Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

[HighVoltage]

The Irreverent

Welcome to the desecration, baby

Name:

Marcus Atkins

Current Age:

23

Age at Embrace:

18

Clan:

Iratus

I'm a rat.

Not a snitch, God knows I’d rather snort garlic powder than spill someone’s secrets. It’s not out of any sense of loyalty, just because I’d kill someone if they spilled mine. No, I’m a rat in the sense that I get into places and situations I’m not really supposed to.

Oh it’s truly a touching story. Daddy left when I was too young to remember him, Mommy married a jackass. Soon as I turned sixteen, said jackass decided he was tired of me mooching off him, and I was either gonna pay him for the roof over my head or be kicked out. Dear old Mom just stood there while her son packed a bag and stormed off.

Alistair was the only other person I had left, but he was just a kid like me. He helped where he could, mainly by busking on the street with an old guitar his dad had lying around. He was good, and the money we made helped more than I could do on my own. Then he was gone. Just disappeared one day, no goodbye or anything. The last thing I had going for me, fucking shattered. I wound up under a bridge that night, drinking my sorrows away with the resident bum there, some guy called Ripley. He was a good listening ear, but he was pretty sure he knew what happened to Alistair, that he was taken by some assholes called “Requiem”.

Now I didn’t know who they were at the time, but I was pissed. I was gonna get him back, and there was no way in Hell I was gonna be stopped. Ripley offered to help, and before I knew it he had latched himself onto my neck. It hurt like hell, and I’m pretty sure I passed out more than once. I don’t know how long it lasted, but once the pain finally subsided I was filled with hunger and fire, ready to get Alistair back.

He was dead.

Ripley had been piss-drunk when he bit me, and apparently anyone taken by Requiem is never heard from again. So I ran, again, away from Ripley, away from everything, shouting into the night for Alistair, shouting myself hoarse. Instead of finding my friend, however, I found myself outside a bar. Not just any bar, but jackass’s favorite. And as luck would have it, he had just begun to stumble home. It was only then that I realized I was starving. He tasted like oil, greasy and acrid. But I could finally think clearly. Fuck Ripley, but more importantly fuck Requiem. I was gonna find the one who took Alistair and I was gonna make him pay.

But what does all that have to do with what I’m doing right now? Why am I spilling my life story to this guy who doesn’t understand half of what I’m saying? He’s certainly not Requiem, hell he doesn’t even know what I am. All he knows is this homeless-looking guy broke into his house, past his security, and is rambling on while he’s bound and gagged. But he’s afraid. Sure, an adrenaline high is one thing. But drinking someone while adrenaline is coursing through their veins? That’s a whole new level of high. I chuck my phone onto the nearby table, rough guitars and a growling voice bleeding through the speakers. I look down at the trussed-up suit, his eyes wide in fear. I grin at him, a tongue running over my fangs as he finally realizes what’s about to happen, as the rough voice slides into the chorus, a voice worn down by years of drugs and alcohol and life and living that I sure as shit can’t have anymore. But I can sure as shit do this.

C’mon baby, eat the rich.

 

[HighVoltage]

Name: Mariko "Mari" Ito
Age: 25
Gender: Female, she/they
Appearance: Mari stands a bit shorter than most, with long dark hair that she often lets hang loose. When working on her projects, she does her best to keep it out of her face with a cat-ear headband that she jokingly refers to as her "thinking cap". She always dresses rather smartly, usually in some form of slacks, a vest, and a button-up shirt. One constant is the fox-paw charm that Mari keeps on her belt at nearly all times, as a reminder of her mother.
Features: Mari has lived her whole life with a heightened intelligence. While she was never tested, she personally wouldn't consider herself a genius. She's simply a problem solver. Perhaps as a result, some would call her emotionally stunted, unable to process her own emotions or those of others very well.




[div][align="right"][/div]

Alias: Kitsune
Powers: Like a cat, Kitsune has nine lives. She uses one of these lives whenever she dies, returning to life within 60 seconds. Any damage she's sustained prior to resurrection will heal, but she will still feel the phantom pains left behind. Kitsune regains one life per lunar cycle, approximately 30 days, and is constantly aware of just how many lives she has left.
Alliances: Founder and leader of Nine Tails Inc., working alongside Shiba
Equipment:

• A modular "laser" pistol that can be modified to serve the purpose of other guns.
• Two knives, the blades of which can be heated or given an electric current.
• A handful of proximity alarms with 3D cameras that feed into her helmet.
• Suit made from a slash-resistant, puncture-proof durable fabric.
• Mask with built-in voice modifier, HUD, targeting system, and short-range communicator connected to Shiba's.

 

[HighVoltage]

Name: Mariko "Mari" Ito
Age: 25
Gender: Female, she/they
Appearance: Mari stands a bit shorter than most, with long dark hair that she often lets hang loose. When working on her projects, she does her best to keep it out of her face with a cat-ear headband that Spork gave her once as a joke. She always dresses rather smartly, usually in some form of slacks, a vest, and a button-up shirt. One constant is the fox-paw charm that Mari keeps on her belt at nearly all times, except for when she's working.
Features: Mari has lived her whole life with a heightened intelligence. While she was never tested, she personally wouldn't consider herself a genius. She simply sees things in terms of problems to be solved. Perhaps as a result, some would call her emotionally stunted, unable to process her own emotions or those of others very well.

Alias: Kitsune
Powers: Like a cat, Kitsune has nine lives. She uses one of these lives whenever she dies, returning to life within 60 seconds. Any damage she's sustained prior to resurrection will heal, but she will still feel the phantom pains left behind. Kitsune regains one life per lunar cycle, approximately 30 days, and is constantly aware of just how many lives she has left.
Alliances: Founder and leader of Nine Tails Inc., working alongside Shiba
Equipment:

• A modular "laser" pistol that can be modified to serve the purpose of other guns.
• Two knives, the blades of which can be heated or given an electric current.
• A handful of proximity alarms with 3D cameras that feed into her helmet.
• Suit made from a slash-resistant, puncture-proof durable fabric.
• Mask with built-in voice modifier, HUD, targeting system, and short-range communicator connected to Shiba's.

