Survivor: the Initiative Episode 3

Survivor: the Initiative Episode 3
Sharpening Skills and Telling Truths

Day 7

TEAM JOYCE

Angela Cairn, Nocturne, alighted next to the small shelter that most of the members of her team had constructed and now slept in. She had been flying overhead, foraging for food, when she sensed a strange emotional state beneath her. Angela had grown adept at reading the emotional states of others (except Ion, of course, who reflected no emotions). Back when she’d been a cop, she’d learned to read the intentions of others and had had to make fast judgment calls in the line of duty. After her lover and partner had been killed, Angela had grown intensely withdrawn and closed off from the world. The machine that had transformed her into Nocturne, Angela understood that it provided physical mutations based on subconscious desires. The creature Vermin had become a monstrous recluse, reflecting his inner struggles after a tortured childhood. The Mutilation Killer had become a sick and twisted monster with the power to change his shape. But Angela? Angela had become a winged creature of the night, with the power to control her hair as she would her hands; she had claws, enhanced strength, and this new ability to read the emotional states of others, or to transfer her own emotional state on to them. She often wondered what she would have changed into if her transformation had taken place prior to her partner’s death.
Angela looked around her, feeling suddenly a bit anxious. She couldn’t see or sense anyone, and yet she knew there was a presence very close to her. She’d seen all the other women, even Ion, down at the lake. Who was here? She tried to put a name to the emotion she was sensing. It was an odd mixture of playfulness, savagery, and determination.
Angela turned to scrutinize the trees behind the shelter again when she suddenly heard a twig snap behind her. As she flipped her body around defensively, Valkyrie’s powerful frame suddenly smashed against her and the two of them fell against the ground, hard. Angela felt her breath leave her body. Before she could move, she felt Valkyrie straddling her, pinning both of her arms to the ground. Angela gave out a silent scream and silmultaneously willed a wave of her fear to wash over Valkyrie and then used her hair to slash at Valkyrie’s face with violent strokes. Angela was shocked when she heard Valkyrie laugh slightly, but the warrior woman didn’t budge.
Angela’s fear turned into fury, and she projected the complex combination of emotions onto her attacker, but she still couldn’t free herself. With a twist of rage, her hair thrashing wildly, Angela cried out in a piercing scream, “GET OFF OF ME!”
Valkyrie threw back her head and laughed. Laughed! Then she stood up and stepped back. Without a thought, Angela leapt to her feet, her wings giving her balance, and she brandished her claws threateningly, giving off a hiss of warning. “Don’t you ever attack me again, or I’ll gut you!”
Valkyrie folded her arms and smiled at Angela appraisingly. “I was wondering if that would be enough to get you to talk.”
Angela felt hot embarrassment run through her suddenly. Without another word, she turned, leapt into the air, and flew away as quickly as she could.

Symkaria wasn’t so bad, Wanda Mason, the Phantom Blonde, figured. She’d never done much in the way of traveling as a kid. She’d had a trip or two to Hawaii, but her parents, even though they’d doted on her, had never had much in the way of money. Growing up, Wanda had always strived to be just a little bit more. She wanted to be that girl that everyone looked at and noticed, even if she had to get in trouble to get the attention. She had driven her mom crazy, but Louise Mason was never one to lose a battle; she stuck with the parenting thing just like she stuck with everything else. Wanda remembered the day she’d found out her mom had been a super hero back in World War II. First off, that made her mom practically ancient, but Wanda had never understood how her mom had just faded off into obscurity like she did, living some desk job when she’d had a whole life to draw from. Wanda didn’t know if she’d ever have kids (probably not), but she promised herself that she’d never let herself slip away so far. The little brats could fend for themselves; she had a life to live!
Wanda sat in her bathing suit at the edge of the lake, feeling the cold water lap against her skin as it rolled in and out. She felt utterly relaxed. Wasn’t Survivor supposed to be about hardship and battling the elements? Sure, she didn’t like sleeping on a wooden platform every night, and she didn’t always have enough to eat, but she could handle that. It was like the ultimate diet and exercise program. But she was part of a really comfortable alliance with some pretty cool chicks, and they’d gotten rid of the two biggest weirdoes on the team. Gladiatrix and Tempo were gone, and camp life was heaven now. But Wanda wanted to see the boys lose a bit, too. She didn’t want to have to see her alliance start feeding upon itself.
Wanda sat up on her haunches and looked at the other three women out in the water. Number Nine and Free Spirit were splashing each other as they swam in water that came up to their shoulders. Wanda didn’t understand how they were quite so comfortable; she knew there were icky things floating down around in there, and she wasn’t about to risk getting leeches on her. Farther out, on her own, Ion was floating above the water and looking intently beneath the surface. Wanda saw Ion use her energy field to scoop up several gallons water, then let the water run-out of the field, capturing the fish beneath it. Ion had announced to the team that she’d had this idea, and they had agreed to come down to the lake to watch her try. It looked successful so far; Ion had captured a good nine fish so far. Wanda knew Ion was just trying to prove her place on the team so that when the next tribal council came, she’d be less likely to be voted out. But as far as Wanda was concerned, it wasn’t going to do her any good. They might let Nocturne go first, but Ion would go eventually, there was no questioning that. She might as well make herself useful why she was here.
With a bored sigh, Wanda adjusted her bikini top, lay back on the ground again, and felt the sun soak into her skin.

TEAM HAMMOND

Lemar Hoskins, Battle Star, felt the hard sand scatter across his shield, then begin to solidify. He wasn’t about to let that happen; if Sandstorm got his shield, then Lemar would only have his strength and fighting skills to fall back on. Using his powerful leg muscles, he pushed himself up off the ground and launched himself a few feet into the air, ripping his shield free. He felt the sand turn loose beneath him again as he kicked himself off of a tree and changed his direction, barreling into Sandstorm’s figure fully. It was like hitting a brick wall! Sandstorm fell back all right, and Lemar landed on top of him, feeling like he’d hit a pile of rocks.
Sandstorm began laughing. “You ready to give up yet?”
Lemar answered by slamming his shield down hard into Sandstorm’s chest. It didn’t hurt the kid, who was constantly surrounded by his grit armor, but it did surprise him, and that was all Lemar needed for the moment. He pushed himself upward and began running through the woods again. After several yards, he ducked behind a thick tree trunk and turned back to survey his surroundings, his breath heavy in his lungs. Lemar had faced mutants, cyborgs, monsters, and giants in battle. He felt positive that one untrained kid couldn’t get the drop on him.
Several minutes passed before Lemar heard a rustling in trees. He looked up, expecting to see a thin trail of sand shaking the leaves, when he was suddenly slammed from behind into the tree trunk. With a groan, as he felt the tree trunk crack, he gasped an “uncle!” and felt the weight behind him release.
According to the rules of Survivor, they were allowed to spar so long as they kept their powers in check. If another contestant was harmed because of your actions, or if you intended to harm another player, you were out of the game, and potentially out of the Initiative. Just three days ago, Brother Nature and Biohazard had used their powers at the camp during their argument, but no one was kicked out because no one was hurt, though Lemar wondered if Brother Nature hadn’t meant to harm Biohazard, the poor kid.
Lemar sat down on the ground and patted his ally on the back. “Well done, Tony. You’ve really got control of your powers down to a finite level, haven’t you?”
Tony smiled widely and took a seat himself, gathering his sandy form around himself and rejoining it to his grit armor. “I’ve had lots of practice, man. After Sandman trained me how to use my powers, I spent a bunch of months hunting bad government guys down. I’ve had lots of time on my own to work them out.”
Lemar was taken aback. “Hunt them down? You hunted guys?”
Tony’s smile still shown. “Yeah, whatever it takes to get your guy, you know?” Lemar wondered, not for the first time, how much he really knew about his ally.

“I CAN’T DO IT!”
Brendan Doyle, MAULER, from within his armor, choked in disgust. “Of course ye cain’t, not wit’ that sorry excuse fer an attitude. I ain’t askin’ ye ta turn lead inta gold here, son, just ta burn through a blasted tree. That I know yer capable of cause I’ve seen ye do it before.”
Biohazard, in his human form, threw up his hands in frustration. He looked ready to cry. “I. Can’t. Do it! I can’t! I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!”
Doyle cursed under his breath. Why was he wasting his time with this sorry excuse for a man, no less a hero? He’d been trying to help Biohazard learn how to control his powers. The boy was impossible! A perpetual victim intent on whining about his place in the world over doing something about it. Biohazard had told Brendan that his father had been killed in prison. Perhaps Biohazard still wasn’t over that?
Brendan tried a new tactic. “What would yer father say, laddie, to hear ye speaking so intently of ‘can’t’?” As Brendan watched, Biohazard’s human form started to squirm and roll, and his eyes took on a green hue. Finally, Brendan had made the boy mad enough to turn into his monstrous form. “Good, lad, the power is in yer grasp, good. Now use that anger. Allow yerself ta turn into Biohazard, and direct a blast’a yer acid at that tree there. G’wan now.”
As his form transformed into acid, Biohazard’s face took on the features of a frightening cartoon perspective, wide eyes and a snarling gaping mouth. “You want the tree destroyed? Consider it destroyed!” And before Brendan’s eyes, Biohazard grew to a height of at least twenty feet. Where did all that extra mass come from? Then the boy threw a massive acidic fist through the tree trunk, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
Great, Brendan thought. He’d made Biohazard mad enough to strike. Now how would he calm him back down?

DAY 8

TEAM JOYCE

“I—I just don’t remember…” Number Nine felt the tears flow freely down her cheeks, but for once she wasn’t ashamed of her emotions. Free Spirit, Valkyrie, and the Phantom Blonde were proving to be true friends, and they were not only accepting her for who she was, but they were teaching her how to accept herself.
Free Spirit leaned in, concerned and imploring. “Try, Nine. What are your earliest memories? Take yourself back to the very beginning.”
Number Nine closed her eyes tightly and focused inward. She spent so much time hiding out from who she was that she didn’t quite know how to face her memories, or even look back upon herself. She thought back, hard, to her very earliest memories. She remembered waking up on Skip Ash’s farm. She remembered being naked inside her transformation tube. She remembered running, as if by instinct. She remembered not knowing anything about herself or her own past. “I was in the tube. And then, I was just this bundle of emotions, instincts, and responses. I was suddenly Skip Ash’s perfect woman, programmed to meet his every need.” Number Nine started crying more heavily now. She opened her eyes when she felt Free Spirit’s hand on her back, offering her a kind touch of support.
“Are you angry?”
Number Nine stopped herself from crying, and dried her eyes with the back of her hand. Oh, how she needed a shower. “Don’t be silly, why would I be angry?”
Free Spirit looked angry herself. “Not at me. At him. At that millionaire who messed with your mind.”
Number Nine thought about it. She rarely felt anger. She supposed that was part of her rewritten genome. She could feel happiness, eagerness, excitement, regret, sadness. But anger? Jealousy? Those feelings were somehow beyond her. “It hadn’t occurred to me to be angry.”
Free Spirit looked off into the distance. “I’m angry for you, then.”

