Chapter 7 - The Rules of the Game Command Briefing.
One week after the opening of Olympus.
Transcript made from video recordings.
Attendees: Members of the Admin staff and all resident MetaHumans except the speedsters. Janice: All right I think we are ready to begin. We are here to discuss what we have learned in the past weeks. To get things started I am going to ask a few people to fill us all in on what they have been doing. First up, Alicia from Research.
Alicia: Hi everybody. For those of you who do not know our basic assignment was to learn about MetaHumans, how many there are, what they can do, and what they have been doing. At first we studied news reports and other official sources of information to try and get some idea how widespread things were.
All that was shelved when Miss. Pathfinder showed up. Her ability to mentally scan over vast distances gave us a whole new direction. Starting with how many MetaHumans there are and approximately where they are located we were able to match news stories with a person.
Say we know that MetaHuman A is in a particular area. If there are news reports of someone flying from the same area there you go. Not exacting but it helped a lot. There seem to be twenty basic power types and three different levels of ability.
MetaHumans of the first Type essentially have the basic physical enhancements that all Metas enjoy but that is all. They are about slightly stronger than a well-trained human and are somewhat more resistant to injury. Speed and reflexes are high, but not all that superhuman, I mean MetaHuman sorry.
There are about 350 Type I MetaHumans in the world.
Type IIs are people with both the basic physical enhancement and a what can only be called a superpower. Everyone seems to basically have a single power although in some cases it is questionable. A few of the powers tend to branch into other areas if the Meta is strong enough.
These are the 'Rule Changers'. If they are smart and use their abilities well they are likely to be beyond normal human control. They are not invulnerable though and they could be stopped with the proper effort. I believe the human you are calling Bats is responsible for bringing down 4 MetaHumans so far proof that it can be done.
That brings us to the Type IIIs the most powerful of the new superbeings. We call them 'Rule Breakers' because they are so powerful it is hard to conceive how humans could even hinder them let alone kill them.
We are rating IIs and IIIs in three levels of power, one is the weakest, three is strongest.
You Mr. Pulsar are a Type III Level 3, and there is one other here at Olympus.
Pulsar: Who?
Alicia: Geo. We have him classed with you in the 'Energy Master' power category but that is not really correct. But when we tried to use 'Matter Master' we just found the phrase silly. Both of you can manipulate matter or energy at such a fundamental level that your real limits will probably never be known.
Psyche: What are the powers?
Alicia: In order they are:
1. Acrobatics
2. Armor
3. Density Control
4. Energy Master
5. Energy Projection
6. Entangle
7. Flight
8. Force Field
9. Growth
10. Invisibility
11. Mental Blast
12. Mental Illusions
13. Mind Scan
14. Regeneration
15. Shape Shift
16. Strength
17. Speed
18. Telepathy
19. Telekinesis
20. Teleport
All Type I Metas are classed as Acrobats which is a general physical enhancement category. The powers Regeneration, Shape Shift, and Teleport are tentative. There is no one here who has them but we have pretty good evidence they exist.
Pathfinder: Teleport is definite, I have seen people pop across multiple states. There is one person out there who must be able to port anywhere on the planet. This person appears out of nowhere sometimes and then vanishes back. To get outside of my basic scan range you have to go to another continent.
Pulsar: What is the difference between Energy Master and Energy Projection?
Alicia: The difference between you and Apollo sir. He can generate light, heat and with work possibly a laser. All his abilities are centered not only around a single type of energy but he can only project it. He has very little ability to affect light that is ambient. You on the other hand sir... well is there any sort of energy you cannot control?
Pulsar: Mental energy actually. I can barely see it. I can block it but that is all. I cannot project it or affect it directly. Psyche finds that funny by the way. But thank you for the answer.
Alicia: You are welcome sir. We have looked at the power distribution across the three levels. Pretty much as you would expect there are about twice as many level twos as level threes, and twice as many level ones as twos.
But I must point out that since we only have 29 MetaHumans that we can really study this information is not solid yet. Seems to make sense though.
Shorthand for our system is Power # x Type Level. So you sir would be 4x33
Janice: Thank you Alicia we will be coming back to you later for the rest. Anyone have any questions for her before we move on? Alright... Paul you are up.
Paul: Hello everyone. I am in charge of putting together some sort of combat training program here. The idea is to give each new MetaHuman a basic understanding of combat. I am supposed to give them some idea of how normal combat ops work, and help them to put their own special abilities to work.
I will tell you all right now I do not know what the f--- I am doing.
