Can You Do It In The Dark?

[frenchkissed]

Who: Eddie Brock frenchkissed, Peter Parker tinglesense, and you!
What: Meddling kids lead to an entire city of people losing their powers.
When: Jul 20 — Jul 31
Where: Excelsior!
Content Warnings: Potential violence, identity issues
Opt-Out: Don’t be in Excelsior during this event!

CAN YOU DO IT IN THE DARK?

An investigation headed by Eddie Brock and Peter Parker results in not only a city-wide blackout, but hundreds of metahumans losing their powers!

In the days that follow, those affected by the blast will be forced to contend with what it means to exist without their powers. All the while, bad guys will be looking to take advantage of the situation and move in on vulnerable areas within Excelsior. People who are used to relying on their abilities will need to find new ways to fight back.

In the end, all powers are restored, but not without some hijinks along the way.

RUMOR MILL —

Everyone loves a good urban legend. There's the story of Bloody Mary, the vanishing hotel room, the one about the tall, slender man who dresses in a tuxedo, that story about the abandoned bunker beneath Excelsior that no one can get into, the one filled with untold riches and gold... Naturally, some stories are more far-fetched than others. Some die off as whispers in the night, while others get entire forums dedicated to them. Leave it to bored teens take it upon themselves to go urban exploring in the dead of night, or hokey paranormal YouTube reporters saying they've found the clue that everyone's been missing.

Maybe you even went poking around yourself, having caught wind of these rumors and wanting to see the land of legends for yourself.

Unfortunately, most hunts lead to dead ends and boring drives home. There's nothing to see, really. The bunker doesn't even exist. It's all just a thrilling goose chase to pass a boring evening.

...

But if it did exist, shouldn't something more practical than a mountain of gold lie inside? Eddie Brock seemed to think so.

If nothing else, these rumors sure are a conversation starter.

Stranger Than Fiction

Unsurprisingly, like most rumors, there's a hint of truth to this bunker of gold story. With Spider-Man's technomancy powers and Eddie's investigative prowess, the two are able to find the source of all these rumors. There's no untold riches, but there is a treasure trove of strange, old technology.

However, investigating this space quickly goes awry when Peter's technomancy accidentally brings something to life.

Upon being powered on, a machine rapidly begins draining the power from the city. One by one, skyscrapers flicker out, televisions go dark, refrigerators stop humming. The entire city is steadily plunged into darkness, silence. Like with most power outages, most wait for the lights to flick back to life. Here, there's no such luck. Waiting for things to right themselves won't yield any results.

Once that realization sets in, it might be best to help those who really need it. Beyond the crying, frightened children and the teens who can't bear to part with their computers, there are those for whom the darkness holds unseen terrors. Be there for those in need, for those afraid of the dark, for those who've gotten separated from their families and can't find their way back on their own.

No power also means no computer systems, which means no credit cards. And who carries cash these days? No, in times like this, it makes sense to go back to the old bartering system.

Someone on the street is hawking four flashlights and a can opener in exchange for some batteries. Someone else is looking for what he can get for two cans of tuna and a roll of dimes. Get in there and make a deal!

Or... you could get in with the good crowd and begin looting stores. But, no, you're heroes! You should stop the looters! Ignore that little voice telling you otherwise. Instead, join up with those organizing shelters for everyone and working to get people out of the city as quickly as possible.

I Don't Want To Be You...

Just as people are beginning to work through this city-wide blackout, the real trouble begins. Not long after this loss of power comes, well, a loss of powers. All the juice in the city has to be used to fuel up something. Instead of a super-mega death ray, or some other magnificent murder device, the machine in question sucks away superpowers.

Metahuman abilities, extraordinary talents, basically, anything that makes a metahuman different from their average human counterpart, is drained away and trapped within. Of all the devices for Spider-Man to stumble into...

How this power loss manifests varies from person to person.

A keen observer might notice the correlation between someone's emotional attachment to their powers and just how difficult it is for them to be taken away. Someone who has a strong connection to their powers, for example, might go through immense pain when it comes to losing them. On the other hand, someone who never wanted powers in the first place might not even realize they've lost their abilities until it's too late.

Like the power outage before it, simply waiting for your abilities to return to you won't be enough. Even if you leave the city premises, your powers won't return to you. For all intents and purposes, this is who you are now.

Punch, Kick, Bite... Fight!

What better time to contemplate your identity without your powers than in the face of danger? Ne'er-do-wellers exist in all shapes and sizes, and some take it upon themselves to take advantage of this chaos. While powers might have been the preferred method for taking care of trouble, knives, fists, and guns still work just fine. Hoodlums and robbers roam the streets, wielding all sorts of makeshift weapons. They'll corner anyone in an attempt to see what they can get.

Chief among these miscreants are Lola and the Gang, a once quiet gang of Pink Lady and Greaser-types armed with brass knuckles, switchblades, and cigarettes.