As Number Nine recounted her early adventures alongside Daredevil and the Inhumans, even fighting Ultron and seemingly visiting Hell, Cathy Webster, Free Spirit, felt her mind wander to her own origins. She too was someone’s idea of the perfect woman given shape. Cathy had been a stick-in-the-mud in college, considering rules and grades much more important than friendships. When she’d been given the opportunity to work on self-improvement, with a woman who was secretly the super-villainess Superia, Cathy had jumped at the opportunity. She thought it was some sort of self-help program, but it turned out to be a complete reworking of her biology. The experiment had granted Cathy enhanced strength and agility. Seeking answers for herself, Cathy had rushed off after Superia, and ended up teaming up with Captain America, who took a special interest in her and helped train her and hone her skills. After Cap had retired for a time, Cathy and another of Cap’s protégés, Jack Flag, had taken over the monitoring of his national hotline, but that hadn’t lasted long.
Cathy had reached a point in her life where she had to decide between being a hero or continuing in college. The idea of being a hero had been appealing, but she hadn’t wanted that for herself, not then. So she’d gone back to school. Maybe she’d been a little less prudish than she’d been before. She certainly had been more popular with the boys. But now, here she was, enrolled with the Initiative, and following the hero life again. She guessed life would take her down the path it wanted her to go down.
“I don’t know what’s next for me, Cathy, and I’m scared.”
Cathy looked up suddenly and realized that she’d been completely tuning Number Nine out. What a great friend she was, getting lost in her own thoughts. She mentally reprimanded herself. “Nine, you’re going to be okay. We’ll help you through this.”
“But what if I never remember who I am?”
Cathy couldn’t help but be annoyed by the fresh flow of tears from Number Nine’s eyes, but she took her friend into her arms and let her cry.

TEAM HAMMOND

With a snap of his metallic legs, extending out from his harness, Oliver Osnick, the Steel Spider, speared the fish below the surface of the shallow lake bed. He gave out a whoop as he pulled the fish from the water, and smiled at the simple satisfaction he had of simply being good at something. Derwyddon patted him on the back approvingly. It had been a long time since Ollie had sought out the approval of an authority figure, but he somehow felt drawn to Derwyddon, and was glad the old man was around to show him some things.
Derwyddon chuckled. “You seem very pleased about this small fish, Oliver.”
Ollie shrugged and looked down at the lake surface. He still couldn’t believe that Derwyddon was helping him walk on water! “It’s just nice to do it on my own. I know you can do your little ‘ask and they will come’ thing with the fish, but it’s nice to catch one myself.”
As they walked back over to their little camp, Ollie thought about how fast the game had changed for him. He’d been just spying on everyone else for the first several days, but now he and Derwyddon were buddies, and Biohazard had been hanging out with them, too. They were like their own little tribe-within-the-tribe. And it felt good. He felt himself getting more relaxed, and he figured that was a good thing.
As a kid, Ollie had idolized people who were smart who also made themselves successes as heroes and villains. He had totally idolized Dr. Octopus, a scientist who was a really scary arch-villain, too, and Ollie had designed himself a harness with mechanical tentacles to be just like his hero. He’d been a bit misguided, sure, but he’d been just a kid, and he’d soon changed his hero to Spider-Man. He’d switched his harness around to have metal spider-legs instead and had been a pretty lame hero for a while.
As they made it back to their open camp, Ollie noticed Derwyddon looking at him intently. Staring at his prosthesis. His fake arm, his biggest shame. “Oliver, are you ready to tell me how you lost your arm?” Ollie was shocked. He and Derwyddon hadn’t talked about his arm at all. He felt hot shame, regret, and embarrassment flood through him.
Ollie cleared his throat. “It was Venom. That so-called ‘hero’ on the Thunderbolts team. After the Registration Act, I was real upset over what they did to Spidey, my idol. I started lashing out against criminals and got a bit violent. I, uh, went a little crazy, I guess. Anyway, the Thunderbolts attacked me, sanctioned by the government, and Venom, he bit off my arm. They covered it up in the media, then threw me in jail, where I sat until just a few weeks ago when I decided to enroll.”
Ollie, his face scarlet, looked up at Derwyddon, who looked horrified. “A government-sanctioned agent… bit off your arm?”
Ollie felt tears leak out on to his cheeks. “That’s right. He bit off my arm.”

“But what if they are wrong, Bill? He is the most important member of our team. Well, the most powerful, anyway.” Gomi, his pants rolled up and his feet dipping in the water on the far edge of the lake, looked at his wide-eyed crustacean friend. Gomi sensed Bill’s frustration and sighed.
“Bill, you don’t always understand how humans work. I mean, this is a complicated game. Under the sea, you just eat and sleep and defend yourself. But up here, it is about complex emotional relationships and interactions. The way I see it, Brother Nature, no matter how big a jerk he is, has helped us win two challenges directly. I just don’t agree with voting out the guy that is the biggest support to our team.”
Bill looked at Gomi and rolled his eyes. Gomi hated when his lobster got sarcastic.
“It wasn’t the same in the Fallen Angels. There, it was just about stealing to survive, even with all that weird Coconut Grove stuff. Okay, so it was more complicated, I guess. But here, it’s about getting yourself farther in the game.”
Bill looked at Gomi with a mixture of hurt and concern.
“Of course my friends are important to me, Bill, and you are my best friend! But I don’t want to lose the game! If we happen to lose immunity, and then we vote out Brother Nature like everyone is telling us to, then we could just keep losing and losing. And what if they vote me out next? I don’t want to go yet, I want to stay and win this!”
Bill turned away, a pained expression reflected in his large eyes. Finally Gomi understood what was bothering him.
“Listen, Bill, I know you are still sad about Don dying. When Devil Dinosaur stepped on him, it was the biggest tragedy ever. One of my two lobster friends was suddenly gone. Are you thinking that if we’d gotten rid of Devil Dinosaur early on, if we had kicked off the most powerful member of the team faster, then maybe Don would still be alive?”
Gomi noticed his lobster friend begin to cry. Bill jumped into the water, reflecting shame. Gomi sighed. “Okay, Bill. If we lose immunity, then I’ll vote out Brother Nature with the rest of them. Just for you.”

DAY 9

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE

Jasper Sitwell stood in front of the constructed immunity challenge and welcomed the members of Team Joyce and Team Hammond. He announced to Team Hammond that Tempo had been voted out at the last tribal council, and none of the men seemed particularly surprised. Jasper explained that in this competition, there would be six individual battles, randomly selected. The two opponents would stand on a two inch platform standing four feet in the air, and would be required to keep both feet on the platform at all times. They would each hold one end of a rope and tug of war against each other. The person from each match-up to last the longest would score one point for their team. The team with the most points would win immunity and be safe from another vote.
Jasper explained to Team Hammond that they would have to sit two people out, and that Biohazard could not sit out this challenge. Brother Nature quickly announced that he would sit out, then, and Derwyddon chose to sit out with him. The remaining pairs of six opponents were then randomly assigned.
In the first match, Phantom Blonde stood against Battle Star, whose superior strength pulled her off her platform and into the water below in a matter of seconds. The second match lasted only seconds longer as Free Spirit triumphed against Biohazard. When Number Nine stood against Gomi, who couldn’t use Bill’s super strength as there was no room on the platform, she easily yanked Gomi off.
With two points for Team Joyce and one for Team Hammond, Valkyrie, her sword sheathed, and MAULER, in his armor, stood on their platforms and began to spar with the rope. MAULER’s armor, increasing his strength, allowed him to last several minutes against the super-strong Valkyrie, but in the end, she pulled him off and won.
As Ion and Sandstorm took their places on their platforms, Jasper announced that if Team Joyce won one more match, then immunity would be theirs. As they stepped forward, Ion asked Jasper if they were allowed to use their powers, and he said yes, so long as they followed the rules of the competition. Sandstorm tied himself tightly to the platform with his sandy appendages as both took a hold of the rope. Ion immediately let out a burst of ionic energy and shattered the stand beneath Sandstorm’s platform, leaving him to crash to the ground, defeated and angry. Jasper declared Team Joyce the victors, with Nocturne and Steel Spider not having to compete at all.

TRIBAL COUNCIL

That night, at tribal council, the eight men sat before Jasper for the first time. He could immediately tell there was a high amount of tension in this group, and he wasted no time in asking about it.
“Sandstorm, based on observation alone, it appears your group has some pretty big rifts in it. I mean, Brother Nature is sitting all by himself on the right, the rest of you guys seem a bit uncomfortable around each other as well. What’s going on here?”
“We’ve had some problems at camp, Jasper. We basically have two camps, actually. Some of us sleep in the shelter Brother Nature made for us, and others sleep in the woods. There have been a few altercations.”
“Derwyddon, Team Hammond has proved to be the strongest tribe thus far, winning two challenges in a row. Do you think these divisions in your team were responsible for the loss today, or are the girls just getting it together?”
“We are all guided down the path we are meant to be on. For one more person, tonight will be the end of their journey in the game, yet the continuation of their journey in life.”
“Biohazard, do you believe that tonight’s vote will help mend these rifts in your team? How will you be basing your vote tonight?”
“Yes, I do! The person I’m voting for is Brother Nature, and I don’t need to keep it a secret. He’s been a huge jerk. He might have the most powerful powers or whatever, but he’s not a team player. I don’t have to put up with that and neither does my team.”
Jasper noted the smoldering look of fury behind Brother Nature’s eyes and quickly moved forward with the voting.
The first vote was for Brother Nature. This is from Battle Star, who wants to mend the rift in his tribe.
The second vote was for Brother Nature. This is from Derwyddon, who wants to protect his ally, Biohazard.
The third vote was for Brother Nature. This is from Steel Spider, who is voting with Derwyddon, and also wants his strongest competitor out of the game.
The fourth vote was for Biohazard. This is from Brother Nature, who can’t abide living with an industrial accident.
The fifth vote was for Brother Nature. This is from Biohazard, for obvious reasons.
The sixth vote was for Brother Nature. This is from MAULER, who is voting with the tribe, and doesn’t care who leaves so long as it isn’t him.
The seventh vote is for Brother Nature. This is from Sandstorm, who is voting along with the tribe, despite being reluctant about losing a powerful teammate.
The eighth vote is for Brother Nature. This is from Gomi, who wants to appease Bill.
As Jasper announced that Brother Nature would be the third player voted out, Brother Nature stood and serenely waited while his torch was extinguished. He turned to his team. “Though I can not call any of you my friends, I will remind you how fortunate you were to have me as an ally. Mother Nature herself called me to this station and granted me my powers, and you were blessed to have such a one among you. By your own hand, I am among you no longer. With no ill will, I take with me the shelter I so generously constructed for you. When you return to camp, you will find it bare.” And with the winds blowing lightly around him, Brother Nature walked away.

