Team Infinity 2 Notes Robert Marney Note that although most of the notes in here are for TI2, I also have some development work on the other two. Basic Overview 10/25/03, 0210h Plot elements: * Lia * Lia and Becky: Becky discovers Lia's secret by being too good of a friend. * Becky and Jake: Tainted love and all that. Shades of Rob relationships. * Lia and Rick: Rick gets his act together, I hope. * Lia and Mars: Return of the challenge missing in TI2's b&b action. * Lia and Alex: Insecurity versus maturity goes with new responsibility. * Alex * Alex at college: Finding his true identity as he adjusts to being away from the team. * Alex and Screwtape: I don't know what this is, but I know it has to exist. * Team * Timothy and Sarah: Pressure to be the perfect relationship they really aren't. * Ben and Kirsten: Rob-style melodrama at its finest, except maybe it works. Haven't decided yet. * Power structure: Without Alex, everybody but Sarah has to step up to the plate. * Mutant Taskforce: Jake, Tina, Ross and Heather form a pseudo-rival group, what should they do? * Screwtape: The mutant who works by fear, slowly destroying our "unbeatable" heroes. * Ted is back. 'Nuff said. Climax: Screwtape, Ted, Becky, and all 6 T.I. members are in a showdown. Lia has her gun to his head, and he says, "You won't do that. You can't." And she can't, she's too afraid of him. So, for that matter, is Ted, who has been snared in the same web, and all the rest of the team. "Drop the gun and admit defeat." She drops it onto the table. They both reach for the gun, but Becky gets there first. She has the gun, she turns the safety off, but she's shaking with fear. Lia looks back at her, terrified. "Don't make a move, or... or... I'll shoot!" she says wildly. Screwtape calmly reaches for the gun in her outstretched hands, but Becky is not a mutant, nor does she understand them. So she shoots him, over and over, until he doesn't move. She drops the gun and runs from the room. Ideas 12/2/03, 2309h Lia's team is a lot like GGHum: * Lia * The Bossy One (Karen) * The Procrastinator (George) * The Weird One (Rob) * The Prodigy (Dan) More Thinkings 12/11/03, 2148h It started with Morlun from Spider-Man, and a sentence, as I walked home from the bookstore. Who are you? You can call me Altair. What are you? Did you think you were the only shapeshifter, Alex? My name is Reality. Did you really think you were the only one, Alex? No... You're a smart boy, Alex, and Alnora tells me you have potential, but you're nowhere close to the most powerful metamorph out there. What you did with that girl, Soul, that was just the beginning. With proper training, you could become nearly as powerful as I am. he snapped his fingers. Mr. Ransom! Yes, sir. Think of the most powerful mutant you know, Alex. he looked into Alex's eyes. Her name is Lia. Do you recognize this girl, Mr. Ransom? Perhaps from the HSA reports? It's Soul, sir. Here she is. he put his hands on their heads and she became Lia. he shook his head. No, that's not how it goes. the feeling was a rush, excitement like he had never known. they became Armor. seemed like a good idea at the time. Ransom cried out and drew his hands away. he did the coin trick from Alex's memories. the whole thing. this was a bad idea. he stopped her heart, no more Armor. You do have potential, Alex. If you were smart, though, you would have memorized Lia's brain structure. That's what I do. When I need help, well, that's what Mr. Ransom is here for. I didn't think that was possible. I didn't think you were possible. Why aren't you on Alnora's charts? Alex, you fool, Alnora is one of us. he holds up a hand. Not a metamorph, but in league with those of us who wish to remain secret. When we are caught, the reports on us are surreptitiously inserted into the HSA archives. Alnora receives no blame, the rest of us stay underground, everybody's happy. Why are you telling me all this? There must be something you want to know. My dear boy, for a tactical genius, you're remarkably slow on the uptake. When I capture someone, I gain the ability to become that person, down to the last drop - none of your cheap facsimiles, but full replicas except with my memories commingled with their own. So there's only one thing I could want. "What do all men with power want? More power." You're going after Soul! Ah, to be a teenager again, brash and in love and naive. I see why you keep choosing to do it, Alex. That's not true. Immaterial. Soul is merely a curiosity for me, something to while away my time until I can get at my real target. John Tyler. When I have him, I will have everything. he's playing for higher stakes than I imagined. he doesn't have all of Soul's power but he has enough to stop me. survive by my wits alone... New character: Altair, the metamorph with far finer control of his powers than even Alex. Aided by Mr. Ransom, a very short-ranged telepath, he travels, looking for ever more powerful minds and bodies to harvest. When he finds Mars, he will be unstoppable. Outline Structure Concept 12/25/03, 2319h ALEX 1. Leaving for College 2. A New Life and an Old 3. Danielle 4. Altair 5. Exam