City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Weird War II (Story w/ Cameos)

ddgryphon

By ddgryphon,
Posted on: 2007-10-18 11:27 in Multi-Media Fan Creations

 

Posted

As always, feedback requested, wanted and enjoyed. I tried to get eveyrone who was interested from the original thread. Enjoy this "Elseworlds" version of the World War.

Alamagordo, New Mexico, United States.
December 11, 1941

"I am telling you Director James, we can't do it that way!"

"Prove it Doctor Slater! You are the brightest woman here when it comes to energy physics, which raises no small amount of brows when people begin to ask where you came upon such information," Director Kevin James snapped. Clenched his fists as he leaned over the old wooden desk. The single light in the room casting his face in shadow while the silver eagle on his lapel shone brighter.

"I told you Director, that information is classified even to you. I told you that when we got married 15 years ago and I will say it now. I can't tell you. You and the other so called scientists around here will just have to deal with that." The woman in the white lab coat yelled back as she slammed the door to the office behind her. Her black heels clacked on the tile floor, the acoustics of the concrete room making them sound even louder and angrier as she stalked towards the man behind the desk.

"Doctor, we do not have a choice. It's been 4 days and the numbers are stil coming in. They are at 900 dead now. 900 of OUR boys. If this can work, which you said it can, then one life, one sacrifice is worth it." He growled. "You knew when we met I would do anything for my country Lilith. You knew that when we had our daughters, you knew that when we signed onto this project together. Now that country is under attack and we need a new weapon. We are going to war with Japan and Germany. We will teach them that just because we have been quiet so far, we will not tolerate attacks on honest, hard working Americans on our soil!"

"You are insane. This isn't the man I married. You are honestly talking about putting one of our daughters into an explosion the likes of which this world has not seen before. There is a very real chance they would die!" She screamed back, tears ripping themselves from her eyes and down her pale cheeks.

"You told me, due to your own experiments on yourself before we met that our children would be special, more than human. You've been right so far, they have excelled at everything they have applied themselves at. Everything. Math, Science, Athletics. The only dissapointing one is Natalia, who is more interested in her Art than advancing herself scientifically."

"Kevin, it's a risk. A risk we shouldn't take, not with our own daughters. I can't let you do this. I won't let you do this. I am taking them away from you." She cried, her body shaking as she turned from him heading to the door. The distinct sound of a Colt M1911 having it's hammer pulled back sent a cold shiver down her spine as she stopped. Her voice changed it's timbre, resonating with the sound of two voices overlaying on one. "You know that will not kill me..."

"It doesn't have to," he said as he pulled the trigger. Kevin walked over the body and wiped the red droplets off his doorknob with a handkercheif. He glanced down impassively as she bled out on the floor and punched the intercom on the wall. "Security to the Directors office. We have a disposal to make, and bring my daughters to the surface. It's time."



------------------------------------------


"Daddy, what's going on?" The young Jessica said looking up at him with those large green eyes.

"It's a test Jessica." He replied, looking down at his two daughters, Natalia and Jessica. They were so alike yet so different. Both of them were in their physical prime, perhpas from being in a military family, then again perhaps it was something in this new fangled genetics people were talking about. Natalia's mind was as brilliant as her younger sisters, yet had more of a capacity for the arts and a tendency to lean towards wistfulness and flights of fancy. Her sister, though five years younger, was already the same height. Jessica was in short a prodigy. She had already corrected theories of that wild haired patent clerk and let him take the credit. She was a creature of science in a way few save their now late mother could comprehend. It would have pained him to sacrifice them in this way if he didn't believe it was for the good of his country. "Take care of your sister Natalia."

"I always do Sir." She replied quietly, her eyes narrowing as she began to piece together what was about to happen.

Kevin did not give them time to reply more or figure out what was going on any further as he got in the jeep and pulled away from the mock up house in the desert. He glanced to the town and the cut outs of people scattered about as the dust blew across them in the setting sun. He thought of that mess in Europe and what Japan had just done and knew this was the right thing to do.

------------------------------------------


"Nat, I'm scared. I want mom." The ten year old girl said looking at her sister as she sat on the ground of the fake house.

