Subject: [gbp] Captain Britain #5
Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2001 17:18:24 -0000
From: "David Wheatley" <dewheatley@yahoo.com>

Captain Britain - Return to Normality, Power Plays, Part 1

Brian Braddock stepped out of the elevator and in to the labs. It had
been some time since he had been here and now he was back. Time had
passed, wounds had healed and now life had to go on. Being the hero
known as Captain Britain was one thing but it had an adverse affect
on his bank balance without working. So here he was, back at the
Office of Scientific Creation and Research, ready to resume his role
as senior physicist.

"Brian!" called Alexander Knox. "Welcome back, old son!" He beckoned
Brian to come over to his office at the other end of the labs

"Good to be back," said Brian as he wandered about, looking around
the labs as he did so, looking at the various projects that were in
hand. "Okay, I give. What's going on?"

"Well," said Alex, "there's been a policy shift for us. After the
events in the House of Commons and the appearance of the Captain,
we've been asked to figure out his powers. How it's possible for him
to do what he does."

"Why?" asked Brian. "It's possible he's a mutant."

"Which is where you come in," said Alex. "Your last project, the one
you were working on before..." his words trailed away as if he were
unable to find the words, or unwilling to speak them. "Well," he
continued as if he'd never paused, "your project on the techniques
behind the process that converted ambient solar energy in to beams of
force."

"Okay," said Brian not quite following. "Care to throw me a clue?"

"Well you were closer to the solution than you thought, and using the
theories you managed to create, we published some of the findings -
in your name, natch. James Jaspers read it and proposed that we find
out how it is that Britian does what he does, so if possible we can
create more of them. A corps of Captain Britains, say."

"A Captain Britain corps?" said Brian. One the one hand he was
intrigued by what was put forward, but on the other the idea of a
legion of people with the same powers he had - that was a concern. He
could barely deal with them now, what if someone else got them who
could not, who could use those powers for something other than the
greater good?

"I know," said Alex. "I can see the concerns in your eyes. I had them
as well. I've read the reports of the American mutants that work to
their own agenda, acting as little more than terrorists. Jaspers
pointed out that if we could create them, then we could also stop
them as well."

"Probably not going to be that easy."

"Yeah, well it was commissioned and it's a go." The tone in Knox's
voice said that there was no arguing at this point. Brian had been
gone and the call had been made and that was the end of it. He placed
his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I need you on this one, Bri.
You're probably the only one who can make the pieces fit"

More than you know, though Brian. He nodded, thinking it went against
the original proposal that if they could figure out how the process
worked of converting solar energy to a kinetic force, then they could
establish the possibility that they could create new non-lethal
weapons that could be used in law enforcement and possibly for other
means as well. That was what he had been given the go ahead for and
now his idea was being altered, as was the potential of his alter ego.

"Where do we start?" he said, though he suspected he'd passed
something important and he wondered what he had missed in the
conversation.

James Jaspers sat in his office in Westminster. As Leader of the
Opposition of Her Majesty's Government, he was not ordinarily a man
who could make key decisions, however due to recent events, he had
been allowed access to certain details and documents. However that
was not the extent of his new capabilities. He remembered the moments
as the she-demon had taken him, violated him and wounded him with
such intense power that from what he remembered he should have been
dead, but he had been discovered without a mark on him.

It had been described as one of the many miracles of the day,
including the appearance of Captain Britain, who was supposedly one
of the latest additions to the country's security forces. At first he
had believed that, but when he was at home the dreams had started to
come to him.

At first they were simply voices calling his name, then they became
instructions and now they were visions of the she-demon herself. She
told him that she had chosen him to be her human acolyte and that he
would be her eyes and ears in the political arena. She had drunk of
his blood and her had drunk of hers and now they were as one. Jaspers
at first had been as frightened as he had been that moment in the
Commons, but his reason came back soon enough and he had managed to
cut a deal.

She needed him, that was obvious. His connections, his schemes, his
operations. She was a big player on the global market, he was a
player on the political one. He wanted to know what he would get out
of this. She had told him he would get his life and he had laughed.
He wanted more, he wanted power like that of her own. She had smiled,
glad that she had not misjudged the man and she had said they shared
a common goal. She wanted to put an end to this warrior knight,
champion of a far away foe, and when he was defeated, he would get
his powers.

He had chit on an idea to use the resources of the government to find
a way of taking the warrior knight down and perhaps ensuring that the
powers he possessed were adapted so that her warriors could have the
same kind of power. Khan had smiled and agreed and the dream had
ended.

That was several weeks ago and now he had those boffins at OSCAR
doing the work he required. He would find out how this man was able
to do what he did, in what ways did his magically spawned might alter
the laws of nature. Clarke's Law said that any sufficiently advanced
technology would be indistinguishable from magic and that was what he
intended to prove.

