BASED ON THE GUMSHOE ONE-2-ONE SYSTEM BY ROBIN D.

LAWS

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BY MICHAEL DUXBURY

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 ALTEREGOMANIA

CREDITS
Publishers: Simon Rogers and Cathriona Tobin
GUMSHOE One-2-One System Design: Robin D. Laws
Author: Michael Duxbury
Art Direction: Chris Huth
Cover Art: Chris Huth

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Interior Art: Chris Huth
Design & layout: Chris Huth
Playtesters: Jay Godden, Simon Rogers

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Copyright © 2022 Pelgrane Press Ltd.

GUMSHOE One-2-One is a trademarks of Pelgrane Press Ltd.
2 Pelgrane Press is co-owned by Simon Rogers and Cathriona Tobin.
 CONTENTS
NEW OLYMPUS: SUPERIOR CITY 4 UNMASKED AVENGER PROBLEM CARDS 25
Life Under Plutocorp 4 30
Being Superior 5
The Heroes of Superior City 7
UNMASKED AVENGER EDGE CARDS 31

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The Resistance 7

KLARA KOENIG 8 GUMSHOE ONE-2-ONE  36

Klara’s Sources 8 Rules Summary 36

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Klara Koenig, Investigative Journalist 8 Character Card  36
The Pedestrian 9 Choosing Your Starting Problem  36
Klara Koenig, Investigative Journalist 37
Investigative Abilities  37
UNMASKED AVENGER 10 Investigative Ability List  38
The Story So Far 10 Investigative Ability Descriptions  38
Cast10 Pushes  40
Scenes12 Sources  40
Ground Zero 12 General Abilities  41
Justice Unserved 13 General Ability List  41
Know Thy Enemy 
No Angel, No Devil
Lord of the Land
Meteor Strikes
Woman Scorned
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General Ability Descriptions 
Tests42
Challenges42
Quick Tests
Countering Problems
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Crisis of Conscience 17 Taking Time 43
The Sinking Ship 18 Antagonist Reactions 43
Only Heroes Fall 19
Care to Comment? 20
Friendly Advice 20
Lawyering Up 21
Act of God 21
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Not Part of the Plan 22

The Byline 24
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 ALTEREGOMANIA
T he skies above New Olympus are
patrolled by caped crusaders, but
these superior beings are far from heroes.
They wield their powers with reckless
disregard, serving the interests of corporate
overseers, and silencing those who oppose
their will. Most diligently they disguise
their civilian identities, to avoid facing
accountability for their corruption and
brutality. Only by revealing the faces
behind these masks, and announcing the
NEW OLYMPUS: SUPERIOR CITY
There was a time when the city of New
Olympus struggled with the same problems
as other metropolises on America’s west
coast. In the shadow of towering skyscrapers,
a rising wave of crime preyed upon urban
communities and visiting tourists, seemingly
undeterred by attempted police crackdowns.
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Now, the city council boasts the lowest violent
crime rate in a century, all thanks to the
generosity of Plutocorp Security Solutions.
Since Plutocorp relocated its company
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headquarters and main laboratories to New
Olympus, a new wave of superpowered
individuals have joined the city’s population.
Their formidable powers are at the disposal
of the city’s police force, the first generation
of “superior” law enforcement officers. Now
the city bows to the reign of the supermen, its
citizens living at the mercy of superior beings,
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who hide behind masks and secret identities
to avoid the consequences of their actions.
LIFE UNDER PLUTOCORP
In many ways, the life of the average law-
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abiding citizen has changed little since the
arrival of Plutocorp. Stories of thwarted
robberies and brave rescue attempts by
superiors have become a common feature
of local news. Occasionally a New Olympus
resident might catch sight of a speeding or
flying superior. Such things have little impact
on the normal work-sleep routine, except
to make a certain class of citizen feel safer.
Only those with the instinct to look deeper
and ask the right questions might detect the
4 insidious danger of corporate overreach.
crimes they have committed to the world,
can a fairer society be reconstructed.
You are Klara Koenig, investigative
journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and
exposing manufactured falsehood is your
highest calling. Together with the common
citizens of New Olympus, you intend to prove
the privileged superhuman elite do not yet
hold a monopoly on truth and justice.
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Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest
setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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The secondment of superior police
officers is only the most obvious respect in
which Plutocorp has begun privatizing the
protection and government of New Olympus’
citizens. Public surveillance, utilized by
superior officers to aid their crimefighting
efforts, has become an omnipresent
fact of modern life. Mobile phones and
other communications devices now come
installed with Plutocorp security software
by default. These new technological devices
are manufactured by prisoner labor within
Plutocorp’s privately-owned incarceration
centers. Keeping their labor costs low is a
simple matter of continuing to arrest, confine,
and disenfranchise alleged criminals.
Plutocorp responds to accusations of
corruption with a multi-media publicity
offensive. They pay exorbitant sums to
advertise heavily through local news media,
discouraging journalists from digging too
deep for fear of biting the hand that feeds.
In this new post-truth reality, Plutocorp
protects itself with propaganda and deliberate
misinformation, much as their superiors
protect themselves with masks and costumes.
Whilst many citizens resent the
imposition of Plutocorp into their lives, most
begrudgingly accept it. They may consider it a
reasonable trade-off for the feeling of being
sheltered from crime (“If you’ve nothing to
hide, you’ve nothing to fear”). Others simply
feel powerless to fight back (“I’m just one
person, what can I do?”). Individuals with
the bravery to defy a megacorporation, their
superpowered allies, and the full force of
the New Olympus police department are a
  the streets of new olympus
Like most American cities, the districts of New Olympus are harshly stratified
between urban ghettos and playgrounds of the rich, residential enclaves and tourist-
trap high-streets. Investigators with City Knowledge, like Klara Koenig, will be well
acquainted with the neighborhoods below and their well-deserved reputations.
hh capitol zone. The highest fare price on all kinds of public transportation

