[MM3]Sunstormers IC

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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

Khemis
Hero Points: 3; Current Condition: Fine

Khemis leaves a note in his mailbox, explaining (without giving away any names) that they are one of the people who called 911 after he was shot, and that he may have been shot because his attacker thought he is a Sunstormer. The CPD may also suspect he is a Sunstormer. She includes one of her anonymous email addresses in the note if he wants to get in touch with her for any reason.

On a related note, Khemis keeps an eye on the CPD investigation into Albert's shooting. Has anyone been arrested for it as yet?
Last edited by Tony Jones on Sun Oct 30, 2022 5:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Neo-Paladin »

Not yet, sadly.
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

Khemis is unfortunately not at all shocked by this...
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Shadowmask
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Shadowmask »

As Helen continued to drive around town, her mind drifted to the recent events in the aftermath of her revealing about being a sunstormer to the world:

Flashback - 24 hours ago:

Special Agent Lloyd Price handed Helen the final waiver form after the latest online conference with the Senate committee. He turned off the wall screens from the desk laptop with disgust.

"Thank god i don't vote anymore. How these vipers ever got elected to public office in the first place is beyond me. Anyway you finally got security clearance, Paladino, along with the legal approval from the State of Illinois to continue to operate as a member of the CPD. The mayor isn't too happy about not being involved in the policymaking but thankfully the police commissioner supported the motion.

Still it wasn't easy, let me tell you. Half of those gutless politicians in DC want to shove your ass in a government laboratory and dissect you and the other half want to send you overseas in a military capacity, being a kind of living WMD against China or the nations of the Middle East.

Of course it was even more difficult to keep you working as a cop right here in Chicago. Some of the local boys in blue don't like sunstormers on the police force even one who has been a part of said force for years but after what happened at our headquarters in Washington, you'll be surprised how many of those who were initially against the idea of a superpowered police officer occasionally working for the FBI on cases involving sunstormer activity suddenly turned right around and gave legal permission in the face of massive public outcry, especially from the friends and families of those killed…including me."

Helen looked at Price with mixed emotions. He now seemed about a dozen or more years older with a barely concealed glimmer of rage and sadness in his eyes. He had taken the attack in DC personally as did many if not most of the Bureau field agents.

She would not be surprised if some of them harbored resentment towards her because she is also a sunstormer. Thus they obviously want her to fail. Maybe even to get her Italian butt killed in the line of duty. What's one less freak?

Hell, once the situation with the sunstormers had been suitably handled in a more manageable level, good old Uncle Sam very likely will stab her in the back and lock her up in a maximum security prison, possibly sterilized and lobotomized. Helen knew this might eventually happen and it was one of the risks she had understood and fully accepted once she decided to go public about her gravity powers.

For now they are allies. Reluctant allies true but ones with a common... and more dangerous enemy.

"I am really sorry about your friends, Lloyd…" Helen stammered.

"Spare me the pity, Paladino!" he snapped. He rubbed his forehead then gestured at the window showing a panoramic view of the Chicago skyline. "Show them no pity, no love, kindness or mercy because once the news about you hits the streets, the sunstormers in this town won't give you any in return. Just do your job and just be yourself.

Make them squirm."

"With pleasure."
pathfinderq1
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by pathfinderq1 »

Vickie Pulaski (Charger)
HP: 3; LP: 1; Condition: Normal

(OOC: Okay, getting this started, while I have a chance- this is Part One, which is basically the first week of the three-week gap. More to come)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...”- wasn’t that how the line went? Vickie hadn’t read that much Dickens in high school- not cool enough or “current” enough or “relevant to the modern cultural experience” enough or whatever the buzzwords were these days, so she didn’t know the rest of the quote, or how apt it might have been in the chaotic new world that the Sunstorm had brought about.