(general laughter)
I am a former navy SEAL so I do know my trade but what you people can do makes what I know seem pointless. You want to know the truth? After my interview here, and meeting her I went out and got blasted. Never been so goddammed scared in my goddammed life. Next time some bastid shoots at me. I am gonna laugh. Laugh! Bullets, screw 'em, I've met Psyche.
This is all insane shit.
We have not gotten much accomplished yet still just learning what everyone can really do. But I will promise you this much I will learn and then I will teach. Everyone you entrust to me will come out of my training grounds ready to fight. This ain't no game we are playing and I intend for my boys and girls to win.
That's my report.
Thor: How much time do you think you would need for a proper MetaHuman combat training course?
Paul: Well sir for normal combat three months is enough, if you want special ops level of performance add six more. Nine months would probably do it.
Pulsar: We will never have nine months.
Thor: But if that is what it takes?
Pulsar: Thor my faithful friend... we do not have the time. We do not have 9 months we might not have 9 days. At least for now we have to race the clock. Six weeks.
Paul: Yes sir. Best I can do in six weeks, gotcha.
Janice: Thanks Paul. We all have faith in you. Erin if you would go next please.
Erin: Hiya. I am Erin and I am in charge of our facilities here at Olympus. So that means I get the food in here that you people eat by the truckload and I am responsible for all the construction.
I just want to say first that I am thrilled to be here. I know what lies ahead of us but I know we will get through it as long as we stay together.
We currently have eight functioning buildings. All, except for Admin, are of simple steel construction. We have however finally finished the interiors of the seven so they are not looking too shabby. This Admin building is a quick constructing prefab in case anyone was wondering.
Current usage is as follows:
1 Admin
2 Living Quarters
1 Training
1 Garage
1 Tech & Support Workshops
1 Science & Medical
1 Support & Storage
We have major construction plans for the months ahead, and with the help of some of you superpowered people, we might even be on schedule.
That's it Janice.
Janice: Thank you Erin. Some information we just got goes along with her report. All six helicopters are at our airport. In case any of you did not know it we purchased a medium-sized airport under a cover business identity. The two Gulf-Stream jets arrive tomorrow.
Those of you who were, or are, fans of comic books, or SciFi movies, will love this part. Geo is going to make a tunnel leading from here to the airport. When we add in some electric vehicles we should be able to move about with little notice.
Apollo: So no luck in making contact with any of the Teleporters?
Pathfinder: Sorry not yet. Even spotting for Speed has not worked. They make three jumps or more and I just lose them. On top of that they only really register when they are jumping so I get little warning. We will make it work just need some time.
Pulsar: I know you will. It is a very tricky problem but I have faith in you and your team.
Pathfinder: Thank you.
Nike: Some of us are less worried about transportation than others.
Janice. Now if we can all quiet down a little. Alicia. I think the time is right to present the most troubling information you have discovered.
Alicia: Ok. In case anyone does not know, Miss. Pathfinder here has the power #13, Mind Scan. This means she can mentally look at an area of the globe and sense the people inhabiting that space. If she knows who she is looking for she can find specific people.
MetaHumans show up in her scans even when she is not looking for one in particular. We spent one very intense 24 hour session recording everything she found across the entire planet. When we combined that with data from the Olympus residents, and the condensed news report data, the entire picture began to emerge.
Let me stop right here. I want you all to know that what I am about to say is certainly based on conjecture. The numbers could not possibly be exact. But they are probably pretty close and basic on sound psychiatric principles.
Ok.
We have identified, or tracked, 302 Type II & Type III MetaHumans. There are 29 of them resident at Olympus. If you apply the most basic of psychology to those numbers you get something like this:
38 MetaHumans will join Olympus at first
83 will remain basically Neutral
123 will go bad to various degrees
58 will go really bad, Evil
The odds against us are staggering. The most troubling part has to do with how the levels of power within each type seem to work. If the breakdown is what we think it is that means of the 180 MetaHumans who might be the enemy... 36 will be Type III, and of those, five will be Level 3.
Sir we mean no disrespect by this, but we have a name for Type III Level 3s, 'World Wreckers'.
Sir do you believe that you could destroy the entire planet?
Pulsar: Yes I think I could.
Alicia: How are we going to stop them? There could easily be a dozen or more people with that kind of power. Not many of my team have gotten a lot of sleep since we realized this sir.
Pulsar: I think the odds are going to be worse. But those are bad enough. We are going to stop them by working together. We are going to stop them because we have a cause that is worth fighting for. Paul, are battles won by guns and bombs?