Boy do you readers not like a jerk! With the biggest number of votes yet, all but three were for Brother Nature, who is decidedly out of the game. A very unlikeable character yes, much like Tempo, but a fun character to explore. As always, I’m sad to see this one go. But I’d be sad to see any of them go!
At this point, there are some clear alliances formed and basic motivations have been established, and you should see just hints of the path each character has before them. I have lots of surprises and twists planned and I hope you enjoy it all!
As determined by random selection, Team Hammond wins immunity next issue, meaning you’ll have to vote for someone on Team Joyce, taking the women down to five! As always, you can Email votes to me at hellochadman@yahoo.com, send them to me on facebook, or post a comment here. Voting closes on Tuesday evening.

TEAM HAMMOND (IMMUNITY):
Battle Star (Lemar Hoskins)
Biohazard (Fletcher Traynor)
Derwyddon
Gomi (Alphonsus Lefszycic)
MAULER (Brendan Doyle)
Sandstorm (Tony Trainer)
Steel Spider (Oliver Osnick)

TEAM JOYCE:
Free Spirit (Cathy Webster)
Ion (Voletta Todd)
Nocturne (Angela Cairn)
Number Nine
Phantom Blonde (Wanda Mason)
Valkyrie (Samantha Parrington)

Voting closed for another round

Watch for a new episode Thursday night! Thanks to everyone who voted! :D

Survivor: the Initiative: Episode 2

Survivor: the Initiative Episode 2
Lines Drawn, Sides Taken

DAY 4

TEAM HAMMOND

“My edict stands.”
Biohazard threw up his hands in frustration. “B-but that is so totally unfair! I’m part of this team, too!” He looked to the rest of Team Hammond for support, but Mark Diering, Brother Nature, didn’t care what anyone else had to say about it. It was his call completely.
“My edict still stands. Anyone who disagrees with my decision is welcome to find another shelter to stay in as well.”
Biohazard continued stammering, pathetically pleading his case. “But I’m t-trying to control my powers! I’m trying to find responsible ways to use them! I’m t-trying to be a better person! That’s why I enrolled in the first place!”
“Good for you,” Mark said coldly.
Mark stood in front of the wide domed tree shelter he’d made for the group. After the men had awakened for the day and scattered to go about their various daily tasks, Mark had willed the dome to close in on itself, blocking the shelter from anyone who wanted to enter. When Biohazard, MAULER, and Battle Star had returned from their foraging trip, Mark had let them know, succinctly and decisively, that Biohazard would no longer be welcome to sleep in his shelter. He explained calmly that he could not in any way support someone whose powers were so deadly to the environment, and that Biohazard would need to find somewhere else to sleep. After he’d seen Biohazard use his powers in the immunity challenge the day before, he’d been practically nauseated.
“Brother Nature, you are being completely unreasonable. We are teammates. Where am I supposed to sleep? Just because you are comfortable sleeping away from the others, I’m not! You can’t just bar me from our team shelter!”
“I can, and I have.”
Mark watched in concern as Biohazard’s flesh began to roll and squirm and take on a green hue. He was beginning to use his powers and was losing control of his acidic form. Mark stood his ground, not at all frightened. It was a strict edict of the game that the contestants could not harm each other or they’d be returned to prison, and he trusted that Biohazard would not squander this opportunity for petty revenge. And if not? Well, Mark had survived death once before.
Without warning, before MAULER (out of his armor) or Battle Star could react, Biohazard grew into the green bubbly acidic monster that was Biohazard and, with a screech of fury, launched himself at the tree dome. At the shelter!
Mark cried out in horror. “The trees! You’ll hurt the trees!” But Biohazard was already burning his way through the blockage, sending off the sickening smell of wood smoke into the air. Hardly taking time to react, Mark used his powers over the environment to send a large mound of dirt, mud, stones, and grass out of the ground, trying to douse Biohazard, who screeched as the dirt hit him and fell back to the ground, in human form. MAULER was standing way back, looking at the tense situation with wide eyes as Battle Star kneeled down next to Biohazard, who was breathing heavily and had started to cry. “You’ll not hurt the trees!” Mark yelled, his heart pounding in his chest.
Battle Star looked up at Mark in horror. “Geez, Nature, he’s just a kid! Get outta here and give us some space ta calm him down!”
Mark backed up into the dense trees again, but pointed a finger back at Biohazard. “You are not welcome in the shelter. And if you harm one more tree with your disgusting powers, I’ll find a way to make you pay.” He stepped back farther, into the shadows, out of sight.

Fletcher Traynor, Biohazard, felt hot tears running down his cheeks. Battle Star was still kneeling next to him. “You all right, son?” Fletcher hated being called son. Hated being treated like he was a kid. His dad was dead and no one had the right to treat him like his dad, the criminal, had.
“I’m fine. I—I just lost control for a minute.” Fletcher looked over and saw Mr. Doyle still watching the situation. Doyle was nodding reassuringly, trying to send Fletcher the message that things were cool, but they weren’t! How was he supposed to be a valuable part of this team when he couldn’t even share the shelter? What was he going to do? “We’re not gonna let him get away with this, are we?”
Battle Star looked perplexed. Everyone knew he was the leader of this tribe, and Fletcher figured if anyone could fix this situation, he could. “Well, kid, the thing is, we got no control over Brother Nature. He made this shelter of his own free will, and I’m figuring he gets the say as far as who gets to sleep in it.”
“So I’m supposed to just sleep off in the woods by myself? Forget his stupid shelter! We can build another one!”
Mr. Doyle stepped in now. “Ach, Fletcher, we cannae just expect everyone ta pack up an’ move just after we were gettin’ settled, now, can we? Don’t you worry yuir head none. We’ll support ye as a tribe, but ye’ll have ta be sleepin’ on yuir own, it looks like.” Mr. Doyle had a look in his eyes that conveyed patience. Fletcher guessed this was part of his plan and that they could talk later, but he didn’t like it at all.
Battle Star put a hand on Fletcher’s back. “I think MAULER’s right. We’ll find a way for you to survive, and we’ll keep you integrated here.”
Fletcher stood up and dusted the pile of dirt and rocks off his legs. There was dirt everywhere now! And the burned blockade still over the shelter! Man, he hadn’t done anything to deserve this! He didn’t ask for powers like these! He didn’t ask for his dad’s machine to explode and turn him into this monster! He didn’t ask the freaking Thunderbolts to track him down and put him in jail for not enrolling! None of it! He didn’t want to be a hero! He didn’t want to be here!
Without even trying to hide his tears, Fletcher turned away from the others and walked off on his own.

TEAM JOYCE

Heather Tucker, Tempo, had to admit that getting rid of Gladiatrix had been the right move for the tribe. Things had been much less tense since tribal council last night, and there seemed to be a relative level of peace among them now. In her bathing suit in the lake, Heather looked at the Phantom Blonde and Free Spirit up on the beach. Ever since Heather had tried to intimidate the Blonde, she’d been getting intense looks over the past few days. But Heather figured she’d been just mysterious enough to be scary. It couldn’t hurt to have a player or two under your thumb when the chips fell.
Heather had been on too many teams in the past few years. She was used to being a loner among her allies, and she was used to having different goals and motivations than they did. From what she could tell, most of her teammates weren’t in this game to win. Gladiatrix surely had been; Ion and Valkyrie might be; but the rest just seemed to be here due to their enrollment. They didn’t have enough incentive to really fight for themselves. But for Heather, this competition was everything. She really wanted the victory, and was willing to fight for it, and fight hard.
Heather had been entirely disowned by her parents when her mutant powers had manifested when she was 18. Even though her powers of “time-twisting” had not caused her any physical impairments or mutations, Heather had been ostracized by her community and peers ever since then. She was barely an adult when she’d been drafted by that maniacal killer Stryfe into the Mutant Liberation Front, but Stryfe had taught her how to use her powers properly, how to make herself fly, and how to make the headaches stop. Plus, Heather had found some camaraderie with the other mutants in her team even as they committed various terrorist acts at Stryfe’s whim. But an early mission for the MLF had taken her against her father and even though he was a bigot, he didn’t deserve to die like he had. It was only a matter of time before Heather got out of the MLF completely and had a go at college and a normal life, but it didn’t last. She’d gotten sucked back in to mutant problems and mutant issues and Heather was sick and tired of it all. She had these powers, yes. She could fly and twist time, but did she have to be targeted? Hunted? No!
Heather pulled her hair back and squeezed some of the water out of it. It was nice to let her hair down once in a while, figuratively and literally. It always had to be up when it was in her helmet. She walked up onto the lakeside beach and felt the water drip off her body. It was a perfect day, absolutely beautiful. As she stretched and looked toward the sun, she noticed Free Spirit and Phantom Blonde walking over to her. Free Spirit was in the lead.
“Tempo, you got a minute?”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Free Spirit stopped a few feet in front of Heather and looked at her intently, right in the eyes. Heather held her gaze, not at all intimidated. “Listen, I’m worried about your strategy here, and I’m the type of woman who just wants to clear the air.”
Heather felt immediately annoyed. “My strategy? What concern is that of yours?”
“Listen, I know you are a former villain and that makes me automatically distrust you a bit, but I can understand you wanting to be a hero. What I don’t get is why you keep acting like you are outside the law. Wanda told me about you trying to intimidate her our first day at camp. You hang out away from the others and never say anything about yourself. So far, I don’t trust you, and I’ll give it to you straight. You don’t change your act, you’re going to be the next one to go.”
During her speech (dang, but that girl liked speeches), Free Spirit never once took her eyes off of Heather’s. Phantom Blonde was hanging back like she was scared, but Free Spirit was right in her face. Heather, her heart pounding, leaned in a little closer, her voice intent.
“Listen, blondie, you don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me. When I want your advice, I’ll ask for it, got it?”
And with that, Tempo twisted up some time and flew off. She was a dozen yards away before Free Spirit was even aware that she’d moved. Heather looked down at the blondes on the ground and smiled to herself at the dumb looks on their faces. Then she flew in the other direction.

