File 0.3C/199 - Tycherion
One murder makes a villain, millions a hero. I am here to make sure both get more than enough opportunity.
My name is Richard Blake and I will die tomorrow. I will do my best to make sure this reaches someone, anyone who can get it to the Association. This recording is my bequest to the world. A record of my crimes and my ultimate failure.
Forced into the Job
As I said, name's Richard Blake. Most people will know me as Mechanic. That's my hero name. Although I am more of a sidekick, really. Got a minor mutation that lets me sense and manipulate electric currents. It is severely limited though. A hit from me would at best compare to a taser. Combined with my training as an engineer it does make me quite handy as a sidekick though.
Which is what I have worked as for the past decade, helping heroes with the technical stuff. The things you can't punch or burn to work. I like it. Am good at it. Which is why HE decided to "recruit" me. I would like to claim that I put up more of a fight. But no, a glowing fist and threats against me and my family and I caved.
Major Problem
Tycherion is a man that screams 'problem' if I have ever seen one. He is roughly two metres tall, his body more that of a mixed martial arts practioner than the muscle mountains you see elsewhere among Alters. Long arms and a face that makes you realize why 'shark-like' is an expression complete the picture.
There is no outward sign of his alteration save for the armour that covers his body, tubes emerging from points in his chest plate and connecting to his lower neck. Don't know what its exact purpose is. He doesn't let me close enough to check. From what I can sense at a distance, it likely hides his presence. And from what he has shown so far, it also acts as a power limiter.
Why would a guy like that need me? There's more than enough sidekicks and henchman on the villain side. But he says that he values how dependable I am. Values that I stick by my allies even when outmatched to a ridicolous degree and have all the chance to make it out unscathed.
Funny, my ex-wife used to call it being insane. Tycherion says it means I am a survivor, a human meant to thrive in hard times. It is eerie how much his eyes glow whenever he talks about this stuff.
Swatting Flies
Not that he ever has to fully use his abilities. Guards, goons and the like get taken down by light waves of radiation or a quick punch to the back of the neck. Simple, brutal and effective. No witnesses left to report. Worst part is that it isn't mercy, but boredom. He hasn't encountered a proper challenge, so he doesn't bother.
Not that he ever has to fully use his abilities. Guards, goons and the like get taken down by light waves of radiation or a quick punch to the back of the neck. Simple, brutal and effective. No witnesses left to report. Worst part is that it isn't mercy, but boredom. He hasn't encountered a proper challenge, so he doesn't bother.
Unknown Factor
The Association has a file on him, but it is as barren as a 7th grader's school notebook. They haven't even given him a threat ranking. If I had to, it would be an A at minimum. Anyone who goes to such lengths to suppress his power knows that half the world would sense it if they were to go all-out. That probably scares me the most.
The Association has a file on him, but it is as barren as a 7th grader's school notebook. They haven't even given him a threat ranking. If I had to, it would be an A at minimum. Anyone who goes to such lengths to suppress his power knows that half the world would sense it if they were to go all-out. That probably scares me the most.
On the Road
For the longest time, I couldn't figure out what he was planning. His target list made no sense. Old laboratories and storage units, half-decomissioned military bases, things no villain would be interested in. The stuff we stole was ancient to the point you'd be better suited using a current gen phone.
He led us across the southwestern US for months and the best I could figure out in that time was that he was building some kind of transmitter. The irony is that I got better treatment from him than from many of heroes I worked for. Better pay too. That I am even making the comparison sickens me.
Survival of the fittest...a true mantra yet so misunderstood. It is not just about strength or power. Strength does not aid you without intelligence, intelligence not without some measure of strength. And only those willing to do anything will thrive.
Sundial
I fucked up. I fucked up bad. Fuck getting killed, I should have resisted. But I prefered to be a coward. And the world pays the price for it.
The following is a recording taken from Mechanic's body cam:
The recording shows a large hall, old industrial lights hanging from the ceiling. A large hole opens up in front of Mechanic, the figure of Tycherion visible on the other side.
"Down there, my friend, lies the end of our journey. Mankind's greatest creation. A weapon so powerful it will end this world: Sundial."
"Teller and his men truly knew what they were doing. The explosion alone will wipe out a tenth of the continental United States. Earthquakes will destroy the rest. Fire will rain from the skies and drown the world in radioactive ash. Whatever survives the firestorm will wither once nuclear winter hits."
"Even most Alters can't survive that. But it won't be the total end of all, my friend. People and animals will survive. They will change, mutate, adapt, grow stronger. It will be more like...a new start! A world reborn in nuclear fire. A world where survival of the fittest is the greatest and only creed. Savage World. My world."
A sudden discharge of electricity interrupts the recording. Tycherion's form is struck and pushed back. He shakes it off. Glowing green energy begins to accumulate around his hands.
