way his gaze moved down, as if thinking back to what he said. The way his eyes widened, as if the realization just struck.

"Um..." The frustration was temporarily gone, replace in that moment with sheer unadulterated panic. His breathing starting to pick up, as he suddenly realized he wanted to talk about literally anything else. "... What were we talking about?"

"Kid, I was there, too. With being paranoid about the secret identity thing. A lot of us were. I was seventeen when I got my powers. Some of my friends were even younger." He leaned against the wall near Danny, arms crossed. "That's the great thing about superteams. You don't have to pretend to be anything you're not. You can be your civilian self and your superhero self and stop pretending they're separate."

With the New Warriors, he was always able to be Nova and just Rich.

Edited 2017-06-09 04:44 (UTC)

No, this was not the conversation he wanted to have. This was literally the last thing he wanted to be talking about, even in the middle of a Darkest Timeline scenario. He wasn't even paying attention to what Rich was saying, that was how much he was about to freak out. The teenager starting to laugh at a pitch a bit too high to be normal, as he started to blatantly deny everything.

"Dude, I'm not a superhero. I'm the weirdo with the ghost hunting parents, who gets blamed for everything, okay? That's it." Even to him, that didn't sound convincing. Granted, everything except the first sentence was true, but he was too paranoid to think straight. "I'm not a superhero. Okay? I'm not."

"Yuh huh. You're a totally normal guy that's dealt with alternate timelines and time travel. Because that happens to every high school kid."

His voice goes gentle.

"Listen, we're a million miles from our homes right now. Anyone from home you'd have to worry about keeping your ID secret from isn't here, and the people who are here are probably never going to have access to home."

"In my defense, everyone in my town has at least been to an alternate dimension."

This wasn't helping. God, this wasn't helping at all.

"And time traveled, too, huh?"

Come on.

"Sam and Tucker time traveled, and they don't have powers."

He's in full-on panic mode. He's pulling at every string he can think of.

"Kid, it's okay. Relax. The secret ID thing is usually about the public in general. When there's multiple superheroes, keeping each other's secrets is a fine superheroic tradition."

You don't narc on teammates and allies. You just don't.

"You're telling me to relax like it's easy!" Danny blurted out, before realizing he yelled that. Glancing over at the rest of the people in the base, and making sure they hadn't heard him, before continuing. "But you don't know anything about my life, okay? You don't know what it's like to have your town hate you for doing the right things. Every time I do something right, a ghost tricks me, or mind controls me, or does something for everyone to hate me again. And then to have my parents constantly hunting me down because they think I'm the enemy? Yeah, that's just the icing on the cake."

"No, the worst part, is that I've been here!" He blurted out again, this time straight up throwing the lid of the case at the wall. "family and friends dying in an explosion? Check. Alternate version of me being totally traumatized by it? Check. Turning into a supervillain because of it? Check."

"So yeah. No. I'm not relaxing. Because apparently, as far as I know, I'm gonna have to do this all over again, and the best I can hope for without my normal powers is that maybe he won't kick my butt after I try overshadowing him."

Rich took a deep breath.

"Kid, I've seen planets die. Entire planets. I've had to bury an alternate universe version of my baby brother -- who died trying to help me. I've been assimilated by evil robots and brainwashed into helping them terrorize the innocent. I even died and came back to life."

He said it all very calmly.

"So no, maybe I don't know exactly what it's like to deal with a few of those things, but we've all got our burdens to bear. You don't know what it's like to watch an entire world die around you, either."

He drew in a deep breath.

"Pretending you're not dealing with it at all -- or pushing everyone else away -- all that's going to do is turn you into an island. It'll leave you facing it all alone -- and you don't have to be alone. You're part of a team, and a lot of the people on that team have struggled and suffered, and understand hardship. You're not the only superhero that's faced the public hating them, or being brainwashed, or their parents hating their heroic half, or alternate evil versions of themselves."

Edited 2017-06-09 06:14 (UTC)

"... Oh."

Yeah, that was really all Danny could say there. Kind of takes the wind off your sails when someone ups the stakes by including dead planets.

"A lot of superheroes deal with time travel or alternate universes and find out ways it could go wrong. I know a bunch of people that've seen potential futures where they've gone bad -- it happens more easily than you'd think in our line of work." A shrug. "Superheroing can be awful. You can lose people or get tortured or traumatized until you're completely crazy. And because there's time and interdimensional travel, heroes sometimes get confronted with the what-ifs. The possible futures, or the alternate worlds where they already went bad."

He pointed to the ground.

"But all that matters is what you're doing in the present. In this one. If you saw a glimpse of what could've happened if you were pushed past the moral event horizon -- well... it's not like you're the only one who has a breaking point. Everyone does. And yet, everyone still has a choice in how they react when pushed past it."

Edited 2017-06-09 06:23 (UTC)

A part of Danny really wanted to bail on this conversation. The part of him that kept thinking that if anyone found out about his secret identity, everything would be over. It was a strong desire, to just up and storm away. But another part of him, the part of him that hadn't had his friends to talk to about any of this... that part was itching to vent to someone.

And Danny really wasn't sure which part of him to listen to.

"Okay, look. Let's say I am a superhero. Hypothetically." He made sure to include that last words, looking a bit anxious. "What are you supposed to do when you end up in some new place, with a bunch of other superheroes, and all you can think of is all the times you've messed up? I mean..." He sighed, dragging his hand down his face. "Hypothetically. What if it's just easier to pretend to be a new superhero?"

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GODS AMONG US - Fighting the Regime [modplot]

PART 1: A BREATHER

PART 2 - PREP TIME

TALK TO THE NPCS

PART 3 - FIGHTY TIME

PART 4 - STOPPING THE JOKER AND THE FOUR

Batman

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Flash of Two Worlds...(and Doubletime)

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Batman and/or Deadman?

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