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Super RP


It's a new day in the strange world of Earth, and about seven thousand of the seven billion people on this planet are waking up to a world where they have unimaginable powers. Superhumans with unexplained abilities, who in our universe are solely a figment of our collective cultural imagination, are a reality in this world. You are one of these superhumans, known colloquially as "Supers". You are hated and revered, feared and loved in the human society of this world.

This is one part of that story, taking place on the Pacific coast of North America. Here, many things are happening: a human Senator promises to eliminate violent superhumans, mysterious UFOs have been sighted over many parts of California and Alaska, unsolved murders and bank robberies perplex police, and tremors have been felt uncomfortably close to Seattle and Mt. Rainier. You are a part of one or all of these stories.

So, how will you handle this world as a superhuman? Will you be a hero, redeeming humanity by using your fantastic powers to improve the world, punish the evil, and protect the innocent? Will you hide your powers and seek to lead a normal human life, fearing the consequences if you do anything else? Or will you be a villain, manipulating and destroying the weak in your quest for power, greed, or entertainment? The choise is yours, for you are...

SUPER.

Inside the Vega National Bank branch, outside Los Angeles...

"EVERYBODY PUT YOUR FUCKING HANDS UP!"
The three men in gas masks burst into the lobby of the bank, firing their scary-looking guns into the air. One was big, one was short, and one was neither. The man in the middle was was holding a duffel bag, making their purpose clear. The shorter man spoke first.
"Alright, listen up! I'll keep it simple: nobody moves, nobody gets hurt! Play it cool, folks!" The people listened, getting laying down with their hands behind their heads while the security guard retreated to the vault for backup. The big guy kicked something on the ground, causing a woman to scream in fear.
"NO PHONES!"
"Oh yeah, forgot about that... No phones, or we blow your fucking brains out! Agent Yellow, let's go get the vault, see if we can't crack that sucker open. Agent Red, keep playing crowd control, wait for the police to arrive."
The big man stood at the front, holding his gun out. "You got it, Agent Blue." Blue and Yellow departed with the bag, chasing after the security guard.

As the police arrived, a crowd and some reporters gathered outside. This was the fifth reported bank robbery in the Los Angeles area alone in the past week, but this was the first one where the perps didn't disappear before the police got there. Now, as cops lined up outside the building, a deadly showdown between police and the mysterious thieves was expected...

On a private beach in Southern California...

Senator Rochester was enjoying the cool late summer breeze, and sipped on a piña colada made from a hollowed out pineapple. The afternoon sun reflected off of the tumbling waves pushing into the lily white sand, which lay undisturbed by human feet thanks to the strict admission. Rising from his chair and ducking under the umbrella, the Senator set his drink down on the little table next to those things and was about to finally go into the water to cool off from a hot summer day when one of his aides ran up to him.
"S-sir! You better come quick! The news is sayin' those bank robbers finally got caught in the act! The Police are about to bust in and have a shootout!"
While slightly annoyed by not being able to enjoy himself in peace, the Senator knew this would be important to watch, so he ran up to the bar on the sand, where a TV was making updates on the story. The policemen were lined up against the wall. No sign of where exactly the robbers were in the building. Whatever happened, though, the Senator knew he would stand to gain...

Undisclosed Location, Northern Cascade Mountains, British Columbia...

Deep underground, beneath a picturesque lake and the Night Family Estate, Sir Robert was monitoring AEGIS data from across North America in his secret underground laboratory and staging area.  Behind the bank of monitors that he sat staring, his personal servers, compiling data and feeding out alerts from all around Canada and the Western United States.

Unusual seismic readouts from Mount Rainier.  Unidentified Vehicles over Canada.  Another robbery of a financial firm in Los Angeles. 

He spun around, and was greeted by the sight of his suit-rack, the mixture of cyan, ivory and silver that comprised the armour of Snowman, the steel hangars, and behind the glass, his staging area.  After a great deal hesitation, he finally resolved to aid the bank in Los Angeles. 

He donned the suit, and strode into the hangar.  There, he climbed into the Flurry, the advanced, snowy white aircraft that transported him on long journeys and spoke, "Aegis.  Take me to Los Angeles."

The engines fired up, lifting the aircraft vertically, and the ceiling began to open up, revealing the crisp Canadian sky above, and the massive, camouflaged hangar doors adjacent to the lake below.  The computerised voice spoke, "You are now en route to Los Angeles.  Connection to the AEGIS network operating within specified parameters.  Autopilot is activated and you are cruising south at 1600 kilometres per hour.  Your destination will be reached in approximately one hour." 

Night smiled as the aircraft thundered across Washington.  "Increase speed to 1800 kilometres per hour and disengage autopilot.  Let's have some fun with this." 

Benny's Truck Stop and Diner, outside Los Angeles

Sgt. Ellis Duke was enjoying a break from a relaxing day of cruising around in his 1970 Dodge Charger. He didn't have many hobbies or luxuries, but damn if he didn't love his car -- the loud roar it made when he accelerated, the leather steering wheel hot from the sun, the air whizzing past him as his car willed itself forward.