Week LIA 1. Holding the Reins 2. Becky and Jake 3. Group Project 4. One True Friend 5. Ted and Mars TEAM 1. Ben's New Glasses 2. Love Lives 3. The New Mutants 4. Becky and Rick 5. Exam Week ALL 6. Too Little, Too Late 7. Thanksgiving Day 8. Showdown 9. The Aftermath Plot Threads: Sarah: No plot at this point Ben: Needs resolution Rick: Needs post-resolution reaction Timothy: Cameos only at this point Alex: Full process, good Lia: Needs resolution Becky: Needs resolution Ted: No plot at this point Mars: Needs resolution Altair: Full process, good New Mutants: Needs development and resolution Danielle: Needs development Note that the nine-chapter structure is preserved, but due to the plot's complexity it covers only three months instead of five, and the early chapters may be a lot longer. (As the characters get fleshed out, I expect the later chapters to also gain length until it becomes a really sizable novel.) Title is still uncertain. Epigraph is the proverb, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Grandiose Dreams 12/27/03, 0112h Team Infinity was always intended to be "The X-Men done right." The basis is clearly evident - a near-present society where mutants are recognized and feared on a global scale; a group of teens on the brink of maturity; villains that are gone like the lilies of the field - and the bias to realism and power is as well. In all areas I seek to follow what made them so good, and exceed the shortcomings of the Marvel Universe. My heroes and my villains draw power and curse from within rather than without. No explanation is needed beyond what my pseudoscience can muster. But I wax eloquent. Like the first X-Men movie, TI1 (in its idealized form, nearly twice the size of its current one) drags at the beginning under the sheer weight of introducing characters and world and plot threads. By the time the stage is set, the villain is hardly worth taking seriously. TI2, like the second X-Men movie, runs with the destinies my designs have created for the characters. Old problems are cleared away, but only father new complexities. There is a new enemy, and the true magnitude of the problem becomes apparent. TI3 will end the plot threads, bring to fruition the characters, and launch full-blown into the Phoenix Saga: the overarching story of Lia. TI1 had chapters from everyone, but in a nutshell, it was written from the perspective of Sarah and Timothy, the superficial lovers, recording and putting in their two cents because two cents was all I knew about them. TI2 is the same, but its focus is on Alex and Lia, the bearers of power, experiencing their own struggles that can be contrasted. Alex pulls through and faces himself as he truly is; Lia cannot bear herself, and so spirals slowly down. By this pattern, TI3 will be the story of Ben and Rick, the two versions of Rob. Sarah is the girl, the one-dimensional one who could have three dimensions if only the others knew. Ben is the writer, the condescending perceptive one who drinks full of the cup of life, of information, he is offered. Rick is the boy, the arrogant insecure one who is too awkward to express the rich emotions with which he colors the world. Timothy is the feeler, humble and egotistical, asking the hardest questions and not expecting any answers. Alex is the leader, who can handle everyone but himself... Lia is the heroine, the ultimate example of a personality shaped by talent... Miscellaneous Stuff 1/8/04, 0202h TI1 ch6: Expanded Escape. Instead of nebulous, definitely dualist Alex, have him turn into a super-magnet and pull the electronics out of sync. One of our heroes tells Pat, "This is going to hurt. A lot." Pat is short for Patriot Project 001, my take on every government-funded cyborg ever. Pat's mutation is an immune system that makes him immune to biological or chemical attack, and instead of "adamantium" Pat's body equipment is ceramics and plastics, giving him intradermal Kevlar armor plating. However, his brain and nervous system implants are metal (electronics), meaning Pat feels like his spinal cord, heart, etc. are digging out of his body when Alex makes their escape, and giving him the conscious ability to regulate his autonomic nervous system functions like heart rate, hormone release, etc. Unlike standard "government killing machines," Pat has no onboard weaponry, no super strength or speed; he's just a normal human with a few aces up his sleeve, designed not to arouse anti-cyborg or anti-mutant paranoia. TI3: Another new minor character, like Jill's twins, who "sees power," as she calls it: rods that sense the peculiar wavelength of light emitted by one in six random particle/antiparticle creations and destructions. Thus, where these collisions are being created, she sees light, and where the particle and antiparticle are separated and used elsewhere, she sees darkness. Most characters in my story generate their power this way, so it's a fairly accurate description. She can even see a lingering haze after power has been taken from an area, as power slowly drains back in and the fabric of the universe stabilizes itself. "When I see you, Alex, it's a shining