"I know Jessie, I know. I want her too, I just don't think she will be coming this time." The older girl said as she held her sister closing brushing her hair as much for Jessica's comfort as her own. Jessie was sniffling as a loud, ear piercing siren began to wail, vibrating the windows of the plankboard house.

"Thats an air raid siren Nat....we are on a bombing range." Jessica said with a big sniffle. Looking up into her sisters eyes again. A moment of clarity and certainty in her eyes as her mind put it all together. The two sisters met each others eyes as tears burned them, their bodies quivering with fear.


"I love you sister." They said in unison as a white light flashed above them.

Then...nothing.

------------------------------------------------


"Well what do you see?" The man demanded from inside the bunker. The ground trembling around him, coating his hat and shoulders in dust.

"I I don't know sir. Something that shouldn't be possible." The scientist stammered as he brought the binoculars up again. The mushroom cloud was amazing, they had never seen anything of its scale or devastation, but he was less amazed by it and more so by the womanly figure cast in silhouette by the light of the explosion. Her feet were not touching the ground yet she was walking away from ground zero was if the heat, the compression wave and radiation meant nothing. A pinkish blue glow was the only light from inside the shape, coming from where it's eyes would be. He shuddered involuntarily as it continued a very purposeful stride towards the base.

"What do you mean you don't know?" The director demanded. "Tell me what the sam hell you see!"

"A woman sir...maybe 200 yards out now. Moving fast and determined right for us; and sir she looks pissed off."

For the first time in his life, Kevin felt the cold stab of fear. The glow from the eyes was close enough to illuminate the bunker now as the woman thing simply stepped through the wall. He stared in a mixture of fear and awe as the wraith like thing floated before him. Guards drew their weapons and leveled them at the woman.

She cast an idle glance to the guns as they exploded in the soldiers hands in a flash of bluish pink energy. She then turned her eyes to Kevin James, "We are Plasma Stream, and we are here for a reckoning Father."


-----------------------------------------------

"Mister President. She's here to see you."

"Thank you. Where?" The older man replied as he was pushed down the hall in his wheel chair.

"The secret service is guarding her in your office sir." The man replied with a touch of fear.

"Tell them to stand down. After that mess at Trinity, we know it won't do any good. I would rather not make her angry either. Did they ever find all the bodies?"

"No sir. The entire base is gone. There have been no bodies recovered."

The older man sighed. "Very well, let's hope we can convince her to help."

"Yes sir."

-------------------------------------------------

January 1, 1942

"The United States is proud to announce to the world, and to the Axis their days are numbered! We present you, the International Elite!" The President of the United States bellowed into the microphone. Flashbulbs ignited at the figures standing behind him as he called off their names.

"Plasma Stream, the Mistress of Energy!" She floated forward glowing pink eyes staring at the reporters as her pink and white energy streamers that made up her hair hovered in the air behind her. She was now clad in a red white and blue body suit with the new symbol for atomic energy cast upon her chest. She had been asked to show off, internally Natalia was up for it as was Jessica. They had no problems helping their country. Their father however, had paid the price for his treachery and the murder of their mother. She lifted her hands a flare of energy exploding above her, shaping it in the form of the american flag before letting it fade away. She hovered back to the others, giving a nod to allow the next to step forward.

"Based on the designs of the brilliant Doctor Nikola Tesla, responsible for our true understanding of electricity, I present, The startling Red Shock!" He stepped forward a touch nervous as he looked to the assembled reporters, a glance back to the team leader and he smiled a bit and lifted his hands arcing lightning between them from his gauntlets. He then bowed and returned to the team with a nod of approval from Plasma Stream.

"Prime Minister Churchill has presented us with The Irish Sentinel." He stood forward, a slight scowl on his face. His blonde hair had been combed back and slicked down with hair gel. The Green and white stood in stark contrast to Red Shocks yellow and red and the red white and blue of Plasma. He took a slight bow and returned to the others, the shine of his invulnerable skin reflecting in the flashbulbs of the reporters.

