Both Needed Web-heads and Spider-Fans Wanted (Two Spots Open!)

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Both Needed Web-heads and Spider-Fans Wanted (Two Spots Open!)

Last minute decisions bring our characters to Times Square. Shopping, begging, on their ways somewhere else, when hijacked busses barrel through the dense crowds and form barriers, temporarily blocking off police access. The team is trapped inside as teams of armed men exit the busses and begin their mass robbery. In the panic, those with powers slink into the shadows or pick off the easiest targets. Morgan is the only one perceptive enough to notice an unorganized, second faction taking the fight to the criminals in the midst of the chaos, and watches them closely while they independently operate.

The others notice each other, and after most of the thugs are subdued, have a little meet and greet in private. Except they're not alone, and Morgan weasels herself in and offers her services.
 
I love it! Characters are forced to act without the benefit of preparation, or a real disguise, it's a big, visible crime that will bring them some attention, and the face that they're there during the daytime means that, when they decide to meet in costume, they already kind of know they can trust one another ... y'know? I'm super behind this idea!
 
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Age: 24
Ethnicity: Australian
Height: 5'11
Physique: Athletic, lean muscular
Complexion: slightly tanned.
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Blonde
Scars/Marks: Has two large puncture scars on his right breast.

Source of Power?
Frank Dukes is basically a Were-Spider. He was turned about a week ago and just coming to terms with his transformations.
Hybrid Form
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He partially shifts into a spider, resulting in a monstrous, human spider hybrid.
Massive Spider
Not gonna get a picture for this, but basically he can morph into a spider the size of a human.
Driving Force to Fight Crime?
He's been through his share of troubles, and honestly doesn't want others to have to go what he went through. He just wants to make the cuty a safer place, by putting the fear into criminals.

Day Job?
Labourer. He works as a contractor, for a construction firm.

Bio:
Frank was born in Australia to a good family. Had a pretty nondescript childhood. It wasn't until he moved to New York when he was eighteen.
He got a job as a construction labourer. Lived in a shitty apartment.
The Spider thing happened when he was walking through Central Park during a full moon. He was attacked by a giant spider, which chased him down and bit him. Then, the spider cocooned Frank in web. Three days later, Frank was freed and forced to mate with WereSpider. Frank then had to escape without getting eaten.
 
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Maybe to have your character remain more personable next to the others, you could take on the trope of the Six-Armed Spider-Man.

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@Cheshire Cat You want to explain the WereSpider, as I've explained it to you?
I kind of want to see if I've explained it well enough that you got the point, and to see it through your eyes.
 
@Cheshire Cat You want to explain the WereSpider, as I've explained it to you?
I kind of want to see if I've explained it well enough that you got the point, and to see it through your eyes.

Uh, oh, well, I mean, I assumed your character was a normal human when in human form, but had the ability to shift into different forms; a man-spider with the abilities of a traditional spider hero, those we've listed, or a giant (human-sized) spider with the same abilities, and then can shift back, though it takes great effort and concentration. Additionally, during the full moon he is forced to become the hybrid form at best, and the full spider form at worst.
 
That's about right, and probably a better picture for his spider person form.
 
He's essentially the same as everyone else, but has a bigger weakness, being basically human when not in spider-form, in exchange for extra limbs that he's not going to be very practised with in the beginning :p

EDIT: PS! I'm going to bed! Nini people :3
 
Last minute decisions bring our characters to Times Square. Shopping, begging, on their ways somewhere else, when hijacked busses barrel through the dense crowds and form barriers, temporarily blocking off police access. The team is trapped inside as teams of armed men exit the busses and begin their mass robbery. In the panic, those with powers slink into the shadows or pick off the easiest targets. Morgan is the only one perceptive enough to notice an unorganized, second faction taking the fight to the criminals in the midst of the chaos, and watches them closely while they independently operate.

The others notice each other, and after most of the thugs are subdued, have a little meet and greet in private. Except they're not alone, and Morgan weasels herself in and offers her services.
I really like it!!!! Could even be done by a measly congregation of those hippie-like rebels (or a big one). Y'know, one's who are all against capitalism & government, and by robbing one of the mainest main attractions in the world. they'd make a huge statement. Though it'd be backward aF.

As for the characters themselves, I think that it'd be waY cool if when noticing one another through the corner of their eyes, they subconsciously begin to fight together, and then later on are like "woah, we make a pretty good team." with Morgan reinforcing the idea.
 
Would Exo care to elaborate?

Let's look at the characters' motivations.

  • Morgan wants to aid superpowered individuals using their powers for good.
  • Frank wants to make the city safer.
  • Bikki is fearful/avoidant and wants to survive/find safety.
  • Emilio wants to prove he can make a positive impact.
  • Victoria feels a calling to defend the defenseless and persecute the unjust.
  • Cheng is fearful but wants to heal others.

@Methistopheles has yet to grace us with his character sheet, which he hopefully will soon.
@Cheshire Cat wants the characters to form a team for the purpose of the story arc.


The characters have to get to know each other. Once they do...

  • Frank and Victoria will discover they share a motivation.
  • Emilio could see an opportunity to prove himself by helping Frank and Victoria.
  • Cheng could see an opportunity to heal others while protected by Frank, Victoria, and Emilio.
  • Morgan could see the opportunity to forge Frank, Victoria, Emilio, and Cheng into a team and guide them using her organizational skills.
  • Bikki could be drawn to the nascent group because of the safety and security they represent.

So, we'll need a situation which will...

  • Force the characters to rely on each other.
  • Go on long enough for the characters to have meaningful conversations with each other.
  • Go on long enough for the characters to learn to trust each other.
  • The 'who the fuck are you?' phase.
  • The 'we're in this together so let's make the best of it' phase.
  • The 'getting to know each other phase'.
  • The 'we've been through a lot and I feel like I can trust you, sorta' phase.
  • Then the 'looks like we made it, what are we going to do now' phase.
So, we need a situation which will do these things.