light. When Lia really lets go, it is like seeing the face of God..." TI3: "The Ring is mine." --Lia to everyone else. Her powers have extended across spacetime... In TI3, Alnora's machine, with just a few alterations by some ingenious scientists, now extends anyone's awareness to leagues and leagues, not just that of a telepath. Every mutant around descends on HSA HQ to become the most powerful in all the land. Mars does damage control on his talk show by presenting Lia as his new comrade, which brings the small fry to the machine in hopes of showing that the pop duo (Mars and Soul) aren't as great as they think they are. Lia begins to lose her sense of self and reality as her power seeps through the cracks. Our heroes try to save her - Rick, Becky, Alex, even Timothy - but the plot keeps getting thicker. Sarah and Timothy's relationship runs into some rocks as Timothy grows into a super-empath. Ben's tables are suddenly turned, as a power leakage from Lia gives him the girl - and the guy - of his dreams. Alex, back at college, has to deal with his own independent-minded girlfriend, constant calls from Ted as the latter desperately attempts damage control against the flood of incoming mutants, and whatever other story arc bits left unfinished from TI2. Mars becomes Spiderman to the media. The monolith of prom night approaches, the dates must be settled - and although we know everything's going to turn out all right, there are some reversals that have to be made before then. Lia runs into trouble at school. College acceptances are upon us. The continuation of Becky and Jake's stories. Laskin has concluded his tests, and the results are horrifying. Alex is publicly revealed as Reality. The Presidential candidate visits him; problems/antics/fights ensue. Final showdown at the machine: Alnora is put out of comission, the team tries to prevent the villains from getting hold of it, Mars tries to prevent anyone from getting hold of it, and when Lia uses it at the last, all hell breaks loose. An apocalyptic conclusion, brought to you in part by the ever-lovin' Ted, who for the first time is thunderstruck. As with all stories like this, Lia's ultimate decision is that she is not worthy of this godlike power, but the way she handles it is rather unique - and first she has to clean up a few loose ends. Rockin'. TI1 Extended Edition 1/13/04, 0004h Very simple idea, really. Before Card could write Speaker for the Dead, he had to expand Ender's Game to novel form; with what I'm planning for the TI trilogy, I need to add in all the stuff I originally planned to TI1: character development, in a way that doesn't necessarily involve random battles. The existing chapters of TI1 are really a bare-bones retelling of all the fights necessary to get the team up to the power level they needed to be at to give Mars some trouble. Also I need to fix some of the inconsistencies, like the characters' voices, the complete lack of non-mutant characters, and Mars' escape from his nuclear inferno in Chapter 8. Random Thought 1/15/04, 0323h Alex's girlfriend isn't named Danielle, but rather Alexis (from a short story idea of mine). It is never made entirely certain whether Alexis is a real girl, a hallucination Alex experiences, or a manifestation of Alex's schizoid psyche to be his own perfect mate. When he kisses her, is he really kissing himself? When he goes to sleep, does she disappear or does she linger on for a while? Is she simply just a girl, to a boy who has never had a relationship that ended well and an entity that has fled from the old age and death of woman upon woman? Alex Brene (current form) learns about Alex Schaeffer (previous form), and when he sees Schaeffer's records, he realizes that he is not the second, but merely the last in a long line of bright, courageous, shapeshifting young boys who grow up and realize they can't handle the real world. Alex is determined never to let that happen again, and he thinks grounding himself in the real world (like Alexis) is a good way to do it. Besides, she's cute, and she's persistent. Random Thought 1/16/04, 1702h Alex fakes his own death, as only a shapeshifter could do, possibly with the help of the Machine. He re-emerges as just Alex. TI1 Extended 1/18/04, 2020h Chapter 1 remains as is. Writing in P's voice is too hard. Chapter 2 has some at-school added bits - new subplot? Must find writing style. Chapter 3 is massively expanded, as Ben gives an intro to basically everything, a test of my new writing style for him. Chapter 4 will be tackled as soon as I find a real character for Sarah. Et cetera. TI Fighting Game 1/21/04, 0013h Selection screen is a double circle, our heroes in order on the outside and their evil counterparts on a separate inside ring. "Random" is in the center. One option: hold Start on a character to get their "un-powered" version (e.g. Start + select Soul gets you Lia). Another option: characters start out as said version, but when hit, they "power up" and change into their hero form. Note that Ted and Pat, as the non-mutants, don't have this disadvantage. Space (Sarah) / ??? (Ross) Time (Ben) / Mercury (Jake) Power (Rick) / ??? Mind (Timothy) / ??? (Tina) or Venus (???) Reality (Alex) / Altair (opponent) Soul (Lia) / Mars (John) Ted / Pat Armor (Alex & Lia) / Twins (???) Mizuno (Story mode only) New character, probably for TI3: the Twins. It is uncertain whether the Twins are two minds inextricably linked or a single mind spread between two bodies, but both of them are skilled fighters and yet another variation on telepathic. (Mind can't sense thoughts, Mizuno can't keep self-integrity, Tina can't alter thoughts, Venus can't do detail work, the Twins can't sense others, Alnora is the only normal one.) I also need another new character, perhaps the fourth member of the New Mutants, someone who should be the big wrestler character with some form of super strength. Another possibility: you pick a team of two characters, but Armor and the Twins take up both character slots. The assist system is a hybrid of different styles: while each character only has one assist (which may or may not take meter but isn't limited by stocks), you can't tag in or out. This introduces a little bit of slippery slope, as your second character can't use an assist. Performing the assist command for Armor and the Twins will simply default to one of their special (super?) moves. To unlock Armor and the Twins, beat the game with each good or bad mutant, respectively. To unlock Mizuno, beat the game with Ted, Pat, Armor, and the Twins. (Mizuno goes in the extra slot next to Armor and the Twins.) To unlock selectable Twins, beat the game with Mizuno (who is only playable in Story mode). Selecting the Twins now gives you the boy if you select Twins as your first character and the girl if you select Twins as your second character. (You can, of course, use the original Twins by picking Twins twice.) To unlock Evil Lia, unlock selectable Twins and then beat the game with Mars/Lia. To access Evil Lia, simply pick Lia twice. Thus, you cannot select Evil Lia as your second character, but you can have a team of Evil Lia and Lia. Like CvS2, there are a variety of boss fights depending on how well you do; there is also a storyline-related subboss for each character. If you do well enough after the regular Story mode fights, Mizuno jumps in after the subboss dialogue and fights you instead. Mizuno, instead of being a real character, steals your second character, who doesn't start in weakling mode, and fights against you with him. Mizuno has the same moveset and sprites as the character he possesses, but his name is changed to "Mizuno" and his portrait is black. Mizuno also (in any form) has a high-level super called Dark Influence, which moves forward like Shun Goku Satsu and stuns the opponent instantly while doing a moderate amount of damage. After the subboss fight, if you are a good character, you fight the Twins; if you are an evil character, you fight Armor. If you either faced Mizuno or score a perfect round during the boss fight, you then fight Mars and "Evil Lia", the requisite overpowered boss character from the end of TI3. There's really no reason not to win if you're playing Evil Lia: she does lots of damage, her moves are much souped up, and when the match is about to end, she activates her ultimate move (currently unnamed) which takes you down unavoidably to one pixel of life. Evil Lia's assist sucks super meter from the opponent and gives it to you. (Of course, the only one who can use this assist is the AI playing Mars at the end of Story Mode.) New Character: Edmund 1/24/04, 2247h Edmund, formerly "Brute", is either professor of philosophy at George Mason University or an ex-con working dead-end construction jobs. Kind of a disparity, I know, but I'm leaning to the former. Maybe both. In any case, Brute has always resented that moniker, and the fact that he is never able to show off his true strength. This makes the New Mutants (name still needs to be changed) group dynamics even weirder. Pretty much everybody could be a leader in this group except for Tina - Jake knows how the whole business is done, Ed is practically old enough to be the kids' father, Ross is probably the most powerful and serious one. Of course, Ross and Tina could be another variation on not an item, one intended as a tongue-in-cheek jab at Rob+Sophie (yeah, another one). Ross is the only one Tina trusts, but also she secretly resents the fact that she has to work through him to get to everyone else. I'm kind of cheating listing the Twins and Pat in the TI2 storyline, but whatever, as this puts the roster up to all 16 guys in the fighting game, plus Jill and Becky. Characters 1/25/04, 2100h This list was put up in HTML format on my website yesterday. Team Infinity: 1. Space (Sarah White), who controls a gateway to an alternate dimension 2. Time (Ben Eldinson), officially a precognitive 3. Power (Rick Hughes), who creates and manipulates energy waves 4. Mind (Timothy Walker), an empath 5. Reality (Alex Brene), a skilled shapeshifter 6. Soul (Lia Chin), who generates her own "good luck" The Homeland Security Agency: * Agent Ted Kavalec, senior agent in the Mutant Activities Division * Pat, agent in the Counter-Terrorism Division and