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Post by dorkknight23 on Dec 30, 2007 4:59:44 GMT -5
You had tried to put all this hero business behind you. Chalk it up to youthful idealism, or flat-out foolishness, but you have done your best to keep your mistakes in the past there, and away from your life, what you can call a life anyway.
There’s no romance, either in the office or otherwise. You clock in, your clock out, earn a paycheck, maintain the rent, maintain what life you have in Manhattan. All well and good.
That is until that day, in your apartment, eating cold cereal, watching TV, you see Spider-Man unmask himself. Heroes are talking about registering after the events in Stamford (which you’re lucky you didn’t caught up in yourself.) Iron Man is for it, Captain America’s against it, that’s about as much as you’ve followed.
But now, Spider-Man’s unmasking and…you swear you know him from somewhere. Sure, you tried to be his sidekick, but you’ve seen his face somewhere before...
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Post by Brainstem on Dec 30, 2007 13:32:07 GMT -5
Well that's something strange, Eugene thinks to himself. What makes him do that?
With a shrug, he keeps eating his cereal. All that's been going on lately certainly makes him long for his past, just a bit, but not enough to really do anything about it. It's still just something that's best left behind him, or at least that's what Eugene keeps telling himself. His only real concern is that, for some unknown reason, he'd be forced to register. Not that he has anything against the registration (it certainly has merit to it), but being retired for so long, it seems something silly for him to do.
The newfound stability is something that Eugene takes quite seriously. It isn't as glamorous of a life as he had desired at one point, but he's been comfortable. At the very least, he's been able to clear his father's name by not doing anything villainous. At least, that's what he likes to tell himself.
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Post by dorkknight23 on Dec 30, 2007 16:34:28 GMT -5
The newscast continues:
"Escalations continue as the opponents of the Superhuman Registration Act continue their resistance against government forces."
You see a shaky clip of Captain America clocking out another hero (you don't recognize who.) Then you see something, a green blur out of the corner of your eye.
The steel armored hero with the tendrils looks...looks a lot like Ollie Osnick, your old teammate the Steel Spider. In fact, you're very sure it is Ollie. And he's fight...he's fighting somebody wearing your costume.
It's not you. And your uncle retired years ago.
This must be somebody else. Somebody else wearing the Leapfrog costume.
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Post by Brainstem on Dec 30, 2007 20:59:15 GMT -5
Eugene literally drops his spoon full of Frosted Flakes where he was sitting. Slowly, it seems to fal,l into the bowl, making a loud crash as milk and Frosted Flakes fly around his kitchen area. How can someone be using his costume? And how could he not know about it? Furthermore, how could his uncle's name be so ruined by this? Sure, LeapFrog had existed as a criminal, but this is on public news in the middle of a huge crisis. Still, Eugene is happy to see that his old pal Ollie has found success in superheroics. At least someone can make it, right?
But his blood boils over the disappeared LeapFrog suit. He decideds to investigate the situation and checks out the spot in his apartment where he keeps the costume, locked far away from most prying eyes.
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Post by dorkknight23 on Dec 30, 2007 22:35:52 GMT -5
Your costume is still in it's hiding place. It's covered with dust. It wasn't the same suit this imitator was wearing.
Either he's designed one himself, or he found an extra suit. Did you uncle build more than one?
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Post by Brainstem on Dec 30, 2007 23:08:43 GMT -5
Well that's just very strange. Very strange indeed. Of all the heroes to mimic, why me?
Looking at the suit sure brings back memories, though, both good and bad, causing Eugene to reminisce, just a bit. He takes it out from the closet and looks it over, brushing dust off from it and checking it all out. Now, all he can remember are the glorious victories against such evil-doers as the White Rabbit and the Walrus. Such success couldn't have come to a hack, regardless of what everyone (himself included) believed of his superheroics.
I suppose it couldn't hurt too much, Eugene thought, the suit calling to him. I've got plenty of time to get to the office, anyway.
