Lex Qing/Sunrise
HAHAHAHA GO FUCK YOURSELF WITH A RUSTY DILDO SOPHIA.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Oh, I have footage saved of Sophie jerking around like she was possessed by a ghost. I'll send it to Taylor once she gets a phone.
I dropped Taylor off at home, reminding her to get a phone, before leaving, saying I had some things to take care of.
My first priority was Bakuda. If my memory serves me correctly, she was capable of making bombs that could easily take me out. Go after her early and fast, and if Oni Lee was in the way, YAY. No more ABB in Brockton Bay.
And there's the problem.
No more ABB means a power vacuum, which could be filled by the Teeth, or the Elite, or maybe the Nazis would just expand. I could do a lot, but not enough to hold down a dozen blocks of neighbourhood by myself, and Taylor couldn't make up that difference.
I needed a team. Not a duo, but a team.
But first…
Variable Pitch Arsenal
Standard
Explosive
Smokescreen
Cryobeam
EMP Shot
Net Launcher New!
Min-Max Rifle New!
Foam Sprayer New!
Naseua Shot New!
Tazer Shot New!
Actions Log
Met B-Class threat (Clockblocker) +20 Rings
Met C-Class threat (Aegis) +10 Rings
Met A-Class threat (Vista) +30 Rings
Met C-Class threat (Shadow Stalker) +10 Rings
Defeated C-Class threat (Shadow Stalker) +30 Rings
Achievements
Avenging Taylor (1/3) (Silver)
Punish the Trio.
Current Currency Total: 180 Rings
Annndd… SPIN!
Amar'e Stoudemire
Small Ball
Small Ball
Gain a third alt-form, that cannot surpass the size of a standard laptop.
Mike Smith
Red Hot
Red Hot
Allows you to quintuple your current strength for 15 seconds. Has a 30-minute cooldown.
Yay. 1-Stars. I'm gonna rip off my shirt and toss it into the crowd in celebration. A mostly infiltration-based power, and something that would be good for an Endbringer. Maybe.
I roll again.
The wheel lands on PURPLE.
OH SHIT. IT'S HAPPENING EVERYONE, EVERYONE IT'S HAPPENING!
STAY CALM, I TOLD YOU TO STAY FUCKING CALM.
A pack appears. The pack has Steph Curry in his shooting stroke and Ed Reed in a bent, pre-snap stance. The title is "HALL OF FAMERS."
Wait a second. Bure is in the Hall of Fame. Why was he in the "Superstars" pack?
… I'll just ask the creator of this system later. Sino did want me back in a day. I think. I don't remember.
Anyway, the pack shreds open, and the gleam of the card starts to fade away to reveal… MODOK?
… Oh my god, boss. You are funny, yet cruel at the same time.
Imagine MODOK from Marvel (no, not the one from Ant-Man 3), but he has a blue and white… helmet? Yeah, helmet, and he was wearing a giant sheriff hat.
Now, imagine if he was screaming "OMAHA!" over and over and over again. For
Peyton Manning
Film Study
Walking Playbook
Film Study
You gain skills by watching any video of the skill in action. You could learn the intricacies of Iron Man armour by analyzing Iron Man, understand the complexities of cooking the perfect meal just by observing Gordon Ramsey's videos, or become an assassin on par with John Wick, by watching Keanu Reaves kill people. You are not limited by the realism of the video. Futuristic technology or esoteric skills are on the table, if you are willing to watch a movie about it. Does not grant powers. The more realistic, the more effective Film Study is.
Walking Playbook
You have a perfect memory and an IQ of 250.
… What the fuck.
On second thought, this power isn't that overpowered due to my setting. The overall talent of Earth-Bet compared to our Earth is lower, because the Endbringers and Shards have basically ruined the chances for some of those people to thrive.
This means no documentary series about engineers, and famously, no comic book movie/TV adaptations to show me how to fight like Batman, Green Arrow, or Captain America.
Eh. I'll settle for Youtube engineering videos and other action flicks for now. Movie culture is stupidly backwards when we compare Earth-Bet to wherever I came from, and therefore creativity and quality of films is kinda ass, but something is better than nothing.
Still, it would really help me if I could get some Iron Legion drones up and running. I physically couldn't be everywhere at once, and-
I face plant into the ground. Or I would've if the ground directly in front of me didn't turn into a portal.
That's what I assume to have happened, because when I look forwardd, and I see Sino''s face staring back at me.
"Yo! Enjoying Earth-Bet?"
She was still wearing the same tracksuit she had when I met her. Does she not change?
SLAP. Huh. Didn't hurt much.
"Can you not ask rude questions?" Sino asked with a pout.
I ignore her statement, and throw my own question at her.
"I'm pretty sure it's only been a day. Maybe a day and a half. Why am I-"
I glance around at the empty void.
"In the not-Matrix again?"
Sino clapped, and the void was replaced by a theatre.
"Now usually this is the part where I introduce base building, and toss you a basic apartment to get you started. However, the boss is offering a deal."
My screen pulls itself up, and two darkened boxes are now filled with blue light.
Base Building
Currency Exchange
"First, currency exchange. You can turn Rings into any type of currency you need. Pretty simple. However, you cannot convert the currency to Rings. If you want Rings, go beat up some parahumans."
