Heroes In the dark - The meta crisis - All chapters in one place!
Cover art
Welcome to 1991. The world has changed.
When a mysterious meteorite crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 1980, it didn't just fall, it rewrote the rules of the world. Everything changed there, people with powers appeared, heroes flying in the skies and villains using their powers for what they could. An entire world order was rewritten.
Detective Beatrice Vieira from Chicago leads a covert operation to take down Andrea Marconi, a ruthless crime boss and chief of the mafia. But when a ritualistic serial killer starts targeting both sides of the law, everything goes sideways.
This will reveal a world of hurt and a world of differences, this reveals a web of ancient and new tales, of political conflicts and building tensions. Welcome to the Meta crisis!
00 - Prologue: The Barrel
Into the late night of 20th of April 1980,
Along the coastline of Chile two indigenous travelers are going along the coastline towards Valparaiso in their small car, they are camping along the road for the night due to a bit of poor planning but neither of them are prepared to what is going to happen.
Both of them were preparing the meal on their small portable gas powered stove there, talking about strange things on the road, no cars or people for kilometers in any direction, this is when a huge sound comes, a sound so loud one of them could swear it would be heard all the way to Lima.
On the sky a huge line of light yellow and blue and red crossed the atmosphere as it went directly towards the ocean, going deep and far. The meteorite was split in two, the smaller part hits the Andean range while the huge part was going towards the ocean, one of the travelers grabs their camera and took a photo of the event as the meteorite goes away into the horizon.
It would hit the Pacific Ocean in a few more minutes and the explosion sound could be heard far away. It was deep enough that there was no big problem or big wave that hit the shore. The travelers would publish that photo on a newspaper in Valparaiso for a bit of money a few days after.
A single photo of the event is all that there is, the event that changed the world forever.
Six months later those changes could be seen, small changes in fauna and flora started appearing, at first was a leopard in the Amazonian range, indigenous folk were saying a spirit of the forest was angry, no one believed them until several illegal prospectors were found dead on a devastation range. A few days after a pig that could speak was found on a farm. A week after a girl in high school discovered she could fly.
The meteorite had dissolved into the ocean, whatever alien properties it had were now spread. Preliminary analysis indicated that it was all over the biosphere, from the ocean to the rain to the crops, it had no negative impact at first at least, but those wild mutations started to appear.
An age of meta humans started, people changed drastically and so did the world. The Soviet Union closed itself, a coup happened by hardliners of the party, things started entering a crisis and internal conflicts came with it.
China enters a major production age, unprecedented until that era. Japan enters into its Neo-nationalist phase and the discussion of metas started on the summer of 1982. Something happened. The first self declared heroes started to appear and so did the first villains.
Meta humans are a part of the normal day, things are different now. Things have changed. A new era of bigotry, problems and several issues.
The year is 1991... Welcome to the Meta Crisis!
Sub Chapter: No one knows me better than you
Dancing and prancing through the street boots fell into the ground in rhythmic pace. The rain was falling over. The sky was dark, and yet a small cluster on the rain fog showed the moonlight. Full moon that night. The dance steps were soft and sweet. Behind them, there were heavy steps moving through the rain.
The two women stopped in front of a street light. The light flickered with every movement of the dancing one. She stopped dancing and moving as she looked at the taller woman. Two women, one about 2 meters and a half tall, the other 170 centimeters tall. Both of them looked at each other, deeply.
The smaller one spoke first. âHeh. Oh, sweetie. We arrived finally, but I must admit, we are pretty broke.â The second one just pointed at the bank on the other side of the street. As the small one clasped her hands, âOh, sweetie! You know I love you, right?â.
Death and Taxes, part 1
February 6 â 1991 - Some dirty place in Chicago
"So... Barry... What are we lookin at here ?" he said after looking at the rather gruesome scene, Barry was an older man, he was in his 50s already going into his 60s, but he looked healthy as a bull to Detective Johnson, who felt he was falling apart at half Barry's age. Still, he looked at the scene.
A corpse was strewn about in a cross like position, blood painted a whole cross around him on the floor, Barry looked back at Johnson "The victim is Jim Irons, meta human, was a small time hero around here, very small time, he was not all that powerful as well, all he did most of the time according to people was to walk around and stop some bar fights or do some security gigs... " he looked at the boy on the floor "22 years old, powers included super strength and super resistance, nothing to write home about".
The detective was not liking how Barry was evading the main point, it made him uneasy, but he decided to press a bit "How did he die, Barry", he said, looking at the scene forensics man that looked a bit distraught "Someone exploded his heart in... The strength of the punch was enough to break all his rib... that is not the most fucked up part..." he took a deep breath "Somehow whoever did that also, well, drained the blood out of his body".
Johnson was surprised "Exploded... how?" and the man shrugged "no idea... it just exploded... like from inside out... He has no heart left, and his blood is all over the place around here". Johnson raised an eyebrow, that was a new one, Barry always had some theory on what happened, well, considering the circumstances was not surprising, "Any known MO that we can pin on someone? Mafia ? Maybe some drug lord?" Johnson said almost with protocol, he didn't believe that any of those would be so loud.
