Repercussions (Wearing the Cape Book 8)

by Marion G. Harmon

  While the Safety Act was applied without prejudice to any group, it directly conflicted with civil rights guaranteed under EU treaty laws and when The Rotterdam Accord established the Continental Guard and the EU’s jurisdiction over breakthrough law, Finnish populists led a movement that killed the referendum and took Finland out of the EU.

  But the Safety Act created its own opposition, Suomen Yli-ihmisten Edunvalvontayhdistys—the Finnish Society for Protecting Superhuman Interests. The inner circle of The Society is dead now, so nobody is certain if it began as a benign organization trying to battle prejudice, or if a superhuman coup had always been the plan. By itself it would have remained harmless, but The Society allied itself with populist elements to form the New Order Party. Led by Juuso Helle-Nummi, a charismatic breakthrough with minor healing powers who went by the cape name of Väinämöinen, the NOP won enough seats in Parliament to bargain for oversight of the breakthrough “training facilities.” This allowed coordination between Party superhumans and their sequestered and disillusioned comrades, together a majority of Finland’s breakthroughs.

  The New Order Party launched its takeover by seizing the training facilities as well as key communications and power facilities, and then broadcasting its grand declaration. Superhumans, having been uniquely chosen to lead humanity, would bring justice, end government corruption, ensure peace, etc. The shooting started immediately.

  The police and military forces could not do much by themselves (and some of them sided with the NOP), but Finland’s older breakthroughs, the ones made celebrities and hailed as guardians in the wake of the Event, sided with the government and many newer breakthroughs followed them. After several desperate battles, the loyalist breakthroughs succeeded in capturing Väinämöinen, at which point leadership broke down and within days the rest were killed or surrendered. Väinämöinen and most of the NOP leadership (with the exception of the Society breakthroughs who fought to the end), are currently incarcerated and serving life sentences in Suomenlinna, an island just off the coast of Helsinki now converted to a high-security prison for criminal breakthroughs. The charges against them included mass destruction, many, many counts of homicide, and inciting against a group of people. The prosecution tried to throw crimes against humanity into the mix, but those charges were eventually rejected.

  Finland is still recovering from its short but sharp civil war, which killed hundreds and destroyed a great deal of its industry. Due to the rhetoric and actions of the NOP, in Finland the term “superhuman” is now identified with superhuman-supremacist ideology and never used; Finns stick to breakthrough and, borrowing from America and England, cape. Finland has since joined the League of Kalmar.

  Russia

  In Ajax’s famous hearing speech, he made a prediction: “Nations who already persecute their religious and ethnic minorities will suddenly find that their victims have powerful champions. Despotic governments will not even try to restrain their impulse to control the breakthroughs they can trust and kill the breakthroughs they cannot, and people already fighting rebellions and civil wars will find that losses will grant power to the losers.” Russia was one of the states where the grim logic of the random “privatization of force” split a nation along its fault-lines. Unlike China—which fractured and is in the process of coming back together, a recurrent theme of its history—Russia’s national future is still a big question mark, one that greatly concerns Europe. Russia and its problems may well play a big part in later stories.

  The Winter Rising

  The Event came at the worst possible time for Russia. The new Russian Oligarchs, as corrupt as the Russian Mafia, fought over the power and wealth of the former Soviet Union while the nation’s limping economy, still not recovered from the shocks of the transition from the old Soviet system of managed production to a free market system, impoverished millions of Russians. The new ruling class, the corporate magnates and crime bosses, had no interest in rescuing their country from corruption and poverty.

  The chaos and destruction of The Event further weakened the government, and the Russian crime syndicates, the Bratva, began a struggle with the oligarchs and the government over who would control the breakthroughs. Intimidation, assassination, kidnapping, blackmail, and acts of pure terror became the order of the day. The equally corrupt government tried to draft them all. The oligarchs “bought” many of them. The Bratva coerced or killed more as Russia descended into near-anarchy.

