cape and cowl 2020: planning post

[2020mod]

C&C 2020 Someone call for a dystopian future au? Sometime around 2014 (THIS IS NEW, GUYS, WE'RE JUST SLIDING THE SHIT HITTING THE FAN FORWARD A FEW YEARS OKAY), the government in the City decided that they'd had enough of these superhero antics. There was a nationwide crackdown on metas, requiring registration upon penalty of incarceration. The network was shut down, and many residents were scattered to the winds. There are a few that stayed in touch, however. That's where you come in. For some of you, this might be from before your time. Not to fear! Since it's a highly flexible splinter universe, there's pretty much no such thing as canon. Retcons abound, either as allowances for contradictory canon information (except for the premise, of course), or even just if the player wants to change something around! So, use this post as a free-for all. New characters get new projected histories, dropped characters can be said to have come back, and old characters can be reexamined or given more story. On Sunday, an open post will be put up in capeandcowl2020 proper, so use this time to work out information and pimp this out to players who're eligible but may not see this (you can also ahead and start your own posts in that comm)! Remember, any character that has been played in main game is automatically good to go, and you are welcome to make use of the musebox whenever the mood strikes you! musebox • rules • character list

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[jailbroke]

GENERIC LEAH PLACEHOLDER TO BE CHANGED LIKE SEVENTY YEARS LATER AFTER I DO SOME TAGS

PS TOTALLY BRINGING LUST BACK FOR THIS

[enigmaestro]

Sometimes the smallest of changes can have a catastrophic consequence to an individual's perception, or thought, or philosophy. Sometimes it takes just a glimpse. For Edward Nygma, it took the world descending into dystopia.

You've seen it before: Earth-3, the Antimatter Universe. When society finds itself stifled by oppression, one man always swims against the mainstream. The catalyst is what varies -- or rather, it's who varies. No longer satisfied with his manipulation games and shadow-string pulling, Eddie has since dedicated his talents to the resistance. He's an intelligence operative, an encoder and a decoder, a man who deals information for the sake of free speech. He's all about connections and knowledge. His motivation isn't much of a riddle, he doesn't do it for the greater good, nor for some pandering image of mankind.

He does it for a better world for his family. He does it for Felicia Hardy.

But heroism has its cost.

The time is 2019.

He had no regrets, not at first. Even after his captured by lawman Norman Osborn. Even after the first few months with a totalitarian Katurian, sunk in the shadows of torment and solitude and punishment, he had no regrets. And after the brainwashing, after the re-education and painful confirmation, Eddie didn’t need to ever consider regrets again. It was an unlearning he was taught from Katurian himself, after months upon months of darkness. It was Katurian he owed, that cruel monster he was now so deeply devoted to.

The time is late autumn, 2020. Eddie has been released into the world again, after a year and some months. He doesn’t know he has a son, he doesn’t know where Felicia is – but he knows his purpose.

It’s the one Katurian gave him. And Eddie knows how to love now.

Six months have passed since Edward was released from his overlord's tightening grip. Five months and two weeks since he attempted (and failed) to assassinate the obscured hermit Mitchell Hundred. Four months since he cut out the deepened trackers from his flesh. Three months since he refused to return to The Interior for his consequence. Two months since he questioned the last of his orders, clawing at his screaming brain to wrench dry his torment, his brainwashing.

One month since he grew bloodthirsty for Norman Osborn. The man who tipped this domino.

Edward Nygma still wakes, soaked in night sweat, with limbs wrought with tremors. But at least he remembers who he is, now. At least he's reclaimed his agency, he thinks.

But he doesn't have full control of himself, not yet. He hasn't washed the blood from his hands. And the wrong whisper, the pinpoint flashback -- he could turn on his friends, his comrades. Edward Nygma is nuclear and in disconnect, and riddled with betrayal. Even on his good days.

WOW KIRSTEN NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR TL;DR

[amoray]

Your name is ERIDAN AMPORA, and you are the biggest sack of gutless backstabbing chum to ever blot the face of paradox space.

