Jump 378: DC JumpChain

Jump #378: DC JumpChain
>Page of Swords, reversed: Voyeurism, espionage, and misguided witch hunts. The use of clever argument and eloquent speech to mask the truth.
Quite frankly I blame Lex Luthor.
>Age: 24
>Location: Gotham
As this is locked to DC, but not a given continuity, we're going to Gods And Monsters. It's an interesting take on things.
>Identity: Mortal
>Drawbacks: (+300) Nemesis, A Game Of You
So not only do I probably have to deal with some Red Lantern running around, I've also gotten the attention of the Endless. Hoo boy.
>Peak Human Fitness (Free, Mortal)
Well, that's a convenient way to stay in shape.
>Scientist (1200)
I might as well have something good to occupy my time. CruxCorp is good and, fuck it, the name is good enough to work in DC.
>Grandmaster of Combat (1050, Mortal)
It's always good to have a hobby. Not like the local Batman is doing this, he's got vampire strength and whatnot.
>Mental Resistance (900, Mortal)
Well, being able to deal with the nonsense that DC can throw at you is useful. I'll need this later.
>Master Planner (700, Mortal)
Again, local Batman isn't one for this, so someone has to be. Looks like I've been elected.
>Genius (500, Mortal)
If I'm going to be a scientist, I need to push all of my chips in. Which means I need to be smart. And with this... well, I'm not quite Lex Luthor, but I'm not too far away, I suspect.
>Membership (450)
Oh hey, check that out. Bekka, Kirk, and Hernan are super friends. Maybe they'll let me join.
>Kryptonite (400)
A little bit of the green stuff never hurt. I've been wanting to study this for a long time. Just... not anywhere near Superman.
>Lair (350, Mortal)
Underground lairs are so passe. I'd rather have an underwater one! It works nicely.
>Mother Box (150)
A mother box is a very useful thing. I think I'll be satisfied with a normal box, though, as opposed to Bekka's sword-box combo.
>Fortune (0, Mortal)
One would assume that this would be just a bit of an extra perk of bringing my company into this world. A little extra cash up front, and having an estate to add as an annex to the rest doesn't hurt anything either.

So, there are an awful lot of things one can do in a jump once they get settled in. Something went very off-kilter at some point in this world, though, and it's no version of DC that I recognize. Superman is DEFINITELY not who I remember him being, Batman is a nanotech vampire, and Wonder Woman is a New God.

Meanwhile I've got a company that's bringing in out-of-setting goodness. Granted, a lot of what I'm doing with the item imports is testing the limits of a setting - bringing in things that are decades ahead of their time, but recognizable and not CENTURIES ahead of their time, or so advanced as to be indistinguishable from magic. (Or actually being magic.) But when the order I introduce things is typically medical, then energy storage, then energy generation, and material science breakthroughs as well... quite abruptly people are going to live longer lives with more quality to them. This is the sort of thing that gives people hope.

And since I'm a blue lantern, I'm all about the hope. Which is probably part of why Despair poked at me so much. She even tried to get Death in on the whole thing. She was kind enough to try to sway my point of view without skewing the primary plot when it came about, but that was more because the powers that be would have frowned mightily upon her if she had - though she did ensure I was sidelined for quite nearly all of the entire affair. After all, I was one of the ones roped into Project Fair Play (as they didn't know I was the Blue Lantern), and when it hit the fan a couple of years in, it looked like I was killed by the Metal Men.

I survived only because I had a lantern ring, but when I was about to tell the others that I'd made it out, Despair worked her magic. She did try to affect the others as well, but things... didn't actually change very much. It should have gone better than canon, people should have been more willing to work together, but with one of their own struck down they were more hostile and perfectly willing to engage the government instead of talking to them.

And I had to deal with a gauntlet of bullshit from Despair that lasted two years subjectively and spanned the universe from start to end, and that turned out in the real world to have only been two days. She wasn't pleased that I found value even in the senseless destruction, because free will is a beautiful thing and she does not understand.

Still, in the end, everything worked out well enough. Victor Stone survived the assassination attempt, and ended up getting cybernetic modifications, joining the nascent Justice League there, as did others. Some of them were the same as the usual DC canon, others were drastically different. Gods and Monsters was a very different 'verse than usual. And Sinestro being a Red Lantern hellbent on destroying me for so much as existing didn't help. (Especially while screaming "you could have saved them!" and not being satisfied with "I can't live everyone's lives for them!" as a response.)

Lesson learned: consult the damn Canon Console before I go too far in a jump. Things were weird. But... still, neat.

Oh. Other lesson learned: Without Clark Kent's influence to moderate her attitude, Lois Lane is a total and complete bitch. That actually hit me by surprise, I'm too used to her being nice.