"A darling of the American south, Silver Belle!" the president cheered to a favorite amongst the reporters. She was young and beautiful. Her silver and black costume accentuated her body. Her smile was brighter than the lights in the room as she waved like some starlette on the red carpet in Hollywoodland. She returned to her team without showing off knowing all they really wanted was to see her.

"He may be as mysterious as his name is amusing, but when he faces our enemies in Europe, they will fear Turkey Lurkey!" The figure stepped forward in his mask, the cape flowing helping to obscure some of his form. He quietly bowed, then returned to the group. A gloved hand brushing the orange fins ontop of his brown suit.

"The Red star, a Defector from the horrors of the allies of our enemies, russia, comes Soviette!" The blonde woman stepped forward with the grace of a ballet dancer and then exploded into motion flying into the air to salute her new American flag and the people she had defected from Mother Russia to protect. Her Black, gold and red costume glinting as she caught bits of spotlight before flying back down to the group. Reporters stood in awe of her speed barely able to take pictures.

"And finally, and certainly not least. He who is to lead the charge for our International Elite, a creation from science and fiction, a machine beyond imagining, he who will face our enemies tanks and laugh. The Warface." The ground trembled as much as the people in the audience. One woman even screamed as the floor back wall opened up to reveal the cyborg creation of a mad scientist. It strode forward, steam hissing from its joints. The skull face and hollow eyes staring at everyone as it lifted its arms and showed the massive guns attached to it. The crowd stood in awe and fear at the creation until the rest of the team announced stood by it.

"I give you all.....the International Elite!" the president concluded with a roar of applause.


And somewhere in Germany...men trembled.

@PlasmaStream
"Big Bada Boom(tm)!"
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Niska: Are you Familiar with the works of Shan Yu?

 

Posted

Great story so far. I look forward to reading the rest.

"It's hard for you to be yourself, if you don't know who you really are."


 

Posted

HI PLAAAAS. *waves like a dork*

I love Elseworlds. This is a really fun concept, and I hope you continue to run with it - and maybe some other folks decide to do the same. I love the setting and the tone - you captured a pretty "golden age" vibe, particularly with the dialog. WELL PLAYED.

The writing is technically pretty good, though it feels a little disjointed and hard to track in some places - dialogue without the speakers being identified, mostly -and there are some minor grammatical snafus, but nothing another pass-over from an editor couldn't fix. Editing my own work is HARD - I read everything as I intended it to be, not as it is - so it's absolutely forgivable.

 

Posted

Hi Daaaaaaaaaaaart!!!!

Glad you liked

Thanks for the feedback. I can see where I didnt identify speakers by name it can be a problem, part of that was an intentional thing to leave it open as to WHOM was president at that time. I hint Roosevelt, but it could be anyone depending on if there are future stories or one shots like this one.

Thanks for the feedback though and I am glad you liked it!!


PS. Grammar is my enemy.

Warface - I looked at the pics, looked at the bio. and there was no other way in my head I could write him. I kinda had the ABC robot from Judge Dredd in my head thinking of how he would move in 1940s tech.


Draco: this is a one shot just to throw an idea out of Weird War II Elseworlds for characters who may not have ever been there, but in this world this was their origin. Our worlds plasma wasnt created until May 23, 2002 =).

Glad you liked. and who knows if you guys want, maybe there will be more. A Halloween special mayhaps?

@PlasmaStream
"Big Bada Boom(tm)!"
1295 Badges
http://GuardianForce.Guildportal.com - Virtue
Niska: Are you Familiar with the works of Shan Yu?

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Warface - I looked at the pics, looked at the bio. and there was no other way in my head I could write him. I kinda had the ABC robot from Judge Dredd in my head thinking of how he would move in 1940s tech.

[/ QUOTE ] No you nailed him. Especially if you are looking at an older version of technology. You write well though, made it sound nice and creepy.

Love to see Halloween storyline.

View the story of W.A.R.F.A.C.E. and Septimus Bane here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6785073/1/Meus_Profiteor#
my email chrismfears99@yahoo.com

 

Posted

Yay!

Like Dart said, you captured the vibe of the old Invader type storyies realy well. Your descriptive prose is great, I'm envious. I'm more of a dialogue guy, but can't describe worth crap.

