Bradders

((Yay! The Bishop is such a goody for a baddie!))

((*Squees*))

((Yay HEROID!

By the way, Turnip_Girl , if you're reading this, add me to your globals, Rakescar said some stuff about some stuff and I need to talk to you

Arigato Gozaimasu!))

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((Seems I was in on the scene played out in Pocket D last night, didn't realize the big plot I stepped into inadvertantly O.o))

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((So did I... *Cries*))

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((Don't complain, you got spanked.))

((I feel pretty bad for Rakescar, poor guy only did a job, and then got paid... sorry Rakescar, much love for you my friend! Love!))

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((oohh good stuff Bradders! One little comment/criticism... minor! But in that last part you were referring to Vicegrip as 'she she she she' and then suddenly it's Vicegrip this Vicegrip that. I stumbled over that at first wondering, who the heck is Vicegrip? Then I scrolled back and realized oh okay Vicegrip is this She person. cool.

Just a minor little quibble!!! That's it! Really! I liked it!

So what, do Clobber-girl nova or something?))

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((Yeah, sorry, tapped it out at work while bored, I R king of mixing up context and nomcleture... next bit will be better as I will do it at home... thanks for the crits

And Clobber didn't Nova, they short each other out, so to speak, when they get close, but as the effects have been weakening, now they have to touch for it to happen.

Theres a story on the Freedom Factor boards, unfinished, that plays on that.))

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((Seems I was in on the scene played out in Pocket D last night, didn't realize the big plot I stepped into inadvertantly O.o))

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((The Pocket D is just the greatest! ))

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(( What!? Noooo! You can't leave it on a cliffhanger like that! *starts waving a sign around, demanding more*

Seriously, though, I've been following this since the beginning, and wow! Amazing stuff. Can't wait to see how it turns out. ^_^ ))

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((I have to say that everyone who's played a part in this has been simply incredible in terms of moving the plot along, and making twists I could never have even imagined. Without everyone else this would be rubbish. Glad people are enjoying it and joining in. So thanks to everyone. And yes, I will keep saying thanks over and over and over and over...))

((And now, from the villain of this tale... wanted do a ping pong between Vice and Clobbers perspective, but I suck, so didn't. Sorry ))

She sat on the Ferry as it slowly moved between the mish mash of land masses collectively known as the Rogue Isles. She'd lost track of time a while ago, but she knew she was getting close to home. She could feel her energy clashing with hers and it hurt. Not as bad as it used to, but all the same she would, given the choice, prefer to live without it.

Home. Funny. Even though she didn't particularly like many of the guys in FUTURE, it was the first place she really considered home. There was no bunk for her, no room either, but there was space, it was dry and mostly warm and she was comfortable there. Once she started learning of her true origins, the plan had hatched fairly quickly so she found a disused building on Mercy Island and made it a temporary shelter in anticipation of her "guest".
Since her ineptness to even complete her own plans had left her in a tight spot, that same disused building was her home now. Damp, dark and unwelcoming it was hardly ideal but desperate times often call for improvisation and putting up with some discomfort.

She thought back over the last few days. It had all started out promising, Bounty Hunters were on the case. It was only a day or two before the stupid girl went and got herself caught. She paid the man with a FUTURE cheque. She thought the boss wouldn't mind. He even seemed pleased that she had pulled it off. Then the Cheque bounced. Not only was Rakescar after her, but now the entire FUTURE organisation was on her back, the boss had paid Rakescar off and she was expected to get the coin back by herself. She'd tried getting the heroes, so desperate to see their little friend again, to cough up. They were too smart for that. One even found it funny. She was going to pay, with her life if possible. There was plenty of time for that later. Now she had more pressing matters. With FUTURE turning their back on her she was missing the one thing she needed to ensure her survival. Ki Lin. He was the one who'd diagnosed her condition and what was needed to fix it. But she couldn't count on his help. When she encountered the blockhead in the Pocket D who tried to strangle her, she surprised herself by demanding that kind of assitance from him. Someone who was good with positive and negative energies. Yin and Yang. Dark and light. She hoped he was going to make good his promise. The money could wait.

Watching the sun set she rubbed her brow. She was really close to home now. The pain was getting worse, trying to push out of her body. She had become adept at keeping it in, letting it escape was too painful to do too often. However the closer she got to Clobber-Girl the harder it was to keep it inside.

She screamed loudly, the other villains on the ferry all ducked and look round to the source of the disturbance. In a blinding flash of blue light she transformed. Her form was now encased in glistening black armour reflecting the red glow that her eyes now emitted. She snapped her head round and glared at the people who were trying to regain their menacing composure. Some stared, some looked away, she was about to go over and let them know what she thought when the announcement came over the tannoy system that the ferry had docked. She spun round and leapt into the air.

Moments later she was home. When in her armoured form, the pain seemed to lessen, it was at least bearable for short amounts of time. She moved the large steel door in front of her to the side and stepped into the darkness, closing it behind her. Her eyes bathed the room in a soft red glow, and she slowly stepped towards the stairs in the corner.

The basement was illuminated with a soft white light. That meant that her guest was in that ridiculous white armoured form. She took some amusement from the fact that it probably hurt her, a lot. Little comfort as it was, it was about all she got now.

"Hello Tera... comfortable I hope?"

Tera moved her head as best she could, trying to see her captor, her now blonde locks covering most of her face and obscuring her view.