DAY 2

TEAM HAMMOND

With a thought and a gesture, Derwyddon willed the water before him to support his weight, then stepped out onto it. Walking on water, he smiled to himself. He thought back to his youth, over a thousand years ago now, when he’d first learned this trick. He remembered asking his teacher how he could turn the water solid, and the teacher taught him that you did not change the state of the water, but that you instead communed with the water, as with all things in nature, and asked it to bear your weight. With focus, Derwyddon stepped out onto the middle of the small lake and began sensing the small protein-based life forms swimming and flitting beneath him. Derwyddon closed his eyes and muttered a silent prayer to his gods. With his fingers shaped to one of the sacred shapes, he pointed toward the water, then brought his hands upwards, and he was granted permission by three sizeable fish to make a meal out of them. The fish rose to the surface and Derwyddon, with a muttering of thanks, retrieved them into his arms. Though still alive for several seconds, the fish did not thrash and squirm in his arms as they struggled for their final breaths, as they drowned in the air. No, they had willingly given themselves to him, and Derwyddon was very grateful.
Derwyddon stepped back to the shore, where he had willed a small fire into being. He pulled his robe up on his knees and sat down cross-legged before the fire, then set the three fish, whole, onto the small rocks next to the flames. He loved the wilds of this land. It had become home to him.
“You may come down and sit with me, if you wish.”
Derwyddon heard several seconds of silence, then the voice of the Steel Spider came from several yards above him. “How did you know I was here?”
Derwyddon, his eyes still on the flames, smiled to himself once again, this time at how unenlightened the youth of America were. “The tree told me.”
The Steel Spider, used his long metal legs, quickly climbed down the tree and took a few steps over to Derwyddon. “You have fish…”
Derwyddon looked up at his teammate now. “Yes. It will be ready in minutes. You are welcome to have some. And in the future, you don’t have to hide and spy. You can simply ask me what you want to know. I’m not one to speak falsehoods.”
Steel Spider seemed to let the tension melt out of him. With one hand, he pulled his mask back off his face and smiled. “Thank you, old man.” Then took a seat in front of the fire.
Derwyddon had had few interactions with his teammates thus far. In fact, he’d barely spoken to any of them. Only MAULER, who’d approached Derwyddon on the first day and invited him to join an alliance. Derwyddon hadn’t committed to anything, but he assumed such alliances were necessary in this game of survival. Derwyddon was pleased, though, if he could, to offer guidance to these wayward youth. Starting with this one.

“There’s some lines bein’ drawn here, I can just tell. It feels like our little tribe is dividing into factions when we should be pullin’ together toward the victory. I need to know who’s with me.”
Tony Trainer, Sandstorm, admired Battle Star a bunch, he did, but he didn’t feel like this was going to work very well. In fact, the way he considered it, wasn’t it better to be a few small groups of allies within the tribe instead of a bunch of morose loners? He looked around at the men on their tree cots in the shelter. MAULER was purposefully not making eye contact, it seemed, and was staying focused on his twiddling thumbs. Tony guessed there was a lot going on with that guy, a lot more than they knew. Gomi, with his big-eyed green lobster in his lap, sat against the tree trunk with a blank expression. And the rest of the group? Who knew. Off in the woods somewhere, Tony figured.
When no one responded, Battle Star, wearing only his boxer shorts, continued. Tony listened idly, using his sharpened grit armor as a blade as he whittled on a piece of wood. “Listen, I don’t know much about the women on the other team. Valkyrie has been around a long time and I know Free Spirit worked with Captain America. But I firmly believe that unless we get our act together, those women are going to beat us and beat us bad. And me? I’m in this to win it.”
Tony smirked when no one spoke again, and Battle Star continued. “I’m not trying to put myself out there as leader or anything. I just kinda comes natural to me. I mean, I spent a long time working for the government and a long time working as a professional mercenary right here in Symkaria. I’ve been around. And I hope that experience gives me a bit of clout.”
Gomi broke the following silence. “Mr. Star, sir, what are you proposing?”
“I’m proposing that we unify ourselves!”
MAULER finally looked up and scoffed. “How’re we gonna do that when we’ve got Brother Crazy bannin’ people from the shelter an’ two of our other teammates never even showin’ up at camp?”
Tony remained silent even when Battle Star looked over at him for help. He was on his own for this one. “Well, I think we’ll just have to get rid of Brother Nature first. Then the rest of us can pick up and move forward from here.”
And that, Tony thought, was the way the game was played.

TEAM JOYCE

Dr. Voletta Todd, Ion, had always had a rather one-track mind. It had served her well in her work as a scientist. She was able to focus her entire being on one task and work on it tirelessly until she succeeded or failed, but she almost always succeeded. She had been a beautiful woman, too, focused on fitness and good-living, but she’d often been the ridicule of the scientists, businessmen, and interns around her as she’d always had little to do with social interaction. When a science experiment gone awry had left Voletta’s mind trapped in a powerful form of ionized gas, she had absolutely panicked. She’d rampaged through the city, demanding she be returned to her natural form, unless the fledgling hero Machine Man stopped her. It was then that she’d learned that extreme cold could return her to her human form.
As her thoughts ran away with her, Ion, trying to focus on the task at hand, spread more of the dense foliage over the shelter’s roof and used her ionic energies to meld it together. When it inevitably rained, her teammates would know that she had been the one to keep them dry. She’d need friendships in this game, she knew. Her only alliance thus far was with Nocturne, who Voletta frequently flew with, but who still had yet to speak.
As soon as she could, Voletta had moved to the wilds of Greenland, where she assumed that she could continue her scientific pursuits in the cold environments there. But her human body could not last long in the cold, and as soon as she’d tried to warm herself, she’d reverted back to her gaseous state. It was maddening! Voletta had spent every moment since, as she no longer needed sleep or even food, trying to find ways to return to her human form. She’d designed a humanoid containment suit to contain her gaseous self and had tried, again and again and again, to succeed, but she always failed. So she’d decided to shift focuses. She’d enlist in the Fifty States Initiative, try her hand at being a hero, maybe develop some alliances with famous brains like Reed Richards or Henry Pym. Maybe they could get her back to human form. But for now? Her goal was to be famous, to be needed, to be victorious. She’d prove to all of them, prove to herself, that she was meant to be a hero, that she deserved their attentions.
Then she’d show them all.

With a slash of her sword, Samantha Parrington, Valkyrie, cut through the trunk and watched as the massive tree crashed to the ground, crushing several smaller trees beneath it. Clouds of dust and debris scattered in the air as the sound of the crash cascaded through the woods.
With a robust flourish of her sword, Samantha stabbed at the air, pumped her other fist, and shouted “Victory!” A broad smile on her face, she sheathed her sword and turned back to her watching allies. Number Nine, in her red-white-and-blue leotard, was clapping her hands enthusiastically and shouting about how mighty Samantha was. Phantom Blonde and Free Spirit were both smiling good-naturedly, though Phantom Blonde was a bit smarmy about it.
“I told you it was possible!” Samantha laughed again as she stepped toward her friends. They had somehow gravitated toward her as their leader. She supposed that was only natural. She’d been a leader in the feminist movement through college and after. She’d used her parents’ money and resources to set up various charities, foundations, and institutions. And she’d been a hero for longer than anyone here, though her heroic history had definitely been sporadic. Samantha wondered how long it had been since the otherworldly Enchantress had bonded to her the essence of one of the immortal Valkyrior. Her initial transformation had been short-lived, but she’d later served a stint with the Defenders and had even helped save the world from Yandroth and other threats. Why wouldn’t they see her as leader?
Phantom Blonde punched Valkyrie lightly on the arm. “You know, you are totally going to have to teach me how to do that, right?”
Samantha laughed back. “Sure. All you’ll need is an enchanted sword and the gift of godly strength.”
Now Free Spirit and Number Nine were joining in as well. “Or an evil female scientist to bring out and enhance all your natural skills as a woman!”
“Or a millionaire to turn you into his ideal woman!”
There was an awkward pause after Number Nine spoke. Samantha leaned in, put her fingers under Number Nine’s chin, and looked her in the eyes. “Listen, sweetie, that’s not something to be proud of, okay?” Number Nine’s eyes immediately welled up with tears. Samantha wanted to be annoyed, but she remembered what it was like to have no memory of her past. She let her compassion speak louder. “Nothing to cry about, Nine. Just trying to help you.”
Number Nine sniffled. “I—I know. I’m sorry.” She quickly wiped her tears and looked sadly at the ground.
Phantom Blonde, not one to ever be quiet, even for a few seconds, piped in. “Ladies, I must say, you all make me proud to be a woman, and proud to be a hero. I say we stick together. Us four, right to the end. The four blondes! We can win this game and laugh in all their faces!”
Samantha joined in the laughter that followed. No one noticed the silent Nocturne fly off from the tree above them.