Sign me up as another one who wants more!

And I really want to see a group "photo" of the International Elite.... =)


TL

 

Posted

I agree with everyone. The story is nicely laid out and fun to read. (though it reads like a sketch more than a complete story--which is pretty much what you're calling it: an idea for an elseworlds story--but description flows well and dialog is very smooth.

Loved having Red in it too. It is fun to watch someone else write your character.

Most of us don't get that joy.

 

Posted

While Dart wasn't in the story, I may have to draw him in the setting anyway.

Or, well, a Dart. The original Dart (YAY LEGACY HERO) was circa WWII... and I have a design fluttering into my brainmeats! *scrambles for sketchbook*

WATCH THIS SPACE!

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Draco: this is a one shot just to throw an idea out of Weird War II Elseworlds for characters who may not have ever been there, but in this world this was their origin. Our worlds plasma wasnt created until May 23, 2002 =).

Glad you liked. and who knows if you guys want, maybe there will be more. A Halloween special mayhaps?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm all for that. And this time, if it happens, I'll submit a character for it. I love Elseworlds-type stories and settings.

"It's hard for you to be yourself, if you don't know who you really are."


 

Posted

I'm only saying this to be helpful, so please don't take offense, but your opening is almost screamingly hilarious.

[ QUOTE ]
"I am telling you Director James, we can't do it that way!"

"Prove it Doctor Slater! You are the brightest woman here when it comes to energy physics, which raises no small amount of brows when people begin to ask where you came upon such information," Director Kevin James snapped.

"I told you Director, that information is classified even to you. I told you that when we got married 15 years ago and I will say it now. I can't tell you.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is what writers call "expositioning," where someone will cram way too much backstory and explanation into the dialogue. Reveal your characters and story as if you're peeling an onion. Show, don't tell.

How not to do it:

"Hey, little brother, are you feeling better now that you're over your affair with your cancer doctor, who happens to be my best friend?"

"I sure am, big sis, although I do still feel bad about mom and dad dying in that train wreck when we were kids and you had to turn tricks to keep food on the table."

"Now that I'm a famous doctor with a rock'n'roll boyfriend with committment issues, that's all behind us."

"That's so true! So how's that being 3 inches shorter than me working out for you?"

"It sure is funny referring to you as my little brother!"

"Ha ha!"

The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I'm only saying this to be helpful, so please don't take offense, but your opening is almost screamingly hilarious.

[/ QUOTE ]

No offense taken, feedback appreciated.

@PlasmaStream
"Big Bada Boom(tm)!"
1295 Badges
http://GuardianForce.Guildportal.com - Virtue
Niska: Are you Familiar with the works of Shan Yu?

 

Posted

Still watching this space?

Gooood. Goooood.

He beat up Errol Flynn for the facial hair. Don't tell anybody, though, it's being kept very hush-hush.

 

Posted

WWII-era alternate universes are a sekrit luv of mine. You ever play Crimson Skies, Plas?

 

Posted

Love the story, PlasmaStream! Especially "We are Plasma Stream"...brilliant.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
WWII-era alternate universes are a sekrit luv of mine. You ever play Crimson Skies, Plas?

[/ QUOTE ]

Newp. Friends who did. I just enjoy 'war fiction'. I can't fight but I sure do like making good soldiers big heroes in my writing.

@PlasmaStream
"Big Bada Boom(tm)!"
1295 Badges
http://GuardianForce.Guildportal.com - Virtue
Niska: Are you Familiar with the works of Shan Yu?

 

Posted

Oh, man, you should give it a spin sometime. I think it would give you plotbunnies.

I need to dig out my copy of the PC game. The gameplay is wonderful and all, but it's really the characters' banter that make my love for that game undying.

 

Posted

this thread looks familiar...

 

Posted

Mmmm.... very "Turtledove alternate history fiction meets swashbucklery goodness".


"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."

 

Posted

I don't know... I'm not a fan of Turtledove, but I genuinely enjoyed this. =^_^=b Good work and a hearty, 'Can't wait for more.'

=. .=