Barry confirmed "Not that I can see... Too religious looking, some random drug lord or Mafioso would just have the boy dumped in the river or the lake or ... well Anywhere really. No... Also, it is not personal... too crafted for that and no signs of torture..."
The detective didn't like where that was going, having a potential serial killer was the last thing he needed right now. "What are you saying?" - "You know what I am saying, detective" - Answered Barry. "I need to hear someone speak" he responded a bit at a loss.
Barry looked and sighed "Detective... This was ritualistic, too ritualistic... It is likely we have a serial killer" Johnson sighed "Fuck!" he grabbed his phone "I gotta call the commissary" he said while moving away.
That day was being shitty, and it had barely started.
Johnson spent the rest of the day reporting everything to Commissary Joanna Heart, she decided with a few members of the city council and the mayor that it was better not to release things to public for now and start investigating. They chose Detective Johnson to head the investigation.
"Fucking Luck of mine..." he was not amused, he could not turn it down, it would be a bad look for him and his companions and business. He groaned as he walked into the direction of his usual night bar, he had a date, not the kind he liked at least. The scene from earlier was still on his mind, he had a hunch that would not be possible to sleep while sober.
The bar he enters has a security guard, a meta man with steel skin, he recognizes the detective with ease and waves, the detective himself goes in after waving back and taking in the scene. The bar itself was quaint, all around made of wood, reminiscent of prohibition era. He sat down and looked around, "Bill, the Usual... double please".
Bill was a nice bartender, on his 20s, he didn't speak much but was good at what he did, however this time his expression was puzzled "You are not the type to be looking like that, you are usually smiling like a scumbag" he said as Johnson sighed "gee... thanks for the pep talk... work was messed up" the bartender looked back "I wonder what is needed to get you squirming like that..." Johnson sighed and grabbed the drink when ready, enjoying every sip of it.
Things stayed silent, people coming and going for a while until someone came in, Andrea Marconi , Johnson sighed, "shit" he muttered under his breath, and she was coming directly to him with her two meta girls always around her. He faked a smile "Boss! How can I help you?" he looked at her and waved his glass, she looked and judged every moment and every little movement he did.
"Oh, now you want to help me? I want to know why the bitch is still alive? mmm?" her eyes were focused and sharp enough to cut glass, she probably could cut glass with one of her meta girls around her, he didn't like that, he waved her "Look boss... You know how things are, not always things go like planned... I was... held up" he seemed annoyed but didn't want to upset Andrea even more, and she didn't seem willing to be pissed off even more. "Held up... what could be more important than doing the things I pay you to do ?" she looked at him with scrutiny, and he sighed, he looked around and finished his drink "Not here... Let's go to the office" he said.
She was a bit taken aback but nodded as she went with him, as they entered into a small office area, it had a couch and a shelf full of ledgers and data, it also had a personal computer there on top of a desk. He looked at her with a distressed look as she impatiently spoke "Well... go on then, what can be so important?" - He then took a deep breath "There is a serial killer in town... A nasty one at that and likely a meta one at that..." she looked at him "Worrying, but what do we have to do with it?" and he sat down on the couch of the office and pinched the bridge of his nose "Well lets just say I was place in charge of the investigation".
"Fuck!" were the only words leaving Andrea mouth as she heard it. "Yeah, my exact reaction... This one is also fucked up... Like seriously so, I have seen my fair share of death and bullshit, but this is ... fucked up".
"Fucked up how?" she said and sat on the other side of the couch as he replied "So far they found only one meta dead... everything was so... ritualistic, disgustingly so, they removed the whole mass of the boy blood and spread out in a cross and weird symbols" , Andrea raised an eyebrow "And you know it is a serial killer with one death?" and he nodded "Yeah I do... everyone did... too ritualistic... it was left there for us to find which means... there are other bodies around."
Andrea clicked her tongue, that could go either way for her, Johnson knew that, more police around asking questions was trouble, they could either start finding her stuff or be so distracted with a serial killer that her business would go unnoticed for a while, regardless it was a coin toss, and she would do all in her power to stay out of the police radar.
"Regardless... That is not of our concern right now, when can you put down the bitch that is annoying my business?" then his gaze focused on a random ledger "I will try to stall the investigations and then claim I cannot continue with them after a month, they will just get someone else to go after the killer while I can go low profile again." that answer didn't seem to please her. "A MONTH?".
He cringed a bit after the scream "Yeah... that is the minimum, look boss I am good... I had it all figured out, I even tried to get out of the deal with the commissary, but the mayor got involved and all that... I could not deny it without being too suspicious" despite accepting that explanation she didn't like it one bit "So what... are we supposed to wait a month?" - "You could always get someone else to get the girl where you want it" he said nonchalantly, and she groaned "no... She blinded herself for the last YEAR! You get me, she got herself a whole team of wannabe heroes that are hard to get each one of them, she even operates into a different place from the police! We cannot just toss this opportunity, you are the only one close enough to her currently... I suppose a month is not that bad" and Johnson smiled "That is what I thought! I will be drinking if you need me, boss"
She waved him off. He went to drink those horrible images out of his mind.