secretly a mutant * Matthew Alnora, a powerful telepath working for the Mutant Activities Division Villains: * Mars (John Tyler), with near-unlimited energy manipulation powers * Altair, a highly skilled shapeshifter * The Twins, one mind in two bodies The New Mutants: * Ross, with control over the flow of entropy * Tina, a telepath with no power of influence * Jake (formerly Mercury of the Olympians), who runs at great speed * Edmund (formerly Brute), with great physical strength Others: * Becky, a normal human who is Lia's best friend * Jill Reddings (formerly Lily), with power over the growth of plants * Alexis, Alex's new girlfriend Filler female names: Danielle, Heather, Anna. More TI Fighting Game Stuff 1/31/04, 2018h Space: Staff - ranged normals, zoning Time: Fast normals, Millia projectile Power: High-priority normals, projectiles - big and slow though Mind: Grab/catch-based offense Reality: Dhalsim Soul: Dodge/autoguard-based offense Ted: Cable HP, running grab, basic shoto normals Armor: Big, fast, and powerful rushdown Ross: Status effects, 2-hit normals, long combos Tina: Meter-based grab character Ed: Big, slow, powerful Jake: Pixie character based on key moves - Makoto Altair: Twelve Mars: Mixed offense - Sol, Blackheart Pat: Kick-based martial arts - Kim Twins: Ice Climbers with standard moveset Mizuno: Your second character Story mode progression: 6x random battles (possibly 5x random and 1x midboss) -> Armor if you're evil, Twins if you're good, Mizuno if you've met the requirements (he arrives like ST Akuma) -> Lia/Mars, or Boss Mars / Evil Lia if you've met the requirements Boss Mars, Evil Lia: Shin Akuma / God Rugal from CvS2. One or two moves crazily pumped up, new "Inferno" super for Mars (floats to center of screen and the whole thing explodes), new "Equilibrium" move for Lia (about to die -> giant flash, you take one invisible hit that puts you to 1 life), loads of extra damage/lifebar for being bosses. Random Thoughts 3/11/04, 1345h; thought up over the last couple weeks Q. How would Mars take down Altair and Dr. Ransom? A. New ending for TI2, now that Altair has an objective other than "destroy all heroes nurrr". Everybody's in the same room, of course - but Altair doesn't have any of his minions with him. For whatever reason, the team is powerless to stop him. Just then, Mars bursts into the room. Altair's face lights up in a perfectly demonic expression. "You!" He starts forward, his shape beginning to flow, but Mars was quicker on the draw. He raises his hand and Altair goes up in a blaze of light - transformed into a star only a few microns across, continually fed by Altair's mass attempting to reform. Everyone shields their eyes, Ted reaches for his gun. "Wrong move." A snap of his fingers, and Ted's form ripples and solidifies in bits and pieces into Dr. Ransom. "Do you feel that, Doctor?" asks Mars. "The pressure on the inside of your skull, making it impossible to concentrate? That's me, destroying random brain cells. You have less than a minute to surrender before I hit something vital. Your choice." Weakly, he raises his hands. Possible branch #1: Nothing happens. Mars snaps, "Well?" but the team is still in a state of shock. (If they haven't matured all that much by the end of TI2, this is a good ending to show they're still relatively new at this.) Becky snatches Lia's gun out of her hand and takes Ransom down, pauses, then turns the gun on Mars. He just looks at her, sighs, and pulls the gun out of her hand (using his power of course, he's across the room) before she can fire. Altair's fire goes out, and as he reforms instinctively to his natural state, Mars switches on the neural dampener (or whatever it's called) in his inside pocket and shoots him with his other hand. He tosses the gun and the dampener onto the table and straightens his jacket. Turning to leave, he has some parting advice for Becky, with an ironic smile. "Next time, let Lia shoot. She may actually have hit me." Possible branch #2: Altair figures out a way to get out of Mars' trap - he drags the star with him, plunging it into Mars' chest. Mars screams and freezes - the two are locked in mortal combat, each trying to reassert their true form over the other. Ransom draws himself up to his full (more than full, maybe) height and points Ted's gun at the team. "Anyone else want to try heroics?" They're all frozen by his telepathy, except for Timothy, whom he promptly shoots. "No?" He begins to laugh, and starts dragging Mars/Altair from the room. As he turns his head, his aim wavers, and Becky wrests Lia's gun from her grip and points it at Ransom. He turns back to look at her, annoyed, but by that time, he has already been shot. He crumples, and the team jump-starts into action. Alex and Rick leap to either side of Mars/Altair and pull them away from each other, Alex shifting form constantly to survive touching Altair. Becky panics, unsure who to shoot, but won't give up the gun to Lia. Mars reforms and shrugs Rick's hands off him. "Thank you." Sarah encapsulates Altair for a few seconds, until Mars says, "Stop that, girl. I have a better idea." He stares her down