Paul: No Sir.
Pulsar: What does win battles then?
Paul: The will to win Sir. You have to want it more.
Pulsar: Exactly. The reason we will win is because we are standing up for every living thing on this planet. Never forget that, any of you, not for a moment. We have to survive if the planet is going to survive, it is as simple, and as horrific, as that. I am going to ask every one of you to do some tough things along the way, some of us... are gonna die.
But we are going to win. We are going to do it because we are going to be willing to make the hard choices. The kind that no one should ever have to make... the life or death kind. I was not ready to discuss this with any of you yet but I guess now is the time.
We are composing a Pact. A short document that basically says that MetaHuman powers are to be used for positive things only or not used at all. Humans and human society is not to be harmed or adversely affected in any way by MetaHuman actions.
Every Metahuman we can reach will be offered the option of either coming to Olympus, or simply agreeing to the Pact.
If they have not intentionally hurt anyone or done anything else that would be considered criminal... then those are the choices. Anyone who rejects both options will be told that they will be watched.
And we will watch.
As long as they remain peaceful or helpful... fine. If not, then things become a little different.
Let's say that a group of Metas is robbing a bank. Some of us show up and stop them. Now what? Some of them may die in the fight so we do not have to worry about them... but what of the others?
Can we trust humans to imprison them? Will they be able to contain people with our kind of power? I doubt it.
Could we control them? Maybe, but to do it we would have to have MetaHumans maintain the prison. Our power could conceivably contain theirs. But at what cost? The more of them we chain up, the more of us that must guard them. Anybody here want to be a prison guard?
Do not feel bad neither do I.
Even if we could make it work, the prison would simply be a target for every mastermind that wants some henchman, right? I don't like it and I do not think it would work.
So that only leaves one other option. We make sure that when we fight none of them is left alive.
(confused outbursts)
Quiet! Do not look at me like that. This can very easily become a War people a Meta War. If we fail the world dies. Those poor souls who do not die in the battles will wish they had because they will be slaves to whoever of us is left in the end.
There are 29 of us here. After a month to think about it... 29. I am so glad you all are here I cannot even begin to express it. But we are outnumbered, badly. We do not have the luxury of playing nice. I have said from the beginning this is not a comic book maybe now you finally understand why.
You want another option, find one. Until you do then I have no choice but to proceed... my way.
Shadow: Wait. So are you saying we are supposed to finish off anyone we fight? Cause I could get behind that policy. Doing that we can have life back to normal by Christmas.
Nike: No Shadow it means we have to be practical about it.
Pulsar: Every team will have a Telepath. We will make the effort to reach out to every MetaHuman out there. But there is a line and once someone crosses that there are just not many options left. Metas who accept the Pact but do not want to come here will get $100 grand a year to stay nice. There are so few of us I think we can just take away the need for some kinds of crime and Olympus is happy to do so.
Shadow: I still like it.
Pulsar: I cannot tell you how pleased that makes me Shadow.
Shadow: Wait 100k. That is what she told me I was getting?
Psyche: Are you joining PsiInt or not?
Shadow: Sure I'm in.
Psyche: Then your salary just tripled.
Shadow: Shutting up now.
Pulsar: We have a lot to get done.
Apollo. Nike. I want the two of you to start thinking about what sort of team you wish to lead. I want eight people per team and you each have a slightly different focus. Nike your team should lean towards the covert, and Apollo you have the strike force. But do not get too focused on that. Both of you should pick a team that is ready for anything, any mission, any threat.
The Speedsters will be available but do not fill one of your team slots with either of them. They will help everybody. Each of you will need a Telepath and fortunately Psyche's two sisters are willing.
Justice will also be expanded a bit beyond the four of us. But I do not intend to go into the field unless I have to. If either of the two of you have any questions, talk to me about them later.
Nova want a job?
Nova: With Justice?
Pulsar: Yes.
Nova: Oh hell yes.
Pulsar: One other thing, Alicia, how many speedsters in your estimate?
Alicia: No estimate there are six. They are hard to miss I am told.
Pulsar: Alright. Speed. Kid Flash. I need you.
(double whoosh)
Speed: you rang
Pulsar: Speed, Kid, there are 4 more people like you out there. Find them for me.
Speed: you got it boss
Kid Flash: hi everybody bye everybody
(double whoosh)
Pulsar: Janice would you like to close us down?
Janice: This meeting is adjourned. Recording devices off.
end transcript
Janice, Erin, Alica & Paul MetaWar Chapter Eight MetaWar Chapter Six