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE

As the two tribes walked in on either side, Jasper pointed out to the men that Gladiatrix had been voted out by the women at the first Tribal Council. Battle Star looked absolutely stunned. Jasper walked the fifteen contestants out onto a constructed platform on one of Symkaria’s largest lakes, reaching depths of 1500 yards. Each group would have one side of the lake to work with. Scattered across the bottom of the lake were seven separate treasure chests, each containing a key. Each contestant would have to retrieve one key and then rejoin their team back up on the platform. The teams would need to use teamwork and problem-solving skills to retrieve the keys, but each member had to get one key each. Back on the dock, all seven keys would each open a lock, releasing the team’s flag and bringing them to victory.
Jasper informed the men that they would have to sit one team member out, and that the same member could not be set out in back to back challenges. Brother Nature announced that he would be willing to use his powers over the environment and nature to give his team a speedy victory, but only if Biohazard were the one to sit out. Biohazard, though furious and frustrated, agreed that water wasn’t his best environment, and agreed to sit out this time.
As Jasper started the timer, the teams quickly huddled to put together battle plans. As they were on separate playing fields, Team Joyce determined they couldn’t use Tempo’s powers on Team Hammond. Free Spirit, Valkyrie, and Number Nine knew they could hold their breath for extended amounts of time, but they struggled to find ways to help Nocturne and Phantom Blonde retrieve their keys. Valkyrie quickly dived into the water to scout out where the chests were located. Meanwhile, on Team Hammond, Brother Nature ordered his teammates to stand aside and to be prepared. With a dramatic flourish of his powers, he used wind and his command over water to cleave the surface of the lake on the men’s side from the top to the bottom, like Moses over the Red Sea. Given this opportunity, the men quickly scrambled down to the bottom of the lake and retrieved their various keys. Gomi sent Bill, MAULER flew down, Steel Spider climbed down the platform with his legs. As the women watched in absolute wonder, the men returned to the dock and watched as Brother Nature, with MAULER’s help, retrieved the final key. In a matter of minutes, Team Hammond had claimed victory.

TRIBAL COUNCIL

That night at tribal council, Jasper looked over the seven women and reminded them they’d had two losses in a row. He gauged their various reactions, determining who he should ask questions of.
He leveled his gaze on Free Spirit. “Two losses in a row for Team Joyce. What do you attribute it to? Is it a lack of leadership?”
Free Spirit shook her head. “Definitely not. We’ve had very few conflicts on our team. I think our losses stem from a combination of luck for the men and just different power sets. I don’t believe the men are a stronger team, but our skillsets are vastly different. I believe that their talents have been better suited to the various challenges thus far.”
Jasper turned to Number Nine. “And do you agree with Free Spirit?”
Number Nine stifled a giggle. “Yes! Life in our camp has been wonderful! Absolutely fun and crazy, like a big outdoors slumber party!”
After a few more questions, Jasper let the women get to the voting.
The first vote was for Tempo. This was from Ion, who didn’t care who left so long as it wasn’t her, and was voting with the majority.
The second vote was for Tempo. This was from Free Spirit, who was keeping her promise to Tempo.
The third vote was for Tempo. This was from Nocturne, who’d been clued in to the vote by Ion.
The fourth vote was for Tempo. This was from Phantom Blonde, who wanted to get rid of her intimidator.
The fifth vote was for Tempo. This was from Valkyrie, who was voting with her blonde alliance.
The sixth vote was for Tempo. This was from Number Nine, for the same reasons.
The seventh vote was for Free Spirit. This was from Tempo, who had been lied to by Valkyrie and Number Nine, telling her they’d match her vote.
Tempo quelled her nausea as she stood and had her torch extinguished. Furious at herself for having tears in her eyes, she walked off to the sidelines as calmly as she could.
Jasper dismissed Team Joyce, reminding them that they were now down two members, and admonished them to get their act together.

Well, everyone should be getting used to the characters and premise by now. As I’ve mentioned a few times, I have great plans for all of these characters, but one has to leave each time. Once again, you can send your votes to me at hellochadman@yahoo.com, on facebook, or as a comment here. Excited to see who goes next! I know there is a lot to read. I’m working hard to keep things succinct, full of character interaction, and entertaining at the same time.
Due to random selection, Team Joyce wins immunity in episode two. That means you have to vote off someone from Team Hammond. Use whatever strategy you want in casting your vote. Pick your favorites and root for them, stir it up, choose your adventures!

TEAM JOYCE (IMMUNITY):
Free Spirit (Cathy Webster)
Ion (Voletta Todd)
Nocturne (Angela Cairn)
Number Nine
Phantom Blonde (Wanda Mason)
Valkyrie (Samantha Parrington)

TEAM HAMMOND:
Battle Star (Lemar Hoskins)
Biohazard (Fletcher Traynor)
Brother Nature (Mark Diering)
Derwyddon
Gomi (Alphonsus Lefszycic)
MAULER (Brendan Doyle)
Sandstorm (Tony Trainer)
Steel Spider (Oliver Osnick)

Voting closed

Watch for Episode 2 on Thursday night! Thanks to everyone who voted! It really pushes the story forward and makes it more fun. :)

Survivor: the Initiative: Episode 1

Survivor: the Initiative: Episode 1
Setting up Camp

DAY 1

TEAM JOYCE

Captain America would be horrified. Eight grown women, all applying to be heroes with the Fifty States Initiative, all already heroes in their own right, arguing pettily over basic daily tasks. In front of the cameras.
Cathy Webster, Free Spirit, was definitely horrified. And she definitely couldn’t take anymore.
“Quit it! Stop acting like children and get to it already!”
Gladiatrix and Valkyrie, who’d been arguing, nearly at blows, about who had to fell trees for their shelter, turned and looked at her in fury and amusement, respectively. Gladiatrix, a snarl on her face, took two steps and was suddenly inches from Cathy’s face.
“And you, blondie, are suddenly elected leader of the girly-girl team? Or were we offending your delicate ears with our big grown up words?”
Cathy felt cold prickles of tension run down her spine and she found herself standing straighter and suddenly breathing through her nose in short, angry bursts. “Listen, Gladiatrix, no disrespect intended—“
“No disrespect? You butt into my affairs, think you can finish my fight with your little peace-making speech, and then you tell me you meant no disrespect?”
The woman’s breath was surprisingly stale. Cathy took a step back and looked around at her new tribe mates. Gladiatrix, snarl in place, only feet away from her. Nocturne, her wings spread wide, standing near the top of a tree. Phantom Blonde, her arms behind her head, relaxing against the same tree. Ion, floating eerily, inches off the ground with no expression on her face. Number Nine and Tempo, both looking uncomfortable in their own skins. And Valkyrie, arms crossed under her metal bra shells, sword in her belt, with—was that a smile on her face?
Cathy took her place in the middle of the group and gave a speech that would do Captain America proud.
“Listen, we are all here to make the best of ourselves. Just hear me out! We have a unique opportunity to be here in the wilds of Symkaria on this beautiful mountaintop, next to this beautiful lake, and to prove ourselves as heroes and as powerful women! Let’s not waste our time with in-fighting! Let’s use our talents to build our camp and get things in order! Let’s be the best heroes we can be!”
Cathy wasn’t sure who started laughing first, but she felt her face turn bright pink and it was all she could do to stand her ground.

The water fetcher? Puh-lease. Not that she could blame the other girls. When they’d divvied up tasks to set up camp (after Free Spirit’s lame-o speech), they’d sent Wanda Mason, the Phantom Blonde, down to the lake with the water bucket. Wanda didn’t actually have super powers, so she couldn’t do what the other girls could by any means. Ever since she’d become a super hero, capitalizing on her mom’s fame as the Blonde Phantom, of course, and the Invisible Woman had designed this babe-ilicious costume for her, Wanda had had very few adventures as a heroine. Sure, she’d time-traveled with She-Hulk. Sure, she’d single-handedly (well, almost) stopped a nuclear bomb from going off in Las Vegas. And now, here she was in the Initiative! Wanda didn’t care where she ended up getting stationed, though she’d prefer Florida. She’d get paid to be a sensational super hero, look amazing, and occasionally swoop in and save the day when all her super powered teammates couldn’t do it themselves! She’d make an amazing hero, and who needed super powers to do that.
Wanda looked out at the small lake, several yards away, that bordered their camp area. It was pretty here, she had to admit. Surrounded by deep green trees and—
Wanda looked down and saw her water jug suddenly full. Full? But she wasn’t even close to the lake! It had just been completely empty! How the—
“Stay on my good side, and my powers can help. Don’t, and see what happens.” The hair on the back of Wanda’s neck stood tall as the voice whispered in her ear. Wanda jerked her head suddenly and saw Tempo’s gold-domed head right in her face. Wanda blinked and suddenly Tempo was floating away, four feet, eight, then gone, just a glint of the sun off Tempo’s golden armor visible on the horizon.
Wanda, with a shriek of horror, threw the bucket at the lake, letting the water splash out onto the ground. Tempo. Wanda had never heard of her before now. What were her powers? Maybe hanging around with heroes wasn’t always such a great thing…

TEAM HAMMOND

Gomi hardly ever thought of his real name, Alphonsus Lefszycic. Ugh. He hadn’t used his real name in years. When he was a teenager, right before he’d gotten his cyborg telekinesis powers (the same ones that made him super-cool), he’d been given the nickname Gomi, and he’d gone by that ever since, who cared that it was Japanese for garbage. No one else knew that. Plus, it sounded awesome and it was unique, two words that described Gomi quite well.
Gomi was roasting a few fish over the fire. Big fat ones that Bill, the super strong lobster that Gomi shared an empathic affinity with (and the same lobster who happened to be Gomi’s best friend) had pulled out of the little lake by their camp. They’d set up camp and MAULER had started a fire with something called a “blaze cannon”, and Gomi had been keeping it going all day, trying to make himself useful to his teammates.
Team Hammond’s camp was set in a deep set of the Symkarian woods on a mountainside. Brother Nature, who was ultra cool Gomi’d decided, had used his crazy powers to bend a bunch of trees into a big ole dome in the woods, giving them the coolest shelter Gomi’d ever seen. Living in the woods here was going to be way more comfortable than all those months he’d spent as a runaway on the streets. Easy street here, man.
As Gomi pulled the piping hot fish away from the fire to let them cool, he began wondering where the rest of the group was. What a weird group of guys they were, but Gomi was proud to be a part of them. A good mix of skills—strength, flight, agility, energy-wielding. Gomi was obviously the misfit around here, but that was nothing new to him; his big glasses and skinny frame had never lent him to making friends easily. But Gomi wasn’t going to let anything stop him from making himself the best, the coolest, hero ever!
As Gomi walked farther into the woods, he heard whispering. He looked around him, through the thick copses of trees, and saw Derwyddon a ways away, on his knees in the leaves, his head thrown back, his arms spread wide. Derwyddon was muttering softly about something, but Gomi could only make out the phrase “Father Hu grant me providence.”
Gomi turned away, a confused look on his face, and adjusted his glasses. Maybe he was weird, but at least he wasn’t old and addled.

