etcelsior | WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN

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test drive

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN

T E S T D R I V E M E M E

Considering apping into MASK OR MENACE? Want to dip your toes into the setting and get a feel of whether your character will fit into it? Or maybe you're just cruising and want to play around? Then you've come to the right place!

Pick any of the following scenarios below or feel free to make up your own, but don't be afraid to throw yourself at someone else's thread, either!

And remember there's only one rule in Test Drive Meme Club: HAVE FUN ON THE TEST DRIVE MEME!

01.The city of Heropa is what one might expect from a small, bright and cheery place, where locals are friendly enough and local shop owners might offer a free drink to welcome you to their fair city.

Unfortunately, tragedy has struck today. It seems like the entire Heropa PD is parked out of a local, popular grocery chain. A huge crowd is amassed in the parking lot despite the best efforts of officers to get them to leave. They whisper about excitement and shame, and you don't have to ask if you just listen in a bit...

"What do you think he'll do to the employees? He sounded so serious..." "He really wants that pussy, huh?" "If I left my man for cheating on me, I'd take the damn cat, too!" "How does he think taking her and her coworkers hostage is gonna make her change her mind about him being a bad boyfriend?" "My wife is pregnant, please - if I don't get her favorite deli sub I might as well not go home!"

Domestic disputes! Tragic. The police aren't too sure how to handle this hostage situation, claiming the man only has a box cutter and isn't actually waving it around at the moment, but...are you an imPort? They'd really appreciate the help, okay. Get in there and counsel the unhappy couple. Or not!

02. De Chima, Virginia, is a large city with a healthy economy, with large numbers of citizens waiting to be awed by your very presence. Look at you! Organic wonder! Synthetic wonder! Whatever you might be, those words have meaning here. Science and technology are the lifeblood of this city, so you're likely to come across a good many locals taking your picture with the newest of devices. The imPort craze remains high here, and you may find yourself cornered by overzealous imPort fans, media wannabes and opportunists alike, shoving cameras in your face.

Today in De Chima, there's the unveiling of a brand new invention in the convention centre park! With a simple scan, it will print out your Closest Love Match of the other individuals present, along with your percentage of compatibility and a free coupon to get lunch with your new date if you match 90% or higher!

A little odd that it seems that nearly every couple has 90% or higher, isn't it? What's the probability that the scanner is broken?

03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania has carried a reputation for ups and downs ever since imPorts began reappearing again, just those few years prior. Several imPort heroes have put focused efforts into cleaning up the streets of this somewhat infamous city, while a handful of others had swooped in to help the criminal industry thrive. More so here than the streets of any other imPort city, the battle between good and evil looks more like a war of escalation than a heroic tale. Everything from the classic bank heist to brutal bloodbaths can happen around the corner. You have to keep your eyes open and your mind sharp when you live in Maurtia Falls, and hostility against imPorts can spike. The emergence of locals with superpowers is hardly helping...

Despite the lack of gratitude that's in it for you, you may want to step in once you see a very, very sad supervillain wandering Maurtia Falls' streets. Dressed in a cape that appears to be a large swath of fabric purchased from a nearby sewing store, galaxy-themed leggings and no shirt is a man who runs right into your vicinity before striking a pose and yelling, "Everyone, stop before me and my wrath! I am Mister Mars, and provided you give me what I ask for, nobody needs to get hurt!"

At which point Mister Mars snatches an old woman's purse, loudly laughs in her face, and begins to float upwards. By the time he reaches the height of the tallest building in the area, he's beginning to look slightly panicked as he fails to really be able to move anywhere but up. Meanwhile, the old woman has begun shaking her cane at him and screaming quite an assortment of alarming expletives.

Maybe you should help one or the other out? If not, just lean back and enjoy the show.

04. Nonah, North Carolina, is the liveliest of all cities; loud, busy and there's always some kind of energy in the air that gets everyone buzzing with excitement.

Today there's a big lemonade stand on one busy sidewalk, staffed by a group of industrious kids. Aww, isn't it sweet? Wait...is that a cookie stand a little ways down, also run by elementary-to-middle schoolers? Heck, the entire block is full of kid-run mini-businesses — a gathering of pint-sized entrepreneurs! And they have their eyes on you, hero, because as a celebrity imPort, your pockets are full of $$$, right?

05. Jeopardy, Nevada by all rights shouldn't exist. A glowing neon city smack in the middle of the desert, the only reason it's still here is that the central nuclear power plant has tapped half a mile down into a subterranean lake for its water supply. So though the desert around it may be barren, the occupants of this small city are happily self sufficient. Those weird figures you see out of the corner of your eyes? Don't worry too much. Probably just weird radiation after effects. Jeopardy has a lot of those.