 

[HighVoltage]

To Mariko Ito, everything is a puzzle. Everything can be solved. Even if there is no perfect solution, the one that gets closest to the desired outcome is usually the one that she chooses. Thus, she chose to be friends with Spork.

It was not a choice of ulterior motive, but merely proximity. Being the only two children their age in close proximity, their mothers were desperate for the two to be friends. She did not mind Spork's company, and saw their blindness as nothing more as a problem she added to her 'To Be Solved' list.

Over time, however, this opinion changed. What had once been a friendship formed of convenience began to develop into something more. While Mari saw their blindness as an inconvenience, others saw it as a disability, something to be mocked. Feeling protective, she would have done something about these bullies if not for Spork crafting their own brilliant plan. The blind kid can't see after all, so who's to say they know where every person is standing in a room. And if they received a subtle tap to let them know their target is in range well, that's just being a good friend.

Being friends with the blind kid meant Mari was an outcast, however. Not that she would have known, she was too busy reading and concocting plans to bother with friends. Her father always said that she wouldn't get anywhere with her nose stuck in a book all the time, but her mother was always supportive. She told Mari about how intelligent foxes were, and they quickly became Mari's favorite animal, with her mom even making a little fox-paw charm for her.

The number of people Mari trusted went from 2 to 1 on one fateful day. An unexpected slip and fall sent Mari's mom to the hospital in critical condition. She was not allowed in to hear her mother's last words. She did not cry. Not on the way home. Not in her room after. Not at the funeral.

But weeks later, while with Spork.

It was an ugly grief, one that had been suppressed and held down for as long as it could be. Mari expected Spork to push her off or tell her to stop crying. Instead, they did their best to console her, and Mari realized just how good of a friend this goofball was.

They showed the world what the phrase 'thick as thieves' truly meant. They stuck together through high school, synchronizing their schedules at every opportunity and ensuring assholes were dealt with properly. As college came and went, Mari found herself on the business end of a double major in Robotics Engineering and Electrical & Chemical Engineering, with a minor in Physics. While Spork dropped out halfway through, she wouldn't dream of letting them go. Even after she graduated, they continued to share a space.

Mari first discovered her powers when she was mugged walking home one night. She stubbornly refused to give the man her money, and in exchange he gave her a bullet in the back of the skull. Sixty seconds later, she woke up on the dirty asphalt, a drum pounding in her head and the clear vision of a nine ticking down to eight. She made her way back home and did what anyone in that position would do.

Get even.

Mari researched endlessly, finding the man online, tracking his movements, finding his daily routines. She dipped down into the more unsavory parts of the web, hoping to find someone to track him for her. Instead she found his name and face tied to a hitman listing. She accepted it and, remembering the numbers in her mind, listed it under Nine Tails Inc. She worked feverishly, almost high on the sensation of data discovery and experimentation as she began to work on proper tools. She knew she couldn't kill him with a weapon she owned, so she had to craft her own. She took all the precautions, found him one night and fulfilled the contract.

He didn't even remember who she was.

Mari was ecstatic, not because she'd just killed someone, but because of the new breed of puzzle she'd just solved. She knew this was the beginning of something great. But she had to keep it from Spork.

 

[HighVoltage]

“Heh, yeah. I guess it was.” Lily forced out a half-chuckle that died somewhere in her throat. It was too easy to think back to that time, to the agonizing pain that coursed through her, the phantom pain that still caused her to bolt up in the night, memories of jagged fire coiling underneath her skin. So caught up in her head, Lily didn’t notice Lark’s movement until she felt the touch of their skin against hers. It was only the years of training that kept her from leaping out of her skin, away from the sudden contact.

Lily didn’t know where to look. She watched Lark’s fingers trace the scar from her missing arm, their touch somehow softer than she expected. After a moment Lily forced herself to look somewhere else, her gaze tracing up Lark’s scarred and battered hands, up their arms, and settling on their eyes. She was more comfortable admiring Lark this way, when their attention is on something else so they can’t notice her. This way Lily could watch how the light danced along the silver of their hair, the forest green of their eyes and the dark circles that hug them, everything that made ordinary people think they’re just messy and exhausted, when a select few knew that what those really showed was a person who has lived so much life in such a short time, and who had so much left to go. She considered herself lucky to be one of those few.

[color]“I am too.”[/color] Lily muttered in response, pushing the rest of her story back to her mind. Lark had heard enough for one day. She realized just how long she’d been staring when she realized Lark’s hand had gone still, along with the rest of them. Her gaze flicked back to meet theirs, just in time to catch something ghost across their face before they settled back into what Lily had sadly come to know as a too-familiar forced smile. Something tightened in her chest, rough and barbed. She wanted to push, to pry, to beg until they told her what was hiding under the surface, what they struggled against when they thought she wasn’t looking.

But Lily swallowed the urge to grab them and pushed it down. They didn’t pry, and neither would she. Instead she let out a laugh at Lark’s question, polishing off her bottle with one last swig before setting it down.

[color]“Sounds like a plan! You showed me a hell of a time, the least I can do is show you where to get a decent haircut.”[/color] Lily rose to her feet with a groan, her joints having become stiff after sitting in one place for so long. She dramatically twirled her hand in the air before offering it to Lark, a comfortable smile decorating her face in spite of her unease.

