A few years ago I wrote a series of short fiction pieces that were included in the Era: The Empowered Roleplaying Game, published by Shades of Vengeance. A fifth anniversary edition of the game is due to be released in early 2024 I believe.

I had great fun writing the shorts and Ed Jowett, the man behind the Era range and MD of Shades of Vengeance, has kindly allowed me to share the fiction here on the blog.

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February Year 2. Two new Empowered decide to seek Aegis. by Angus Abranson (first published in Era: The Empowered RPG Core Rulebook)

Tornado limped from the apartments kitchen holding two mugs of hot chocolate.

“Bert, you life-saver!” Beth, Blue-Shift, exclaimed from her position, laying stretched out on the couch. The wall-mounted TV, the other side of the room, playing silent footage of a legion of Atlanteans marching up the Champs-Elysses towards the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The wide street deserted of civilians, but littered with military vehicles and assorted ordnance, from an earlier meeting between the Human and Atlantean forces.

“I thought we could use a comfort drink. Sorry, I don’t have any cream or marshmallows.” Bert sighed, as he slid down into a comfy armchair. Taking weight off his injured ankle.

“Pah! Marshmallows are the devils invention! Why destroy a perfectly fine drink! Start doing that you may as well let them win!” Beth replied, indicating the TV with a nod.

Bert laughed, followed by a sigh. “That was a close call today. There’s so many of them, and they’re so well organised. Not to mention damn hard to take down. I feel I’ve well and truly deserved a bath full of bubbles followed by some cheap dirty fried chicken or a pizza tonight. ”

“Why, is the mighty Tornado feeling sorry for himself?” Beth teased.

“Never!” Bert grinned, but then continued more seriously “But we’re getting battered out there and we’re hardly making a dent. We knock ‘em down, and they keep popping back up. With reinforcements! There’s only so much the two of us can do, and don’t get me wrong, I think we are slowing them down, but we’re doing just that. Slowing them down, not stopping them. It’s like a weird Atlanean-sized game of Whac-A-Mole!”

Beth took a long sip of the warm drink, “Maybe what we need is a Team-Up.”

“Be serious Blue. The military and police are useless and, depending on who’s in charge, would just as happily shoot at us as they would the fish men.”

“I am being serious. Not with the norms, but with them…” She gestured her mug towards the TV.

Bert turned and saw a number of people, several in costumes, battling the Atlantean forces somewhere. Not just battling, but winning. He picked up the remote that’d slipped down the side of the chair and turned up the sound.

“…leaving a number of casualties among the armed forces until the group calling itself Aegis arrived on the scene and drove the Atlantean force back in to the sea. The group, led by Martian Pants Man, have had mixed success of late, but do seem to be handling the situation more effectively than the combined armed forces…”

“You just find masks sexy,” Bert mocked in jest, “but that’s not a bad idea at all. They certainly seem to know what they’re doing, even if the leader wears those hideous pants, and I agree that teaming up will give us all a much better chance. Or boost our chances at any rate. Plus I always wanted to go abroad and see London.”

“What’s left of it at any rate.” Beth mused, “Guess our next mission, if we choose to accept it, is to try and get over there with all civilian air travel suspended and sea travel being out of the question for obvious reasons.”

“Something to think about as I relax and soak in a nice bubble filled world of tranquillity…” Bert said as he rose from his seat to head to the bathroom.

“What a wonderful idea.” He heard Beth say as a blue streak passed him and he heard the lock on the bathroom door close from down the hall.