Copyright © 2015 Third Eye Games
All rights reserved under the Universal Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced in part or whole, in any form or by any means, without permission from the publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews or copies of the character sheet.
www.thirdeyegames.net
Published by Third Eye Games in Tampa, FL
ISBN: 978-0-9905318-4-5 (Softcover)
ISBN: 978-0-9905318-5-2 (Hardcover)
Written and Created by Eloy Lasanta,
Jake Baker and Rob Thomson
Development: Jay Peters
Editing by Carol Darnell
Layout and Typesetting by Eloy Lasanta
Cover Art by Maxim Lardinois
Interior Art by Maxim Lardinois, Amy
Phillips, Allen Morris
Credits
Playtesters: Sam Hake, Ben
Kee-ler, Pete KeeKee-ler, Doug Keester, Joseph
Kidwell, Daryl Kohlerschmidt, John
Lacy, Lee Langston, Troy Latta, Michael
Roebling, Brian Simpson, Kenji Snow,
Stacie Winters, Jackson Womack,
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Year Two
Timeline of major events of AMP: Year Two
Chapter Two: In Our Borders
Detailed info on the US response to the AMP threat
Chapter Three: Global Reach
Information on how AMPs have affected the rest of the world
Chapter Four: New Fires to Burn
Mechanics behind AMP: Year Two
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It wasn’t too long ago that people with su-perpowers were little more than ideas written for kids in comics and graphic novels. In 2015, this became the reality for a small percentage of people in the world. Terrible experiments performed by scientists long dead finally came to bear fruit, haunting the descendants of the original test subjects. It was in their blood, handed down by corrupt hands with-out the knowledge to truly handle the power. The first year of AMPs (people with Accel-erated Mutant Potential) flew by for some and was excruciatingly slow for others. It was a year full of secrets, while the AMPs attempted to keep their presence hidden even though the proof of their existence towered more and more with every passing month. The weird and strange fact files started to become not so strange and not so weird.
Many different groups came to the surface: V Seekers of Enlightenment: The first was
the Seekers of Enlightenment, founded by Dr. Jacob Segal, who found an AMP named Stacie Winters (later known as Doctor Luminous and Critter, respectively) and began to study her powers and biological changes. This revealed a large amount of data on how AMPs use powers and how each Strain related to the others. Happen-ing upon highly classified government re-cords showed that the governments of the world authorized and facilitated the orig-inal experiments, suggesting AMPs were not only an American situation. The group grew and shrank, even opening the Dono-hue School for the Gifted, where young AMPs could come for instruction and sup-port in the use of their power. Sadly, once Critter went missing at the end of 2015,
Doctor Luminous lost all perspective and left the school to find her, leaving behind a group with no leader.
V Typhoon: This group is more interested in using their powers to further their goals. An AMP calling herself The Matriarch runs the organization, wielding the power to in-still loyalty in anyone she encounters. She has most of the criminal world at her beck and call, each of them vying for her good will to grace them. Typhoon is responsible for the mass production and distribution of many new drugs AMPs often become addicted to, causing turf wars beyond any-thing seen in common rivalries. As 2015 drew to a close, Typhoon was only begin-ning to reach their potential... they still had so much more to accomplish.
V Changelings: The group began as a ran-dom collection of a few AMPs who had nowhere else to go. Most of their mem-bers were deformed and mutated due to their new powers, making it impossible to live a normal life. Finding the group’s leader, a young man named Conduit, was the first step to true acceptance within the non-violent group. Once a bully, Conduit grew to understand his place in the world once his powers revealed themselves, a power that made it impossible for him to touch anyone without draining their life force. By the end of 2015, the Change-lings had established a collection of safe houses in Atlanta, GA, which became their headquarters, and had many smaller com-munes throughout the nation. They knew that hiding was the only way to survive the hate and fear Saps (the nickname for
Chapter One:
Year Two
Chapter One: Year Two
non-powered humans) would experience if they knew AMPs existed.
V United Human Front: The presence of AMPs slowly became public knowledge, first in small doses and then to the en-tire world with a single event. Dr. Shavar Stevens founded The United Human Front to preemptively prevent an AMP takeover of Earth. Shavar used any data he found in hopes of curing the AMP condition, as his brother was one and this shamed him deeply. They had all the armory they needed and began hunting AMPs to use as test subjects in their own twisted experi-ments to find the cure. As 2015 ended, the UHF has spread far, indoctrinating several high-ranking officials within the govern-ment and several corporations, using their influence to find and eradicate all AMPs.
2016 Timeline
One cannot truly understand the effects of 2015 on the nation without knowing how AMPs came to light. Their existence was a well-kept secret bound to be revealed one day, but it wasn’t until January 2016 and Pres-ident Aldridge’s State of the Union Address. He began to tell the American people that AMPs lived among them, but never finished his statement. An AMP with time traveling powers suddenly appeared in the middle of Congress and shot the president dead before the Secret Service gunned him down.
This devastating event rocked the nation, taking what could have been a gradual and peaceful introduction of AMPs to the world and turning it into a declaration of war.
So begins AMP: Year Two and the
February 2016
Martial Law
February 2
Though most of the nation saw the grue-some assassination of President Aldridge on TV only a few days earlier, the White House was reluctant to officially pronounce the pres-ident dead. Medical geniuses were brought in to perform a number of radical procedures in hopes of reviving the president, many who just said, “there’s nothing I can do” before re-turning home.
This left the US in a state of limbo. Was the president dead? Did what they saw on TV really happen or was it all just a dream? Why hadn’t the Vice President made a state-ment? Several people completely disbelieved the assassination was real at all, presuming it was all a ploy to create sympathy for the president going into the next election. It was 2016 after all.
One thing couldn’t be denied, however; the number of police out in force stepped up in every major city (weighing heavily on the already overworked officers). The National Guard deployed to several cities to quell ri-ots that popped up all over the nation. Wash-ington D.C. was on total lockdown for about a week’s time, air travel ground to a halt for several days and every news channel, regard-less of philosophical differences, was on the edge of their seats as they contemplated the repercussions of such an event. People with powers killed the president on live TV. This would go down in history as the most shock-ing presidential death, even above JFK.
The world had been introduced to AMPs, but was it ready for such a discovery?
Critter’s Journal Entry #1
February 6
I found this notebook so I ‘spose I’ll start re-cording my thoughts here. There’s little else for me to do otherwise. My name is Stacie, but a lot of people call me Critter. It’s been about a month since I woke up in this room. There’s not much to really say about it either; it’s just a spacious room with light green walls, a cot in the corner where I sleep, some locked cabinets that had proved unpickable, a TV that hasn’t worked for weeks and a wall covered with pictures. There are pictures of me and Jacob, my love, people from the school like Breezy and Inukpak and some strange man. He’s not someone I’ve known before, and yet the pictures have us laughing and havin’ a ball together. One’s a fair, another chaperoning a school function. He’s there in all of them, but who is he… is what I used to think. Today I clicked on the TV again, as I always do, hoping it’ll work, and I can at least waste my days as a couch potato. It never worked before, but it did today and it was all over every chan-nel… the president was shot dead and they are saying a Kairam Ahmed Hamdan was the one who did it. I was shocked to see the man’s face on the screen, because it was the same as the man in the pictures.
