capencowl2020 | [OPEN]

Entry tags:

[OPEN]

WHO: EVERYONE
WHERE: The main Government Communications building in the City/Everywhere
WHEN: Saturday 18 January
WHAT: The immediate reactions to Victor mass broadcasting a live feed of Apollo blowing up the main government communications building
WARNINGS: CW for explosions, building decimation, terrorism, mass casualties/injury, war themes, etc.
NOTES: OOC notes and plotting/fallout discussion here, but tl;dr feel free to use this post for own action threads or make your own posts. There are also top levels for Resistance network and Government network responses if you want to use them, but again you can always make your own posts!

With no warning or build up, suddenly every digitally transmitting device across the city is forced to broadcast the same image of a pale, gaunt man dressed in a black trenchcoat and cutting a hard dark line against the sky, courtesy of the object-dreaming powers of one Joseph "Joey" Kavinsky. Some people in the medical field might recognise the man on the feed from his time as a brilliant neuroresearcher; others might recognise him as a deadly escapee who staged a breakout at a government metahuman containment facility whose face was widely reported at the time of the incident.

He's somewhere a top a high building, the altitude swiping his hair and the trails of his coat back and forth, but the man keeps a steady stare into the camera and his hands in his pockets. There's a prominent building at his back that is easily recognisable to most as the government's main Communications hub.

"My name is Dr. Victor Vale, and I am a metahuman. I come to you today with a brief reminder, a history lesson, if you will. When this city experienced a gap in its local security, metas were brought here to attend to the problem. When we did not perfectly conform to and uphold the authoritarian police system we were brought in to replenish, we were threatened with mass registration. And when we resisted, we were endured a brutal meta-wide crackdown.

"The meta resistance to these acts of violence against us have been reactive and defensive for too long and each moment we endure this government's actions is another moment where metahumans are brutalised, imprisoned, experimented on, and killed. It is my belief that we are well overdue to return this action.

"My proposal to this government is simple: empty your seats of power, declaw your enforcers, dismantle the systems of registration, and end your hunt on metas entirely. Failure to do so will result in actions that will no doubt be viewed as unfavourable. And I am more than happy to provide a demonstration. You see--"

He takes a step closer to the camera, a golden trail beginning to tear through the sky in the backdrop of the shot.

"Several years ago, it was wildly reported that the military had successfully shot down and killed the powerful metahuman known as Apollo. I have the honour of informing you all today that those reports were spectacularly overstated."

[ BOOM! ]

At the end of that last sentence, like he'd timed this all to the very second, Apollo tears through the government building behind Victor, decimating the whole thing and seeing it go up in an incredible ball of fire and smoke. Victor, for his part, doesn't even blink as the rush from the impact rips past him from behind.

"We are done playing games and placidly accepting this state-encouraged torture of metahumans. The government has twelve hours to respond to our demands. I shouldn't need to say what will happen after that. To other metahumans out there watching this, to members of the resistance who are adrift, to any that are in hiding or on the fence--I strongly suggest you join with us. Or, baring that, stay out of our way. This has always been a war, it is time we acted as such."

He holds a firm stare into the feed for a moment longer, the aftermath of the explosion at his back billowing smoke and flame before the broadcast disconnects and whatever the screen was showing before the takeover resumes. Or at least it would, except for most civilian transmissions, instead of resuming, there is a fairly cheerfully ominous message instead: Oops! We'll Be Right Back! 😫

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What the fuck?

WHO HAD EYES ON VALE??

when we finally get to settle in and drink about this, in two years time, the solar x pain cocktail's gotta involve crushed aspirin on the rim and the meniscus lit on fire.

and fyi, prep's going fine.

Wow. Guess I get to prove I'm unbiased now and report on the Resistance's fuckups as hard as I'd report on the government. Gee thanks.

Who even tries to be unbiased these days? Fuck that, you don't need to feed their propaganda machine. Every news source they own (which, reminder! is all of them) is already going to be carrying on about it 24/7.

