Mutant NES: The Rising

[Sonereal]

The four had driven most of the night. August suggested they find a place to sleep during the day so stay low. By now, they were driving through the Great Corn Fields of America (TM) down I-65.

"Don't kill these people, August," Raul said icily. They had pulled up to a farmhouse.

"Fine. Your call." August sighed and a farmer opened the door.

"You people woke us up. What do ya want?"

"Don't you remember me-" August blinked, "Joe?"

"Can't say that I do but you know me apparently. Go on."

August pushed a little harder, "We're unexpected but welcome guests to your home."

Joe started to protest but damn if this boy's voice wasn't silky and relaxing and reasonable, "Yea, I suppose you guys are."

"That's good. I guess only Ellen here's tonight?"

"Yep. Boy's are at Butler. I'm so proud of them!" Joe stated dreamily.

"That's good. Listen, we're just going to spend tomorrow here and we'll be out of your hair by evening. Is that alright?"

"Sure it is! C'mon in!"
--------

"You're telling me that you 'gave' Ricky's his fire power?" Raul asked.

"Yep."

The group were holding a discussion in the living room. Ellis, after a talk with August, was making hot cocoa for the old family friend's in the kitchen and if her or her husband overhear anything, they'll forget by tomorrow evening anyway.

"How?"

"I'm sure you two read about the frat killings, right?"

"Unfortunately," Alice muttered. August ignored her.

"Well, one of the frat boy's was a mutant and when I drained him, I thought I would gain his ability like I gain some of the skills and memories of everyone else I drain, you know? Didn't work like that. I tried using the guy's fire mutant power and I kept screwing up and couldn't control it myself.

So I ignored it until this guy caught me in an alley one night. Few days later, we killed a cop and kidnapped the guy's partner. Why? I don't know. In case we needed him for something? But then I had a great idea!"

"Give him the mutant power?"

"Yep. See, when I make someone do something with my mind, I'm sending them orders. So I thought 'why not send powers'? It was a tad harder than draining them, fo' sure."

"What happened?"

"He could control it better than I could. Maybe him being a non-mutant hampered it a bit. I don't know but then I gave the power to Ricky and this guy," he patted Ricky's arm, "Knew how to use it definitely. He was on par with the kid I took it from when it comes to control and power so I'm guessing mutants do better?"

"What happened to the cop?" Alice asked coldly.

"He's probably doing what I told him to do in case I was gone."

"What?" Raul asked.

"Burn a building down every night until I return. He saw me tonight so probably won't do anything. Tomorrow? Who can say?"

"That's sick," Alice said.

"But effective! After all. No one but you guys know my face except our arson friend back in Indianapolis. He'll get caught or killed eventually. Once he's gone, they'll notice the serial killing is over and I'm chalk it up to some crazy cop."

"I don't think it'll work like that." Raul stated dryly. August shrugged.

"Doesn't matter. He'll burn something down. Hide during the day. Do it again. Until he's dead."

 

[Seon]

Fascinating... the Boss thought as he tapped the picture that Cody had sent. "Just...fascinating." His eyes were fixed on one of the figures on the picture... the one standing next to the giant.

..............................................................................................................................................................

"Ah, Mr. Tepper," Dlanor said, rising from her sick bed. You blink several times. "You seem well, Dlanor," you finally manage to mutter.

"You sound almost disappointed," Dlanor said. She was still covered in bandages in most part of her body. "The doctors say that it would be safe for me to move in two weeks. Although I believe they were exaggerating."

"No, no. You stay in bed. I can head the investigation alone."

Dlanor sighed. "I must apologize again, Mr. Tepper. Ali-"

"I know," you say that coldly. There's a bit of silence. Dlanor opens her mouth again. "For whom did you buy those flowers for, Mr. Tepper?"

"...nobody," you answer. You hide them behind your back.

Dlanor nods. You can tell that she's struggling hard not to smile. "May I have it?"

"Sure," you say. You hand over the bouquet. She puts it next to her bed. "By the way, Mr. Tepper, did you know that the Boss is a mutant as well?"

"He's what?" You ask. Did you hear that correctly?

"Only a select few of the force knows about that detail," Dlanor said. "The reason why some people whisper that you cannot hide from the Boss is because he has the ability to discern normal people from mutants, and even identify their powers. He can even do it from a picture."

"Really..." you answer. You don't really bother to ask how she learned about that detail, and why exactly it was that she was telling him this now. "Well... I will be off now."