After I saw that, I finally used all my might to break the cabinets and what I found scared me. Death certificates. One for me and for many of my friends… all dated for about a year in the future.
Who is this man? Why would he murder the president? Is there a reason why I’m in a room covered with his things? Was he trying to keep me captive or trying to save me? The doors are locked from the outside, and I’m running out of food even if it has been tasting weirder and weirder the longer I’ve been in here. The news says this Kairam is dead, so I doubt he’s coming to unlock the door and explain himself. I have to find a way out.
Registration Begins
February 9
It was a mere twelve days after President Aldridge was pronounced dead to the na-tion that Vice President, Travis Carpenter, was sworn in as the next president and went on to fill some big shoes. While many respected President Aldridge for his stance of neutrali-ty in most topics, Carpenter’s reputation was for being a conservative with strong opin-ions, and he was never one to reach across the aisle if he didn’t have to. Still, he worked together with Congress to put into place a stopgap for the atrocities that had occurred. The American people were scared; their pres-ident murdered before their eyes had proved that the stories of people with powers were in fact true! The public wanted someone to pay, eye for an eye, and a new Criminal AMP De-tainment and Enforcement Act (CADE) passed into law by full vote of the Senate and House of Representatives, though few actually admit
to having read the entire bill.
This act meant anyone with powers had to immediately register with their local law en-forcement office as being an AMP, a term that many of the president’s advisors seemed to al-ready have knowledge about. Failure to do so would be grounds for arrest and possible de-tainment in a federal facility until the authori-ties could assess an individual’s threat level. It was made clear no one was going to be hunted as a result of this act, unless they proved them-selves a credible threat to the public. Other AMPs were to be left alone in peace.
This created a divide within the AMP com-munity, as major federal action often does to any group. Many immediately visited their local police stations and happily gave their name and information. “I have nothing to hide” became a catch phrase that spread through-out the AMP communities and eventually into the general public as well. Billboards and pro-paganda with officials asking, “Do you have
something to hide?” became commonplace, pressuring AMPs to give in and register or risk being seen as a bad person who is keeping possibly dangerous secrets.
Others in the community quit their support groups, as not to be singled out, and went into hiding. They operated their lives as normal, but refused to use their powers, even for the greater good. Reports of people disappearing after someone saw their strange manifesta-tions became even more rampant than before. Many believed it was the government kidnap-ping AMPs under the cover of night, but they didn’t even need to be secretive about it now that it was publicly acceptable to hate a per-son for being an AMP. What was to stop them to kidnapping each and every AMP, locking them away and throwing away the key?
Two Paths: The Seekers
February 17
The Donohue School of the Gifted became a very happening place. Several AMPs who just wanted to hide came to the school in hopes of refuge, and some parents whose children were displaying abilities needed to ensure their safety. The school of course could only hold so many people, but they took in many peo-ple who wanted to learn how to control their powers. Not to learn more about themselves and their capabilities, but more to be able to hide their true natures. Breezy, an AMP with im-pressive wind powers, became the headmaster of the school and made sure to keep track of anyone who visited. Their grounds were all but barred from the outside world, and no one ever came to their land since they were relatively in the middle of nowhere. There were talent-ed illusionists in their faculty who could make everyone appear normal if they did happen to have a visitor as well.
While Breezy stayed behind in Oklahoma to look after the students, the head researcher of the Seekers of Enlightenment, Nick Czernek began thinking of counter strategies to the AMP Registration Act. It wasn’t necessarily a bad law to have in place, but the signs were
there… opportunities for abuse were numer-ous, which would only prove to hurt AMPs and anyone they cared about. Nick, who served as an contract lawyer for years before discov-ering his powers and settling at the school, could see glaring loopholes in this hasti-ly-cobbled addition to the law.
He began sending his agents into the pub-lic and ordered them to find people to save, either from criminals (whose numbers had increased from last year), or from mobs and riots (which had increased severely in the last month since the president’s death) or from any kind of accident (like car crashes to burn-ing buildburn-ings). Footage of events where the use of powers was necessary began shifting the view of AMPs to the positive light. Some-one captured Shell on video talking down a man who was going to commit suicide from a ledge, while Inukpak gained notice as the gi-ant who saved the bus full of kids. This strat-egy had begun to take hold, but not as strong as the pundits on 24-hour news cycles who found ways to criticize these heroic attempts or even accuse the individual AMPs of cre-ating the situations only to try to look good. Samuel Fokker, a well-respected and opinion-ated conservative reporter, became especially popular for his anti-AMP rantings.
During this time, Doctor Luminous was no-where to be found. He left with a team of his most trusted AMPs to search for Critter and had yet to return. Nick and Breezy were left to protect the name of the Seekers of Enlighten-ment without its founders, a task which would prove quite difficult.
March 2016
UHF Solidifies
March 1
Anti-AMP camps had their work cut out for them. The president spoke the words of the new law quite clearly: “Only those people with powers who have proven to be a threat to the American people and our way of life should
have anything to worry about.” This meant the law didn’t protect them from hidden threats, only the ones that had already hurt human-ity’s chances for survival. Not surprisingly, the United Human Front began taking hold of more neighborhoods across America with even more fervor than in previous months. This fervor, however, turned to recklessness and destruction, as violence descended upon AMPs in broad daylight. The first public ex-ecution happened with the shooting of Mi-chael Tresca, an AMP who grew spiny fins. He was viciously shot after exiting his car in a restaurant parking lot. The DA decided not to file any charges against the shooter, as he claimed he felt threatened.
Despite the Seekers’ efforts to afford AMPs more positive airtime, the populace began to view AMPs as less than people, and more as things to be put down. This served the UHF’s purposes just fine. The verbal war of human right activists protesting, petitioning and oth-erwise fighting for the rights of AMPs became a common topic of discussion around the
din-ner table. As more AMPs were outed for their powers and assumed threat levels, the UHF and activists groups clashed increasingly, but the zealous group wasn’t afraid to attack pro-test crowds or those who peacefully stood in their way. Not only could AMPs be hunted, but also those who helped AMPs escape the au-thorities or hide themselves became targets in the UHF’s book. Even though the law tech-nically protected these Saps, enacting Clause 881 of the CADE quickly made it illegal to harbor AMPs. Of course, the spin framed this to be in the interest of everyone involved.
Shavar Stephens saw the terrible acts and chaos caused by the group he began and sought to take control of the over-thirty sepa-rate UHF cells in hopes to turn their collective fires into a pointed laser to cut away the AMP cancer. There were the few good ones, like Stephen’s brother Michael, but overall AMPs were the enemy. Shavar’s was the strongest cell and, through a combination of tactics and intimidation, he was quickly able to get oth-er leadoth-ers in line and take out the ones who didn’t. After that point, the group unified to move forward with a single idea in mind: un-dermining the pro-AMP movement and mak-ing sure AMPs never became the dominant species.
Their first move was to begin spreading the term “unhuman” as a way to refer to AMPs. So-called journalists ate it up and began questioning just how human an AMP could be. Many even now believed AMPs were ac-tually no longer human. The shouts of liber-al human rights activists were often muted by how vocal figureheads in the media were with their negative thoughts on the AMP up-rising and the importance of the human race to continue. Some networks went as far as to frame peaceful protests as hostile riots to fan the flames.