until she complies. He puts his fire out, turns the dampener on, shoots Altair, leaves, etc. as in branch #1. Q. What about the talk show? A. It's possible Mars will develop some feelings for Lia, whether romantic or not I don't know. He's had six wives, the last of which was killed (accident? I'm not sure) by Tao Suzuki. Lia would undoubtedly be attractive to him as a girl finally on his level. He also warns our heroes that Altair is old. Very old. "Five thousand years ago, he was called Osiris..." Q. So what about Altair? A. Altair is a Dracula-like creature, infinitely adaptable, the most powerful metamorph who ever lived. He happens on Alex purely accidentally - for the second time. There are four classes of metamorphs: 1. Werewolves and other were-creatures are limited to a single form. Often intense emotional stress is required to trigger this change (i.e. the full moon). The whole silver bullet thing is a myth. 2. Vampires can change shape fluidly, but lack the ability to draw on outside energy sources to do it. Transformations weaken them so much that they must seek human blood to stay alive. Contrary to popular belief, a dead victim does not turn into a vampire; however, when their blood is drained, dormant vampires will often spontaneously manifest their powers and join the vampire race. 3. Shapeshifters have outside energy sources for their transformations, but are limited to basically human forms. Most surviving shapeshifters are under the control of intelligence or counterintelligence groups due to their usefulness. 4. The metamorph proper, like Alex or Altair, is hypothesized to be extremely rare - one who can change shape at will by drawing on sources of energy still unknown - possibly vacuum energy like Mars or dimensional access like Sarah. The only known way for one of "The Immortals" to die is suicide - a fate which claims quite a large percentage. It's hard to hold on to your sense of self when you have no set physical form, you see. Altair is one of those whose insanity drives him to keep himself alive at any cost until he has attained ultimate power, while Alex's insanity keeps him alive by burying his memories and restarting his life. Secondary Mutations? 3/27/04, 2318h Our heroes go through a fairly discrete set of changes in their powers. And yes, I AM listing John Tyler as part of the heroes - like Magneto, he can be a nice guy when it suits his purposes. Also let me note here that I am ready to give Marvel a big hug again after seeing their recent non-Ultimate work, esp. Xorn. The villains are not included because their powers remain basically static. 1.1 and earlier Sarah White: Rectangular gateway creation projected through locket Ben Eldinson: Fast brain projected through glasses or time vision Rick Hughes: Generic energy blasts using unconscious energy absorption, projected through video games Timothy Walker: Unfocused empathic sense/control abilities (a mentalist) Alex Brene: Skilled subatomic self-sense/control abilities (a metamorph) Lia Chin: Unconscious, unfocused "good luck", projected through flashes John Tyler: Highly skilled subatomic energy/matter control in large radius TI1.2-4 Space (Sarah): Limited control over gateway shape Time (Ben): No change Power (Rick): No change Mind (Timothy): Limited focus of control Reality (Alex): No change Mercury (Jake): Constant gravity vortex creation projected through running TI1.5-8 Space: Control over gateway shape and location Power: Loss of projection, wider range of energy sources Mind: Mental link with Time, limited focus/control of abilities Reality: Physical/mental link with Soul Soul (Lia): Knowledge of and limited access to "good luck" Ross: Entropy control through physical contact Tina: Telepathic sense abilities (a mentalist) Pat (Patriot Project 001): Heightened immune system Mars (John): No change TI1.9 Space: Loss of projection Soul: Emerging control and focus of "good luck"/flashes John: Change of alias, possibly to Omega or Evolution TI2 early chapters Time: Loss of projection Mind: Control of abilities Soul: Focus of "good luck" Jake: Loss of alias (possible new alias for Jake, Ross, Tina, Ed?) Ed: Personal inertia control TI2 middle chapters Space: Control of gateway backend Power: Knowledge of and limited access to absorption abilities Soul: Loss of flashes Jake: Control over vortex strength and location TI2 late chapters Time: Merging of discrete abilities Mind: Mental link with anyone Reality: Increased duplication ability Soul: Extension of powers beyond "good luck"? John: Loss of alias TI3 Alex: Loss of alias? Soul: Near-omnipotence That pretty much says it all. ;) Time Rescheduling Same Date TI1 I'm planning to reschedule to the last half of the school year so only two months will elapse between it and TI2. Mythical Explanation 4/26/04, 2344h I have no idea where this goes in the storyline. Like a true comic book, it's just another adventure our heroes could be having after TI1. Actually, it's probably between TI2 and TI3, since our heroes are separated in TI2 and Lia reaches her climax in TI3. So anyway, the idea stems from a basic criticism of my storyline: how are