Issue #2: Fear Itself

EPISODE ONE VIDEO: We start by catching up with how our characters are feeling after the events of The Swarm and what they've been up to in the weeks since:
Specter is feeling very conflicted about the revelation that Impact is her father. She has been distant with the team as she feels she needs to keep the secret from them. She has confided in JJ and TLDR, however. Specter is also interested in trying to figure out how and when her parents got together and how this may change her view of her upbringing. Specter has been seeking out Resonance's guidance about how to improve her public brand, leveraging the positive coverage from the events of the Swarm.
TLDR has rationalized the revelation of her alien origin and the need to keep secrets from the team. TLDR is definitely not conflicted at all or experiencing any feelings of guilt whatsoever.
Resonance is feeling good about her role in defeating the Steel Swarm invasion, and how she leveraged her fame and understanding of the media to help the team. Her song, "Supernova," was a top-ten hit. She is also proud to have protected Lulu for Paradym, even though Paradym has been awful to her and Lulu is a rival. Otherwise, Resonance is tired - SCA has been pushing her to tour and make appearances worldwide. They have also given her a fake relationship with another young superhero, Cody Campbell AKA Homerun. Cody is very popular and very media aware, and is also a client of SCA. He has a clean-cut and very American persona and seems a perfect fit for Resonance. SCA is angling to place both Resonance and Cody on the new season of "My Superpowered Life," a superhero-themed reality show.
Paradym is feeling a lack of confidence, as she spent most of the first issue convinced that Resonance was the bad guy, only to learn that she was, in fact, the savior of the city. Paradym is not sure where she belongs and has been distancing herself from the team, focusing instead on homework from her classes at the Parasol School and a part-time job as a barista. Paradym is plagued by dreams of the apocalypse at night and the conscious realization by day that she nearly facilitated the apocalypse herself by mistrusting Resonance.
Impasse is glad that Impact was fully exonerated, but is conflicted about her readiness to be a leader and stand on her own. She has been focused on dissecting the events and the team's performance, and has been insisting the team train together. She is frustrated that the rest of the team seems to be doing their own thing. It doesn't help that Impact is giving her advice to double down on tactics (e.g., "tell them exactly what to do") that Impasse knows won't be effective at building team cohesion.
The story begins with a series of strange experiences in the training room at the Impound. Paradym's apocalyptic dreams have begun to bleed over into her waking consciousness. She is having very detailed visions of her teammates terrorizing the city with herself as the ringleader. TLDR experiences brief sensory anomalies in which she sees herself attacking her teammates. Internal diagnostics reveal no faults, but her emotion simulation subroutines seem to be generating an unusual and unexplained sensation of fear. Specter receives a mysterious call from an individual reporting a successful heist and calling her "Boss."
As Impasse attempts to practice utilizing TLDR's powers, Paradym decides to "help" by distracting her. The predictable result is that Impasse loses control and severely damages the sparring room. Resonance receives a message from her agency giving her notes on the previous scene, as if it were a TV show. She responds and her agent is confused - the original message is no longer present. Resonance asks TLDR to analyze her phone but TLDR gleans nothing other than a suspicion that Resonance is being deceptive.
Paradym breaks down and tells the team about her visions and waking dreams. TLDR briefly mentions her experiences as well, deducing they might be related. Resonance tries to reassure everyone then has a hallucination of being on a sound stage receiving notes on the previous scene from the director.
Paradym attempts to consult her memories of the future and learns that the nature of the looming apocalypse has changed. Instead of the criminalization of metahumans, there was an uprising of superpowered individuals against the majority of normal humanity.
Impasse goes to contact Impact and TLDR suggests a nice day at the local amusement park as a distraction from these concerns. Paradym uses her telepathy to attempt to get a read on her teammates and detects that Specter is hiding something. She also detects another presence, watching the team with hungry interest. Instead of investigating that obvious clue, Paradym decides to interrogate Specter telepathically. This quite predictably does not go well, as Specter (like most people) doesn't appreciate having her thoughts pilfered.
Resonance is attracted by the argument and learns that Paradym has been trying to get inside Specter's head without her permission. Paradym stalks off as if she's the victim and tries to throw shade at Specter as she leaves. Paradym senses that the hungry presence she detected is pleased by the hurt feelings she has caused. Paradym ignores this, telling no one that there is obviously an enemy present. Instead, she prepares to leave the Impound.
