GODS AMONG US - Fighting the Regime [modplot]

[letsgolegion]

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.

Comments

PART 1: A BREATHER

[legionnpcs]

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.]

PART 2 - PREP TIME

[letsgolegion]

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.]

PART 3 - FIGHTY TIME

[letsgolegion]

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.]

PART 4 - STOPPING THE JOKER AND THE FOUR

[letsgolegion]

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.]