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delivers a traveler to the city center, where one can find city hall, police
headquarters, and the Plutocorp company skyscraper. Law enforcement is diligent
in forcefully relocating vagrants caught sleeping or begging in this area.
hh bomont. Promoted as the melting-pot of the city’s artistic and creative

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minds, this desirable borough has been heavily gentrified over the course
of a generation. What galleries and theatres remain have been aggressively
commodified for mass-market appeal or exclusive oligarchic clientele,
whilst independent artists struggle to get by on the outskirts. The Pedestrian
newspaper offices are based here, though most reporters work remotely.
hh dockside. This expansive quayside of container parks and moorings
processes a constant stream of shipping from across the Pacific. It is key
to the city’s continued prosperity and its workers know it, battling to
preserve their way of life with community spirit and collective action.
hh cape connolly. This raised, southern peninsula commands stunning

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views of the west coast, driving house prices to ludicrous extremes. In
gated communities, the rich and famous enjoy their rule of the city from
a position of relative seclusion. The name is ironic, since many superiors
reside within Cape Connolly only when assuming their alter egos.
hh sinclair terraces. Colloquially known as the “sin-streets” of New Olympus,
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this impoverished district houses much of the city’s economically-disadvantaged
black population. It has suffered repeated over-policing as part of the new
regime’s commitment to obliterate crime in New Olympus, and its residents
bear the physical and psychological scars of battles against superior officers.
hh city limits. Beyond the inner-city, one can find other districts common
to most modern American cities: the New Olympus University campus
in the north-east; Patriarch International Airport in the north-west; and
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the ever-expanding borders of suburbia to the south and east.

rare breed – but when such a person does details of the procedure are hidden from the
take a stand, they often find allies to help public, it is known to be ruinously expensive,
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them. The hardest part is being the first
to stick their head above the ramparts.
BEING SUPERIOR
Acquiring superpowers isn’t something that
happens by accident in New Olympus. A
prospective superior must subject themselves
to the care of Plutocorp’s super-scientists,
accepting the risk of injury, death, or
“undesirable transformations”. Whilst most
ensuring only the richest citizens can ever
experience the thrill of godlike power.
Even after the cheque is cashed, a superior
remains in Plutocorp’s debt. Conditions of
their deal with the devil indenture a superior
to Plutocorp for the rest of their working lives
– usually as a private security contractor or
emergency service worker in New Olympus,
though exceptions exist for superiors whose
powers are too unmarketable. Superiors
too entitled to submit to this condition
invariably come to an unfortunate end within 5
  origin story
As far as the world knows, the ability to confer superhuman power is technology unique
to Plutocorp Security Solutions. Patents and non-disclosure agreements protect the
company’s secrets, leaving citizens to speculate wildly about how these superpowers
are conferred – theories include drugs, biological tampering, and magical ritual.
It is beyond the scope of Unmasked Avenger to investigate the source of superior

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powers, but players embarking on a full Alteregomania campaign might seek the
truth, as leverage to wield against Plutocorp. GMs may select any of the explanations
below as a starting point of a conspiracy, or choose to invent their own. There may
even be multiple distinct sources of superpower in your game, each greedily obtained
by Plutocorp through hostile acquisitions, to protect their tidy monopoly.