After sharing the situation with Impact, Impasse is instructed to get the team under control. Impact is concerned that even if there is only a small chance of Paradym's visions coming true, they need to find a way to neutralize the team's - and potentially all supers' - powers.
As Specter sneaks out to meet the individual who texted her earlier, Impasse confronts Paradym. Paradym is uncooperative and again does not reveal the evil presence that seems to be feeding on negative emotions. Impasse attempts to reason with Paradym to no avail - Paradym refuses to help. When Impasse asks why Paradym is being so hostile, Paradym admits to her terrible behavior with Specter then runs away. Resonance witnesses this and comments, "and she accuses me of being a drama queen." Resonance hears a faint sound like a sitcom laugh track.
Specter sees Paradym leaving and attempts to smooth things over, stating that she may have overreacted but it definitely wasn't okay for Paradym to try to read her thoughts without her permission. Paradym refuses to open up and leaves.
Specter cases the warehouse where she instructed the mysterious individual to meet her. Five people arrive: three clowns, a bearded lady and a very tall bald man who seems extremely flexible. The bearded lady calls out for "the boss." Specter attempts to stay hidden but is distracted and gives away her position. The crew of strangers greet her as if they know her. The bearded lady hands her a sack containing the take from a heist and asks what the next job is. Specter says they're taking a break. The crew is very subservient. At Specter's prodding they reveal they know her as "Violet Specter." Specter doesn't love this. The crew reveals their headquarters are at the fairgrounds. The crew leaves and Specter examines the contents of the bag to find something like $250,000 in cash and jewelry.
We cut to Resonance doing a photo shoot with Cody to support the "Clean Up the Docks" initiative. Resonance is told to wait in the green room. She waits. And waits. Nobody comes for her. She hears activity outside and investigates, to find the photo shoot happening without her. Resonance sees herself standing on a pier with Cody being photographed. This other Resonance looks strange, almost like a doll. As Resonance approaches to investigate, she is intercepted by the same woman she had seen in her previous vision. The woman explains that the doll-like figure is the real Resonance, the one who matters, the one who everyone wants to see, and that our Resonance isn't needed. Resonance attempts to force her way past the woman and unleashes her powers, at which point the woman disappears and Resonance finds herself standing on the docks near a frightened crowd of photographers and technicians. Thinking fast, Resonance plays it off as a new theme idea for the photo shoot, "Make the Docks Sparkle." This smooths things over, but Resonance still hears the faint sounds of an audience cheering.
Back at the Impound, Impasse and TLDR are working to create some sort of power dampening technology. TLDR remembers she is a l33t haxx0r and steals schematics from A.E.G.I.S. for a prototype power-suppressing collar. TLDR believes that with sufficient material from the Swarm crash site they could create collars custom-tailored to team members' power sets.
Specter returns to base and explains the situation to the team. Impasse suspects Violet Scepter is behind the criminal gang but Specter finds that unlikely.
The scene cuts to Paradym sulking on top of a building. Suddenly she is not alone - her mother is there. Lucy says she has come to help Paradym and shares that the others are plotting against her. She shows Paradym a vision of the conversation currently happening in the Impound about negating Paradym's powers. Lucy attempts to convince Paradym to take control of her friends but Paradym leaps off the building and sends an SOS to the team (without telling them the nature of the attack or that she's been aware of an evil presence all day).
The team rushes to Paradym's location. Instead of revealing the situation to the team, Paradym demands they prove they are who they seem to be. Eventually, Paradym explains that she was under attack by an evil presence, and finally shares the fact that she detected that presence in the base hours earlier but that she was "too pissed off" at the team to tell them. TLDR analyzes the situation and detects an ambient psionic field that seems to be emanating from an almost-invisible figure that is looming over the team, appearing to feed off their emotions.
Impasse wonders aloud why Paradym hasn't attempted to user her powers to fight back against the presence and TLDR encourages the team to control their negative emotions. The creature attacks TLDR but she stands strong. Resonance shares that she's also had very weird experiences but she had assumed she was just overworked.
Impasse suggests that visions and sensing evil creatures are maybe good things to share with the team. Impasse replicates Paradym's powers to sense the creature and has a vision of Impact telling her she is failing and is a disappointment. Impasse is rocked and Specter and Resonance comfort her.