I'm with the Resistance because they don't tell me what not to write. That makes them better. It does not make them beyond reproach.

Are you really "with" us when you so clearly don't believe in anything? Even trying to put this under an umbrella of "the Resistance did this" is dumb when there's no centralized Resistance.

I'm not stopping you from writing anything, but I am telling you that if you put out a public screed like you're talking about, you're pretty much doing the job of the government propaganda machine for them.

Good thing I've got you here to tell me how to do my job. Do you even read the Speeding Bulletin?

I've skimmed the stories once or twice. They're hard to miss when you keep flooding this network with them. If you want a pat on the back for your journalistic rigor, I'm afraid it's not up to my standards.

I'm sure I'd be devastated if I gave a shit about your opinion.

If you don't like what I say, write your own article. The more points of view we have, the closer we can get to zeroing in on actual truth.

What a great idea! I mean, obviously I can spare the time, since I'm not busy keeping our whole system running so the government doesn't murder us all or anything!

Are you ever embarrassed by how shallow your thoughts are? I sure would be, at least when you make your whole job about sharing your thoughts. When the only thing you care about is something as nebulous as "truth", and pursuing that brings you to such a shitty take as "wow guys, I think I'm with the fascists on this one," there is something absolutely fucked in your point of view, and probably in how you define truth entirely.

My mistake. You aren’t too busy to get into internet arguments about articles I haven’t actually written yet, but I guess it saves a lot of time when you aren’t worried about the truth. You can just make shit up wholesale.

Yeah, because writing comments is the exact same thing. That's pretty telling for how seriously you take your job.

If I weren't worried about the truth, I wouldn't have even commented. I am worried, because I can anticipate the kind of damage your shitty take on the truth can do. The truth is bigger than your feelings in the moment. It's bigger than just the one event. Truth is in the context, the history, the people.

When you lead saying "well I guess now I have to talk about the Resistance's fuckups", that's not someone who's talking about truth. That's someone who wants to editorialize on their kneejerk reaction. That's not looking for the story, that's making your feelings the story.

If you want to talk about truth, do the fucking work.

Like you said, a comment is not the same as an article.

You haven’t actually read my work. If you did, you’d know I keep my feelings out of my work to the best of my ability while acknowledging bias is impossible to truly erase. I don’t fucking editorialize. I’m not interested in telling anyone what to think, just giving them the facts so that their opinions can be informed ones.

Unless you’re interested in informing your opinion with fact, this conversation is over.

But thanks for reminding me that internet comment arguments are just as puerile in every world. It’s a nice taste of home.

Well, here's a great example of why I don't really read your work that closely, the total lack of self awareness. You tell your readers to look for your biases in your work, but when someone tells you she's found them and they're really obvious, you say she couldn't be reading your work. Love a circle like that.

My God. Apollo’s still alive?

Man, the government is in deep shit now.

Hah! Now that's how yeh feckin' rebel, lads!

If this little disruption means I can't watch the final episode of Affection Atoll tonight I'm going to be VERY upset.

PS. Thank you to these lovely gentlemen for trashing that whole 'metahumans are reasonable, normal people just like you' thing some of us were going for, that's wonderfully helpful.

You can watch a recording. I think this situation outweighs a TV program.

It's going to take a long time to undo the damage this has done to the image of metahumans. It's like these assholes WANT riots asking for our deaths!

Edited 2020-01-19 08:47 (UTC)

I don't think you understand. It's the FINAL.

Add yes, agreed on the other part. Riots, asking for our deaths, etc etc, quite so.

Just avoid social media until you've watched it. It's not that hard.

But then the terrorists HAVE won.

Continue as you have.

They want us to overreact.

I am noting for the record that neither Apollo’s termination nor the security of the Communications Centre were under my responsibility.

I must also point out that I once attempted a similar imPort rebellion against the government in another universe. The moment we moved to open violence is the precise instant we were betrayed and defeated as other imPorts moved against us. Our enemies have made a show of strength, but in doing so they may have weakened their own position.