The U-Word
The sad thing about propaganda, especially the kind meant to promote prejudice, is anyone is susceptible to its effects. The term unhuman is as offen-sive as it is incorrect and deemed every AMP less than human or not human at all. This message seeped into the subconscious of the US (even crossing overseas in some cases), leading to nu-merous hate crimes. It is not surprising that the suicide rate went up shortly af-ter the intense campaign began, many of the victims testing positive for unhu-man DNA. Though not everyone bought into the hype and actively fought against the word spinners, unhuman still became common vernacular when referring to AMPs, some even calling it the U-word in mixed company.
Troubling Times: Changelings
March 11
Conduit, leader of the Changelings, called an important meeting of everyone who fol-lowed the tenets of his humble organization. By March 2016, they were easily two-hundred strong and in a hyper-defensive state, as they had been noticing a few members simply van-ishing. Lockjaw and Spearfinger, Conduit’s lieu-tenants and both on the aggressive end of the spectrum, called the meeting to order and the gathering fell to hushed tones as their leader entered the room dragging a chair with a sheet draped over it. From its shape and whimpering, it was obviously a person. Had Conduit lost his soft streak for some reason?
Lockjaw also wheeled over a TV on a stand and handed Conduit the remote; he imme-diately hit play. The screen lit up with grue-some images of Saps cheering on two AMPs in chains in the middle of a steel cage being
forced to fight to the death. For such a display, only the flashiest powers would do, a fact that became clearer as one AMP able to create en-ergy weapons faced off against another with enormous claws. It then dawned on the gath-ering that one of the missing AMPs from their numbers was Carver, a scientist with very large claws. It was he on the screen. An audi-ble gasp crept over the group as each of them took their time to absorb exactly what they were watching, but it was turned off quickly as Conduit pulled off the man’s sheet with a bit of drama.
“This man before you is the one responsi-ble for our brother, Carver, being subjected to that horrible treatment. He crept into Carver’s lab with a bunch of his friends and took him away in a black van to be used for his employ-ers’ entertainment. And now he’s going to tell us why…”
Conduit ripped off the duct tape over the man’s mouth, taking part of his mustache with
it. He screamed in pain that faded into dread as he noticed the creatures looking upon him, some with multiple eyes, fur and other terrifying features. He mostly pleaded to be let go. “I’ll tell you whatever you want, just don’t kill me.”
“We’re not going to kill you,” Conduit said, with a stark reaction from the group in disbe-lief. Certainly, such an action deserved swift retribution, but not in Conduit’s eyes. “I want to know what kind of person does this to an-other person.”
“You’re not a person. You’re unhuman,” the man responded quickly and spit in Conduit’s face. Spearfinger moved quickly, but her lead-er raised his hand for hlead-er to stop.
“No one do anything you’ll regret,” saying this both to the man and to the gathering. “We are AMPs, but we are still people, we still breathe and we still bleed. Though I doubt you can see such things with your blinders on, but I’ll cut to the chase and make you a deal. In exchange for your freedom, you will lead us to where these illegal fights are taking place. I promise no harm will come to you as long as our friend is returned to us.” Again, the crowd grumbled. “No harm, or the perpetrator will have to answer to me.”
He turned again to address to the gather-ing of Changelgather-ings, half of which seemed very displeased by the way he was handling the current situation. “I’m sure you are all won-dering why I called you here if I didn’t plan on taking action against these Saps. The answer is clear, though… I wanted you to see the face of a truly inhuman person: A brainwashed dis-ciple of hate who sees other people as ani-mals to toy with. Look hard… and never be-come like him.”
While the meeting was supposed to rein-force that the Changelings were taking the right stance in their peaceful resistance, it in-stead created a divide. While Lockjaw vowed he would be loyal to Conduit through thick and thin since the day he saved his life, Spearfinger had no such loyalties. She was unimpressed with the current way of things within the or-ganization and began taking steps for change.
#Call4Help
March 21
It was a simple message, but a powerful one repeated on almost every form of social media available. A Sudanese woman snuck a video into a work camp set up in central Af-rica, showing the terrible conditions many of their people contended with every day. Tor-tured and beaten, often to death, attacked by soldiers and dogs, forced to work with little rest or food and their children stolen from their arms to make recruits for child armies. Stated plainly, the woman pleaded with these new people of power.
“You who have been blessed by God, do not forget us…. Just one person with your abilities could bring so much hope to so many of us. Isn’t there just one of you who will set aside your own prob-lems to help us deal with ours?”
Social justice warriors and victims from all around the world pleaded for AMPs to come out of hiding and start righting all the worlds’ wrongs. The nameless Sudanese woman’s plea quickly fell to the bottom of the requests by thousands of others wishing AMPs would find the cure for Cancer and AIDS or fight against the US corporations who were drain-ing the world of all its resources and kids call-ing on someone to beat up their bullies for them. It became an exhausting trend and an annoyance to many, though many of the calls for help were quite legitimate.
TRAC Division Approved
March 28
As the boiling temperaments were about to bubble over and the hate crime numbers were ever on the rise, President Travis Car-penter addressed the nation once more to announce the newest department to join in the fight for the safety of the country’s citi-zens. The new federal Tactical Response and Containment Agency (TRAC) had the task of tracking down harmful AMPs and
ing ways to contain them at Camp Lejeune, now retrofitted specifically for AMP contain-ment. The president was once again clear in his wording: any acts of vigilantism, hate or violence against AMPs by anyone outside of TRAC would be guilty of obstructing justice and could get themselves seriously hurt.
The new agency set about constructing a set of rules for their agents to follow, includ-ing AMP trackinclud-ing tactics, takedown strategies based on known power types and transpor-tation to the ARC (AMP Retention Center). They took in recruits from a variety of differ-ent military branches, primarily the Army and Marines, as well as new volunteers. Many of the new recruits to the unit already had UHF leanings, but others had a more altruistic view of the organization. It would be their chance to serve humanity as a whole and hopefully keep everyone safe while the government fig-ured out exactly what to do with AMPs.
Principle boot camp and training com-menced immediately at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, and units received their spe-cial protective suits before deployment to major cities. TRAC agents became a common sight in almost any location with a sizable hu-man population. Their trademark armor which protected them from harm and buffered their resistance to mind control made them
notice-able, but they became the stand-in for police forces whose numbers were already stretched too thin. Overall, they became a positive face for the government, showing that the citi-zens were cared for. Many of the #Call4Help hashtags on social media stopped asking AMPs to help and began pleading for TRAC intervention.
In just their first week, there were reports of a firefight with an electric Blaster in a New York market and a cult leader calling himself Savior who had used mind control to lure new followers in California. TRAC detained several unhumans in Atlanta, GA, a few of the detainees claiming to report to someone named Conduit. TRAC paid special attention in hopes of tracking down this kingpin and taking down whatever criminal organization of AMPs he had created.