He was leisurely eating a large burger when he noticed the diner's old TV showed video of police outside a bank with a banner reading, "BREAKING NEWS: Police on Scene of Armed Bank Robbery at Vega National Bank Branch".

"That's not that far from here," Duke said to himself. "Hey, turn the TV up!" he called out to the waitress behind the counter.

The waitress, startled by this, turned to the TV to see the reason. She quickly realized, rushed to turn up the volume, then stood and watched as the news reporter explained the situation.

"...spects are armed and dangerous. We believe there to be at least ten hostages in the bank, but we have no way to confirm that as everyone is on the ground and away from the windows. There have been no shots fired, but we have no reason to believe the suspects have not injured any of the hostages in some way. Police are lined up and appear to be ready to move in but for some reason are just waiting. Again, this is the fifth reported bank rob..."

By the time the waitress turned back around, Duke had already left a chunk of cash on his plate and tore out of the parking lot in his car.

Inside a quite home in the suburbs outside Los Angeles

Chris paced nervously back and forth in front of the mirror, muttering to himself and wondering how many more times he would put himself through this. he stopped and stared at his reflection. He ran a hand through his constantly messy hair and examined himself as he mused.

"It's not worth it, getting involved in these situations. It always ends badly and you feel awful about yourself afterwards. We both know that nothing good will come of putting yourself out there."

He idly stroked the leaves of a nearby fern and it rustled and shook as it began to suddenly grow at a rapid pace, it's vibrantly colored fronds expanding outward and knocking the remote control he had set on the sink to the tile floor. The screen of his small tv flashed in the next room and he caught glimpses of a standoff and snippets of a story.

"My what a convenient excuse. I guess I'll have to cancel that date after all."

In a flash he had donned his dark green cloak and mask. He strapped on his belt, lined with a multitude of pouches, each brimming with seeds. He chuckled quietly to himself as he hopped in his old SUV and rode off towards the heist.

Umpqua National Forest, Oregon

The Lower Umpqua river slowly coursed under his legs. The Player was laying back and relaxing, legs dangling lazily off the edge of the Tioga Bridge. He was watching the clouds come in, twisting the afternoon heavens in white and grey shapes.
"Hey."
The Player turned his head towards the voice. Standing next to him was a girl. As the bridge was one of The Player's favorite spots, and as the Girl was hung around the bridge regularly, she was one of a few humans who communicated with The Player. She was also rare in that she was perhaps the only human that The Player didn't actively avoid, making her just about his only "friend".
He turned his head back towards the sky. Over the trees, a dark wall of storm clouds approached. A sharp gust of wind blew, causing the wooden boards to groan.
"Hey."
"Getting kinda rough out here."
The Player nodded. "Yeah."
The Girl gave an odd smirk. "But that really doesn't concern you, does it?"
He shook his head. "Nope." A peal of thunder sounded in the distance.
She brushed her hair back. "I want to know something. If the river started flooding, or if the storm got bad enough to knock the bridge over... Would you protect me?"
The Player paused for a moment, closing his eyes. He had been asked this question before. "The storm won't get that bad. Just some rain."
The Girl grinned and sat down next to his head. "I see." Droplets began to fall, causing splashes and skitters on the river.

Suddenly, The Player sat up with surprise like waking up from a bad dream, almost falling over the bridge's edge. This disturbed The Girl, who had never seen The Player act like this before. Not even that one time when he got struck by lightning.
"What? What's wrong?"
He suddenly started laughing, something which The Girl has also never seen before.
"It's starting! It's finally starting!"

Vega National Bank, Los Angeles

The heist was not going well. Not only were the police here early, but there were two or three supers out there, getting ready to jump in. Good thing the guard had given the vault codes at gunpoint: if Blue had to force it open, they would definitely have failed by this point. Agent Red turned on his radio.
"YO," Agent Red yelled into a small radio to his comrades, "WHERE'S THE FUCKING HELICOPTER?"
"It's almost here!" Agent Yellow responded. "Blue, grab the gold!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it!" Single-handedly, Agent Blue lifted a huge bag filled with gold bars and ran for the exit.

Outside, a low-flying red helicopter suddenly swooped down, much to the surprise of police. Agent Red started shooting in the direction of the police and the crowd with his powerful (and unusually high-tech) machine gun to make a distraction. Civilians screamed and ran for cover, and police ducked behind their cars and fired back with cheap pistols and shotguns. Agent Blue and Agent Yellow were boarding the helicopter with their gold, with Agent Red close behind. It looks as though they are getting away!

Vega National Bank, Los Angeles

As Duke got out of his car, he assessed the situation and saw as the bank robbers ran towards the helicopter. The big one with a machine gun appeared to be using suppressive fire to allow the other two to escape with the gold.

Duke knew that if he eliminated the main threat, the cops could try to deal with the helicopter. He ran with his head down to one of the police cars towards the edge of the shooter's view then crouched behind its trunk. He focused on the machine gun then raised his hands and made a pulling motion. The gun forcefully yanked out of the robber's hands and skid on the ground towards Duke's hiding spot.

