ANTARCTIC CIRCLE - JUNE EVENT

[metamods]

ANTARCTIC CIRCLE

Monsters are nothing new to this world. While they were thought to be nothing more than legend in the pre-confluence days, the first modern kaijuu attack was recorded in 1954.

Everything people knew to be true was challanged time and time again, but it has been decades since a threat showed itself. The Guild System has kept things manageable, peaceful even. It has afforded metahumans a sense of peace and a place of belonging in a world that once viewed them as disruptive and dangerous.

And so when the reports begin trickling in about a threat manifesting at the South Pole, the senior most members of both guilds head out under cover of night. They're certain they can deal with this quickly and quietly, without placing the burden on the new metas who never asked to be brought to this world.

But when they return at dawn, battered, broken and near dead - the decision is pulled from their hands. The usual theatrics of the guilds are pulled aside as the government officials muscle their way in, taking control of the Alliance command center. Within less than an hour the message is splashed across every screen, interrupting whatever people may have been doing prior.

EMERGENCY GODFALL PROTOCOLS ARE ACTIVE.

ALL ABLE BODIED METAHUMANS ARE EXPECTED TO REPORT INAT ALLIANCE HQ REGARDLESS OF ALLEGIANCE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THIS IS A COSMIC LEVEL THREAT.

WITHOUT INTERVENTION IT WILL BEGIN AT T-MINUS 72 HOURS.

STRATEGY MEETING—

You’ll find no one is forcing you to attend this strategy meeting… but most of the metahumans gathered here don’t appear to have any real power to speak of. Many of them are scared civilians. One can levitate rocks, another sneezes fire. All the major guild members are in critical condition, but most are expected to pull through.

They won’t say who isn’t.

The only person left in any kind of condition to help is Chaos Gate, who holds out her arm to display the reason why: one of the Sunset Falls blossoms has bonded to her. And though she’s singed and had been exposed to risky levels of cosmic radiation, the flower itself is fine. The intel the guild leaders brought back is enough to form a plan.

The entity is from another dimension, as is the flower. And so it stands to reason that people from other dimensions would be likewise immune. Even if they aren’t, upgrading existing anti-kaijuu weaponry is their best shot at stopping the threat in its tracks.

Any metahuman who is technologically inclined is called in to lend their skills to adapting the existing anti-kaijuu technology. This is your chance to shine if you’re not much of a fighter. You have twenty-four hours to get these machines ready for combat.

They give you the rundown of the technology that powers the robots. Multiple minds working in sync, meta-energies syncing up to replicate your existing power set on a massive scale. However, as they're powered by metahuman energy, doing this for an extended period of time will be incredibly draining, so it’s recommended for each robot to have a dedicated team of pilots to trade duties. At minimum, two people are required to operate each robot.

Additionally, memory-sharing is a known side-effect of this technology. It’s strongly recommended that no two pilots during active combat be from the same world - better still if you’re complete strangers - as its possible to completely lose yourself in these memories.

You can use this time to find partners or teams - and maybe stake a claim on the coolest-looking robot, if you feel like it.

MOVE OUT —

At dawn the following day, you’re sent off. Though the atmosphere is one of hope, Chaos Gate drops her usually flippant smile to lay down the facts: you may not come back alive.

But if you don’t go? Then everyone dies. The seers couldn’t say for sure whether you’ll succeed, but those that glimpsed futures where you never left at all made it clear what that led to.

Sync up with your fellow pilots and deploy yourselves, or jump into the med bot following behind. Feel the brush of another mind against yours and the power that comes from controlling an enormous steel giant. Take this time to experiment with the powers and abilities in the real robot, not the simulation you only had a few hours to train in.

ENGAGE —

There are five kaijuu in total. Their bodies roughly shaped like a tortoise, a dragon, a phoenix, and a tiger - with the final one an unknowable mass of flesh and tentacle, protected behind a barrier. Each of them measure roughly eight hundred feet, and are leaving massive damage in their wake. Scattered across the corners of the globe, they’re moving towards the South Pole where the largest beast lays in wait. The closer they are to this destination when you engage them, the more reality seems to be break and bend around them. Space and time are fragile here; there may be some odd effects, things like gravity and time rolling backwards. These creatures bleed cosmic radiation, so it’s recommended that you try to kill them as quickly and bloodlessly as possible. This may be difficult as while they’re in possession of breath attacks, they’re more keen to engage in hand-to-had combat.