From his vantage point, Ollie Osnick, the Steel Spider, craned his neck to better hear the voices of his targets down below. He willed his metal arms to hold himself flush against the side of the tree top.
Below him, MAULER was out of his armor, walking around in a pair of shorts, his orange beard already long and unkempt. Walking with him was that Biohazard kid, a skinny 18 year old who looked way too nervous and far too unhealthy to be here. MAULER was speaking in a thick Irish brogue, Ollie noted, and he wondered if they allowed non-Americans into the Initiative.
“Ye stick with me, boyo, and you’ll find yuirself with an alliance right ta the end o’ the game, ye understand?”
Biohazard looked uncomfortable. Almost queasy. “I, uh, I definitely don’t have any friends out here, Mr. Doyle, so th-thanks for the alliance. Do we have—“
“Yuirs is nae ta ask questions, Fletcher m’lad. Yuirs is ta follow. I’ll let ye know what our moves are ta be, and ye just keep yuir eyes open and yuir mouth shut fer now.”
As Ollie watched, MAULER (Doyle, he now knew) walked one way while Biohazard (Fletcher) walked the other. Day 1 and alliances were already being formed. If Ollie could discover all the secrets of his teammates, who were also his opponents, he could master this entire game and finally be recognized as the hero he knew he was. Finally make Spider-Man proud. Finally forget all the crazy that was his life. Finally get his girl back.
Ollie moved down the tree deftly, willing the metallic spidery legs attached to his harness to take him to the ground without a sound. Ollie clutched his prosthetic arm tightly to him with his good hand, and remembered what the cost of crazy was.

DAY 2

TEAM JOYCE

Angela Cairn, Nocturne, spread her wings wide and flew in the early morning light over the mountainside. This really was a beautiful place, not so different from America except for the climate. There were different animals here, a different political structure, Angela supposed, but Symkaria had already started to feel like Angela’s natural habitat. Much more comfortable than the tunnels she’d lived in in New York after her transformation. Then again, she’d had more purpose in New York. More people who needed her empathic understanding. More—
Angela came to a stop when she saw Ion floating only a few yards ahead. She thought she’d had the skies to herself. She was rarely surprised, not when she could sense the emotions of those around her. The desperation in Tempo, the self-righteousness in Gladiatrix, the shaky resolve in Number Nine, the drive in Valkyrie. But Angela could read nothing off of Ion. It didn’t frighten Angela so much as baffle her.
Ion reached out a hand and her voice carried across the morning breeze with an airy edge to it. “Nocturne? I am Ion. I am Dr. Voletta Todd. I, too, have little need for sleep. I was wondering if you’d be willing to speak for a few moments?”
Angela, her wings flapping occasionally to keep her aloft, felt a wave of compassion move through her. Her eyes focused on Ion intently, trying to get a reading of any kind off the woman. No heartbeat. No emotion. No scent.
Angela answered Ion with a soft smile. Angela was capable of speech now, yes, though she hadn’t been shortly after her transformation, but she found that speech simply took too much effort. Angela let a wave of warm friendship pass out of her towards Ion. Perhaps, despite being immune to Angela’s senses, Ion would be able to experience Angela’s emotions and share in it. But if Ion felt the calm, she didn’t acknowledge it.
“I see you smiling, yet you don’t answer. Are you capable of speech?”
Angela nodded her head lightly once, but still remained silent.
“I—okay. I simply wanted to extend a hand of friendship to you. We both seem to be outsiders in this tribe and we will need friends as we move forward in the game.”
Angela nodded once again and Ion, after waiting for a response, moved away in the air, floating without a sound. “We’ll speak again. Thank you for your time, Nocturne.”
As Angela flew on across the sky, she wondered if a being she couldn’t feel was capable of feeling.

Number Nine finished her jog around the camp, a bright smile on her face. She’d offered to lead all the ladies in a morning exercise routine, but they’d all declined. “Women are supposed to stay fit and enthusiastic!”, Number Nine had cheerfully reminded them all, but they’d all just rolled over and gone back to sleep, the sillies. Number Nine, her red, white, and blue leotard still looking clean and pristine, engaged in a series of energetic stretches back at camp, which was now empty save for the Valkyrie.
Number Nine looked up at her teammate with a grin. “You have the most beautiful hair. You shouldn’t bind it in those pigtails all the time, you know.”
Valkyrie smiled back. Number Nine felt thrilled! She was making a friend! “I like pigtails.”
“Well, maybe you could braid my hair some time! It’ll be fun! We could use some girl time, even here in the woods!”
Valkyrie, her boots off, came and sat next to Number Nine and looked at her sincerely. How sweet. “You don’t have to try so hard, you know.”
Number Nine arched her back in another stretch. “What do you mean? This is hardly difficult!”
Valkyrie snickered. “To get people to like you. You don’t always have to be cheerful and smiling. You can be moody and tired and frustrated like the rest of us, after sleeping on the ground for a night. It’s completely okay.”
Number Nine laughed good-naturedly. “Don’t be silly, silly! Sleeping on the ground was a wonderful adventure! And a good woman is always in positive spirits.”
Valkyrie, her eyebrows raised in confusion, looked appalled. “Who taught you that? ‘A good woman…’ Whose good woman?”
Number Nine felt her eyes fill with tears, unbidden. Oh, she hated getting emotional! She turned away in sadness. “I—no one taught me that. I was just p-programmed that way.”
Valkyrie moved in closer and put her arm around Number Nine’s shoulders. It felt good to have human contact. So many people shied away from Number Nine when she got emotional. “Programmed? You were programmed? Listen, sister, we’ve got some serious talking to do. We need to get you UN-programmed.”
Number Nine tried not to cry, she really did, but the tears started flowing down her cheeks. Valkyrie pulled her tighter. “Let’s start over here. My real name is Samantha. What’s yours?”
And with that, Number Nine lost it. She buried her face in her new friend’s shoulder and began sobbing. “I d-don’t know my name!”

TEAM HAMMOND

Brendan Doyle lay back on the wide raised tree root that served as his bed and up at the thick branches that served as the roof to their shelter. Nearby, he could hear his teammates breathing, sleeping, in their own cots; well, four of them anyway. Who knew where the other three had gone off to. They’d worked hard today, getting camp cleared, exploring the area, foraging for food. What an odd assortment of misfits, loners, and losers this bunch was. Brendan never expected, when he was selected for this little survival game, that he, a self-proclaimed loner, would be the biggest team player on Team Hammond. Well, except for Battle Star, who everyone was deferring to as leader of the tribe. Brendan was pleased with that; easier to let someone else take the fall when they made a mistake. But few of the tribe were sharing their ideas or opinions, or even speaking up at all.
Brother Nature, on the first day, in the first few minutes, had created this crazy shelter, with cots for everyone, out of soft-wooded trees right in the middle of the camp. Then he had promptly disappeared; no one had seen him in since the morning of day 1. Brendan assumed he was off… communing with nature, perhaps?
Brendan, over the last few days, had already approached some of the loners on his team and put them under his thumb. Brendan had been a military man, a soldier-for-hire, a mercenary, and, finally, a super-criminal. He was used to strange and tense situations. But a boy that talked to lobsters? A misguided skinny 18 year old with acid powers? An ancient druid? These guys were weird. Still, that was nothing after being pursued across the whole of Canada before having your rear handed to you by an armored lady.
Brendan looked over at his MAULER armor, standing just outside the shelter, where he’d had it charging in the sunlight. When he’d made the decision to steal that armor from Edwin Cord, it had seemed like such a good idea. He’d increase his value as a mercenary, increase his profits. But truly? It’d made him a bully. And he’d gotten kicked down by heroes a dozen times, both before and after he’d found out about Daniel.
Daniel. He had to make everything about Daniel now.
Brendan closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Lemar Hoskins, Battle Star, laughed softly, keeping his voice down so as not to wake the others. He was stripped down to his boxers now, letting his costume, boots, and mask air out next to his shield over by the shelter. Across from him sat Tony Trainer, Sandstorm, a younger black kid who reminded Lemar a lot of himself as a youth, before he’d had his strength augmented, before he’d been trained by the government as a hero. Trainer was a kid with all this untapped potential and misguided anger, just like Lemar had been for most his life.
“So let me get this straight. You were in college working on some freak weapons project having to do with living sand. You got mutated by the sand and it gave you some pretty powerful ‘grit armor’. And so, ever since, you’ve been traveling around the world covertly destroying weapon systems and projects?”
Trainer smiled as he looked into the fire. Since his mutation, his skin had turned as black as night and the light shining off his eyes and teeth were a bit eerie. “Yeah. It sounds so simple when you put it like that. But let me just say, there are lots o’ bad folks out there and I did my best to make the world a little less dangerous.”
Lemar leaned forward on his knees. “How long you been at this, man? And what made you decide to register now?”
“Been a couple years now. I don’t think my family even knows I’m alive. I just got… sick of being by myself, y’know? I guess I did some pretty bad stuff and wanted to come home again. I mean, I’m only 22, y’know? I got a whole life ta live.”
Lemar had an onrush of memories of his own adolescence and his wayward years in his 20s. He didn’t get his powers in some accident, and he’d squandered them for most the time. He was dramatically opposed to the whole registration act in the beginning; he hadn’t had much luck with the previous administration and didn’t expect good things from this one. But if it gave kids like Trainer a chance to straighten his life out? Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing after all. “All right, listen, kid. Me an’ you? We got a lot in common. And we’ve got a bunch of crazies and former criminals on this team, in this game. Let’s me an’ you stick together and get this game under wing. I’ve got your back, you understand?”
Lemar smiled again as Trainer extended his hand. The two shook and Lemar was surprised at how good it felt to have a friend in this game.