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hh For decades Plutocorp have worked on the development of a super-serum, conferring
superhuman gifts by intravenous injection. Before going public, they tested their
early prototypes on unwilling test subjects, disfiguring many with debilitating
transformations, before quietly disposing of the witnesses. Where were these
experiments conducted? Could any subjects have escaped the trials? And what
incriminating information could they reveal if persuaded to come forward?
hh The first superior beings were naturally occurring evolutionary offshoots, before
they were detained by Plutocorp’s scientists in the world’s first “super-prison”.
Now those scientists harvest genetic material from the originals, implanting

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them in new hosts to artificially accelerate the process of natural selection.
Where are the captive originals now? Are there other originals walking the
earth who were never ensnared by Plutocorp’s hunter teams? What assistance
could they provide, in return for help rescuing the rest of their kind?
hh The discovery of the millennium happened in secret: proof of extraterrestrial
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intelligence. Plutocorp has been reverse-engineering alien technology
for years, and their superpower bestowments are just the tip of the
iceberg. What new alien-derived technology does the corporation have in
development? What have they gleaned of its culture of origin? And what
plans do the corporation have to extend their dominion into the cosmos?
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months of their contractual breach. Without
regular check-ups from medical personnel
at Plutocorp headquarters side-effects of
their superpowers can suddenly manifest in
all kinds of surprising and horrifying ways.
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publicly demonstrated telepathic control over
humans, or an ability to control the flow of
time, but that is not to say they don’t exist.
Despite Plutocorp’s best efforts, the
science of superiority is still in its infancy,

The range of powers demonstrated with no proven guarantees. Many aspiring

by superiors run the full gamut of four-
color comic book conventions. Enhanced
strength, resilience, and perception are
relatively commonplace. Most superior law
enforcement officers employ some kind of
“blast” power (telekinesis, heat vision, freeze
breath, acid spitting, etc.) to give them an
edge in the field. Highly desirable powers,
such as flight, super speed, invisibility,
and bulletproof skin, are the province of a
6 select, prestigious few. No superiors have
superior has emptied their savings in hopes
of becoming a teleporter or shapeshifter,
only to acquire the ability to talk to fish.
More worryingly, all superiors acquire
vulnerabilities to specific materials or
sensations as part of their enhancement
procedure, a fatal flaw which allows ordinary
humans to turn the tables on them. Perhaps
this Achilles heel is a feature not a bug, the
ultimate insurance to prevent the superiors
ever turning on their corporate overseers.

THE HEROES OF SUPERIOR CITY
A common complaint of New Olympus’
elder citizens is that new superiors seem
to appear all the time – only the most
obsessive fans can keep track of them all.
Despite the constant appetite for novelty,
a few superiors retain everlasting affection
in the popular consciousness, the elite of
superior society. These first-among-equals
are renowned for being the earliest superiors,
wielding the most impressive superpowers,
or some combination of the two.
hh Patriarch. The World’s Greatest Warrior TM
is reckoned the most powerful superior
on the planet. His flight, indestructibility
and super strength have been evident
since his first public appearance, with a
new power seeming to manifest every few
months. He is the righteous figurehead of
the superior law enforcement campaign,
and his public relations team burn through
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millions paying off witnesses who might
tarnish the reputation of their golden boy.
hh Dark Money (aka Marcia Marshall). The
chairwoman of Plutocorp is the wealthiest
woman on the planet, and one of the
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few superiors to not conceal her secret
identity. In her second job, she enjoys
terrorizing the criminal underclasses
from the shadows, with her invisibility
and apparent omniscience. Many of
her abilities are not true superpowers,
but achieved through her wealth,
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technology, and illegal surveillance.
hh Colonial Man. This flamboyant superior
models his clothing on the anachronistic
dress of pioneering European settlers.
Despite his impressive strength and
telekinetic powers, Colonial Man is best
known for his outspokenly conversative
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political beliefs, which have earned him
as many loyal devotees as detractors.
hh Diversity Kid. Both the first black
superior and allegedly first queer
superior was expensively promoted as
part of Plutocorp’s Pride Month stunt
last year. Rumors circulate the superior
hopes to use his powers of illusion to
transition from law enforcement to a
spectacular show business career.
hh General Helios. The fastest flying superior
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on Earth has set her eyes upon other
worlds, and is Plutocorp’s answer to
the ongoing billionaire-space-race. As
a member of the United States armed
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forces, she puts in regular appearances at
New Olympus high schools, encouraging
children to enlist when they graduate.
THE RESISTANCE
Even as Plutocorp becomes a more
omnipresent feature of daily life in New
Olympus, there are those who organize to
fight back. Street protests conducted by local
activists achieve a profile online, highlighting
instances of injustice and corruption that
Plutocorp struggles to suppress. Through
their efforts, conversations about superior
corruption and unaccountability have
inched their way to becoming a nationally-
discussed political issue. Even so, progressive
politicians remain split on the issue, with
some calling for the unmasking of public
officers, and other defending their right to
privacy in recognition of their service.
Where unambiguously free journalism
still ekes out an existence, principled
reporters battle to expose the unvarnished
truth, wading against the current of
misinformation. In the dying days of print
media, this may be the last chance for local
newspaper writers to make a difference.
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 KLARA KOENIG
ALTEREGOMANIA