Each of them is also spawning smaller copies of themselves, which seem to be moving towards the coastlines - towards major cities, specifically.

Those who believe themselves to be better suited to battling the monster directly can engage the kaijuu outside of their jaegers. But anyone exposed to their irradiated blood will catch a doubtless disorienting glimpse of infinity, and anyone who gets wounded is likely to fall into the ocean and be lost in the chaos. Do this at your own risk.

Those who aren’t piloting can also join medical or maintenance crews, which will be teleported out to any robot crews that require assistance.

Mercifully, once the four celestial beasts are slain - their ringleader seems to lose its power. The barrier that has been protecting it has fallen. And with no defenses of its own, it goes down easily. Reality returns to normal. And exhausted but victorious, you give the signal to be teleported back home.

You can sign up to strike a final blow here.

AFTERMATH—

It’s a brutal fight. Maybe not all of you made it back. Once the threat is clear, recovery teams are deployed to try to reclaim and revive any bodies lost in the surf.

Back at guild HQ, you’re welcomed back as heroes. The civilians are eager to know their new saviors - identifying yourself as such is sure to thrust you into the spotlight. Much of the fight has been live-streamed and so your great bravery or cowardice is public knowledge.

Deeper inside headquarters, blue-skinned representatives from the underwater nation of ATLANTIS are shouting at suited lawyers. The kaijuu blood in the water has made their home largely uninhabitable, and the combat has destroyed much of it. Are they going to get the same rescue that the surface world did? You’re welcome to volunteer to visit the rubble that was once their Antarctic settlement and rescue the seal-like selkies from the bloodied water.

IN SUMMARY...

• Giant monsters have appeared. Their mere presence is warping reality. Smaller clones of them are heading towards coastal cities.


• The heroes of this world are no match for it. The government has chosen to enact the Godfall Protocols Act, meaning all metahumans are expected to report in to stop a potential apocalypse. Not everyone has to go and pilot the robot, others can stay to defend the cities from any potential dangers.


• Player characters will be hopping in giant robots designed for two or more pilots. They can read each other's minds to operate in perfect sync. An unintended side-effect is memory sharing. You can get lost in these memories. Any action taken in memory will be replicated by the giant robot.


• After the defeat of these monsters, everyone is brought back to Guild HQ for a heroes welcome. You can sign up for your character delivering a final blow here.


• If you want your character to protest the Godfall Protocols and/or to try to disrupt anything going on, please report your actions here.
• The Atlantean people are begging for help as the robots have destroyed their Arctic cities and the blood in the water has harmed their selkie civilians. Player characters can go search for these selkies. Please report selkie rescues here.

Comments

[robintohood]

[The newest wave of memories leaves Jason almost nauseated. He still feels Robbie's guilt. The memory of the press conference should feel almost satisfying with the way Robbie is trying to continue with his life despite his traumas.

But then the Stamford memory kicked in and Jason understands now the full scale of the tragedy and horror. All those people, including all those kids, gone in a flash. But even amongst devastation, something about it doesn't click right for Jason. A part of his detective training kicks in and what he's heard about the Stamford Massacre versus what actually happened doesn't make sense. Robbie wasn't even the one who fought Nitro.

It makes sense from an emotional perspective that people would be furious at Robbie. He was there and was part of the fight. But to utterly loathe him, call him a baby killer, and to try to kill him doesn't make sense. How badly warped was the narrative until that press conference?

Seems like part of Robbie's guilt is survivor's guilt. Jason is deeply sympathetic to him. He's gone through so much injustice and is too hard on himself to say the least.

Then there's the assassination attempt. It's the most nauseating memory. As if things couldn't get worse for Robbie, that happens. People who were suppose to help him wanted to cover their own asses first]

You got used like a prop.

[Jason's voice is cold. He's angry on Robbie's behalf]

They took out a camera first.

[There's a flash of Jason's own memory kicking in. It's of his 15-year-old self in his Robin suit, sans mask. The suit's in perfect condition and he's sitting in front of the Bat-Computer. Bruce had been more tight-lipped than usual. All Jason knows is that Barbara, someone he's come to respect and love almost like an older sister, was shot by the Joker and she's now permanently paralyzed. He wants to know how the hell it happened and wants to take out the Joker the next time he and Bruce fight him. Barbara is one of the best people Jason knows and she's one of the best vigilantes. She needs justice.

