Wearing the Cape 4: Small Town Heroes Read online

  The Caliphate (The Undying Caliphate): Armagan Acar died in the nuclear destruction of Ankara (in reprisal for the nuking of Tel Aviv), but part of his superhuman inner circle survived and united with superhuman Caliphate jihadists to found the Undying Caliphate, an Islamic-nationalist terrorist organization sworn to driving the hated Crusader Occupiers from Byzantium and Eretz-Israel and reversing the outcome of the Caliphate War. Seif-al-Din is their most infamous member, but they number in the dozens with cells throughout the Middle East and elsewhere.

  Capes: There are a few reality television series devoted to superhumans, and Capes is one of the better ones. It is entirely action footage shot by camera-crews following different CAI capes around on patrols and missions, and interviews with the subjects.

  Chakra: The Sentinels’ most controversial member, Chakra is an A Class Mentalist who gained her tantra-based breakthrough powers during an episode of epiphany-triggering episode of ritual sex. She describes her powers as Tantric Magic, but while they are charged by tantric rituals they largely conform to classical psionic powers (forms of telepathy, ESP, precognition, psychic healing, and levitation). Although now a full-time Sentinel, she holds a degree in psychology—she studied sexual behavioralism—and was a licensed sex therapist. After becoming a Sentinel, she capitalized on her fame to write The Sacred Gates, a book on sex (both spiritual philosophy and practice).

  Charmer: Donald Gerrold was C Class Mentalist with the ability to charm. Anybody hearing his voice and seeing him would like him instantly and trust him explicitly. It would wear off later, which meant that getting his victims to do anything too out of character would be completely obvious; so he used his power to sell expensive cars to rich people who were already looking to buy.

  The Chinese States: Also known as the Secession States, these are the territories which revolted against Beijing in the aftermath of the brutal suppression of minority and politically distrusted breakthroughs following The Event. They are currently struggling to suppress their own would-be warlords and being assisted by Indian and League troops. It is expected that most will confederate with a reformed Beijing to reunite China, but at least four will almost certainly go their own way: Tibet, Xianjang, Manchuria, and Hong Kong.

  Citizens for Human Rights: CHR is a political activist group which loudly advocates restrictions on superhumans and superheroes. They have picketed to protest the special legal treatment of superheroes—such as being able to testify while wearing a mask—and to support superhuman registration and the right to know when they are living next to superhumans.

  Crash: Jamal Carter’s mother died in a pedestrian accident, putting Jamal into Chicago’s family services system. Less than a year later, running from a street-gang intent on “tuning him up” triggered his breakthrough; suddenly an A Class Speedster, he gave his persecutors a brutal beat down before being stopped by Rush. Jamal is now under the guardianship of Sifu (Master Li), who is teaching him how to control himself and his powers, and is a member of the Young Sentinels.

  The Crew: Superhero vs. Supervillain fights can cause a lot of damage, and someone has to clean up quickly. The Crew is a superhuman contracting company which specializes in fast cleanup. It hires Ajax-types, strong telekinetics, and other superhumans with powers that do the job. Crew members often take on codenames like Border, Irons, Brace, and Gantry, and when they aren’t cleaning up after superhuman fights they are traveling to disaster areas where reconstruction speed is vitally important.

  Crisis Aid and Intervention Teams: The Sentinels’ original contract with the City of Chicago set the template for Crisis Aid and Intervention teams, which make contracts with municipalities much like private security companies and emergency-services providers. CAI franchises such as the Guardians and the Knights are extremely popular with state and local governments because they guarantee uniform standards and are popular with superheroes because they act collectively to provide legal and insurances services as well as collective bargaining support. CAI teams are certified through their agencies, but still need licenses issued by state governments and are always subject to jurisdiction requirements.

  Cryo: Cryo is a Brotherhood supervillain, an A Class Cryokinetic. He tried to “freeze” Astra during the Pullman Tower Fight, and she broke his arm with a thrown rock.

