Super/Heroic

8/13/2019 Super/Heroic

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Super/Heroic


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I

Only Nixon could go

to China


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Things began to fall apart long before this pointbut this point is where things begin

for this story:

Andrew Nova1had lived on more planets, now, than he could count if you assumed that

planets include any solid object orbiting the Sun and capable of maintaining permanent

(or semi-permanent) habitations. All those planets and none anything like this first one,

the one which saw his birth, the one which had fierce thunderstorms like this that rolled

across the Great Plains of the second-largest continent, rolledbeing a misused word: yes,

the clouds rolled and tumbled over each other, sometimes visibly so, nature in stop-motion

even in real life, but there was nothing gentle about that. The rollingassociated with hills,

or perhaps childs play, was not the rolling of a thunderstorm. A better word was

stampede: like the bison that used to roam these same flatlands, the thunderstorms

trampled everything before them in a rush to pummel, to dominate, to wipe clean.

1Andrew Nova: Andrew was an astronaut who began flying space missions when

NASA was recommissioned after 25 years in shutdown status. Advances in

communications and fuel systems made interplanetary travel possible by then,

and Andrew flew the Venus Route, a rather pedestrian mission that called on

him to spend three months aboard a spaceship that was boosted in the general

direction of the Venus Orbital Line, to drift towards oncoming asteroids that

had been geosynched into the Venus orbit in order to help thaw them and free

up valuable minerals for mining. Once he intersected them, Andrew would load

up whatever minerals, gasses, and other materials had been mined from an

object before moving to the next. When his ship was full, he erected the

solar sail and used the solar wind to fly back to Earth.

Status: Semi-super. Andrews exposure to radiation from poorly-shielded

cargoholds led to mutations in his genes that resulted in his skin having the

consistency of leather difficult, but not impossible to pierce. Andrews

time spent in weightlessness resulted in a loss of bone mass but his

dedication to exercise means that while his bones are very brittle, his

muscle mass is phenomenal and he has the ability to leap as though he is in

gravity roughly equivalent to Earths former moon. Andrew also is an

tinkerer/inventor. He holds 552 patents, and it is unclear how many of those

objects he has built. 3 of his patents were seized and declared confidential

by the military upon filing, and he was prohibited by executive order from

discussing them or building even prototypes. After the third was seized,

Andrew never filed another patent application. It was learned that he

continued making items, though.

Objects: Andrew has a jetpack that works on ion charge, converting deuterium

into phaseshifted atoms that act as propellant while being physically absent

from this continuum, much the way dark energy exists. He has a ray gun

(the term is believed to be ironic) that uses a similar but as-yet-unknown

technology and which has demonstrated the capability of melting steel.

Determination: Detain/convert.


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He fell, his tired feet unable to miss the tiny irregularities in the cold-packed field:

no snow yet, not yet, but the ground hard as rock anyway, little pothole divots not visible

from far away, but up close they caused him to trip, stumble, turn his ankle, roll onto his

back where his jetpack used to be, until it was taken from him by the men in helicopters.

He wondered why he ever felt he could run from the helicopters, anyway?

The ones hovering over him, right now.

Thosehelicopters.

He hoped the storm rol stampeded in faster than expected and they crashed.

And, time for one more question. Jay, you. Youve got it.

Tom, will the President sign S-224?

Hes indicated his support

But will he sign it?

In the past the President has always supported anything that helps guarantee the safety

of

But will he sign it?

Tom did not rub his nose with his fingers, grimace, frown, wrinkle his brow, or pound his

fist into the podium as a surrogate for Jays fat, probably-alcoholic face. Tom prided

himself on being apro. He kept the same blandly impassive face as he gave another

blandly impassive answer.

As I said, Tom, the President is in favor of making sure Americans remain safe, and one

of the possible ways to guarantee that safety is to


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Will he sign it, Jay? Just sayyes or no. Not Toms voice: a differentreporter now

speaking up; when Jay looked he saw the telltale glint in the womans eye that indicated

her feed was live.

10 Amazing Things That Happened

Before You Read This:

1. The State Of Californiadeclared bankruptcy and was

dissolved into three

administrative districts. By

permission of Congress in

special session, the NorthernDistrict of California was

absorbed by Oregon.

2. The first wifi-connected/voice-activated contact lens was

created and then became

obsolete.

3. Oil ran out.4. Most of South American

formed a loose confederacy

governed by a triumvirate.

5. Elephants went extinct.6. A giant field of solar panels was

erected over 90% of North

Dakota. 227 people are

employed as sweepers, brushing

snow off of them in the winter

to keep them working properly.

7. A corporation ran forpresident. It got 23% of the

popular vote.

8. The United Nations contractedwith the American military toprovide peacekeeping services.

9. Regular signals were receivedfrom the direction of a little-

researched constellation; the

signals, when decoded, turned

out to be a Morse Code

rendition of the Declaration of

Independence.

