# Stopping Time



## Samloyal23 (Apr 7, 2017)

So I am writing a story in which the villain has somehow gained the power of stopping time, a la Hiro Nakamura. He is power mad, he takes whatever he wants, even if it is a young girl in the middle of the mall. What are some sneaky applications of his power? How do the good guys stop someone who can stop time? All suggestions welcome. Also, what are the ethics of using a power like this? Discuss freely...


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## Nagol (Apr 7, 2017)

Since you mention him taking things, this version of the power obviously lets the user manipulate the environment while time is stopped. 

Almost all the applications of the power are sneaky by definition: no one else can know anything is being done until after the fact.  Depending on time restrictions and other limitations, properly used it should be almost impossible to identify the perpetrator of the crimes short of finding him in possession of stolen goods/abducted people.  Sneaky applications include planting evidence on others both to embarrass and to frame once the crimes are detected.  Assassination is easy; stop time place the target in a potentially lethal situation (like on the wrong side of a balcony railing or holding a shotgun against his chest with the trigger pulled), leave and allow time to restart.  If people are stupid enough to carry weapons near the villain, stop time take a gun from one shoot at the rest, put the gun back where you got it, move back to where you were and let time restart and see how good your aim was.  The survivor can have a merry time explaining to the police why his gun -- the one  found in his holster at the scene  -- is the one that shot the rest of his team.

As for stopping the villain, I recommend a sniper from 500+ yards or poison subtly administered.  You have to inflict sufficient damage to negate his ability before he becomes aware he is being targeted.

Like most powers, it is ethically neutral.  What matters is what one does with it.  Few would quibble if one decides to take extra-long hot baths and time was stopped to facilitate reading more pages of a book before the kids come home.  Most would object if murder, abduction, and mayhem were the result of the power.


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## Ryujin (Apr 7, 2017)

Does time stop for the villain, or does it continue for him when he is pulling his nefarious deeds? In other words is he aging while everyone else is frozen? If he is, then the heroes might not have to do much but let him age himself to death. I also wonder how quickly he might be able to react in a surprise situation. Put a bomb on what he is presumably going to steal and when he comes out of hyper-time, BOOM.

As you might be able to tell I generally played Aberrant aligned "dark heroes" in "Heroes Unlimited." Frank Castle went too easy on 'em.

As to what he can do, you can start with it being a rather extreme version of a speedster like The Flash or Quicksilver. Look at what Quicksilver did in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" for example.


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## Richards (Apr 8, 2017)

Nagol said:


> As for stopping the villain, I recommend a sniper from 500+ yards or poison subtly administered.




Careful with the poison option.  What if you poison him, he starts to realize something is wrong, he stops time -- and then he dies?  Is time stopped forever?

I guess it matters whether he's actually stopping/restarting time throughout the universe or just pulling himself out of the time stream temporarily.  But food for thought.

Johnathan


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## Eltab (Apr 8, 2017)

Old TV-movie: "*The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything*".  The movie may be one of a pair; faulty memory.
A guy had a stopwatch that did basically the same thing.  He could stop time for some limited period (I think 5 minutes all to himself, per day) then it began to move again.

One time he pulled the watch, deflected a load of shotgun buckshot aimed at himself (girlfriend's dad was a suspicious old coot) and resumed his place; Dad shot the mailbox all to pieces.

Another time he pulled the watch, ran into a burning ship, hauled his (frozen-stiff) girlfriend off the ship, and barely made it to cover before the watch ran down and the ship exploded.  (Then he had to explain to her what just happened.)


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## Samloyal23 (Apr 8, 2017)

So far I have allowed him to only use small electronic devices he can carry on his person while time is frozen, so he can take pictures with his phone or use the calculator app but he cannot drive his car. To steal a motor cycle he had to unfreeze the wheels and push. Crimewise, he goes into banks daily and removes cash from all the teller's drawers, goes to the mall and picks up whatever he likes and puts it in his car. He goes to his local mall every day and picks a hot chick to bend over a table on the foodcourt and use like a sex doll (he checks there phones for text messages and FB posts so he can virtually stalk them). 

He definitely spends more than 5 minutes in his subjective time, maybe an hour or two at a time. I imagine he ages normally but in the subjective time's rate. I am guessing he spends maybe an nanosecond of real time per hour in his subjective time, so he ages an hour in a nanosecond. That could really add up over time. I do not think he is literally stopping the flow time through the whole continuum, more like he is slipping out of phase with normal time.


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## Samloyal23 (Apr 8, 2017)

I remember *The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything*. That was a great movie, and I think there was a sequel...