After the second meeting of the “Justice League of Chicago”, she didn’t go back to the relief station on the plaza, and if there were any other meet-ups between members of the (rather loose) group, she was not in attendance. In terms of relief efforts and “getting things back on track”, there was plenty to do on the UChicago campus- in fact, with the start of official classes pushed back (again and again, a week at a time), the school had instituted all kinds of projects to help out, both of the University and the local neighborhood, just to keep the student body occupied and engaged.

But in the grand scheme of things, even participation in organized campus projects amounted to only a small fraction of her actual activities. The world had changed so much in such a brief span of time- HER LIFE had changed so much… Over the last few years, there had been large sudden changes- politics, to some extent, and of course the Pandemic. But those changes had played out over months, even years- the Sunstorm and the changes that event had brought about had happened in just a few days; very nearly a thunderclap in terms of society, but not less real nor less drastic, despite its brevity. While the number of people directly affected paled in comparison to those affected by the Pandemic (those killed by the disease itself or by related factors, as well as those who faced years or a lifetime of Long Covid consequences), the overall effect on society was comparable- the Sunstormers remained alive, and their powers could create a broad footprint around them, far larger than a cloud of simple contagious viral particles.

And Vickie, for whom “having a plan” was a vital part of life, had found her plans in disarray. She needed to get a new plan together, and quickly. Understanding what had happened to the world was too big a task- she was smart, but not THAT smart. But she needed to understand what had happened to her- what she could do (and couldn’t do) and what that meant for her life, in both a short-term and a long-term sense…

>Week One: The first week was occupied with the basics- when a hurricane had just washed your beachfront house out to sea, you didn’t just start rebuilding on the same spot the very next day. The Sunstorm- its effects on her, and on the world at large, had pretty much swept away any plans she might have had, not just down TO the foundation, but house, foundation, and surrounding terrain, all gone. So she had to dig deep, start somewhere right down on the bedrock. What HAD happened? What was LIKELY TO happen? What COULD happen?

While Vickie had long used her athletics as a bit of an escape, she was, at her core, more than a bit of a Brain, a S.A.P. (Study/Analyze/Plan)- that was why she had ended up at UChicago, after all, a top-notch research university with a well-known reputation as a bit of a pressure-cooker, a place “Where fun goes to die”. And so, when all else failed, when uncertainty took over, she did what she had always done- she hit the books.

Luckily, UChicago WAS an excellent school, with exceptional resources- and at least for now, Vickie was still officially a full-time student, so she could drink deep from the well of knowledge. And while the Sunstorm had wrecked a lot of the internet, there were plenty of resources available in accessible form, both on campus and in the city. Hello, libraries! In addition, she took some time to set up a few anonymous email and social media accounts, things she could use to communicate or check on subjects that she didn't want to be directly tied to. It wasn't perfect, or nearly fool-proof, but it was definitely better than no effort at all- especially if she only accessed these accounts from relatively anonymous library computers, instead of her personal machine. This wasn't Finsta, but close...

Vickie had figured out fairly quickly that she didn’t need as much sleep as she used to, and her ability to process information had noticeably improved- both of which were helpful, considering just how much work there was to do. It only took a couple of minutes to download an AP Physics textbook, and a little longer than that to start bookmarking all of the relevant bits.

Then she started digging into other relevant subjects. Like law, for instance. In the aftermath of the incident on the plaza, there had been some discussion of the concept of a ‘citizen’s arrest’, and she wanted to look into that- but after what had happened to Harold, she wanted to review the laws regarding self-defense, especially since those varied from state to state. Then there was the related theory and practice regarding acceptable use of force, and the ‘escalation of force’ pyramid. While not all Sunstormer powers were comparable to (or better than) firearms, they had to assume that the legal system would rate them comparably.