Despite the weird constant hum and the creepy cultish bingo, Jeopardy is usually a pretty calm place. A safe place. But not today. Today, someone has released a couple hundred tiny praying-mantis-like robots into the city, and the place is in chaos. Shops are closed up early because though these little destructive creatures don't have bullets, they do have some weird arm appendages that like to just crunch everything in existence. Like a locus swarm of cockatoos, anything made of wood or plastic is being crunched up and left for scrap. But at less than six inches high apiece, rounding them up is proving extremely difficult. Luckily, the mayor in her wisdom is giving out titanium nets to any imPort who wants to help round up the trouble makers. And, in the spirit of the city, she's offering the imPort that catches the most robots a free meal for two in the swanky Radiation Galley - Jeopardy's top tier, five star restaurant.

Get catchin', imPorts!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Rufus looked down at the nearly empty container in his hands but shook his head, setting it aside.]

I'm fine for now but thank you.

[He ate the last bits of chicken, using a piece to mop up the last of the sauce in the container. He was going to have Rude get this again sometime.]

Before we move onto anything else there are a few other matters I wanted to go over. If you have any questions or something you want to know, you can ask me anything.

[Well, they've got other things to eat for later, so Rude gets up and moves the left overs to the fridge. Which of course also has a few bottles of beer. He's going to need them, after that story Rufus told him about the fall of Midgar, and Meteor.]

Lots of questions. Need time to write up a list, sir.

[Because there are more than he wants to even say.]

Of course.

[Rufus watched Rude, he knew it was a lot to take in. He decided to give him a few minutes as he got up, making his way to the living room to play with his phone.

He laid out on the couch to scroll through the network, listening for Rude to come back and talk to him.

[Once the things are put away and cleaned, Rude takes a beer and moves to join Rufus. No paper, no written questions. They can wait. It can all wait.]

What's our purpose here, other than looking for information? What are we waiting for? We looking for funding? I won't support a new Soldier project.

There will never be a new Soldier program. There will be no projects like there were before.

[Rufus knew that for certain. If Hojo ever showed up, Rufus would make sure he wouldn't be able to do anything like that.]

For now, information. I want to know what this place is like. What opportunities there are. I want to shape this world and ensure Shinra has a legacy.

[He had laid claim to the heart of Edge. He would build something for himself here.]

[Good. Because frankly, Soldiers had always been more of a headache than Rude had ever thought they might be worth. They were good force, but they were a club sent in to do the precision work of a scalpel. Not that Rude intended to suggest people like him were good for monster exterminations.]

Shaping this world might be difficult. My research suggests an ongoing behind the scenes conflict between this nation and others. Our reach will be limited to the borders.

I'm not expecting anything on the scale of what we had before. I've had to learn to be realistic with limited resources.

[He's had to be now. He didn't have the full power of the Shinra empire at his deposal anymore.

He frowned thoughtfully for a moment.]

The most important thing we have to do is be prepared for the possibility that Jenova and Sephiroth could come here and do to this planet what they did to ours. I want to know we'll have options.

If the Not-First destroyed them, could they come here?

[Listen, Rude's still got anger toward the guy for how badly he hurt Reno. And didn't like the fact that Cloud was VERY clearly not a first class Soldier, even as he fought like one. It was... unnerving.

And reminded him of someone.]

Would be hard to fight them, without Materia.

I'm not sure. I suppose anything is possible here.

[Which he didn't like. It meant that he could only prepare for so much and leave everything else up to chance. He frowned to himself, lips pinched in a thin line.]

It would be. That's why we need to find allies here, people who have abilities and powers that make up for not having Materia here. What abilities were you given by the Porter here?

[Oh boy. This was where Rude knew he was both useful, and disappointing. The first one was little more than a party trick. The second... Well, might as well start with the useful one. That would be what the boss would be interested in.

This one he's been fiddling with just a little, but with time and practice it will become far more useful. He removes his gloves, just in case, and holds his hands palm up. A bit of focus and then there it is, a ball of fire hovering over his hand. Like a fire spell, but contained and clearly controlled. And then Rude goes and puts his other hand right into the fire, holding it there for several seconds before pulling it out, unharmed.]

That. Immune to fire and burns. Make fire. Easiest when throwing a punch or a kick, but I think I can get better.

[With time, and practice, and targets. Just like getting good with materia. Which is almost amusing, because Rude hadn't exactly been great with materia before.]

One other thing. Not useful though.

[Rufus leaned forward, fascinated. He didn't flinch when a fireball appeared on Rude's hand, staring as Rude managed to pull out his other hand unharmed from the flame. He smiled, his eyes bright.

Yes, this was very useful.]

Interesting. It will come in useful since we don't have access to Materia here.

[A pause and because he can't help his curiosity-]

What is your second ability?

[Yes, it could be useful. More importantly, it also means that he can provide some coverage for fires, it's useful. Especially if Sephiroth showed. The man liked fire.

Of course then Rufus has to ask. He sighs and takes the shades off of his face and puts them on the floor. A sharp press of his foot and they break. Then he leans across the space between them, his fingers dipping into Rufus's nearest pocket and pulls an identical pair of shades out of it. They go right onto his face.]

