The Squadron (Story)

## SUMMARY

A group of various misfits and freaks from very
different backgrounds and ways of life find themselves forced to work together
as they are mysteriously thrust into a strange, unknown, and hostile parallel dimension
after a cataclysmic incident in a KFC. With a wonderful and insightful Narrator
to tell their tale, this merry band of miscreants go on time and space hopping
adventures, causing chaos, becoming legends, and maybe dealing with their own
sad and miserable little pasts, if they get the chance.

## DETAILED PLOT

TBA

* Beginning in media res, we find ourselves on a ship as the story is narrated by a snarky, almost dickish Narrator, whom introduces us to our cast of misfits and rejects, insulting them as he goes. We learn that the narration is actually coming from an omniscient being from another dimension whom the Squadron have trapped on their ship called a Narrator, and as he explains the situation while making snide remarks, he is finally silenced by Ryley, whom shoots the Narrator in the face, declaring that they can tell their own story.
* We go back approximately 5 years earlier, and since this the past before he was silenced, we are still stuck with the Narrator telling the story, at least for now. We open on Earth in presumably the present, in the middle of a KFC. Our fearless leader / *unwavering douche-bag* sits at a booth near the register, eating a chicken sandwich with mashed potatoes. He can feel the stares of morbid curiosity and horror of the other guests in the establishment, staring at his shining, unsightly cybernetic prosthetic limbs. He can almost hear the thoughts going through their heads, the questions, the accusations, the goddamn pity - a pity he doesn't need from anyone, let alone strangers. As he grows more agitated, the cybernetics in his arms start rumbling and briefly glowing, but he quickly calms himself and sighs. It's been almost a year, and he still can't really control these things, like how they just react on his behalf to his most primal of emotions. Suddenly, there is a robbery occurring within the KFC, and he considers helping for a brief moment (that noble soldier bullshit), but because he has grown to be a vindictive and paranoid man, he decides to let the thief have his way with the patrons whom stared and wouldn't give him peace. The robber is making his way around the restaurant, emptying purses and wallets, until he comes across the old geezer in the corner who'd been hyperventilating since the guy walked in. Ryley noticed the older man and his strange ensemble, what looked to be a disheveled lab-coat covering up a lead vest used for x-rays, tall black rain-boots, and the strange metal briefcase he kept so close to his chest. The thief was at the old man now, demanding the case, and the old man was absolutely losing it, refusing to give the case. As the thief pressed his gun to the old man's forehead, something happened that Ryley just couldn't understand (though that may be because he's a muscle-headed brute): the skin where the gun pressed into the old man started caving in slightly, like he was made of clay, and the tip of the gun started melting into sludge. As the thief backs up in shock, dropping his dripping pistol, the old man starts begging for 'this not to happen now, not with all these people'. Before Ryley could debate getting to his feet, the doors burst open and a man in a long brown coat, a cap, and a scarf covering his mouth shoulder charges the thief to the ground without saying a word (Remarkable that it's still 50 degrees out, and he didn't look sweaty at all). Realizing that this is starting to become a bit of a cluster-fuck, Ryley decides that it's time he take his leave. While the thief is being knocked across the walkway and Ryley is making his way to his chrome feet, there is more screaming, though not in relation to the incident with the thief. At the doorway which he was about to leave through, Ryley see's a little girl, no more than five years old, running for her life as she stumbles into the restaurant. It doesn't take long for Ryley to realize what she was running from, as a 12 foot metal monster in the shape of a man rams its way through the restaurant doors, screaming in a clockwork echoing roar as it does. Most of the patrons flee the restaurant for their lives at this point, as instinct finally kicks in for Ryley before he leaps into action, the propulsion systems of his cybernetic legs sending him flying from his booth, leaping into danger once more to get in between the girl and the giant robot. Ryley misses the fact during all of this that the old man from the corner had continued melting into a large pool of discolored flesh and muscle, acting almost like slime as he's coating the feet of the rightfully confused man in the long coat, with the little girl standing behind his leg, clutching his coat. More importantly than that however, Ryley fails to notice that the old man's briefcase had begun glowing bright and blaring an alarm. Just before making contact with the giant robot, Ryley hears the only remaining patron other than the thief, a small round man in a cheap suit, asking "Why is the light so fuzzy?" Suddenly, with an explosion of blinding light, everything stops, and Ryley finds himself in the middle of a forest, alone. Looking around, he only utters three words to encapsulate his situation... "What the fuck?"

