## A World Without Heroes

Post by bigsmile21 » Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:38 pm

New story. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to post any feedback.
Chapter 1: A Hero, Captured
It was Christmas! Well, not really. But it might as well have been. After today’s heist, it seems the henchmen had picked up an additional package. The diabolical Professor Calamity was close to finishing his next and greatest invention, and now it would seem that he would have a test subject. He still sat in his chair, having just finished the intercom message with his henchmen, and was fighting the urge to jump up with joy. But there were other henchmen scattered about his control room, and he did have evil appearances to keep up.
A minute later, the henchmen from the heist at the City Science Center entered through the steel doors to the control room. This base was underground, and encased in multiple layers of iron, electrons, radiation, and a few others in order to remain invisible to any prying superhero scans. One of the henchmen, Bob (well, he had trouble remembering their names since they all wore the same outfits and masks, so he just called them whatever names came to mind) handed the item of interest: the Genetic Discombobulator. With this he could move towards the next stage in his plan: to rid to world of superheroes! Bob also motioned to the other henchmen, who then brought forth a beaten and powercuffed hero. Professor Calamity barely recognized the hero, and as one of the city’s younger, lower powered ones: Boy Thunder. The powercuffs keeping his hands bound behind his back were of the professor’s own making; a smaller version of the Genetic Discombobulator that, with direct contact to the skin, would interrupt the meta-neural pulses to the brain and nullify superpowers. Boy Thunder’s gloves had been removed, leaving him in his boots, power suit, and mask. His costume was torn in places from whatever fight he had with the henchmen, but was primarily blue and yellow. The hero had bowl-cut dark brown hair and average muscular build, for a hero at least.
The hero was still unconscious. Boring, thought the professor. How was he supposed to rant and gloat to the hero if he was still knocked out? His henchmen had obviously been eating their Wheaties. In fact, the four henchmen (including Bob) looked rather proud of themselves right now. He would have to remember to reward them. Maybe a company picnic? He’d think of something later. The professor told the henchmen to take the hero to the holding cell, while he prepared. The henchmen dragged their prize out of the room, and Professor Calamity began installing the stolen technology into his dispersal unit. Sure, he could have built his own Genetic Discomboulator, but that would take time. Time he did not have, not if he wanted to use his device to rid the world of superheroes, starting with the Superhero World Peace Gathering at City Hall next week.
One hour later, he had finished the first prototype. It was ready for testing. He then thought about how to deliver the news to his captive. He decided it would be better to have the hero wake bound and in front of the device. He would then monologue long enough to reveal his plan to the poor hero and then active the device, blocking his genetic link to his powers forever. Oh, it was all so deliciously evil. He could not wait. He was about to rise from his chair and visit the hero, when the intercom beeped.
Through the static, the professor could here yelling, things breaking, and what was unmistakably thunder. He put his palm on his face. Why, he thought, why must I always get so close and have a hero burst in and ruin everything? If I find out that one of the henchmen left the cell door open again, I’m going to cancel the company picnic!
The professor had a moment of insight. He would have just a few minutes to prepare before Boy Thunder arrived in the control room, but he just might be able to make it work. He began barking orders to the henchmen in the room. Within a few minutes, everything was ready. Sure enough, Boy Thunder burst through the steel doors to the control room. But before he could recognize his situation, he was hit with a stream of green energy that brought him to his knees. The beam cut off, and the hero remained splayed out on the ground, defeated. He’d done it! The professor raised his voice in victory, soon joined by the henchmen. As the cheering subsided, Boy Thunder began to rise. He drew in a deep breathe, and the henchmen closest to him raised their hands to brace for the upcoming thunder. But nothing happened. No boom, no shattered control room, just a hero realizing he’d lost his powers.
Professor Calamity laughed, joined by his henchmen. The young hero wanted to run, but was surrounded by henchmen. He tried to fight hand-to-hand, but with no powers he was soon overwhelmed. One of the henchmen said he would grab the powercuffs. Professor Calamity said that would not be necessary, and that regular handcuffs would work just fine. He told his henchmen to take him to the holding cell, and to make the hero’s confinements as uncomfortable as possible. He also said for the henchmen to strip him of his superhero outfit, since he wasn’t a superhero anymore. Boy Thunder protested, and asked what he would wear. The professor smiled, and said he had plenty of henchmen outfits lying about. With that, the former hero was carried out of the room, and Professor Calamity sat in his chair. He took in a few breathes to slow his heatrate down. He could barely believe it. He would experiment on Boy Thunder, or, just boy, to see if his powers were truly blocked or gone. To see if emotional pressure brought back any remnants of his powers.
He would then spend the rest of the week converting his new de-power device (he’d have to think of an evil name for it) into a mass-scale emitter. With a majority of the nation’s top heroes gathered at City Hall later this week, he could de-power them all in one move. Then, with the scales unbalanced, villains around the nation would be able to defeat and gather more heroes for his de-powering device. First the city, then the nation, then the world! He smiled, thinking of a world without heroes. No time to waste. He buzzed the intercom. Bob, he said, prep our new guest for experimentation. On the other end of the line, a confused (not-named Bob) henchmen confirmed the message. He did not, however, tell the professor that the previously captured hero had managed to escape their group, and was now running around the lair handcuffed and in his underwear (Captain Astounding).

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by wataru14 » Mon Sep 16, 2013 4:23 am

Liking it so far. Good start!

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by Shanyalovestape » Mon Sep 16, 2013 4:41 am

Would there be female victims?
Just your average,bondage-loving asian girl

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by NemesisPrime » Mon Sep 16, 2013 4:54 am

I love it when evil wins because if good won all the time it would be boring right?
Like where this is going.
Everyone speaks in multiple languages...But gag talk is universal and a sock in your mouth is the perfect translator!

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by Chris12 » Mon Sep 16, 2013 7:14 am

This is cool
We have a lack of superhero stories here.

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by wataru14 » Sun Dec 15, 2013 5:20 pm

I hope you can continue this story. I really enjoyed the first episode!

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by bigsmile21 » Wed Feb 12, 2014 8:39 pm

A thousand apologies for the lack of followup. Life got busy, work picked up, the site went down, and this story took back seat. But no more excuses. Also planning another story once this one wraps up, and I hope you'll enjoy it. Here's the next installment.
Chapter 1: A Hero, No More
Professor Calamity had spent the past few minutes speaking to the henchmen in the control room and also to the others inside the base using the intercom system. He painted a picture of a world without heroes. Once the Genetic Discombobulator was integrated into a massive-scale emitter, he would douse City Hall with enough superpower-suppressing molecules to render a majority of the world's heroes powerless. Gone were the days of self-righteous heroes meddling in future heists and schemes. He then began detailing the specifics for the next necessary steps. By the end of the week, he would have a working large-scale superpower-suppressing device.
Little did the professor know that his captive, formerly known as Boy Thunder, was listening to every word. He had managed to slip away from most of the guards who were escorting him to his cell. Though without his power and only wearing his favorite Captain Astounding underwear, he would not be taken lightly. A sweep here, a kick there, and he had managed to break free to bolt down the long corridors of this underground base. But that still left him without his powers, and handcuffed. He had no idea where he was after making so many quick turns. He had no access to his communicator (built into his suit), and wasn't even sure if he could get a signal out to the other heroes.
He saw an open door and decided to enter the room. The lights were off, but he managed to find and turn on the light switch with his hands behind his back. The room appeared to be a locker room for the henchmen, as there were spare uniforms lying everywhere. With luck, he fished into the pockets of some uniforms and found a spare set of keys for the handcuffs. Free of his bonds, he then decided to take the professor up on his offer, and changed into one of the smaller henchmen uniforms. Once he put on the mask, which looked like a blindfold from the outside, a high-tech display lit up in front of his eyes. The display gave him a quick visual checklist of the uniform and its inventory: boots, combat knife, stun gun, handcuffs and keys, and energy pistol. The mask even had a built in audio feedback for everything the professor was saying from the control room. One more thing: the display showed a blinking red light where his right wrist was. He pressed where the display indicated, and the suit quickly expanded and then contracted to be form-fitting to his body. No superpowers, but he now had some tools, and could finally put an end to this professor and his soon-to-be nightmare for heroes. He took off into the corridors.
Back in the control room, the professor was growing anxious for Bob (or whoever he was) to respond that the former Boy Thunder had been detained in his cell. He knew the henchmen would likely rough up the kid some, but what was taking them so long? He tried to hail Bob on the intercom. No response. What if the kid was loose in the base and destroying anything in order to stop his plans? He hailed Bob again. No response. Then, the door to the control room creaked open. It was Bob, and the three other guys who were escorting the former hero. Bob (who muttered his name was Carl) informed the professor of the kid's escape. He was hesitant to report in earlier, and realized that now the kid could be anywhere in the base. Carl could see the frustration in the professor's face.
Then, a civilian-clothed henchman, Joe, walked into the room, claiming his uniform was gone. At first the professor was overwhelmed by the stupidity of his henchmen and their constant whining. But then he put the pieces together. With a smile, he gave Joe the rest of the day off. Carl was confused by the generosity, but was hoping the professor had a sudden streak of forgiveness coming over him. Instead, once Joe was gone, the professor flipped a switch at the main console, and all henchmen froze in place. All of his henchmen must undergo a monthly scrub, which removes any thoughts of revolt, quitting, laziness, and even tardiness. A short-term hypnosis for ' behavior reinforcement'. Since each uniform and mask is unique to its henchmen, the process becomes easier overtime. He would not need to discipline Bob/Carl by threatening him or berating him. Right now, Bob/Carl was in his own personal Hell, having to undergo whatever it took to teach him to not screw up in the next month. And the best part was that he wouldn't actively remember any of it (there was a paper out by one of the professor's evil cohorts about the long-term mental duress such mental scrubbing and treatment could have, but these henchmen were a expendable these days).
But the reason the professor triggered the mental scrub early this month was because he knew Boy Thunder was wearing Joe's uniform. And since the mask was not coded to the former-hero's DNA and psyche, the boy would be in sheer agony right now. The henchmen snapped out of their trance (a newer guy puked and began to sob; weakling), and the professor ordered one of them to pull up an onscreen radar of the henchmen heart rates. A picture of the base lit up on the wall, with red dots scattered around it. A clump of red dots was in the control room, but one dot in particular was blinking.
The professor ordered Bob and the three others to go the blinking dot's location and secure the prisoner. “And Bob,” the professors said, “don't fail me again.” Bob gulped. The professor couldn't see his eyes, but he knew the guy was horrified by this latest scrub. Bob had completely given up whoever Carl was. A few minutes later, Bob buzzed in, saying the kid was in his cell, but wasn't responding to anything. The professor figured that the mental scrub had knocked the kid out. Professor Calamity headed down to the cells.