The team begins to try to fight the creature to the best of their ability. TLDR creates a hardlight barrier tuned to the frequency of the creature's psionic emanations, effectively cutting off the creature from the team. The creature recoils, shrinks significantly then flees down a manhole.
In the respite, Paradym seeks a vision of the future. She sees the Earth in chaos with billions of tiny tendrils of purple light trailing toward a colossal figure floating in space. The figure resembles the creature they recently encountered and it appears to be feeding on a planet gripped by fear and panic.
EPISODE TWO VIDEO: The team heads back to the Impound in a hamster ball made from TLDR's hardlight shield. Upon their return, TLDR seeks help from Dr. Caulifer and Impasse receives good advice from Impact, who reveals that the conversation Impasse remembers from earlier in the day never happened. Shortly thereafter, a drone delivers a small device which is the hardlight core of an advanced Autonomous Superhero Hologram. The hologram introduces himself as A.S.H. and begins fortifying the Impound.
The team travels to the Parasol School and seeks the help of Janine the librarian, who show them to the archives. There they determine that the psionic creature is possibly a thoughtform, a created entity whose genesis may be a tragic event and whose existence is not bound by time. The team reviews all the clues they have gathered and decides to investigate the circus. They take with them one-time-use bracelets provided by A.S.H. that will help protect them should they fall under psionic attack again. The team blows off steam at the circus for a good while as they wait for the main show to begin. Each member of the team plays a carnival game and wins a prize.
Specter sees that there is a Spooky Alley and convinces the team to go with her. They see that the bearded lady Specter met previously works here as a fortune teller, and there is a stage for the Folding Man, obviously the tall and extraordinarily flexible member of the gang.
The team visits a haunted Old West saloon and then decides to have their fortunes told by the bearded lady, who doesn't seem to recognize Specter. She introduces herself as Madame Zarina and, when Paradym scans her telepathically, indeed has no idea who Specter is. The team plays along with Madam Zarina's schtick until something strange happens. The team finds themselves transported into a mindscape in the form of a huge empty circus tent. The team quickly realizes they don't have their powers - in fact, TLDR has been transformed into a human, who immediately begins eating candy floss with abandon.
As the team tries to figure out what has happened and where they are, a horde of clowns files into the tent and begins to attack. It seems like most of the our heroes' normal tactics will be of no use but they find that using the prizes they won on the Midway - a giant inflatable hammer, a foam sword, a toy bow and arrow, a huge teddy bear and a commemorative TLDR headdress - to be quite effective. The weapons work well against the clowns and the teddy bear transforms into a real bear wearing a fez and riding a unicycle. The bear savagely attacks the clowns while our heroes fight and defend each other. Working together, the team turns the tide on he endless waves of clowns and attacks the figure of the purple spectral creature that has formed, floating at near the roof of the tent.
As the team lands a series of blows on the creature, the mindscape fades and the team finds themselves back in Madame Zarina's tent.
EPISODE THREE VIDEO: As the team reorients themselves Paradym has a vision of future Impasse, who led an unsuccessful resistance against whatever force was throwing the world into chaos. Stepping out of Madame Zarina's tent, both Specter and Impasse have messages on their phones. Impasse checks in with Impact and Specter calls her mother. Violet's reaction to the story of what has been happening is rather odd, and it appears she is on her way to the circus. Likewise, it seems like Impact may drop by as well.
Resonance wonders if there's any reason why the thoughtform creature is connected to the circus, and TLDR does a quick Boogle search, revealing that about 18 years ago it was the site of a big battle between Impact, Violet Scepter and one of her henchmen, a rather silly, circus-themed villain named Ringleader. There isn't a lot of publicly available information.
Paradym reaches out telepathically to try to locate the creature, which detects her and immediately possesses her. Battle begins. TLDR throws up another psionic barrier but it is unstable. It does buy time for Paradym to locate a person nearby who is somehow connected to the creature. Paradym is possessed again and attacks Specter. TLDR tries again to block the creature's influence.
Instead of joining the combat, Resonance runs off to try to find the person Paradym mentioned. She tracks them down to a dressing room where she finds a rather pathetic looking man who appears to be in a trance.
At the same time, TLDR fails to contain the creature. Specter's nose is bleeding from the attack - meaning her healing powers aren't working. Impasse borrows Paradym's powers to sever the creature's link but it turns its attention to her, taking control of Impasse's body. Specter and Impact are both at least somewhat under the creature's influence.
