ic Shock Treatment (IC)

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

Early September, 2024, Abandoned Subway Station in Riverside

 

Doctor Shock had once been a good man. A caring man.

 

But Doctor Shock was not. But that didn't mean he no longer had a good bedside manner, no matter how violently he had gone about attempting to acquire test subjects.

 

Captain Cosmos had been treated like a real patient; placed in a white room, his identity not revealed, and a battery of tests and equipment around. He vitals were tracked, his blood had been drawn. He was treated exceptionally nicely, but he was still a prisoner, watched over by a half dozen robotic nurses.

 

And Doctor Shock himself, a frankenstein-like man, abnormally thick and tall, his skin charcoal grey with metal prongs and bits of lightning crackling off it, carrying a club that looked like a lightning rod. But he was ineffably polite to the man he was kidnapping.

 

"Don't worry, Captain. We're simply going to do a few tests on your ability to alter your molecular structure. It's for science, you understand." He repeated, over and over again.

 

The Subway Station was abandoned, gritty, and dirty. While Captain Cosmos' room was a perfect sterile white, everything outside of the sealed bulkhead was garbage; hanging electrical cables, standing water, a computer forcibly hooked up directly into downed electrical lines. The tiles of the station were cracked and broken, the pillars exposed with rebar and steel instead of covered with plaster and brick. A constant stream of water dripped down the only stairway into the subway station.

 

Above ground, Ghost was reaching the site; the abandoned B34 Station, which had been diverted after Terra-King had completely obliterated the subway in the surrounding area in one of his invasions. Rather than attempting to rebuild the destroyed station, they had simply built a new, better line, which meant that B34 had fallen immediately into disrepair. From the outside, it looked abandoned, but that was the perfect place for a supervillain.

 

Meanwhile, Captain Cosmos was being greeted by Doctor Shock once more, carrying dinner; from Stan's Super Heroes, no less.

"Captain, will you eat your sandwich? I need you to keep your strength up when I'm drawing blood, to prevent you from developing Anemia."

[Supercape]

Captain Cosmos

 

"Depend's whats in the sandwich..." said Captain Cosmos. 

 

Truth was, he didn't need food any more. He could probably, technically, become anaemic in that his blood cells could be drained, but he didn't really operate on biological mechanisms any more. His whole being drew power from alternate versions of himself throughout the multiverse. And as far as he understood that was infinite. 

 

Infinite power? No. His body could only channel and absorb so much. 

 

But he didn't need blood any more. Just like he didn't need food. 

 

"Don't take too much," he said. "I need that blood to snap out of these bonds and rip your head off."

 

He pondered the bonds. Perhaps he could snap out of them. Perhaps he could alter his dimensions. Perhaps the Doctor had calculated something to counter that. But if he hadn't? Perhaps it is best to pretend that I am helpless.. He may have a loose tongue. 

 

"Where are we and what are you doing?"

[RocketLord]

GHOST

 

Yeah. All of this seems bad. Looking in on the subway station, Casper adjusts his goggles, seeing through the building. Hopefully there isn't too much lead in there to block him, so he can at least try to come up with a plan as he looks for anyone that could be the mysterious doctor or anyone else caught up in all this... or just more of those Power Corps creeps. He had left the last ones for A.E.G.I.S., but he isn't particularly interested in finding more of them to fight.

 

Still, better safe than sorry, he reaches for his communicator. "Freedom League HQ? This is Ghost. I'm following up on a lead from a clash with the Power Corps. Come look for me around the abandoned B34 station in Riverside if I don't check in. Gimme an hour or something, alright?"

 

It's an adjustment, but he's a leaguer. He should act like it. Show some responsibility. 

 

Now... what can Casper see with his x-ray goggles?

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

"Do not worry, Captain. It is a Captain Thunder Electric Meatball; spicy and sweet." he said. "The same thing I eat." He didn't have it with him, but it didn't seem impossible. If he was upset about being threatened; scared at the Captain's threats, concerned, he didn't react. But it didn't seem like he wasn't scared. It was that he couldn't be scared. He was the epitome of a horror movie's idea of a doctor, an emotionless machine carrying out research without compassion, without emotion.

 

"I am Doctor Shock, Captain. And I promise to let you free soon, no need to rip me apart. I assure you I am on your side. On the side of Humanity, of the Good." he intoned. "I am part of the grand design on the side of Good. When my powers manifested, they ripped through my brain, rewiring my own impulses and neurons, destroying my brain from the inside out. My intelligence skyrocketed, of course, and it made me realize. There could be others in need of help; those suffering from their powers. Your powers, your ability to transport across dimensions. They could open brand new worlds of science, brand new types of medical treatment. I had hoped to have a second subject, but unfortunately, the mercenaries I hired were not sufficient. Well, perhaps they went to quickly into violence with the other subject. For you they brought you quite politely." he didn't smile, he didn't seem happy. It was an empty shell of a man pretending to still be human.

 

"I will not hurt you. I only wish to run a few tests. We're still in Freedom, in an abandoned Subway station. You won't be here for long, I don't think."

 

Meanwhile, Ghost was observing from above. There didn't seem to be any living figures, currently visible. There was a variety of machinery, but a single room he couldn't penetrate; a bubble like room that he couldn't penetrate.