  Senator Todd Davis: Senator Davis was a “strong national security” advocate for the regulation and control of superhumans, and the author of the Davis Bill. He died in the Ashland Overpass Bombing, the Dark Anarchist’s intended victim.

  The Dark Anarchist: (See first The Teatime Anarchist) The Dark Anarchist is the Teatime Anarchist’s “evil twin,” split off in the breakthrough event which gave them both the power to travel to the past and future. Neither could change the past, but they could visit “probably future” and then come back to the present to change them. Both decided to create a better, or at least safer, future, but they diverged significantly as to means and this led to a time-war which lasted several years in which he stole his twin’s code-name and framed him for a host of crimes and assassinations. Astra named the Dark Anarchist, and outside of a select group who had direct contact with him or very high security clearance and need-to-know, nobody knows about him at all.

  Sheriff Paul Deitz: When Astra met Deitz, he was the sheriff of the sleepy community of Grand Beach; as it turns out, he is a US Marshal assigned to watch over Witness Protection subjects and other individuals the government needs to babysit. His current assignment is as the sheriff of Littleton, and he has proved to be very good at it. His partner is Deputy Angel Sweet.

  The Department of Superhuman Affairs: The DSA is a department, like the Department of the Interior, rather than an agency, like the FBI. This is important; the Secretary of Superhuman Affairs is a member of the President’s cabinet and reports to her directly. Without its own law-enforcement arm, the DSA relies on the US Marshals Service, which has its own chain of command. The DSA also directs a branch of the Secret Service, fielding breakthrough agents whose main responsibility is the protection of the President and the federal government from superhuman threats. Both US Super-Marshals and Secret Service agents are sent, with lawyers and investigators, when it looks like “supervillains” might be compromising local government and law enforcement. Lastly, the DSA works closely with the FBI on counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence operations, and aids the Justice Department in its mission to prosecute civil rights violations and public corruption when breakthroughs are involved. All of this creates something of a mess of competing missions, but it also means that the officials and agents of the DSA work very closely with the other federal departments and the Secretary of Superhuman Affairs (called the Director in-house and by the media) is senior to the directors of the various agencies. There are no DSA “superheroes.” DSA superhumans always dress civilian or in DSA uniforms.

  The Dome: The Chicago Dome is the Headquarters of the Chicago Sentinels. It is located in Grant Park, across from Michigan Avenue. It sits in open park, a solid and half-buried bunker with wide sight lines and lots of space for evacuating civilians from the area; one story has it that the city planners initially intended to put the Sentinels’ headquarters in one of the new Post-Event high-rise business building projects, until Blackstone—a former US Marine—“had words with them.”

  Dane Dorweiler: aka The Dane. Annabeth picked Dane to be her boyfriend in sophomore year of high school, and the big good-natured goof went along with it. They have been Danabeth ever since, and are now engaged. The only thing Dane cares as much about as Annabeth is soccer, and he has already gone pro; he flies back to Chicago for a full weekend at least every couple of weeks and he and Annabeth are joined at the digital hip. Hope likes him quite a bit and once had a crush on him she will never admit to.

  Dozer: aka Gantry, aka Eric Ludlow. Dozer is a member of the Wreckers, the supervillain crew working for The Ascendant. Formerly Gantry, a B Class Ajax-Type war veteran and member of the Crew, Eric was Astra’s first su
perhuman “fight” (she had to restrain him during a drunken tantrum). Now one of the Ascendancy, Eric has exhibited A Class level powers.

  The El Paso Guard: The Guard is El Paso’s resident CAI team. Unlike most CAI teams, they are heavily involved in traditional police work. They also wear a common uniform, hide their face under concealing helmets, and have ironclad secret identities. This is because, with the chaos in northern Mexico and the power of the Mexican cartels just across the river, El Paso sits on the most dangerous border in the western hemisphere. They do their job so well that national crime statistics list El Paso as one of the safest cities in the country. They’re still scary.

  Lieutenant Emerson: Ralph W. Emerson is a cadaverously thin dark Creole who only needs a top hat to play Baron Samedi. He is the senior detective in charge of supernatural matters in his quarter of New Orleans, and Detective Negri’s superior.