10.That same solar system is nowtransmitting Das Kapitalin

binary code. Scientists are

concerned.

Posted by Hemingway Poe, 1:11, tags: amazing government history funny

That was why Jay maintained his professional demeanor: because everyone might well

see this.

Im certain that the President will give every consideration to the bill and make the right

choice for his country and the people he protects, Jay said.

A clamor was cut off by the sound of a muffled explosion outside.


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Ifyoull excuse me, Jay said, It sounds as though the protests have gotten worse

outside and Im being told that we have to help you all with secured exits. Through the

yellow door, please, thats the end of todays briefing.

Jay watched as the reporters grumbled and flicked fingers over tiny display screens or

pressed them against a tattoo on their hand or (for some of the younger ones) their

cheek or side of their neck, subvocalizing reports or concluding remarks, all while two

business-suited men helped them through the Yellow Door, the security passageway

used to get reporters at least mile from the White House.

Once they were all gone Jay activated his own telecom and asked, without moving his

lips, How bad is it?

See for yourself and he was then:

Signs:

My Information

Is

MY

Information

The Only DataYou Can

Have Is This, with a picture

of some actor from an old

TV series

Privacy

Isnt

Public, and

Whatever happened

To the

Individual?

And others like that

I dont care about the signs, he said.

Faces

An old man, wearing a

military uniform, the

badge-stamps indicating

service in Mexico, Japan,

and Iraq

Two boys, really, could they

be 18, getting stoned.

A young pretty college girl

with a tattoo on her

forehead, probably a

transmitter.

A businessman? Two fat women holding up

a banner, one with a cup of

coffee in her handA man with sunglasses on,

and graying hair, hunched

near the middle of the

pack?

There was Steve, doing his

job. Steve smiled at Jay as

he realized they were

connecting.

Another pretty girl; why

were all the pretty girls so

committed to things they

couldnt win?


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Steve: the businessman or sunglasses?

His viewpoint shifted, and Steve let him seethru, first the businessman.

No.

Then sunglasses.

Jay was walking through the blue door now, back into the underground

communications center. He nodded at the guards and at the Vice President as he sat

down at the desk.

Get closer he told Steve.

Closer up, Jay focused on trying to see the mans face, but the target kept himself

angled so that it was difficult to get more than a glimpse. Jay instead zoomed on themans coat, which he saw had been stitched and restitched over and over.

Thats Titan2he told Steve.

You sure?

No.

2Titan: Real name unknown, aliases listed in Appendix, they change frequently

so not worth updating maybe. Titan first appeared roughly 13 years ago, inMilwaukee. Little is known about the man himself, but much has been captured

on video about the monster. It is seen on average 2-4 times per year, and

most often seems confused but semi-helpful. These pictures[1x] show crowd

images captured by remote surveillance and/or closesats in the instant prior

to Titan appearing and these four men [2x] are believed to be the man who

becomes Titan.

Status: Beyond Super. Titans size ranges from roughly 1.5x normal human to

as large as 4x, with variations being based on criteria that are as yet

unknown to us. Titan is sometimes normally pigmented but has also appeared

in a blood-red hue, again, seemingly random, but more often than not, red

hues correspond with larger size and greater power. Titan is bulletproof and

laserproof and the strength appears to increase at the square of the square

of his size (e.g. if he is 1.5x normal human size, his strength is estimatedat 1.5squared, squared, and so on.) Titan has never demonstrated cooperation

for any significant time but has helped children and sometimes adults during

attacks/crises. Twice at least Titan has attacked government property; other

attacks are suspected but closesat and other surveils were unable to obtain

confirmation.

Objects: None.

Determination: Terminate.


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The code went out, and the crowd already dispersing after the concussion grenades

that had been detonated had made their ears ring and made the people closest to them

physically ill those poor saps, covered in vomit, would be taken to the nearby Naval

hospital was further infiltrated by young men and women who, underneath their

sweatshirts and jeans, had FlexArmor and wristrockets, and who were linked to four

different views of the crowd beyond simply their eyes.

Jay watched now on the terminal on the desk, giving his chip a rest, as the seven

different views from the operatives he was focusing on showed varying degrees of

confusion, noise, marijuana smoke, signs being rolled up or tucked under arms, traffic

beginning to move, and the man in the sunglasses nearly knocking over several people

as he abruptly turned and began moving quickly towards the White House gates.

The move was unexpected, and Jay realized (flicking through the views of the 13 peoplesent out to get Titan) that none of them were between the gates and the man himself

probably because it wasso unexpected that he would head in that direction, from where

there was no escape.

He did not need to tell anyone to take precautions, because they were doing that. He

saw out of the periphery of his vision the Vice President whispering into his own

telecom.

On the screen, in fragmented views of picture-in-picture, Titan Jay was sure it was

Titan, now, based on no better evidence but just an increasingly-certain hunch moved

away from each of the views, and those operatives became more aggressive in their

efforts to reach Titan.