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## Samloyal23 (Apr 8, 2017)

Richards said:


> Careful with the poison option.  What if you poison him, he starts to realize something is wrong, he stops time -- and then he dies?  Is time stopped forever?
> 
> I guess it matters whether he's actually stopping/restarting time throughout the universe or just pulling himself out of the time stream temporarily.  But food for thought.
> 
> Johnathan



 I am thinking if he is entering a subjective time out of phase with normal time, so if he dies or even loses consciousness eventually he will just return to normal time.


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## Tonguez (Apr 8, 2017)

what about the perception of people in 'frozen time'. Do their eyes still perceive light, so that when time restarts they would notice the skip? could that be used by an observant hero to track the time thief?


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## Ryujin (Apr 8, 2017)

Tonguez said:


> what about the perception of people in 'frozen time'. Do their eyes still perceive light, so that when time restarts they would notice the skip? could that be used by an observant hero to track the time thief?




I suppose that would depend on the way that the villain is "stopping time." Is he stopping time for the entire universe? For just a localized area?Is he "stepping out of time", himself, and the universe just keeps on a-rollin'? This sort of thing would need to be considered.


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## megamania (Apr 8, 2017)

Define Time Stop.   Is it truly stopping time or the extreme slowing down of it.  If the later..... watching Heroes the TV show (season one and two only) for how Hiro uses it and recent Quicksilver usage in Wolverine and X-men comics.

Also, the movie called Push, dealt with someone whom saw history thru others eyes.  May give you some ideas


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## Samloyal23 (Apr 9, 2017)

Ryujin said:


> I suppose that would depend on the way that the villain is "stopping time." Is he stopping time for the entire universe? For just a localized area?Is he "stepping out of time", himself, and the universe just keeps on a-rollin'? This sort of thing would need to be considered.




Well, how short a time can be perceived by a normal human mind? If my villain works at an hour per nanosecond rate a normal human brain would not be able to see him if he stood in plain sight for a whole hour of his subjective time.


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## Samloyal23 (Apr 9, 2017)

megamania said:


> Define Time Stop.   Is it truly stopping time or the extreme slowing down of it.  If the later..... watching Heroes the TV show (season one and two only) for how Hiro uses it and recent Quicksilver usage in Wolverine and X-men comics.
> 
> Also, the movie called Push, dealt with someone whom saw history thru others eyes.  May give you some ideas




I have not seen Push, but I am a fan of Heroes and the X-Men.


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## MarkB (Apr 17, 2017)

How to stop him: Trojan horse attack. The heroes rush in, trying to pin him down, and one of them throws a projectile intended to kill him or knock him out. He sees the perfect opportunity to turn the tables, stops time, and grabs it, intending to turn it back upon his attackers.

Then he finds out that it's coated with a powerful contact adhesive, fitted with a tracking device, and charged with enough electricity and/or poison to incapacitate him. Now he has however long a subjective period he can maintain his timestop to try and get rid of it before time unfreezes and it delivers its payload.

Bonus revenge/nemesis points if the final result is the heroes following the tracer to find only a severed hand.


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## Mirtek (Apr 26, 2017)

Samloyal23 said:


> He goes to his local mall every day and picks a hot chick to bend over a table on the foodcourt and use like a sex dol



 So he's leaving a lot of his DNA on his victims


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## Samloyal23 (Apr 26, 2017)

Mirtek said:


> So he's leaving a lot of his DNA on his victims




Yes, he is very careless about that since he thinks he is invincible and cannot be caught in flagrante delicto...


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## Ryujin (Apr 26, 2017)

Samloyal23 said:


> Well, how short a time can be perceived by a normal human mind? If my villain works at an hour per nanosecond rate a normal human brain would not be able to see him if he stood in plain sight for a whole hour of his subjective time.




If there's a ratio of time then he's not really 'stopping time'; he's just a really extreme version of The Flash.


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## Legatus Legionis (Apr 26, 2017)

.


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## Samloyal23 (Apr 28, 2017)

Legatus_Legionis said:


> Are there any consequences for the power being used?
> 
> Along with the villain aging in "relative time", the need for food and rest should make things more interesting.
> 
> ...




