Jump 180: Demolition Man

Jump 180: Demolition Man
>Two of Swords (Peace), reversed
I don't think I even need to tell you what that means but it's fitting with the drawback I took.
>Age: 28
>Location: Los Angeles, 1996
>Identity: Rebel
>Drawbacks: Modern Times (+600)
>I'm A Seamstress? (1550)
I'm sure this will come in handy someday. I mean, I already had a passing knowledge, but never the interest to take it that far. Now? Professional seamstress level work.
>He Said He Didn't Care (1450)
I'm going to assume that Simon Phoenix made it out of police custody after he made this famous line. Probably pulled a Joker, killed the cops and drove off in the back of the squad car.
>Maybe Starve To Death (Free, Rebel)
This will be useful now and later. Now, because god only knows what the future here holds. Later, because god only knows what the future out there holds.
>I'm No Leader (1300, Rebel)
Just because people go with you doesn't mean you're a leader. But the point is everyone chipping in to do what they can to survive. When everyone does, everyone thrives.
>We Use These To Shop (1000, Rebel)
I can only imagine what effects this will have when I use it to recreate things that most wouldn't expect. You want body armor? We can firm up some leather and cloth, add chainmail, and while it may be a little heavier than kevlar it'll be more effective. You want a weapon? It's HILARIOUSLY easy to make firearms and most people don't even realize. You want to keep your family fed in a war torn cityscape? Now here's how to turn your basement into a garden for cheap...
>Pizza Hut (900)
Because in the future, pizza is a HELL of a lot more likely to be legal than tacos. Maybe that's why Cocteau is having such a bad time, he's always got the runs.
>Rehab Program (600)
Now, this is part of what is going to make things work for me. I can teach people skills without them actually having to invest anything more than the time they wear the implant. If in thirty-five years Simon Phoenix can go from gang leader to one-man terrorist army, I think a few months of wearing these should give anyone the basics of being a foot soldier.
>Schwarzenegger Library (0)
I, uh. If I have access to this in 1996, does it mean I still get 2032's technology? Or is that only after the jump? Either way, infinite library annex for the warehouse!

So. Los Angeles, 1996. There's a large section of the city being held by a gang leader turned warlord. Actually it looks like it wasn't just Simon Phoenix, he was merely the worst of them. John Spartan really WAS the cop this city needed.

And now he's gone. And I'm just... some guy, in the middle of this all.

I'm going to let the details on how things happen speak for themselves. But Demolition Man, in brief... I've got the ability to put things together to work for whatever purposes I need, even if (thanks to the drawback) I can't replicate extrauniversal technologies. And instead of playing warlord, like the other idiots around here, I'm going to see what I can do to get decent people together. This is Los Angeles - I'm bound to find some people who are in untenable situations who are otherwise decent people. I've got the Rehab Program that I can give them, so that they can learn to defend themselves, to get skills that will help them survive until life is more ... normal. But we're in a war zone - you have to live that way.

Every able bodied person is able to do SOMETHING, and while I do everything I can to pull people together (and live off of the local Pizza Hut, by hook or by crook) I'll be working to pull as many people into a common goal as I can. Whether they're here to be muscle to keep the drug-addled psychopaths that the warlords are employing to terrorize the population, helping out others with their needs, or just holding down jobs and doing what they can to get by. Sometimes there are only so many things you can do in a city that's at war.

And when you find enough like-minded people who have had enough, it's simple enough to give them the right training, makeshift armor, grease guns, and assault a given warlord's compound. The state refused to utilize the national guard, the LAPD refused to get involved unless there are evidence so concrete that the national media would damn them, and honestly... it's all outright ridiculous.

But when normal people have had enough and arrange themselves into a militia solely for the purpose of eliminating these assholes and returning to a normal life, then things are a little different. These may be warlords and doped-up gangsters, but the Simon Phoenix of 1996 is not the Simon Phoenix of 2032. And I will happily do my part to help these people return to a normal life.

Also, as it turns out, the Franchise Wars weren't literal wars, they were just a bunch of corporate buy-outs that ended up with Pizza Hut having a nationwide monopoly. But even after things in Los Angeles were more calm in the wake of the gang wars, the early 2000's still went insane, there was a horrific earthquake, subsequent unexpected uphevals in the political climate, and Schwartzenegger did such a good job handling the insanity in California that they passed an amendment to permit foreign-born US citizens to become president, and it looked like he was being set up for the 2008 election when I left, since he wasn't running for governor for another term.