Young Justice Plus

OP Edited:

Author’s Note: This quest is not your usual or standard game. It is set in an alternate universe of the Earth 16 DC Universe (aka Young Justice, the television series). A core premise of the game is that it is heavy on the mystery. The details of the protagonist and the universe itself, as well as the backstories, desires, and aims of those within are not immediately revealed. As the game progresses one of the goals of you the players will be to unravel the mystery surrounding everything. In this way I hope to keep the narrative original and interactive in a way that cannot be easily metagamed, contrary to the majority of similar quests.

This quest has an IRC channel #YJ+ on freenode for speculation and discussion.

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Star City-
July 4, 08:55 PDT

Star City.

You rest your head on the seat and look out the window. The morning sunlight plays beautifully across the Pacific Ocean as the car moves slowly along the bridge. The girl, model pretty, who picked you up is talking enthusiastically.

"...so my dad's been like, super depressed ever since. I keep saying he needs to get out of the city. He's like really racist so I think if he's not changed by now he should just move somewhere without black people for him to rant about. Also, living in a crappy apartment in the Glades can't be good for him. He needs to be out in the country like Mom, but he insists he needs to be here so he can work on his..."

"What is that?" You ask as cars start swerving and screeching all around you.

"Holy cow!" The girl, Laura or Ashley or something, slams on her breaks and stops the car safely. The horrible sound to the rear of the car told you that incredibly ugly Jeep that had been following you for the last half hour had not been so well driven.

"Haha!" A cheerful laugh cuts over the sounds of chaos. The next noise is far worse and far closer, as the car door is ripped right off.

"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses..." People had been praying a lot lately. You wondered if they were getting used to being saved, or if they wanted to be saved from what was happening. You grab the taller girl's hand and pull her out of the car.

"Hostages!" The same voice that had cut through the crowd crows with delight! "You two aren't going anywhere." You look up at the threat. A man, or maybe boy, appears to be made of ice, or wearing some ice armor with blue skin, or simply resembles ice. Laura, no Ashley, or was it Laura, begins to get to the ground.

"No, don't babe. Please, don't be scared." The supervillain gives a smile that looks genuinely nice to Laura/Ashley. "I'm just getting some attention. I promise I won't hurt you. But if I have to get some hostages, you two are the ones I want to be spending time with." You give him a soft half smile.

"Why are you doing this?" You ask, your eyes on the man's face.

"It's awesome. I have this mission, a really important one and I need to, well, it's a secret." He flashes you a smile and fires a spray of ice, stopping an out of control car that had almost gone over the edge of the bridge.

"If you don't want to hurt anyone, why are you doing all of this?" You glance over to Ashley/Lauren, who is shaking.

"My father, he's the big man up in Dreamland. He was a legend before that bi-, um, girl, woman, took him in." You are mildly amazed that someone like this was seriously considering how sexist his language was because he was trying to flirt with you.

"So you want to be taken up there, just like your father? Lose all you could have here with all this power?" You gesture at the bridge.

"Not for long," He winks at you. "Now if you could give me your digits, we do get phone calls in..." A set of arrows hit him and he howls, falling back.

Superheroes.

Two of Star City's finest, Green Arrow and Speedy. Speedy had been a superhero for three years, and Green Arrow for four. The two moved quickly, very quickly for humans. You wonder briefly how human they really are, but then the arrows explode. The question is irrelevant.

A tackle from Laura, probably Laura, takes you down. No one had tried to protect you in a long time.

"...better not interfere today." You hear as the heroes hit the ground near you.

"Calm down. She's still going to like you even if this takes all day." You hear a grunt of frustration and the twang of arrows as you position yourself, and then a shriek of pain.

"Gah!" The ice man is on his knees. Speedy and Green Arrow move away from each other, racing along walls of ice.

[X] In a flash, you decide to help the ice man. He had been nice, he liked you, he wanted to impress you. That was more than could be said of a lot of people.

[X] You focus on the young villain, and attack. It had been too long since you had a fight. He had kidnapped you, scared a girl who helped you, and really messed with your day.

[X] You stand up and usher your "protector" to safety. You can let the heroes and villains fight this out. The heroes seemed to have things well in hand.

 

Star City-
July 4, 09:02 PDT

The battle is over by the time you turn around. Emergency workers are moving in from both sides of the bridge. Green Arrow is standing near the supervillain with a smile on his face, in contrast to the annoyed look of his partner. Speedy moves rapidly, placing or firing arrows into the occasional position to flashes of fire, yellow foam, and wires.

"What is he doing?" Ashley/Laura asks. "What is he doing, what is he doing?" Shock, or something like shock.

