Strange Days 3: Santa Klaus of the Subconscious
Life, Identity
2000
17/4
17/4
2000
8/4
8/4
Villains gonna villain.
Dr. Victor von Doom visits an acquaintance in Wyldfire to deliver promised information on another villain. Meanwhile, Card Shark stores their loot from a high-tech heist in a Metropolis warehouse, and their victim wants his materials back.
Dr. Doom visits Feral's hunting territory with information promised on Seattle fugitive villain General Katana, who has once again escaped custody and vanished. While he is there, Doom can't help but notice that this leopard woman is visibly pregnant -- and antsy about everything. About his presence. About the weather. About indicators of human hikers or hunters in the distance. About small sounds that Doom cannot even perceive.
Drawing on his history in another reality, Doom offers to revert Jarissa back to human. He knows that she never chose to be what she is. He knows that so many of his former enemies were driven by the pain of their pasts, unable to be content in their place.
Rissa stops everything she has been doing, noticing, feeling, all to consider Doom's offer.
And then, to his bemused astonishment, she politely thanks him and turns him down.
That ... has never happened before.
Oh, metas have refused Doom's magnanimous offers before. Usually while decrying his motives, or questioning his capacity to make good on his plan. Never with respect and simple good faith.
Could it be that Feral sees the inherent flaw in his offer? That reverting her will take away her power? That any meta who has ever accepted this offer, eventually has come bargaining more than they could afford to pay for a return to their metahuman state? Perhaps. Or perhaps she simply does not want her coming infant to think that his mother rejects a part of who he is.
Doom departs with an interesting little puzzle to consider.
While that scene was going on, ex-Wyldfire agent Dr. Hank McCoy called on Jean-Claude Gironde for assistance. His workshop at STAR Labs got robbed a few days ago; the Metropolis Police Department is investigating, of course, but some of the materials and notes stolen are crucial for McCoy's current project. Word in the Metropolis Underground has it that this heist was a contract job, performed by Deck Agents of the Card Shark crime network. If that is so, then the stolen items might be hidden away near one of their "legitimate business" fronts in Metropolis. McCoy needs his test materials and his notes back more than he needs the perpetrators caught.
Dr. Gironde sends two Wyldfire agents on what should be a quick counter-theft: Silverwing and Feral.
Unexpectedly, when the duo snuck into the target location, a LOT of Card Shark goons were on-site and aggressive. They concentrated on the defender at first, trying to overwhelm Silverwing with numbers so he couldn't use his superspeed. Feral smashed her way through the crowd to get to him and then clear a space for him so he could fight properly. To do it she had to not defend herself at all, go full offensive, so she was down to Mind Over Matter by the time Silverwing was able to really start fighting.
This contracted theft mattered to Card Shark because a potential repeat customer had sent a high-ranking representative to observe the operation: Silver Samurai, a Hybrid Minion. His weapon bore an etching of the Infinity Inc lemniscate on the oversized blade.
Which triggered the remnants of the company's mental programming in Silverwing. He had a Minor Rage/Traumatic Flashbacks fit and completely lost it ... and yet, all he did was to destroy that sword with his magnetic control. It terrified the remaining Card Shark agents into fleeing the scene before he was able to snap out of it, but Feral was awake again and functioning in time to talk him back to his normal capacity.
Related Location
Metropolis
Related timelines & articles
Metropolis
Feral (article)
Tales of Justice Timeline
Dr. Beast (article)
Wyldfire Adventures (article)
Silverwing (article)
Metropolis (article)
Tales of Justice is a work of pure, unabashed fiction. In fact, it considers itself rather heroic and quite proud of itself. Names of characters, places, events, organizations, and locations are creations of the author's imagination for this fictitious setting. Some have been inspired by other sources, which will be credited at the top right of the article.
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