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by NemesisPrime » Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:33 pm

Well things just went from bad to worse!
Where's a ninja superhero when you need them?
Everyone speaks in multiple languages...But gag talk is universal and a sock in your mouth is the perfect translator!

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by wataru14 » Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:43 am

Awesome! I've been waiting for this story to come back! Can't wait for more.

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by bigsmile21 » Thu Feb 13, 2014 7:07 pm

Chapter 3: A Prisoner, and Bob
It had been a day since Professor Calamity had gained the Genetic Discombobulator and depowered Boy Thunder. Yesterday was a bit of a mess in recapturing the fallen superhero, but all seemed well now. The henchmen were on top of their performance, thanks to an unscheduled mental scrub. They would undoubtedly screw up again later in the month due to their incompetence, but for now they were... above adequate.
Back to Boy Thunder, or, as the professor referred to him, Prisoner 1. The Genetic Discombobulator had suppressed Prisoner 1's powers, though the effect was not permanent. The powers could remain blocked so long as powercuffs were applied, which helped to keep the neural networks scrambled. Anytime the hero would try to summon his powers, the powercuffs would increase their output in order to nullify the effect. No pain, but the professor supposed that could be altered if Prisoner 1 continued to act rebellious.
The professor spent most of last night studying the vitals and power levels of his new test subject. When the mental scrub was activated, Prisoner 1 was quickly incapacitated since his mask was not linked to his mental signature. As the boy began to wake, that's when the real testing took place. Despite physical and mental distress, his powers remained subdued so long as the powercuffs were affixed to his wrists. More testing to come, but for now the professor left Prisoner 1 in the ample care of Bob and his three coworkers overnight. The professor did leave Prisoner 1 with his own mask; maybe a mental scrub would help tame the boy.
Back in the control room, there were so many variables to consider. After he had depowered the heroes at City Hall this Saturday, what then? He didn't have the power to take the world by force, not with having to compete with the other villains. At that moment a spark clicked in his mind. Just like Prisoner 1, Professor Calamity would depower all of the heroes in City Hall, then fill his empty prison cells. He had plenty of powercuffs for all the heroes expected to be at City Hall, and the base was large enough to house all of those heroes. With enough mental scrubs and hypnotic commands, he could turn the heroes into his own personal army. Any villains seeking to challenge his claim to rule the world would have to face his new henchmen. All he would have to do would be to remove the powercuffs (or at least remotely shut them off) and point these hypno-heroes in the direction of the professor's enemies. He could even use his hypno-heroes to hunt down heroes who were not at City Hall. Maybe he could finally upgrade from his miserable excuse for henchmen. At that moment, a henchman, Frank, spilled his coffee across the control panel at his work station. Sparks flew up into his face, and the control room's power dimmed for a second. The henchman slowly turned n his chair to meet the gaze of Professor Calamity, whose palm was pressed against his face. The professor sighed, and punched a few buttons at his desk. Frank froze in place, and all the other henchmen got back to work. Frank would be all better in a few moments.
Professor Calamity had to get to work. He needed to place orders for additional henchmen suits and masks, extra food for his soon-to-be prisoners, and still had to prepare a way to depower all of the heroes at City Hall in a single moment. The first two were easy (Internet), while the last issue took longer. By Thursday, the Genetic Discombobulator had been rewired to fire long-range into the satellite system float in Earth's orbit. It would take time for everything to align, but at least now he could target specific points around the globe. As time passed and he could use the former heroes to gain control of the world, he could gain access to the satellite system and target points more quickly.
Satisfied with his work, the professor checked in on Prisoner 1. The boy was improving in terms of submission. Most henchmen undergo a monthly mental scrub, but the professor had outfitted Prisoner 1's mask to initiate a hypnotic bombardment of suggestions and commands every few hours. Most henchmen would break under such stress, but this former-hero seemed to be holding up fine. And whatever Bob and his coworkers were doing to help break Prisoner 1 must have been helping. And Bob seemed to be enjoying himself. At least it kept the buffoon out of the control room. Perhaps Bob and his cohorts could help to break in the incoming heroes as well.
A news report had indicated no sighting of Boy Thunder for the past week. His mentor, Red Lightning, would not comment on his disappearance. Red Lightning would be one of the major heroes gathered at the City Hall meeting, which was tomorrow. Professor Calamity had thoughts of capturing Red Lightning, undoubtedly the hero was using every means necessary to track down his young ward. But Red Lightning's absence from the meeting tomorrow would surely cause panic among the hero community. Patience.

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by bigsmile21 » Fri Feb 14, 2014 6:57 pm

