Laughtershock/The Medusa Murders

From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Paragon City is a big place with a lot of news and half of it is so weird you couldn't make it up., so not everyone will remember what the press called "the Medusa Murders". They started back in July '05, but the first couple were dismissed as the random freakish goings-on of a city full of super-powered individuals. By August a pattern was emerging. Small time crooks, thugs and robbers were being petrified at the scene of their crimes. They were literally turned to stone, leaving macabre statues as a warning to others. The police did their best to cover up this vigilante behaviour, but news spread quickly.

The hero community issued a few indirect references to the incidents and Statesman personally and publicly condemned vigilantism. Nonetheless in the wake of several disasters having shaken the city, a lot of people supported the vigilante way of life, feeling a stronger stance needed to be taken against the criminals who prey on the city.

Jay was one such criminal. Already a petty thief, he had joined the Outcasts when his mutant powers manifested in his teens. With the backup of more experienced gang members, Jay, known by the nickname "Joybuzzer", helped rob jewellery stores and shake down local businesses. He could generate a moderate electrical charge which was enough to stun people like a taser. More interestingly, he discovered while scrapping with his gang mates that his power caused confusion and short-circuiting for other superhumans. This led him to become a practical joker among the Outcasts, zapping a Match and watching them uncontrollably set fire to their pants, or helping ambush a flying hero and watch them try and escape by flying sideways into a wall.

It was just starting to get cool in the city around this time of year. The heat of summer was fading and the nights were starting to get dark sooner. Jay preferred this time of year. Long hot nights were better for hanging out on. Nights like this were ideal for a little breaking and entering. Jay had been with the Outcasts for a couple of years now. They were better than family. They had powers just like he had, and they took what they wanted instead of standing in line with the shmucks who had to work a 9 to 5. He didn’t see how using powers to get what you want was any different from nerds using their brains, or some chick using her cleavage to dodge a parking fine. You use what you were born with. Jay stretched out his hand to the junction box and shorted it out with an electrical pulse. He was just born with something a little different to most, was all. He couldn’t deliver a one-man thunderstorm like some of the other Outcasts, but his electrical powers were pitch-perfect for causing havoc with electrical systems.

Snowz shoved past him. She was pretty and confident, and she always had an attitude. Being a girl in the Outcasts wasn’t easy, and she’d toughened up faster than most. She was sort of “in charge” of the three of them, but they all knew what to do anyway. They’d knocked over a dozen little jewellery shops like this. It was routine now.

Snowz ignored the staff entrance and instead put her hands to the brick wall, concentrating hard as she gave it her all. She had to get the brickwork really cold, really fast, to weaken it. Beef Quake lumbered forwards and flexed his hand with a big dopey grin on his face. He was pretty strong even without his powers, but when he drew on them he could hit like a truck. His fist became rocky and cracked as he transformed it, before throwing a punch that shattered the wall.

“Boom.” Said the gigantic brute, before stepping inside to find out if there was any night security. Like a lot of smaller stores in Paragon they didn’t invest in any guards, relying on passing heroes instead. The idea was if you spent a little extra on the alarm system you could save a couple of salaries. Unfortunately for them, Jay’s power neatly tied the system in knots. It’d alert the police after a few minutes of being disconnected, but a few minutes were all they really needed anyway.

They set to work quickly. Quake rumbled across to the back and grunted as he tore the safe out of the wall. He threw it up onto one shoulder with a little effort, and began to head back out into the alleyway. They could get it onto the truck and then crack it open later. Snowz glanced behind all the counters while Jay did a quick smash and grab on some of the more pricy looking displays of necklaces and earrings. He glanced over at Snowz as she bent right over the counter, showing off her curves deliberately to distract him.

“I’m going to freeze you solid and snap it off.” She didn’t even look round.

“If you want it that badly you could always just try asking.” He grinned. She shot him a look, but Jay knew she liked him. Most guys wouldn’t get away with flirting with her.

He grabbed up a few more diamonds as she pulled out a tray of assorted rings and emptied them into a bag. “Good enough, let’s go.”

Stepping out into the alleyway they were surprised to see Quake standing just a few feet away. He should’ve been in the truck by now with the safe in the back and the engine running. Out here he might attract the attention of a Cape flying overhead.

“What are you doing just standing there?” hissed Snowz angrily. She stormed over and reached out to touch him. “…the hell?!”
He was solid stone, cold as marble to the touch. Snowz rounded on Jay.

“Did you do this?”
“Wha?” Jay looked surprised.
“He’s solid. He’s turned into solid stone. He’s a goddamn statue.”
“Why would I –“
“Same reason you play pranks on all the other Outcasts – because you’re a goddamn retard!”

Jay was worried. She knew his electrical abilities, when used on other super-humans, caused their powers to malfunction and he was known for being a prankster, so it was understandable that Snowz would blame him but…

“Turn him back. Undo it. Now.”

Jay was gradually beginning to realise what was feeding the growing sense of dread in him. Newspaper articles had talked about this. One or two of the higher ups in the Outcasts had mentioned it to each other, wondering what to do. The papers were calling them “the Medusa Murders”. Petty crooks turned to stone at the scene of the crime. Lifeless statues left behind as a warning to others.