Chances are you'll smell their brand of smokes before you see them rolling up six deep and ready to brawl. Hand over everything you own and they'll leave you be, but put up any resistance and it's time to scrap.

Of course, you could try to talk your way out of this, but their patience for talking is small enough to flip your lid. So make like a tree, and get to fightin'.

Even if you don't encounter them, there's no telling what number of con artists, thieves, jokers, and jesters you'll encounter. Be sure to keep your wits about you!

Topsy-Turvy

With the recent spur of Confluences, more metas have made their home in this world than those who crafted this device had ever accounted for.

Eventually, both in part to a team of dedicated scientists and due to the device's own shortcomings, the device containing all of the powers in Excelsior will combust. Powers, neatly contained like orbs, are sent bursting through the sky on their hunt for their rightful owners.

These orbs, somehow, know where they're meant to go. They're far from sentient, but they know their homes and they know they're meant to be there.

Things rarely go as planned, however, and these power orbs are eager to get into anybody, or any body, they see. Once they're free, chances are you won't make it far without taking an orb straight to the chest. Within moments, the new power is absorbed into your body and, congrats, you're now capable of super sonic hearing! Or acid spit! Or the ability to have pockets that never get full! Who knows what you might end up with.

Along with the new dose of powers comes an image of their rightful owner, something that the orbs brings along with them—a mental portrait of someone you may or may not have met before. You could do the right thing and help these wayward powers get to the right person, or you can take your new abilities for a spin and try your hand at being a god for a day.

Be careful, however, because these powers won't stick around for long. They've got a home to get to! The last thing someone needs is to try out their new flight abilities only to lose them mid-air.

AFTERMATH —

With the device in shambles, power steadily returns to the city and, though it may take some time, all superpowers end up returning to the right people. There's no clear indication of who this technology belonged to or what its original purpose was, but surely Reddit, Facebook, and Conspiracy!YouTube will be in a tizzy trying to figure it out.

IN SUMMARY...

• Peter and Eddie stumble onto a device that wipes the city of its power and all metaheroes within it of their superhero abilities.


• During the blackout, gangs attempt to take hold of the city.


• Those who leave the city will not regain their powers, but those who enter the city will lose them. Eddie and Peter will also be asking for help from any mech-heads, scientists, tech specialists, and anyone else who might know how to turn off the machine.


• When the machine is destroyed, powers don't immediately go to their rightful owner. Characters might cycle through as many as ten different powers before their rightful abilities are returned to them.


• Ask any questions here!

Comments

[doctopoda]

[Otto chuckles and follows, moving on his actuators with his feet hanging only a couple of inches above the ground. It's a sign of how tired he actually is; walking that way is just easier, for all that he tries to avoid it.]

You're forming quite the collection.

[helpdesk_hero]

Yeah, I've been doing it for too many years.

[Once you have Josh as a roommate for any length of time, you get sorta... motherly.]

I should get little figures made as a collection of you all.

[doctopoda]

[Otto laughs.]

That sounds terrifying.

[helpdesk_hero]

Oh come on, I have fun with the little collections. There's so many knock off Meta products, and action-figures are big. I like getting the ones of my friends.

[doctopoda]

...they don't have any of me, do they?

[He doesn't feel like they would? It isn't as though he's done much public "hero" work, outside of helping during Confluences and with that whole kaijuu thing. But it's not as though he's ever thought to look.]

[helpdesk_hero]

Not that I've found yet, but when I do, you should know I'm getting one.

[They live in his personal lab at his apartment, cute little things on the shelves.]

I wonder what they'd get wrong. Too many appendages?

[doctopoda]

[Otto snorts.]

Stick a few more pairs on and call him Doctor Centipede.

[helpdesk_hero]

Doctapede.

[Let him laugh at his little joke.]

Put him in green and yellow too.

[Yes, he's going to reference the Doc Oc costume in his world]

[doctopoda]

[Otto groans - he sort of gets the reference?]

I've heard something about a jumpsuit?

[Not that he didn't have his moments - like the day he decided working around the actuators was too much trouble and abandoned shirts altogether - but it honestly never occurred to him to make a costume. Or even choose....theme colors???]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Oh no, he gets it. David felt bad for saying it now actually.]

Who told you? Peter? A Peter? Oh dear. I'm sure you'll avoid something that terrible. AND your hair is way better.

[doctopoda]

Squirrel Girl, as a matter of fact. She also mentioned the hair.

[Which is how he knows that is a low bar to clear! But yes, at least he doesn't have a bowl cut as a grown man.]

I've never been one for fashion myself, but why on earth?

[He dresses practically and gets what he thinks is a normal haircut. Looking that hideous sounds like a lot of effort, actually?]

[helpdesk_hero]

Oh! Yeah, she would talk about that I suppose. And the hair. Oh god, I thought I had more self-restraint than her, apparently I don't. Wait, you never tried to marry Peter's aunt, right?