## CHARACTERS

* Ryley : Ryley was a member of a spec ops team for the military not too long ago, and while on patrol, he had foolishly missed an IED during a sweep, and rather than let his brother in arms set it off, our fearless *(and senseless)* hero leaped in the way, bearing the brunt of the detonation on himself. A noble sacrifice, no matter how idiotic and unnecessary it may have been. He was likely to die either way, so the government authorized an experimental cybernetic procedure (The prototype of what was used on Conner Hayman), which saved his life. Though he now lives, he does so in self-inflicted isolation most days, fearful of the freak that he's become, and how though his body is stronger than ever, the machines within him seem to have a mind of their own. (Soldier - Commando - Gladiator - Space Ranger) [Loosely based off of *Doom Patrol's* Negative Man, and *Borderlands* Axton].
* Ganessa : Ganessa was set up for great things in life, training to be an Olympic wrestler from an early age. But like most aspiring athletes *and insufferable sports biopics*, she struggled with her own inner demons, and became addicted to heroin. She was blacklisted from any future in professional sports, *because this planet seems to have some kind of hard-on for criminalizing addicts (a concept I will never understand)*. No longer able to follow her dreams in a legitimate fashion, she threw herself into her fathers work as a mechanic, and turned out to be quite the prodigy robotics engineer. Finally finding a way to follow her dreams through underground mech fighting, she quickly rose up the championship ranks. But one doesn't rise that fast without making a few unsavory enemies. The night before her championship match, she and her father were attacked, *and dear old dad went to the great beyond*, while she was nearly beaten to death. Trying to desperately defend herself, she tried to crawl towards her weaponized mech suit, which the thugs whom were hired to take her down saw as true inspiration. After they dismantled the weapons systems and broke most of the machinery, they forced her broken and dying body into the husk of the machine, before welding the mechanisms permanently, trapping her within her own creation. Quickly losing blood and drawing closer to death, Ganessa does the only thing that she can think of, and she shoves her body against the scorching hot metal interior of her mech, cauterizing the wounds but also searing her very flesh to the metal itself. After leaving her for dead, she managed to pilot her mech just barely enough to reach the parts in order to make-shift a new propulsion system. With no way to open the husk any longer, she comes to terms with the fact that she'll never be able to feel or truly live for the rest of her life. Now she lives in isolation within her families old scrapyard, praying to a God she no longer believed in that she'll be able to escape this horrible shell one day, to feel the sun on her face once more. (Mech Fighter - Tank - Knight - High Tech Robot Fighter Pilot) [Loosely based off of *Doom Patrol's* Robot Man, and *Borderlands* Gunzerker].
* John Doe - After severe childhood abuse led John to severe facial scarring, complete muteness, and extreme psychological trauma, he harnessed and wielded the darkness and rage within him to become a hyper-violent vigilante in Boston. Over the years, his extremely brutal tactics have softened slightly as he grows more accustomed to the hero lifestyle, but his strategic mind has remained just as sharp. Now he serves as almost a vigilante for hire, receiving rewards for saving people from the monsters and animals of his city, but deep down, he knows that darkness within him hasn't faded... He knows that the darkness within just grows stronger with each passing day, and soon enough, that darkness will explode into a rampage that he will never recover from. (Vigilante - Assassin - Rouge - Paradoxical Brawler) [Loosely based off of *Doom Patrol's* Cyborg, and *Borderlands* Zer0].
* Mordekai - He and his wife were once brilliant inventors and scientists, until a tragic lab accident led to the unfortunate death of his only love, and the horrific mutation which have befallen him. Mordekai's body became unstable from the chemical to the molecular level, whenever he loses control of his emotions causing himself to mutate and change matter around him uncontrollably. Emotionally wrecked with the guilt, shame, and pain of surviving, now Mordekai searches endlessly for some scientific way that he may be able to see his poor dead wife again. (Mutant Scientist - Unstable "Mage" - Wizard - Morphable Transmutator) [Loosely based off of *Doom Patrol's* Elastigirl and *Borderlands* Lilith].
* Allison - Not much is known about the innocent little five year old girl other than her unbridled cheerfulness, magical whimsy, and the mysterious trail of destruction and mayhem she leaves in her wake. She is a perfectly normal young child with hopes, dreams, even an imaginary friend and protector she calls Fluffers McTinkerton. Except, as the ground continues to quake and the bodies of those that may do her harm keep piling up, one wonders just how imaginary Fluffers truly is, and how far he would go to protect her... (Innocent Child - Protector Summon - Princess - "Space Princess") [Loosely based off of *Doom Patrol's* Crazy Jane, and *Borderlands* Gaige].
* Fluffers McTinkerton
* Gary - Gary... Is a nobody. Never having any particular struggles nor any special gifts (or really anything special about him at all), Gary has always lived a plain, bland life. It is a life that he is still content with... Somehow... But even he knows that he won't be changing the world in the grand scheme of things. And for some reason, he is completely fine with that mundane fact. But once he is caught up in situations beyond his grasp, and is thrust into a world far from his ability, Gary will be forced to adapt, or his sad miserable little life, will meet a justifiably sad and miserable little end. But this is just Gary we're talking about, so who honestly cares? *Let's move onto someone more interesting...* [Loosely based off of *Borderlands* Kreig].
* The Narrator - *Ah, yours truly, it is I, the Narrator of this very story. I come from a large and wonderful breed of extra-dimensional, omniscient quasi-gods whom exist all over the different aspects of reality, telling all of the stories that truly need to be told. Some of my fellow brothers and sisters among the Narrators may act a bit different, talk in other ways, or just act like real dullards, but consider yourself lucky to have me on this here story. Now if only the story itself was interesting enough to warrant my level of grandeur...*