After some searching on the computer, Jason finds the file and opens it. Upon seeing what was in it, Jason's horrified. The Joker had taken pictures of Barbara after he shot her in the spine. Every photo is of her crying in agony on the floor and bleeding out. Jason almost wants to cry.

In the present day, Jason's shaking in fury]

They didn't see you as a person. They only cared about themselves.

[an_extra_hour]

[He winces at the flashes.They're nauseating. It's too much.]

[That poor woman, and tied to the weird clown, too, the same one that -]

[The torn uniform, the sound of the crowbar hitting someone earlier -]

[But Jason's wrong. It's not the same.]

Look, I know there are parts that other people chose. A company called Damage Control was bankrolling Nitro and gave him the drug. They knew it would escalate to metas infighting over registration with the government and they'd get contracts to repair the damage.

And Nitro was perfectly fine with killing all those people and killing kids.

I know there are places where other people chose to do terrible things.

But at the end of the day, I'm still the one that rushed us in without a plan. That insisted we fight them for ratings. I'm the one that pushed my friends into still doing the show when they were barely interested.

All because I liked the attention.

Nothing can ever change that. All I can do now is try to be better.

[robintohood]

[Robbie's not wrong trying to be better. But still, it feels wrong for Robbie to be so hard on himself. He deserves better. Jason can't help himself when he speaks]

But it sounds like if it wasn't gonna be you guys then it would've been another team. None of you could've known what was going to happen, especially when that guy's powers weren't known to go up to that range before.

[an_extra_hour]

That. Doesn't. Matter.

Anytime you go into a situation against a supervillain you have to be ready for anything.

[Never mind that that's impossible to be that prepared.]

[He gives him a grateful look.]

Look, I understand what you're trying to do.

[And it's tremendously kind, especially coming from a near stranger.]

But it still is what it is.

[Still, this is...strange. This space where someone is trying to understand him and it's not one of his friends who love him no matter what. It's not someone that's already invested.]

[It's kindness coming from an unexpected place. It feels honest and not like someone just pitying him or being blind to his faults. He can't quite believe Jason's right but almost. Almost.]

[He's grateful for that kindness.]

We need to get our brains back in gear. The seers said we have to go fight. We still have to.

And... we should maybe still try to do it together. We've already seen the worst, right?

[robintohood]

[Right. The fight outside is why they're in here in the first place. They're supposed to help. They've been jumping into each other's memories for how long now?]

Technically, no. I still got some demons in me. You can probably guess some of them.

[Normally, Jason wouldn't be this blunt about his past but given where they are and after all the memories they've already shared, there's no point in lying now]

But constantly bouncing in and out like this can't be good for either of us. You're right. We have to go.

[an_extra_hour]

[ Robbie focuses. It helps that they're trying to do the same thing. ]

[ They come to, standing at their stations in the robot, the techs calling to them through the comms. They're bewildered. ]

["What happened? You were completely out of it, your sync rate was awful, and now it's stable."]

How long we were out of it?

["About five minutes."]

Just five?

["The time you perceive in a shared mindspace can seem to move faster than the outside world. Do you still want to try to do this? Especially with how it was in the beginning?"]

[Robbie looks over at Jason and gives a tiny nod.]

Yeah. The things that we were struggling with, we got over them.

[robintohood]

[Jason reaches to touch his mask. It's still in place. They're definitely back in the real world.

He then nods]

Yeah. We're feeling better now and ready to go.

[an_extra_hour]

[It's not an easy fight, no chance, no how. It's even harder by virtue of the fact that there are flashes of painful memories and emotions.]

[But shame is a hard thing to fight through, especially connected to someone else. So it helps that he knows he's not being judged. Maybe he doesn't understand it, maybe it's bewildering to him that Jason isn't doing it, but at least he doesn't have to fight the shame of someone else finding out, of them knowing. There's only the usual shame he feels for himself.]

[They fight well. Somehow. Two brains remember crash courses and practice simulations on the controls a lot better than one. And so much of it is normal movement, the normal throwing of fists. So there's two sets of experiences with fighting, too. Jason's got more training on that front (a lot more), and the magic sword thing is a very welcome bit of offense, but Robbie's instinctual way of controlling his channeled power, projected through the robot - sometimes creatively - covers their defense.]

[And there are two sets of will, dialed into the "never say die" setting. They've deal with neglect and rejection. They have powered through heart ache and loss and death - whether it was their own or those around them.]