When she wasn’t studying newly-relevant subjects like physics and law, she was delving into pop culture- it had always been an interest, a hobby, but like those other subjects it was now far more important, more useful. Superhumans were a cultural staple- movies, comic books, games… But now that there were real people who were capable of superhuman feats, those tropes took on another aspect- these were the examples that people would think of, when they heard about or witnessed Sunstormers “in action” as it were. They would think of Superman, the Avengers, Captain Marvel (either one), even darker visions like Invincible or The Boys. What would they believe Sunstormers to be capable of? How would normal people (Muggles?) believe that superhumans would act? Vickie knew that she herself had certain preconceptions about telepaths, for example. What tropes needed to be expected, or enforced, or subverted?

In her “research” she did come across one particular tidbit that seemed interesting, from stories set right here in Chicago. She flagged that for Khemis to look at, since she seemed to be the most interested in that particular subject...

>Khemis, take a look at this. Coincidence? Right here in Chicago, according to the source material
Spoiler

Nemesis
A self-aware entity or force (precisely which is unclear, though it's implied to be a kind of Outsider) that can infect and change the minds of those it intrudes into, which subverts people to the service of the Outsiders. It is not named until the events of Cold Days, and Titania warns Harry that he should be careful to speak its name, and instead prefers to refer to it as "the adversary." In Battle Ground it is finally forced to admit its name is He Who Walks Beside.

• The Corruption: Gradually infects and transforms those possessed by it into effectively servants of the Outsiders. Its victims think they're trying to achieve their own goals the whole time.
• Evil Gloating: This could be considered Nemesis's Fatal Flaw: both of the times that Harry is able to figure out who it's possessing and force a direct confrontation, Nemesis is perhaps too willing to talk instead of just trying to kill him. It's actually how he figures out that Cat Sith is possessed - Harry notices the real Cat Sith would just have cut out his spine before Harry even knew he was there. And when he's talking to Nemesis as it possesses Justine, he's able to jump overboard and call for Demonreach to get him to safety before it gets within reach of him.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Nemesis's corruption is behind a large majority of the early villains: Victor Sells, Agent Denton, Kravos, and likely Aurora. It's also behind Maeve in Cold Days, and orchestrates Ethniu's Fomor invasion in Peace Talks and Battle Ground as a distraction in order to gain access to Demonreach.
• Hidden Villain: Turns out to be the Greater-Scope Villain in Battle Ground and The Man Behind the Man towards Ethniu (using the Titan as its Unwitting Pawn), but its influence is not revealed until the aftermath of the Final Battle in the book when Harry manages to put the pieces together, and as of now only Harry and Lara are confirmed to be aware that it was the real puppetmaster behind the whole ordeal.
• I Have Your Wife: It threatens Justine and her (and Thomas's) unborn kid by possessing Justine herself, in order to get Thomas to perform an assassination attempt on Etri just before the peace talks begin in Peace Talks.
• The Man Behind the Man: Directly responsible for much of the chaos across the series. Victor Sells, Agent Denton, and Kravos were all corrupted by it in a subtle manner, and Aurora and Maeve were also infected by it. It also seizes the Leanansidhe as well as Cat Sith. Whether or not it has infected other villains in the series is unclear.
• Manipulative Bastard: It's what it does best. In Battle Ground its revealed that it's had Justine under its thrall for years and it was under the Walker's influence that she started working for Lara and euphorically tells Harry its directly responsible for Thomas's actions in Peace Talks by using I Have Your Wife as a tactic, pointing out that Virtue Is A Weakness that can be easily controlled if one knows how. It is also made clear that it used Ethniu as an Unwitting Pawn for its own personal goal: Ethniu's entire attack on Chicago was merely a distraction to prevent Dresden from noticing that Justine had been possessed so Nemesis would have access to Demonreach, allowing it free her and the many other prisoners, which would have ended the whole ordeal with its total victory, if not for Harry remembering Thomas's desperate and seemingly unconnected warning. Talk about one hell of a Near-Villain Victory.
• More than Mind Control:
◦ At the basic level, Nemesis will subtly influence its victims, causing chaos and destruction respective to their individual natures, in a way that is largely just an intensification of their base natures. But if Nemesis is called out directly, it is more than willing to resort to full Mind Control.
◦ This is also the reason why the Leanansidhe could be cured of Nemesis' corruption, but Maeve could not. Lea attempted to resist Nemesis, and while her efforts were ineffective on their own, they gave Mab the opportunity to imprison her and slowly draw out the corruption over the course of several years. Maeve, however, had grown to resent Mab and her role as Winter Lady, and willingly allowed herself to be subsumed by Nemesis for a chance at revenge. Mab asks (probably the closest she'll come to pleading) Maeve to give her the chance to cure her daughter of the infection, but Maeve was too giddy at the prospect of payback.
• Mundane Utility: What's the greatest asset it gives to a possessed Maeve? The ability to lie. For a Sidhe, who are physically incapable of outright falsehoods, that's a big deal.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Harry sees through to Cat Sith's possession almost immediately. Why? Because the real Cat Sith would have ripped his spine out without a word instead of gloating about it. And he realizes that Maeve is possessed as well because the Sidhe never give straightforward answers, and the Nemesis' plan revolved around using the inability of Sidhe to lie to manipulate Lily and Harry.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Battle Ground reveals that the commonly uttered phrase "Empty Night" is far more than a mere curse word, as it seems to be Nemesis's whole endgame if not the endgame of all Outsiders as a whole. To create an universe utterly empty and void of any aspect of life imaginable for the rest of eternity, a true unraveling of all things into darkness and eternal silence. A disturbed Harry even notes that He Who Walks Beside utters the phrase "Empty Night" almost as if the whole concept was holy towards it.
• Outside-Context Problem: It allows Maeve, a Faerie Lady, to lie, something that is utterly impossible for faeries to do. Because it's assumed she cannot lie, no one can see through her deception.
◦ As of Battle Ground, it's implied that something like this, or Super Empowering, may be among its abilities, as it was able to strengthen Justine, an ordinary human, enough that she (or rather, her body under its control) could break off a four foot section of steel railing with one hand.
• Paranoia Fuel: It's openly regarded as this In-Universe by virtue of just existing to anyone who knows about it.
• Puppeteer Parasite: Acts as this towards Cat Sith, unknown how much it affected its other victims. Maeve seemed to respond very differently, if anything given more free will than before. Battle Ground reveals that it has been doing this towards Justine for years with none the wiser, as well.