DAY 3

THE IMMUNITY CHALLENGE

Jasper Sitwell stood before the 16 contestants and looked them over. A diverse group indeed. Team Joyce stood to his left, all beautiful women in their own right, all in full costume. Team Hammond, on the right, looked a little bit more motley and unkempt, but formidable as well.
“I trust you’ve all been able to acclimate to the beautiful terrain of Symkaria over the past two days! That you’ve gotten to know each other, your teammates, your capabilities! As you are here as part of your training for the Fifty-State Initiative, most of our challenges will be themed in helping you test your skills, your limits, and your readiness for deployment once your training is complete. Right now, the challenges will be focused on teamwork. Later in the competition, on individual skills. The winning team in this challenge gets immunity, meaning every person on that team is safe for another three days in the competition. The losing team joins me tonight at tribal council, where one member of your team will be voted off and returned to the States to continue their training. Now let’s get on with the challenge!”
Jasper told the group that they would be pitted against each other in a series of seven competitions testing various sets of strength. He told both teams to select a leader before proceeding. On Team Joyce, Valkyrie and Gladiatrix argued over who should lead, but Free Spirit stepped forward and announced herself as leader, much to the annoyance of Gladiatrix; the others didn’t seem to care. On Team Hammond, the group unanimously agreed that Battle Star should represent them. Jasper then explained that, without consultation, the leader on each team would need to select one teammate to represent the team in each of the following categories: Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Speed, Swimming, Balance, and Endurance. Then the two individuals selected for each category, from each team, would race to complete their challenge first, and the team to win the most individual competitions would win immunity. Free Spirit made her decisions quickly and on instinct. Battle Star was a bit more selective, moving players from his team around multiple times before making his final selections. Then the games began.
In the Strength competition, the contestants were instructed to smash through several boxes of stone until they found one with a Symkarian coin inside one. While Gomi smashed multiple boxes with his wide bursts of telekinesis, his lobster Bill pried open several others with his powerful claws, but Team Joyce pulled out the victory when Gladiatrix smashed all the boxes with her raised fists, quickly finding the coin.
In the Agility competition, the contestants were placed into a complex course of hoops, hooks, platforms, and ropes and told to get from one end to the other as quickly as possible. In a bizarre turn, Phantom Blonde (who possesses no powers) and Biohazard (who transforms into an acidic monster) battled across the course. Phantom Blonde did a decent job of holding herself aloft and moved painstakingly, slowly, across the course. Biohazard quickly learned that his acidic body burned the ropes, so he had to compete in his human form and fell repeatedly. Phantom Blonde cheered and pumped her fist in the air as she won for Team Joyce.
In the Intelligence competition, Ion and Derwyddon were placed in front of a complex puzzle which was tied in a group of knots. Though Ion quickly burned through the knots with her ionic energy and quickly began working through the puzzle with her scientific brain, Derwyddon seemed to almost will the knots to come undone and the puzzle to come together with a series of magical gestures. Everyone was amazed when he completed the puzzle in less than sixty seconds, scoring a point for Team Hammond.
In the Speed competition, the two contestants were instructed to race a total of ten miles, and flight was allowed. Tempo quickly used her powers of perception over time to slow down MAULER. As she sped forward flying, however, MAULER was out of her power’s range, and he used his armor’s jet-propulsion system to fly past Tempo to the finish line in a matter of seconds.
In the Swimming competition, Number Nine and Brother Nature were instructed to race, by swimming of course, across a three mile lake to the other shore. Number Nine, with her enhanced strength and endurance, thought she could easily win, but Brother Nature seemed to command the very water to propel him forward and he arrived on the other side in only three minutes.
In the Balance competition, the contestants were instructed to move their way over a series of steadily decreasing balance beams, from one of the field to the other, and they were told that they must remain in contact with the beam at all times. As Steel Spider used his metal legs to grab on to the beams and push himself forward at high speed, Nocturne seemed to lithely dance across the course, her wings flapping to keep her upright as she speedily reached the other end.
With the teams now tied at three points each, the pressure was high on Valkyrie and Sandstorm in the endurance competition. They were instructed to hold themselves up by their arms by two extended handles attached to a raised board as their feet hanged loosely beneath them. The first to fall would be out, and the other team declared a winner. The teams were initially tense, then bored as the competition stretched on for two, five, then nine hours before Valkyrie finally tired, her arms throbbing as she fell to the ground. Sandstorm, who’d willed his grit armor to solidify around his form, was cheered on by his teammates for the victory.

TRIBAL COUNCIL

That evening at tribal council, the eight members of Team Joyce took their seats on two rows of benches with a roaring fire in front of them. Sitting several feet away, Jasper pushed his glasses up on his nose and explained to them that each of them had a lit torch now and that their torch would stay lit as long as they remained in the game. He explained that one torch would be put out every three days until the final tribal council, when the winner was selected. Jasper looked over the women and began asking a few questions.
“Nocturne, how has your camp life been so far?”
Jasper watched Nocturne’s cheeks flush lightly, then she turned away. Ion quickly spoke up for her, in her airy voice.
“Nocturne does not speak, whether by choice or inability, I do not know. But I shall answer in her stead. Camp life started out rocky. A few of us argued about the most efficient ways to do things, but Free Spirit took it upon herself to organize us and we now have a rudimentary shelter. Those of us who need it.”
Jasper jumped right in. “Tempo, what started out rocky?”
Tempo looked reluctant to answer. “Let me just say that some of our tribe are a bit more bombastic than others.”
“That’s rather vague.”
Tempo looked at him with a cold fury. “Intentionally so.”
Gladiatrix suddenly butted in. “They are talking about me and little miss metal bra back there. Valkyrie. She acts like she’s the only super strong female in town and thought she could order us all around at the start. So what, she served with the Defenders. I was in the UCWF long before! I’m not one to stand around and be given orders by some chick like that.”
Jasper watched the tension among the others as Gladiatrix rushed through her words. Despite Valkyrie’s smugness, the others were incredibly uncomfortable, and he guessed this wasn’t the first time Gladiatrix had grated on their nerves. He didn’t think he needed to go any further with this, and instructed the women to move forward with their voting. After the women all voted, Jasper gathered the votes and began to read them out loud.
The first vote was for Gladiatrix. This vote was from Free Spirit, who had discreetly spoken to the others at length about voting out the one in their camp causing the most problems.
The second vote was for Gladiatrix. This vote was from Nocturne, who disliked the feel of the negative emotions constantly radiating off of Gladiatrix.
The third vote was for Valkyrie. This was from Gladiatrix, who wanted her biggest competition off the show, and had loudly told everyone to follow her lead.
The fourth vote was for Gladiatrix. This was from Number Nine, who was asked to vote this way by Valkyrie.
The fifth vote was for Gladiatrix. This was from Phantom Blonde, who, despite really liking the tension around camp, was voting with the majority.
The sixth vote was for Gladiatrix. This was from Valkyrie, who had not been quiet about her dislike for the female wrestler and had asked for support from the others.
The seventh vote was for Gladiatrix. This was from Ion, who little cared who left so long as it wasn’t her.
The eighth vote was for Valkyrie. This was from Tempo, who saw no advantage in keeping Valkyrie around.
As Jasper read out the results, Gladiatrix surprised them all by laughing good-naturedly, getting louder as each deciding vote was read. As Jasper said the famous “the tribe has spoken” phrase, Gladiatrix, still laughing, slapped Valkyrie on the back good-naturedly, knocking her to the ground. Jasper extinguished the torch as Gladiatrix turned to face Team Joyce. “I see your strategies. Get the biggest competition out first. Well played, ladies. See you back at camp.”
And with a wink, the first heroine left the game, leaving seven behind.

Hey! Thanks to everyone who voted, participated, and made cool comments about the prologue. And with that, we get into the first episode, where I tried to include brief character introductions, introduce the dynamics, and set the stage for character development as briefly as possible. You have to trust that a lot is happening off-scene as we just little glimpses into these character’s minds and lives. I have lots of fun things planned for them along the journey, and it is thrilling to see who will make it the farthest.
Once again, you can send your votes to me at hellochadman@yahoo.com, on facebook, or as a comment here.
Due to random selection, Team Hammond wins immunity again in episode two. That means you have to, once again, vote off someone from Team Joyce. Don’t worry, girls, it’ll all even out as we get further in. J Use whatever strategy you want in casting your vote. Pick your favorites and root for them, stir it up, choose your adventures!

TEAM HAMMOND (IMMUNITY):
Battle Star (Lemar Hoskins)
Biohazard (Fletcher Traynor)
Brother Nature (Mark Diering)
Derwyddon
Gomi (Alphonsus Lefszycic)
MAULER (Brendan Doyle)
Sandstorm (Tony Trainer)
Steel Spider (Oliver Osnick)

TEAM JOYCE:
Free Spirit (Cathy Webster)
Ion (Voletta Todd)
Nocturne (Angela Cairn)
Number Nine
Phantom Blonde (Wanda Mason)
Tempo (Heather Tucker)
Valkyrie (Samantha Parrington)