[Because if so, that's another victory for Otto over the one from David's world.]

I don't know, people theme themselves back home. Hell, I even do it, but that comes from being a mutant. Mutants, we try to associate with each other. Symbols, color patterns, ways to know that we belong together.

[doctopoda]

What?

[Sorry, completely distracted by THAT BOMBSHELL!]

No! I never even met her, in my world! [He did, but he's likely never going to make the connection to that random old woman he snatched off the street.] What - isn't he a famous supervillain? Did he just grab her and carry her off like King Kong?

[THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE DID ACTUALLY. UP A SKYSCRAPER AND EVERYTHING. Really, he just doesn't understand a version of this where May could have possibly not recognized a man with robot tentacles.]

[helpdesk_hero]

I don't really know a lot of the details of it. But it's something that someone I knew knew so I know it. It's weird, my powers. But he wasn't always evil, like I said. He worked with the Thunderbolts.

[Which he supposed was something he'd have to explain at some point.]

[doctopoda]

......okay? [He can't. He can't believe you just told him that and now he has to live with it???] Well, no wonder he was so upset to see me.

[That world's Peter, that is. The obvious conclusion is that the other Otto, knowing Peter's identity, moved in on May to gain some kind of leverage - and that is a very off-putting thought. He shakes his head, trying to put it out of his mind.]

Who are the Thunderbolts?

[helpdesk_hero]

[Sorry Otto. David needed to learn not to say what comes to mind. But Otto's so comfortable to talk to!]

I mean, Otto's also one of his enemies. But he's not as bad as, say, Green Goblin. So you're really not that bad in the grand scheme.

[Still, he's got to figure out how to explain it. And, at last he thinks he's got it.]

So there is this governmental organization in my world called SHIELD. They're... Well, if the FBI was focused on future tech and super heroes. They're not always great. But they made this program to help reform people who were villains. They were called the Thunderbolts. Hawkeye worked with them for a while. And Songbird. And yeah, Doc Oc. They tried to, you know, do good. Prove they had changed.

[doctopoda]

[Sure, they're enemies. But Otto was enemies with his Spider-Man. With two of them, even. Both have always been kind to him anyway, much more so than he really deserved. So he did have to wonder what the other Otto must have done, to finally exhaust that store of mercy.

He listens to the explanation with interest. This may be the first thing he's heard about his double that he can actually imagine himself doing. It's not altogether different from what he's doing now.]

What happened?

[Though, if they were both striving for change once - it sounds like his counterpart failed. He has to wonder what that means for him now.]

[helpdesk_hero]

I honestly don't know. The Thunderbolts are successful, and have a new slew of workers there. But I don't keep up as much with our Otto. I'm at the mercy of those who actually did the research, and that knowledge tapers off a bit after that.

[doctopoda]

Hm.

[That's a little disappointing, but fair enough - he hardly expects everyone to keep up with all of his double's latest exploits. Peter might know...but Otto doesn't want to bother him with it. They don't really have any contact; it'll probably be a while before he realizes it, when that Peter vanishes.

But the concept of the other Otto not always having been that way - that he'd even tried to do better once - it does bring up some concerns of Otto's own. They're always present, really; he just tries not to think about it most of the time. The fact that the new chip, however durable the little thing may be, is really the only thing standing between him and that same regression.]

...I'm only curious, but do you happen to know what happened in the first place, with him and these?

[He waves an actuator. From what he understands, it was a similar accident. Mostly, he wants to know if David already has some knowledge of the inhibitor chip.]

[helpdesk_hero]

No. That seems to be a secret to the general populous. And since I've never been in his presence myself, I can't be certain what happened.

[He could talk about SOME people, but all he has about Otto is hearsay. And that much he doesn't want to give.]

[doctopoda]

[Otto nods. An actuator peers around the room. It's a tad bit crowded...]

Remind me, some other time. I'll tell you what happened to me. It might be good for you to know.

[If anything ever were to go wrong...well, of course he hopes it never comes to that, but a technopath could probably take him out pretty easily.]

[helpdesk_hero]

Alright. I'll keep that in mind. And for now we'll get you some food.

[Speaking of, here they are, turning into the room where they were feeding people.]

Here, we should have some stew and fry bread ready.

[doctopoda]

[Otto nods. On to lighter topics! Like, thank god, food.]

That sounds wonderful. I've been living half off protein bars.

[And he sort of thinks there's a caloric cost to the entire actuator situation, though he doesn't say so.]

[helpdesk_hero]

A lot of people have. Hold on.

[He pulls the man toward the food, and soon is serving out a heaping bowl and extra fry bread. It should be okay to give the guy a bit more. David will just skip his own meal.]

[doctopoda]

[Otto accepts, though he does ask:]

Aren't you eating?