Well, he is spending maybe an hour a day in his subjective time, total, usually broken up into segments of 10-15 minutes. So he goes to the bank, stops time, jumps over the counter to take a handful of cash from each teller box, walks back to his starting point, restarts time, and walks away. That is maybe 5 minutes in subjective time. Then he drives to the mall, walks around for a while in normal time until he sees something he wants to steal, stops time, carries the loot back to his car, stows it in the trunk, and restarts time. That is more like 15-20 minutes. Then he goes to the food court, buys some lunch, watches the crowd until he sees a hot girl, freezes time long enough to use rape her, then goes back to his seat and restarts time so he can observe her from a distance and gloat quietly to himself. That is maybe 20-30 minutes. Incidental uses can be anything from stealing the keys to a car at a valet stand to stealing a piece or jewelry, a watch, or someone's coat. These can be done in under a minute. 

I like the idea of him creating a "weak spot" in time at the mall, where he goes several times a week. Let's say he makes a permanent dent in time on the mall food court. What effect would that have? People occasionally freeze for a moment? Would things disappear for a minute then reappear somewhere else? Would it reveal what he had been doing? Would it make someone suddenly age? Or create small temporary wormholes?


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## Eltab (Apr 29, 2017)

Samloyal23 said:


> I like the idea of him creating a "weak spot" in time at the mall, where he goes several times a week. Let's say he makes a permanent dent in time on the mall food court. What effect would that have? People occasionally freeze for a moment? Would things disappear for a minute then reappear somewhere else? Would it reveal what he had been doing? Would it make someone suddenly age? Or create small temporary wormholes?



Doctor Who and/or Captain Kirk pop in for no apparent reason and have just long enough to look around bewildered before they disappear.
A person at the mall might take a normal step but land clear across the Food Patio.  Or steps forwards normally but enters the 'frozen time' effect just long enough for the effect to register and get scared / confused.
The PCs are alerted to the situation when the rumors and tales and really weird internet searches start flying.

Don't have the villain force his urges on the women at the mall.  Have him do that at an apartment complex; he has access to women in the shower or who were asleep anyways, so he thinks he isn't leaving evidence and cannot be caught.  The clues begin when a boyfriend tries to sneak into his girlfriend's apartment to surprise her and gets the same effect as is happening at the Food Patio above.


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## Samloyal23 (Dec 14, 2017)

A recent addition to my story featuring the idea of damage to space/time... 

*Part XVIV, Mrs. Blaustein*    
           A fastidious housekeeper, Mrs. Blaustein normally kept strict kosher, but she had one weakness, a cinnamon bun she could only get at the mall. It was a guilty pleasure, especially since it did not fulfill the standards of kashrut she had grown up with as an Orthodox Jew.  The aroma though,  was too powerful for her to resist. Her rabbi would be terse with her if he knew where she was buying it, even though technically it was not treyf, merely not from a properly certified kosher restaurant. She had succumbed once to the sweet smell and now was addicted. Carefully looking around to make sure no one she knew saw her do it, she purchased the delectable dessert along with a cup of coffee and started to look for a place to sit in the food court. 
    Then a curious thing happened. Everything around her went dead silent. As she looked around, everyone was frozen in place, silent, immobile. Disturbed, frightened, Mrs. Blaustein checked herself for anything out of place, but she was dressed modestly and there was no reason for her appearance to startle anyone. She took a gingerly step forward. Everything returned to normal, time flowed as usual. The noise and activity of the mall returned to normal. Curious, she stepped back. Everything froze. She looked around and realized she had discovered something that should be impossible.  “Oy gevalt!” she squealed and quickly took a seat. No one seemed to have noticed what had happened, everything looked normal. She gingerly took a few small bites of her cinnamon bun but thought about what had just happened to her and  threw her cinnamon bun away, pledging to be better than ever at keeping kosher...


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Dec 17, 2017)

Samloyal23 said:


> I remember *The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything*. That was a great movie, and I think there was a sequel...




The prequel was The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Dynamite; the sequel was The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything.

Good in a Steven J Cannell '70s-style way.


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## Scott DeWar (Dec 17, 2017)

I realize there has been a lot said here and I may be repeating shat someone else had posted, here are my thoughts:

1. time does not truly stop, but rather he slips through a fracture in space time  and into the future where he has a bubble of protection until he shut off the device where time catches up to him and wherever/whenever he is.

1a. this fracture idea may have negative repercussions if his device is not used with extreme caution.

2. The bubble is pretty close and that is why he can only bring small things, but not a car.

3. when he is, well for the lack of any other term, raping a young woman, he might be injecting her with ketamine or something to immobilize her.


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## Samloyal23 (Dec 20, 2017)

Scott DeWar said:


> I realize there has been a lot said here and I may be repeating shat someone else had posted, here are my thoughts:
> 
> 1. time does not truly stop, but rather he slips through a fracture in space time  and into the future where he has a bubble of protection until he shut off the device where time catches up to him and wherever/whenever he is.
> 
> ...