[And here they are, drawing a line in the sand in front of a monster, one that says "there will be no children that die by fire today."]

[The collective heroes can't beat these creatures, though, just stall them until a way to defeat them is found, but Robbie and Jason manage to do it long enough that by the time the robot has taken too much damage for them to keep limping on, the cavalry makes it there for the next shift of monster-fighting.]

[The robot barely manages to limp away - though they have to be convinced to leave at all.]

[The ground control guy tells them, "Look, I know you guys feel the need to keep fighting but we need our giant robot to not get wrecked if we're going to have a chance of beating these things. It needs to be repairable. Besides, you should feel proud. We've been monitoring the monster's movements. You didn't give up any ground during your shift. Not an inch."]

[They get back. They get helped out of their power ranger suits. They hit the showers and are given workout clothes to recover in. Robbie jokes about whether or not they'll get the official t-shirt. There's a space there for pilots to recover comfortably. The strain of piloting is enormous, especially when conjoined at the brain. Physically, it's like running a marathon. They get food and rehydration and medics attenting to any boo boos. They were mostly insulated but still got knocked around in there.]

[Where he sits in his little recliner, eating off a tray and practically inhaling gatorade, Robbie has an ice pack on his ankle from when the robot took a blow at an odd angle and something snapped in his ankle harness, letting him roll it. They think it's a minor sprain.]

[He's quiet. He's not sure what to say. Doesn't want to pretend it didn't happen but it dipped into both their traumas, not just his. Maybe Jason will want to pretend it didn't happen, will want Robbie to avoid prying any farther.]

[robintohood]

[Adrenaline and their similar motives to survive and fight to protect people helped them stay focused during the battle. Compared to when they first connected, they were in much better sync. Still, there were moments when Jason couldn't tell what were his own feelings and what were Robbie's.

Both had gone through so much trauma. Both have had to adapt and create their own coping mechanisms from those traumas.

While Robbie felt shame for himself, Jason felt exposed, weak, and self-conscious from having shared many deeply personal memories with someone he only recently met. No one has ever gotten this deep of a look at Jason. Bruce knows him the best but even with him, Jason's made it a point not to let him know too much. No one needed to know his traumas and the effects they've had on him. He's always been a survivor and will continue to do so. He doesn't need anyone anymore.

Once he and Robbie returned to the base to recover, the adrenaline began to wear off and now the physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion came in. Jason was mostly quiet after they disembarked from their mecha, though he did dryly added to Robbie's comment that they should be getting a little more than just t-shirts after all this giant monster business is done.

After showering, getting changed, and getting medical attention, Jason's now sitting silently in a recliner next to Robbie. He's got his own tray of food and a large bottle of Gatorade. He's also pressing an ice pack onto a couple of mildly bruised ribs. Letting the monster get that close was worth it though as that move allowed Jason to land several deep stabs and slashes.

As much as Jason would like to pretend nothing happened so that he could move on, he can't forget what he just experienced. He's never been this exposed with someone before. Robbie knows things he's never told anyone before and vice versa. Jason's also aware at how confused Robbie is with him not judging him. Jason himself is wondering what Robbie's going to do with him now that he knows Jason's not above becoming a crime lord.

They might as well clear the air now and maybe figure out what to do next, if anything needed to be done at all.

After several long minutes of silence, Jason takes another large swig of Gatorade before finally speaking]

So now what?

[Jason knows it feels like such an inadequate question to ask but there's so much to unpack]

[an_extra_hour]

[Robbie breathes in deep. Out. Thinks hard. He doesn't look at Jason yet. Weird, how they'd been straight up attached at the brain and just worked through it, but now he's struggling to meet his eyes.]

[He looks around instead, makes sure no one's close enough to hear the conversation.]

Well. Technically, I didn't see anything that suggests you've put anyone's head in a duffel bag in this world, so technically I don't have any proof whatsoever that you've broken any laws here.

And I hope you keep it that way. I don't want to -

I don't want to have to fight you on something like that. Or...at all.

[How many people have looked at the ugliest sides of him and not turned away? And of those people, how many have keened on to just how broken he still is?]

[It's also easy to not want to pile on someone who's been through all Jason has. It's easy to wish instead they'll just eventually find their way out of the dark.]

[Robbie had, at least through the worst of it, through the part where he was hurting others. The part where he hurts himself, he's still working on, but at least he got away from the Thunderbolts.]

