"Balder?" "You bet I did! -KAFF KAFF- Sorry, gallows humor. What's the verdict,
doc?" the fair-haired superhero asked. "Space plague? Something whipped up
by a mad scientist? It's gotta be nasty for me to feel this crappy... even
before I got my powers, I never got this sick."
[The cover shows a long-haired glowing blonde man manacled to a table
with a shadowy labcoated figure in the background. The cover copy proclaims,
"That's No Lady! So Who's The Doctor?"]
____________________________________________________________________________
.|, COHERENT An ASHistory Series
-+-------------------
'|` SUPER STORIES #22 - In Vivo, Veritas
Featuring Balder copyright 2010 by Dave Van Domelen
____________________________________________________________________________
[October 20, 1994 - San Francisco, California]
"Balder?"
"You bet I did! -KAFF KAFF- Sorry, gallows humor. What's the
verdict,
doc?" the fair-haired superhero asked. "Space plague? Something
whipped up
by a mad scientist? It's gotta be nasty for me to feel this crappy...even
before I got my powers, I never got this sick."
"While I can't rule out something magical being involved, Mr.
Balder, it
appears you have a quite prosaic infection. Unfortunately, that infection is
the Human Immumodeficiency Virus."
Balder's jaw dropped. "Wait. I have AIDS?"
The doctor shook his head. "AIDS is what happens once HIV has gotten
established and started attacking your immune system. It can take years to
develop. No, your immune system seems to be destroying the HIV quite
handily, accounting for the flu-like symptoms you're experiencing. So
that's
the good news...odds are your superhuman immune system will win this battle,
and you won't develop AIDS."
"The bad news is that I have HIV and feel like my namesake. Who, you
know, is dead," Balder croaked. Actually, he'd started to suspect
lately
that tales of the god's death were greatly exaggerated, and it was more
than
the luck of the genetic draw that he'd manifested the powers he had, but
that
mystery wasn't exactly a priority at the moment.
"And you're going to need to contact any sexual partners
you've had
recently," the doctor added. "At least one of them is probably a
carrier, and
depending on how long the HIV lived in your system before your body noticed
and attacked it, you may well have passed it on."
"I always use protection, though," Balder protested. "Oh,
not worried
about catching anything, I just don't want to be having any kids yet."
"What about partners who can't get pregnant?"
Balder blinked. "Hey, I may look androgynous, but that doesn't
mean I
swing both ways. Okay, there was that one time in college, but that was
years ago, and...never mind. That one time I did use protection just in
case, so not an issue."
"And there's no change you were less careful due to intoxication
any
time in the past few months?"
Balder shook his head. "Downside of superhuman metabolism. I can get
buzzed, but not smashed. And I don't bother with harder drugs, not enough
extra effect to be worth the trouble, so it wasn't shared needles or
anything
like that. Oh, wait," dawning comprehension flickered in his eyes.
Literally, given his power over light.
"Yes. If you didn't get infected by any of the normal vectors,
it might
have been an attack. After all, you do have something of a reputation for
sleeping around, if you were to die of AIDS a few years down the line, would
anyone be all that surprised? Other than those who know you well enough to
know you always use protection, that is."
"And the person behind this might not have known I'm more careful
than
my rep suggests," Balder nodded, then collapsed into a coughing fit.
"I recommend you get plenty of bed rest and fluids, Mr. Balder."
The
doctor was probably cleared to know his real name, but either hadn't
availed
himself of the opportunity or didn't choose to use the name. "Most of
the
drugs I could prescribe would probably get negated by your own body before
they could do their job, so stick with the pallatives like cough drops or
mom's chicken soup. And, obviously," the doctor frowned, "try to
avoid
anything strenuous like superheroing. If you feel up to it, work the phones
to try to doublecheck any of your sexual partners, just in case one of them
sabotaged a condom because they wanted a super-baby or the like. And if
you're still on good terms with your old hero team, you might want to ask
them for protection. If someone did deliberately infect you, they might
decide to change their mind about letting you die slowly...."
* * * *
[October 21, 1994 - San Francisco, California]
"Yeah -KAFF- sorry about this, Erika," Balder wheezed into his
phone.