"Be careful, Mr. Tepper."

"I will."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................

You get in the car and sigh. "She's a fiery one," the guy in the passenger seat said.

You instantly reach for your gun and aim it at the man's face. "Oh wow! No need to be hasty here! Put the.... Jesus Christ how the hell do you use a desert eagle? Put the damn thing down!"

It's Ron. The Bureau's teleporter and package deliverer. "What do you want?"

Ron shrugs. "Gift from the Boss. I put it in your trunk. The Boss says you will like it." Then he disappears.

You obediently exit the car and open the trunk. Inside the trunk is a suitcase. You open the suitcase, and Ron was right.

...............................................................................................................................................................................................

The sunglass that the boss gave him was not, in fact, a sunglass, but rather some kind of advanced HUD system. The advanced sensors in his glove allowed him to 'see' minute traces of blood and even scan for DNA match. It could even detect fingerprints and match them with the Federal Databases. It also had advanced combat assistant system built in, highlighting potential threats and weapons as well as keeping track of hostiles... It even had a zoom function and a video recording feature because, according to somebody in the R&D department, just cuz'.

You put it on and feel everything becoming clearer. You summon a list of escaped convicts from the nearby prison, courtesy of Alice and her gang, and scrolled down. There were only a couple that you have to watch out for. The rest was small fries.

But then again you were not hunting mere mutants. You have a serial killer to catch, and he had been burning buildings again for no apparent reason. A nearby tabloid blinked into the HUD. Mutant Serial Killer Strikes Again! 16 people dead when apartment suddenly burst into flames...

And now this mess. You quickly scan the building. There were fire on almost all the levels. The ambulance and the fire trucks had yet to arrive. Everyone inside was most certainly dead by now.

You scan the alleyways. A silhouette becomes highlighted. It is facing the building, watching from a shaded area. You take out the desert eagle and point it in his direction. "BMA! Identify yourself!"

The figure points his palm in your direction.

.........................................................................................................................................................................

The cop laughed as the BMA agent disappeared in a flash of light. The sirens were approaching. The night was bright. He must take his leave now, as ordered.

He turned around to see the same agent pointing the Desert Eagle at his forehead. "Very, very funny." The cop growled and tried to unleash another burst of flame, which the agent responded by quickly sidestepping. The cop used the opportunity to create a ring of flames all around himself. He heard the agent swearing, smiled, and escaped through the alleyways. The alleys were like a maze, there was no way that anyone could follow him once he disappeared through it.

After running for what seemed like hours, he sat down. He must report to his friend of the event of what occured tonight. Oh yes. There was a small metallic sound.

The cop looked unsteadily at the rooftops to see the agent. How did he follow him? The cop's eyes widened as he realized the source of the metallic sound. The agent was holding a freaking wakizashi. He raised his hand to blast the agent away, and suddenly felt pain as both his hands were chopped clean off his arm. The agent, whom he did not even notice leaping down, grabbed him and pinned him to the walls. "You!" the agent screamed. "Your name is officer Michael Green! Why are you doing this? You are not the serial killer, how did you acquire the flame manipulation ability?"

The cop laughed hysterically. "I dunnow, maybe you should have...more open view of the world?What if I AM the..."

The agent punches him in the chest. It feels as if a rib broke with that punch. "I've got..." the cop mutters. "...nothing to say... to you..."

His face suddenly contorts with pain. Bits of blood flows from his mouth. He must have bit his own tongue.

"DAMN IT!" the agent screamed out as he shoved the cop's body away. He suddenly knew that the serial killer was out of Indianapolis.

 

[Megaman_zx]

There was a number of drugs being passed around the room along with excessive amounts of alcohol. The gangsters were partying to their success against the bulldogs. Barnabas sat in the corner watching the partiers with disdain. From across the room he could see the boss with his personal guard staring calmly at the riotous partiers, and amids all the euphoria of the crowd Barnabas could sense apprehension. He went for a walk and was followed, then returned to the party. The boss approached him. “Enjoy yourself man. This is for you.”

Barnabas just frowned.