[color]“Shall we?”[/color]​

 

[HighVoltage]

​

​

-

V

eljara -

Name
Freyja Ragnarsdóttir

Age
22

Appearance
Freyja stands 6 feet tall with a muscular build, a testament to her time spent in various gyms. Her shoulder-length blonde hair is usually kept up and out of the way, and her eyes can range from the warm blue of a summer sky to the frigid blue of an ice sheet. She boasts an impressive spread of tattoos covering her hands, arms, and back.

Enhanced Physique
Freyja's physical prowess can be described as "a bit above peak humanity". While her strength, endurance, and reaction time would technically be considered superhuman, they barely fit the definition. This does not come naturally to her, and Freyja is proud of the work she must put in to be at this level.

Gifts of the Past
Freyja can summon several ancient weapons at will, including swords, spears, and axes. She is proficient with them, and wields all of them with deadly skill. She can also read and speak not only Old Norse, but any languages that may have descended from it as well.

Bringer of

Ragnarök

Veljara wields the fires of Muspelheim, donning her flame-drenched valkyrja form with but a word. She appears as an ashen-skinned valkyrie, her wing tips trailing into flame, an elaborate horned helm and mask covering most of her face. She wears minimal armor, preferring mobility over stalwart defense. In this form her physical abilities enhance even further, including her durability, to levels where she can easily pierce a man's chest with naught but her hands.

The flames that burn within her often seek an outlet, and Veljara is more than happy to oblige them, adding fire to her weaponry or simply wielding it as a weapon all its own. She can control the intensity of these flames as she likes, although hotter and brighter flames require more of her energy. The flames replenish over time, but she can also draw fire from this realm into her to fuel her reserves.

As a chooser of the slain, Veljara sends those that have died in battle to Fólkvangr or Valhalla. Or at least, she should. In actuality, the only deaths in battle that Veljara tends to are those against her. She takes those she has slain, and adds their essence to her flames. When she needs them, she can call them forward as fiery draugr to fight on her behalf, although they serve as little more than cannon fodder that seeks to kill. Whether they fight out of loyalty, force, or a desire to prove themselves so they may be sent to a better afterlife, none can say.

[/class][/class]

Code by Reyn
Header art by frostworksart
Sidebar art by Drawsouls

 

[HighVoltage]

When Sköll and Hati sink their fangs into the sun and moon, when Jörmungandr causes the seas to roil and Naglfar sails, when Fenrisúlfr and Surtr walk free in Midgard, when the three roosters crow and the Gjallarhorn is blown, Ragnarök will come. The Æsir, the Vanir, the jötnar; all will fight. All will die. Until that day comes, I can only prepare.

The girl now wanders, but she is not lost. She knows that the end must come, and that she will play her role when it happens. But until then, the unworthy, those who have wronged her, must be slain. And Veljara is well-equipped for that task. Wielding the flames of Muspelheim, she can transform into a flame-drenched valkyrie with but a word, any arms that she desire at her fingertips, along with the knowledge of how to use them. She can read and speak Old Norse, as well as any languages that may have descended from it, such as Icelandic.

The flames that burn within her often seek an outlet, and Veljara is more than happy to oblige them, adding fire to her weaponry or simply wielding it as a weapon all its own. She can control the intensity of these flames as she likes, although hotter and brighter flames require more of her energy. The flames replenish over time, but she can also draw fire from this realm into her to fuel her reserves.

As a

valkyrja

, as a chooser of the slain, Veljara sends those that have died in battle to Fólkvangr or Valhalla. Or at least, she should. In actuality, the only deaths in battle that Veljara tends to are those against her. She takes those she has slain, and adds their essence to her flames. When she needs them, she can call them forward as fiery

draugr

to fight on her behalf. Whether it is out of loyalty, force, or a desire to prove themselves so they may be sent to the afterlife, none can say.

Code by Reyn

 

[HighVoltage]

It started with a girl, as these stories often do. Raised by two historians, lovers of the ancient world, she was brought up on tales of old gods, of myths and legends. Yet her favorites were the tales of the Norse pantheon. Time and time again, the girl would ask her parents to retell the stories that she knew by heart, and they would lovingly oblige.

But again, as so often happens with these tales, darkness lay on the horizon. Their contracts ended, work was scarce. Sickness befell them both, and their loving daughter would have drowned herself in debts if it meant that she could save them. And yet she couldn't. It was weeks before she could return to that house, the one that was once so full of warmth and laughter, now empty save for herself and the ghosts of memories long past.

It was even longer before she could dare to enter the office that her parents shared. Part of her still believed that as long as that door remained shut, she could still pretend that they were simply hard at work, absorbed in the translation of some new runic text. But eventually the door was opened, the curtains drawn back, the mounds of untouched paper, work that was to be done later, threatening to have her just close the door and never return. She gathered it all, the half-written theses, copies of ancient texts, runes painstakingly copied with hand and ink, all of which meant nothing to her anymore. It all went outside, to a small pit in the backyard. There had been happier times here, times of laughter and marshmallows, tales of giants and men and monsters, her father's low gravely voice paired with the dancing flames reflecting in his eyes that made a younger girl squirm up against her mother for protection, yet still keeping her ears uncovered to hear more of the story.

As the last of the papers were hauled away, something was still left: a circle of stone, red and gold, runes circling the outside that she could not understand, nor did she have any desire to. The rune in the center was nothing special, what appeared as a capital M with extra lines. As she held it in her hand, hot tears ran down her cheeks. The paper was just that; notes, research, other work being consulted. This was tangible. This was what this office was being used for. Her fingers gripped it tight, too tight. Whether to ensure she didn't drop it or to shatter it in her grasp, she did not know. The sun had set by the time the girl had decided. She stood, returning to the backyard, and placed the stone in the papers. A match was struck, such a small, simple thing, and tossed into the papers.

