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Description

In the city of Rome, Italy, we meet one Axel Walker, born Giovanni Giuseppe III, at the deathbed of his grandfather, Giovanni Giuseppe I. In the 1920s-30s, in Italy, young Giovanni and his family were acrobatics performers in a country-travelling circus. When the National Fascist Party, led by Benito Mussolini, took power in Italy in 1922, the Giuseppe family hid in fear of retaliation by the Fascists’ secret police. In a secret location, Giovanni was introduced to a hidden family lineage of bandits that used deception to steal the fortunes of the powerful and deplorable to give back to the victimized. Using his newly-learned skills, Giovanni I and his family posed as an out-of-state insurance company that convinced Mussolini himself to invest his government funds into their private bank after several disasters and enemy sabotages (which the Giuseppe family also orchestrated). When the Second World War progressed to a turning point for the Fascists to turn the tide of battle in the Axis Forces’ favor, they turned to the “private bank” for funding for the war effort, only for the non-existent funding to come too late and the Fascists to be deposed from Italian rule. With the execution of Mussolini, the Giuseppe family used the fortunes they conned the Fascists out of to those help those victimized by Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan. Giovanni I told his grandson Axel of this, not knowing that he had become a costumed criminal, the Trickster, long ago. He told him where to find the documentation on the Giuseppe lineage’s skills and designs for their weapons, tools, and traps, and warned him only to use these skills for good, for ‘fate would only smile on him for such’. Then, Giovanni Giuseppe I perished… Back in the city of Los Angeles, CA, Axel met with Sam “Mirror Master” Scudder, a fellow costumed criminal, and relayed news of this inheritance to him. After a discussion, the two criminals decided to look over the documentation at Axel’s home, and they came up with a plan. In essence, they would amalgamate Trickster’s and Mirror Master’s technology with the Giuseppe family’s documented skills to fake a series of natural disasters. But first, they would hire a group of people to pose as a doomsday cult to take to the streets to warn the city of “the end times”, and that their only salvation was for the wealthiest among the denizens of LA to relinquish their wealth to “the cult”. Of course, Trickster and Mirror Master would pocket the majority of the ‘donations’ and the fake cult would get the remainder. And if The Flash, the local superhero, were to interfere, well they’ll have a surprise waiting for him. Axel and Sam, after building and preparing their mechanisms for the fake disasters, found a local theater troupe, directed by one David Hersch, to pose as the doomsday cult. After some negotiation with Axel and Sam, Hersch agreed to the plan in exchange for a fair share of the profits, and they left his theater after drafting an unofficial contract. However, later that day, Barry Allen, the civilian identity of The Flash, and his fiance Dr. Iris West entered Hersch’s theater to negotiate hiring the troupe to perform at their wedding at the end of the year. In Hersch’s office, Barry noticed him hurrying to put away some papers in his filing cabinet before talking to the couple. It seemed like nothing to a normal person, but Barry’s enhanced perception allowed him to notice the name “Axel Walker” on the papers. That night, Flash snuck into Hersch’s office when no-one was there, and found evidence of David Hersch working with Trickster and Mirror Master on a series of faked natural disasters for a scam. The next day, David Hersch, now calling himself Cicada, emerged in the busiest part of LA with his “cult”, proclaiming the natural disasters coming to destroy Los Angeles unless the people “abandon their corrupting wealth and material possessions”. The first ‘disaster’, a titanic thunderstorm, did come, and as the people panicked in the streets to escape it, Flash showed up. With his superhuman speed, he managed to find the mechanisms that allowed “Cicada and his followers” to fake the disaster and he destroyed them in plain view of the people of LA. He then confronted Cicada, who tried to stab Flash with a lightning bolt-shaped dagger, but Flash dodged the attack and put him in a head lock. The ‘cultists’ dropped their facade when they saw the knife and told Flash that they were told by Hersch that this was a performance art piece. Flash revealed that it was a plot to con people out of their money, but that Hersch was just a pawn of Trickster and Mirror Master. Hersch told Flash where to find Trickster and Mirror Master and he zoomed off to find them, leaving ‘Cicada’ for the police. Trickster and Mirror Master saw all of this happening on live news and had to hurry to make their escape, but Flash already found them. Using Mirror Master’s abilities, the two villains created multiple duplicates of Flash, all able to match his speed, to distract him as they escaped, but Flash had his own trick that these Rogues did not know of. He vibrated his atoms so fast that he was able to phase through the fake Flashes, which destroyed them. After catching Trickster and Mirror Master, Flash revealed that it was dumb luck that he would meet the theater director that Axel and Sam would hire for their con. Axel realized from this that his late grandfather’s last words to him were true, and had a good laugh about it while the police hauled him and Sam away.
Notes:
* Axel’s grandfather is based on James Jesse, the first Trickster from the original comics.