“Fine, whatever.” He walked back to the corner and gave his men a few more instructions. He could feel them tensing from where he was, and knew they had something devious planned. That night he went to bed and after a few hours of good sleep woke up on the floor. That was strange, he never fell out of bed before. He was about to get up when the door slowly opened and the bed was peppered with a spray of bullets. Barnabas was completely awake now, and after the last shot was fired got up and faced his attacker. The man drew a large knife and rushed Barnabas. Just as the man was lunging Barnabas ducked and the man tripped over him, falling on his own knife in the process and killing himself. There were two more men in the hallway outside and both unloaded on Barnabas. They were terrible shots and they missed severely. Barnabas went into their minds and filled them with his frustration and self loathing. They stood there stunned for a moment, giving Barnabas just enough time to pick up his pistol and vanquish his opponents. The next morning we went to the Boss. “I’ll give you one more chance. Make me your equal, or I kill every man in your gang.”

“You have to prove that you are my equal.”

“Fine whatever. Give me another mission then.”

“Take out the Bulldog headquarters. They live in the marigold apartment complex. Just kill everyone there.”

Barnabas stalked off towards the place, and there was a leap in anxiety behind him as the boss began his own assault on all the other bulldog hideouts.

When Barnabas arrived there was a small plume of smoke rising from one of the apartment buildings. People were beginning to run out of the building and it seemed nobody noticed Barnabas. He drew his uzi and let fire, killing and killing till the only people left alive were trapped inside the growing inferno of the marigold. His uzi was out of ammo and the glock had one clip left. He hear the screeching of tires as a car full of bulldogs careened towards him. Thinking fast he drew on the fear of those still trapped inside the building and he ripped it form them, hurling it into the mind of the driver who began braking ad swerving on the road. Barnabas took a lucky shot and hit the driver in the head. The car crashed into a lamppost and men began stumbling out. He kept shooting till they were all dead, then began the treck back to “base.”

It was a long day for the gang, securing new territory, and finishing off any bulldog resistance.

“How did you manage to torch the place?” the boss approached him.

“wasn’t me. Probably some kid playing with fire. In essence they were just unlucky.”

“We have your payment for a job well done.” He said hand outstretched.

“You know I don’t want money.”

“Okay, then I have an even better offer. My men found something you may like and have just brought it in.”

Maybe it was another attempt at his life, but if they killed him, all the better. Maybe they actually had something useful. A big white van had just pulled into the driveway and the guards were pulling something into the house.

“they’re taking it to the basement. I won’t go anywhere near it, but I trust you can take care of yourself.”

Barnabas slowly marched towards the basement. When he got there there were two guards holding a kid between them, he had his head down, but didn’t look hurt.

“What is this?”

“He’s a mutant or something we don’t know.”

“Hey id, what do you do?”

“Turn off the lights, they don’t like the lights.” The kid said

Barnabas could feel the fear in the guards.
He switched off the light and suddenly there was a pair of glowing yellow eyes in the room. The fear in the guards grew so that Barnabas could sense it as a material thing. There were screaming and terrible crunching sounds, but Barnabas couldn’t break his focus from the kid’s glowing yellow eyes. He snapped out of it and turned the lights on to see two horrible mangled corpses. The kid’s eyes were still glowing and Barnabas approached him.

“How did you do that?”

“I’m a nightmare.”

“So when you fall asleep-“

“I am asleep. When I wake up, I tell my parents that I had a bad dream and they say it’s okay, and give me cookies and candy.”

“I see, but now you’re asleep and this is a nightmare with monster chasing you, but never killing you.”

“I always wake up right before I get eaten. Why didn’t the monsters kill you?”
Barnabas paused for a minute, staring into the strange, innocent, evil yellow eyes.

“Because, I’m a nightmare too.”

 

[Sonereal]

The four, true to their word, left the next evening after August suppressed the couple's memories of their stay. They drove for hours and around midnight, pulled of I-65 to so they can spend the day at Bryce Inn. The rest stop isn't flashy like some of the others they've passed but the essentials are here. The Shell Station, a McDonald's, a Wendy's, a Redbox, and the Smith Grove's Travel Center (a truck stop by the looks of it).

The hard part of the journey is coming up. I-65 goes through Nashville and from there, the more hardened of the anti-mutant territories.

(OOC: At Nashville, we'll get off I-65 and southeast on I-24 which'll have us go through Atlanta. Then we'll get on I-75 south and straight on to Florida (then we'll go west I-10 to Tallahassee. I love Google Earth )

 

[Karalysia]

I've decided to update today because I have time and I'm feeling motivated since classes start 2mw. So you have a couple hours to do any last story stuff before the update.

 

[Sonereal]

I've decided to update today because I have time and I'm feeling motivated since classes start 2mw. So you have a couple hours to do any last story stuff before the update.