Not a mechanical device, more like a modified neural pathway in his brain that generates a field around him that shifts the rate at which he moves through time. I see his limitations being related to the amount of power he can generate, if he could find a compatible source of power it would allow him to expand his bubble. People may think he is drugging the girls, one character I have is a reporter who is investigating a string of pregnancies among teenage girls and she is convinced he is drugging the girls, but he is just doing his deeds so quickly, in mere nanoseconds, that it is impossible for human perception to be aware that anything has happened.


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## Scott DeWar (Dec 20, 2017)

Samloyal23 said:


> Not a mechanical device, more like a modified neural pathway in his brain that generates a field around him that shifts the rate at which he moves through time. I see his limitations being related to the amount of power he can generate, if he could find a compatible source of power it would allow him to expand his bubble. People may think he is drugging the girls, one character I have is a reporter who is investigating a string of pregnancies among teenage girls and she is convinced he is drugging the girls, but he is just doing his deeds so quickly, in mere nanoseconds, that it is impossible for human perception to be aware that anything has happened.




hmm, this is slightly different then what I was thinking. I will return with more thought, I am sure.

thinking: if it runs off of his neural energy, it must run on millivolts and micro amps. Maybe a special sterile, non toxic and expensive battery with limited duration/ available power that requires an invasive procedure to install and change by a (traceable) small set  of doctors.


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## Samloyal23 (Jan 3, 2018)

Well, it is essentially like a psychic power, not neural electricity, psionic force. It is a mutant power, like that used by Hiro Nakamura.


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## Samloyal23 (Aug 31, 2018)

So a little update, the villain has impregnated too many young girls, his DNA has been found. He will soon be identified as the molester he is and have the police after him. Of course his power lets him evade the law, but that is where the superheroes come in...


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## Maxperson (Aug 31, 2018)

Samloyal23 said:


> So I am writing a story in which the villain has somehow gained the power of stopping time, a la Hiro Nakamura. He is power mad, he takes whatever he wants, even if it is a young girl in the middle of the mall. What are some sneaky applications of his power? How do the good guys stop someone who can stop time? All suggestions welcome. Also, what are the ethics of using a power like this? Discuss freely...




Have this be the true cause for all of the missing socks!  Muahahahahaha!


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## Imaculata (Aug 31, 2018)

It seems to me that the way to stop a villain like this, is to predict where he'll strike next. Or better yet, to bait him into a trap. A villain with this sort of power is likely to become overconfident and sloppy over time. Plus he might be caught on camera before using his power. It should be easy for the heroes to check the cameras of places where he has struck, and find the same person over and over again mere moments before the crime.


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## Janx (Aug 31, 2018)

Just found this and refreshed my memory.

Side tip, writer to writer: editors don't want rape stories these days and will trashcan a sub that has it.

You might be writing this for yourself, to self pub or something where that doesn't matter.

But, it's something to keep in mind.

it's clever that all that DNA spreading is what gets him detected.  However, the nature of that particular crime is a red-flag topic for editors and probably readers


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## Samloyal23 (Sep 1, 2018)

Well, I wanted a villain that people would really hate, someone who targets children seemed like an obvious choice. He is basically a Law & Order: SVU bad guy with superpowers...


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## Eltab (Sep 3, 2018)

Samloyal23 said:


> Well, I wanted a villain that people would really hate, someone who targets children seemed like an obvious choice. He is basically a Law & Order: SVU bad guy with superpowers...




So he steals the kids' cell phones, school-issued iPads, name brand clothes and shoes (Nike, Adidas, Abercombie & Fitch), and sells the loot at pawn shops or Fashion Collector stores (note the plural) in the nearby towns.  Using TimeStop while driving gives him the equivalent of 200mph 'bullet train' travel times IF the field includes the vehicle motor - just don't place this in Japan or France!

His crime M.O. is not as smart as he thinks it is because he just invented the TimeStop gadget - but he's plenty impressed with himself regardless.


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## Imaculata (Sep 3, 2018)

I don't feel DNA is a clever way to catch a time traveling criminal. Sure, it might work, but I feel it would serve the plot better if an aspect of his time travel is part of the solution to track him down.

Another better way to tackle this sort of villain, might be air displacement. When this guy stops time, he is basically moving through space at an insane speed. This sort of action would cause a lot of air displacement, that does not collapse in on itself, until time is resumed. When he deactivates his device, you'd expect to see the effects of a sudden gust of wind wherever he's been. This could be something that can be measured, and perhaps tracked.


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