Description

In the city of Rome, Italy, we meet one Axel Walker, born Giovanni Giuseppe III, at the deathbed of his grandfather, Giovanni Giuseppe I. In the 1920s-30s, in Italy, young Giovanni and his family were acrobatics performers in a country-travelling circus. When the National Fascist Party, led by Benito Mussolini, took power in Italy in 1922, the Giuseppe family hid in fear of retaliation by the Fascists’ secret police. In a secret location, Giovanni was introduced to a hidden family lineage of bandits that used deception to steal the fortunes of the powerful and deplorable to give back to the victimized. Using his newly-learned skills, Giovanni I and his family posed as an out-of-state insurance company that convinced Mussolini himself to invest his government funds into their private bank after several disasters and enemy sabotages (which the Giuseppe family also orchestrated). When the Second World War progressed to a turning point for the Fascists to turn the tide of battle in the Axis Forces’ favor, they turned to the “private bank” for funding for the war effort, only for the non-existent funding to come too late and the Fascists to be deposed from Italian rule. With the execution of Mussolini, the Giuseppe family used the fortunes they conned the Fascists out of to those help those victimized by Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan. Giovanni I told his grandson Axel of this, not knowing that he had become a costumed criminal, the Trickster, long ago. He told him where to find the documentation on the Giuseppe lineage’s skills and designs for their weapons, tools, and traps, and warned him only to use these skills for good, for ‘fate would only smile on him for such’. Then, Giovanni Giuseppe I perished… Back in the city of Los Angeles, CA, Axel met with Sam “Mirror Master” Scudder, a fellow costumed criminal, and relayed news of this inheritance to him. After a discussion, the two criminals decided to look over the documentation at Axel’s home, and they came up with a plan. In essence, they would amalgamate Trickster’s and Mirror Master’s technology with the Giuseppe family’s documented skills to fake a series of natural disasters. But first, they would hire a group of people to pose as a doomsday cult to take to the streets to warn the city of “the end times”, and that their only salvation was for the wealthiest among the denizens of LA to relinquish their wealth to “the cult”. Of course, Trickster and Mirror Master would pocket the majority of the ‘donations’ and the fake cult would get the remainder. And if The Flash, the local superhero, were to interfere, well they’ll have a surprise waiting for him. Axel and Sam, after building and preparing their mechanisms for the fake disasters, found a local theater troupe, directed by one David Hersch, to pose as the doomsday cult. After some negotiation with Axel and Sam, Hersch agreed to the plan in exchange for a fair share of the profits, and they left his theater after drafting an unofficial contract. However, later that day, Barry Allen, the civilian identity of The Flash, and his fiance Dr. Iris West entered Hersch’s theater to negotiate hiring the troupe to perform at their wedding at the end of the year. In Hersch’s office, Barry noticed him hurrying to put away some papers in his filing cabinet before talking to the couple. It seemed like nothing to a normal person, but Barry’s enhanced perception allowed him to notice the name “Axel Walker” on the papers. That night, Flash snuck into Hersch’s office when no-one was there, and found evidence of David Hersch working with Trickster and Mirror Master on a series of faked natural disasters for a scam. The next day, David Hersch, now calling himself Cicada, emerged in the busiest part of LA with his “cult”, proclaiming the natural disasters coming to destroy Los Angeles unless the people “abandon their corrupting wealth and material possessions”. The first ‘disaster’, a titanic thunderstorm, did come, and as the people panicked in the streets to escape it, Flash showed up. With his superhuman speed, he managed to find the mechanisms that allowed “Cicada and his followers” to fake the disaster and he destroyed them in plain view of the people of LA. He then confronted Cicada, who tried to stab Flash with a lightning bolt-shaped dagger, but Flash dodged the attack and put him in a head lock. The ‘cultists’ dropped their facade when they saw the knife and told Flash that they were told by Hersch that this was a performance art piece. Flash revealed that it was a plot to con people out of their money, but that Hersch was just a pawn of Trickster and Mirror Master. Hersch told Flash where to find Trickster and Mirror Master and he zoomed off to find them, leaving ‘Cicada’ for the police. Trickster and Mirror Master saw all of this happening on live news and had to hurry to make their escape, but Flash already found them. Using Mirror Master’s abilities, the two villains created multiple duplicates of Flash, all able to match his speed, to distract him as they escaped, but Flash had his own trick that these Rogues did not know of. He vibrated his atoms so fast that he was able to phase through the fake Flashes, which destroyed them. After catching Trickster and Mirror Master, Flash revealed that it was dumb luck that he would meet the theater director that Axel and Sam would hire for their con. Axel realized from this that his late grandfather’s last words to him were true, and had a good laugh about it while the police hauled him and Sam away.
Notes:
* Axel’s grandfather is based on James Jesse, the first Trickster from the original comics.