“Snowz, wait, it wasn’t me.”

“Bull. Don’t try and fool me, this ain’t funny.” She continued to hiss her words through gritted teeth “we’re exposed out here, you idiot. So undo it now before some spandex do-gooder waltzes round the corner and arrests us.”

“Haven’t you read the papers? The Medusa Murders? Some vigilante turning people to stone?”

“Is that the best you can do? That’s pathetic.” She turned and looked at the safe.
“I’m gonna crack this open. You work out how to get him back to normal or I swear I’m freezing you to the spot beside him for the police to find.”

She began to freeze the safe door, sucking all the heat from the metal. Jay was gripped with panic now. He sprinted round the corner to look at the front of the store. If the alarm had gone off maybe it had attracted attention before he’d managed to kill it. He glanced along the street. Just the usual handful of night workers wandering about at this time, a couple of cars passing by, no sign of a Cape. He went back to Snowz to try and get her to leave the damn safe and get in the truck. They already had a half decent haul, considering, and the rest of the gang needed to know what happened to Quake.

“C’mon Snowz, you know I didn’t do this. Let’s get out of here. Someone’s messing with us.”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t even look round. Icicles hung from the safe, and frost covered the stone surface of the dead Beef Quake. The way light sparkled off the frost made Jay think of the diamonds from the shop.

“Snowz.”

Nothing. No response. A second later his mind registered what he’d been trying to block out. No breathing. She was still as a statue. Jay glanced around the alleyway, eyes wide in terror. A motion behind him caused him to look round a second too late. A woman’s hand grabbed him by the neck in a practiced movement. Her face was hidden by a simple brown hood and a domino mask. She wore bright red lipstick. All he could focus on was the blood red lips as she spoke in a calm, detached tone. The words themselves were lost on him at first. He felt paralysed with fear.

“Poor dear. I bet you’d like nothing more than to run away right now?”
“Hngk.”

“Ssh. I know. I know what you want to say. If I let you speak you’d tell me how you’d never do it again.” Her grip tightened slightly.

Jay realised he really couldn’t move a muscle. His legs felt cold, and the feeling was spreading up slowly to his thighs. His skin felt tight and numb.

“You’d do anything to take it all back” she continued coldly, dispassionately holding his gaze with a sort of fascination in her eyes, as though she were examining some interesting specimen in a lab.

“You would tell me how you’ll be a good boy from now on. Never naughty. Never hurting anyone. You’d tell me anything I want to hear, if you thought it would save your miserable life.”

To his surprise she let go of his neck. Sensation flooded back into his torso. He felt pain throbbing through his veins, his heart pounding as blood failed to circulate properly through his body. His legs were solid stone, and he could feel the lifeless weight of his petrified body extend right up to his chest. He struggled to breath.

“I just sucked the life force out of your friends straight away.” She sounded amused now “I don’t take chances when I’m outnumbered. But now you’re on your own, I thought I’d take my time. Savour the moment a little.”

She began to step around him, admiring her handiwork. A cruel smile came to her lips. He could see her more clearly now, dressed in an unassuming brown cloak and hood, but clearly a hero costume.

“Do you know why I’m doing this?”

“Ghhn.” His head was swimming now, his senses screaming at him on all sides.

“I’ll tell you. I’m doing it because you’re scum. Vermin that needs to be exterminated. I’m doing it because most heroes don’t want to get their hands dirty taking care of filth like you. But most of all, I’m doing it because …I enjoy it.”

She paused, right in front of him, and leaned in as though for a kiss. He could smell her perfume. Her lips travelled up to his ear as she ran her hand over his chest.

“Oh look” she whispered “Looks like you enjoy it too. It’s made you go all... hard.” She giggled as her power gripped him again to siphon off the last of his life force. His terror gave way suddenly, like a damn bursting.

He lashed out with all his effort, every fibre of his being straining against her. Electrical energy coursed through him, arcing around them and pulsing through her. She screamed and tried to let go, but suddenly he found he could move. His hand shot up and he grabbed her, holding on tightly. He could feel her life energy draining into him. His skin cracked and deformed as he absorbed more and more of her energy, until all that was left of her was a pale stone stature. He kept gripping her for a few moments more until he was sure she wasn’t moving, and then pulled back.

He wanted to smash her to pieces, and instinctively he formed up a mallet made of stone. He swung it through the air with incredible strength, and she split and shattered under the weight of the blow.

Jay looked down at his transformed body, covered in living rock. Somehow when they had connected his power had short circuited hers and begun to feed her life force into him. He looked at his dead friends locked in their death pose. He looked at the shards of their attacked, scattered around the ground below him. He bent down and picked one up, feeling the odd sensation of moving his new body.

He held up a chunk of the Medusa’s face and looked into a single blank eye, and realised how ridiculous their lives all were. It was all just pointless, random chance that he’d lived and she died. Of all the mutations, his was the one in a million that allowed him to beat her. He’d been so afraid, when really it was all so silly. Just one big cosmic prank.

He laughed. Sparks flew from his eyes and electrical energy crackled around the alleyway. Being Joybuzzer wasn't enough anymore. Now he'd have to give them a Laughtershock.