And as the remains of her parents, of their work, burned, the girl let loose her grief. Wracking sobs, cries of anguish and sorrow, rivers of tears. The two most important people in the world had been taken from her, and all she wanted to do was to have them back. She didn't care if everything else collapsed, so long as they returned to her. She stayed by the fire for hours, a wretched display, until the embers were all that remained. Well, almost.

The stone, that cursed stone that she had thrown in, was whole, undamaged by the flame. But it was not unchanged. The runes encircling it were glowing, and the symbol in the center had changed, shrinking and being placed at the top of what almost looked like a winged key. Some force compelled her, although she knew not what, and the girl approached the embers, reaching out and grasping the stone.

Her mind was flooded, rapidly shifting images flickering along her synapses: gods, men, dwarves, elves, monsters, runes, realms. It all seared through her, veins glowing under her skin as if the blood were replaced with liquid flame. Her grief, her shattered sense of self, was reforged in that moment, molded, heated, and tempered into a white-hot anger. The world took her parents from her, and she was going to take what it she was owed.

You can't expect the gods to do all the work.

Code by Reyn

 

[HighVoltage]

Whatever air had managed to make its way into her lungs was immediately forced back out as she hit the ground. She was stunned for a moment as head hit helmet hit concrete, and the scientific part of her brain that never truly went away made a mental note to add more padding into the helmets. Usually when she hit the ground she was already dead or dying, and doing it while still coming back made everything ten times worse.

That threshold jumped up to approximately twenty times worse as something large and utensil-shaped fell across her body. A low hiss escaped her as the last vestiges of breath were re-ejected from her. Just as she was getting used to the feeling of being crushed, the offending utensil had the nerve to squirm and push themselves off of her, kicking her side in the process.

Spork was yammering about her being a zombie. She’d never heard them this nervous before, and it would be laughable if Mari didn’t feel like she was suffocating. She took a moment to try to gather herself, regain feeling in her extremities, until she felt a hesitant poke against her cheek. Mari couldn’t help but laugh. Or at least, try to.

The laugh quickly devolved into a coughing fit, each sharp hack coming out growling and harsh through the voice filter. Tired of the thing, Mari dug her fingers under the rip and ripped the damned thing off, letting it slip from her fingers to clatter against the ground. She continued to cough, sucking in lungfuls of fresh air to replace the nitrogen Min’yo had forced into them.

Once the coughing fit subsided, Mari turned to look at her partner, eyes watering, chest hurting, strands of hair pulled free from where she kept it tucked up and pasted to her sweat-covered forehead. She cleared her throat, trying to make sure her voice worked this time.

“Hey.” She said cautiously, drawing out the word to ensure it didn’t come out as another death rattle.

 

[HighVoltage]

Steel screamed, as did the corpses of those who were under Veljara’s sway. Her shield, wielded in the hands of the Phoenix, rent them in twain. The Wolfhound slavered as their blades met again and again, his gnashing teeth begging to take a hunk from her flesh. The valkyrie would not let him dine upon her, no. His final meals would be within Hel’s hallowed halls. He pushed and she gave, sliding backwards as he dropped down. Veljara saw the shield in time, but caught the Wolfhound’s attack too late. Her gaze flew between the two warriors, weighting each option.

The shield buried into her shoulder, the metal hissing as it struck true. Veljara braced herself with a step back. She had expected the pain, but not the heat. As the Woflhound swung his sword her own snapped out to grab his, to intercept and redirect, to force it down into the dirt. Veljara let her blade fall, instead reaching up to grab the shield. The harsh cry of tearing metal echoed across the battlefield as Veljara ripped her own shield in half, still leaving part of it embedded within her. The metal was still warm under her touch and a thought came to her.

The Phoenix was immune to flames, but the child of

Fenrisúlfr

has no such predilection.

Flames licked along her arms, her golden gauntlets flashing in the light they threw. The valkyrie stabbed at the Wolfhound with the superheated shard of her own shield, not caring whether it struck or not. Her real fight was with the Phoenix. The air around her grew warmer as the flames of Muspelheim grew around her, wreathing her body, the edges of flames trailing behind her back. It would be so easy, it would be so right, but not yet. They must wait.

Leaving the Hound to deal with her dead, Veljara rushed to meet Phoenix, flaming spear coalescing in her hand. She sought to simply run her through, the flaming weapon itself hard as forged steel. The dead would find themselves directed to attack the Hound, to overwhelm him with numbers and fire, their glowing claws, begging for his blood.

Before she could unleash wings of her own, Veljara would clip the Phoenix’s.

Code by Reyn

 

[HighVoltage]

“Ain’t that the truth.” Lily chuckled nervously as she cracked open another cider and passed it to Lark. She took another swig of her own, setting it down and taking another bite of her sandwich. And another. After the third bite of her sandwich, Lily realized she was stalling. This was where things got dicey. This was where Lark put down their sandwich, grabbed whatever part of her they could, brought her back to her regular time, then left her forever.

She swallowed, the sandwich feeling too large and too dry as it went down. Lily took another sip of cider and let out a breath.

“I murdered the mayor of Las Vegas.” It came out quietly, a confession that slipped through the cracks in the floorboards when she wasn’t paying attention. “That was the mission. She wasn't cooperating with the Lotus, so I killed her.” Her hand went up to the opposite arm, rubbing the bicep. “I lost my arm there. Luckily the Lotus had someone who can regrow your body parts, but hey! I found out I can make arms and legs too. Guess they sort of count as weapons.” She chuckled a little too eagerly, like a cue that she was afraid of missing.

“I also uh, fell out of a penthouse. Didn’t break my back, but it sure felt like I did.” Another chuckle, weaker this time, trailing off at the end into nothingness. She kept her gaze down, sipping at her drink, occasionally glancing up in an attempt to read Lark’s expression before looking away, immediately averting her eyes if they met theirs.
​

 

[HighVoltage]

Tee hee

“Coming soon."

