Post by redsycorax on Apr 26, 2022 3:13:41 GMT
As with many other alternate Earths, Earth-109 saw the rise of a new cohort of metahumans in the early sixties. Tragically however, the advent of the Third World War after its Cuban missile crisis took a darker turn led to the abrupt ending of many curtailed heroic careers- or villainous ones, in some cases. In others, though, unexpected redemption occurred. Take the case of Rosalind Thorne, a woman with dissociative identity disorder, or, as it is colloquially known, multiple personality syndrome. While Ms. Thorne was a gentle soul and talented pianist, her alter ego was the beautiful but corrupt Bloody Rose, sometime enemy of Jacob Allon, the Streak.
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On the night of October 28, 1962, Rosalind Thorne was cooling her heels in the Seaboard City Sanatorium, where she had laid plans to rest and avoid the psychological stressors that brought out her Bloody Rose persona, listening to a slow and easy saxophone round in the distance. Then there was an almost instantaneous change of pace and tone as the musical interlude ended and a shrill, hysterical conversation erupted between two of the sanitarium nurses:
"Oh, God! Have you heard, Stephanie! The shooting's started in the Carribean! The commies blew up one of our ships and we attacked Cuba and they nuked one of our bases and-"
"I'm going home! I'll take my children and head for the hills!"
"But what about the patients?"
"Who cares about those loonies?! It's everyone for themselves! Get out of here while we still can!"
"But the commies won't hit Seaboard City, will they?"
"Are you joking?! With Vandenburg Air Force Base just down the road?! If you're not going, I am!"
"All right, all right! Just let me get my coat and handbag!"
Despite the lithium in her body, Rosalind felt the familiar upsurge of panic and tension that usually heralded the emergence of her ruthless, criminal alter ego. She tried to fight it, but this time, something was different. Usually, the arrival of Bloody Rose meant that Rosalind Thorne was submerged altogether and could only watch the depredations and corruption helpless, imprisoned within an unresponsive body that had been hijacked by an intruder.
-What the hell do you think you're doing, Thorne? Get out of here! Now! I'm not having you get in the way!
-Nothing doing, Rosie. What did you have planned, anyway? Taking advantage of the chaos and anarchy as the doomsday clock hits midnight and helping yourself to ill-gotten gains? With the Justice Guild in town, yet?
-I said, get out! Or I'll make you!
But as much as Bloody Rose fought to put her usually more passive benign alter back into the 'waiting room' of observation without intervention, Rosalind would not allow herself to be relegated to a bystander position within the body she shared. Bloody Rose managed to dress herself in her seductive cream evening dress with her knock-out telltale perfume but it was a struggle. Finally, she managed to don her redhaired wig and sashayed past the deserted and wide open gate, toward the main concourse of Seaboard City three miles away.
Normally, any mainstream citizen of Seaboard City would raise an eyebrow at the redhaired siren who had just picked up an early copy of the latest newspaper, which confirmed and substantiated the panicked conversation of a half-hour past within the sanatorium. Insanely, Bloody Rose laughed:
"Oh, excellent! The Guild's busy with this international situation and all these beautiful jewels on display ready for the taking!"
-You really are a piece of work, aren't you? The world's about to end and all you can do is gloat over the fact that decent people have higher priorities.
-What's gotten into you? You'd better not interfere with the haul I've got planned, Thorne. Now shut up and get into the back room where you belong!
-Like hell I will. I'm not spending the last night we'll have on this world satisfying your mercenary taste for hot rocks, Rosie.
-Like you can control what I'm going to do next... hey!
For the lithium had evened the odds, and her alter ego had abruptly seized control of her body back, and had decided on some subterfuge. Now that she was here, she decided that there would be some changes. Ignoring Bloody Rose's threats and shouted obscenities from the other side of the consciousness barrier, Rosalind Thorne was determined to right the balance in the time that remained to her. Dressed in Bloody Rose's wig and adopting her behavioural cues, Rosalind sashayed toward a ram-raid in process at the Second Seaboard City Bank. As the criminal gang caught sight of her, they jumped to the wrong conclusions. Donning her alter ego's telltale perfume, she moved easily into the middle of the unsuspecting gang- who, suddenly, were unsteady on their feet, and who then slid to the sidewalk and fell over their getaway vehicle. Rosalind reached into the van through an open window and plucked out the vehicle keys, and then threw them through a sewer grate. It went on that way for the course of an hour, as Rosalind thwarted local larceny with unexpected interventions, and thoroughly ruined the criminal reputation of her redhaired rival, who shrieked her outrage and fury well out of range of her body.