In that case (if SKILORD doesn't get here to continue the story before the update), we should be in Tallahassee by that time.

 

[Megaman_zx]

Yay!!!!!!! update!!!!!

 

[SKILORD]

Just driving around; if we're in Tallahasse or even close by the end of the turn I think I'll have accomplished plenty for this turn. So I'm not too worried.

 

[das]

Sorry, other stuff keeps getting in the way. You can presume Michael just continues working slowly along previous lines, training and waiting for other stuff to transpire in the country until I finally manage to write a story here.

 

[Haseri]

Yeah, just give Stephen his next job from the Boss of the DMA.

 

[Shadowbound]

Name: Max Hoffman AKA Fenris AKA Lobizon AKA BLOODWOLF
Age: 98
Occupation: Anti-Insurgency Specialist
Location: Colombia
Physical Description: Hoffman is thin and lean, 6'2" but only 170 lbs. His Interpol file has him as black-haired and blue-eyed, but notes a tendency to dye his hair or go bald. His face is gaunt, but would be almost handsome if he made any effort. His regeneration has left him how he was in 1939, without change.
Mutant Powers/Abilities: Hyperdiamond body, next to impervious to damage and capable of regenerating in moments. Can create claws that can shear through steel. Like Wolverine.
Other Skills: Bloodwolf has had a century to practice the art of killing. From a distance, through others, or up close with his claws. He is a tactician, and a consummate asymmetrical warrior, equally at home in a city or a jungle. He knows his way around explosives, and espionage, and has some small talent at cooking. Above all he is a Predator, a killing machine, perfectly honed and with no limits.
Possessions: Swiss bank accounts, trenchcoat, nice selection of knives
Injuries: None
Affiliation: Nazis
Followers: 0 (Anyone who has decided you're worth following if you decide to be a leader)
Background: Karl Hoffman is a career soldier. He has been a die-hard Nazi since 1928, and was an early recruit into the Waffen SS. He was a cruel, short-tempered man and a bitter racist who blamed much of Germany's ills on the Jews.

He was a test-subject for Germany's ubermensch program, to artificially induce mutation and create superpowered super soldiers. 80% died, 15% had horrible deformities, but Hoffman was one of the lucky 5% that emerged as the next pinnacle of human evolution. His musculoskeletal system was replaced with a new organic hyperdiamond compound, as strong as diamond and capable of rapidly regenerating.

Fenris (as the German propaganda machine dubbed him) was a vicious combatant and could easily stand up to vast numbers of opponents. In the early years of the war he was used to devastating effect on the front lines, and when Hitler invaded Russia he was in the vanguard. He was feared by Russian forces for his willingness, and ability, to singlehandedly engage tank platoons, ripping through the turrets to the juicy insides.

In 1943 Fenris was gravely wounded in battle for the Russian city of Kursk, and was sent back to Germany to recuperate. Upon regaining full health he was transferred to Dachau. It was here that he brutally murdered hundreds of Jewish prisoners. Tales of mutilation and cannibalism from the survivors sickened the world. When his war crimes were uncovered the world press gave Fenris a new name, Bloodwolf.

In the final days of the war, Bloodwolf fled Germany along with many other war criminals and to this day he is considered one of the top three war criminals of World War II. He would appear as an enforcer for South American dictators, combating Marxist insurgencies and spreading his legend as the Lobizon. Pinochet, Trujillo, "Papa Doc", and Fujimori are references on his resume. Despite efforts by the Mossad and others to bring him in, he's repeatedly demonstrated his ability to elude or kill all efforts to bring him to justice.

 

[Shadowbound]

They resumed the conversation where they had left off sixty-five years before.

“Herr Schach is delusional,” Klaus said, sitting down at the small fold-out table next to Max. Max looked up from his coffee, brain processing the unexpected arrival of the ubermensch at the tiny Colombian Army camp. He continued, “I’ve always said one can’t translate the war into a game of chess.”

“You were right,” Hoffman muttered, dumbly, reaching back to the closing days of the war.

“Of course I was. I always am,” Klauss poured himself a cup, sniffing it and making a face that created an entirely new order of wrinkles on his ancient head. “What happened to him, after Berlin fell? I know you were ordered to escort him to the u-boat.”

“I killed him,” Max stated, getting his bearings. He continued, “He started to get unbearable after he lost one of his pawns while we were leaving. I dumped his body into the Atlantic during the crossing.” Klauss sat back for a moment to mull this over, giving Hoffman the chance to catch up to the Reich’s most powerful ubermensch appearing after half a century right next to him.