"No, don't -KAFF KAFF- worry too much about me, I feel like hell but
the doc
says I should be okay in a few days," he offered up the same white lie
he'd
been telling other women all afternoon. Truth was, it might be more than a
few days, and it might not be okay, but no need to worry them about HIM.
They had enough to worry about for themselves now. "Just be sure you get
yourself tested, just in case. Okay? -KAFF- Bye," he hit the end call
button and slumped back in bed.
Then the two men in matte black power armor burst in through the window
and Balder's world exploded in bright pain very briefly before going
completely dark.
* * * *
[Later that day, unknown location]
As consciousness slowly returned, Balder decided that the one time
he'd
been punched by Herr Stark hadn't felt this bad. Of course, he hadn't
been
fighting off HIV when the teutonic strongman gut-punched him. Whoever the
two armored goons were, they weren't as strong as Stark, but they were
strong
enough to do the job.
"Ow!" Balder opened his eyes as something jabbed into his arm,
reflexively trying to swat at it and finding he couldn't move either arm.
"Whaddafu-KAFF- Gah!"
"Finally!" sighed a nearby figure, who had moved just outside the
range
of where Balder could see. His head wasn't strapped down, but he was flat
on
an inclined table of some sort, and the voice came from behind. "Do you
know
how hard it is to make IV needles out of mistletoe? And then to have them
all shatter anyway? I'm glad I had a backup collapsinum needle."
Balder tried to laugh, but it came out as a coughing fit that made him
involuntarily strain against his metal bonds. Once his vision cleared, he
could see through his tears the two armored goons, but still no sign of the
speaker. "I'm not really the god, you -KAFF- know. The only
vulnerability I
have to -KAFF KAFF- mistletoe, ow my throat...is if a pretty lady's
standing
under some."
"Live and learn, I suppose. At least the main part of my plan seems
to
be working well enough. And once I isolate the antibodies your system is
making to fight the HIV infection I'll be able to make a mint marketing a
cure to certain wealthy-but-careless individuals. And another mint creating
a resistant strain to sell to other wealthy-but-ruthless individuals."
"And you're telling me this be...because," Balder's
voice started to
give out, so he paused and swallowed a few times. "Because you don't
plan to
let me live?"
"Well, how do you expect me to create a super-HIV strain? I'll
just
keep mystically altering the virus until it kills you, then I'll know
it's
nasty enough."
"Good to know I'll be dying -KAFF- to help expand the frontiers
of
knowledge," Balder croaked as sarcastically as he could. "Who are
you,
anyway?"
"My trade name is Bacteriomage," the voice behind him replied.
"The
gentlemen who brought you to me are members of the Dark Brigade, on retainer
from the new Darkshield. I felt that anyone equipped to deal with
Brightsword's strength and laser torch would be able to handle your powers
as
well, especially if I waited for the virus to weaken you."
"Full electromagnetic shielding and zero albedo," one of the
armored
goons tapped the chestplate of his armor. "And lens filters, so don't
bother
trying to blind us."
"I doubt he can do more than throw up on us right now," the other
goon
chuckled. "And our kinetic dampers should be able to handle THAT."
"Wait...BACTERIOmage? HIV is a virus, not a bacteria," Balder
rasped.
The figure behind him sighed. "BacteriUM. And I deal with all
pathogens, okay? It's just that if you put 'virus' in your name
these days,
everyone assumes you're a computer geek. Which I am, but that's not
the
POINT. I tried 'Pathogenie' but no one took me seriously."
"I don't take you se..." then Balder was seized with a
massive coughing
fit, his entire body thrown into spasms.
PTANG!
"Watch out, he's broken one of the restraints!" Bacteriomage
shouted,
although Balder could barely hear him over his own coughing.
KRING!
Balder's back felt like it was going to burst into flame, but he had
both hands free, and quickly got his legs out of the restraints as well.
The Dark Brigadiers seemed taken aback by the coughing fit, despite what had
to be sealed systems they still had an instinctive aversion to getting
coughed on by a sick person. Especially when that person had HIV.
The IV had come loose on its own, and blood ran down Balder's arm for
a
moment before the hole sealed itself. He could tell he was healing more
slowly than normal, though. Well, normal for him. He flicked the blood at
the armored goons as they started towards him, and one flinched back again.