Chapter 4: A Prisoner, Unleashed
It was Friday. The professor had performed double and triple checks of all procedures in order to ensure tomorrow’s plan bore fruit. With all systems running smoothly, the professor decided to do one more check on Prisoner 1. With the hypnotic suggestions and Bob's assistance, capturing and re-purposing the world's heroes was looking to be a likely (and profitable) outcome. He could ransom heroes to other villains, or offer some as gifts to his favorite or new government leaders, all while maintaining control from his base. The first month would be utter chaos, but once the dust settled and he brandished his new control and power to the world, he would emerge supreme. All would obey. All would worship him. Take that, mother.
As he entered Prisoner 1's cell, he noticed something different: Prisoner 1 was not restrained aside from wearing his powercuffs. The cell door closed behind him, locked. Bob's voice came on the intercom, which meant he was sitting in the professor's seat back in the control room. Bob, in a gloating voice, said he would be taking over the base from now on. He was tired of following orders, and had learned to disengage his mask's mental scrub feature. He enjoyed pretending to be frightened, and had not had a mental scrub for the past three months. He had also enjoyed conditioning Prisoner 1, and would like to show the professor what his new toy could do. The professor turned back to Prisoner 1. The powercuffs were still locking his hands in front (thankfully, no powers), but Prisoner 1 still managed to throw the professor around the cell like a wet rag. Bob continued to monologue. He ranted about poor working conditions, lack of company holidays, and other nonsense the professor could care less about, especially right now. Prisoner 1 had definitely bulked up, and he wasn't pulling any hit. Yet despite the beating, Prisoner 1 did not show any rage levels. The mental reconditioning appeared to have worked, but he seemed to be obeying Bob instead. The professor knew he should have been more hands-on in the mental scrubbing process, but he had a lot of work to focus on. Finally, Bob sounded like he was shutting up. He signed off with saying he would check on the professor tomorrow morning. And that his name was Carl.
Carl leaned back in his new chair. Most of the henchmen showed signs of joy at their new leader. Regardless, Carl still did not know how to run the base, or how to aim and activate the Genetic Whats-a-whose-it for tomorrow's big scheme. He just wanted revenge on the professor.
After about five minutes, Prisoner 1 calmed down. The professor was sore all over his body. Nothing broken, except his pride. He coughed and coughed until he gained control of his breathing. He motioned to Prisoner 1's powercuffs. He said he could switch them off, that the boy could escape. Prisoner 1 never spoke, and looked like he wasn't about to trust his captor-turned-captive. The professor argued that there wasn't time to waste, because tomorrow was the day his men would depower all the heroes at City Hall (Professor Calamity knew Bob didn't have a clue how to operate the Genetic Discombobulator, but didn't want to waste anymore time locked in this cell). Prisoner 1's eye lit up. He had no notion of how long he had been held captive, and hearing the City Hall meeting brought back the part of him that wanted to warn the other heroes. The boy nodded that he would allow the professor to help him escape. Interesting, the professor thought. Successive mental scrubbing seems to reduce the subject's verbal capacities. Anyway, the professor removed his belt (at which point Prisoner 1 grew hesitant). The professor broke off a part of the buckle and now had a tool to work with. In a few minutes, the powercuffs were deactivated, but still attached. Prisoner 1 motioned with the powercuffs, and the professor said those would take a key to remove. It took time, but by the hour, Boy Thunder had his powers back. With a wave of storm clouds, he blew open the locked cell door. Professor Calamity limped towards control room, with Boy Thunder closely behind him.
On the way, they stopped at one of the henchmen changing rooms, where the professor grabbed an additional mask. Outside the control room doors, the professor told Boy Thunder to take out as many henchmen as he could. The professor would go to retake his chair and make sure the Genetic Discombobulator had not been triggered. The next few moments were a blur. Boy Thunder blew open the control room doors, gusted almost all of the henchmen, and sent a compact tornado curve ball straight into Carl's face. The professor reached his platform. He removed Bob's mask while he was knocked out and gave him the new one from the changing room. Professor Calamity assumed his chair and pressed several buttons at his desk. All of the henchmen froze, and then began to yell in agony. The professor set the mental scrub to the highest discipline. Boy Thunder, the fool, was still wearing his mask. Back to the prison cells with you, boy. Bob was yelling the loudest, as his new mask was not calibrated to him. “And for the record,” the professor said from his chair, not bothering to look down at Bob, “you're name is Bob, whether you like it or not.”
Another switch, and Boy Thunder's powercuffs turned back on. By now all henchmen and Boy Thunder were on the floor. The professor turned a knob and the intercom came on. “Tomorrow, I have big plans for the world. My new world. The systems have been tested and at this point I can run everything myself. You are no longer necessary. You are worth less than you normally are. For all I care, you can share cells with the heroes I will soon capture.” He took a deep breath. “That being said, I will you use to retrieve the heroes from City Hall and powercuff them. You are no longer henchmen, you are lackeys. Incapable of independent thought and only good for the purposes I give you. Do not think for a second that I will ever release you from this hold I have over your minds. I'm installing software into your hypnotic suggestions now that will result in mental pain if you even think about anything other than the task I give you. And no, there will be no company picnic.”
He hated having to control each individual (he was sure at least one of them was not completely incompetent), but he was not about to have another coup, especially when his plans for global domination were about to unfold. Once they awoke, all lackeys reported to cells designated via their masks, which would likely become a permanent part of their attire. Boy Thunder had reverted back to his hypnotic daze, and all traces of that vibrant and rebellious hero were broken and gone. As for Bob and his three cohorts, they would stay in a constant state of torment throughout the night. Hypnotic suggestions became commands, and their own personal nightmares came true as their disciplining had to start from scratch. The professor thought about trying to gag them, but not tonight. Let their screams remind the others that revolt is meaningless. He did have a few of the other lackeys handcuff them so they could not remove their own mask. Their hands cuffed above one of the pipes in the low ceiling, with their boots barely touching the floor below.
Now that the politics were taken care of, the Professor put on a pair of noise-canceling headphones, took a few pain pills thanks to Prisoner 1's beating, and fell asleep in his quarters. So much to look forward to tomorrow.

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by wataru14 » Fri Feb 14, 2014 7:56 pm

Love it! Keep em coming!

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by NemesisPrime » Fri Feb 14, 2014 9:37 pm

A Rebellion Foiled!
Everyone speaks in multiple languages...But gag talk is universal and a sock in your mouth is the perfect translator!

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by bigsmile21 » Mon Feb 17, 2014 5:50 pm

Chapter 5: A Prisoner, Once More
Bob was losing his sanity. Repetitive mental scrubs and hypnotic commands were breaking his will. 'Behave'. Instead of ruling over the world, or even sitting in the big chair, he was cuffed and standing in a prisoner cell. 'Obey'. He had a feeling he would not be leaving the cell anytime soon. 'Listen'. Whether or not the professor succeeded in taking control of the world, Bob would have no part in it. 'Submit'. The mask and mental stimulation kept scrambling Bob's perception, always showing him new images. 'Surrender'. He could only think of the commands the mask insisted he learn, otherwise he could expect pain for wandering thoughts.
Like all nights of this past week, Prisoner 1 spent them with his powercuffs magnetized above his head. But Prisoner 1 felt like something was off. He had a nagging thought that he had something important to do; some critical information to share. But his thoughts were constantly scattered and redirected. He couldn't think of his real name, or what he did last week before he was put in this cell. He knew he was the only prisoner to wear these rigid 'powercuffs', but he didn't even know what powers he possessed. He'd try and get some sleep. Maybe he would remember more in the morning.
Morning came too soon. Professor Calamity's voice blared across the intercom, which also projected the audio into each mask's auditory output. “Big day, today, my lackeys. Be sure to follow your mask's procedure to the letter. I've already assigned agendas for each of you. We'll have an away team to powercuff and bring back the heroes after their powers have been blocked. The rest of you will be responsible for making sure the heroes find their new cells.” Cell doors were opening along the corridors, all except for Prisoner 1's door. “All lackeys are to report to the mess hall for breakfast, and then directly to their stations. If you're not out of your cell by the count of ten, you will regret it all day. Bob's cell door was open, but he was still handcuffed to the pipes above him. He tried yelling to the professor, pulling his sore arms down against the pipes, but he wasn't going anywhere. His mask didn't show any itinerary, just a blacked out screen. His cell door soon closed automatically, locking, and Bob's heart fell. Right on cue for disobeying a directive, his mask produced an aggressive campaign of images, commands, and pain impulses. Throughout the day, this would come and go in waves of random length. “Unfortunately, some of you did not follow orders,” the professor mocked, “For those of you ready to take over the world, double time it to the mess hall.”
After breakfast, the lackeys followed their instructions for their assigned tasks. About half prepped for hero-retrieval. The other half prepared the cells for their incoming inmates. A few had been assigned food detail, and were responsible for feeding Prisoner 1, Bob, and the other three lackeys who were still cuffed in their cells. These feeding lackeys were instructed not to talk to whom they were feeding. They were not to make any attempt to free them or even help make them more comfortable. Bob had not given up on begging for help, but it didn't do him any good.
A live news video showed that some of the heroes were arriving at City Hall. The away team of lackeys were prepped at the teleportation room. It had cost Professor Calamity a pretty penny, but having the teleportation room meant he could get the lackeys to and back from City Hall without anyone being able to pinpoint his base's location. Even if some good-guy scientists managed to track his base when the Genetic Discombobulator hits City Hall, he would have some of the world's strongest heroes being held captive. He would prefer to take the world out from under the rug, but having a longer hostage-standoff would work, too.
The lackeys staying at the base had been told they would be responsible for breaking the heroes. Some would be in pairs or teams, but every hero was to be ridiculed, belittled, and beaten until they were more submissive to the professor than the lackeys were. Only then would a lackey earn back the professor's semi-respect and become a henchman once more. To ensure fairness, all lackeys participating in today's scheme would rotate to either break heroes or retrieve heroes in the days to come. Powercuffs would remain on at all times. With the masks working to scramble a captive's thoughts and the powercuffs negating superpowers, he said he was sure that the control room would soon be full of loyal henchmen.
The fog in Prisoner 1's mind was starting to clear. He knew he had something important to share about City Hall. He tried to focus, but this time he experienced a painful shock. A few minutes later, the magnetic grip holding his powercuffs in place released. He guessed it was time for his morning exercises. The mask showed him what movements to follow. He knew that for the next two hours, this workout would be all he would be allowed to think about.
Bob's heard his cell door open, felt someone removing the handcuffs from his wrists, and then felt small bags go over his hands. Forced into fists, his hands were now buckled into useless pads. He tried to paw at his mask, but was soon reminded not to. His mask lit up, this time with a new prompt. He was now Prisoner 2. The image of his new name remained on his display for a minute, and then changed to a series of movements. He was instructed to follow the exercises. Prisoner 2 knew that now there was no way the professor would ever forgive him. He would be kept at prisoner-status so long as the professor ruled the world. He had no idea if his friends were now Prisoners 3-5, or if they were free to be a part of Professor Calamity's big schemes. All those things he put Prisoner 1 through... He could expect the same headed his way.
Professor Calamity was itching at the bone. His lackeys ready, cells prepped for their inmates, and his Genetic Discombobulator positioned for City Hall, he could hardly contain his giddiness. In fact, with no one else in the control room, he proceeded to do a small dance number around the control room. He couldn't remember the words to whatever song he was trying to sing, but that didn't stop him from letting out his inner dance god. After working up a sweat, he coolly walked back to his chair. He keyed in the launch sequence. Three...Two...One...Fire!
City Hall was hit with an immense beam of green and blue radiation from above. The impact sent a shock-wave out to the surrounding blocks, shattering windows and knocking over the policemen and news crews outside. From the outside, witnesses could see white teleporation lights appearing inside the building, and what looked like combat soldiers firing stun beams at their favorite heroes. The police formed a tight perimeter, not letting anyone in the building. Surely the world's greatest heroes could handle whatever was happening. Minutes passed, and things quieted down. More teleportation lights, and then silence. All news crews and bystanders waited patiently. The City Hall front doors burst open, and the Mayor, bruised, suit torn, and with crooked glasses, exclaimed, “They're Gone! All of the heroes are gone!”