NO, REALLY.

seriously though, eridan knows a vicious totalitarian regime when he sees one - and more importantly, knows a lost cause when it presents itself. and the rebellion? that's a fuckin pipe dream if he ever saw one. (later, when rebellion darling edward nygma goes up in smoke, he fully enjoys the i told you so.) you know that old line? uniquely qualified to recognize when all hope is lost? it goes the other way, too. so he does what any reasonable, any sane individual would do in the face of insurmountable odds, he lets his pride and his anger fall underfoot and does what needs to be done.

if you can't beat them, after all.

and they treat him good. sure, he's got trackers buried in places they know he can't find very easily, soft places, and they keep close tabs on an opportunistic snake like him, but that makes sense, right? he'd do the same, maybe worse. his powers make him the perfect interrogation machine, make him so valuable, and as one of the lucky imports with a human form, they don't mind him living on the outside as long as he reports back in. it's encouraged. people trust people like roman fairchild, well educated and handsome, working at a quaint little cafe to scrape by until he hits it big with his art. charismatic roman, who viciously curses the government oppression and champions import rights without fear, without cowering. dazzling roman, who puts together native sympathizer rebellion meetings in his shitty one room apartment (hackers, mostly, people with useful talents) because he cares so passionately for righting this great wrong.

eridan never feels bad for selling them out, not really. the stupid fuckers shouldn't blindly trust pretty, charismatic faces.

but lately, that's just the thing - he sort of does. he feels bad. he doesn't know what started it, when it first kicked in, but the hot guilt rolling down the his spine when he starts thinking too much is very unwelcome. he's slacking on combing the natives, his reports are growing thinner, more vague; was this really the right choice? was the import crackdown really the unkillable godbeing he'd first compared it to at precious, stupid fifteen?

he doesn't know anymore, and he can't talk about it with the few friends he kept from that initial halcyon period, can't tell them what he's really been doing. and you know how that makes him feel, for the very first time in all these years?

alone.

MISS MARTIAN

[ofmars]

SO like this girl cannot give it up.

She's likely in the wind, still unregistered and doing her best not to be caught. She mostly hangs out in human form now, and if she feels like she's close to being caught she'll shift into a new form and get a new identity to hide under.

She's running a small resistance team. It's nothing major, and nothing formal. Too formal risks getting caught. She mostly contacts by telepathy. She has a hideout but if you're tagged and still resistance she won't let you into the hideout for fear of being followed. She'll meet with those people in public places and slyly. Most their stuff is small time, she's not stupid enough to try a major attack on anything. Just small operations to hinder others' work and try to keep themselves safe for as long as possible.

Her hideout can also serve as a home to unregistered people who want to hide in it and not still live in the city and are on her team. M'gann still lives in the city in her human form.

other possible notes! -

- Leo Valdez might be on this team (mun expressed interest)
- MM is likely in a long-term relationship with QQ that's been going on for awhile
- MM has worked with Zatanna and them for supplies and aid some. Secretly though.

[noelleno]

Leah said I could be in here for this SO...

SO I'LL THROW IN SOME PEOPLE? ON MONDAY....BECAUSE I WON'T HAVE INTERNET ON SUNDAY........

I'll bring Jaime/scarabsuited as a 28-year old father o' two (three?) working on an underground network for imPort use. FREE SUPER-SECURE PHONE/NET LINES.

And Steve/remarkablyspry as some dippy stretchy guy who was once a robot...how he is dealing with these crapsack changes WILL BE A SURPRISE FOR YOU I GUESS.

And Slo-bo/littlebastich as a gross, two-timing gun/muscle-for-hire who sometimes has a conscience? And is smelly.

And...I dunno! Whoever you'd like me to throw at you? screwup? livesarock? bytherules? WHOEVER. IT'LL JUST BE FUN TO PLAY WITH Y'ALL. So lemme know. :]

[swordedpast]

Archer (swordedpast) and Kyouko (seeksherownsalvation but maybe I'll make a new one?) will go here!

[gabbie]

HERE'S ME:

NORMAN: STILL SECRET POLICE WITH AN EYEPATCH
- basically his job is to drag metas in for registration/incarceration, but he usually tortures them first.

FELICIA: STILL UNCOVER SPY (USUALLY) LIVING ABROAD
- pretty much dead to the world as felicia hardy. she's been apart from her not-husband for months and works in resistance information trade.

ELECTRO: POLITICAL PRISONER/INFORMANT
- pretty straightforward!! caught for pro-meta rioting.

TWO-FACE: UM PLACEHOLDER, AS I HAVE NO PLANS

NELSON: SAME...

[puggle]

ali's kids will nest here.

[deductives]

NEW TO THIS so if anyone wants to brainstorm with me, go for it!

[watchet]

my ladies will go here

[noelleno]

gabbie 8)

HELENA WAYNE

[arbalist]

all of this is open to changing, let's plot!

Standing and fighting was the only option for Helena. This world was the only world she had left, and as far as she was concerned it was her home. She wasn't about to surrender, and when Dick and Damian moved underground, Helena did too, though she maintained her distance for awhile. It wasn't until Damian decided to fly solo that Helena took up with Dick full time, assisting him in setting up Batman, Inc. and in the raising of his adopted son, Liam.