The powers of Captain Britain would be his.

Khan sat in her hideaway, the recent use of her power forcing her to
return to her guise of the Vixen. It was a situation that was more
annoying than anything else, as it forced her to rely on others until
her powers were at a more acceptable level. It gave her time to focus
on her underworld activities, to plot and scheme and create mayhem
across the country, but her recent failure still angered her. Merlin
had taken a more active role than she had anticipated, pushing
forward the limits of the rules and making sure that whatever
happened did so on an even playing field.

Neither of them could confront the other directly, for if he came to
this realm he was powerless and the same went if she went to
Otherworld. The rules set in place by the Elder Gods made sure that
although destiny was in the hands of fate, nobody had an unfair
advantage.

It made things interesting to say the least. It had been some time
since her defeat at the hands of this Captain Britain. Brian
Braddock. She knew him, knew who he was, had feasted on his blood, on
his soul. She'd killed him and he had returned and since his comeback
she had pondered his existence. Two questions still plagued her about
him.

The first was 'why him?' There had been nothing special about the
man, no qualities that singled him out to be the champion of
Otherworld. She had killed him, yet Merlin and Roma had altered
things so that he was alive, infused with the power of Excalibur and
that amulet. The Sword did not choose it's bearer lightly, and yet it
had chosen him. Why? At the end of the day, Braddock was a nothing, a
nobody, a two-bit scientist who was nowhere near as great as the
names of the age. Yet he was Captain Britain and he had proven
himself against her and in the other minor tasks he performed day in,
day out.

The second was 'where do I know him from'. There was a grace to
Braddock's moves, a skill that had developed over time as well as the
magical ones imbued in him by Excalibur. There was more to Braddock
than simple magic, yet, as she knew, there had been nothing before.
He wasn't part demon, he wasn't a mutant, and though she had fought
against Merlin's knights before, there was something special in his
stance, the way his eyes locked on her when he had been in the
uniform. She knew him from somewhere, but the first question of 'why
him?' would provide the answer to it.

Before his death, he had been an average person, unaware of the above
average life around him. Now, with his rebirth, he had gained
something more than magical. He had gained...

"A missing piece of his soul?" she mused. She could feel she was on
the verge of something here. Her agents would not be able to help her
now. She had to do this one herself. She needed to open the Galena
Codices and that meant going to America.

"So," said Alex after he and Brian had caught up with the current
theories about Captain Britain. OSCAR had used the research on the
solar power project to create models of how various mutations could
utilise their abilities. They'd referred to specific texts written by
some of the authorities on the subject and they were applying them to
Captain Britain. "What are your thoughts?"

"Well," said Brian, looking at some of the models for how the Captain
was able to fly, "I would say - gut instinct - that option 4 and
option... 7 are the best choices to investigate."

"4," said Alex as he enhanced the view screen to show option 4. "The
opinion that flight is generated by a slight variance in the electro-
magnetic fields of the Captain's atomic structure."

"I'd agree with the opinion there that the variance would be slight
enough to ensure that he was suspended in the air, and not repelled
by the natural EM field of the planet. That way he can hold himself
in the air as well." Brian said.

"Wouldn't that mean he was always flying, and not walking though?"
one of the scientists asked.

"Unless he things he's walking and can't tell the difference," mused
Brian, fighting the temptation to look down at his feet and see if
that were actually true. "The trick would be though to find out what
the variance would be. Too low, he wouldn't be able to fly - it'd be
like leaping. Too high, he wouldn't be able to come back down."

"So how do we work on that?" asked Alex.

"We'll think of something," said Brian with a smile. "Option 7?"

"7," said Alex, changing the theory on the screen. "A low level force
field of zero gravity, generated by the armour he wears? His suit
might be some kind of high tech circuitry?"

"Something like that," said Brian. "Think about it. He seems almost
invulnerable at times. Maybe the force field can be altered to
varying degrees, possibly using computer to human interfaces in the
mask. What if the force field were the source of his powers -
increased strength, flight, invulnerability."

"But we know he can be hurt," said Alex.

"It is low level," piped up one of the scientists. "The power needed
to generate and actual high intensity field would be enormous. Plus
the suit would need to be recharged every so often, which may be why
he disappears from time to time."

"If we can't have a life, why should a super-hero?" came a comment
that was greeted by chuckles across the board.

"Okay," said Alex, holding up his hands. "Brian's assessment means we
have two actual theories to work on. We'll split in to two teams -
I'll head one, Brian will head the other. How do you want to do this,
Bri?"

"Call," said Brian, flipping a coin, in the air then catching it and
slamming it on the back of his hand, keeping it covered.

"Heads." Alex said and Brian uncovered his hand.

"Tails," said Brian. "I get to choose. The EM project."

