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