 

[HighVoltage]

Fate

"What can I say? Girls just wanna have fun."

Age: 25
Gender: Female
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 105 lbs
Occupation: Criminal
Residence: Pittsburgh, PA (formerly Chicago, IL)
Family: Dead

Tarot Reading

Fate has created two decks of tarot cards, each card imbued with magic power that she can call upon at will. When a card is used, the design on it fades and leaves a blank sheet behind. In order to use that card again, Fate must repaint it. The amount of time and special materials this takes heavily depends on the type of card being painted. While repainting a card, Fate may take breaks, step away, even take days between working on a card. However, she must remain awake, or else she will have to start over.

Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana deck consists of 56 cards divided into four suits: Cups, Pentacles, Swords, and Wands. Each card is numbered, ranging from ace to 10, with the face cards being Page, Knight, Queen, and King, in that order. The power of the card increases with their value, with the face cards requiring a person to target, in essence becoming the Page, Knight, Queen, or King. Each suit has a theme and a corresponding element that helps to determine their powers and the materials required to repaint used cards. For example, if Fate was repainting a Wands card, she would need to use materials from a metahuman with powers based around fire or the mind. When wielding the Minor Arcana, Fate can draw a hand of 3 cards, reminiscent of a typical three-card spread. She must use these cards before she can draw more.

Major Arcana

The Major Arcana deck consists of 22 cards, numbered from 0 to 21. These cards are much more powerful than the minor arcana, but Fate has limited access to them. These cards take significantly longer than the major arcana to repaint, with the tradeoff that Fate can use her own blood as the metahuman material in order to paint it. When wielding the Major Arcana, Fate can only draw a single card at a time. Because these cards are so much harder to repaint, Fate tends to save them for special situations.

Where Fate keeps her deck is a mystery, however it always appears to be on her person. When drawing a card, she usually seems to pull the card from thin air, although nobody knows whether she is actually doing that or if it's simply very good sleight of hand. She also seems to do this with other items, usually her seemingly endless supply of Monster Energy that she drinks while she's working on repainting a card.​

 

[HighVoltage]

Ever since she was a child, Kimberly was known as the weird girl. The daughter of a fortune teller and a painter, she'd often been told to express herself by her parents, to be proud of who she was. Where with most children this would manifest in some form of creativity, with Kimberly it instead took the form of a deep interest in odd topics, in the weird, the occult, the macabre. Teachers reached out, concerned about what she'd been looking up on school computers or disturbing drawings she'd made. They simply said their daughter was expressing herself, and that was the end of it.

It didn't take long before Kimberly picked up tarot reading from her mother. After all, she'd spent plenty of time in her mom's shop, listening to her give readings to her customers, scrunching up her nose at the stench of incense and burning sage. Her mother had let her look at her cards before, but never let her do a reading with them, suggesting Kimberly make her own deck in order to properly attune to it. Kimberly embraced the idea, taking a stack of blank cards and a set of paints from her father.

She wanted more than just to be in tune with the deck, though. Kimberly wanted the deck to be hers, to be special and unique, bound only to her. Magic was primarily intent, as her mother had told her, so Kimberly decided to add a little something special to her deck. A quick trip back into her father's paint studio, he was always hard to distract when he was zoned into a painting, and Kimberly returned with a small x-acto knife. She dragged it along her index finger and let a drop of her own blood fall into each of the paints, mixing thoroughly. She didn't think anything of the fact that the paints should have been much more discolored by the addition of a drop of red than they were.

She decided she didn't want to go in order, and instead Kimberly started with her favorite card: The High Priestess. She had a design in mind and began diligently painting; columns on either side with something curling around them, roots on the bottom leading up to a feminine figure with an obscured face, draped in a veil with a crown of what could be finger bones. Above her sat a large ornamental eye.

As Kimberly went to finish the eye, she spun the card around so she didn't accidentally smear her work. As she placed the finishing touch, she couldn't help but stare into the eye, feeling herself almost get drawn into it. When she managed to look away, she was no longer in her bedroom, but instead in a dark courtyard. Massive pillars stretched above her, strands of something white coiling around them. A figure stood between them, clothed in a white dress, her face obscured, a smile all that was visible.

The High Priestess gestured to a handful of stone basins laid out before her. Kimberly shuffled forward and peered into one. Reflected in the liquid she saw herself. She was older, in a suit, working in an office. Everything looked dull and gray. She shifted to the next one and found a similar sight. So it was as Kimberly went through all the basins, all showing boring, uninteresting futures. It was not until the final basin that Kimberly saw something that made her smile.

She saw herself, clad in black and red, the eyes of everyone upon her. Her hair was black and white, she had piercings, and power crackled at her fingertips. More than that, though, she was smiling, laughing. She was having fun. This was the future she wanted. Kimberly looked up at the High Priestess, who merely gestured towards the basin. Kimberly cupped her hands and dipped them into the cool liquid before bringing it to her lips. It tasted sickly sweet and sour, and burned as it slid down her throat. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in her room, the finished card staring up at her. But Kimberly's mind was now clear, and she knew what she had to do. And so she set her plans into motion.

That night, both her mother's store and the apartment above it were destroyed in a fire. Only two bodies were recovered. Magic always has a cost.

 

[HighVoltage]

Minor Arcana

Being the lesser of Fate's two decks, the cards of the minor arcana are much more varied in their effects than the major arcana. Their effects are much more flexible and open to interpretation, allowing Fate to get creative. The cards are still limited by their suits, however, which denote the general theme that their effects must follow.