"Ehehehe, nice try. Finally figured out a way to bypass my armour's shielding eh? Unfortunately for you, it takes a lot to take me down. Looks like our partnership is at an end. Shame. I liked you."
"A man willing to fight no matter the odds, using his wits to outsmart opponents thousands of times stronger? You embody the spirit of my new world. I was going to offer you a chance to make it there. But you have already given your answer. Do me one last favour, will you? Make your last fight one to remember!"
Crushing Fight
In the end, I failed. I pulled every trick I know. Used every chance possible. It didn't make a difference. And then that damn kid appeared. Another sidekick trying to play hero. Don't know how he got on our trail but there he was. And somehow even less equipped for this situation than I was.
Fool that I am I tried to save him and got my arm fried. I was ready to meet my end, an idiot bleeding out on forgotten battlefield. And Nova comes in to save this kid. Fucking Nova. A hero that retired decades ago, whose powers have withered, and he is all that stands between the world and annihilation. It is almost comical.
And yet there he is, slugging it out with Tycherion at full power. It is insane seeing people on that level fight. Their blows shake the earth. Their power makes the very air ripple with electricity. Waves of white fire crash into beams of green radiation to birth blinding explosions. Its hell.
Two monsters duking it out. Tycherion's meeting him blow for blow, grinning like a maniac all the while. It's a dream come true for him. A last battle against one of the great heroes. Even if that hero is a sixty year old wreck by now. And yet that damn boyscout clad in white-red spandex keeps fighting on. Heh, almost...makes me want to...join him...
Aftermath
Field Report on Incident Delta-Four by Agent Z
The battle at Site-00 concluded at roughly 1800 hours EST. Reinforcements were dispatched as soon as the energy spike was detected but they only arrived on site after the fighting had concluded.
Recommended actions: Disassembly of Site-00 and total erasure of all parts of the production line. Investigation of Theat Detection and Assesment Department following failure to trace hostile Alter. Retroactive upgrade of Tycherion's threat status to S-Rank. Retroactive reinstatement of Nova's name and story in the Hall of Memory.
Status of the participants:
- Tycherion - deceased during battle
- Nova - deceased shortly after battle
- Mechanic - severely injured but alive
- Mantle - shaken but otherwise unharmed
I can't fall here...Not with dream so close at hand...I am the strongest...I survive...You...You will die by my hand!
Children
Unknown Real Name
Michael Halleck Place of Origin
Planet Earth Species
Human Alter Type
Type 3 Alteration - Biological
Type 3B Alteration - Radiation Threat Level
PX - Planetary Extinction Affiliation/s
None Signature Move
Extinction Wave
by FreshCan 3D
Excuses
Excerpt from the interrogation of Mechanic by Association Personel:
"Why I didn't go to the Association with my issue? For something as powerful and expansive you are hard to reach. Especially when the voice calling isn't a corpo agent or rich donor or one of your top heroes. And even if you listen, do you really expect us to trust you? You let that mad fuck Ricker run amok with this organisation for a decade. Maestro basically took you over from within. I had no reason to believe that my family would be safe with you."
Death is a low price if it means that even one soul is safe from you.
Mother of all Bombs
Project Sundial, the brainchild of physicist Edward Tellar, was the answer to the increasing profileration of nuclear weapons following the conclusion of the Third American Civil War. It was meant as a final deterrent, the ultimate expression of the MAD-Doctrine. A direct order by President Arnold Anderson has the project shelved in 1987. The exact location of the device had since been scrubbed from every official document.
A field dampener was installed to prevent others from detecting the device. It proved highly effective, and is considered the main reason the fight at Site-00 was only detected after the combined powers of Nova and Tycherion overwhelmned it.
by LiXin Yin
Excerpt from a Communique by Association Director Ironside:
"I want answers. No excuses. I want answers to every damn question that Sundial episode raised. How did we not notice an Alter on Tycherion's level sooner? A planetary-level threat walked among us, forced on of our own to work for him and uncovered the biggest weapon we have, all without us noticing a single peep. What are we even paying those hundred-odd million toward Threat Assessment for every year? I want answers and if I have to interrogate every damn clerk down there myself so be it.
Nova
Report on Nova by Director Ironside:
I would like to use the end of this report for a more personal note. The man known as Nova was more than just this final act. I should know. I watched his heroics on TV as a child. I saw his heroics that made him a star. And the failures that made him retire. The world hounded him and then forgot about him. He had given everything for it. For us. There was no need for more. No obligation he still owed.
And yet he came back. Returned as a hero. Dragged his broken body out night after night. Face foes with withered powers and atrophied muscles. Not for glory or attention. He did it just to help. And in his final act he saved us all.
Most people won't remember him. They are too focused on the new to value what came before. Sometimes, that is the right choice. After today, I hope that some people will take a look back.
by Anton Fadeev
That was a really good read, I was quite surprised. Thank you Darkseid
World Anvil Founder & Chief Grease Monkey
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