That is precisely why now is why we must strike back, swiftly and decisively. If the rebels aren’t stopped now, it will be civil war without end. We will do what must be done.

There is no more room for half measures. With my insight, I believe I could pacify the City if I was given the resources and authority I require. A thousand battle droids would suffice, although perhaps two thousand would be best to be on the safe side.

The second the broadcast starts, and the higher-ups pinpoint its location, The Captain is mobilized and sent to the scene. She doesn't get there in time to stop Apollo from decimating the building, but then... She's not here to help any survivors, either.

There's no warning of her approach. She angles it to come in from Apollo and Victor's blindspot as fast as she can, like a speeding golden bullet, barreling straight into Apollo's midsection and taking him with her through one of the few walls left standing. Let the rest of the response teams see to Vale. She's the big gun, she's here for the biggest threat.

He'd expected a response, sure. But he hadn't expected a response quite this quickly. Luckily - even stood with Victor amid the smoking ruins with the crackling flames and useless buzzing of fire alarms - he manages to pick up that faint sonic boom on the horizon as something - or someone - hurtles towards them.

"Victor--"

'Move' is lost upon impact as a bright golden bullet of a metahuman smashes into him, sending them both crashing through the wall. It doesn't hurt but it does annoy him; he grips his attacker tight, grabbing her by the shoulders and dragging her with him as he rolls with the impact. The few remaining walls crumble around them as they tumble, with Apollo doing all he can to pull back a flaming, fiery fist and bring it smashing down on his attacker's head.

The punch to her head comes with some force behind it, considering who it is that's throwing it. She actually feels the impact, which is more than the Captain can usually say. Not enough to make it hurt, but she can feel it.

"You should have stayed dead," she mutters through gritted teeth, throwing her feet down into the cement, digging out deep grooves that slow them to a stop so they can properly duke it out.

Except Apollo doesn't want to slow down to a stop. Stationary doesn't suit his style - Apollo likes to keep moving, to throw himself at (and through) his opponents with as much speed and force as possible. Moving is good, grounding yourself is not.

"Sorry to disappoint, Captain," he replies with a snarl of annoyance. He lets go of her then, shoving away with both hands as he kicks off and launches himself into the sky once more, to tear away up to the clouds. It looks like running away, probably, but Apollo's just gaining air as he zooms away towards the cloudline. Towards the bright sunlight beyond it.

"Coward!!" The Captain calls after him, even though she knows he's not running away out of fear. She takes off like a bullet, zooming up after him, firing shot after shot of proton blasts trying to knock him off course.

She can fight just as easily in the sky as she can on the ground, but it's not her preference. She doesn't want him to break the clouds and get the upper hand.

He hears her cry - it rebounds against the rubble, filling the silence following the explosion - but Apollo doesn't reply. He'll answer it in another way, as soon as they get high enough. What's important for now is that they get as far away from Victor as possible for what comes next.

The cloudline looms like a wall but Apollo zooms straight through it, bursting out into the blue sky beyond and turning sharply to face his pursuer straight on.

"What are we going to do, Carol?" He calls as she approaches on his tail. "Beat the shit out of each other until we get tired?"

Carol pierces through the cloud line just behind him, stopping level with him, floating in the air with her fists glowing and charged up in front of her.

"I mean, that sounds great to me."

She's just a bruiser and she knows it. The government's attack dog. But she's good at what she does. So good, she's been getting bored bringing other, less powerful metas in. Apollo being a live is a challenge she didn't know she needed.

"I'm ready whenever you are."

Another day, another universe, and maybe Apollo would have reasoned his way out of this. Perhaps there's something with Carol beyond 'the Captain' that could be appealed to, maybe even made to see that war against the government is the only way to secure their freedom. But Apollo isn't sure that he wants to reason his way out of this. This is too much like revenge - for Midnighter, for all of them - for Apollo to be able to resist.