Across from Jay, the XO of security on duty stood over the soldier tasked with defending

the date remotely. Jay watched them as he watched the screen.

Were they going to fire?

Would it work?

On the screens, the man in sunglasses was getting closed in on, and he couldnt reach

the gates it seemed, before at least one or two of the operatives got to him. The man

Titan, it had to be grew more frantic now, tripping over people and stumbling into

them and then his sunglasses fell off as one of the pretty college girls so concerned with

a fight they could not win yelled at him to watch where he was going and then an


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operative was right next to Titan, had a hand on his arm, and Jay smiled, and then the

man in sunglasses was gone and

Jesus

Did you see

Too fast to really know how it happened

Ohmygod

ARRRGGHGHGHGHGH

The last from the operative who had been standing next to the man in sunglasses, a

man who had suddenly been replaced by possibly the largest iteration of Titan ever

seen, and the behemoth a deep crimson, Jay noted was raging around, arms wiping

clean a circle of bystanders some of whom were smashed into by fists nearly half-as-big

as a person, and the operative that had been closest shut down her feed.

A nod from the XO.

On the screen, Jay saw small dots over Titans shoulder. He watched in fascination as

Titan loomed larger and larger on one of the feeds, the blandly-square face contorted

by anger as its giant mouth howled incoherently, the wrist rockets from this probably-

doomed operative exploding without any seeming effect on Titans skin.

A second feed down.

On a third one, explosions crumpled dirt and grass and a bush into the air and sent

people flying, probably-just-bodies falling like rag dolls on the impact and all the

remaining feeds going dark for a second with debris before clearing and moving in

quickly on the now-prone body of the man in sunglasses.

Got you, you bastard, Jaysaid.

TODAY IN GOVERNMENT: President Cromwell signed S- 224, the bill recently

passed by both houses of Congress, not that that is a necessity anyone paysattention to anymore, so now your relay/reviews are going to be monitored by the

government anytime they want. The President emphasized that this move is, in his

mind, designed to carefully balance the needs of the public and the private. How

you can balance the public and the private when youve just made it possible for


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any number of unknown individuals to tap into anyones thoughts and feeds at any

time is beyond me.

Dont tell me either that people dont need to get relay/reviews because

while we all still use screens everyone knows that you cant really do much ofanything without a relay/review and practically every employer requires them now,

too, so its no use to say you can have privacy just by not having something that

everyone pretty much has to have.

Whats really sad about this is that Cromwell himself should know how bad

this thing is. He was the head of the ACLU for Gods sake and he made his name

suing over stuff like this? Does anyoneremember that? DOES HE? Am I the only

one who still cares about ACLU ex rel United States Senate v. Fourteen Servers of

Anonymous Ownership? THIS SAME PRESIDENT who once fought so hard for theright of people to maintain records on a computer server without putting their

name on those records now just said Ok well let the CIA tap into your very

thoughts but only with review by the executive branch first.

And it isthoughts. Im certain relay/reviews can convey thoughts.

Posted by Hemingway Poe, 14:22, 3/6. Tags:privacyCromwell S-224 government

Andrew raised his hands over his head. The helicopters landed only about 30 feet fromhim.

One of the men got off the helicopter began shouting something; Andrew couldnt hear it

over the wind, the helicopters, and the ever-growing crackles of lightning and thunder that

now surrounded them. The first few cold raindrops were pelting down around them. He

shook his head, pointed to his ear.

The man, approaching, nodded, and pointed to his throat, where a small symbol was

tattooed.

Andrew shook his head.

The man nodded again, and held his hands out carefully in front of him, a gesture of

nonhostility. Andrew let him approach to within 10 feet before holding up his own hand,

a gesture of stop.


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The man nodded again.

WE DONT WANT TO HURT YOU! he shouted over the tumult.

The rain was growing stronger.

I DONT WANT TO GO WITH YOU! Andrew shouted back.

IM AFRAID WE ARENT ASKING YOU, the man said.

I JUST WANT TO GO BACK TO SPACE, Andrew shouted. THIS ISNT MY FIGHT. THIS

ISNT EVEN REALLY MY PLANET ANYMORE, he added after a second.

The man took one more step forward, and Andrew shook his head, hoping the menace

showed through.

The man stopped. He held his hands towards Andrew, palms out.

PUT THOSE DOWN, Andrew said.

The man shook his head again, almost sadly.

Im afraid, he said, in a voice Andrew could not have heard, That weve run out of

options.

Andrew didnt, in fact, hear him, but knew the score anyway, and Andrew raised an arm,

hoping that the latest thing hed come up with worked as it promised too, but he was

nowhere near fast enough. Two greenish beams of power shot from the helicopter-

mans eyes, striking Andrew in the chest, and paralyzing him.

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Super/Heroic