April 2016
Paranoia and Prejudice
April 4
While the introduction of TRAC into every-day neighborhoods was a blessing for the Saps who craved the feeling of safety, it had the op-posite result for AMPs who still hid their pow-ers. Coupled with the “Do you have something to hide?” mentality sweeping the nation, it be-came increasingly hard for an AMP to operate unnoticed. It was a witch-hunt where innocent people found themselves carted away by TRAC if accused of being an AMP by their neigh-bors, whether they really were or they had just seemed like they were. A paranoia crept into everyday vernacular and the way people viewed the world. If an AMP is spotted, call TRAC and they’ll handle the unhuman accord-ingly. A common phrase heard at Pro-Humanity rallies was “TRAC’s got my back!”
This paranoia heightened to the point of several hospitals calling for unnecessary blood tests of any patient who crossed their doors. For a long time, the individual hospi-tals simply held on to this information as a
From: LonelyBoi41
The gangs in my area are at war. AMPs aren’t helping. Please send TRAC to clean up East St. Louis. #Call4Help
From: DougBlaze
TRAC rulz, they’re the kinder gentler SS. AMPs save me from my own govern-ment. #Call4Help
From AMPSmasher
@DougBlaze Unhuman Sock
Pup-pet. Hey TRAC why don’t you do some real good and lock up this freak.
#Call-4Help
way to root out potential problem patients and those who may need to be partitioned from other patients for fear of contamination. When this story broke, of course, the informa-tion was turned over to TRAC. Presumed il-legal it is later revealed that this blood and data collection was protected under the CADE thanks to the High Threat Protocols Clause 19. Page 884.
Soon, schools also began secretly test-ing their students to see if they were AMPs. After this list leaked, several parents began homeschooling or sending their kids to pri-vate schools mostly funded with UHF dollars for fear of their kids “going to school with an unhuman.” Debates started about if a parent should have to register their child as an AMP, as they essentially have a loaded weapon attached to possibly imbalanced hormones. Employers could demand their employees take a blood test or risk losing their jobs. If they came back positive, there were no laws in place to require the company to keep the AMP on, so a large number of AMPs became all but unemployed, resorting to day labor or travel assignments - the kinds of jobs where people seldom ask for credentials.
It created a level of prejudice not seen since before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Stores refused service to AMPs, asso-ciating with AMPs created a negative social stigma and anti-AMP protests and rallies be-gan outnumbering pro-AMP rallies overall. Ty-phoon stepped in to help downtrodden AMPs cope with a dose of War Path or providing of-ten-lethal doses of Clarity OTC to make one passible. If someone was outed, AMPs in need could, with enough resources or desperation, turn to Typhoon for new identities. Of course, all of this came with the price of blood sam-ples and sizable bundles of cash. Typhoon had already gained control over the US-Mexico border crossing, using this influence to make moving AMPs out of the country much easier.
Presidential Candidates
April 13
While the presidential race had already been going strong for nearly two years, Pres-ident Aldridge’s assassination kicked the race up a notch. With this in mind, many saw the new laws put into place by new President Car-penter as posturing to remain president in 2017. He held tight to his conservative views and continued to reach across the aisle to combine both Republican and Democrat views on each topic. It was an obvious move for the Democratic Party to select him as their nomi-nee; no one else in the primaries even came close. The latest creation of TRAC went on to add to his reputation of addressing the AMP crisis, but there were others who did not agree with his tactics.
Pro: President Carpenter has pushed
the Democratic Party as a whole much closer to the center. Here’s a President who’s willing to look at all the options and take actions.
Anti: “Vice” President Carpenter is
not a Democrat. While he was once a balancing force for his predecessor, his administration is a rubber stamp for Republican ideology.
In a surprise move, Samuel Fokker was put forth as the nominee for the Republican Par-ty. His exposure was through the roof due to the high ratings of his political editorial show, and he was never one to back down on the acting president. He protested most of the acts and laws put into place, actually going so far as to say they were not enough. In his mind, America needed to crack down on the AMP threat. Though he wore the nomination as a badge of pride, it was obvious that he was already viewed as a right-wing nut-job by a large portion of the US even before AMPs made themselves known.
A new political group, the New Humanist Party, put forth their own candidate, Harry Lewis. He quickly gained traction in many
litical circles and framed his apparent hatred for AMPs in a much more cohesive manner, stating, “The reason for my fear of unhumans is that we know so little. Containing them isn’t an option if we don’t know what will happen if we gather them together. Executing them does no good, because there are more and more popping up each day. Our president hasn’t addressed the larger issues and impact of what is to become of our country now. He and Samuel Fokker continue to yell at each other and debate instead of doing something. I plan to change all of that.” The frankness of this statement struck a chord like nothing else had and the polls began to favor Harry Lewis quite heavily.
Critter’s Journal Entry #4
April 17
My seemingly endless trek through this forest has gotten to me. I’m luckier than most because my animal friends have led me to safe places to sleep, where to find fresh water and the best places to hunt, I still have no clue where I am. Staying in that room wasn’t an option, I know, but at least it had a bed. A comfy bed, in fact, with down pillows. I haven’t slept very well out here, I don’t even know how long it’s been, and there are constant noises in the wild that are definitely no animal. I’ve had started feeling like I’m being tracked, like I’m the prey to someone’s sick predator fantasy. Whoever it is hasn’t shown themselves, so either they’re not very good at this whole hunting thing or I’m better than I thought I was. Then again, it could just be my mind playing tricks on me.
I’m feeling like some kind of strange animal urge is taking me over and leading me into less and less civilized parts of this forest. The deeper I go, the more I feel myself slipping away. Cooked meats haven’t made me full in a long time. No matter how many animals I eat, I still feel hun-gry. And even that in and of itself is scary… I’ve been a vegetarian since I gained these powers. Hard to eat animals after having a conversation with them, but I don’t think I’m me anymore. I’ve cooked them several times, but my body tells me
to eat them raw and even to drink the blood. This isn’t normal. This isn’t me. Jacob, if you ever do get to read this, I’m sure you’ll know why this is happening to me. I fear that if I let myself drink the blood of an animal, I’ll be forever lost. How I wish you were here, then I’d curl up in your arms and ask you to solve everything just like you always do.
America’s Most Wanted
April 23
Four months had passed since the first day he had his face on the news next to the words ‘assassination’, ‘murdered’ and ‘dangerous AMP conspiracy’. Kairam’s name had been smeared all over the world and he dared not show his face anywhere, not to his friends, not to his fam-ily and showing up to his job was not an option. Someone had stolen his face and now the entire nation was out to get him. President Aldridge was one of the most beloved presidents of the modern era. To kill him with such brutality took a special kind of nerve Kairam never had; he was always a skittish person. A “Time Assassin,” as the news was calling him, he was not.
It had already been hard to evade law en-forcement since all of this happened, regard-less of the dye-job and different style clothes he was wearing now. The past month and the introduction of TRAC only made his life hard-er. Not that the neighborhood soldiers were actually looking for him, since the actual kill-er was dead in a morgue somewhkill-ere, but Kai-ram had witnessed people gunned down in cold blood because they looked only a little like him, not even a lot like him, just because they reminded these crazy AMP hunters of the one who killed the president.