Eugene puts the suit on and begins to break it in. It doesn't fit as well as it used to, but it still has that good feeling to it. Inside his suit he feels powerful, as though he can take on the world. People always underestimate the frog, but was it not a frog that became a prince upon the kiss of a princess? Eugene starts posing in front of his mirror, pretending to fight various criminals that were well beyond his ability level ("Take that Dr. Doom!" Kick![/u] "Green with envy, Mr. Goblin?" "Where did you get your degree, Dr. Octopus, in a box of Cracker Jacks?" Pow![/u]).
Oh yeah, he thinks. I've still got it.
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Post by dorkknight23 on Jan 1, 2008 1:18:42 GMT -5
There's a knock at the door.
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Post by Brainstem on Jan 1, 2008 20:30:45 GMT -5
Ooo, a visitor. I wonder who it might be?
Eugene goes to the door, absent-mindedly forgetting to take off his costume.
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Post by dorkknight23 on Jan 1, 2008 20:55:36 GMT -5
You're bumrushed when the door creaks open, but it's all done silently. Your mouth is covered, you can barely get out a muffled yelp as the door's quickly closed. Two men have you tight grasp. One of them seems inhumanly strong, you can't wriggle away under his grasp. The third stands back. "It's ok, it's ok. Let him go."
"But he can jump away."
He looked at the other man, who lowered his head and let you go.
The third man is blonde, with sad blue eyes that look at you from under a baseball camp, "Okay, Patilio, we don't want any trouble, we just want to know how you're getting in touch with Iron Man."
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Post by Brainstem on Jan 1, 2008 21:04:27 GMT -5
"What, what are you talking about?" Scared stiff, Eugene can't even think to try and escape. Looking down, he realizes that he's still wearing the costume. The same one from the TV program.
"Oh, nononono, you've got the wrong guy. I haven't talked to Iron Man, I promise."
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Post by dorkknight23 on Jan 1, 2008 21:45:13 GMT -5
"Don't play dumb with us."
"Don't think he's playin', Steve."
"Shut up, Danny," 'Steve' was serious, "Patilio, we know you registered. How else do you think we found you? Iron Man's given every one of his active registration forces a special communication frequency to reach him. It's in your best interest to tell us yours."
He sighs. He looks...really familiar, but his face seems old, despite his age, like the kind you'd find in an old photograph. They don't make faces quite like it anymore.
"I don't know why you registered, but, you do know what he's doing, right? You can't really stand for that."
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Post by Brainstem on Jan 1, 2008 21:51:58 GMT -5
"Registered? You think I'm back in the business? I retired years ago, and getting back into it isn't exactly something that I want to do." Curious as to who these guys are, Eugene begins to think about them and if he recognizes them, especially this 'Steve' guy here.
===
2 into General Knowledge
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Post by dorkknight23 on Jan 1, 2008 22:13:48 GMT -5
You almost immediately recognize the one who hasn't spoken much as the burly Olympian Hercules (no wonder he was able to pin you down,) the other man, nimble and thin, you can't immediately place. The third is almost painfully obvious...Captain America himself.
Steve is skeptical, "Well, somebody registered under your name, gave your address, and is fighting in your costume. Seems like too many sets of coincidence for one day, son."
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
"Expecting company?" Danny, the third member of the party, asks sarcastically.
Captain America has nothing to say, other than a quick, "Move out." And with that, the three unregistered heroes make a move for the fire escape and are out before you can so much as say "boo."
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Post by Brainstem on Jan 3, 2008 0:06:09 GMT -5
All of this is happening so fast that Eugene really can't think about anything going on. All of this hubub is more than he's had in his little home over the past few months, and it's getting him quite flustered.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Eugene skurries to the door and peeks his head out. "Who's there?"
=== Regen!
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Post by dorkknight23 on Jan 8, 2008 0:58:24 GMT -5
You see someone who stands, just about your height, a good build, but...he's dressed in the Frog-Man costume. You would think for a moment you were looking in some kind of funhouse mirror that made you look buffer.
This Frog-Man doesn't say a word, but he jumps into the apartment, pinning you to the ground.
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