  Then the Firebird appeared. Anya Mikhaelovna Lukina, then only thirteen, became the Firebird when her mother was killed and her father almost killed by a car bomb. Mikhael Andreiovich Lukin, a retired army general, was being courted by a military faction impatient with the government but had refused to side with them. Nobody knows who set the car bomb; Mikhael blamed them all equally. Witnessing the bombing as she watched her parents get in their car to drive from the family dacha into Moscow, she manifested the Firebird’s Wings, the aura of fire that surrounded her and that could heal or kill. Her fire saved her father, but not her mother. Anya’s powers allowed her to fly and even to teleport great distances, but only under the open sky. When word of what she could do got out, the Russian government took her under its “protection,” threatening her father to secure her compliance, but the night they took her away Mikhael escaped custody and made his way secretly to a friendly military base. There he raised the banner of the White Guard.

  Mikhael Andreiovich Lukin had been known in the military for his bravery and incorruptibility—the reason a cabal of officers sought his support. Now he took them up on it, calling on both soldiers and civilians to abandon the failing government and recreate the White Army which had unsuccessfully opposed the communist Bolsheviks in the early 20th Century. Nearly a third of the Russian Army (including the divisions nearest to Moscow) went over to the White Guard before it was through as Mikhael sent them against both the oligarchs and the syndicates while breakthroughs flocked to his banner. In the Winter Rising, Anya and other “protected” breakthroughs managed to win their freedom and join with the White Guard to take control of Volgograd before heading for Moscow. The Kremlinists, fled, taking refuge with loyal military forces east of the Urals. Mikhael could have declared himself President. Instead he announced the dissolution of the Russian Federation and declared the birth of New Russia, calling for the establishment of a new government subject to the approval of the White Guard.

  New Russia took the Firebird as the symbol of the free Russian people; in legends, the beautiful Firebird could freely grant great fortune, but when the greedy and power-hungry tried to cage and own it the result was always eventual misfortune.

  “The Firebird is the spirit of the Rus, joyful, enduring, and free.

  Free, it brings prosperity, peace, and all good things. Captive, it brings

  misfortune and a thousand sorrows. The Firebird must fly free.”

  —Translated Russian song

  The revolutionary White Guard remains, now a citizen’s infantry militia supported by state taxes. The Russian Army has all the heavy weapons, from tanks to jets to nuclear missiles; the White Guard has the breakthroughs, who are forbidden to serve in the regular armed forces. Superhuman White Guard units can serve alongside military units, but only with the approval of the White Guard’s High Command. The White Guard also oversees the integrity of New Russia’s voting system.

  Russian breakthroughs are not required to join the White Guard, or to remain in active service; they also serve in government agencies and local police forces, and work as free agents in the private sector. The government of New Russia is a determinedly federal one, responsible for national defense and for protecting the civil rights of all Russian citizens (rossiyane), but with little economic control and with most government activities in the hands of the near-autonomous oblasts (regional governments). Freedom of speech, the press, association, religion, and self-defense are scrupulously observed under a harsh judicial system as geared to fighting government abuses as it is to enforc
ing civil laws.

  The Russian Federation

  The Russian Federation maintains its capital in Yekaterinburg, and stretches from the eastern feet of the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. This gives the RF vast lands full of natural resources, a long border with the Chinese states, and eastern ports in Nakhodka Bay. On the other hand, much of that vast territory is undeveloped and occupied by Mongols and other non-Rus ethnicities.

  The RF claims to be the sole legitimate government of Russia, and New Russia refuses to recognize the RF “government in exile.” This makes things tense, but since both sides have nuclear weapons, neither side is willing to go to war over it. The RF only lightly controls its non- Rus populations, avoiding internal conflict, and has learned from its mistakes; it makes life very good for its breakthroughs, especially breakthroughs with powers that can be used in service of the state.

