Heroes: Shadows over Millenium

[frigidmagi]

"I'll get used to it, I just... Not much exposure to... Magic I guess." Blast replied. Again glad he wore a mask that hide his entire face.

[SirNitram]

"Magic indeed. It.." Gravitas smiled a bit. "See, my power is a double-edged sword. We can go pretty damn far. The other edge is that it changes us, mind and body. The changes were more extreme once..." He shook his head, his smile turning wan. "I pushed most of the power inwards with these, and so I'm more human, easier to be around. Plus, I don't spark off people becoming superheros by my presense if they're latents. That can get awkward."

[B4UTRUST]

"I never met this Tarot fellow. At least not that I'm aware of. I was issued a set of orders and told to pack my bags and make my plane. I'm here on an advisory role only I'm afraid.

"It does seem like there is a concentration of certain activities surrounding this area of late though."

[frigidmagi]

"Wait... People can become supers just by being around you? I've never heard of that before. Course I never heard of someone developing energy tossing powers after being hit by a drunk driver either. Or of super tumors. Shit, this makes damn little sense." Blast said.

[SirNitram]

"Can't help on the tumors." Gravitas said, putting on his tie. "The energy I would be radiating constantly.. And now only do when I push my powers.. Triggers a little nub that grows in a small percentage of humanity, between the two halves of the brain." He tapped his forehead.

"It's been slowly evolving for thousands of years. In my universe, it got two nasty kickstarts and made heros. Here? ..Looks pretty inert. I'm sure some people spark off anyways, really minor stuff. But exposure to the energies I give off would kickstart folks. It's not time yet. See, kickstart early and people get.. Well, messed up, like I was. Am."

[frigidmagi]

"So you... evolved early? Is it really that bad to evolve early?" Blast asked.

[SirNitram]

"So you... evolved early? Is it really that bad to evolve early?" Blast asked.

"Terminology's a bit wrong." Gravitas shrugged. "But yea, pretty close. It's.." He thought, tapping his chin. "My body can't deal with the energy properly. Think about how your powers are growing. It's like trying to deal with something way above your skills, only it's my body. The result? Gods and monsters, as they said." A twitch of his lips. "Some people became grotesque, some too perfect to be real. All because we weren't ready for the power."

[frigidmagi]

"Damn that does sound messy. Do you think it could happen here or is it happening already?" Blast asked quietly.

[SirNitram]

"I think it's happening." Gravitas shrugs a bit. "But without the interventions. It won't be folks like me striding across the world. They'll be a little stronger. Perhaps a little quicker. Nothing that will be noticed for centuries, I expect. Then they'll be ready to use the power without so much of the side effects."

"I'd like to see it, though I know I won't. But I could be wrong. You never know, that's the amazing thing. This whole world is quite amazing.. But any would be, after moving sideways."

[LadyTevar]

"I never met this Tarot fellow. At least not that I'm aware of. I was issued a set of orders and told to pack my bags and make my plane. I'm here on an advisory role only I'm afraid.

"It does seem like there is a concentration of certain activities surrounding this area of late though."

"Be glad you have not met Tarot.." Argent answered. "Because he can see the future .. all possible futures, perhaps. Blackheart believes this has affected Tarot's mind. What is certain ..." her voice grew hard, her eyes stony. "He deliberately injected Saibot and I with nanites, so that if we seperated more than a few yards, the nanites would start to kill us from the inside out. Tell me, Kyosuke-san... how often have you had to seperate from your companions during a battle, or searching for your target?"

[Agent Fisher]

Ryan had got a ride back to his apartment. He sent an e-mail to Blackheart.

From: dryan@ultima.gov
To: blackheart@ultima.gov

Boss, I'm currently deaf. No idea when I'll get my hearing back. If you want, I can be back at work at my desk tomorrow if I need to be.

[B4UTRUST]

Kyosuke paused and thought.
"Often enough, I suppose. Though there have been an equal amount of times I had someone right next to me for almost the entire op.

"He doesn't exactly sound like a team player. And Blackheart thinks he's insane? That doesn't bode well for anyone he works with."

[Charon]

Legacies slowly came to again, feeling considerably better the silver figure got to it's feet and openned the door out of the room. The silver head popped out and looked both ways, not seeing anyone it stepped out into the hallway. It was looking considerably better now, the limp was gone and the silver figure was not slouching anymore.

Legacies turned down the hallway and made his way outside. Stretching some the creature seemed to smile for a moment before it launched into the air, a tendril lashing out and catching the edge of a building as the old hero went for a swing around the city.

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart rolled his shoulders as he left medical. God he hated these sessions. Time to check on his people. It wasn't like he had suddenly given more time.

He got Ryan's message. Manning his desk? Whatever. Sounds like he was spending too much time with the brass. He headed over to check on Gravitas. If the meta wanted space, he would give it.

[frigidmagi]

"I think it's happening." Gravitas shrugs a bit. "But without the interventions. It won't be folks like me striding across the world. They'll be a little stronger. Perhaps a little quicker. Nothing that will be noticed for centuries, I expect. Then they'll be ready to use the power without so much of the side effects."

"I'd like to see it, though I know I won't. But I could be wrong. You never know, that's the amazing thing. This whole world is quite amazing.. But any would be, after moving sideways."

"So where are people like me coming from then?" Blast asked.

[SirNitram]

"Who knows? Not me." Gravitas shrugged, and grinned. "Even when I do the God Schtick, I'm not all-knowing. Seriously? Powers come from all sorts of sources in this universe. Damn amazing, honestly. Could be you have a node, though. It's kinda invasive to tell, though. So let's not."

Gravitas glanced up as Blackheart showed up, tucking in his shirt. "Boss." He said, nodding. "Good to see you. You just missed a fine display of my bare ass. You ready to go?"

[Cynical Cat]

"I'll somehow manage to contain my disappointment at missing that fine display," said Blackheart. "You certainly seem to be in good shape."

[SirNitram]

"I rebound quickly." Gravitas nodded simply. "I take it from the lack of yelling nothing huge has come up we need to act on immediately?"

[frigidmagi]

"That reminds me, do they got any other teams besides us?" Blast asked Blackheart.

[Cynical Cat]

"So far we're good. Who knows what will happen in the next five minutes though. And yes there are other Ultima Teams than just us. Don't spread it around, but if you start plotting meta involved crime and terrorism on a graph, you get a steep rise over the last couple of years. Scars the shit out of some of the brass, with good reason."

[frigidmagi]

"Cause there's more of us or... other reasons?" Blast asked.

[Cynical Cat]

"The number of the bad guys is growing fast than that of the good guys. Lots of theories, short on evidence. Most of the theories are depressing. Although I have a soft spot for the "hidden legion of Blackhearts" theorem, but since that one gives me a good chance of not having my personality destroyed I'm biased."

[SirNitram]

"Lots of super-tumors, then?" Gravitas chuckled softly, and shook his head. "Human nature, I'm afraid. The average person gets power, he wants personal fufilment. Throw in some warped worldviews and how to best 'help' people, and bam."

[frigidmagi]

"Maybe the bad guys have a better medical plan?" Blast quipped.

[Cynical Cat]

"Not so simple," said Blackheart. "There's a lot of ways to make a shit load of cash legitimately with most powers, which is the western world's way of keeping score. Getting your ass kicked by Ultima isn't appealing. The ratio should be different, but it isn't. So there's a couple of guesses to why. One is that one or several of mechanisms by which people are getting powers has a signifigant risk of brain damage. The other leading theory is that the supervillian/super terrorist ranks are deliberately being swelled. Say by someone with an interest in destabilizing the west."