LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL: ACTION SCENE: GETTING A SPONSOR FOR THE MRA
Some heroes, including Daredevil and She-Hulk, have serious misgivings about the SHRA, and have met to hash out a compromise that will protect metahuman civil rights yet keep events like Stamford from happening again. Having drafted the MRA, the Pro-MRA heroes must convince a member of Congress to sponsor the Act.
Note: The Watcher may decide to include a Transition Scene before this one, called Drafting The MRA, in which the heroes join Matt Murdock and Jennifer Walters in a meeting to discuss a compromise between the old ways and the SHRA. Such a Transition Scene should start with Matt and Jennifer inviting the heroes to the meeting, and then presenting their version of the MRA to the heroes. Allow the heroes to make suggestions to amend the MRA, but in the end the MRA should get through with only minor changes, if any. The best use of this Transition scene, other than for making Recoveries, is to build Resources for ACTION: GETTING A SPONSOR FOR THE MRA.
The heroes must approach a sitting congressman and sway him or her to sponsor the MRA. Given the nature of the MRA, the heroes will have an easier time of it if they approach a liberal-leaning congressman.
As a CIVIL SERVANT, the congressman is obliged to hear all cases presented to him/her, either in person or through a staff member, but is also obligated to consider what is in the best interests of the state that he/she serves. Since her or she is IN SOMEONE’S POCKET, the congressman might have a compelling reason to be in favor or opposed to the MRA, but if the heroes figure out who “owns” the congressman, they can make that work against him/her. Finally, the congressman has FADED PRINCIPLES; some cause for which he/she became a politician in the first place and which may have bearing on this issue.
The heroes may exercise one of the following Resources if they possess them:
- Business Resource: You have formed a superPAC organization that can provide funds to either help or harm the congressman during the next election. You can use this as leverage to get the congressman to assist you.
- Covert Resource: You uncover information about the congressman that would compromise his position in office, such as an illicit affair, a shady connection, or perhaps that the congressman has a metahuman relative that he/she has hidden away from public scrutiny. You can use this as leverage to sway the congressman.
- Crime Resource: Like the Covert Resource, but the information shows a connection between the congressman and organized crime, or that he has violated tax laws or something similar.
The congressman’s office is an Enclosed Space with Heavy Furniture. He has a Large Staff of Aides in his office building. The street outside has Heavy Pedestrian Traffic and is near Historic Monuments just blocks away. If things get violent, the congressman has Security Guards that can come to his aid.
If the Watcher wants to add some combat to this scene, have the heroes enter into the congressman’s office to find Graviton threatening the congressman. He has snuck past security by entering through the congressman’s window, which faces the back parking lot. You can find his stats on page BR39 of Breakout. He has already dispatched with the few security guards that surveyed the parking area, and now has the congressman’s full attention. Graviton feels very intimidated by the SHRA, and feels that this congressman holds enough sway to ensue that it won’t pass. He plans to intimidate the congressman into crushing the SHRA.
If the heroes attempt to talk Graviton down, he reverts to classic villain type, swearing that the pitiful heroes cannot possibly defeat him. He has no interest in the MRA should the characters tell him about it, considering it just as bad as the SHRA. If he receives more than D8 stress of any kind he will flee. Saving the congressman will likely improve the heroes’ chances of getting his sponsorship of the MRA. If the heroes sway the congressman, they may turn him into a Resource for Action: Appearing Before Congress.
WHEN TO USE THESE SCENES?
The scenes in this What If supplement are meant to take place during Act One of the Civil War Event. The Watcher can insert them in any order he or she chooses during that Act, but we recommend the following order of scenes (the scenes in this supplement are in Bold).
- TRANSITION: DRAFTING THE MRA
- ACTION: TITANIUM MAN ATTACKS WASHINGTON
- ACTION GETTING A SPONSOR FOR THE MRA
- ACTION: THE HAMMER FALLS
- ACTION: CRUSADER HIJACKS AN AIRPLANE
- ACTION: MEET THE PRESS
- ACTION: APEAR BEFORE CONGRESS*
- TRANSITION: CLEANUP AT STAMFORD
- ACTION: REGISTRATION AND SUPER-VILLAINS
- ACTION: WHAT ABOUT STAMFORD?
- TRANSITION: WHERE IS NITRO?
- ACTION: THE RALLY
- ACTION: MEETING WITH THE CSA
- ACTION: CONFRONTED BY S.H.I.E.L.D.
- TRANSITION: MEET AND DISCUSS BEFORE REGISTRATION.
*A modification of the original scene from the Civil War Event Book.
NEXT: Meet The Press
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