2.1 Inside the Q-Zone

As Able entered it some distance behind Mouthpiece, the Q-Zone seemed highly overrated. The Q-Zone was famous even outside the Divide for its randomly occurring “wild zones”, areas where reality shattered and the laws of physics had no meaning. Anything could happen in a wild zone. The stories made it seem like the things popped up every few seconds, but Able saw nothing of the sort. He kept his eyes open nonetheless as he focused his metagene detection ability forward.

He could feel several more metahumans in the Q-Zone, but most seemed to be congregated somewhere ahead. As they neared and Mouthpiece slowed down ahead, Able could see the edges of the crowd formed in the Q-Zone’s center. Able scowled. The only thing he liked less than Americans were groups of Americans.

He pushed his revulsion to the side and pushed his way in to the crowd. As he stepped forward he could see a raised dais in the center of the crowd. Mouthpiece joined his compatriots on the dais. Able recognized the Great Question’s commander Conundrum as well as his two dwarfish sidekicks. A woman dressed like an American cowboy hovered a few steps behind Conundrum. Another man, cloaked in a robe covered in druidic runes, stood off to one side.

The crowd cheered their leaders with reckless abandon. Able felt like he had somehow found himself in some B-movie third world country, where the population mindlessly loved their evil leader. Something here wasn’t right; a tingle in his spine reiterated it.

Conundrum listened to a few words whispered in his ear by Mouthpiece. He smiled. Mouthpiece stepped forward and the crowd went quiet to listen to his proclamation.

“The enemy of the people of the Q, the American’s vile agent Mister Midnight, is dead! He fell at my hands only minutes ago. The Great Question takes another victory in the control of our great Divide!”

The crowd cheered with perfect timing.

“No!” A figure leaped from within the cheering crowd. The multicolored rags she wore fell away in mid-air. Beneath it, she wore a white costume that glowed with light as she floated down to the ground on the stage.

“I will avenge my partner’s death. Prepare to die, Mouthpiece.”

The two midgets moved in to protect their leaders, but the man in the druid’s robes stepped forward. “Shock, Awe, hold,” he said to his compatriots.

The midgets dropped back a few steps. The robed man pulled his hood back revealing rows of nappy dreads. “Doctor Dawn, welcome to the Q-Zone. I plead with you; do not throw your life away here today.”

“It’s you that will die today, Antagonist. You and all your kind!”

Antagonist looked around at the members of the Great Question, both on stage and off. “You’re surrounded by hundreds of my men, Dawn. I rule this city while you’re just a pathetic pawn of an inept government. I will give you one more chance, stand down and leave.”

“Never.”

Americans and their showboating, Able thought. If the fool of a woman would have struck from her position in the crowd, Mouthpiece would be dead now. Instead she placed herself in hopeless odds with no chances of victory. Idiot.

Antagonist shook his head. “Great Question, stand down. I will deal with this fool myself.”

Doctor Dawn dove at the Great Question’s leader but Antagonist shot in to the sky above her head. Dawn answered with bolts of concentrated light fired in Antagonist’s direction, but he answered with a raised force field. The lasers ricocheted in to the sky.

Antagonist dropped the field and unleashed his own devastating blast of force that drove Doctor Dawn hard in to the ground. Dawn’s flowing outfit began to glow even brighter. Able shielded his eyes as he felt what came next.

A blinding light filled the courtyard. Able uncovered his eyes as Dawn’s glow faded back to normal levels. She struck out with another series of blasts in Antagonist’s direction. The ruler of the Divide answered with a shield of his own energy.

With a scream, Antagonist unleashed another blast of pure force. Dawn flew back several feet before crashing in to the solid wall to the back of the dais.

Antagonist walked over to Doctor Dawn’s unconscious form and grabbed her by the chin. He took a moment to look at the woman’s face before he turned to Mouthpiece. “She is yours to work with, Mouthpiece. I will expect her ready by this evening’s festivities.”

“Yes, my liege.”

Antagonist turned to the crowd and raised his arms in victory. The crowd cheered.

Savages, Able thought. Americans at their worst. Nevertheless, he was thankful for the display. None of the metahumans here possessed what he needed. As it should be. I would rather die than make allegiance with this body before me.

Able turned and made his way out from within the crowd. He felt one more metahuman presence nearby. Best to check it, then leave this godforsaken hole forever.