“You’ve aged well,” he joked, interrupting whatever grand Aesop his comrade was composing on the folly of attachment. Klauss frowned, scowled, and generally brought into focus the fact that, where Hoffman hadn’t moved forward a day since 1939, he most certainly had. Despite that, he still looked healthier than the constantly starving killer. “What brings you to the jungle?” Klaus sat back, leaving only a hint of the displeasure that Hoffman’s jab had brought.

“I feel you’re wasting your potential, Major,” the ubermensch said, looking at the Colombian mongrels, who had set up far away from their very special commander. “I picked up the newspaper two days ago, saw the front page, and realized that you could do a lot more than hunt Marxists in the Amazon.”

“You say this to me? You disappeared when Donitz surrendered.”

“Some of us were blessed with foresight. Schach, for example. There was a reason you were supposed to be paired with him while I went solo. Because you have all the long-term planning of a dachshund, while I can be patient.” At this Hoffman’s vision began to narrow, and an image of him sliding a claw into Klauss’s brainpan flashed in front of him. He held off, though. Hoffman was virtually unkillable, by time or by the feeble efforts of untermensch. Sometimes he wondered if he could die.

He did not want to test it. If anyone could kill him, it was the man in front of him.

“America’s mongrel interbreeding, though delayed, has produced too many superhumans for their society to handle without tearing itself apart. Where the efforts of the Stalinists came to naught, the Americans will destroy themselves, if properly pushed. And you are here, in this ********, ripping apart Chavez's buttboys," Klauss leaned forward. The United States is a powder keg. A bomb, waiting to explode."

"I want you to help me light the fuse.”

 

[Karalysia]

Expect the update sometime between now and ∞

 

[Seon]

Which means it won't come today?

 

[SKILORD]

Infinity seems like an awfully long time.

 

[Anonymoose]

We have from now 'til then. I'm looking forward to the update. Anyone care to wager how long until world-government falls and we just have all-out warfare between glorious humans and hideous monstrosities?

 

[SKILORD]

OOC: I think there's probably going to be a pretty extended period of crackdown, maybe prison camps, before the government breaks down. But I think it will also be a fun period for insurrection.

I shudder to think of the headlines coming out of Indianapolis.

 

[Seon]

Something along the line of a crazed and enraged BMA agent with a wakizashi, an Uzi, weird sunglasses, and a desert eagle rampaging around and capturing escaped convicts with excessive force, probably.

And perhaps with a picture of the Terrible 4 superterrorists.

Law and Order must be maintained in this nation for any kind of progress to be made... Mutant rights movement can always use more ammunition like this.

 

[SKILORD]

More like:

"Violent mutants on rampage through midwest, serial killers, arsonists, jailbreaks and terror. Mutants can't be trusted, lock them all up"

"Glenn Beck's ratings explode"

"Armed humans taking to the streets"

I'd be surprised if the Registration act doesn't pass after all of that ruckus we started, you can't ignore large numbers of violent people.

 

[Freemanuncg]

Winter in New York City, if he were bothered by such trifles as cold he would be shivering; as the wind bit into the humans he passed in the street, he could feel their blood rushing to bring living warmth to their fingers and toes. He hungered for that blood, he hadn’t fed since the air port in London, where even now police and investigators may be puzzling over the body, or not, they may never find it. A car in the parking lot of the air port with no one to claim it… who knows how long it could sit there before someone looks in the trunk. The sheer size and population of the city was impressive, huge numbers of people had always fascinated him the potential for power they held, the potential for order and for chaos.

Chaos, Indianapolis was in chaos; slaughter, arson, jail break.

Oh the blood.

“Change?” it seems that humanity can never outrun its past, will the poor will always be with us?

“Come with me brother” the destitute man rose slowly and followed me down the alley, when a man’s mind is already weakened by hunger and fear they believe the illusions willingly throwing themselves into the promises the illusion can offer. “There is nothing to fear, we’ll be happy together forever” he never saw my true form only the rapture of the vision.

The body fell from my grasp and fell to the street, drained of blood and life, the warmth slowly slipping away. I heaved the corpse of my latest meal into a dumpster at the end of the alley; I could feel the strength filling me the blood increasing my power. I must find more mutants I need to help them; we deserve the same rights and freedoms as everyone else.