All in all, it was a REALLY busy week- and it didn't look like things were going to get any easier...
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

Khemis
Hero Points: 3; Current Condition: Fine

*Thank you for that,* replies Khemis. *So it would appear that either the author of those books is in on what has happened somehow, or that this 'Nemesis' is, as I speculated, a huge troll on top of everything else!*
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Neo-Paladin »

As Khemis is sitting at her PC (either just responding to this or some time later, depending on when this exchange actually happened), suddenly, every device in her room shuts down, then comes back up...before shutting down again, leaving her in the dark....
From somewhere, she hears a strainge sound, like a distorted scream growing ever louder and louder...

Before sparks fly everywhere as every single power line in her apartment short-circuits! The smell of ozone fills the air as the scream reaches a higher and higher pitch....
KRA-KOOM! A blue flash fills her room as thunder cracks with ear-shattering force, blinding and stunning her for a moment...
When her vision finally clears, there is a scorched circle on the floor....and in the circle...a naked Albert Jun, barely conscious....
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

Khemis
Hero Points: 3; Current Condition: Fine

[OOC: Given that Charger pointed Khemis to Harry Dresden in the first week of the three week gap, this will be a couple of weeks later assuming this is happening at the end of the gap...]

'Is this another Sunstorm?!' worries Khemis as her devices power off, on, and off again.

The darkness means nothing to her, and she stands up, looking worried, as the scream-like noise increases in volume.

Remembering what she had read about the effects of the Sunstorm, she quickly unplugs all of her devices to protect them from any more electrical surges, barely managing to get it all done before things short circuit all over the place.