Somewhere between lover and sister, Helena's relationship with Dick was a complicated one. She's much more comfortable once she assumes her Huntress persona, now in the role of Batman's official partner. As Helena, she offers assistance to imPorts in need, offering legal advice for free, as well as shelter, money, and anything else she can spare. As Huntress, she's still determined to protect the City from crime, risking arrest nightly in pursuit of justice for those who have been denied.

[gabbie]

elle 8)

HOW MAY I HELP YOU DARLIN eyes steve...

[xxii_thefool]

Minako is twenty-seven, and she is baffled to have survived this far into her twenties.

She couldn't accept the government's control, and like many other imPorts she went underground when it came down to the choice between that and submission, throwing her efforts in with resistance - fighting when she had to, acting as a medic and helping in secret imPort clinics and generally providing whatever support she could otherwise, even if just as a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on.

But Minako was already mostly running on willpower when she first arrived in this world; over the years that followed, her health gradually deteriorated past the point that willpower and Messiah's regenerative power could sustain it. Her strength almost gave out completely in around 2017, and she would have died then had it not been for Archer, who managed to project a copy of Avalon to give to her.

Avalon's healing powers, combined with Messiah's invigoration, have kept her alive since then. It's hard, though. The state of the world and the necessity of hiding from the government make it hard to form and keep connections with others, and Minako is someone who, more than anything else, draws power from her bonds with other people. She clings to the few connections she has left, and reminds herself daily that just because someone is gone doesn't mean they're no longer connected, but it's hard not to feel alone and lonely when more and more the bonds with people who are gone outnumber the ones that are still around.

She still does whatever she can, but she can't fight much any more. The veil between herself and death has worn so thin that she doesn't even need an Evoker to summon a Persona, but the effort it takes out of her is all but guaranteed to cause her to collapse, a weakness that frustrates her intensely. Mostly she sticks to patching fugitive metahumans up - she's gotten to be a very good medic these days even without relying on healing magic - and passing messages and supplies and information between various resistance members and groups.

She holds onto hope with both hands and stubborn determination, and every day she feels more and more stretched thin and fragile, held together by surface tension like a soap bubble and just as likely to come apart at any moment. Archer's copies of Avalon don't last indefinitely; sooner or later, he's not going to get there to project a new one for her in time. Sooner or later, maybe, someone will need healing and there won't be any other way to give it to them. Sooner or later, Minako worries, she'll be more of a liability than she is an ally.

She often wonders if, maybe, it's time for her to let go.

But there's too much broken in this world that still needs fixing. There are still people here that she cares about, and she can't just let herself give up and leave the whole mess to them.

Not yet.

[motherofnemesis]

i don't even go here but who caaaaares I'M DOING THIS

i love you all i may bring monet back for this too man who knows i'll stick actual explanations of them under this

[noelleno]

MAY HELP ME BY FILLIN MY LIFE WITH YOUR CHARACTERLY GOODNESS eyes felicia
eyes eyepatch norm can i torment u with a slo-bo eyepatch norm

NELSON & TWO-FACE & MAYBE CHRONOS

[gabbie]

TWO-FACE: I'm just going to keep this simple and say he's a double agent HUHRHJHr uhh technically was brainwashed?? nanited?? into being a pro-reg prosecutor for the city in lieu of incarceration but he's prone to betray them whenever the coin comes up bad heads (because his compulsion is just that strong, awright) and idk brainstorm with me!!

NELSON: all kinds of retired; registered because it seemed like the Thing To Do but is completely conflicted and miserable about everything and probably a suicidal alcoholic. his door is open to the errant (but well-meaning bc he doesn't want to feel like he's harboring criminals) or injured fugitive if need be to assuage the guilt of not contributing more somewhat. UHH IDK WHAT ELSE, BRAINSTORM WITH ME?? this is all flexible

OH YEAH AND CHRONOS MAYBE: STILL TRAPPED IN 2020, STILL IN JAIL, COME LAUGH AT HIS BEARD

MATT MURDOCK

[blindly]

Matt was ready to stand and fight. He'd been against any sort of registration or crackdown before, and he sure as hell was not going to go without a fight. And he did fight. He fought hard, and he wound up with a traumatic brain injury following a scuffle with police. He was hospitalized, forced to register in his incapacitated state before being released into society again.

The only problem was his radar was completely gone and his short term memory was all but destroyed.

Terezi somehow found him first, and decided that she would put her suffering man lusus out of his misery. Fortunately May intervened at the last second, preventing Matt's gruesome murder at the hands of his adoptive daughter.

Unable to practice law anymore, Matt was able to find work as a line chef while living with May and trying to keep Terezi from getting into too much trouble. But it's difficult when you can't really remember anything and you have no powers. He accepts random visitors, but his memory never ever gets any better. And at some point, Reilly Tyne sought revenge on those who had injured Matt. It is a sad existence.

gemma doyle

[choice]

The lockdown wasn't good for Gemma.