all these decently to amazingly powerful mutants in the same car crash, same school, etc.? And how come there are all their friends / enemies conveniently in NoVa as well? My current explanation (and one that I must advance before this storyline) is that the various methods of anticipating the future (Lia and Ben) conspire to create this great team. That seems a little flaky, though, especially considering how Lia is a latecomer to the team in my revised TI1. So I thought of this really cheesy but scarily effective way to explain everything. It'll be advanced by some new character who isn't 100% trustworthy, so nobody's ever sure if it's true or not. (Ambiguity is hard to write!) Anyway, the idea is that our heroes are really part of some cosmic plan to save the universe from whatever enemy it is this time: Space = Earth Time = Air Power = Fire Mind = Spirit Reality = Water The four traditional elements, plus "Spirit" to factor in human agency and serve as an aid to teamwork. There are personality arguments for it: Sarah and Ben are pretty much polar opposites, and Rick and Alex are always in friction with each other, but the rest of them get along fine. (Possible problem: Sarah/Rick, if I decide to keep that in my revision). The precog argument can be for it: the guy will simply advocate that Reality got put to the end by Ben because he's the leader, not because he's more powerful than Mind (this allows a perfect earth-air-fire-water-spirit setup "preordained" by Ben's original list). The powers argument is for it, to some extent, especially with "secondary mutations" (not called that) where Lia jump-starts their powers. Possibly by accident, possibly not - any number of explanations. Anyway, here's how our heroes now stack up: Space - Earth - Full control over portal, wears it as a skin and extends tendrils and whatever. Remember, even the level of power she had before this was enough to make her dangerous to Mars. Time - Air - This one's harder to do, I have no idea what Time can do evolution-wise. Power - Fire - Duh, he's on fire. His ability to channel energy and to create counterbalancing forces to control it has greatly increased. Mind - Spirit - No real changes necessary other than the logical evolution of his powers that happens slowly through all the storylines. For instance, he should be able to make a mental link with the whole team by now. Reality - Water - All it'll take is a little loosening of his tie and he should be plenty fluid enough in battle formation to qualify as Water. The obvious problem is, there's no room for Soul in this setup. Our heroes, chosen agents/spirits/embodiments/whatever of the five elements, shouldn't be easily outclassed like Lia is already doing. Solution: This is where Lia's luck comes in. If you'll notice, she joins the team just in time to bring Rick back into the fold in chapters 5-6 of TI1 - see? it's preordained, keeping the team whole. Her powers kept the team alive and eventually led to Alex's return in TI2, too. But she still doesn't have a mythical explanation... so I go to excuse for new storyline idea #3. Lia is Light (I toyed with Order, but she's not a good representation of order by any means), possibly Life or Yin. She and her polar opposite, Darkness, are supposed to complete the team by adding the supernatural forces to the five natural elements so that they can form the perfect seven-member team and save the universe. (Gee, 7 is a very convenient number!) Lia's powers used to be heralded by flashes of light, she has a unique talent for saving people's lives, she's enigmatic and didn't start out fully in control of what she does. Light was awakened first, and inevitably Darkness was drawn to her. He shows up just at the pivotal time. Three guess who HE is, first two don't count. That's right, our old friend John Tyler, who's been doing nothing but picking fights with Lia ever since we've been introduced to him. The two are opposites, but opposites also attract - there's some weird chemistry that I planned to exploit in TI2, and now it can be explained away. So if our heroes are going to save the universe, they've got to have all seven, or they don't stand a chance. That means they have to convince Mars (who by now has shed that name, I just don't have a better one... all right, John) to join Team Infinity. Does this sound like a hackneyed Magneto conversion plot, where our heroes' archenemy suddenly switches to good for no particular reason other than that it would be awesome to have him fighting alongside everyone else? Yeah, it does. Plus, John can make snide comments - heck, here he is being a superhero, and who does he have to be? Darkness. Nurrr. However, I never thought of John even as evil as Magnus, so it's not that big of a jump. So anyway, the only problem I'd foresee with this storyline is that it runs into Phoenix syndrome - each and every enemy they fight in this formation has to be able to deal with two mutants who are so good they're broken. That means that either Lia and Mars get a lot of time alone together fighting different kinds of enemies while our heroes can fight for their lives, or they