In a city of short memories, Klara Koenig
has been round the block often enough to
remember a time before the Plutocorp era.
She’s worked as an investigative journalist at
The Pedestrian for most her adult life, scraping
her way up the ranks with diligent reporting,
KLARA’S SOURCES
Klara works with a great many witnesses,
informants and experts to verify her work,
and find the clues she can’t. Of those, the
Sources she returns to most regularly are:

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compelling writing, and good instincts for a
hh Dante Rubio, former cop and jaded
snappy headline. In that time, she has fallen in
whistleblower (Investigative Abilities:
love with New Olympus, and cultivated a wide
Blast Analysis, Bullshit Detector,
range of contacts amongst its inhabitants.
Evidence Collection, Forensics, Law)
Though she could be making far more money

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hh Lateefah Jordan, civil rights activist
working for a better-funded media outlet, she
(Investigative Abilities: Humanities,
sticks with The Pedestrian out of a stubborn
Languages, Protest, Social Media)
(some would say naïve) sense of loyalty.
hh Amanda Wozniak, city hall archivist
In Alteregomania, Klara is the viewpoint
(Investigative Abilities: Accounting,
through which the players will experience
Archive Research, Bureaucracy,
the city of New Olympus, along with its
City Knowledge, Gossip)
mundane and superpowered citizenry. Unlike
hh Naomi Abrams, lab technician
many roleplaying characters, she lacks much
(Investigative Abilities: Craft,
talent for fighting her way through problems
Forgery, Science)

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physically, especially when matched against
superior police officers. But her skills leave
her well-equipped to slip her way into
trouble, and after discovering what needs to
be found, slipping her way back out again.
hh Wallace Hector, drug dealer
(Investigative Abilities: Intimidation,
Locksmith, Notice, Streetwise)
More details for these Sources, and Klara’s
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relationship with them, can be found on p. 40.

KLARA KOENIG INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST

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investigative abilities general abilities

Art Review Athletics
Bootlicking Cool
Bullshit Detector Driving
Charm Escaping
City Knowledge Fighting
Electronic Surveillance First Aid
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Impersonate Hacking
Interview Hiding
Negotiation Mechanics
Notice Preparedness
Online Research Sense Trouble
Photography Shadowing
Reassurance Stealing
Superior Fandom Writing
Textual Analysis

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  personalizing klara
To provide the player with a sense of ownership over Klara as their character,
ask them to answer the following questions before you begin play:
hh Klara is already a veteran reporter, well-known and respected in her
field. What was the story that her won her such renown?
hh Klara is Jewish by descent. Does she practice Judaism as a religion,

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and how orthodox does she consider herself to be?
hh Years in the field have resulted in Klara picking up some idiosyncratic habits. What tic or
fidget always indicates to Klara’s colleagues that she’s on the verge of cracking a story?
hh Klara already has good reason to distrust Plutocorp and their superior police officers.

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What has she witnessed or experienced to cause her to suspect their motives?

special accommodation. Yet Finnegan

THE PEDESTRIAN battles just as hard against the budget
cuts and executive meddling from
The Pedestrian is a local and regional
The Pedestrian’s owners, shielding his
newspaper publication, with a self-declared
reporters from the fallout. On a good day,
agenda to speak truth to its readers without

