The following story isn’t just about Trickshot. It features a lot of my characters. I just couldn’t tell this story until now as Trickshot is really a catalyst to a lot of it. There are more stories involved here for different characters, including The Keeper, Throwback and The Mortal Gods but they would take too long to include here and would just bloat this post out even more so I’ll keep them for later to accompany upcoming characters.
Keep an eye out.
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One of the most maligned individuals in the world of superheroes is Adam Norris, a.k.a Trickshot.
When the rookie hero was caught on security footage executing a criminal, it triggered a series of very public political discussions that resulted in a law being passed which made masked vigilantes illegal.
Some heroes retired, some left the states to join Seraph in her newly formed nation of Arcadia after she made a public plea to everyone with powers to help make the world a better place by using those powers for more than punching bad guys.
Those who chose to stay and continue their activities faced prosecution if caught or worse. Those with powers had them removed by a mysterious new weapon developed by the military.
Norris himself was sentenced to life in prison, all the while proclaiming his innocence.
Several months later, John Doe uncovered evidence that Adam Norris was in fact innocent and that the whole thing had been a ploy by Vox who had wormed his way into a position of power as one of the president’s most trusted advisers.
This revelation sparked a political upheaval and civil unrest. No one liked having a known sociopath like Vox whispering in the ear of the most powerful man on the planet. Especially when those whispers could literally make him do anything Vox wanted.
The population called for the immediate removal of the people in charge until everything could be sorted out. Vox wasn’t going to give up easily though. He had mind controlled president and an army in his pocket. A state of martial law was declared when the people took to the streets behind Dragonfly who had already tried to bring the information about Vox to the public’s attention and begun a small rebellion. Only when John Doe’s indisputable evidence came to light did the majority of the population join what became known as The Dragonfly Rebellion.
The exiled heroes rallied behind a new figurehead in Phoenix and returned to the states to aid Dragonfly and finally ousted Vox from power, revealing in the process that it wasn’t Vox who had been calling the shots after all. He had been possessed by the malicious entity known as Entropy. The spirit of destruction had engineered everything to watch people tear themselves apart. His plan almost succeeded but the heroes managed to win the war. Not without casualties however. Neutron finally proved his heroism, bringing an end to the threat of Entropy, sacrificing himself in the process.
After a terrible period of upheaval, the law banning masked vigilantes was repealed, allowing many heroes to legally return to their lives, but one was notably absent.
Trickshot, despite his name being cleared, would not be celebrating.
He was already dead. Killed by a fellow inmate. Some believe he was killed to keep him quiet and tie up a loose end.
The name of Trickshot still carries a certain stigma as it is known as the trigger that began a very dark period in a lot of people’s lives.
One person refused to let the memory of Adam Norris and Trickshot remain mired in controversy though. Alexander Franco had been the hero Arsenal but had retired nearly a decade ago after his wife, the hero Starlight, was killed in action. He had spent the past ten years teaching young super powered people at The Claremont Academy how to use their powers responsibly. There, he mentored several young heroes, including Xian Lai Do, Amethyst and even Trickshot.
After Adam Norris’ death, Franco decided to honor his former students memory by adopting the identity of Trickshot and attempting to redeem the name of a young man he knew to be a true hero.