Cups

The suit of water, representing emotions, situations involving the heart, and interpersonal connections

Pentacles

The suit of earth, handling money, home, career, and all material and tangible objects

Swords

The suit of air, dealing with action, conflict, change, and power

Wands

The suit of fire, sparking creativity, imagination, and all ventures within the mind and spirit

Major Arcana

The major arcana, being much more powerful, are significantly more limited in the scope of their effects. Whereas the cards of the minor arcana are only restricted by the themes of their suit, the major arcana are bound by the card identity itself, usually tied to a specific effect or a specific theme.

0 - The Fool

Summons a copy of the person it is used on for a period of time. While it cannot accurately imitate people's mannerisms and personality, this duplicate is an exact physical copy. It can be taught to imitate the original, but the extent is limited, given its short existence and stunted mental capacity.

I - The Magician

Activating this card summons an explosive aid. Whether this is literal or symbolic is dependent on the moment, as the decision is made when the card is activated.

II - The High Priestess

This card focuses on mystery and revealing secrets. It can remove the veil of what lays hidden, lift the fog from one's mind, give insight into missing objects, or show the way when the path is lost.

III - The Empress

Envelops the wielder in a warm, comforting aura that negates any psychic or intangible threats. To outside observers, it appears as though a stern, matronly figure walks at the wielder's side, protecting them.

IV - The Emperor

Creates a spectral figure that stands behind the wielder, usually hidden and intangible. When the wielder is faced with physical threats, however, the figure appears to defend them, blocking attacks but never retaliating.

V - The Hierophant

Summons a being that is omniscient about a specific topic or subject. The exact nature of this being is unclear, but any question asked will have an answer provided. At times it is known to be infuriatingly vague or cryptic, regardless of attempts to assert influence over it.

VI - The Lovers

When touched to the target, the card summons an illusory version of the target's current or ideal partner. The target believes this illusion is completely real, and the illusion acts as the target would expect, albeit with Fate's goal in mind.

VII - The Chariot

Arguably the simplest of the major arcana, this card allows Fate to create portals that let her pass from one location to another.

VIII - Strength

Harnessing the power of emotions, this card summons a great being that represents the wielder's imagined symbol of strength itself. It obeys the user unquestioningly until it is either dissipated or destroyed.

IX - The Hermit

Revels in the clarity that can come from isolation, and is used to distance oneself from others. Depending on the intent of the wielder, the card may do so literally or figuratively.

X - The Wheel of Fortune

The effect of this card is completely random, although whatever effect it may have is still within the power limits of the rest of the major arcana.

XI - Justice

Creates an area of effect around the wielder where none may tell an outright lie, lie by omission, or speak in any way that hides the truth. The wielder is immune to this effect.

XII - The Hanged Man

Offering a change in perspective, this card allows the wielder to enhance a single attribute of theirs for a limited time at the cost of another. For example, one could enhance their hearing at the cost of sight, their smell at the cost of taste, etc. Both the enhancement and sacrifice are temporary and revert when the card's effect ends.

XIII - Death

Simply put, this card brings about an end. It could be to a life, to an action, to a plan. Whatever it is comes to an end, although not always in the way that the wielder intends.

XIV - Temperance

Used to heal serious injuries and damages to the body and mind.

XV - The Devil

Thriving on chaos and sin, activating this card temporarily amplifies any and all negative emotions in an area, with a particular affinity for the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth.

XVI - The Tower

Symbolizing destruction and upheaval, this card inflicts lightning-strike changes upon its wielder or their surroundings. What these may be is often only understood after the fact, when the thunder rumbles.

XVII - The Star

A symbol of faith, of beauty, of comfort in one's own skin, this card allows the wielder to take on the appearance of any whom they have met. Any powers the target has are not present in the assumed form, and those with heightened senses will be able to detect the deception.

XVIII - The Moon

Twisting, dangerous waters lurk beneath the gleaming light of the moon. This card summons a twisting hallucinatory labyrinth that is constantly shifting and changing, threatening to sweep those caught in its effect away.

XIX - The Sun

A shining symbol of hope, this card renews the energy and vigor of those caught within it, replenishing their energy and healing their wounds.

XX - Judgement

A moment of reflection, of sentencing, this card binds the wielder and one target. Until the card expires, anything the target does to the wielder also affects them, and vice versa.

XI - The World

The penultimate card, the wielder draws upon the power of the other metas. By selecting one and touching them with this card, the wielder is granted the target's powers for a very limited period of time. Once used against a target, they are forever immune to the effects of this card.

 

[HighVoltage]

Not too far in the future, an odd string of crimes began to occur throughout the greater Chicago area. They seemed unconnected at first. heft, assault, an occasional murder. The only thing that tied them together was eyewitness accounts. Every onlooker reported the same short, feminine figure dressed in red and black with white-streaked dark hair. One such eyewitness even swore he made eye contact with the figure, stuck staring in horror as she stood over a bloodied body, smiling at him and waving her fingers.

This criminal figure finally received a name when she took the patrons of an entire bank hostage. Camera footage showed the desks and floor come to life, sprouting branches and thorns and binding all the patrons as the figure casually walked back to the vault before exiting. Nothing seemed to be taken, in fact bank records show that nothing was actually taken from the vault. Before departing, the figure went to the head teller and whispered something in his ear.

"When they ask you who did this, you go ahead and tell them that it's Fate."

The little stunt seemed to be just for attention, and it certainly had caught the attention of Chicago PD. However, it also caught the attention of another interested party.

Fate hadn't set out to join a metahuman borderline terrorist organization, but when the Chicago sect of Slate offered her a spot in their ranks, it was hard for her to say no. Whilst part of the Chicago sect Fate flourished, sowing chaos and disorder whenever it suited her. More importantly, she had access to supplies and materials, fully finishing her deck. Things were good, for a time. At least they seemed so on the surface.