With nowhere left to hide, he was almost ready to give himself up to TRAC, until a shad-owy figure approached him in a random dark alley. He let out a sigh of relief to see a ca-sually dressed woman and not some sort of killer. She introduced herself as Rhiannon and seemed to recognize him, offering him any kind of help he needed. She took his hand and promised she knew a place he could stay safe.
Someplace where no one could hurt him. For some reason, he trusted her implicitly only af-ter a few seconds and followed her to a tow-ering downtown office building.
A beam of light in the elevator passed over them before going up. It went up at least 50 floors until the floor number displayed OF. The doors opened to an office lobby where Rhiannon continued to lead Kairam past the receptionist, who didn’t say a word, and into an office marked with an M on the door.
“This is my office. No one will find you here unless I want them to, and you’re much too important for that,” she said with a smile as her clothing instantly changed from t-shirt and jeans to a business suit befitting the highest paid CEO. “You have a power I want.”
“I don’t have a power! I’m not this dead time traveler guy. He just looked like me.”
“If you don’t have a power now, then you’ll stay here with me until you do. When it arrives, and it will arrive, I’ll help you hone it into a weapon the likes of which the world has never seen. In the meantime, do you like steak?”
Kairam agreed. He didn’t know why… he just… did.
May 2016
The Houndmaster
May 10
In the secret base known as the Chamber, members of TRAC had been figuring out a way to enhance their already impressive forces. The agency had existed for only a short time and yet covered the majority of the nation with agents who protected the people. Un-fortunately, their agents were already show-ing their fragility. They were, after all, normal people in special suits that only helped them fight the unhuman threat. Fighting fire with fire seemed like it would be much fairer. The UN had already decided months earlier that use of AMPs in warfare was greatly discour-aged, hence the need for secrecy.
A project had already begun, using tech-nology dreamed up by Amanda Schenfield, an AMP recruited out of high school at 16 years old for her gift of hyper-intelligence. Selected from the higher echelons of TRAC, Michael Roebling was selected to undergo a harrowing procedure. Through an intense sur-gery that retrained his muscles and grafted implants into his form, the body he once knew became a mixture of flesh, metal and power. He retained his identity to himself, but for all official records, he became known only as the Houndmaster to anyone within TRAC.
TRAC also placed technology matching the Houndmaster’s into specially designed col-lars implanted into the neck of several of the AMPs incarcerated in their secret prison. Sub-jects were selected from AMPs with a wide range of powers, whomever the agency be-lieved could be used effectively in the field to take down the unhuman threat. These slaves to the Houndmaster suffered the nickname Hounds (or sometimes the Pack) and were given numbers instead of names. The will of the Houndmaster superseded that of the Hound, forcing these AMPs to work for TRAC.
May 10 was the debut of this dedicat-ed unit, hinting at the fact this experiment had been months in the making already. The Hounds were comprised of never more than 10 AMPs at any given time, as even the tech-nology of the Houndmaster had its limits. After a particularly powerful, AMP with earth powers known as Vigil was discovered within a homeless community, normal TRAC agents were unable to arrest her. This encounter even led to a massive earthquake that de-stroyed several city blocks and caused mil-lions in property damage. The Hounds came in an hour later and they dragged Vigil into Camp Lejeune for processing.
Keeping the existence of an overriding, controlling force for the Hounds under wraps, the group actually became a positive symbol. The Hounds were called TRAC Elite in their public personas, and many began referring to them as “the good ones,” the AMPs who actu-ally worked to make the world safer. The pure
insidiousness of their lives was now a well-kept secret.
Changelings Separate
May 12
The reality was that the Changelings were fractured. The world was crumbling around them and the home their group built was be-coming more dangerous. Reports of the AMPs taken to Camp Lejeune, forced to register and sometimes never heard from again became a real fear. Conduit’s calming words were enough for a few, but the simple statement that “they were more powerful together than apart” didn’t quench some members’ thirst for revenge. Speeches about how the Change-lings were better because they were different began to fall on deaf ears. TRAC had already taken a dozen of their numbers on scavenger duty, and there was no sign of slowing.
On May 12, Conduit and Lockjaw walked in on Spearfinger holding a private meeting with most of the Changelings. When they asked what was going on, Spearfinger responded:
“We are fed up with your promises. There is no better tomorrow waiting on the other side of this shitstorm. The world is going to hell, and we’ve decid-ed not to go down with the ship. We are leaving the Changelings and taking the fight to TRAC and TRAC Elite and the cops and anyone else who wants to stand in our way. That also includes you, Conduit.”
The group grabbed their things and walked out after Spearfinger who held her chin high. The others looked for Conduit to give them a nod, a smile, any expression of understanding they so craved from their once-leader to allevi-ate their guilt. However, Conduit could do noth-ing but hang his head. He had failed in protect-ing those who he cared about most and now his family turned their backs to him. He didn’t deserve to look at them or to say goodbye.
A handful of Changelings stayed behind,
Chinese President Heng Jūn was the one leader who openly challenged Ivanov, regard-less of their past alliances. “China is not afraid of a nation using tricks to bully smaller na-tions into subservience. We will not stand for such treatment, and Ivanov should consider his challenge accepted. Any hostile act in our direction will be seen as an act of war Russia will never recover from.” Many suspected that China must have secured their own AMPs in a defense force to make such brazen remarks.
Celebrity AMPs
May 30
Since the awakening of the world to the ex-istence of AMPs, those affected had only been regular people, but then came the day when celebrities started outing themselves. The first was Jennifer Stewart, America’s darling. She had already won two Oscars and enjoyed a reputation of a carefree nature when dealing with the press. Seldom did she hold her tongue from spouting a joking (and sometimes raun-chy) remark, and the public loved her for it.
On the set of her new romantic comedy, Lost Loves, she was supposed to slip and fall onto a cushion (and she always insisted on doing her own stunts), but on the fourth take, she really did slip and instead launched herself through a window, scattering glass and blood all over the place. As she laid unconscious on the ground, on-set paramedics attempted to help her but floating glass kept them at bay, attacking anyone who got too close. The glass fell to the ground once she awoke. Her cuts were superficial and actually seemed to heal faster than expected from their depth. One of the gaffers leaked the video online, forcing Jennifer to own up to her powers in a press conference the next morning.
“Yes, I’m an AMP, but this doesn’t change anything about the art I create, the roles I play or how much I love my fans. This revelation has surprised me and made me ponder my place in this world. I think we should all take a
mo-mostly those too weak to be of any use to Spearfinger, but also those who still believed in what the Changelings stood for. Most im-portantly, Conduit’s best friend and confidant, Lockjaw stood by him. A new plan would have to be constructed, and it might involve leav-ing Georgia entirely.
Russian Aggression
May 19
While the US ramped up their Houndmas-ter project within TRAC, they were far from the only nation to use AMPs for their own pur-poses. Reports indicated Russian president, Pyotr Ivanov, had presented medals of nation-al pride to a handful of his own AMPs. Each of them born and raised in the motherland, they took on the mantle of Russia’s protec-tors with a shout and complete acceptance of their citizenry. It seemed the Russian people swallowed the existence of people with pow-ers much easier, seeing as there were only a handful of them in Russia.