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smear or sensationalization. Its publication
history stretches back to the 19th Century,
and in that time it has fostered extraordinary
journalistic talent, including future Pulitzer
Klara and Finnegan enjoy a productive,
if combative, working relationship.
hh Ethan Lopez, copy editor. A former
“rewrite man”, Ethan has worked for The
Pedestrian even longer than Klara, and
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Prize winners. Despite the quality of its
struggles to keep up with the changes
output, and its enviable position reporting on
made to his deskbound role in the age
the foremost concentration of superpowered
of mobile working. He is a diligent and
beings on the planet, The Pedestrian
detail-oriented proofreader, forensically
struggles to remain relevant in the modern
exposing the gaps in a reporter’s
era. It is threatened by social media “citizen
story to illuminate where their hunt
journalism” on one front, and big-budget
for the truth must take them next.
corporate-owned media empires on the
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hh Dominique “Dom” Obasi, up-and-

other. Fears of layoffs, buyout, or closure
coming reporter. Dom is a young, plucky,
are never far from its reporters’ minds. They
reporter-of-color, whose enthusiasm
go above-and-beyond in pursuit of their
sometimes exceeds her patience
stories, partly out of a sense of duty, but
for fact-verification. Klara serves as
also in hopes of protecting their jobs.
Dom’s unofficial mentor, tempering
During her long employment at The
her impetuousness, and sharpening
Pedestrian Klara has fostered a close
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her journalistic instincts. Helping her

relationship with her co-workers, not
protégé to overcome investigative
all of whom have since left the paper
dead ends often provides Klara with
to pursue more gainful employment. In
the spark of inspiration she needs to
her day-to-day work, she most regularly
push forward with her own stories.
exchanges correspondence with:
hh Lawrence Finnegan, managing editor.
An uncompromising loudmouth,
Finnegan rides his reporters hard with
constant demands for story updates
and publishable material, with little
patience for excuses or requests for 9
 ALTEREGOMANIA
UNMASKED AVENGER
THE STORY SO FAR
Patrick Vulpeton has expensive bills to pay,
and Plutocorp is not a company you want
to be indebted to, even when you have
superpowers. The millionaire property
developer and slumlord went all-in to
afford the procedure transforming him
into the superior police officer “Meteor”,
and now he’s paying the price.
His old life as the majority shareholder
at Rampart Development could provide a
creative solution. After years of neglecting
his tenants, one of the apartment blocks he
owns in Sinclair Terraces has so depreciated
in value that his best financial option is for
the building to collapse, insurance to pay out,
and the land to be sold to another developer
for gentrification. Crime is so prevalent
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amongst the “sin-streets” that finding an
excuse for a superior to “intervene” in the
slums is not difficult. And as long as his secret
identity remains undiscovered, his insurers
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will ever learn of his conflict of interest.
The destruction of Arden Court is about
to become front page news, and Meteor’s
PR team are struggling to get to the bottom
of their client’s terrible decisions before
anyone else can. Their first concern: silencing
the witness Maria Gonzales, who alleges to
have witnessed the superior kill her son,
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plant evidence and deliberately start the fire
which destroyed her home. Maria knows the
police will never help her get justice, but is
determined to speak the truth regardless.
She just needs to help her tell her story…
CAST
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hh Patrick Vulpeton, 45, slumlord turned
superhero. Rich, entitled and cruel, his
wealth is built upon the backs of his
tenants, whom he houses in deplorable
living conditions. His secret superior
alter ego is Meteor, a new hero whose
powers include flight, super-strength,
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and the ability to radiate a circle of
fire. Perpetrator of the destruction
of Arden Court, and the murder of
Toby Gonzales, as part of an ill-
conceived insurance fraud scheme.
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hh Toby Gonzales, 18 (deceased), the
victim. A troubled youth with gang
connections, whose misdemeanors
were used as pretext for Meteor’s
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intervention at Arden Court. Murdered
by Meteor, supposedly in self-defense.
hh Maria Gonzales, 42, the victim’s mother.
Traumatized, angry, a woman with nothing
left to lose. After witnessing Meteor’s
actions at Arden Court, she is determined
to find justice for her son at any cost.
hh Sophie Cuthbert, 28, the mistress. After
a passionate but brief love affair with
Vulpeton, she is now pregnant with his
child, and desperate for his attention.
One of the few individuals outside
Plutocorp who knows his secret identity.
hh Melanie Wright, 39, PR representative.
A beautiful, smiling, devil in high heels,
she despises her client Meteor, but
Plutocorp pays her good money to
keep him out of trouble. Has a team
of legal advisors on speed dial.
hh Kathy Cheung, 25, PR assistant.
Works directly for Melanie Wright. A
successful graduate of the Plutocorp
internship program, she’s having
second thoughts about the people
she’s taking money from.
hh Alan Ducaine, 60, Vulpeton’s number
two. Has worked for Vulpeton at
Rampart Development for decades,
somehow roped into providing remote
support for his new superior career.
Just about sick of Vulpeton’s bullshit.
hh Ronald Wellington, 36, property
developer at Wellington Properties.
Prospective buyer of the land at Arden
Court, who made the fatal error of pre-
submitting plans to redevelop it from
ruins before the catastrophe actually
happened. Desperate to cover his own ass.