  Euphoria: A C Class Neurokinetic, Euphoria is able to light up the pleasure center in a target’s brain to create a euphoric, incapacitating high with none of the nasty aftereffects of drugs. Her ability works instantly if she can touch her target; at a distance it takes a bit longer. She can make someone an addict through repeated exposer to her power, and while a Chicago Guardian she hired herself out as an escort. Secretly working for the Dark Anarchist, she may have been the one who got Rush to unknowingly work for him.

  Extreme Solutions: A superhuman mercenary and security agency, Extreme Solutions is careful to keep its operations lawful. It will match superhumans to client needs for a hefty fee, and has many powerful breakthroughs on retainer.

  The Deal: An informal agreement between supervillains and superheroes, The Deal says that villains try to avoid killing capes, don’t out them if they maintain secret identities, and above all don’t go after their families. In return, when capes serving warrants come after villains they try to avoid using lethal force.

  Detective Max Fisher: Detective Fisher is the senior detective on the CPD’s Superhuman Crimes Detective Division, assigned to all cases involving superhuman powers. And he may not be real; he (and Astra) is aware that he is a character from a short-lived and forgotten series of detective novels written over a decade ago. He doesn’t age and can’t be killed (although he can be beat up), and has memories that don’t match reality. He hopes he’s the series’ author and a delusional breakthrough; he might be a persistent thought-form created from the author’s obsession before he died.

  Doctor Cornelius: Rafael Jones was a college student majoring in metaphysics and seeking drug-assisted enlightenment when the Event changed the world. His hallucinatory and epiphanic breakthrough transformed him into one of the most powerful Merlin-Types known. He is a master of Hermetic Magic (also called Deccanic Magic), and a tormented man who would very much like to give up his “enlightenment.” He is a close associate of Orb’s.

  The Fortress: Described as the superhero’s Hard Rock Café, the Fortress is a cape-memorabilia museum, a café, a club, and a Chicago landmark. Astra saw several CAI capes hanging there, including Caterwall, Bombshell, Jack Frost, Hardlock, Red Robin, Blue Fire, Foxlight, The Cardinal, Wisteria, Flashback, and SaFire. Cosplaying groupies usually far outnumber the actual capes, who often don club-wear versions of their sturdier field costumes to party.

  Freakshow: No we're not your daddy's villins/ we're not chillin' then we're killin'/ we want you, best be willin'. From Murder Night. The entertainment industry made breakthroughs with even a little talent the new pop-stars, while “supervillains” took over the genre of music formerly known as gansta-rap. The result was groups like Freakzone, a hugely popular villain-rap band. Freakshow, their lead guitarist, is able to shapeshift into various animal-human hybrid forms, even mixing them for truly chimeric combinations, and he uses his power in his act.

  Galatea: A chrome gynoid (female android) robot creation of Vulcan’s, Galatea is variously a low-sentience AI and a drone shell for Shelly to “pilot.” Her configuration is subject to change and she has various modular add-ons like micro-missile racks and boot and pack jets, and she has been destroyed several times. The public generally just thinks of her as a humanoid drone, and fans endlessly debate who her pilot is.

  The Godzilla Plague: Somehow, somewhere, some insane Verne-type thought it would be a great idea to create a race of Godzillas that were designed to attack pollution sources (mainly nuclear plants and, well, cities). The things go through two stages: a stealth-stage where they lurk in the depths, eat lots of fish, and lay lots of eggs, and the monster-stage, where they grow much bigger and seek out contamination. Their primary weapon is a plasma jet that can melt steel and their secondary weapon is the ability to generate local electromagnetic pulses that interfere with electrical systems. Godzilla periodically appear and attack coastal cities and it has proven impossible to find all of their eggs. Predictably, Japan seems to get an unfair share of Godzilla attention.