Unfortunately for Russia’s enemies, frankly any of their neighboring nations, Ivanov was not above leveraging his newfound power to influence international negotiation. Rus-sia had successfully usurped a portion of Crimea in 2014, stealing away some of their independence before signing treaties to place new borders. In May 2016, however, this trea-ty was revoked and a levy of tanks was sent into Crimea led by Koshmar who struck fear in any forces that opposed them, making it easy for the rest of the country to come under the frightening control of their new power-hun-gry president.
This Russian aggression created an im-mediate international backlash. The United Nations and Russia’s neighbors frowned upon using AMPs as weapons to fight wars. Even without saying it expressly, Russia has issued a warning to anyone who opposed them that they would use every weapon in their arsenal to show their dominance. They had already set their sights on Ukraine and Kiev for an-nexation next.
ment to reflect on our current views on AMPs and the danger that surrounds us all. Not from AMPs, but from the abuse of power I’m seeing from law enforce-ment and TRAC in particular. So, hat-ers… stop hating. That is all.”
Jennifer Stewart wasn’t the only celebrity to come out afterward, which then brought the very restrictive anti-AMP laws of California into question. It was, after all, illegal to employ AMPs in the state, which forced several studios to move their operations outside of the state. While some went to New York, which proved to be much more liberal toward AMP employ-ment, others went to Hawaii, which welcomed any AMP. Many celebrity AMPs and their asso-ciated studios who didn’t want to lose such big names moved to the island state, which became known as New Hollywood.
June 2016
The Doctor’s Power
June 6
There had always been the suspicion that Doctor Luminous was in fact an AMP whose powers had not developed yet. It became in-creasingly evident as the good Doctor and
his group of twenty loyal AMPs scoured the nation for Critter that his hunches for which direction to travel were more than that. Using his mobile laboratory, which obviously lacked in comparison to HQ lab back in Oklahoma, he tested his blood and found he was indeed positive for the AMP gene. His power was less flashy than others were, but he could sense energy signatures of people and things, espe-cially if they were AMPs. He was attuned to power and could use this sensation to track others. That meant they were growing ever closer to finding Critter. He knew everything there was about her, from the way she felt to her scent, and now could feel their group get-ting closer to where she was.
To test it out, Doctor Luminous led his en-forcers to find the rumored Georgia Change-lings. Instead, they met a group of militant AMPs preparing for war, Spearfinger’s group. At first, they were defensive, but tensions eased when Jacob explained who he was and that he was with the Seekers of Enlighten-ment. Spearfinger scoffed at them, “I’ve heard of you through the grapevine, and we’re not interested in yours or anyone else’s peace missions. Take your choice and shove it.”
Doctor Luminous smiled. “You may not have heard then. We’ve traveled around and killed more Saps than anyone else for the last six months. Anyone who would attack AMPs because of the DNA they were born should be
Conspiracy #1: The New Serum
With AMP aggression at an all-time high, the number of people who made the Choice was increasing. The majority was choosing to have their powers removed, so they could return to their human existence, but there were still fighters who wanted to accept their birthright and make their stamp on the world, danger and all. In either case, the Seekers, despite being a group divided, were busier than ever.
Upon learning of his new powers, Doctor Luminous sent back a new formula mix with his own blood. He had learned from experiments on his crew that his blood al-lowed him to sense whoever received an injection of it, no matter how far away they were. Jacob was determined never to lose anyone else, and this development gave him a way to make this a reality. As even those who chose to have their powers removed require a series of shots and those who chose to keep their powers need booster shots from time to time, in a short time, without anyone’s knowledge, hundreds of AMPs now carried Doctor Luminous’ blood in their veins.
ally required a person to prove they were an AMP to access. What the patron found when they entered the market ranged from firearms to identity passes to Sap blood samples to forge test results and doses of Clarity OTC, War Path and the new drug, Bliss, which had recently hit the market and was even more popular than War Path.
The new gun laws and Typhoon’s involve-ment proved to ramp up the level of violence and rhetoric spreading around. It made just walking down the street dangerous enough to make a lot of people just stay home. It also led to a terrible even that happened soon after.
Aberdeen Massacre
June 19
During a terrible firefight in downtown Ab-erdeen, South Dakota, witnesses gave a star-tling account of the events that took place. Said firefight began as TRAC agents chased down an AMP with the power create force fields. The public knew him only as Shell, one of the random AMPs who would occasionally save someone in trouble and disappear. How-ever, this mysterious figure also refused when TRAC agents demanded his surrender and registration. The famous giant, Inukpak, and celebrity psychic, Arbiter, who recently came out as an AMPs after Jennifer Stewart’s revela-tion, also stepped into the fray attempting to save their comrade.
In what would become known as the Ab-erdeen Massacre, many other AMPs came to Shell’s aid, shouting that he was only doing what was right and helping Saps. TRAC laid down as much suppression fire as they could, even aided by concerned gun-carrying cit-izens who used their new rights, but Shell’s powers kept his friends safe for a short time. Then TRAC Elite showed up on the scene, and Loco Diablo, who had the power of fire, began to break down Shell’s defenses. He burned the building and walls protecting their targets, while another AMP named Nether appeared out of the shadows, striking down each and every AMP on the scene with surprise attacks. put down just like the dogs they are.”
“You’re telling me all those AMPs perform-ing good deeds, that’s not you Seekers tryperform-ing to dance for your masters?”
“Me and my group of friends here, we’re the real Seekers.”
“Please… tell me more.”
The two seemed to share an undeniable sense of loss and anger. Doctor Luminous explained he couldn’t stay, as he was on an important mission, but that he’d leave a quarter of his group there to aid Spearfinger and would call his school to have supplies shipped to them.
Gun Laws and Black Markets
June 9
In the wake of the recent events encircling the US, gun lobbyists and the NRA proposed several new bills to strengthen personal gun owner rights. Many cited the existence of AMPs as a direct reason for this. If AMPs could carry weapons with no registration and no background checks and the government failed at forcing AMPs to do so under the CADE, why were honest gun owners penalized.
On June 9, Congress passed the proposed bills into law, widely implemented across the country. It expanded on the number of le-gal situations for using a firearm, mostly to address threats from AMPs who use powers akin to firearms, as well as the types of pur-chasable weapons and lowering the bar for purchasing requirements. Background checks, which many liberals pushed for, were com-pletely disregarded except for those who were AMPs, who received additional restric-tions to purchasing guns on top of their al-ready existing powers. States that observed the Stand Your Ground law also widened its implementation for the average citizen using reasonable force for defending self, property or loved ones from anyone exhibiting powers akin to unhumans.
The leaders of Typhoon took the oppor-tunity to profit from this new law, creating a type of underground black market that
About an hour later, all the AMPs (and a few bystanders) were dead, the firing stopped and TRAC began collecting the bodies, until yet another appeared. She was a figure made of blue flame and no amount of bullets seemed to affect her. Loco Diablo’s fire had no effect and neither did Nether’s shadow blade. She hovered over all of the dead and bathed them in her blue flame, each one of them springing back to life almost instantaneously and at full power. The agents opened fire again, but the AMPs chose to run away, escaping through a portal at the back of an alley, apparently also created by the strange blue lady.