"Now, we don't take Rings as payment in exchange for building your base; you gotta convert to a real currency before we can use it," Sino continued.
"This is where the deal comes in. If you use Film Study in a certain way, then the boss will hand over 50 million in USD for you to play with."
…Excuse moi?
"You heard me. It's only fifty rings anyway, don't get so excited," Sino commented while rolling her eyes.
I stare at her, mouth slightly agape. "I think you and I value things very differently."
"Whatever. So now, the deal."
I rub my hands together, and gesture for Sino to continue.
"You have to watch all five of the Bayformers films. Back-to-back."
…
"If it makes you feel better, I'm suffering with you, and you can learn Cybertronian CQC!"
…
"Okay, seriously, is your brain still working? The only thing I'm getting from your head is-"
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
"There it is. Maybe I should let him process like I did…"
Taylor Heber/Yellowjacket
Initially, I had wanted to join the Wards, and maybe convince Sunrise when we were on a team together.
Thank god I didn't.
Intellectually, when I shunted my emotions into the swarm, I was able to understand what had happened, and how it wasn't truly the PRT/Proctectorate's fault.
One bad employee, a horseshit principal, and a psychotic mockery of a "hero" mix together to create the perfect situation where somebody can be repeatedly bullied into gaining superpowers.
Those three people don't represent all of the PRT and Protectorate.
BUT THEY SURE AS HELL DID JACK SHIT TO STOP THEM.
But it really wasn't their fault!
But I wanna hate them anyway!
It's like I literally have an angel and devil on each of my shoulders!
After telling my dad about the whole "Sophia is Shadow Stalker" situation, he went from trying to encourage me to join the Wards, to dropping the topic. Completely.
We had a conversation about it when I asked, and he said that he trusted Lex enough after a conversation they had. He wouldn't tell me the topic, though. I'm just gonna ask Lex after anyways.
Anyway, today is PRT negotiation day. Lex should be here soon to pick us up-
A knock on the door.
I grab my costume, which, thanks to Lex's weird nano-tech suit thing, can fit under my clothes, and deploy in the tinted lens of Lex's body.
Er- Car body. Chassis?
"Taylor, we're leaving!"
"Got it, Dad!"
I jog outside, to see the sedan that Sunrise calls his incognito mode. All-black, a spoiler, and four round headlights.
The tinted glass hides outsiders from peaking in. After the door closes, an invisible voice gives us a "Good morning," before urging Danny to put the mask on.
I call out "Yellowjacket."
The voice-activated suit flows around me, and the yellow and black power armour is set within seconds.
As Sunrise was pulling into an alley, he shifts. I can't see much on the outside, only seeing the flaming red and gold paint scheme on the outside.
However, the cheap cloth interior was replaced with leather, and the radio, and was more modern, with a readout of the car's data- speed, oil temperature, torque split. The most notable part of the car, in my opinion, was the shining GTR badge on the steering wheel.
Sunrise then decides to kill us.
… okay, not literally, but we're thrown into the back of our seats as the speedometer goes from 60km/h to 80 in half a second. It's still going up until 160 before Sunrise turns, throwing Dad, causing our seatbelts to lock in and hold us.
He then deaccelerates to normal speed.
Dad asks a question.
Sunrise responds by replacing his readout screen… with a black one. With a troll-face.
We arrive at the PRT building shortly after. Sunrise ushers us out as we're still recovering, tells us he has tinkering to do, and promises to pick us up when we call. He tires then revs his engine, before accelerating to… wherever he's going.
My irritation was now directed at that red and gold troll who I think messed with people just to see how far he could push them.
When we told the director that Sunrise said he had tinker power, I could visibly see her eye twitching.
My irritation was sated a bit.
AN: New Powers!
Amar'e Stoudemire: Famous for being undersized for his position. Most players who played Center were at least 7ft tall, and over 250 pounds. Tim Duncan at about 270, Shaq at 340. Amar'e was only 6ft 8, 244 lbs. He instead relied on speed and endurance to outrun the slow, lumbering big man of his era. This size mismatch is why I gave him a small alt-form. Against a full-sized Cybertronian, one on one, a small bot would be destroyed. But he can gather data, and help in other, non-obvious ways, and this unorthodox way of helping captures why the idea of Amar'e was so unique.
Mike Smith: Smith has a thing. He's either the best goalie to ever play the game, or he couldn't stop a beach ball from hitting the back of the net. He is so streaky, and when you least expect or want it, he turns into a pumpkin, and all of a sudden, the sport's most crucial position is entirely unreliable. But when he's on, he's excellent, and that's the premise for a 15-second power boost.
Peyton Manning: THE SHERIFF. Know and mocked for having a HUGE forehead, which is the inspiration for the MODOK design. Another thing like MODOK is that Manning relies on preparation, planning and intelligence, rather than crazy athleticism, and he is famous for masterminding his offences, more than his own coaches. His mastery of the playbook allowed his teams to have generational offences, notably the 2013 Denver Broncos. He acquires this mastery through film study, aka studying recordings of his opponents to chart tells and coverages, so he knows where and when to throw. So film study for Lex, so he doesn't have to waste time developing bullshit level of skills.