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27. Jack Cross

Jack is another character, like Thinker, who made a big splash early on, but admittedly has fallen a bit by the wayside, what with the expansion of Zonn Zorr (and the general diminishment of amphitheater debriefing scenes as opposed to magic scenes in Oblivion, or space scenes in Oa). Still, that big splash made a very strong impression at a point when we were still largely dealing with more down-to-Earth narratives and mission planning. Having a snarky character that lacked any real desire to play by Amanda Wallers rigid idea of how Checkmate should operate created a unique opportunity for a character who is mature enough to know how one should behave, and still choosing to go a more chaotic route.

Early in the campaign, we woke up after being kidnapped and held in stasis, to discover that all of the PCswho had previously had metahuman or magical abilitieshad been sapped back to normalcy. We were informed of an agent in Mesa Verde who might have an answer to our problem, or at least some connective information regarding the OMAC threat (which hadnt truly established itself as dangerous at that early point in the campaign). So, off to Mesa Verde we traveled, and its residents were, for the most part, what you would expect of an off-the-grid and abandoned pueblo ruin. There were a pair of native American superheroes, a handful of older survivors, and even an outdoorsy trapper. Beyond them, there were only two NPCs that stuck out against the desert backdrop: Rocker (a Checkmate agent from Denver who surprisingly was NOT our contact), and Jack Cross.

Here's the thing that stands out about Jack Cross (and I do need to go on a little bit of a tangent here). The whole campaign revolves around an apocalyptic scenario where Darkseid has taken over the Earth and were one of the last handfuls of a ragtag group of survivors, trying to cobble together a resistance for the good of everyone on the planet (and the solar system, reallyif not more, given recent developments in the campaign). The NPCs we interact with largely fall into one of three categories: good-natured people, just trying to survive; villains that may or may not want to boost their profile in the eyes of the Society; or lunatics with bizarre fixations that render them unable to comprehend the more serious issues at hand (think the psychopaths from the Dead Rising franchise). Jack does not fit nicely into any of these categories.

What I enjoy about Jack Cross is how openly and blatantly self-interested he is. From the first moment we met him at Mesa Verde, he had his angles, and he stuck to them ferociously. Were part of a resistance group trying to save the world, and we cant get our powers back without the technology he managed to secure? Well then wed better keep him safe until we get him back to our base, because fuck the field team compared to his personal survival. Lo and behold, when the shit hit the fan and the OMACs started attacking, we got Jack to safety at the expense of literally every other survivor Mesa Verde had. Granted, several of them were already goners, but we couldve at least saved Chindi. Im still annoyed that we didnt realize we COULD get Chindi to safety. But whatever; Jack was what mattered, and thanks to him, we got back to Zonn Zorr in one piece, and regained our various superpowers.

From that point on, Jack continued to serve a very special purpose among the denizens of Zonn Zorr. You see, Checkmate has always been this shadowy, extranational organization, pulling strings and controlling world events without any sort of oversight. Under the current circumstances, having some semblance of structure to fight back against Darkseid is useful and comforting. However, Jack has a bit of a problem with authority, and hes not entirely comfortable with just laying down and letting Checkmate take over. Darkseid might be far and away the worse option, but that doesnt mean he has to like Checkmate. As such, there was a lengthy period of the campaign where wed have debriefings on our various field missions, and Jacks sole role was to sit in on those meetings and just crack jokes and talk shit about the missions (namely teachers pet Pepper). It provided some much-needed levity to an otherwise very serious situation.

Finally, I cant end a write-up on Jack without mentioning his extracurricular hobby. I dont know WHY this is a character trait Scarlet gave him, but its hilarious all the same: Jack is writing a science fiction novel. Its a BAD science fiction novel, but he IS writing it. Essentially, the character of Jack Cross is writing the in-universe equivalent of Mass Effect (no judgment towards, Scarlet, btwtheres a reason I always use existing songs in my writing, rather than trying to write something of my own when the need arises). Its completely cheesy, and every so often, one of us will ask Scarlet to give us another page or two from Jacks novel, and its just awful in the best way. Hes even started incorporating Rozetta, our resident Saturnian, as the inspiration behind some of his characters. The whole thing is just a comic character trait to further flesh out this interesting personality thats stuck with us since the early days of the campaign.

Hint for #26: Has a catchphrase.