That. Specifically. Endlessly. Sunglasses from pockets.

[Rufus's lips twitched into a smirk as Rude magically produced a pair of sunglasses from his pocket.]

I always thought you had that ability.

[He was sure the number of times he saw Rude without his glasses since he knew him as a teenager could be counted on one hand.]

I've only been given one useful ability as well but I haven't tried to use it and I'm not sure I want to start an electrical fire right now.

[Later he definitely will.]

Electrical fire?

[Well, at least Rude won't be hurt if he has to carry the boss from the location.]

I only have the one useful one as well.

Find me something electrical that won't cause too much damage and we'll see how it goes.

[What's the worst that could happen? Rufus had caused far worse damage with less so perhaps this wouldn't be terrible.]

I want to see how it works.

[Frankly, Rude isn't certain what would fit that description. Then again, he was pretty used to turning things into bombs for Reno's amusement, so he tended to see even 'harmless' electronics as things that could be seriously destructive.]

What about a lightbulb?

[He could give Rufus the sunglasses as protective shielding.]

Lightbulb would work.

[Rufus got up before Rude could respond to head over to the living room lamp. He unscrewed the light bulb carefully before making his way back to the couch.

He held the bulb out as far as he could, determined with a glint in his eyes.]

Stand back. I don't know how this is going to work.

[Nope, this isn't smart. Rude lifts his glasses from his face and holds them out to Rufus.]

They aren't much, but you have to protect your eyes, sir.

[As for him, well, he'll just have to live with it if he gets hurt. He's more disposable than Rufus is. Not that he thinks he is very disposable, but it's something.]

[Rufus took the glasses from Rude with thanks, putting them on before staring at the lightbulb.]

A little further back.

[He was used to just being able to use materia and having it work so this was going to take practice. His expression was set as he stared the bulb down.

At first, nothing happened but slowly it started to glow, growing brighter as Rufus smirked. He pushed himself a little more as the light grew brighter.]

[No reason not to back up further. Not so far that if something goes wrong he can't get to Rufus quickly though. Some training is hard to shake. But Rude watches, silent and attentive, and nods his approval when the lightbulb starts to glow.]

Should we call you Mako now?

[It took him a moment to pull the power back to him even though he wanted to see what more he could do. The bulb flickered out and Rufus took the sunglasses off.]

I'm sure I can do very interesting things with this. I wonder what the upper limit on what I can power is.

[He's very pleased with the effort and was determined to later find out.]

It is something I'd rather you test with careful oversight.

[And, if he's here, Reno. The guy has a natural resistance to electricity. It might be useful to have that in an instructor. As it is, Rude goes to refill Rufus's glass, just in case the exertion left him thirsty.]

You going to tell me why you look so bad?

Of course.

[Any trace of amusement instantly faded at Rude's question. He was quiet for a moment before taking the glass of water to take a long drink.

He wasn't going to lie to Rude but he didn't see a reason to go into the details of what happened to him after Meteorfall to lead him to get infected. It wasn't something he liked talking about.]

The Lifestream was able to push back Meteor but it was tainted with Jenova's cells. Anyone who came into contact with it was infected with the cells. It was called Geostigma- it was a fatal disease with no known cure. I'll spare you the details but the disease was not pleasant.

[His expression is composed but his gaze flickered down to his right hand before he looked back to Rude. His voice is firm, there is no wavering.]

I came into contact with the cells. I've spent the last year and a half fighting it. It's entirely gone now- I can't explain why or how but after Cloud defeated the remains of Sephiroth, something happened. It rained.

And just like that, the disease was gone. But I don't know if it's entirely gone yet in the city, I woke up here just after the disease left me.

[Well Rude doesn't like that at all. The President sick and unable to defend himself. The former President could handle a gun, but little more. Rufus as he was... As Rude knows him and watched him on that rooftop? Rude wasn't even fully certain he could take Rufus sometimes. If he wasn't at his best and Rufus was, that would be a close one.]

We'll need to get you back in shape. Diet considerations, working out.

[Rude's very glad that his poking around the apartment showed a guest room. He COULD turn it into a personal gym, but for now, he's going to keep his President safe in there.]

Alright. Need your clothes. Going to a dry cleaner. Take a hot shower. Or bath. Don't care.

[Nurse-maid Rude is now on duty. He's more than used to nursing Reno back from bad encounters with whoever.]

I agree. I also need to practice target shooting again.

[He didn't like that he had missed his shots with Kadaj- nevermind he had never actually had to fire on someone while falling from a building after being on bed rest but that was no excuse.

He knew he wouldn't be in shape overnight but he trusted Rude to help him with this. So he didn't argue as he set his phone down, looking forward to being able to clean up finally.]

I think my clothes are beyond saving. [He showed Rude some of the dirt stains- he wouldn't go into how they smelled of stim shots, antiseptic, and Shiva knew what else.]

I'll give you money- just something simple that doesn't look like I've been rolling around in the dirt.

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN

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