ic Christmas on Mars (IC)

[Ari]

GM

 

December 24th, 9.30PM, 2024, Christmas Eve

Emerald City, OR, Emerald Tower, Christmas Complex

 

As it had for many thousands of years, a gentle, steady rain fell onto the mist-shrouded shore. Where once it had fallen only on rocks and trees, then glorious techno-sorcerous towers, then rocks and trees again with some humble wooden longhouses and skin tents, it now fell on two vast and dazzling cities.

 

In those cities was a celebration that had demanded a new structure, one linking the downtown Emerald Tower of MarsTech with the nearby headquarters of Grant Conglomerates, KessKorp, Atlas Mountain Sports and Nova Communications. The so-called Christmas Complex, a flattened red-glass dome supported by spiderwebs of metal struts and columns at key points, had flown up and been completed at a pace even supporters called "unsettling." Its span was in the thousands of feet and it soared high above the city below.

 

And inside was the biggest party in the world, the All-Heroes Christmas Bash.

 

Music thudded through the floor, though only people actually in the various mini-venues would have heard the various acts performing. Automated food carts prowled the seething crowds, wearing friendly robotic faces and greeting guests in their preferred tongues with unerring accuracy. A tree of lights like a nebula come to Earth floated in the centre of the Complex, brightening up a vast stage dominated by a big red present marked "From: Max To: Everyone."

 

People from across the world milled through the central hub, or gathered in smaller nooks, all invited because of some conspicuous act of heroism. Standing almost a head above everyone there walked the flying phaser Wyt Sky, Singapore's greatest hero since the third Merlion perished fighting the Katanarchists in 2008. Laughing awkwardly in a circle of adoring fans, Marie Dulent of Louisiana explained again how her rescue of an elderly couple in a flood was simply the will of La Sirena. Dr. Phil Pech, who'd been working on flu vaccinations his whole life and didn't entirely understand the point of the event, sat in a corner with some colleagues to quietly drink.

 

Much more conspicuous and surprising were the guests of honour: the Gardner family. Both Raymond Sr., the Freedom League's former Captain Thunder, and Raymond Jr., the energy-being hero Thunderbolt, wore sky-blue suits, though of course the son "wore" his regular containment apparatus underneath. Much-reduced since his days as an active hero, the father still cut a commanding figure, and despite their advancing years he and his wife Nancy scoured the floor, warmly greeting old friends (or even just mildly-familiar faces) and eagerly hatching plans to connect again soon.

 

Ray Jr. was occupied on an upper balcony, talking emphatically with a serious-looking spectacled blonde woman in a Christmas-y coloured dress patterned with interlocking Penrose triangles.

 

The corporations that had funded and organized the event weren't left out in the cold. At each "corner" of the Complex, the company building it was attached to had their own entourage and proffered spectacles. At the southmost point, industrial giant KessKorp's newly-invigorated management had put together an expo on protective equipment for the discerning consumer, MC'd by a polished and professional gentleman whose nametag identified him as "Joe." After their automated car scare earlier in the year, it might have been in poor taste, but seeing what the portable (and affordable!) field-generators and near-super-tech armor weaves could stand up to was unquestionably impressive.

 

Notable by his absence was the man of the hour, Max Mars. In fact, his company had no clearly-signposted presence at all. But the press and guests buzzed on excitedly over one thing Max had pledged shortly before the party began: he would be revealing the future of heroes.

Edited December 22, 2024 by Ari

[Supercape]

Haven

 

Haven was dressed in a crisp black suit, white tie, his features human, sharp. He strode into the Christmas Complex with a furrowed brow and tight lips.

Anything attached to Max Mars was of interest to Haven, ever since Max Mars sent him on a mission to acquire schematics of a new Ultimo Armour.

 

Or was it Max Mars? It was not clear. But Max Mars was a person of interest. Very high on the list.

 

He clocked the other attendees, but paid them little attention. The view did. It was a long way down. Any terrorist could have a field day with this complex.