And then, her time ran out. Looking overhead, Rosalind witnessed the arrival of the apocalypse as an ICBM accelerated toward the adjacent airforce base. She relinquished control of her body to a now hysterical and panicking Bloody Rose, who tried to run from her ensuing destiny. Unfortunately, she was out in the open and too close to the epicentre. As the blast enveloped the outskirts of Seaboard City and vaporised her body, Bloody Rose died with the mocking, derisive laughter of her beneficent alter ego inside her head, the tables truly turned.
THE END
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On the night of October 28, 1962, Rosalind Thorne was cooling her heels in the Seaboard City Sanatorium, where she had laid plans to rest and avoid the psychological stressors that brought out her Bloody Rose persona, listening to a slow and easy saxophone round in the distance. Then there was an almost instantaneous change of pace and tone as the musical interlude ended and a shrill, hysterical conversation erupted between two of the sanitarium nurses:
"Oh, God! Have you heard, Stephanie! The shooting's started in the Carribean! The commies blew up one of our ships and we attacked Cuba and they nuked one of our bases and-"
"I'm going home! I'll take my children and head for the hills!"
"But what about the patients?"
"Who cares about those loonies?! It's everyone for themselves! Get out of here while we still can!"
"But the commies won't hit Seaboard City, will they?"
"Are you joking?! With Vandenburg Air Force Base just down the road?! If you're not going, I am!"
"All right, all right! Just let me get my coat and handbag!"
Despite the lithium in her body, Rosalind felt the familiar upsurge of panic and tension that usually heralded the emergence of her ruthless, criminal alter ego. She tried to fight it, but this time, something was different. Usually, the arrival of Bloody Rose meant that Rosalind Thorne was submerged altogether and could only watch the depredations and corruption helpless, imprisoned within an unresponsive body that had been hijacked by an intruder.
-What the hell do you think you're doing, Thorne? Get out of here! Now! I'm not having you get in the way!
-Nothing doing, Rosie. What did you have planned, anyway? Taking advantage of the chaos and anarchy as the doomsday clock hits midnight and helping yourself to ill-gotten gains? With the Justice Guild in town, yet?
-I said, get out! Or I'll make you!
But as much as Bloody Rose fought to put her usually more passive benign alter back into the 'waiting room' of observation without intervention, Rosalind would not allow herself to be relegated to a bystander position within the body she shared. Bloody Rose managed to dress herself in her seductive cream evening dress with her knock-out telltale perfume but it was a struggle. Finally, she managed to don her redhaired wig and sashayed past the deserted and wide open gate, toward the main concourse of Seaboard City three miles away.
Normally, any mainstream citizen of Seaboard City would raise an eyebrow at the redhaired siren who had just picked up an early copy of the latest newspaper, which confirmed and substantiated the panicked conversation of a half-hour past within the sanatorium. Insanely, Bloody Rose laughed:
"Oh, excellent! The Guild's busy with this international situation and all these beautiful jewels on display ready for the taking!"
-You really are a piece of work, aren't you? The world's about to end and all you can do is gloat over the fact that decent people have higher priorities.
-What's gotten into you? You'd better not interfere with the haul I've got planned, Thorne. Now shut up and get into the back room where you belong!
-Like hell I will. I'm not spending the last night we'll have on this world satisfying your mercenary taste for hot rocks, Rosie.
-Like you can control what I'm going to do next... hey!
For the lithium had evened the odds, and her alter ego had abruptly seized control of her body back, and had decided on some subterfuge. Now that she was here, she decided that there would be some changes. Ignoring Bloody Rose's threats and shouted obscenities from the other side of the consciousness barrier, Rosalind Thorne was determined to right the balance in the time that remained to her. Dressed in Bloody Rose's wig and adopting her behavioural cues, Rosalind sashayed toward a ram-raid in process at the Second Seaboard City Bank. As the criminal gang caught sight of her, they jumped to the wrong conclusions. Donning her alter ego's telltale perfume, she moved easily into the middle of the unsuspecting gang- who, suddenly, were unsteady on their feet, and who then slid to the sidewalk and fell over their getaway vehicle. Rosalind reached into the van through an open window and plucked out the vehicle keys, and then threw them through a sewer grate. It went on that way for the course of an hour, as Rosalind thwarted local larceny with unexpected interventions, and thoroughly ruined the criminal reputation of her redhaired rival, who shrieked her outrage and fury well out of range of her body.
And then, her time ran out. Looking overhead, Rosalind witnessed the arrival of the apocalypse as an ICBM accelerated toward the adjacent airforce base. She relinquished control of her body to a now hysterical and panicking Bloody Rose, who tried to run from her ensuing destiny. Unfortunately, she was out in the open and too close to the epicentre. As the blast enveloped the outskirts of Seaboard City and vaporised her body, Bloody Rose died with the mocking, derisive laughter of her beneficent alter ego inside her head, the tables truly turned.
THE END