"All right then," He murmurs, and can't help but feel darkly pleased at what's about to come next.

He throws himself forwards in a blinding flash - a living solar flare, roaring with fire and light and heat - and bullets headlong at the Captain and those glowing fists.

As Apollo accelerates, so does Carol. They collide head on in a blast of fire and light. People watching down below might be subjected to quite the show.

They tumble through the air, evenly matched, each blow landing squarely with enough impact to shatter a normal person, but barely making a dent on each other. Eventually, Carol tries to get Apollo in a choke hold-- hard to do in midair, but she tries anyway.

It's easy to transpose the Captain into every person who's ever taken a Government paycheck, who's ever voted for this sick establishment, who's ever waved a placard at an anti-meta rally. With every fiery punch and blast of solar energy Apollo manages to land on her he's thinking of Midnighter's broken mind, of Ben Solo trapped behind the mask of Kylo Ren, of every fellow metahuman who's been burned up by Project Helios. His superpowered blows are powered by more than just the sun; he's fuelled by rage and revenge for every injustice done to Apollo and his people.

And to the Captain too, perhaps. He considers that distantly, between the rage and the revenge, as she grapples him into a headlock. 'The Captain' is just as much a victim as any of them, not that Apollo's about to go easy on her. Quite the opposite. He doesn't need to breathe but perhaps she does; with her at his back he puts on a burst of energy, pushing them both higher and higher in the atmosphere, where the air gets increasingly thinner.

The air thinning out isn't a problem. She just engages the mask part of her suit, and a force shield deploys over her nose and mouth to keep breathable air in.

What is a problem is the altitude. Carol knows her nanites will begin to fail if they get to a certain height, and she'll plummet back down to Earth, allowing Apollo to get away. She can't let that happen. So, she pushes back against him, applying a downward force to slow their ascent. Two opposing forces, matched in strength... Which way will they go?

He feels it, that weird downwards pressure. Nothing in the world is able to stop Apollo in his tracks like that except another Apollo-level superhero; he struggles against that impossibly familiar power and for a moment - a long, torturous moment where the air is filled with solid pressure and blazing light - the two unstoppable forces cancel each other out and hang in mid-air like a star suspended in the sky.

Apollo can feel his power - those precious solar reserves - being sapped with every moment that they fight against each other, uselessly counteracting each other. He's tearing through his powerbank, burning all his solar fuel up just to be able to keep this consuming solar flare and all the upwards force he's so desperately trying to throw against the Captain's downwards force. The roar of light and flame around them is huge, all-encompassing, and Apollo has no idea how this is going to end --

Fuck it, something within him says. Give it everything you've got. Burn her up.

Apollo's power is vast but it's not limitless; he reaches down deep within, to the very fibres of his being, and throws absolutely everything into the blinding surge of solar energy that he sends her way. It's huge, the stuff of the Big Bang and world-eating exploding stars, propelling both of them apart with a primordial explosion of superheated sun-stuff and overexcited photons. It sends them both flying apart - falling like shooting stars across the sky, hurtling over each horizon.

It would inevitably come to this. There's only one person on this Earth who is an equal match for Carol's power, and that's Apollo. She had hoped she could overtake him, that his time in captivity would have weakened him to the point she could beat him easily.

No such luck.

As she feels him ramping up, she throws everything she has into a final blast of her own, which only serves to knock them each farther apart, and make her pass out from the effort as she falls. She lands in a smoking crater, somewhere in upstate New York, in more pain than she's felt in years. It'll be a while before she's able to pick herself back up and go after Apollo, giving him the time he needs to get away and hide somewhere she can't find him.

"Fuck!!" she yells, slamming her fist into the ground. This was one fight she really didn't want to lose.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[OPEN]

RESISTANCE NETWORK

un: Draak

un: roo

un: gmason

un: transit

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UN: Protector, recent addition

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GOVERNMENT NETWORK

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lmk if this ok

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