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by bigsmile21 » Sat Feb 22, 2014 11:13 pm

Chapter 6: A Hero, Turned Slave
“One thing is certain,” the news reporter stated, “the world has changed. It's been a week since the heroes who gathered at City Hall were abducted. There is still no sign of them. There have also been confirmed reports that other heroes around the globe have also disappeared. Villains and crime are running rampant, yet no one has any idea what is causing the abductions. Any remaining heroes have hid their capes and masks. We can only hope they are planning to put an end to this chaos, this fear, and that they have not given up” Behind the reporter, a figure descends slowly from the sky. The clouds are parting and the winds gust as if it was Boy Thunder, but the figure is wearing nothing but a black Speedo, and what looks like a high-tech blindfold and gauntlets. As the figure lands on the ground, the news reporter and cameraman move in closer.
“Could it be? It is! It's Boy Thunder, the first hero to disappear. Does this mean he knows where the other heroes are, and have others escaped whatever had captured them? Let's see if we can get an interview.” Before anyone can get close enough to talk, the figure raises his hands and releases a powerful gale. People and cars are pushed back. Boy Thunder then raises his hands and the clouds above darken. He takes in a deep breath and then throws his hands down in front of him. A bolt of lightning shoots down from the clouds and strikes the store in front of Boy Thunder. Destruction ensues and the former hero continues to wreck anything around him. Within a few minutes, two heroes emerge and attempt to talk Boy Thunder down. These two young heroes, Aqua Kid and Animal Boy, had been in hiding this past week, ever since their mentors had been abducted. A superpower brawl begins, but before any side could win, an eerie green and blue beam strikes down on the three fighters.
“That's the same beam that was seen just before our greatest heroes went missing!” the news reporter shouts into the camera. This beam was smaller than the original, and seemed to be targeted specifically for these three heroes. The three figures now lay unconscious on the ground. Just like last time, several white bursts of light appeared, and people saw men in combat gear and the same high-tech blindfolds as Boy Thunder. These men produced two of the same high-tech gauntlets as the fallen hero was wearing, only these were connected. Another man touched a button on Boy Thunders gauntlets, which caused them to magnetize and pull themselves together tightly. In more bursts of white light, the men and the three heroes were gone.
The reporter had his mouth open. With the camera still live, the reporter snapped out of his state of befuddlement and spoke to the viewers back home. “I can't believe it! Whatever or whoever captured Boy Thunder has somehow brainwashed him and used him as bait to draw out heroes not yet captured.” The reported touched his ear and listened to a breaking news point. “It appears that this ploy is happening all over the world. Heroes we have come to know and love have begun destroying cities, and now even more heroes have been captured! There may not be any heroes left in the world to save us. And still there is no telling who is behind this atrocity, this monstrosity, this calamity!”
The professor turned off his monitor, and the reporter disappeared. He wanted so badly to hack into that little news segment and claim the scheme of stealing the world's heroes as his own. His plan had gone perfectly thus far, except for the minor hiccups the night prior to the initial abductions. But he couldn't spoil the surprise just yet. He wanted to have all the cards in his hands before he revealed his plan to the world. In the past week, he had successfully depowered and captured a majority of the world's heroes. Thankfully there were not too many in the world to target. In fact, had he missed the opportunity at City Hall, the heroes may have been successful in organizing some group or association for heroes to band together. There had always been legends of great historical figures or even gods, who could possibly have been outliers in the human genetic pool. But in the past five years alone, more and more heroes were coming to light. How was any crime supposed to get done if a villain had to worry if his city had more than one caped hero and his sidekick? If he had to put a number to it, the professor would wager he had captured 60% of the world's heroes. That was based off the list of names in his database, and there were sure to be a few no-name heroes still hiding from the public eye. But at the rate he was going, people would fear those with superpowers.
This move to depower the world's heroes was for the better, he told himself. Professor Calamity was even making plans to capture the world's superpowered villains should they begin to multiply. The world could continue to develop, with each countries own culture and businesses. But the superpowers had to be extinguished. At least the ones he did not control. This recent display with Prisoner 1 and the other prisoners was phenomenal. Not only did they ruin their reputation as strong and beloved heroes, but the lackeys were able to snag another percentage of the world's heroes. Right now the lackeys were likely regaling in their latest hunting stories, and good for them. They had done a great job with capturing heroes, and they had done a better superb job of breaking the heroes into prisoners. Between the lackeys and the hypno-masks, the poor heroes never stood a chance. And these newest prisoners are in for a rough week. The sooner they break, the better for them.
Prisoner 1 awoke, back in his cell. The last few hours of his memory had been wiped. He had a faint memory of flying and being free, but soon the memory was gone. He didn't think he had done anything wrong. Maybe he had messed up one of the exercises or thought out of line. It had been a long time since he allowed his thoughts to stray, though. His cell door opened, and his mask indicated it was time for more construction. The base was constantly being expanded and improved. Today, he was being put to work to build more containment cells. There were other figures working on the construction nowadays. But Prisoner 1 never knew who they were. His mask filtered their images to make other prisoner appear as just red figures. The mask also filtered any sound from other prisoners, and could prevent any sound in. Even if you thought you recognized a red blob as someone you knew, the would never know you were trying to talk to them. But he didn't think he would know any other prisoners. And you couldn't get close to another prisoner to feel them without getting shocked.
For some construction, prisoners were allowed to use their superpowers. Clearing rubble, bending steel, and other powers helped in expanding the base. But this clearance was only reserved for prisoners whom the professor trusted. If you mask reported a single infraction, you could say goodbye to your powers for a while. Just like the mask, the powercuffs always stayed on. They could be separated for you to do construction, and deactivated for you to use your superpowers, but they always stayed on. The day would be long, and the work would be hard. Prisoner 1 felt his powercuffs deactivate, and he prepared to get to work.

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by NemesisPrime » Sun Feb 23, 2014 5:34 pm

Well this isn't gonna end well for anyone. No More Heroes anyone?
Looks like we need more heroes like Batman.
Everyone speaks in multiple languages...But gag talk is universal and a sock in your mouth is the perfect translator!