The Chicago sect had grander ideals, however. They wanted to go rogue, to separate from Slate as a whole and challenge Obsidian for control. Naturally the boss had caught wind of this rebellion and sought to handle this matter personally. Unfortunately, he was too late. By the time that Obsidian had heard about his rogue sect and decided to take care of them, the issue had been settled. Scorched earth was all that was left of their headquarters, and the only member that could be found was their newest recruit: a dark-haired girl dressed in red and black.

Obsidian had wanted to destroy the Chicago sect, but Fate had gotten bored first.

Seeing what she could truly do, Obsidian extended an offer for her to join the primary sect of Slate in Philadelphia. Fate readily accepted, and has been happily causing mischief ever since. It's been a while, now, especially since the core membership left to start their new branch in Pittsburgh. Now with Malachite dead and Fate being called to join the "family" in Pittsburgh, will she find an invitation awaiting her? Or simply an opportunity to cause more chaos?

 

[HighVoltage]

Name: Otis Dorm

Pronouns: He/him

Number of Previous Ventures: 4, of which two were successful. He partially blames himself for the others.

Occupation / Skillset: Otis works in a bakery near the old woman's manor, creating various sweets, breads, and pastries. He found that the most common customers that would come in would be dressed in interesting cloaks, often regardless of the weather. It was from these customers that he heard about the old lady, and when she eventually came to the bakery herself, that was when Otis learned about what the cloaks could do. Beyond his baking skills, Otis also has a knack for herbology, able to identify many plants along with their uses.

Physical Description / Defining Characteristics: Otis strikes a rather warm and welcoming figure, contrasting sharply with his friend, Harper. He is a shorter, slightly pudgy man who clearly enjoys sampling his own work. He has a warm smile, kind blue eyes, a round nose, and a head full of thick, curly brown hair. He tends to wear practical clothing, with longer pants and shorter sleeves. He's almost never seen without his apron and a pair of thick leather gloves tucked into his belt, which he uses as both oven mitts and gardening gloves. As he nears his transformation, his frame appears to widen and his hair grows longer and more unkempt.

Animal Form: Otis can take the form of a grizzly bear, usually putting himself between danger and his fellow travelers. He's not an empty threat, either, despite his good nature while in human form. His claws have drawn blood, and he won't hesitate to make them do so again.

---

Jann and I grew up together. We were always out in the woods exploring and adventuring, tearing our clothes on thorns and getting covered in dirt. We were inseparable. So when Father died and left me the cottage, it seemed only natural that he moved in. There was more than enough space, and it just felt right to have him closer. Things remained unchanged, for the most part. Each night I would bring home leftovers from the bakery and we'd pack a little basket. We'd head out to a small clearing we'd discovered in the woods and tell each other about our day, enjoying the food and inspecting the wild plants around for anything interesting.

One night I was just tired. It had been a rough day at the bakery, I hadn't slept well, and I just wanted to go to bed. I told Jann I wasn't up for going to the clearing tonight, and he simply smiled at me. He said he'd go and check out the plants and then come back to me, and we could still catch up on our days together.

We never caught up.

He never came back to me.

I checked the clearing the next morning and found nothing. Jann had simply disappeared. Nobody could find hide nor hair of him. I know it's a lot, trying to save someone who at best disappeared and at worst died. But I'll settle for just finding out what happened to him.

 

[HighVoltage]

FAMILIAR​

Name: Janis Kumari
Age: 28
Nationality: Indian

Appearance: Janis is a tall woman with a standoffish demeanor and a seemingly permanent scowl on her face. She has medium-length straight hair with the right side shaved, although it tends to grow out and get a bit scruffy before she can be bothered to shave it again. The unshaven side is dyed green, which has faded and has her natural brown peeking out around the roots. Her left leg is amputated above the knee, and she uses a pair of crutches that she's spray-painted purple and decorated with band stickers.

Dreams: To finish off the Nightmare, to open her own tattoo parlor.
Fears: Losing Meena, failing
Virtues: Protective, quick to act
Vices: Reckless, impulsive, anger issues

Brief History: Who I was isn't really important. Studied tattooing, got good enough at it to get a full-time job doing it. One day I collapsed, my left leg wouldn't support my weight. Inoperable tumor, at least according to the doctor. Got it cut off, had to figure out how to fucking walk again. Met a cute girl as she was getting out of PT and I was going in. I acted like a dumbass and kept scheduling my appointments at the same time, hoping to see her again. Funnily enough, she told me that she kept doing the same. Five years later, Meena and I got married. I've done most of her tattoo work, she's usually the one who does my dye and nails. It was a great time.

What do you do when your wife tells you that she wants to use her former fencing training to pilot a giant robot into a possibly suicidal situation in order to protect people?

You fucking go with her, of course. I told her we're in it together and we enlisted at the same time. I don't have the same training as her, but if they gave a shit that I was down a leg they didn't say anything. Now they've got me as the first Familiar in a brand-new Witch, and it's gonna be a hell of a ride.

WITCH​

Name: Medusa
Role: Skirmisher/Controller
Creation Date: September 4th, 2220
Appearance: Medusa is a proper gorgon. From the waist down she has a green-scaled snake tail instead of legs. The tech guys mentioned something about my missing leg making me an ideal candidate for the mech. I might've stepped on his foot with one of my crutches. Her torso has the same scaling up along her sides and arms. She has six large snakes coming out of her head that hang limp when I'm not connected. She also has a sort of snake mask over her face. You see that gold shining though in the eyes? That's her, the real golden face she has underneath the mask. I've seen it a couple times. She's beautiful.