The last minute rescue didn’t hit the In-ternet, however, as anyone with cameras were removed from the site during their clean up. This event echoed with Jennifer Stewart’s speech about abuse of power and began put-ting TRAC under microscope. President Car-penter gave a press conference saying, “There were mistakes made, and we will be holding those agents responsible. We are putting pro-cesses into place to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.” Not only did the Aberdeen Massacre put doubt in TRAC being good for the American people, but his back-tracking lost the president support from the more gung-ho anti-AMP voters. It was not a great day for AMPs or the president.
The Purple Ring
June 22
After acquiring several new weapons and gear from a Seeker shipment, Spearfinger and her band of once-Changelings started target-ing anti-AMP groups. They attacked several headquarters based in and around Georgia and slowly spread out to Florida, Alabama and the Carolinas, all of which also had strong anti-AMP sentiments on their streets. The group took on new members, expanded and contracted until they had a steady number of members to really start their war.
Their first major target: the underground AMP fighting rings. Spearfinger and her new lieutenant, Lizzy, who mutated into a human/
lizard hybrid and could detach her limbs, found the center of this new budding indus-try: The Purple Ring, a casino-style hotel that housed several lower levels where the action took place. Lizzy allowed them to capture her in order to infiltrate the organization. With luck, they were able to burst in through a hidden air vent, taking the Saps in charge of the ring by surprise while they were count-ing their blood money and laughcount-ing. The new group slaughtered every last Sap in that basement and even tracked a few gamblers to their rooms and murdered them in their sleep. This was just the tip of the iceberg, but on the walls, they left a message written in blood:
“Retribution is coming for you. Say your prayers.”
July 2016
Big Fish Caught
July 2
For months, TRAC had been on the tail of the Changelings, attempting to take them down. It didn’t matter that the group had been largely inactive recently, since the orders had already been issued. So, it was at the begin-ning of July 2016 that Conduit and a handful of his most trusted followers were just wak-ing up. Their trek was arduous and they had been on the move for days, trying to find the safest route out of Atlanta without notice.
TRAC agents burst through the doors without warning and held the Changelings at gunpoint. Conduit attempted to negotiate with the agents, saying, “Take me, but let ev-eryone else go,” but the agents weren’t hear-ing it. They knocked Conduit out and covered him with a rubber cloth to stop his touching anyone. Lockjaw, as repayment for harming his leader, took a chomp out of one agent’s shoulder with his massive jaws, while another Changeling turned themselves into a spiral of wind shoving a few others out of the window. Sadly, it didn’t matter how much they
ed, the TRAC forces captured Conduit, Lockjaw and a few others.
The Aberdeen Massacre was still on ev-eryone’s mind, but this type of news could overshadow past mistakes. Sure enough, the capture of Conduit began headlining every newspaper, online news outlet, blog and net-work news station. He was later identified as Jeff Zitomer by old schoolmates who called in tips to the police, robbing him of any an-onymity he might have enjoyed. It worked. The public saw Conduit’s capture, the arrest of a domestic terrorist of extreme propor-tions, was a win for public safety and many anti-AMP groups demanded his immediate execution. Pro-AMP protested this idea; he should be tried just like any other human be-ing. Due process was what the US legal sys-tem was built upon, and this Jeff Zitomer was an American after all.
As much as TRAC would have loved to get their clutches on Conduit for the Houndmas-ter project, he was too high profile for such secret operations. This was Lockjaw’s fate, however; they carted him off to the Chamber and made him the newest Hound. No, Conduit was going to be the face of everything the people had to fear. He was detained in Camp Lejeune under 24/7 observation in a rubber suit that made it impossible for him to touch anyone. Here he waited for his trial to begin, a trial that would change the face of American culture forever.
Critter’s Journal Entry #11
July 8
It happened again. I woke up today covered in blood. My mouth, my hands, my clothes. There were three dead bodies, dead things near me when I came to again. Last time there were only two, which means this was either killing by convenience or my hunger is growing even still. Their heads are gone. Organs everywhere. Why am I doing this to these people? What am I turn-ing into? What is wrong with me?
I’m putting these questions down on paper in hopes that someone will find it and one day
be able to answer this very basic question. Most of all, Jacob. Find this, please, and fix this. Even if I’m long dead, fix this for others like me. If something like this ever happened to our stu-dents, I don’t know what I’d do. I long to see their faces, but I wouldn’t show mine there. Not today. Not like this. I’d kill myself if I ever hurt them or any Seeker. I’m contemplating doing it now anyway to keep from killing and, dare I say it, eating anyone else.
I started writing this journal for fun, but now I need it. I need it to remember. My mind is leaving me. I don’t know who I am anymore now that the cravings can take me over. I write here because I still can and I fear I won’t be able to soon.
Blissful Music
July 16
Soon after Conduit’s capture, TRAC suffered yet another PR nightmare as the drug Bliss spread through the US, particularly the western states. Those who took this small pink pill felt no effects immediately, only to lose control of their bodies moment later. Taking the drug has been described as an out-of-body experience unlike any other. Swallowing the pill gives a slight feeling of elation, not unlike ecstasy, and then removes all control. The drug-takers get up and begin wandering like “joy-zombies,” as many Bliss circle members tend to call some-one currently under its effects.
Any actions taken are viewed almost like observing them in third person, which some described as life changing by some. Police and TRAC officials condemned the new drug, put-ting it on the dangerous substances list along with heroin and War Path. TRAC scientists eval-uated the drug and found traces of AMP DNA contained within, which meant the ingestion of unhuman fluids had the potential to affect a normal person’s chemistry for the worse. Use, possession and sale of this drug became a cap-ital offense greater than any other.
To date there had been hundreds of arrests for Bliss alone and that number rose every day. The worst of these cases was on July 16th at Tunes-Apalooza, an open concert for
Conspiracy #2: What They Do With The Bodies
Nā ‘Aumākua is primarily comprised of Ferals suffering major side effects from their powers, such as animal features and an inability to control their actions. Most of the AMPs and criminals caught receive very public send-offs and then never heard from again. The citizens are much happier for getting rid of the bad element and everyone feels a bit safer.
In actuality, it is Kyle Hickok (he keeps his last name under wraps to hide his asso-ciation with the Hound, Loco Diablo) who has created a quite ingenious scheme. Using his powers of illusion and memory manipulation, he is able to craft deeply immersive scenes of a criminal’s repentance and banishment for all to see. This, of course, comes on the heels of that same criminal having been disposed of by his more monstrous brothers and sisters beforehand. Bodies are either devoured by the Nā ‘Aumākua leaders or simply thrown into Kilauea Volcano, which is half-active and melts the body instantaneously.
All of this is important to the continued prosperity of Hawaii. Or that’s what Nā ‘Aumākua believes. The State is no autonomous city-state, so no one is technically barred from going to Hawaii. Visiting with the intent to do harm, however, ends only one way.
ple coming together to celebrate and spread peace and love. A mixture of Bliss and War Path in the crowd and a willingness to take drugs handed to them without even knowing what they were, created a terrible atmosphere the exact opposite of peace and love. It be-gan well enough, as the music lovers felt the music and crowd-surfed, stripping and sing-along. When the drugs were introduced, the riled up patrons on War Path began an ag-gressive streak that turned the concert into a riot full of people who soon became joy-zom-bies, unable to run from those on War Path. It ended in a blood bath and required over one hundred TRAC agents and a few Hounds to end, as the local authorities just could not handle the threat level.
