…enjoy your next nighttime walk
The Doclopedia #34
Power Suits: Project Rampage
From 2021 to 2046, the big thing in military & police hardware was power armor. Ranging from the basic defensive grunt version that merely gave excellent defense and a bit of augmented strength to the amazing jetsuits that could singlehandedly reduce a small town to rubble in under an hour, they were supposed to revolutionize warfare and law enforcement. Oddly, they did just that. Less oddly, they did it so well that the terrorists and criminals started coughing up the billions of dollars needed to outfit their own power suited armies. Things escalated, destruction of property and loss of life skyrocketed and in 2046, the entire membership of the United Nations voted to completely outlaw the technology. Even more, they made the penalties for possessing it so harsh (prison time on the moon, dissolution of the offending countries government, death) that power suits pretty much vanished overnight.
Fast forward to 2130 and an Earth that has seen better days. Global warming has changed the face of the planet in all ways, more than half the human population died off in the Melting Plague outbreak of 2075, the former colonies on the moon and Mars declared independence and stopped further contact with Earth and most countries are now ruled by the very wealthy who could give a shit about the very poor (there is no middle class).
But criminals still exist and one of them just happened to find an abandoned laboratory that had shut down in 2046, but still had everything necessary to create the ultimate power suit, which they had named Project Rampage. Designed for use by terrorists, the Rampage suit was big, powerful and built for destruction. It was also made of nanometal, which allowed it to change shape and made it self repairing. Weapons range from good old .50 caliber genius bullets to x-ray lasers to particle beams to a nice selection of biological & chemical agents. In running mode, the suit can hit 200 mph. In swimming mode, it can go deeper and faster than any submarine. In flight mode, it can hit Mach 3 and fly as low as 18 inches off the ground.
The criminal, one Zerno Sharkly, realized that he had stumbled upon a goldmine of possibilities. Should he sell it to the highest corporate bidder? Sell it to the Poverty Underground? Sell it to both, then sell them more to combat each other? Keep them for himself and use them to destabilize pretty much everything, thus opening up vast new money making areas?
It was the latter that he decided upon, with perhaps the other plans to be used later. So off Zerno went, hiring scientists and technicians into his legit corporations, then bringing them onto Project Rampage. All told, it took 230 people and 4 years to build the first suit. The first pilot was Zerno’s younger brother, Mungo. The tests went very well and two more suits were built. At that point, Zerno told the pilots to “go out and raise some hell”, which they did with wild abandon. Most of this was perpetrated upon the wealthy, who pretty much panicked. After a couple of years, Zerno offered protection to them for a rather exorbitant fee, which they had no choice but to pay. Zerno and his mob are more powerful than anybody else and virtually rule the world.
If asked, Zerno would tell you “It’s good to be the king!”.
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