"Interesting," said Alex. "Which means I get the force field one.
That will be a longer project, because I want to look at the other
avenues mentioned by Brian. Strength, invulnerability, maybe some
other stuff as well. I want to know exactly what this thing can do -
if it works."

"Which means I have to choose other projects for the rest of it,"
said Brian with a shake of the head. "Fair enough, I made the call.
Matthew, you get your team together and start to make some rough
ideas. I'm project head, but this is your idea. Let's see if we can
put it in to practice."

Alex nodded. "Jac, do likewise. I want to see if we can build a
better Captain Britain. No, I want to see who can build a better
Captain Britain." He looked at Brian. "Losing team buys the beer."
Brian smiled and gave a nod.

"You're on."

On Otherworld, Merlin watched as the scene unfurled before him. It
concerned him greatly as to what was being planned, but there was
nothing he could do to interfere. His champion was trapped in a
similar corner as well, though the distractions would prevent him
from focusing on the revelations of the previous week as to who he
was in the great scheme of things. He could see the threads of
reality being pulled by Khan, and though he could not see her
exactly, he could sense she was plotting anew. Things had been quiet
and the Denouement was drawing near. The variable of Captain Britain
was not one she would have planned for.

That was why she was doing things now. He waved his hand over the
viewing pool and the image faded to nothing. He turned, his cape
flowing about him, and left his library, walking through the
corridors of the floating palace on Otherworld. He paused at the
window and looked out at the world below.  The people were hard at
work, making preparations for the Great Feast and there would be
celebrations enough. There would be merriment in the Celestial Realms
in the coming days. The fires would burn, the magic would light up
the sky and there would be music and dancing, the type of which they
had not seen in a great age.

It was, he sighed with a heavy heart, the first step of the
Denouement. The people did not know that, nor would he ever let them
know, but once the Feast was over, there would be a war.

The Elder Gods knew why, and Merlin had his suspicions but the
Scrolls of Prophecy did not tell the past, they told the future,
erasing the past and unwriting what was written. The Scrolls were an
important tool in their battle and he knew he had to find Roma. He
needed to find out what Khan was planning, what she was doing. Her
quest to create her own champion was one thing, but she would have to
defeat Britain before the Denouement. He hurried up to the chambers
where his daughter was preparing for the Feast. She was the Scribe of
the Scrolls and the Elder Gods directed events through her.

Every once in a while she locked herself away for the communion and
the Great Feast was one such time, when she would obtain the
blessings of the Elder Gods for the people of Otherworld, such was
the covenant that they had with them.

"Roma," he said, knocking at her door. "I need..." The door flung
open.

"Father," she said, her eyes wide with horror and she fell in to his
arms. "She knows." Then her eyes closed and she slumped to the floor,
her father gently catching her and taking her to her bed. He left her
sleeping and closed the door.

"Khan," he sighed. "This I cannot allow. The truth of things must be
hidden." He grabbed his cloak and made his way out of the palace. He
had to get to the standing stones. He needed to open the portal to
Earth.

"Oh yes," said Brian as he slumped in to his chair at home, after a
hard day at work. "Now that was an interesting day."

"And how was your first day back, darling?" asked Courtney, coming
out of the bedroom of the apartment.

"Jim Jaspers wnats to know how Captain Britain works," he said.

"I could tell him," she said, sitting on his lap, and wrapping her
arms around him. "Just fine." Their lips came together and didn't
part for a few moments.

"Always has," she said.

"And always will with you," he said, his hands caressing the curves
of her breasts, teasing her with light fingered touches and she
giggled.

"Stop that," she said, playfully slapping his hands away. "We're
meeting your sister in an hour or so."

"Gives us plenty of time," he said, pulling her back so she was lain
across his legs, staring up at him as he began to slip the straps
from her shoulders to uncover her naked torso.

"I've just got ready," she said, sighing as he suckled her
breasts. "I'll have to shower again." His hand ran up her thigh, over
her thin stockings and up the inside of her panties, tickling the
most private of hairs. "What," she said, then biting her lower lip as
Brian's touch scored home, "did Jaspers want?"

"He's... wants to... know..." Brian answered, her left nipple between
his teeth "how my... powers work... so he can... create.... more..."

"One of you is enough," she said and pushed him away. "As much as I'd
love to screw you ragged right now," she said, pulling her dress back
up as she sat up. "We're going out."

"Alright," said Brian, with a faint dejection.

"But later, we'll pick up where we left off," she said. "We can play
heroes..." Brian looked up and saw the smile on her face. Half the
fun was tying her up in the first place.

"Okay," he said. "I'll behave, but just because you asked so nicely."
He kissed her forehead and went to change. As he got to the bathroom
door, he doubled over, an intense pain coming over him and fell to
the floor.

"BRIAN!" she shouted.

"Something just happened," he said, looking at her, the pain
subsiding but the sweat pouring from his brow. "Something very bad."

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