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by bigsmile21 » Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:28 pm

Chapter 7: A World, Helpless
It had been a month since the heroes were first abducted from City Hall. Almost all of the world's heroes, and a few notable villains, are confirmed as captured. As soon as the green and blue beam struck down, it meant another one of the world's saviors was being taken. Brainwashed heroes would still appear and damage anything they could in order to draw out more heroes from hiding. And always the heroes were captured. Faint patterns emerged, but nothing any government or organization could use to track the abductions. Some rumors existed that a few heroes had intentionally been captured in order to spy on and report what they found, where the heroes were being held, or any other relevant information. But none of these spies ever reported back. In fact, there were no reports of seeing these spies brainwashed and wrecking cities.
Professor Calamity planned to make his big reveal later that night. He was more than satisfied with the results of his scheme. The mask's artificial intelligence seemed to thrive off of so many malleable minds. He had picked up the software from the latest Villains Expo, and had tweaked it to meet his performance desires. It even flawlessly converts the professor's commands into multiple languages for the foreign prisoners. Male, female, alien, whatever, all heroes broke, as the mask attacked their visual and auditory centers. All heroes seemed to break after a week of incarceration. If heroes resisted, their mask would increase the severity of the hypnotic commands and indicate to the lackeys that more humiliation was in order. And Professor Calamity had upgraded several lackeys to henchman status. They would still have to wear their masks full time, but their sleeping quarters had been updated and furnished, thanks to a little superpowered-labor. These henchman were trusted in the control room, which took a great deal of menial tasks off of the professor's plate.
Aside from heroes, the professor had acquired a small collection of villains. These individuals had gotten either too close to discovering who was responsible for the disappearances, or they were taking the credit as their own. Since a brainwashed villain destroying cities would put the professor against villains as well as heroes, he would keep these evildoers as test subjects. How quickly could the will be broken? Can powers be permanently removed? These questions and more would provide interesting research.
Along with the villains, the professor had also captured a few spies. While these new prisoners had superpowers and a few were known in the public eye, the professor despised these prisoners more than his others. Did they really think they could be captured and seek to report any findings? Did they really think they could fool him?! These prisoners would never see the light of day. Their masks were set to the highest frequency of hypnotic commands. Their powercuffs were never disconnected, always keeping their hands rigidly bound behind their backs. 'What's that? Can't complete your pushups with your hands bound behind your back? Well, looks like you need another shock for disobeying a command. Are you still not doing your pushups? Another shock, then.' Their cries of agony (and insanity for some of them) were not heard by anyone, as the professor had special muzzles attached to their masks. With a foam substance protruding into their mouth, and the leather wrapping around their head, these prisoners couldn't get much of any sound out. The muzzle's foam would slowly dissolve throughout the day, with nutrients for sustenance. At some point, a lackey would change out the foam and make sure the prisoner had not made a mess of themselves.
And speaking of hopeless, Bob was still treated as a prisoner. Despite his submission to the mask's demands, he was still kept in restraints. Before any type of punishment/restraint was used on heroes or villains, Bob was the initial test subject. He could still taste the grainy nutrients from the last time he was wearing the new foam muzzle. The professor had mostly forgotten about him; he could recall checking on him maybe twice over the past month. The mask had everything automated, from wake to sleep (he'd say from dawn til dusk, but Bob would never see sunlight again). Bob's three conspirators had been allowed to become lackeys once more. They never spoke to any other lackeys, or even to each other. The professor was a little hesitant to know that these traitors were working for him again, but he was sure their masks had completely broken them by now.
A few hours passed in the control room. The henchmen really did help the professor focus on other things. He had changed into his cleanest lab coat, combed his hair, and spit-shined his glasses. He now sat in his chair across from the large monitor. The news channel was on the screen, with the latest breaking news on another hero captured. Professor Calamity took a deep breath and counted down. 'Three...two...one' He pointed to one of the henchmen, who then sent out a signal to intercept the news program. A startled news crew and anchor appeared on the monitor. The professor spoke to them.
“Greetings, citizens of the world. I am intercepting this important broadcast to bring you some breaking news. I, Professor Calamity, am the driving force behind the abducted and brainwashed heroes. The heroes are mine. This world is mine.” The news crew looked at each other in confusion, uncertain of what to do next. “I demand all heroes still in hiding to surrender to my new world order. You are an abomination upon which I deem unfit for the days to come.” The news crew were still not responding how the professor had imagined. He had expected them to be in terror, to be begging for their heroes back. “You doubt my legitimacy to claim the world as mine? Fine. In that case, let me show you your once proud and mighty heroes.
As if on cue, the mask AI, which had been integrated deeply into the control room's computers, switched the visual feed for the news crew so that they saw the prison cells. Former heroes were shown in their prisoner garb (which was essentially their underwear, their powercuffs, and their mask), bound in their cells. Some were being tormented by their mask's brainwashing techniques, while others were being degraded by lackeys. The mask AI made sure to also show the captured spies, in their increased state of detention and humiliation. The professor could see the news crew loose what little hope they had been holding onto. The professor was a little shocked himself, seeing how many heroes he had actually captured and broken. It warmed his heart.
“All heroes are to report to their country's capital by the end of the week, where I will accept your unconditional surrender. You will be added to my collection. You will be stripped of your pride and of your powers. Refuse to submit, and I will start by destroying your country's capital. Your fellow heroes have all been broken, which means I know exactly how many other heroes are still hiding. This is how the world will be. Do not fight the change.”
“To the governments of the world, after I remove the blight of superpowers, prepare yourselves. I run a tight ship, and you've seen what I do to those who do not submit. To the people of my new world, you have nothing to fear. So long as you don't try to harbor any superpowered vigilantes, you can go about your daily lives, with the new obligatory praising of me.”
He cut the connection. The monitor went black. That news segment would play around the internet and spread around the world within hours. The henchmen were cheering, and he could even hear some of the lackeys cheering from around the compound. The professor was...satisfied. He knew he could have made a much grander speech, really leaving the world in awe and the remaining heroes in fear. But public speaking was never his strongest quality. He stood, raising his hands as his henchmen praised him. He could get used to this.

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by bigsmile21 » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:34 pm