Antagonist

Antagonist

Dex: 06	Str: 03	Bod: 05	Motivation: Power Lust
Int: 09	Wil: 08	Min: 06	Occupation: Gang leade, supreme ruler of the Divide
Inf: 08	Aur: 09	Spi: 09	Resources {or Wealth}: 014
Init: 023		HP: 070

Powers: Emotion Absorption (Energy Blast, Flight, Force Field): 25, Energy Blast: 4, Flight: 4, Force Field: 4

Bonuses and Limitations: Emotion Absorption is an automatic action when around Antagonist’s followers. Whenever in the Q-Zone, Antagonist can be counted as having 18 APs of absorbed emotions in reserve, usually distributed evenly around his powers.

Skills: Charisma: 12, Detective (law): 7

Advantages: Area Knowledge (the Divide); Government Credentials (high); Expansive Headquarters; Gift of Gab; Omni-Connection; Scholar (business)

Connections: Crime (low), Great Question (high), Skull Solo (low), Street (low)

Drawbacks: Authority Figure; Dependent (Jaena); Enemy (Everyman); Enemy (Jack Flash); Enemy (Mr. Mayor); Minor Psychological Instability

Background:
Real name: Anthony Goen IV
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: Jaena (daughter), Anthony III (father, deceased)
Group affiliation: leader of the Great Question
Base Of Operations: Q-Zone
Height: 5'9" Weight: 194 lbs.
Eyes: Black Hair: Black

Powers and Abilities:
Antagonist feeds off the strong emotions of others and can channel them in to his own abilities. This fuels his telekinetic abilities to fly and project force fields and blasts. With his loyal supporters in the Q-Zone behind him, Antagonist has a vast store of energy.

In addition, Antagonist is a skilled manipulator. With the powers of his aide de camp Mouthpiece to support him, Antagonist projects a mind-numbingly charismatic presence which gives him the ability to lead many individuals in to following him.

History:
The heir to the Goen steel fortune, Anthony Goen grew up as a rebellious young rich kid, undisciplined and unwatched. He fell in to a life of sex, crime and drugs, but it wasn’t until he impregnated his African American girlfriend that his father took an interest in his son’s fall. The elder Goen beat his son to within an inch of his life. During his recovery, Anthony’s father declared his son his official heir and set out to brutally manipulate the younger Anthony in to a rightful heir to his empire. Anthony’s daughter Jaena was left with her mother and a large trust fund in exchange for mother and daughter’s silence.

The elder Goen died days after Anthony’s twenty-second birthday and Anthony quickly took total control of his father’s holdings. Within two years, Anthony expanded them in to a vast multi-venture empire. One of the fields he financed study in was metagenetic research, in hopes of unlocking his own metahuman abilities. His researchers cut costs left and right, performing experiments on prostitutes and the homeless with little care for their subjects’ well-being.

*CLASSIFIED*

His fury at the destruction of the experimental materials proved short lived as he found something in the explosion had activated his own metagene. Goen left Detroit for the south of France where he would live for the next several years. Meanwhile, Detroit was ravaged in the Endstorm, and in the aftermath, the Divide rose from the ashes.

Five years later, Anthony, now richer than ever, received word from his former girlfriend’s mother in the Divide. His ex was dead and his daughter Jaena was ready to see him.

Wanting to drive the final nail in his father’s coffin, Goen moved in to the Divide to retrieve his daughter. Once there, he found an empire ripe for the plucking. Gathering together Conundrum, Mouthpiece, Cowgirl, Shock, Awe and the rest of the forces of the Great Question, Goen worked behind the scenes to take control of the Q-Zone. For months, no one knew who the Great Question’s mysterious leader, known only as the Antagonist, could be.

Jack Flash uncovered Antagonist’s existence. Antagonist quickly found himself regularly battling Flash as well as the hero of the people known as Everyman. His manipulation behind the scenes lead to both men’s repeated defeat. With his two greatest enemies out of the way, The Great Question attacked City Center. Antagonist dethroned Mr. Mayor and took control of the Divide itself.

His manipulations lead to his recruiting of Everyman’s ex-wife Barbara and son Vic, whose presence served to keep the hero at bay. In utter control of the city, Antagonist now seeks to increase the size of his empire past the borders of the Divide, while from within the city’s own heroes fought against him and his control of the city.