"He's trained for this. He's making sure everyone is okay. See, there he is stabilizing a car with that arrow. This is what they do, Laura." She laughs in a soft, stressed way.

"My name is Spencer." You smile back at her. "I'm sorry. I have been on the road a lot lately."

"No problem," Spencer mutters. "It's, it's..." You let her trail off.

"You are just visiting your dad in Star City," You remember.

"Yeah." She nods. "It's just, what was that. Who does that kind of thing? Just attacks a bridge for, for what?" She shakes her head.

"He's crazy." You dismiss him. After losing so easily he had stopped mattering to you. "If he wasn't crazy he wouldn't try to be a supervillain."

"Supervillain. Those freaks out in L.A. or Kansas, and then they're here. First it was terrorists and now it's them. I'm so tired of this." Spencer looks up. "Shouldn't we, you know, help?" You consider the idea.

"If anyone was in serious danger the heroes would be doing something. If we move the wrong person before the EMTs and firefighters get here it could hurt them." You want to bolt, get out of here before anyone else arrives, but that would be suspicious. The villain had grabbed you, talked to you. If anything had picked that up and you ran it could look very, very bad.

"Miss?" You look up and see Speedy standing near you. "Are you two okay?"

"We're fine," You answer.

"Would you mind answering a few questions for the police when they come?"" You nod. "Sure, sir."

"Don't call me sir. Any other day we would be staying, but there's important business to take care of. We might be seeing you." Speedy walks away, back to his mentor, superior officer, father, or whatever Green Arrow was to him.

"He's not what I expected," Spencer said quietly. "I've never met one of them before."

"I never thought much about sidekicks," You admit. "Partner!" Speedy shouts and you jolt. His hearing had to be excellent to hear that.

---

Star City-
July 4, 10:45 PDT

Just let this be over. Just let this be over.

The police station was crowded and dirty. Spencer sat next to you, snoring softly. The snores reminded you of, well, it's not home anymore.

Running is what you did. Running to and running from, it was how it had always worked. Pack up when something goes wrong, or get help, get to safety. It had kept you alive this long.

You were going to have to give the cops a name. Something simple, easy to remember, but new.

You wondered if you would have given the ice man a phone number if you had the chance. You wonder if you should have talked to the heroes, asked to go with them.

"Miss?" A woman in plain clothes, probably a detective, beckons towards you. You get up and head to follow her.

"Stop right there young lady!" A complete stranger in a business suit is walking towards you with purpose. "I apologize ma'am, but her father doesn't want her talking to the police without me." Father?

"I'm sorry, who are you?" The detective frowns at the man.

"I'm her lawyer," He replied. "Holland Lewis. I apologize, but her father really is very..."

"Fine, fine. You two can talk in there," The detective opens a door and ushers us inside. "Miss Smith?" She asks Spencer.

"Who are you?" I ask softly of "Holland Lewis." He smiles.

"I am merely an interested party taking your case. We recognized your face on the news and sent help immediately. You probably don't know this but your family has a history with my firm." You nod cautiously, wishing that this was more helpful.

"What case? I've done nothing wrong. I was taken hostage by a maniac." Mr. Lewis smiles.

"Well if you have done nothing wrong than you wouldn't mind at all being interviewed, though I would prefer to be present to assist you in the interview. The name you give will be in records, attached to your face and a supervillain." You keep yourself from shuddering.

"What are you offering?" Mr. Lewis smiles widely and opens his briefcase, handing you a photograph of a woman who looks very much like you. "Miss Littleton is a woman in Sydney, Australia, who is about to be very grateful for a charitable donation that will keep her mother on life support. She will be on vacation in Star City for a very unfortunate incident and if it ever comes up, have a very good story to tell anyone who is curious. You, on the other hand, will have had an interview with a police detective under this name and no connections to this case."

"What do you want from me?" There was no point to not being direct with this.

"You are going to take my card," He answers. "If you are ever in trouble again you may call us for help, and we will come to a mutually beneficial arrangement. It is hard in this world to be without friends. We are here to help." The card had left his wallet and he slid it across the table.

"And if I go in without you?" Mr. Lewis gives another smile, a somewhat sad one.

"If you have nothing to hide, then nothing will come of it. Perhaps a reporter or investigator will come across this, but would that be so bad? Miss Littleton of course would not be contacted and would soon be attending a funeral.

You stare at the card and read it carefully.

[X] "Yes." You take the card. "Thank you." You could just go, and no one would have to know you were ever here.

[X] "Your services are not required." You smiled at him, got up, and walked out the door. All you needed to do is get through this.

[X] "I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to want an actual lawyer." Whatever this man was, whatever he was doing, you were going to want someone on your side, someone to go over options with.