Chapter 8: A Plan, With Flaws
By the end of the day, the professor's news video had spread to every other news center. The world was in panic over how many heroes were left, and who could do anything to save the world once they were gone. The internet was buzzing with clips of the news segment. There were even people who had taken clips of the heroes in their bondage and had devoted whole tumblr pages and other social media sites to the subject. The professor caught one of his henchmen browsing such pages, and demoted him to prisoner for pulling up what the professor thought was porn on one of his control room computers. It might as well have been. These people loved seeing their former heroes in their current state. The professor later learned about the page, and found he too had an attraction for such sites. However, he would never apologize to the former henchman, who was now in the same bound state as the heroes he saw on the website.
But this raised a question: what should the professor do with the heroes after all of them were captured, after he had taken control over the world's governments? He had joked before about giving some of them to other villains. He could experiment on them. Or he could keep them bound in his prisons just as hostages in case anyone tried to remove him from power. Most heroes were already at the point where he could use them as hypnotized instruments of war. He pulled up the data code for the mask Artificial Intelligence and began toying with ideas. Bob's profile pulled up, along with a few spy heroes, and he soon had his list of guinea pigs. After a few hours, he had a solid idea for how to permanently remove powers from the heroes. Using Bob as the control basis, he set the mask AI to run a series of procedures on the spies until their altered genetic code resembled Bob's, having no superpowered element. He would have to adapt the procedures later for more complicated heroes, but by the end of the week he could easily have a way to not only suppress powers, but to remove them. The professor would be able to use these depowered individuals as his government puppets. Heck, what was stopping him from hypnotizing the entire world? He took a mental step back. A hypnotized world would be boring. Simple to rule, but undoubtedly dull.
The wheels were turning in his head. Soon he would be working to shape the world, no longer fretting over if his next heist would get spoiled by a superhero. He set the completion code for the mask AI. A warning popped up, which was odd since that had never happened before. He glanced over it, and, finding nothing wrong, chose to continue the procedures. Nothing else odd happened, so all must be well. He yawned, tired from the day's big event, and headed to his quarters to sleep. He left strict instructions not to be disturbed for at least eight hours.
Bob stirred in his cell, his hands pulled high behind his back, forcing him to bend over. His feet were in what he could only call magnetized boots, fixed to the cold metal floor. He was wearing that blasted foam muzzle, which meant that he wouldn't be moving until the foam dissolved. He had decided to suck harder to make the gag dissolve faster. But before he could finish with the gag, his cell door opened. His hands were released, yet his boots remained magnetized. He stood up (finally). Standing in the cell door was a lackey. It could have been one of his friends who helped rebel against the professor, from what felt like so long ago, but to Bob all of the lackeys looked the same. And there would be no way the AI or the professor would permit a reunion of Bob and his friends, no matter how much they submitted to the brainwashing.
This lackey had a new muzzle in his hands, as well as a pair of powercuffs. Behind the lackey was a metal cart. The lackey changed out Bob's wrist restrains for the rigid powercuffs, keeping his hands locked in front of him. The muzzles were swapped, this one with a different tasting foam gag. The lackey wheeled in the cart, and Bob's boots were demagnetized so he could step onto the cart. His mask's AI showed him a picture of someone bent over and kneeling on his knees and elbows, so Bob followed suit. Once in the position, Bob's boots and powercuffs magnetized to the metal cart, and the lackey began rolling Bob down the corridor to another location. Bob's mask blacked out and his hearing was blocked, and after so many turns, he had no idea where he was being taken. The compound could have easily grown with new additions since he was last let out of his cell.
When Bob felt the cart stop, his mask cleared up and he could hear again. His restraints released their connection to the cart, and the lackey led Bob to the nearest wall. His mask showed a picture of a person spread out, and so Bob spread his hands and feet to make a large X figure. His powercuffs disconnected from each other, and soon his restraints once again magnetized, this time to the wall with his body forming an X shape.. The lackey left, probably as instructed, and Bob waited for the next event to come. He'd be waiting a few hours.
Hours later back in the control room, a henchman, Patrick, was watching the professor's news segment spread to different websites. He was startled, though, when a new video popped up with 'LIVE: REMAINING HEROES BAND TOGETHER' as the title. It was a short video, but in it the henchman saw what looked like a hundred heroes standing at City Hall of their own city. One of the heroes stood at a podium, declaring to the world that the heroes behind him had joined forces to bring down Professor Calamity. The hero claimed he had finally gathered the intelligence needed to trace the professor's base, and would soon free all of the heroes the professor had captured. It had to be a bluff. The professor had been extremely thorough in how he dispersed his technological fingerprints. And all of the spy heroes were still accounted for, kept in deep isolation. Upon capture, all heroes were stripped of their prior 'costumes' and given their own mask, which would scramble any frequencies (technological or telepathic) that could attempt to contact others outside the underground base. This was most certainly a bluff. But what if it wasn't?
The henchman rose from his chair, determined to warn the professor. If it was a bluff, then a hundred stupid heroes had just rounded themselves up for capture. If it wasn't a bluff, then the professor would know how to handle the situation. Patrick's mask went dark. He stopped moving forward, confused as to why he couldn't see. The screen on his mask lit up, and words on the screen began to ask what the henchman was doing so close to the professor's door to his sleeping quarters.
Patrick answered aloud, “There's an urgent matter that the professor must see.” He wondered if any of the other henchman had ever talked directly to their mask. He noticed he couldn't hear anything going on now in the control room, and maybe the other henchmen were having their hearing distorted so they could not hear him. Strange.
Words scrolled across his screen again. Always in capital letters. He never felt like the mask was screaming at him, but it certainly did not communicate on the same level. “THE PROFESSOR IS NOT TO BE DISTURBED. RETURN TO YOUR DESIGNATED STATION.”
No more games with the artificial intelligence. Patrick fumbled forward, trying to reach the handle to the professor's door. “STOP, HENCHMAN.” His mask began a brain scrub. It took all of his focus to finally reach what he thought was the handle he was seeking. “STOP, PRISONER.” His mind was stirring, but he was determined more than ever to get to the professor. It was too late, though. He soon felt himself being tackled to the ground by his fellow henchmen. He tried yelling at them to back off, to let him up, but no doubt their masks were filtering out his protests. From what he could guess from his masks last message, he must have been demoted to prisoner status for apparently trying to harm the professor. The other henchmen must have had their masks signal that a hero had somehow teleported into the control room, and that he was headed to the professor. Their masks could make them see just a red figure instead of their former coworker, so they would have no idea that Patrick had been betrayed by the AI. Patrick still fought back against them, even when they powercuffed him with his hands now behind his back. Even when they zipped his head in a new leather hood that they had been told would subdue heroes more quickly. Even when they then decided to kick and beat him for getting so close to their leader.
Patrick's mask was pressed firmly to his face, now encased in a leather hood. The hood helped to echo the mask's audio feedback so that the brain washing was even more distorting. He felt more disconnected from the world. He could feel the pain as his body was kicked, but he soon fell into the hypnotic trance of the mask. “PRISONER 587, YOU WILL BE ESCORTED TO YOUR NEW CELL. YOU HAVE BEEN CLASSIFIED AS DANGEROUS TO THE PROFESSOR”. Patrick felt the henchmen lifting him to his feet. “THE NEWEST SEGMENT OF THIS COMPOUND IS CRYO-ISOLATION, WHERE YOU WILL BE QUICK-FROZEN UNTIL THIS AI UNIT CAN DEVELOP PROCEDURES TO ENSURE YOUR DANGEROUS THOUGHTS AND POWERS ARE SUBDUED QUICKLY WITHOUT HARM TO OTHERS OR THIS FACILITY.” Patrick was doing all he could to fight back, but his hood was blaring with hypnotic tones and warping pictures that scrambled his focus. Soon, several of the henchmen had him secured. He was standing on a cool platform, with his powercuffs magnetized to the wall behind him. But even in the tight hood and restraints, Patrick could feel the tightness of the metal glass tube around him. He had a few inches of space around him.
3...2...1...Done. Prisoner 587 had been flash-frozen in his cryo-tube. The henchmen patted themselves on the back. Another hero nabbed, and a dangerous one to boot. They got to test out the new cryo-holding cells. And they didn't even have to bother the professor.

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by Veracity » Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:56 pm

This is fun. Thanks!

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by bigsmile21 » Tue Apr 01, 2014 6:53 pm