As for Christmas? He could take it or leave it. The only present he wanted was Max Mars.

[RocketLord]

JUSTICE

 

Robin shouldn't be here. She really shouldn't be here. 

 

The last time she had been at a MarsTech event had been a disaster. She had not only found out that Max Mars had stolen some of her tech for his crazy Ultio Suits, and he had figured out how to shut her tech down, he had also made it clear that he knew her secret identity, and he wouldn't be shy about revealing it to the world if she tried to get in his way. So yes, her hero had revealed himself as a bad guy after all. Not a good time. She had spent the last few years mostly staying out of the way of the Ultios. Not her favorite thing to do, but her few attempts at getting in their way had only resulted in her suit locking down, and them saving the day or beating her up.

 

So, why does Robin Lynne Langley find herself at this party, dressed in a red dress and a red jacket with a small handbag, her hair tied into a ponytail?

 

Because she's a hero, and whatever Mars got planned here, somebody's gotta stand up to him.

 

Besides... she's been working on something the last few years. And it's finally ready. 

 

Just in case Mars really does something bad.

[Tiffany Korta]

Emerald Spider

Peri weirdly wasn't here because of Mars, though you couldn't be a hero in this city without hearing hints about the dodgy things MarsTech got up to. Well beyond the normal shifty stuff, most massive corporations got up to!

 

No, she was here to see what one of their allies/competitors, depending on how the winds blew, KessKorp!

 

She'd had a couple of encounters throughout the year with the company, and she couldn't help but feel that in helping save lives she'd also made a deal with the devil (possibly literal, possible metaphorical, such as the superhero lifestyle).

 

Even worse there was no way that Peri Parker, air conditional repairwoman, could get an invite or more importantly afford a dress suitable for this kind of bash. So she was here as Emerald Spider, with a Christmas hat as a quirky holiday-themed look. She was sat at 90 degrees on one of the supports snatching a sandwich from one of the bots as she'd been too busy to have lunch.

[Ari]

Rainshadow

 

"But I don't get it," repeated one of the firefighters, still looking bewildered, "if it's so dangerous just getting ships past the Fangs, why do they leave 'em around? The Canadians blew up Ripple Rock in the '50s for being a damned, deadly nuisance."

 

It was a question Ming had been asked before, sometimes by very angry, wet people whose lives had suddenly taken a nosedive with no clear end in sight. At least while on the job for the Tugger & Sons Rescue Company he could pretend not to hear them and try to take their minds elsewhere. Here, standing in his best suit, a glass full of some excitingly bubbly pale liquid, and surrounded so many earnest, questioning faces looking to him to make sense of this mystery, there was no escape. Well, there was one, luckily introduced by the unwitting fireman.

 

Taking a thoughtful sip, Ming answered "Inside Passage is pretty calm water. Those shoals and bars out front of the Columbia, they're under some of the roughest sea in the US. Even if you could get a pause or workaround on shipping, the expense and risk'd be too great. So the current system's about the best we can do, and it's way safer than it was even thirty years ago." 

 

The other guests nodded at that, murmuring agreement and turning to other Columbia-related topics. As the chatter about fishing rose up around him, Ming seized the chance to turn and look anywhere else in the universe. Ted Tugger had been a working for the Celestial Order of the Golden Dragon practically since his arrival at Emerald City back in the 1910s, expanding their extortion and "salvage" racket across the local coast and briefly making inroads on Portland and Washington upriver. With the influx of Takazumi men and cash, the city's overall boom in the 80s, and the sidelines of smuggling, his sons had ironically been forced to play at greater legitimacy (the Old Hawk had made clear what would happen if they exposed him), but like their father before them they'd been dab hands at foiling efforts to meaningfully alter the deadly Columbia Bar.

 

Despite all that, by working for them Ming and his shipmates did save peoples' lives, even their livelihoods. But it was hard to feel like a hero, knowing what else was going on.