"Let's see how -KAFF- good your armor is!" Balder fired a
beam of golden
light from his fingertips at the mercenary who was still advancing, but it
was swallowed up like sand poured into a river.
"Pretty damned good," his opponent sneered, gesturing and sending
a wave
of magnetic force into Balder's body. The water in his body tried to get
away from the field, and the effect was like being hit by a baseball bat
wrapped in a blanket...dull, more pushing than hitting, but still something
that would've been hard to ignore even if he'd been in tip-top
condition.
Somehow he doubted the physical side of the armor would give out from
punches before the two of them could batter him senseless. And his main
attack power was useless against them...their electromagnetic shielding was
too good.
"But your light is no mere scientific effect," a voice whispered
from
all around.
"What?" Balder looked about, wondering if Bacteriomage had
returned to
taunt him.
"I said, pretty damned good," the bolder of the armored mercs
repeated,
and his partner had overcome his own squeamishness by now. The two were
moving to bracket him, not quite a crossfire but far enough apart he
couldn't
try to physically attack both at once.
"It is the pure light of your own soul," the new voice continued.
"The
body may weaken, but the soul does not. Believe in yourself, and their toys
will have no effect on your light."
"Sorry, guys, I think I'm starting to hallucin-KAFF-ate,"
Balder gasped,
slowly backing up. "I wouldn't want you to think I'm ignoring
you."
"I am no fever dream," the voice replied, still quiet and yet
drowning
out whatever it was the armored figures were saying in response. "Believe
in
your light, and prevail."
Balder's vision was starting to swim. Maybe the voice wasn't a
fevered
imagining, but reality itself was starting to go wobbly. Still, what did he
have to lose? All superpowers were supposedly magic on some level, maybe his
were more magic than he'd thought?
"Feel the light of my soul!" he gasped, shining forth the
brightest
white light he'd ever emanated, from his hands, his eyes, his heart.
"I can't see! Something's wrong with the helmet!" one
of the Darkshield
agents shouted. The other was simply screaming incoherently. A moment
later, the two suits of armor crashed to the ground as their operators lost
consciousness.
Balder joined them an instant later.
* * * *
[October 22, 1994 - San Francisco, California]
"I told you to avoid superheroics," the doctor scowled. Not
really the
first thing he wanted to see and hear on awakening, but there you had it.
"They started it," Balder whispered. His cough was gone and he
felt a
lot better, but he couldn't make his voice work above a whisper. "Who
brought me back?"
"New local hero, Brightsword. She'd been tracking down
Darkshield's
men, but when she got to the warehouse all she found was you and the two
armored mercenaries lying unconscious. Then some sort of recall activated,
and the armors flew off on their own...she decided to help you instead of
chasing them."
"Bacteriomage mentioned Brightsword, but I thought he meant the old
Second Age guy. Got himself a female replacement? Maybe I should thank her
personally," Balder mused.
"AFTER I'm sure your system has cleaned out every last bit of
that HIV.
And this time I'm not sending you home, you're staying here with DSHA
guards
outside the door. They have orders to stop you from leaving, not just to
keep others out."
"Party pooper," Balder sighed, then fell asleep.
============================================================================
Author's Notes:
Written for High Concept Challenge #12, "Under the Weather".
I'd
originally planned to set this story in 1990 or 1991, but once I decided I
wanted to have the Dark Brigade working as muscle I had to push it forward
a bit since I previously established that the new Brightsword and Darkshield
became active around 1994.
The title is a pun, naturally. It mixes "in vivo" (i.e. growing
a
disease culture in a living organism, as opposed to "in vitro" where
it's
grown in a glass container) and "in vino, veritas" (in wine, truth).
Balder was one of the "blink and you miss him" player characters
in the
original ASH campaign, I think the player used him once or twice before
making up a different character. (The player also played Hellbound, which is
what Johnny Angel turned into after being trapped in a hellscape for fifty
years.) Balder's other ASH Universe appearance was in WarStar #4, as part
of
the "God Squad" version of ASH. By 1998, he had fully embraced his
nature as
Balder's avatar, gaining significant power by tapping into the old myths
but
also picking up a rather inconvenient vulnerability to mistletoe that he
didn't originally have.
Bacteriomage has been mentioned several times in ASH and CSV, and he
created the Ebola variant that was used as the core of the Anchor Plague.