  Father Graff: Wherever there are supernatural breakthrough in abundance, the Church takes an interest. Father Graff is the representative of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—the Holy Inquisition—in New Orleans. He considers Jacky one of the beati mortus (blessed dead), is warily respectful of Jacky’s grandmother, and is as much responsible for protecting misunderstood supernatural from over-zealous church members as he is for maintaining purity of doctrinal practices in the face of the syncretic mysticism that runs through the town.

  Mr. Gray: Of course the Department of Superhuman Affairs has a strong interest in New Orleans’ supernatural community (especially the vampires). Mr. Gray is the local DSA station agent and, loosely, Jacky’s local DSA “minder” when she’s in town. He is also a supernatural himself, one of the fey, and that makes him a mystery; most fey hang with the Seelie Court in San Francisco.

  Graymalkin: Hope’s cat.

  The Green Man: Not much is understood about the Green Man. “He” appears to have been able to transform himself into a disembodied “spirit” capable of possessing plants and generating amazing waves of growth. He threatened Chicago with successive eruptions of green, but proved vulnerable to extreme heat at the center of his manifestations. There are indications that he may have been boosted by the Ascendant.

  Grendel: Brian Lucas is a transformed A Class Darwin-Type (he “adapts” to his environment and opposition). Grendel lost his family when the Ascendant exposed several thousand victims to a psychotropic gas which triggered hallucinations, rampages, and several psychotic breaks and breakthroughs, and was permanently transformed into a gray and monstrous humanoid form which is the baseline for all his changes. He is potentially stronger than the strongest Ajax-Type. Grendel has joined the Young Sentenels, and also sworn himself to Ozma’s service (he is currently the Royal Army of Oz) in return for her promise to help him gain justice for his murdered family.

  The Guardians: The Guardians are one of the largest CAI franchises in the US, with teams in most states. The other seven Crisis Aid and Intervention teams in Chicago are all Guardian teams, named for their districts (South Side Guardians, West Side Guardians, etc.). They, and the Sentinels, are all coordinated through the city’s Dispatch Department in The Dome, under the direction of the Sentinels and city coordinators.

  The Hammer: When the Russian Mob in Boston killed Silversmith and his family with a car bomb, an unknown vigilante dubbed The Hammer brutally wiped out the organization’s senior members; one of the reasons organized crime outfits generally leave capes alone. If they go do after capes, they do it when the cape is in costume and on duty, and they leave his family alone. See also: The Deal.

  The Harlequin: The Harlequin, called Quin by her friends, was an acrobat and aerialist with Cirque du Soliel in Las Vegas. During a performance her rig snapped and she fell thirty feet to the stage—and bounced, her body permanently transformed to a rubber-like substance. Her skin is the texture of latex, her bones the density of hard rubber, and she is almost immune to direct kinetic damage; she will bend and bounce back under an impact, whe
ther from a fall or bullets or a hit from Astra, which would injure or kill a normal person. Her transformation also makes her a lot stronger than the average person of her trim athletic build, and she can run faster by “bouncing” along. She is a trained martial artist and marksman (although she doesn’t normally use guns), and is also the Sentinel’s field medic publicity and marketing coordinator, which she does with Alex Chandler.

  Have No Fear: No backing down, no giving in./ I pick my fights, but I fight to win./ Though the Reaper draws near me I cry,/Conquer or die! Have No Fear is an all-breakthrough band of Hillwood Academy alumni. They are also CAI-certified capes, able to drop in with disaster relief and stage a concert afterward. They’re the most successful group in history, and rumors of artistic differences are completely exaggerated.

  Hecate: Dr. Charlotte Millebrand, antiquarian, folklorist, Merlin-Type wicked witch, and Chicago Outfit assassin, tried to unite the second team of Villains Inc. to take down her bosses and seize control of the Outfit. The mob-war left civilian bodies everywhere, and Artemis put three bullets through her heart during their final fight.

  Hero Beat/Power Week: These are both superhero magazines. Hero Beat is a breathless fan-mag oriented towards teens, while Power Week is a more serious publication, a sort of cross between Time and People Magazine with a focus on superhumans.