While the events of Tunes-Apalooza were definitely attributed to the use of Bliss and blamed on the government as not doing enough to keep these drugs under control, the administration easily skirted the blame to the usual suspects: the youth. Not only had the youth been demonized for their general use of body enhancements, but also now for their rampant drug use that put others in danger. Blame was later shifted toward the unhuman threat by the UHF, spouting, “These unhuman things are poisoning our youth against us.”
Na ‘Aumakua Founded
July 24
Since the beginning, Hawaii took a very pro-AMP stance during months of controver-sy. When outed celebrities and their studios came under attack, Hawaii was the perfect place for them to move. Not only did big names immigrate to the island, but also ev-ery other AMP who could afford the trip. Costs for flights to Hawaii rose astronomically, due to the proposed dangers of flying into a state with so many AMPs living there.
Soon after, a group calling themselves Nā ‘Aumākua, which translates to sacred guard-ians, took root in the state. They began as na-tives to the islands who wanted only to keep their state safe from the troubles the rest of the nation suffered. When they started, TRAC agents harassed their people and put every-one in danger. Nā ‘Aumākua’s first act was call for the ousting of TRAC authority through a series of petitions to President Carpenter. Native AMPs then began capturing and rid-ding themselves of dangerous AMPs and crimes/destruction rates fell well below 1%. The agency decided their efforts were better spent elsewhere. TRAC left only a small office behind in case they were ever needed.
As the influx of AMPs increased, Nā ‘Aumākua grew as well. Typhoon attempted in-filtration several times, but were always rooted out. Nick Czernek of the Seekers of Enlighten-ment attempted to appeal to Nā ‘Aumākua to act for the betterment of all AMPs, but they knew what they were and did not want to in-teract with the chaos on the main continent. They found caches and sources of drugs like Bliss and War Path, and even Clarity, expelling them, and any dangerous AMPs or members of anti-AMP groups (like the UHF), from the land.
This created the idea of a perfect utopia for AMPs. Even anti-AMP groups started spouting slogans like “Go to Hawaii Already” at their rallies, further ingraining this idea into the public. Soon, AMPs began saving every penny they could make in hopes of visiting Hawaii and finally being accepted for being them-selves. Of course, the island is only so large, so they could not accept every AMP as a resident.
August 2016
The Big Bang
August 6
The police and fire departments rushed to LAX, responding to a report of an unhuman terrorist attack. Witnesses in the busy termi-nal, unusually high due to the influx of sum-mer tourists, saw a man standing in the middle of the main walkway. Most people just passed him until he began to crackle with electrici-ty and beams of energy shot out of him. Mo-ments later, he exploded and brought half the terminal down with him in seconds. The ground crumbled and the ceilings collapsed. The blast vaporized people in his immediate area, but his shockwave extended above and below him for hundreds of feet, even reach-ing out to destroy planes docked outside. It also created an EMP effect and knocked out several traffic control towers, causing three crashes.
The casualties were staggering, with over 1200 dead and another 400 wounded. TRAC and the Los Angeles police worked together to profile the unhuman responsible from re-coverable video footage and witness accounts. The discovery pieced together revealed the terrorist was Dan Schuett, a seemingly normal citizen with no criminal background. Accord-ing to family members who spoke with him earlier that day, it was a normal day for Dan: he dropped his son off at school and bought groceries, but instead of returning to his busi-ness he ran out of his home, he instead set upon causing a terrible tragedy at LAX. No one ever uncovered a motive, which makes it seem like foul play may be involved. Since it happened so soon after the Aberdeen Massa-cre, however, many news networks reported the event with a fearful tone, increasing the assumed threat level of AMPs.
The AMP Scare
August 11
For too long, the fear of AMPs and the “us vs. them” attitude was only prevalent on the streets. The fact that the UHF had a large de-gree of influence on the government made it even easier to separate oneself from the calamity taking place in everyday neighbor-hoods and cities. As the year progressed, how-ever, paranoia made its way to Capitol Hill. Politicians started an investigatory committee not unlike the times of McCarthy after World War II. The idea that representatives in Wash-ington could possibly be AMPs, thus pushing a hidden unhuman agenda on the back of US citizens, became all too encompassing.
The president, vice president and entire-ty of Congress underwent several rounds of lengthy interviews asking questions like “Are you secretly an unhuman?” and “Are you har-boring or associated with unhumans in your family or community?” Less-convincing sena-tors had further invasive background search-es perform, including harassment of their family and friends and blood tests. Only two senators, both from the House of
Conspiracy #3 - The
Ones They Didn’t Kill
Plenty of political leaders and activ-ists were killed during this time, but not all of them were the Hounds’ doing. The Matriarch spent the last three months turning Kairam, the time traveler, from a scared wimp into a formidable killer in his own right. Sadly, this also came with a terrible War Path addiction, making him a tad irritable. He had not reached the level of power required to actual-ly travel through time yet, but he did exhibit minor time manipulation. This was promising for the Matriarch, who decided to test his abilities by sending him out on assassination missions. She hoped to reawaken the raw power he would possess in the future, and even wondered if Kairam killing the presi-dent was by her order. Only time would tell, but if the future needed to change to suit her needs, so be it.
tatives, possessed the DNA to become AMPs, which destroyed any and all political careers either had built, along with the lives of their families. The entire process began in June, came to a head in mid-August and (combined with the ongoing terrorist attacks) caused the people to look to TRAC even more for protec-tion, even from those who were supposed to represent them.
If the AMP Scare had found nothing, it may have ended there. The discovery of even just two unhumans in Washington, however, led to citizens demanding their governors, mayors and almost every state official, pastor or fast food manager to submit to the same invasive treat-ment, leading to another twenty AMPs outed from their positions before the end of the year.
Hound Strike Force
August 20
After the embarrassment caused by the Aberdeen Massacre, TRAC unit suffered a PR nightmare. The Houndmaster and her Hounds failed to bring TRAC the public praise they wanted. Most of the public respect belonged to the everyday TRAC agents walking the streets. While TRAC Elite remained on standby to aid if TRAC couldn’t handle a particularly strong target, they pulled the Hounds from active duty to plan for their comeback. During this time, each of them underwent training to become assassins, tools for the Houndmaster to use to kill anyone TRAC required dead.
What followed was a string of deaths and disappearances of TRAC’s enemies, including several leaders of the pro-AMP movement, a handful of politicians and lobbyists on Capitol Hill and seemingly unimportant people who were fed to the Houndmaster by the United Human Front. Loco Diablo’s penchant for ar-son, Nether’s shadow assassination skills and Lockjaw’s terrible jaws were all assets used to kill powerful people all over the world for months to come.
These assassinations were expertly han-dled (unlike their more public affairs), with only a few outlandish accusations launched
in their direction. The protesters had no proof of the Hounds’ involvement, and pro-TRAC groups enjoyed shouting them down, as they reveled in the more hands-on approach the agency began taking. Their recruitment in-creased, and they had more boots on the street in a month than they did in the last six months. Good thing certain senators who op-posed increase funding failed to appear be-fore an Emergency Budget vote.