Starting with @CasualAdventurer 's idea of a mass event, then adding @Robbie Aldridge 's suggestion of a politically motivated riot, I suggest...

  • A city-wide riot that lasts at least two days. A total breakdown of law and order.
  • In a metropolis that is rife with social ills (poverty, unemployment, etc.)
  • That is politically motivated.
  • By a shadowy network.
  • That plays on people's divisions and grievances.
  • Which counts many influential people among its ranks.
  • And seeks its own power.
  • In a time of persecution of superpowered individuals.
  • Driven by the shadowy network's media fearmongering
  • To distract the public from what the shadowy network is doing.
That way the characters will be well and truly screwed unless they rely on each other, the characters can't rely on normal institutions to take care of things, and the innocent and defenseless need defenders more than ever.

With this, the situation will be dire to the point where it would be implausible for a character NOT to join up with the group. And, we have a hidden long term enemy to struggle against, in addition to regular crime, supercrime, misguided oppressive institutions, and the usual big city drama.
 
Alrighty, let's put some of that into practice.

Haygen, a long-standing rival of Faulkner Bio, has flourished with their only competition out of business. While Morgan's family business was focused on technological advancements to the human body, Haygen went the opposite direction, specialising in the cellular alteration of people. (Maybe they're the cause of the influx of superpowers in people, other than our characters if we go with the whole Spider God thing.) They're in shady dealings with mercenary companies, offering supersoldiers, but need a way to bring up their supply if they're gonna meet a certain quota. They need a good way to snatch supers off the streets without being noticed, both villains and powers civilians alike. Their solution? Mass panic.

Taking a plot device from the most recent Spider-Man game, maybe Haygen causes a prison break at Rykers. Criminals flood the city, causing the several day long state of martial law. Frank and Victoria are the first to put on the ski masks, finding it all the perfect opportunity to live out their fantasies of fighting crime when they're needed most. Inevitably, rumors of "Spider-People" start spreading about both of them, and it's only a matter of time before they track each other down. Partnership formed.

Emilio, Cheng, and Morgan would try and do what they could with their abilities. Again, like in the most recent Spider-Man game, all three of them could volunteer at the local homeless shelter instead of just hiding in their apartments. Lines up with Emilio wanting to prove he can be selfless and useful, and with Cheng's desire to indirectly help. (I imagine there would be a med wing set up where they could sneak in at night and bite them.) Emilio could catch Cheng in the act, and after explaining themselves, both would bond over their shared abilities.

Wouldn't wanna make any assumptions, but Robbie and I get along OOC, so our characters could already know each other. (Maybe, since he's the only one with a symbiote, Emilio met her at the homeless shelter and asked her to take a look at his 'other half' to make sure he wasn't gonna die or nothing.)

Bikki, wanting a place to go to get off the streets, must set aside their reservations about homeless shelters while the riots outside calm down. Maybe while the other three at the shelter are having their little introductions, she's gotten into the habit of spying on the people she finds most interesting.

Few days later, the rations in town are starting to run low, and criminals have started to target the shelter for it's emergency supplies. Frank and Victoria catch wind of this, and commit themselves to defending the building. The other four, having been out of the loop of the circulating rumors, see the Spiders for the first time. And thus, the group is together.

Of course, Frank and Victoria would still be masked for the time being. Whether or not they've revealed themselves to each other is their decision, but they should unmask themselves after everything calms down, as a sign of trust (after the group helps Frank and Victoria defend the shelter, of course.)

Attack is over, riots end. Morgan provides the group with a place to meet in private. (The basement of her apartment building, since she's the handyman.) There, the group can begin to have talks about being an actual team.

~phew~
 
Made Morgan's backstory less edgy. Forgot to put emphasis on the fact that she's unfamiliar with so much in the outside world.
 
*Steeples her fingers, leans back in her DM chair, takes a swig of her mountain dew*

I'm not a big fan of the two-day, city-wide riot. The last time that happened was when MLK jr died, and I don't really want to fabricate that dire of a social situation to drive normal people into the streets to commit violent crimes. I LOVE the break at Rykers idea, on the other hand, because it explains a massive increase in street crime across the city as bosses and major villains who had been locked away retake their places at the heads of their various gangs and get back to their old shenanigans.

From there the plot could unfold as @CasualAdventurer envisions, with Frank and Victoria taking up active superheroing in the face of the rise in street violence, while Morgan, Milo, and Cheng volunteer out of a sense that they should be doing something, or possibly in response to the increased rate of ODs among the homeless in the streets because of increased drug-crime. Bikki is tailing some dealers who are headed to the shelter to prey on the recovering and using homeless, and either she fights them at the shelter or holds back once Milo and Cheng and possibly Morgan jump in to push the dealers out. Morgan takes note of the other two, and maybe, just maybe, Bikki reaches out to like minded individuals? Or people she suspects might also have powers, or even be part of the experiment that she escaped from?

Either way, the dealers turn tail and run, and tell their gang boss, who comes to deal with the problem in person with a bunch of backup and bullets. Frank and Victoria respond to that, and with the four already aware of each others' powers, they draw the other two easily into the fold, and meet in Morgan's building's basement?

Would this be an acceptable middleground? PS ... the mob boss will be someone comic-villainy ...

Like ... Oh, I don't know, I'm tired right now. Something flashy.
 
Would this be an acceptable middleground?

I think so. I think if we make all of our characters' decisions based on just their driving force to fight crime, we'll just end up with a bunch of people that are only fully fleshed out when in combat. Whatever decision you make is fine with me, I've just been itching to start this.
 
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