Abilities:
Primary: Medusa is fast as fuck. She can skirt the outside of the battlefield, dart in when she sees an opening, deal some damage, then get the fuck out before she takes too many hits. Her teeth and claws are razor-sharp, and unless they rip the hair out of her scalp, she's never unarmed.
Secondary: Medusa can shoot beams of energy from her eyes and the mouths of her snakes that slow down whatever they hit. They're useful for slowing and condensing Nightmares, but other things they hit will actually start crusting over with stone. They aren't very strong, though, and they can't really damage things, so they're a sort of backup. She's also got Anima running through her veins, and if she gets hit she can make smaller snake constructs form from the spray. They'll immediately try to bite whoever hit her in retaliation, injecting venom that works like the lasers do.
Overdrive: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Medusa is no exception. Taking off the mask is what activates it, and her body more than doubles in length. Her stone vision stops working, and all energy is focused to speed and damage. She can move faster, hit harder, and can bind Nightmares in her newfound coils, functioning as a Circle in an emergency. Only problem is "all energy" means everything, that includes defenses. But she's tough, we can handle it.

Legacy: I'm Medusa's first Familiar, and she hasn't really seen much combat. I'm still getting used to controlling her, but it feels incredible
Original Myth: Priestess of Athena. Poseidon assaulted her in Athena's temple while she was just trying to do her duty. In response, Athena punished Medusa, turned her into the gorgon we know. Whether this was meant to teach her a lesson or to give her a defense against it ever happening again, who knows?

 

[HighVoltage]

Janis was mortified. She felt a flush creep into her cheeks as her wife’s familiar made a giant robotic heart and blew her a kiss. Fortunately she didn’t have a ton of time to be embarrassed as the Circle was cast, the swirling fog of the Nightmare solidifying into a thick sludge that coalesced further into gross shapes. She registered the Salamanders and winced as the piercing crow of the Cockatrice reached her ears.

The others were already springing into action, and Janis wasn’t going to let herself be caught gawking. She pressed a few buttons on her console and grinned to herself as music started filtering in through some speakers she’d put up. They weren’t exactly regulation, but if they thought she’d be able to kick Nightmare ass without something playing, they were sorely mistaken.

As she felt the drums and guitar fill the space, a grin crept on Janis’s face as she pushed Medusa forward. Aphrodite and Brig appeared to be handling the Salamanders, with her wife providing backup. That was good, as long as Meena was safe things would be a lot easier.

“I’ve got the other leg!” Medusa surged forward, skirting the edge of the fight before abruptly shifting focus, darting in to mirror Echo, slashing at the Cockatrice’s other ankle. Any of her hair snakes that got in range lashed out too, intent on making this thing sluggish and slow. They’d show this fucking overgrown chicken not to mess with them.

 

[HighVoltage]

Name: Maria Voticelli
Alias: Doctor Voticelli
Gender: Female (she/her)
Height: 5’8”
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Dark gray, almost black
Power: Maria’s body is composed of a black-gray liquid that’s similar to ferrofluid. She must concentrate in order to maintain some semblance of a human form, and can readily manipulate her form at will. In order to free up her focus, Maria developed a magnetic solution that, when injected, keeps her form together without the need for her to concentrate on it. This solution must be injected into her bloodstream every 156 hours (approximately 6.5 days) or she will have to devote more of her focus to keeping herself together, eventually falling apart if her focus wavers.

With her shapeshifting, she can adjust her body however she sees fit. She used to primarily shapeshift for burglary, but nowadays she mainly uses it to make her daily tasks more convenient, especially in her home lab.

Maria Voticelli was not always a kind woman. She was never cruel, but those who worked with Maria would have described her as results-driven over anything else, almost to the point of stubbornness. A brilliant scientist with experience in half a dozen fields of study, Maria conducted research at a handful of labs over the course of a decade before pivoting to focus on her own research: mainly, that of metahumans.

The existence of metahumans had always been a fringe theory, with rumored reports of people with supernatural and superhuman abilities trickling in slowly but steadily over the years. Maria believed that the stories were true, that metahumans existed not only in legend, but in the modern day as well. However, given that most of them presumably would object to having their personal and/or genetic identifying information on record, Maria decided instead that she would create one, imbuing a person with extraordinary powers in order to further her reserach.

But the wheels of progress ground too slowly, and Maria found her funding starting to dry up. The various hoops she had to jump through and red tape she had to deal with hindered her progress to a level that she found unsatisfactory. Using herself as a test subject to bypass humane testing legislation, Maria began a new avenue of experimentation, using a ferrofluid derivative in an attempt to imbue herself with potential superhuman strength and durability.

She was not prepared for her experiment to succeed, nor what that success would entail. One moment Maria Voticelli was a human woman, doubled over in pain and sweating profusely. The next she felt herself falling, sliding apart. Her skin started to darken and gray, her body began melting, and in less than five minutes the brilliant scientist was reduced to a puddle of grayish-black sludge.

But Maria Voticelli could still think, therefore she still was. Through immense trial and error, she was able to partially solidify herself, enough to move, enough to stand, enough to take on some semblance of a human form again. It took almost all her willpower to maintain her shape, and so she began to work on a solution. Her new form proved quite malleable, and once the problem of short-term stabilization was solved, she began to experiment with different forms and shapes, finding that her will could sculpt her into whatever she could imagine.

That just left the small issue of funding. Maria had succeeded, in a sense, but she could hardly present to investors in her current state. But a little thing like being structurally unstable would not stop her from achieving her goals. Over the next several weeks there was a string of robberies with no sign of forced entry, or of any entry at all. Maria was the ultimate burglar, able to slip between the cracks and pick any lock. She might have continued in this escapade alongside her scientific duties if not for a single robbery gone wrong. After that, she swore off crime and devoted herself entirely to science.

Now that she had proven the existence of metahumans, albeit artificially created ones, Maria began to formulate her next experiment. If it was possible to give oneself superhuman abilities, could those be passed down to one’s offspring? It would be a long-form experiment, but one that she would surely be able to see to its end. She’d always liked the name Venus...