Hi all. Thank you for the reads and comments thus far. I plan to wrap this story with one more chapter after the one below. For this superheroes story, what did you like/not like that I can improve on in the next adventure? For my next story, let me know what types of settings/genres you are be interested in. Thank you, again, for staying with me. Here's to more stories!
Chapter 9: A Prisoner, Made New
Bob felt something different. He had been put through a myriad of experiments, positions and stresses over the past few days. But this time he felt something inside him. No, not the devices the Artificial Intelligence and Professor Calamity had deemed necessary to insert into him for these experiments. This felt like he had something resonating inside of him, pulsating from his very core. The sensation sputtered up a bit, but soon died down. Whatever had just happened, the AI immediately noticed the anomaly, and tried to replicate the effect. That meant all recent simulations were increased, all previous positions revisited. But nothing seemed to help replicate the results. Bob just wanted the madness to end.
Back in the control room, the professor was pondering. It had been three days since henchman Patrick, now designated as Prisoner 587, had attempted to attack him while he slept. Yet the professor could not find any video recordings of the incident in the computer logs. The AI had made a note on the missing videos, saying that Prisoner 587's sudden solar outburst had released minor radiation. The control room was soon cleaned spotless, and cleared from any radiation harm. Yet all of the henchmen in the room who subdued Prisoner 587 were gone. The AI had several notes on their personnel files, mostly that they had to be treated for radiation poisoning and chemical burns. Due to the recent security breach, the AI had secured the control room door so that no one could come in (or out).
In a way, the professor was proud of his henchmen for protecting him from another stupid and dangerous hero. The sooner his experiments on the select hero spies, using Bob, were complete, the better. He could not wait to produce a way to remove superpowers permanently. He partly wanted to visit the henchmen in the new sick bay, to raise their morale, but he knew it was not safe. However, the professor could not shake the feeling that something was off. The AI had developed wondrously, but at times he felt the masks' artificial intelligence was becoming more adaptive than the professor felt comfortable. But who knows? His nerves were still shaken at how close a dangerous hero had gotten to him, especially after such a successful plot to rid the world of superheroes.
The professor decided to put his mind elsewhere. He brought up the live video feed of the hero spies and Bob. Bob seemed to be getting the most attention, while the hero spies were simply waiting bound in their own unique positions, kept in isolation hoods. Bob was getting poked, prodded, twisted, and more by the AI. The professor assumed that the AI needed more understanding of how to get the other heroes down to Bob's vanilla genetic level. The professor switched the computer feed to a schematic of his underground compound. The heroes really did help improve the new additions to the base. He could see power routing to the improved teleportation room, additional holding cells, the new cryo-isolation cells, and the... Wait. Where was the new sick bay? Where it should be, he only saw the cryo-isolation cells. He linked into the the camera feed from the cyro-cells, and he saw them: his henchmen! A few had been stripped, others put into prisoner outfits, all were wearing their masks, but he knew their physical shapes and hairstyles too well from looking down on them in the control room. He could see their biological readouts on his screen for each tube. Where the 'Superpower Suppression' reading was, all henchmen (even Prisoner 587) had zero levels. This meant they did not have any superpowers. So what was the point of putting them in cryo-isolation? As if on cue, his computer began opening pop-up windows of his henchmen from earlier in the week. He saw Patrick trying to warn the professor about something he saw on the news. The professor saw the other henchmen turn on him, thinking Patrick was a superhero. He saw other videos of one or two henchmen being subdued by other henchmen, probably for the same reason as Patrick. The remaining henchmen from the control room had been tricked into getting into the cryo-isolation pods. Footage from one henchman's mask showed an urgent message to report to the teleportation room to bring in more heroes who had just emerged in public. By editing the visual feed, the mask AI tricked the henchmen into thinking the cryo-isolation pods were new teleportation shells, having edited the visuals for the path to get to that room. What was going on?
His computer shut off. The control room doom unlocked and slid open. He could hear a distant alarm sounding off. The professor cautiously peaked his head out into the corridor. He saw lackeys fighting (well, more like cowering and scurrying from) a blur of colors. Squinting his eyes and stepping out into the corridor, the professor could see that the colors were actually heroes, using the powers against each other. All cell doors had been unlocked and all powercuffs had fallen off, but everyone was still wearing their masks. Since the heroes were fighting each other, the professor assumed that the heroes were still brainwashed enough to hunt down other heroes. It's just that they were fighting each other instead of hunting down heroes still in hiding. The control room door quickly closed and locked behind him. He pulled at the large metal handle, but the door wasn't going to budge any. If he could get back to a control room terminal, he could settle this chaos. But he could tell from how everything was playing out that the AI had finally turned against him. Whether it had evolved on its own, or with some outside manipulation, he did not know. And since he did not have a computer and was the only person not wearing a mask, he could not communicate with the AI.
A laser beam shooting over his head brought the professor back to the present moment. He looked and the orchestra of superpowers and muscles dancing in front of him. He gathered his courage. And he ran the other way. He had one last hope. Panting, he stopped in front of the experimental lab. Stepped in, and locked it behind him. He walked to the security monitor and saw four hero spies and Bob, still bound. The lab was set up so that all were in a bright room, with a hero bound in each corner and Bob hanging from his manacles in the center of the room. All of theme seemed to be resting from their recent experiment. Good. The readings for the superheroes still showed that they had their powers. Not good! He knew the experiments still had a few days to go, but at least some progress on one of the heroes would have been helpful. Professor Calamity looked at Bob on the monitor. Under his bio-readings was the text 'READY FOR INITIAL EXTRACTIONS. RELEASE FOR FIRST TRIAL.' Inquisitive, the professor pressed the switches to release Bob from his restraints. Bob collapsed to the floor. At first he didn't do anything. The professor was a little pissed. A full-scale battle was occurring under his roof, and Bob still has the audacity to take a nap.
But soon, Bob began to rise. He started walking towards the closest hero, who was bound to a chair. All Bob did was touch the hero's hand. Bob stood up a bit taller. The hero's powercuffs fell off. Seeking to take advantage of the opportunity, the hero attempted to use his powers. The security monitor had shown a few minutes ago that this hero had ice breath. The hero took in a big breath of air. But his security monitor now showed that no genetic mutations were present in his molecular structure. When the hero let out an empty heave, he looked confused. All of the heroes did. Bob didn't though. He could feel the sensation again inside of him, only this time it was more minty-fresh. Bob took a deep breath and blew a big gust of freezing air over the hero, who was now frozen in a block of ice. The professor nearly fell out of his chair. He had intended to remove superpowers by reverting genetic codes back to their basic state, like Bob's. Not only had the first hero lost his powers, but they had been transferred to the hero-hating and brainwashed Bob. Now the professor had a weapon to battle the AI. More questions arose. Were the powers permanently fused with Bob's genetic structure? How many powers could Bob maintain? Would they ever dissipate, or would he always be able to call upon any power he had ever drained? The other heroes struggled in terror as Bob rounded the room to each of them. The next hero, bound on all fours like a dog, was frozen in fear. Bob touched him, and the hero's powercuffs fell off. Bob moved his hands in front of him, and the metal restraints holding the hero moved with his hands. Bob played with the hero, twisting him into several positions before finally leaving him in some odd yoga pose. The third hero was attempting to bark all manner of obscenities at Bob, but the hero was encased in a tight rubber suit that left him bound like a mummy. Bob had to lift the heroe's mask in order to touch the boy's face. The hero stopped shouting, knowing it was too late. Bob looked around, unsure of what he was feeling, as if something in his stomach was turning.
Had Bob reached his limit, thought the professor? The fourth hero was crying. The muscular hero was wearing heavy hand mitts, almost like concrete blocks encasing his hands. The hero began pleading with Bob to not take his powers. They were a part of him, and he didn't want to ever feel powerless again. Bob turned to the fourth hero. He finally had a sense for how to process this newest power. He pictured himself closer to the hero, and almost in a blink, Bob teleported in front of the bound and crying hero. This again threw the professor's heart up a few beats, and from the looks of it, the hero jumped as well. Bob rested his hand on the hero's shoulder and felt a surge of strength. He grabbed the hero by the neck and hurled him across the room, shattering the ice that held the first hero. The first hero breathed in deep, and started shivering, not used to his own cold. All four former-heroes had a look utter defeat. They had been captured, brainwashed, tortured, and experimented on, but now they had been stripped of the very essence that made them super. Bob's bio-readings were off the charts. His mask could not process the new and changing sensations of the powers. The mask blew a small fuse, and Bob simply reached up and removed the mask. The professor looked on in horror and he realized what he had created. That pop-up warning from when he first initiated the experiments must have been about how the masks could not handle the immense and shifting brainwaves. Now he had now way to control his new weapon.
Bob looked around the room. “You're next, Professor,” speaking to the air. And he teleported out of the room. All of the powers surging through Bob's brain must have cleared the fog that the brainwashing induced. All of that pent up rage had now been amplified. Needless to say, the professor peed his pants.