Above Vega National Bank, Los Angeles

Robert Night surveyed scene from the Flurry.  The escape helicopter, the chaos below, and the police around the scene.

"AEGIS, engage autocontrol and hover here.  It looks like L.A. is going to get winter—a few months early!" 

Jumping out of the plane with his suit glider, he zoomed down toward the helicopter.  As he reached the helicopter, snow and ice shot out of his hands, freezing the rotors and causing the helicopter to crash into a conveniently placed snow bank.  Snowman grinned—so triumphantly that he forgot to look where he was going—and also crashed into his snowbank. 

He quickly emerged, but took cover, waiting for something to happen next. 

Alleyway, Los Angeles

Despite being far from the action at the bank, Porshen picked up the sound of gunfire. Except it did not sound like gunfire.

Unusual. New. Possible useful technology. Best course of action: investigate. Intercept. Collect.

The alleyway Porshen used as a hiding place was fairly uninteresting, with the exception of a dumpster that he has already gone through, not finding anything useful, and several wires, connecting to an antenna. Careful not to keep the rightful owner's connection offline for long, he grabbed the data cable, splitting it to use for himself. Connected to the web, he found a video feed of a bank robbery, watching intently for the gun.

Resolution is too blurry. Helicopter likely contains weapon owner. Best course of action: observe.

Vega National Bank, LA

The three bank robbers didn't know what hit them. First, by an unknown force, Agent Red's gun was pulled from his hands. In an alley below him, he saw an unarmed man making a strange pulling gesture.
"What the fu-"
Agent Blue pointed at something and shouted. "LOOK OUT!"
A man in a wing suit blasted the helicopter with some kind of ice-beam, freezing the helicopter's engine as well as the entire roof of the bank. The helicopter crashed into a huge pile of snow below them, sending a white puff into the sky. Police moved in to arrest the suspects, and to find just who was responsible for the strange resolution of the robbery.

A little black raven landed on a rooftop near the whole thing, and flew off. On its way it spotted a man standing perfectly still holding wires in an alleyway. Continuing back it landed in a separate alleyway near an abandoned library. Quil looked at his raven and very quietly asked, "what did you see Pen?" The bird, not saying a word, looked at him almost as though it was talking telepathically. Quil looked in the direction of the bank, and motioning to the bird he glided up a building, revealing a lack of actual limbs. Reaching the top he suddenly morphed into a streak of a black ink-like substance and with extreme speed jumped from rooftop to rooftop towards the bank. Jumping over the humanoid he noticed the lack of expression on it's face and that disturbed him a little. Quil reached the scene of the crime, and melting onto the ground he disguised himself as a shadow to listen in on what was going on from behind the barricade, slipping right past them.

Same Alleyway as before

Porshen watched the helicopter (which he quite fancied getting his hands onto) jitter as the engine failed and froze, falling out of view of the camera.

Switch source.

The wreck, while not extreme as the helicopter never did get much altitude, was fairly well mangled. The snow took a considerable impact, but the useful components of the machine were likely destroyed. Unfortunate. Porshen had hoped the helicopter would get away so he could take it easily.

Minimum of one super present. Risk/reward potential: unfavourable. Best course of action: observe.

Outside Vega National Bank, LA

Duke ran from his hiding spot and situated himself between the large bank robber and his machine gun on the ground. As the helicopter went down, he could tell the robber was panicking and wanted to run, but Duke wasn't letting that happen.

Oh, no you don't.

He raised his hands once more towards the robber and closed his fists. The robber was pretty big and struggled, so Duke had to fight to keep him from moving. He then looked towards the cops who had yet to take their guns off the robber.

"What are you waiting for? Go get him!"

A few of the cops looked at each other then ran up to arrest the robber.

Vega National Bank, LA

The police and EMTs had only moments to apprehend the suspects, throw them in police ambulances, and set up a evidence cordon before the whole block was flooded with people, famous journalists and Average Joe citizens alike. Rumors were that there wasn't one, but two supers who responded to the robbery. Now, one super coming along and helping police was barely newsworthy: two of them working together, on the other hand, was.
Anxious TV reporters assaulted the LAPD police Chief with a barrage of questions:
"Do you believe that the superheroes were crucial in apprehending these bandits?"
"Do these criminals have any connection to the unsolved bank robberies that have been happening?"
"What is your opinion on these proposed superhero registration acts everyone keeps hearing about from Washington?"
The Chief stepped back.
"I'm not answering any questions now. We will release an official statement as soon as things are cleared up. In the meantime, please get out of here!" Other officers echoed the Chief, pushing and ordering people away from the police line.

Slowly but surely, the crowd dispersed. The Chief and two other officers approached Duke while another group of officers searched for the ice-throwing super.
"I would personally like to thank you for your help. I don't know what kind of gun those assholes had, but things definitely weren't going well for us until you disarmed him. We owe you one. If there is anything we can do to repay you, don't hesitate to let us know."