After I started writing this story, I read an article that revealed the
discovery of three new human antibodies that fight HIV (including VRC01), and
that might be the key to a cure. The antibodies are rare, and almost no one
seems to manufacture enough to make a difference in the long run, but a
paranormal would certainly have a better shot at it. So my handwave wasn't
quite so handwavy after all. :)
In Hero System terms, in this story Balder spent some saved up XP to buy
a new slot in his multipower, either a Mental Blast or NND (Mystic-based
defenses). So the high ED and hardened Flash Defense on the Dark Brigadiers
didn't help them against it. And they're just minions, their STUN
scores
weren't that great.
============================================================================
For all the back issues, plus additional background information, art,
and more, go to http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/ASH !
To discuss this issue or any others, either just hit "followup"
to this
post, or check out our Yahoo discussion group, which can be found at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ash_stories/ !
There's also a LiveJournal interest group for ASH, check it out at
http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=academy+of+super-heroes (if
you're on Facebook instead, there's an Academy of Super-Heroes group
there
too).
============================================================================
On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:44:25 +0000 (UTC), Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> "My trade name is Bacteriomage," the voice behind him replied.
Actual on-panel appearance of Bacteriomage! Woo!
> It's just that if you put 'virus' in your name these days,
> everyone assumes you're a computer geek. Which I am, but that's not
the
> POINT.
Heeheehee.
> "I don't take you se..." then Balder was seized with a
massive coughing
> fit, his entire body thrown into spasms.
> PTANG!
Ahhhhhh, nice.
> "Pretty damned good," his opponent sneered, gesturing and sending
a wave
> of magnetic force into Balder's body. The water in his body tried to get
> away from the field, and the effect was like being hit by a baseball bat
> wrapped in a blanket...dull, more pushing than hitting, but still something
> that would've been hard to ignore even if he'd been in tip-top
condition.
Wait, what? Does this work? @-@
> After I started writing this story, I read an article that revealed the
> discovery of three new human antibodies that fight HIV (including VRC01), and
> that might be the key to a cure. The antibodies are rare, and almost no one
> seems to manufacture enough to make a difference in the long run, but a
> paranormal would certainly have a better shot at it. So my handwave wasn't
> quite so handwavy after all. :)
Hah, makes sense!
> In Hero System terms, in this story Balder spent some saved up XP to buy
> a new slot in his multipower, either a Mental Blast or NND (Mystic-based
> defenses). So the high ED and hardened Flash Defense on the Dark Brigadiers
> didn't help them against it. And they're just minions, their STUN
scores
> weren't that great.
Well when you put it *that* way.
Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, exploding tens!
Andrew Perron
In article <i44054$so...@usenet-its.stanford.edu>,
Andrew Perron <pwer...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:44:25 +0000 (UTC), Dave Van Domelen wrote:
>
>> "My trade name is Bacteriomage," the voice behind him
replied.
>
>Actual on-panel appearance of Bacteriomage! Woo!
You will note he never actually appears on-screen, though. Always a
voice from out of view. Not an intentional thing, but amusing nonetheless.
>> "Pretty damned good," his opponent sneered, gesturing and
sending a wave
>> of magnetic force into Balder's body. The water in his body tried to
get
>> away from the field, and the effect was like being hit by a baseball bat
>> wrapped in a blanket...dull, more pushing than hitting, but still something
>> that would've been hard to ignore even if he'd been in tip-top
condition.
>
>Wait, what? Does this work? @-@
Yep. Google for "levitating frog" to see videos. Water is weakly
diamagnetic, which means it tries to exclude magnetic fields, and this will
result in a force on the water. Iron in blood is not ferromagnetic, but
water in blood can be affected by a strong enough field. The power
requirements to levitate a person would probably be enough to run a small
city, so it's not really practical in a "real world" setting, but
compact
power supplies are a standard part of superhero technohandwave.
Oh, and the "bat wrapped in a blanket" effect is not an inevitable
consequence of using diamagnetism for this, it just shows that the Dark
Brigade armor doesn't really focus the field tightly. So a lot of water is
pushed on at once.
Dave Van Domelen, notes that superconductors are to diamagnetic
materials what iron is to paramagnetic materials.