Voting complete

Watch for episode one on Thursday night! :D

Survivor: the Initiative Prologue

Survivor: the Initiative: Prologue

Jasper Sitwell felt completely out of place in the opulent surroundings of Silver Sable’s castle. In front of him sat a gorgeous woman who may as well be royalty, her long white hair flowing down her back like she just stepped out of a shampoo commercial, her tight silver spandex hiding nothing about her form. He briefly imagined what it must be like for the targets of Silver Sable, the world-renowned mercenary from Symkaria, who saw this beautiful vision of a woman right before she shot or captured them. What a way to go, he figured was the last thought that passed through their criminal heads; the straight ones, anyway.
Jasper had never had any problems with the ladies, that was for sure. Heck, he was fit, if a bit on the intelligent side, and he was a secret agent; that was always a conversation starter. He’d even been engaged to Whitney Frost before she’d gone nuts. But Silver Sable? She was a whole nother class of woman.
“Agent Sitwell, can we get on with it? I have a multi-million dollar deal waiting for me in Herzegovina.”
Jasper felt his cheeks flushed as he came back to awareness, embarrassed that he’d let his thoughts run away with him. “Yes, o-of course. I’m sorry, Ms. Sable.”
“Silver. I told you to call me Silver.”
“Yes, Silver. Sorry. Back to the contestants. We were just discussing the contestants.”
Silver leaned in closely to Jasper. Almost sensually close. And his heart quickened as she whispered. “Don’t be embarrassed about being distracted, Agent Sitwell. I have this effect on most men.”
Jasper had been all over the world as an agent of SHIELD and as a host of past Survivor competitions. After living for two months in undersea Lemuria, staying in Symkaria was a breeze. A small Eastern European nation best known for its international mercenaries, led, of course, by Silver Sable and her father before her. This season of “super hero Survivor” (as the media had started calling it) was focused on producing the best of the best in the new wave of heroes for the Fifty State Initiative. And Silver Sable, and subsequently Symkaria, were known for hosting the best of the best. This was the perfect location for the Initiative series.
“The contestants, Jasper.”
Crap, he was doing it again. Jasper cleared his throat. “We’ve decided to begin the competition with a battle of the sexes. We have eight female and eight male heroes, all of whom recently registered under the Super Human Registration Act. We’ll be calling the males Team Hammond, after the famous Jim Hammond, the android Human Torch of WWII. The females will be Team Joyce, after Madeline Joyce, the heroic Miss America, also from WWII.”
Silver Sable settled back in her seat. Thank goodness. Jasper could hardly handle being so close to this woman. “I’ve always admired the Americans penchant for honoring their past heroes.” Her thick accent was killing him.
“Ahem. So let me present the contestants. In alphabetical order, if that suits you.
“Our first male contestant is someone you are familiar with as he was once one of your mercenary Wild Pack. Lemar Hoskins briefly used his super human strength for crime before becoming the government-sponsored hero Bucky alongside the new Captain America. Hoskins later changed his codename to Battlestar. He is the type of hero the Initiative is all about, but he chose to oppose it and spend time in jail instead. He’s recently changed his mind and he’s ready to wield his shield in service of his country again.
“When Fletcher Traynor’s father was put in prison and later murdered, Fletcher wanted revenge on the New Warriors, the heroes behind his dad’s incarceration. He seized a weapon from his dad’s facility and when it malfunctioned, Fletcher ended up an acidic beast calling himself Biohazard. After several months of therapy and training, Fletcher’s in much better control of himself and he’s ready to make a go of it as a hero.
“Mark Diering was once a park ranger and nature enthusiast who ended up getting powers over nature after he was left for dead by some shady land developers. Styling himself Brother Nature, Diering lived in the woods for the next few years, coming across Captain America once briefly. After he was captured by the Thunderbolts, Diering chose jail over registration, but he claims he’s had a change of heart. He’s immensely powerful, but we worry a bit over his mental stability.
“Derwyddon (yes, that’s his whole name and his code name) claims to be thousands of years old; sounds preposterous, but I’ve seen stranger things in a world full of Spider-Men and Thors. Far as we can determine, he was a minor member of some ancient Druidic religion who spent centuries in some form of deep sleep. He’s not really forthcoming about his actions since his ‘modern awakening’, but we know he crossed paths with the Defenders’ Gargoyle. Derwyddon keeps telling us that his gods have commanded him to ‘atone through registration.’ His mystic abilities are nothing less than impressive, though, and we’re still not sure what he is exactly capable of.
“The overly eager and optimistic Alphonsus Lefszycic is maybe our most bizarre and unlikely contestant, and that’s saying something. For some reason, he’ll only go by his codename of Gomi, despite that being Japanese for garbage. Gomi got cyborg enhancements, telekinetic abilities, and a psychic affiliation to an, ahem, cyborg lobster named Bill in some college experiment gone wrong. He is definitely one of our most… enthusiastic contestants.
“Long-time mercenary and former soldier Brendan Doyle stole the Mobile Armored Utility Laser Emitter, Revised, or MAULER, armor, on assignment and used it for several years for personal gain, despite getting his butt handed to him again and again by various heroes. Doyle surprised us all when he registered, willing to trade in his criminal history for military service. When asked, he simply said ‘it’s time to step up as a father’, referring to his young son.
“Tony Trainer was a really smart college student who somehow got drafted into an ego battle between professors pursuing a weapons testing experiment on campus. Trainer ended up mutated into Sandstorm, using his ‘grit armor’ to fight oppression across the globe wherever he saw fit. He spent a bit of time being mentored by your former operative Sandman, whose form was used in the Sandstorm creation. Trainer is focused, almost to unhealthy levels. I’m anxious to see how he’ll perform under pressure.
“Last guy on Team Hammond is Oliver “Ollie” Osnick, who is doing much better on regular mental health medications. Back when Ollie was a portly student, he brilliantly designed a set of arms like those of his hero Dr. Octopus, but later redesigned them to emulate Spider-Man. Ollie tailed the hero around as the Spider-Kid for a while, and later rechristened himself the Steel Spider. A while back, the Steel Spider went nuts and was defeated very publicly by the Thunderbolts, a battle in which Ollie lost an arm. He’s undergone a lot of counseling and says he’s ready to be a ‘real hero’ now. We’ll see.”
Jasper looked at Silver Sable for the first time in several minutes. Her eyes were on the pages he’d laid out in front of her. Dang, she was beautiful.
“Please continue, Agent Sitwell, with the members of Team Joyce.”
Jasper stretched and continued. “We’ll start with Free Spirit. Cathy Webster was manipulated in college by that down-with-men crazy, Superia, to be the ‘ideal woman’, with enhanced reflexes, agility, and strength. Free Spirit struggled to find herself for a while and was helped along by some training by Captain America before he died. She went back to school and stayed off the radar until just recently and now she seems ready to try the hero thing on for size.
“Robin Braxton was one of dozens of survivors of the Power Broker’s augmentation process, giving her super strength and endurance. Calling herself Gladiatrix, Braxton joined the female wrestlers, the Grapplers, as part of the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, for a while, then tried her hand at being a hero, but never found her way. She stayed in jail rather than register, but now she’s changed her mind. There have been hints that she hooked up with Battlestar a while back…
“Voletta Todd is a brilliant scientist whose body was transformed into ionic energy in a deadly lab accident. Calling herself Ion, she rampaged through the city until Machine Man stopped her, helping her learn that extreme cold would help her return to human form. She eventually developed a containment suit that could house her energies in a human form, but she wants nothing more than to just be human again. She’s hoping that the Initiative can help her with that.
“Detective Angela Cairn went a bit mad after her lover was killed by the mutate Vermin. Cairn was ironically later mutated, against her will, by the same machine that mutated Vermin, and it changed her into the empathic winged creature of the night, Nocturne. Nocturne has primarily used her powers trying to help less fortunate creatures, but Cairn’s mind is still firmly in control of her body. She is a complex woman and she feels a bit forced into registration.
“Number Nine remembers nothing of her former life. She was scientifically altered into millionaire Skip Ash’s idea of the “perfect woman”, granting her enhanced strength and healing, but removing all memories of her former life. Number Nine has a, for lack of a better term, domestic drive to please everyone around her, but frequently finds herself emotional about her lost past. She is hoping the Initiative can help her discover the truth about her past.
“Wanda Mason is the daughter of the famous WWII heroine the Blonde Phantom, who recently had her youth restored and is now acting as a private investigator in the States. Though Wanda does not possess any super powers, she possesses a tenacity and an enthusiasm that just won’t quit. While on an adventure with She-Hulk a few years ago, she christened herself the Phantom Blonde, obviously after her mother, and she’s been begging for a spot in the Initiative ever since the SHRA was established. We are finally giving her a chance.
“Since the SHRA was passed, we have had very few mutant operatives or trainees. We were all very surprised when Heather Tucker, the former terrorist known as Tempo, enrolled, stating the she was weary of getting caught up in ‘the mutant situation’. Tempo is eager to use her powers over the perception of time to better herself and her country, though her self-isolation and frequent brooding cause some concern.
“Feminist activist Samantha Parrington was once melded with the Asgardian Valkyrie by the Avengers villain, the Enchantress, granting Samantha super-strength, immortality, and swordsmanship. After years as a civilian, Samantha has again become the Valkyrie and she has been using her powers for her own causes. It took some convincing to get her to register. She’s definitely a reluctant participant in our competition.”
Jasper looked up from his files to find Silver Sable looking at him intently, a smirk on her face. How did she pull off sarcastic and beautiful at the same time?
“Are you finished, Agent Sitwell?”
Jasper took a quick sip of water. “Yes. All finished.”
Silver Sable abruptly stood up and began walking toward the door. Jasper guessed the meeting was over. “These contestants meet my approval. I’m off to Herzegovina. Please show yourself out.” Silver Sable stopped in the doorway and turned her head back to look at him. “By the way, Agent Sitwell, I never date Americans.”
And then she was gone.
Jasper collected himself, then collected the files. The season was a go. Time to inform contestants.

Welcome, loyal readers, to another season of Survivor, Marvel style! The first four of these that I wrote were back in my college days, in Boise and Cheney, and then I began devoting my time to other forms of creative writing. I felt like returning to the old format for a lark, and here we are, with a new premise, a new location, and sixteen very diverse contestants.
The way this works: I have plans for all 16 characters. I have arcs that I can explore with each of them and places and developments for each character to go through. I have plans for each one should they win. But only one gets to win, because each time an ‘episode’ gets posted, another character gets voted out. You do the voting, and I get the pleasure of weaving all these characters together in interesting ways as we tell the story of this competition. But please don’t feel like I favor one character over another; I enjoy them all equally and I’m thrilled about all of them. You can vote against your favorites, against your least favorites, against the nicest or the meanest, alphabetically, however you want. I’ll then tally all the votes and the character with the most votes against them gets the boot!
Each week, I will determine randomly which team or (once we get to individuals) character gets immunity. You then vote against one member of the opposing team. Again, the person on that team with the most votes will be off next week. (You’ll start to get this better after episode one). I plan on posting a new episode each Thursday, which is Survivor day! (hooray!)

Our teams:

TEAM HAMMOND:
Battle Star (Lemar Hoskins)
Biohazard (Fletcher Traynor)
Brother Nature (Mark Diering)
Derwyddon
Gomi (Alphonsus Lefszycic)
MAULER (Brendan Doyle)
Sandstorm (Tony Trainer)
Steel Spider (Ollie Osnick)

TEAM JOYCE:
Free Spirit (Cathy Webster)
Gladiatrix (Robin Braxton)
Ion (Voletta Todd)
Nocturne (Angela Cairn)
Number Nine
Phantom Blonde (Wanda Mason)
Tempo (Heather Tucker)
Valkyrie (Samantha Parrington)

By random determination, Team Hammond gets immunity this week. That means you need to vote against someone on Team Joyce to be kicked out. You can post your votes as a comment here on blogspot, send it in an Email to me at hellochadman@yahoo.com, or send it to me in a note on facebook.

Hope you enjoyed the read! Chad