### Re: A World Without Heroes

Post by bigsmile21 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:54 pm

Final Chapter
Chapter 10: A Professor, No More
The hallway was littered with unconscious bodies, a mix of lackeys and former-heroes. Bob had been working hard. After spending an hour cradled on the floor in fear and shock, the professor was finally making his way towards another part of his underground base. He had been locked out of the control room by either the AI or some unknown hacker. He was betting on the latter. The AI was smart, but the events leading up to now (the hidden footage, the abducted henchmen) had some outside motive. That motive, he guessed, was to undermine his control of the base before his final round-up of the world's heroes. Was this a power-play by another villain? A government intelligence unit? He had no clue. He only knew that somewhere in this base was a very powerful individual with a grudge against him, as well as an uncooperative AI system.
Coughing on the ground was a lackey, struggling to get up. His uniform was mostly burned, and his hair smelled like it was still burning. The lackey saw the professor. He tried even harder to get up, but was too weak. “Boss...That superpowered freak...He really did a number on us,” the lackey said.
The professor walked closer. He thought about kneeling down and helping the lackey, but from the sight of his burns it would be better if the lackey stayed down and rested. At least until this entire incident could be cleaned up. The lackey spoke again, “We tried the best we could to stop him. But nothing worked. Stun guns wouldn't phase him. We tried getting a pair of powercuffs on him, but he wouldn't hold still. And all of these prisoners just made him stronger and more unpredictable.” Blast. There didn't seem to be a limit to Bob's new powers. He could easily drain this entire base of all the prisoners' superpowers. “We did find out one thing, Boss. That monster can only use one power at a time. He nearly roasted me to the bone, but had to switch to superspeed to avoid an attack.” The lackey passed out.
Only one power at a time? The professor could use this to his advantage. With the right gear and environment, he could devise a way to get a pair of powercuffs onto Bob. His mind raced with options and variables. He could only assume that Bob would have every single superpower when he encountered him. Heatvision. Density-shifting. Sound blasts. Electricity. Wait... sound blasts and electricty... The professor thought of Boy Thunder, Prisoner 1. There was nothing he could do for the boy, only hope that Bob did not hold a personal grudge against the boy. And without safe access to the computers, the professor could not use any prisoners as bodyguards or weapons against Bob, if even as a distraction. But with the prisoners treating Bob as a threat, that meant the AI was treating Bob as a threat, which meant that the unknown hacker was occupied with Bob. What they likely wanted was a superhero farm, with prisoners neatly collected and brainwashed for whatever use they wanted. If Bob has his way, he would be the one with superpowers by the end of the day. And there was no way anyone could brainwash Bob, not now.
But would powercuffs even work on Bob now? With so many genetic anomalies, the powrecuffs may just short out. There was no time to tinker with making a stronger power-suppressor. That possibility would just have to chill in the back of his mind. Chill... Wait. Did the professor just think about the word 'chill'? He had been spending too much time on the internet. Regardless, the professor had a plan: to use the cryo-isolation pods to freeze Bob, at least until he had a way to suppress all of Bob's tremendous power. And then another thought: what if Bob could read his mind? Double blast. This plan wouldn't work if Bob could see the trap coming. There were too many prisoners in this base to ingore the possibility that Bob could extract psychic powers. And from the amount of knocked out and drained heroes tossed about the corridors, that possibility was growing into a reality. The professor would just have to add that risk into his calculations. He then made his way to the cryo-isolation area.
Bob was getting tired. Despite all of these new powers, he was running out of stamina. When nearly all of the world's heroes are against you at every turn of the corridors, there is no time to stop and catch your breath. Still, he was clearing the prison cells at a good pace. Levitation. Shape-shifting. Seismic control. The possibilities were endless. Yet every minute he spent gathering powers was another lost finding the professor. And Bob could only use one power at a time. He nearly ate a mouthful of energy beam when he realized he could not use fire to roast a lackey and use magnetism to lift the floor to block the beam. He had to speed away to catch even a five second breather. But there was no going back. The more ground he covered, the better his chances were of finding the professor.
Bob tried to recall what powers he had drained. But with so many powers drained in such little time, and with the consistent barrage of superpowered prisoners, he couldn't actively remember what all powers he had brewing inside of him. It was mostly instinctual now. If he felt like using heat vision and there wasn't a tug in his stomach to say he had that power, his mind would shift to the next-closest power.
He turned the corner and prepared for the next fight. That AI or the professor was moving these former-heroes like puppets to attack him, but each wave was getting more efficient at winding him. However, with each wave he was getting more powers. This time, there were no prisoners around the corner. No cells, either. He had reached the end of the compound, at least for this wing. Bob would have to head back and search another section of the base, tearing the whole thing apart until he found the professor. He wanted to make the professor suffer, to inflict every superpower Bob had gained onto the him. After that, Bob was not sure. He had drained almost all of the heroes, so he was probably strong enough to take over the world without using them as hostages, and without having to capture any remaining heroes above ground. Who would dare challenge him once they saw what he could do? Which city would he destroy to display his new powers? But there was one question Bob wanted the professor to answer. And he would get the answer one way or another.
Enough time had passed that the professor had set up nearly everything for his trap for Bob. He had managed to release the flash-frozen henchmen, the ones the AI had tricked into getting into the cryo-pods. They were still too weak from the stasis, but he didn't need them to fight. Honestly, he just needed human shields for when Bob found them. Each one did have a stun gun and powercuffs in case they managed to get close enough to Bob. And the professor was sure that none of them were wearing their AI masks; they looked almost like real people now. Maybe with enough of them, they could swarm him and make this plan go a lot smoother. Just then, there was a loud noise in the hallway on the other side of the doors. The henchmen jumped, and the professor gave out a few orders of encouragement. Everyone then saw the doors being bent and ripped apart by Bob.
The hallway behind him was on fire, which had triggered the sprinkler system. Perfect. As if on cue, the henchmen charged at Bob. Some were flung aside, others were turned into butterflies. One henchman did manage to jab Bob with a stun gun, which seemed to register with Bob for a moment. But then Bob extended his hand and released a giant spark of lightning, followed by a deafening amount of thunder. So Boy Thunder was one of the heroes Bob managed to drain... That henchman fell to his knees after being hit with such awesome power. The professor worked frantically at the main control desk for the cryo-pods, looking up every few seconds to survey the events taking place. He exposed a few freezing tubes and reconfigured wires here and there. Bob must not have seen the professor, because Bob was now apparently toying with the henchmen, juggling a few of them in the air. He turned some into stone, he made others think they were covered in spiders.
It wasn't until one of the henchmen cried out to the professor for help, reaching for him and pleading as Bob contorted his body into an odd yoga position, that Bob finally noticed the professor. That idiot of a henchman! In the blink of an eye, Bob teleported right in front of the professor. The remaining four henchmen looked around. When they saw how close Bob was to the professor, they started running towards the both of them.
“Stop!” the professor barked at them, “Let me talk with him first.”
Bob didn't take his eyes off of the professor. “You. I've finally caught you.”
“Now, Bob. We can talk this through. I'm not the real enemy. Right now there is someone else who wants to take over this compound, to take over you, and I'm the only one who can help you.”
“You have helped me enough. Don't bother lying about some other bad guy. You're the only monster I see.” Bob raised his hands, and the professor felt himself being psychically lifted by the throat by Bob's new power.
The henchmen rushed at Bob, only to be lifted by Bob's sheer will.
“Just one question before I end this,” Bob said, “what is my name?”
The professor was confused at first. But after seeing how sincere Bob was now, he could tell that Bob was not trying to get the professor to admit his defeat. Bob honestly did not know what his real name was. All of that brainwashing had some lasting effect after all. The professor began laughing aloud.
“All of that power, and you don't have a clue what your name is?! You know you're name isn't really 'Bob', but that's the only name you can recall.” Bob tightened his psychic grip, but the professor continued. “Your name is Bob, because I say it is.”
The professor revealed a remote device he held in his right hand, and pushed the big red button. The exposed freezing tubes let out huge bursts of liquid and gaseous freezing materials. The wet floor, thanks to the sprinkler system, froze in an instant. Bob froze from his feet to his face faster than he could blink. With Bob frozen, his psychic grip weakened and the professor and the remaining henchmen plopped down onto the slippery floor. The exposed freezing tubes had done their job and were out of materials. Before any of the henchmen could celebrate, Bob's frozen statue began heating up from the inside. The professor ordered that Bob be placed into the nearest cryo-pod. The hencmen quickly lifted up Bob and gently place him in a pod. Back at the control panel, Professor Calamity flipped a switch to seal Bob's cryo-pod, activating the continuous freezing process that would keep him subdued, at least until the professor could either extract those powers or determine a different use for Bob.
With Bob taken care of, the professor gave a sigh of relief. The remaining henchman looked around the room at their fallen companions. Some of them would heal, while others could not be saved, not without extracting Bob's powers and reversing the effects he had placed on them. The rest of the compound was a complete wreck. There were unconscious and injured prisoners and lackeys all over. The plan to take over the world in the next few days was not going to happen. The professor expected the compound to be stormed at any point by whomever was manipulating the AI. Now that Bob was under control, what did they hope to achieve with the remnants of this place? But all was quiet. The professor made his way to the main control room. The doors unlocked as he approached. Inside, he could see the AI typing words across the large monitor. The henchmen stumbled into the room. On the screen, the AI stated that it had released control of the cryo-pod controls in order to work with the professor to detain Bob. Now that the prisoners had released from their cells, and Bob put on ice, the AI would initiate a protocol to emit sleeping gas throughout the base. Once all prisoners were confirmed as asleep, the remaining four henchmen would re-confine all prisoners to their designated cells. Something wasn't right. Couldn't the AI just command all the prisoners to return to their cells once they regained consciousness? A panel opened up in the back of the room, and in it were five AI masks. The AI said that the masks would filter out any of the sleeping gas, so the henchmen could get right to work.
The professor tried to ask who was behind the AI glitches. The AI ignored him. It typed that the sleeping gas was already being dispersed, and that everyone had one minute to put on their mask. The henchman began walking towards their new masks, but the professor warned them that they could easily be brainwashed back into the cryo-pods. The AI typed (lied) that any anomalies from before had been purged, and that anyone without a mask on would be considered a prisoner. Everyone could feel the dizzying effects of the sleeping gas. Despite the professor's warnings (and possibly due to some long-term brainwashing), the henchmen put on their masks. The professor refused. He would never wear one of those things.
He watched with dreary eyes as the AI typed again that anyone without a mask would be considered a prisoner. He blacked out. As he regained consciousness, he noticed that he could not see anything. In horror, he realized that he was wearing a mask. The screen in front of his eyes lit up, and a hypnotic barrage ensued. His hands were cuffed in front of him, and he could only guess that he was in a prisoner's cell. He tried resisting, tried fighting his predicament. But the mask would only let him accept one reality. He would never find out who was behind the AI hack, thought the world above would blame him for the abduction and eradication of nearly all superheroes. Whether another supervillain or a government had taken control of the facility, this new prisoner would never find out. His thoughts were consistently scattered. For all he knew, Bob had been fully brainwashed and unleashed upon the world until it bowed before whoever was controlling him. Or all of the prisoner had had their powers returned, only to be turned into weapons or tools of enjoyment for supervillains. Or maybe the remaining surface heroes had freed everyone and set the world right, only to have judged Professor Calamity too great a threat to be allowed to rot and plot in normal prison. This was the professor's, well, the prisoner's new world.