 

Underneath it all was some giant machine, curled into a box shape, but clearly able to expand, to grow. Some sort of defense mechanism.

[Supercape]

Captain Cosmos

 

"Was that meant to be reassuring?" asked Captain Cosmos. "Because I think you might be suffering from some rewiring problems."

 

He looked around the room, gaze falling on the box. That didn't look good. At all. 

 

"Scientists experimenting on people doesn't have a record of being good. Particularly when its being done for the greater good," he said. "I'm no physicist, but this all seems a bit clandestine and without outside scrutiny to be trust worthy. I guess you think others wont understand, right?"

 

He kept still. If this Doctor Shock was really a super genius he would have anticipated most of Captain Cosmos moves. Diplomacy was the best option. If not? Well, act random... maybe?

 

"I can help. But... ah. Maybe not at the risk of my own life or creating some mad duplicate who can rip apart the multiverse? Ah..."

 

Beware the Collapse, the version of him who had been Captain Cosmos had told him. Right before dying and passing on his power. 

 

"Ah... are you anything to do with the Collapse?"

[RocketLord]

GHOST

 

Right, no one around. Not a single member of the Power Corps or anyone, but there's a single room that Casper can't look into.

 

That's not suspicious at all.

 

He could wait around, get a better idea of everything that's going on, but who knows if the bad doctor got anyone captured in there? Plus, a dynamic entry tends to work best, even if the bad doctor knows that he's coming already.

 

So, with a final sigh of resignation for doing this, Ghost dives into the building, flying straight towards and, if possible, into the room that he can't look into.

 

Time for some action.

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

"I apologize, Captain. I'm not the best at bedside manner. I used to be, you understand, but the requirements of my job have slowly worn me down. You understand that feeling, don't you? You're a Superhero. You must be struggling and suffering sometimes as well, burnt out at both ends. I assume you have a normal job anyway. Maybe you're just a Hero? Well. If you have a normal job, I'm certain you understand the eternal weight of deadlines and suffering. Of needing to be faster, of always having to live up to your requirements. That's how I am." Doctor Shock said, shaking his head. He didn't smile at the agreement to help, but he nodded happily.

 

"I'm glad you're willing to help, Captain. We all know you're so heroic. I don't understand it myself, but it's good to do good for the community. I want to do good for the community." he said firmly. "That others don't understand, that they won't finance me, that they want to lock me away in mental institutions...that is just them not understanding." he said with a sigh. "So yes. You are right about that. But don't worry, like I said, I don't want to kill you. I just want to run a few tests." he repeated. But he turned his head slightly at the mention of 'The Collapse'.

 

"I am sorry, Captain. I do not know what you mean. Do you mean an Ecological Collapse? I have often theorized that if the amount of metahumans in the human genome continues to expand we may reach an ecological collapse where divergent genes of meta activity begin to overlap and interact in unexpected and dangerous ways. Think of it like if you had children with a woman with, say, rubber powers. You'd expect the powers of your children, if they had any, to be similar to yours or the woman in question. But instead, one may instead have Super Speed, one may have the ability to project forcefields and go invisible, and the third may have an almost random, broad assortment of powers with no connecting tissue. Why? And if Meta Genes are a recessive gene, how could you have a child with no powers at all? The Meta gene, the way that individuals obtain and gain Superpowers, that is poorly understood. I hope to figure it out, to avoid the side effects that plagued me; I had the ability to control electrical currents. But in using it, or even in not using it, it rewired my brain. It changed my thought patterns. It increased my intellect, but it had...side effects. It's difficult. I thank you immensely for your assistance, Captain."

 

Meanwhile, the Room did not budge. It didn't hurt, but Ghost bounced right off of it.

 

"...What was that?" Doctor Shock asked as he turned around, looking up. "Is my other guest here?" He questioned, not able to see through the room anymore than Ghost was, not able to move through it anymore than Captain Cosmos or Ghost would be able to. "I'm sorry Captain, I did tell you there was another guest. If you can hear me." He yelled, and Ghost could hear him. "You can come to the door and enter if you want. Captain Cosmos and I were just having a discussion."

[Supercape]

Captain Cosmos

 

Hmmm... maybe that IS what the collapse is? it was as good a theory as any, but on reflection it was just one of many theories. Captain Cosmos had no idea what the collapse was. 

 

But it send a shiver down his spine anyway. 

 

He stood up, just to check his muscles still worked. They did, as far as he could tell. The Doctors calm demeanour faced with a man who could bench press a tank was disconcerting - it implied that Doctor Shock had at least one trick up his sleeve and probably several. 

 

He put a finger on his chin. "Mmmm. What should a man do with his life? I think that's what you are asking. What is good? You known, I ask myself those same questions every day, and I never got an answer. Seems not even philosophers or priests can really make up their mind, either. So, I figure, I could do nothing. But that never sat well with me either. So I guess I'm like every human; they do a bit of good, spotty, like a pollock. Maybe end up doing some bad things through passion or foolishness. Not doing enough? Seems like a pit you cant crawl out of."

 

He adjusted his posture as the doctor mentioned the guest. 

 

"Guest? As in, the same way I am a guest? Who?"