"Rabi!" (my god!) she gasps as she sways on her feet and shakes the spots from her vision. "What was..."

"Eeep!" escapes her as she sees the naked man who has appeared in her room. As a modest Muslim woman such a sight is well out of her comfort zone!

"Oh my god! Cover yourself!" she tells him urgently, her arm stretching across the room and throwing the quilt from her bed (which she still has even if she no longer needs to sleep) over Albert. She turns her back to let him get a grip on himself, and peeps out of the window to see if the lights are off out there too.

"What are you doing here? And how did you find me?" she asks, still keeping her back turned to him. "And are you decent?"

There is a hammering on the door. "Karima?! What happened?! Are you OK?!" comes the voice of her flatmate, Bibiana Furiase.

"I'm fine!" she calls back. "It's a Khemis thing! Hopefully it's all OK now!"
Neo-Paladin
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Neo-Paladin »

She hears her "guest" groan. " K-Khemis? Is that... you? Did I...make it?"
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by jmucchiello »

Over the next week, Deborah continues her usual fashion format. Becca seems relieved that the political stuff seems to have been a one-time thing. But she's disappointed when Deborah pulls some sound bites from the interview to put them up on TikTok.

"Maybe you should start another channel for that so you don't annoy your followers." Becca says.

"Who's going to see them on another channel?"

"We can put links to the other channel on you Instagram and TikTok. But your fans are under 25 for the most part. They don't care about politics."

"They should."

"They should. But they don't. You don't want them receiving a notification for boring off-topic crap."

Deborah acquiests and starts a DSG Current Events channel for off-topic crap.

The next week, she starts looking for a freelance news reporter looking to work for her new channel. It's really not her line of expertise so outsourcing it makes sense. She can do on camera interviews. But the legwork is not for her or her existing staff. She hopes to find someone qualified and in the right headspace for the position.

The next week is spent interviewing people for this position. (OOC: Should I just invent someone or do you want to, GM?)

And that's how Deborah Stetson Gold's fashion empire moved into the news business.
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

Khemis
Hero Points: 3; Current Condition: Fine
Neo-Paladin wrote: Sun Nov 06, 2022 5:59 pm She hears her "guest" groan. " K-Khemis? Is that... you? Did I...make it?"
"Yes, you are in my home now," she tells him, still not looking around. "Why have you come here? And why haven't you got any clothes on?!"
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Neo-Paladin »

((OOC: Feel free to make one up, jmucchiello)

" I...oh...oh, I'm so sorry...I didn't know...", he says, wrapping the quilt around himself. " I...I didn't know where else to go. I...didn't even know if this would work. I...I came through the...power lines."
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

Khemis
Hero Points: 3; Current Condition: Fine

"OK," says Khemis, peeping over at Albert then turning fully around when she sees his nakedness is covered by the quilt. "Thank you."

"So why are you here?" she repeats, keeping her voice calm as she sits down facing him. "Were you attacked again? And how did you find me? I didn't leave any details beyond an anonymous email address in your mailbox..."

[OOC: Can Khemis see whether the area outside is also blacked out by what Albert has done? Or is it just her room (can she see lights from the hallway outside)? Or her apartment building?]
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Neo-Paladin »

((OOC: Partially, actually. It appears as if whatever method of travel he used left a distinct path of broken street lights and dark apartments...)

He swallows. " I...I am being watched. Followed. I didn't know where else to turn. Went into...the current and...the rest is instinct...information and electricity...they're similar. Impulses. I can...sense them." Albert takes a deep, shuddering breath. " I saw the interview and heard about the work you do...trying to put us in a better light. I am so sorry for messing up things here. I...I can pay for the damages, I promise. Just...help me. Please."
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

"Of course I'll help!" Khemis tells him. "But first, could you please ... teleport? ... as far away as you can and then back again? Now? Otherwise I think you might have made a trail of shorted out things leading right here!"
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