Personality:
Antagonist’s motivations are closely guarded, known only to himself and his confidants in the Great Question. His one true desire is power, and he will do anything to acquire even greater levels of it. Lascivious by nature, Antagonist keeps a harem of several women to serve his “needs” at any given time. Antagonist shows a different side around his daughter Jaena whom he treats with care despite her utter lack of respect for him.

Barbara Simmons (also pictured)
Barbara is the ex-wife of John “Everyman” Simmons. She has normal human (2 AP) stats but for the following: Dex: 3, Body: 3, Int: 4, Detective (law): 6, Weaponry (firearms): 4

Barbara, called Babs by the members of the Great Question, is a masochist at heart. She revels in the pain she causes her former husband, and is easily the proudest member of Antagonist’s harem.

The Everyman

Everyman

Dex: 05	Str: 05	Bod: 05	Motivation: Thrilll of Adventure
Int: 05	Wil: 08	Min: 07	Occupation: Vigilante
Inf: 06	Aur: 07	Spi: 06	Resources {or Wealth}: 005
Init: 018		HP: 035

Powers: Mind Over Matter: 12, Regeneration: 4, Systemic Antidote: 10

Skills: Martial Artist: 5*, Occultist (occult knowledge): 4, Thief: 5*, Weaponry (melee, missile, exotic): 5*

Bonuses and Limitations: Weaponry (exotic) only applies to his electrified bat

Advantages: Area Knowledge (The Divide), Double Jointed, Iron Nerves, Local Hero, Stabilization

Connections: Councilwoman Pinaretti (high), Jack Flash (high), Street (high)

Drawbacks: Debt (Rob Vile), Enemy (Antagonist), Public Identity, SIA to Beer, Traumatic Flashbacks (to crucifixion;, uncommon, triggered by having hands tied)

Equipment: Electrified Bat [Body: 7, EV: 3, Lightning: 7] Limitations: Lightning has a range of Touch

Background:
Real name: John Simmons
Marital status: Divorced
Known relatives: Barbara (ex-wife), Victor "Vic" (son)
Group affiliation: None
Base Of Operations: Simmons residence in the southern portion of The Divide
Height: 6' Weight: 220lbs.
Eyes: Blue Hair: Blond

Powers and Abilities:
John Simmons possesses the ability to shut off his pain receptacles at will. This allows him to remain active in combat far longer than any normal human. In addition, his body possesses enhanced healing abilities and a high level of resistance from poisons and disease.

A trained street brawler, The Everyman carries a bat which possesses an electrical charge that he uses as a dangerous offensive weapon. Simmons is never seen without his bat near at hand.

History:
Little is known of the history of the Everyman before he gained his abilities. A native of Detroit, he gained his powers sometime either shortly before or after the city’s destruction. He became one of the city’s earliest vigilantes, although his earliest endeavours were often fights with reformed villain Double Cross. To this day, Simmons and Double Cross don’t see eye to eye.

Unlike many other metahumans remaining in the Divide, John Simmons had a wife and son. His lack of desire to keep his identity secret led to them falling in to dangerous situations and his wife Barbara would eventually leave him while he was out on the town. This brought about even more binge drinking by the Everyman and in turn even more rowdiness.

The Everyman was one of the first men to challenge the Antagonist and his minions in the Great Question. But he fell victim to the Antagonist’s mind games over and over again. Ultimately, he fell to the Antagonist and his two newest recruits: his ex-wife Barbara and son Vic. They watched in cold blood as Simmons was crucified and left to die on the edge of the Q-Zone.

Simmons was rescued by the residents of his own neighborhood. Nursed back to health he met Councilwoman Vanessa Pinaretti, a thirty something former alderwoman who remained in her position of power under Mr. Mayor’s reign. She helped him to find a new place as a community leader and protector, and he continues his quest to clean up the Divide and defeat the Antagonist once and for all.

Description:
See picture. John Simmons usually wears simple street clothes, most often a pair of ragged blue jeans and a wifebeater.

Personality:
John Simmons is a blue collar slag at heart. He likes to drink, he likes to fight, and he likes to have a good time with the ladies. But despite all this, he does have a layer of emotional instability, mostly related to the betrayal of his former wife and son. He will do just about anything to convince them to leave the Great Question, and in turn it fuels his undying hatred for Antagonist.

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