Back in the tent, Resonance uses her sonic abilities to interrupt the man's trance. He immediately starts to panic, wondering where his friend went. Resonance is calm and friendly and coaxes the man into telling her his story. He is the Ringleader. He was rejected by his "friends" Violet and Impact and felt alone and dejected when the creature, who had also somehow been rejected, found him. They helped each other over the years and the creature slowly grew in strength. Ringleader begs Resonance to help him get the creature back.
Meanwhile the battle isn't going well for the rest of the heroes. The creature is using Impact to batter the other members of the team. Resonance arrives and uses her sonic powers to provoke the creature in order to disrupt its control over Impasse. The creature shows itself, taking on a physical form.
The creature and the team trade blows. Violet Scepter and Impact arrive and join the fray. But even with the backup it seems like everything the heroes are doing only makes the creature stronger. TLDR improvises a version of the power dampening device and uses it on the creature, but even then it seems our heroes are overmatched.
Resonance has a moment of inspiration and realizes that the way to defeat this enemy is likely tied to its genesis. And the three people who might know what that was are here. She calls out to Violet and Impact. Paradym taps into her latent temporal powers in an attempt to influence the course of events. She sees that the only possible solution is to convince one person to do one thing. She joins Resonance, Violet and Impact in a tense discussion as TLDR, Specter and Impasse continue to battle the creature.
Impasse provokes the creature into attacking her and Specter defends.TLDR is hanging on to maintain the power dampening effect. TLDR is hit with a powerful blow and her body shatters into tiny nanites and reforms, the attack having triggered her emergency regeneration protocol.
Resonance convinces Violet to share what happened all those years ago. Apparently in one of the battles between Violet and Impact an innocent bystander was killed. Both felt guilty as they were usually careful to avoid collateral damage. Paradym chimes in with the revelation that Impact gave up his powers and this was somehow involved in the creation of the creature. Impact seems confused until Resonance smack him across the face and tells him to get his s#!% together. Violet reveals to Impact that he is Specter's father, which is enough to spur him into action. He reaches into the creature to retrieve the power he abandoned as Specter defends him. Impasse attracts the creature's attention and sustains serious injury. Seeing this steels Impact's resolve and he takes back the regenerative power he gave up.
Impact rushes over to Impasse and uses his regained powers to heal her. She wakes up to see her mentor, who has always been against superpowers, using those powers to heal her. TLDR, observing Impact's actions, deduces that they have to take back the powers the creature has taken from them. One by one the heroes confront the creature and take their stolen powers back. Paradym is knocked unconscious but her powers remain active, creating a maelstrom of telekinetic and temporal force.
Impasse battles the creature and takes her powers back. The creature is nearly defeated when the Ringleader rushes forward and begs the creature to come back to him. Before anyone can react, the telekinetic and temporal energy that had been building in Resonance detonates.
Impasse awakens in an A.E.G.I.S. hospital room. As she rouses herself, Impact enters the room. An awkward but heartwarming conversation occurs. In another room, Specter is shaken awake by Violet, who explains that A.E.G.I.S. thinks Violet may be a useful asset and she is considering turning over a new leaf (meaning she's determined there's a lot of money to be made in a redemption arc). Violet also tells Specter that Impact knows he is Specter's father, then leaves to chase after a cute orderly.
Doctor Caulifer is with TLDR. She expresses that TLDR means a lot to her and TLDR says, "I love you too, mom." Resonance is there as well, helping TLDR shop for new outfits on Glamazon. Resonance's mother has been demanding to see her, and an agent comes to get her to deal with the situation. Resonance stands up to her mother and establishes boundaries.
The team gathers in Paradym's room to celebrate their victory. Paradym realizes that she cannot sense her teammates thoughts. She attempts to consult her knowledge of the future and comes up with nothing.
The camera pulls back and we see a shot of the A.E.G.I.S. facility, then our view pans out to the fairgrounds where there is a smoking crater. There is a glitch and we see the same view, but without the damage. The scene is populated by individuals in slightly old-fashioned clothing. We hear a song playing that was popular 18 or so years ago. We see a younger Ringmaster looking confused, then realizing that he's back and his friend, the creature, is with him. He promises the creature that they will do it right this time, then makes his way toward the big top.