Just days after the new laws were passed, government agents swarmed her house and took her. The magic was of no use then; fear often leaves one powerless during their most desperate hour.

She can't exactly recall what happened while she was incarcerated. Just flashes and moments of memory. Some days she thought the magic was doing her a kindness and keeping her from remembering. Others, she's sure she's simply gone mad. The year had been long, and nearly everything she had known had changed. Her home was broken and useless, her friends missing, her grasp on her power shaky at best. But she'd found Pippa, the faithful brute, in the house where she'd last been. Someone had cared for her, though Gemma didn't know who. She was the only comfort given.

Her days are spent between London and the City, though she has little idea how she goes between them. A whispered word here and there when too many questions are asked, and the inquiries stop. A plane or train ticket fabricated on a whim, perhaps. It doesn't matter much to her. She always comes 'round outside a library or café, Pippa by her side. She seldom recalls eating, and less often sleeping, but since she lives, she thinks, she must do both.

The lingering grasp on reality slips day by day, however, and she finds herself drifting off in daydreams of the realms for hours on end. If only she could be back there, with its singing river and golden trees. If only...

[motherofnemesis]

GIMME

GIMME JAIME THINGS

BOBBI MORSE

[mockery]

Working against registration became Bobbi's number one priority in the first days following the crackdown. She and Clint went underground, and using her experience as a SHIELD agent, they set up a network of spies and hackers, working to create as much chaos and sabotage as they could without getting busted themselves.

During this time, the two became parents to a son, Francis, now aged six. He's the spitting image of his father and is absolutely devoted to his mother. Bobbi gives him small missions of his own, such as watching after baby Catarina, a task Francis seems to take very seriously.

When she's not busy taking care of her son, Bobbi can usually be found hacking into government computers or doing undercover work. Sometimes she works with Clint and Carol, but it's easiest if someone is able to stay home with Francis. And Clint's an awesome dad...

[glowsferatu]

At twenty-two years old, ten in Alternian solar sweeps, Kanaya's life would have been long since been surrendered to the brooding caverns, if it had been normal. Unfortunately, normality was never in the cards, and that's no less true in the City.

When the hammer came down, she and her friends were scattered to the four winds. Though she searched diligently, Vulcanus power jammers made finding them again difficult, and cut off from the people she defined her life around, she languished. It was months of running, hiding out and just surviving as she could before she was caught sleeping in a cathedral somewhere outside Columbus by the nuns there. Being on the run had by necessity helped her develop control over her transformations, something she'd been practicing beforehand, as well, and so the nuns never suspected her as anything but a human, a runaway named Mary. They took her in, and in return for food and lodgings she helped around the church. She learned a lot about Catholicism, but transubstantiation didn't do much for her. She had to maintain her human form at all times not only to protect her identity, but to keep her thirst in check as well.

At night, she would secretly continue the search for her friends. It was a year before she came in contact with the imPort resistance, and through them, a new purpose. Using her abilities to manipulate Space, she serves as a sort of nexus between secured locations, ferrying supplies and people as a component in their own underground railroad. At first she used the church as her base, but knew that she was putting the nuns who had shown her such kindness in danger. After a particularly close call, she knew it was time to move on. It was time to return to the City.

It's been four years, and since then she's established an orphanage, The House Of Our Blessed Virgin, where she cares for wayward and abandoned children. As a rule, she conducts none of her work there. Instead, she has numerous safe houses throughout the City where she keeps up her piece in the network, especially rescuing new arrivals and introducing them to the new status quo before they can be captured. She's had to evade it herself on numerous occasions, but the challenge generally keeps her fed, at least.

She's had to draw strict distinctions between the troll imPort troublemaker Kanaya and the kind human matron Sister Mary to the point she's almost unrecognizable in human form anymore. The fondness for color, fashion are nowhere to be seen. The sense of humor, the intense personality, the overbearing impulses are all buried deep under a facade of serious meekness. She's so carefully compartmentalized that when the cage opens and she's able to be herself, she can take it a bit far sometimes. She's a little reckless, wild, and dangerous, but still dependable.

She's simply what she must be to keep going.

Oh yeah. Also she's like 6'4".

[motherofnemesis]

YOU ME THEM

[radiation]

yes pls

[aggressiveapathy]

I love the edit button.

April will be someone who professionally knows nothing about anything. people just stop by and see her. characters with the government, against it, terrorists, whatever, she just has a living room and doesn't ask questions. She'll give supplies if needed, hold on to a package that gets picked up later by some unknown person, just name it. She will also just play xbox and watch terrible tv with you.

Only people who are mean to her animals are not allowed.