Dave Van Domelen, author
On Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:42:02 +0000 (UTC), Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> In article <i44054$so...@usenet-its.stanford.edu>,
> Andrew Perron <pwer...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:44:25 +0000 (UTC), Dave Van Domelen wrote:
>>
>>> "My trade name is Bacteriomage," the voice behind him
replied.
>>
>>Actual on-panel appearance of Bacteriomage! Woo!
>
> You will note he never actually appears on-screen, though. Always a
> voice from out of view. Not an intentional thing, but amusing nonetheless.
Heh heh heh, very true.
>>> "Pretty damned good," his opponent sneered, gesturing and
sending a wave
>>> of magnetic force into Balder's body. The water in his body tried
to get
>>> away from the field, and the effect was like being hit by a baseball bat
>>> wrapped in a blanket...dull, more pushing than hitting, but still
something
>>> that would've been hard to ignore even if he'd been in tip-top
condition.
>>
>>Wait, what? Does this work? @-@
>
> Yep. Google for "levitating frog" to see videos.
Ahhhhhh, I've seen that one.
> Water is weakly
> diamagnetic, which means it tries to exclude magnetic fields, and this will
> result in a force on the water. Iron in blood is not ferromagnetic, but
> water in blood can be affected by a strong enough field.
I see. I thought this required truly immense levels of-
> The power
> requirements to levitate a person would probably be enough to run a small
> city, so it's not really practical in a "real world" setting, but
compact
> power supplies are a standard part of superhero technohandwave.
Ahhhhhh. Fair enough, and I guess you'd want to have something on hand
that can affect invulnerable types.
> Oh, and the "bat wrapped in a blanket" effect is not an
inevitable
> consequence of using diamagnetism for this, it just shows that the Dark
> Brigade armor doesn't really focus the field tightly. So a lot of water is
> pushed on at once.
A more focused field would be like a bullet, it seems.
> Dave Van Domelen, notes that superconductors are to diamagnetic
> materials what iron is to paramagnetic materials.
Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, repels fairies?
Andrew Perron
> Author's Notes:
>
> Written for High Concept Challenge #12, "Under the Weather".
I'd
> originally planned to set this story in 1990 or 1991, but once I decided I
> wanted to have the Dark Brigade working as muscle I had to push it forward
> a bit since I previously established that the new Brightsword and Darkshield
> became active around 1994.
If I recall correctly, your universe's frontline for new stories is
2026. Thus far my eyes have glazed out when reading that far ahead.
But I like the old stuff. I feel like it's closer to history I
recognize. I usually prefer present-day stories, which is
coincidentally what I write. Perhaps that's just me. Still, I made
it all the way through this story and enjoyed it.
A hero named "Balder" who doesn't have Balder-weakness is a nice
touch. Now, did Balder actually defeat his enemies this time by
thrashing about while sneezing?
> Balder was one of the "blink and you miss him" player characters
in the
> original ASH campaign, I think the player used him once or twice before
> making up a different character.
Heh. Crusher Joe Corrigan originated the same way in my universe, at
about the same time. Now he's Vice-President.
Scott Eiler
On Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:47:34 +0000 (UTC), Scott Eiler wrote:
>> Balder was one of the "blink and you miss him" player
characters in the
>> original ASH campaign, I think the player used him once or twice before
>> making up a different character.
>
> Heh. Crusher Joe Corrigan originated the same way in my universe, at
> about the same time. Now he's Vice-President.
The lesson is: characters that someone else originated that can be used by
anyone are a good resource.
Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, magical space dragon~
Andrew Perron
In article <i49qq6$sh...@usenet-its.stanford.edu>,
Scott Eiler <sei...@eilertech.com> wrote:
>
>If I recall correctly, your universe's frontline for new stories is
>2026. Thus far my eyes have glazed out when reading that far ahead.
>But I like the old stuff. I feel like it's closer to history I
>recognize. I usually prefer present-day stories, which is
>coincidentally what I write. Perhaps that's just me. Still, I made
>it all the way through this story and enjoyed it.
Oddly, a story set in 2010 would be MORE strange and unfamiliar than
those set in the 2020s, because the world was still rebuilding from the 1998
near-apocalypse. :)
Dave Van Domelen, watching ALL of Max Headroom this weekend, which will
probably have some effect on the next few stories he writes.