get their powers chopped off / deactivated enough so they can't wave the magic wand of omnipotence. Also, note that my intended ending for TI3 involves Lia, when given the choice, putting things back to the way they used to be. It's a cheesy ending, but it's the only one that allows for a sequel with any hope of cool villains (as opposed to a Lia spinoff series or something). Since Lia needs some really crazy powers to account for this stuff, it must take place before TI3. This could possibly happen during TI2 as well. Our heroes would be informed that they need to combat an ancient menace, who turns out to be Altair. The only problem is that Altair is already a perfectly good villain without having to resort to goofy magical hand-waving, so I'd rather have someone else. Random Other Mutants 5/4/04, 0327h 1. Mentalists are a dime a dozen around here, apparently. What's important is to differentiate their powers to make it interesting. * Obviously, Timothy is an empath. However, he's a really, really powerful one. The most important thing in a duel between mentalists is effective range and strength of will, not some arbitrary "power" value. (Precedent in X-Men: Magnus resisting Xavier's mind control). * Dr. Ransom is Altair's sidekick, the latest in a string of course. Since Altair has basically unlimited power as a metamorph, he has a pacemaker inside Ransom's body ready to kill him if he so much as hints at betraying him. After Altair is disposed of, Ransom becomes a fearsome power in his own right, in fact dueling Mars in the finals of the TI3 farcical tournament. Mars walks in and he casually destroys the building behind him; Ransom does the same. (It's an illusion, but Ransom has simply controlled the minds of all present to make it real.) They proceed to have a cool battle which I'm not going to waste time thinking of at the moment. Ransom gets to be the generically powerful telepath. * Mars has to have bodyguards - but his bodyguard is a mentalist. He married the last one. That proved to be a mistake - only a short while ago, she was killed by Tao Suzuki (did they fight? not sure). I can easily write him in. Of course, after he joins Team Infinity, he doesn't need one, as Timothy can fill that role. * Tina is a telepath who (unlike the rest) can't affect anyone's thoughts, she can just sense them. As a result, she's bitter, depressed, and getting used as a canary by everyone starting with Alex doesn't help. * Venus is the opposite. She pretends she can read minds, but she really can't, and she has zero formal training. They combine to make sure she's the weakest mentalist we meet - someone who can knock you out or cloud your thoughts, but that's it. Of course, when she encounters our heroes, Timothy has even less experience, so it still works. She's very charismatic, though, and so she sticks around until her eventual rematch with the team (maybe at the end of TI1). 2. Mutants with useless or weird powers. I gotta have some of them. * Power over rubber (?) * Power over the pH of liquids * Power to see energy (the aforementioned twins, but I think I may have too many of them) * Wolverine homage: "healing factor" restores his own body shapeshifter-style, but that's it * The Sage, who lives inside his own alternate dimension, every once in a while passing notes out * Extreme spatial sense with no accompanying powers - "Mister Sensitive" homage * Diane knockoff: can control his whip with his mind, through air movements of course Character List: Parity! 06/06/04, 2159h Alias | Name | Friend Space | Sarah | Rosemary Time | Ben | Heather Power | Rick | Colin Mind | Timothy | Karen Reality | Alex | Dave Soul | Lia | Becky Omega | John | Palmer <--kudos to Katie Locher for suggesting this New Mutants: Jake, Ross, Tina, Ed, Jordan+Kelly (the Twins) Altair and Dr. Ransom Olympians: Venus and company Palmer is John Tyler's telepathic bodyguard, protecting him from those of his enemies with access to mentalists and warning him so he can deal with the rest. Some illegal brain conditioning has linked Palmer's life to John's continued existence: while he can stand with the couple seconds of dissolution that comes in battle, without sensing John's presence, he slowly goes insane. It's intended to be a creepy parallel with Altair's control of Ransom - reinforcement that John is the Emma Frost of the group. Omega is the working alias for John, replacing "Mars" when he leaves the Olympians. More Character Listage 06/13/04, 2116h On a church bulletin I have the above "Sarah <-> Rosemary" list, except Palmer is replaced with Emi, who serves the same function but does physical bodyguardage as well in case John's ever inactivated, plus she can only speak English with her telepathic powers. Also, the Twins (Jordan+Kelly) I think will be added to the New Mutants (name still pending) roster when Altair and Ransom swoop in. Altair obviously wanted to pick them up (as they're one of the few forms he doesn't know how to assimilate), and the New Mutants are the perfect place to put them. This puts them at 6 to the Olympians' five and TI's 6-7. I still have no idea how Pat fits into all this.