  All ethnic and non-ethnic Russian breakthroughs are offered huge incentives to join the military. They are treated very well, climb in rank quickly, and are promoted to the public as the People’s Heroes. The People’s Heroes use their powers for large infrastructure projects when not training, fighting, or policing, and are immensely popular, creating a new risk for the RF government, but that is a worry for the future.

  Meanwhile, the RF is engaged in a hot war with Kazakhstan, fighting for control of its northern and majority-Russian regions. The UN is considering approving intervention against the RF, but the war kicked off with a Kazakh revolt against the brutal ruling regime, which turned into a three-way fight when the Russian areas decided to declare themselves part of the RF. It’s all a hot, hot mess.

  The Land of Oz

  Ozma was originally a throw-away concept. The original idea was that breakthroughs can have powers reflecting pure delusions. The psychotic breakthrough “master-vampire” that turned Jacky was the first example of the idea, Detective Fisher the second. When I decided I wanted a spellcaster for the Young Sentinels, I’d initially intended to do a somewhat goofy “witch” (think Sabrina with lots of New Age stuff thrown in), but it didn’t feel right. Ozma, an actual deposed ruler who was “certainly good but not always nice” felt big enough. When I wrote Young Sentinels, I hadn’t yet decided if Oz itself was “real.” Turns out it is, at least for a given value of real.

  Oz is a fairy kingdom. Not a fairy-tale kingdom, but a kingdom created by an actual fairy, Lurlene. Obviously Lurlene and her kin are closer to world-creating divinities than cute little sprites. The royal line of Oz, of which Ozma is the last living descendent, is of Lurlene’s blood and it’s believed that if the bloodline ends then Oz will become just another non-magical land of men. This is why, when the witch Mombi and the Nome King allied to conquer Oz, they couldn’t simply kill Ozma. They also couldn’t keep her anywhere in Oz itself; her loyal subjects never would have ceased looking for her, and the land itself might have conspired to free her. So, according to Ozma, they reprised Mombi’s method of hiding her—removing her memory and transforming into a very un-Ozma-like teen—this time also hiding her in the mortal world.

  Whether or not this is true, is something of a moot point. Ozma believes it’s true, and either it is, in which case she’s not a breakthrough at all but a visitor from another reality (perhaps a reality that simply wasn’t accessible before The Event), or she’s a breakthrough powerful enough to create and sustain a whole new, if geographically limited, reality. Littleton on a vastly bigger scale and incorporating a whole fictional history. It’s questions like this that drive many Post-Event scientists nuts.

  Flying monkeys. Gear-punk automatons. Magic out of children’s books. A place where time runs differently, sometimes faster sometimes slower, and anything is ridiculously possible. And I’ve gotten sucked into writing “serious” superhero fiction in it. I have a headache.

  People & Places

  Ajax: aka Professor Charles Gibbons. One of the founding Sentinels and the naming breakthrough of the Ajax Class, Ajax wore Greek-style armor and carried a huge short-handled battle maul. He was also a tenured professor at the University of Chicago (he wrote The New Heroic Age, the seminal work on superheroes and the Post-Event Era), and one of Astra’s trainers. Ajax died fighting Seif-al-Din in the Whittier Base Attack, and Astra carries his maul in his honor.

  Agent G: aka George Gregory Garrison. Agent G is a polymorph. His default shape is a flesh-toned amorphous humanoid blob. He can shapeshift to copy any target he gets a good look at, within limits of his mass and variable density (this allows him imitate targets ranging from 5’10’’ to 6’5” with varying builds). He’s become an amazing mimic, and works with the DSA, FBI, and other intelligence and law-enforcement organizations when a double is needed. His mutable body is very tough and strong (roughly equivalent to a C Class Ajax-Type), and even a little “stretchy”—a feature that’s occasionally proven useful. (Agent G was created by Grayson Judd.)