So, for now, I guess I don't tell anyone you're causing trouble or try to get you in any legal trouble unless you do something in this world I can't look away from. And you don't tell anyone about how tenuous my past relationship was with sanity and that I used to walk around in a creepy gimp suit with matching spiked thigh highs.

[He says it in a very cavalier way, in his usual joking tone, but it's a bit more forced than usual. Gotta cover up that embarrassment and shame by making it sound like a joke.]

[Jason's gotten a peek under the curtain, though, enough to understand how much Robbie covers things up with something else.]

People back home, most of them don't know. They know about the suit and that I was in it, but...

[He finally looks embarrassed, can't help but duck his head.]

They don't know how Hot Topic the inside got.

And while I told the people at the Alliance about Stamford and that I was...unwell, at one point [Is still, but he's not telling anyone, let alone the people paying his rent], if they find out the specifics they might not let me superhero. I know I could be unregistered but I don't -

[He finally looks up.]

I wouldn't really know what to do. How I'd get by. Back home, the way I supported myself is having a really rich friend and being fine with living in a superhero base.

[He has some basic life skills like cooking because in a home with two very flighty and sometimes absentee parents you learn to cook and do your own laundry, but jobs? Taxes? Hell, he's not sure he even has a valid photo ID back home now that he and Vance ditched their identicards. It just hasn't come up.]

[All he's got is the superhero thing.]

[In the Alliance, he's at least getting paid for the only thing he's good for, and he's not even actually good at it.]

[robintohood]

[Jason's quiet as he listens to Robbie. He's surprised by the offer. Any superhero would want to arrest him and ship him off to a maximum security prison after learning he's a violent vigilante with a considerable body count. Sure, Robbie also got an intense look at his traumas and it's very likely why the blond man's approaching him like this but Bruce knows about most of those traumas too. Jason knows it wouldn't take much for him and his adoptive father to be at each other's throats again.

But Robbie isn't like Bruce. Robbie's got his own traumas. He's being sympathetic and perhaps empathetic.

Jason looks back at Robbie]

I'm not going to change my ways just because we worked together this time.

[How can he? He tried the noble superhero route already when he was Robin. He tried to follow Bruce's rules. They don't work. So many people could've been saved had someone finally killed sociopathic monsters like the Joker. The justice system as it is now doesn't work.

Jason's aware that he doesn't need to be this blunt with Robbie now that they're not mindsharing anymore. But at this point, he might as well say this stuff out loud before Robbie wastes both of their times with another lecture if he catches him in the act again]

But I promise I won't tell anyone about the inside spikes or about the self-harm.

[It's the least Jason can do for him after everything they just went through and how Robbie has been treating him.

Jason understands the psychology of why people hurt themselves with drugs or self-cutting. They're coping mechanisms in response to mental and emotional issues. They're not freaks who should be shamed for doing those things. They need help instead. His mother needed help. Robbie clearly needed help and probably still does.

To use that piece of information against Robbie is a level of cruelty Jason can't condone or stoop to.]

And... thanks for today I guess. Didn't think we would work together like this.

[an_extra_hour]

[He knows things will probably come to a head, knows he might have to stop him but... that's a problem for another day. And maybe on that day he'll be open to why it's a bad idea, maybe Robbie can convince him to stop.]

[There's only so far you can push someone in one day and trying to do it when they're both so raw will probably just make Jason reject it even harder. He's stubborn, Robbie's figured out that much.]

You know, once we got past the crippling trauma and thinking the other was a supervillain for a hot second... we made a good team.

If you ever need a hand with something and it's not a thing where I'd have to fight with you on it...

[The guy has some self-control. He knows how to dial it back, like the first fight where they met and he dialed it down.]

[And on days like this where the enemy was a big terrible monster instead of a person, Robbie also knows there are times when it's right to cut loose, and he's capable of doing it.]

[robintohood]

[A corner of Jason's lips twitch in amusement. Maybe he's too tired to exercise his usual level of cynicism but teaming up with Robbie again doesn't sound like a bad idea. Of course, it depends on the situation too]

I might consider it as long as you keep your mouth shut, Bubbles. I'm picky with my dance partners.

[an_extra_hour]

Listen, Dark Helmet, your only power is that the Schwartz is with you. You know there are some places where I'd be handy, mouth or no mouth.

[robintohood]

[Jason barks out a laugh. He then winces slightly from his bruise. He remains very amused though]

My Schwartz was perfectly handy too. Not all of us can turn into giant handballs.