  Alice: aka Alecia Springer. Alecia is an A Class Animator and a Hillwood Academy student. She is a talented and imaginative girl, and her power allows her to animate her drawings to bring to life a host of fantastical creatures. Some are animals like Myst the fairy-fox, others fully sentient beings like Sassafras the treewife, and all come from the fairy kingdom of Avalon—the dream-world where she imagined her adventures as a plucky young heroine named Alice. Alecia wants to help people but loves her fairy friends and doesn’t consider them weapons or tools to be thrown into danger, and she’s still trying to decide what to do when she graduates. She’s still playing with future code-names, and is currently partial to The Illustrator. (Alice was created by Jori Miller.)

  Ambrosius: aka Agent Elijah “Eli” Quinn. Agent Quinn is a B Class Merlin-Type, although often mistaken for a Kinetic or Projector-Type. He generates liquid light from the spiritual power of his “inner well.” Eli can shape his light into solid forcefields and project it as blasts of power. He can also use more gentle emanations of his light to aid physical and spiritual healing. He can “see” the spiritual state of people around him, as well as detect powers of a magical or psychic nature, by the light of his inner well. Eli is a TDSSRD agent (Texas Department of Safety, Superhuman Response Division), a White Hat. (Ambrosius was created by Austin Murrey.)

  Andrew’s Designs: Somebody needs to help capes look good and not so much like happy cosplayers. That’s Andrew, the premier costume designer for capes who can afford his exclusive services, and Andrew has designed most of the Sentinels’ and Young Sentinels’ costumes. Andrew himself is something of a mystery; he is well-built, very fit, and carries himself like an ex-soldier—not exactly a normal thing in the fashion industry. Meeting him, Astra and others have wondered if he is or might have been a cape himself (some keep secret identities, after all).

  Archon: Archon is the designation of one of the thirteen extrarealities encountered by Astra during the events of Team-Ups and Crossovers. Its name is taken from the name of the US government agency tasked with dealing with superhuman crimes and with “atypical situations” that might call for a superhuman response. In a major divergence from Reality Prime history, the Archon extrareality appears to have always had superhumans, although they weren’t publicly recognized until recently. How this is possible without major historic divergence until the 1990s is unknown, and the question gives extrareality theorists fits. This isn’t the only thing that bothers researchers. Superhumans in Archon aren’t breakthroughs; their powers don’t typically manifest from traumatic triggering events. There are also indications of both superscience and magic operating independently of Verne-Type or Merlin-Type powers and agents investigating Archon are turning up evidence of both aliens and mythical races—again leading to the puzzle of historic non-divergence. (Note: Archon and everything and everyone in it is the wholely owned intellectual property of Dave Barrack. See the Grrl Power serial webcomic.)

  Artemis: aka Jacky Bouchard. Jacky was the victim of a deranged breakthrough. Obsessed with her and believing himself a true vampire of the Dracula variety,
he killed her parents, kidnapped and imprisoned her, and used his vampiric powers to turn her into a vampire as well. She staked and decapitated him, burned him to ashes, and scattered him on Lake Michigan. Jacky never had any vampire obsessions before, so she did not “inherit” that part of her supernatural breakthrough; she is not repelled by crosses or garlic, does not need permission to enter a home, and after an encounter with another breakthrough’s Word of Life, is the world’s only known living (vs. undead) vampire “daywalker.”

  The Ascendancy: So far the only known members of the Ascendancy are the Ascendant and the Wreckers, plus escapees from the Detroit Supermax breakout (many of them teens) who may have stayed with him. The DSA is closely monitoring all former members of the Foundation of Awakened Theosophy as well. The Ascendancy believes that 1.) breakthroughs are the next step towards racial apotheosis, 2.) that as transcendent humans, breakthroughs are spiritually awakened and superior and should “guide” unawakened humanity, and 3.) when a sufficient number of sleepers awaken then all of humanity will experience a collective awakening (the self-awakened will still be on top, of course).