"When I get outta here I am going to make you..."

Vicegrip raised a finger to her lips "Ssssh... you'll be outta here as soon as yer meatheaded buddies pony up the forty grand I need."

"I'm not stupid!" Tera wrestled with her bindings "I know what you have planned... I haven't been sat on my [censored] while all this has been going on you know... I did my homework! You don't want money!"

"Who's to say I don't want it?!" Vicegrip snarled back "Shut your damn mouth!"

Vicegrip raced accross the room, balling her hand into a fist, and punched Tera in the jaw. She hardly made contact before there was a large bang and the dingy basement was illuminated in a blinding light. Vicegrip flew back into the wall unconcious, sliding down and finally coming to rest in a slump. Tera shook violently for a few moments before coming to rest.

The long silence was broken with by the sound of dripping liquid on the cold cement floor. Vicegrip, stirred by the sound, opened her eyes. The Basement was once again bathed in the red light of her eyes. She pulled herself up slowly, she was in pain. Finally on her own two feet she looked over to where Tera was laying, still bound to the table.

"You're gonna pay for that you little..."

Tera was no longer glowing, she was still in her White Armoured form, but in the red light there was, what appeared to be, black on her face. Vicegrip rushed over and examined her from a slight distance. Tera still didn't move. Vicegrips eyes widened in panic. She looked at her feet and saw a pool of the black substance that was dripping from Teras face. She dropped down on to one knee and wiped her finger through the substance.

"Blood?"

*coughs*

((I <3 DB!! Whoo you go ma'am))

((Saw you in the D this morning, apologies for not saying Hi...

Splendid interrogation of Rakescar, he's so cool))

((Updated from Noisemaze: Dark Suited Detective. Trying out a "Pulpy as possible" approach, really not sure it worked, but it seems to suit the style of detective he thinks he is in his head, anyone witness to what *actually* went down will know that Noisemaze is still very green..))

The club bustled with over energetic heroes and villains, the threat of terrible violence bubbled under the surface, like a crocodile waiting for an unsuspecting Deer to take a drink from the cool water of the river. DJ Zero had the right idea, no fighting. It made it safe, but only in a physical sense. I didn't like the Pocket D, I still don't like it, but I had a job to do, and I was going to do it, no matter my feelings on the subject.

I'd approached several characters throughout the night, none of them had any information on what I was looking for. Paragon was a big city, I figured this wouldn't be an easy case, especially mixing the sleazy influence of the Rogue Isles renegades into the throng.

I was about to give up when I saw her floating above the dance floor. I couldn't tell if it was the crazy lighting or if someone had spiked my coffee, but she seemed to glow green. I had to wipe the front of my helmet to make sure I wasn't seeing things. I wasn't. It was her. Dragonberry. I spend a lot of time in the office, and when I'm there I like to keep track of things. Dragonberrys name cropped up often in City Hall Reports. She was on the frontlines most days, defending Sirens Call from the constant barrage of wannabe super-villains that were always trying to break in to Steel Canyon. She was tough and strong and knew how to handle herself. I wondered if she might know anything. It was a long shot, but I had to try.

I made my way to her, trying not to look desperate to get her attention. The crowd around her, dancing like their troubles never really existed, were keen to keep me away, but I worked my way through regardless. I looked up to see her, still floating there. I called to her and she floated down like a leaf on the wind. Gently, calmy, gracefully. I asked her about the missing girl. She said she hadn't heard anything, the villains were being quiet of late, not in action, but in words. Her eyes, like two emeralds, were captivating and her gentle green glow made them sparkle. They weren't the kind of eyes you'd forget in a hurry and she had a smile that could make any man melt, it was no wonder she was so well regarded on the battlefield. Beautiful and deadly. I thanked her for her help and she promised to ask all those poor wretches she was going to defeat in battle about the missing girl and get back to me. I gave her my card and hoped she would call soon. News or not.

I moved round the club, making sure people knew I was there, and what it was I was looking for. It wasn't until I was about to head home that I finally got a lead.
He looked like death, probably smelled like it too, but my helmet was doing a good job of keeping the smell out. I asked him straight what I was looking for. Turned out that he was working for the goons that took the girl. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that we were coming for her, the smart thing for him and his buddies would be to stay out of our way. He agreed. I gave him my card and told him to call me if his bosses wanted to do things the easy way. He took it and shuffled out of the club. Smart guy.

I took one more lap around the club, she was still there, on the dancefloor in brilliant green. She looked like she was on top of the world. One day, I told myself, I'd find out how that felt.

((Yegods this has spiralled totally out of control... brilliant ))

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Looks good, misquoted me a bit, but that's no problem. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

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((Yeah, really sorry, I forgot to log all of yesterdays chat and was totally beat by the time it came to the end of the sessions, so I had to run from memory today.))

((Okay, was a been a really busy evening of chatting and fighting, and due to some scheduling and me being retarded, some stuff happened after others, but needed to happen before, so I'm juggling it around a bit to make it make sense... does that make sense? Anyway... here goes, hope you enjoy it!))

Tera opened her eyes. The ceiling that greeted her was not her apartments. Nor was it that of any of the Paragon City Hospitals that she had been in. The high stone ceiling was definitely nothing she had seen before.

“...”

She tried to open her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Her throat, her whole body, was sore. She tried to move, but it was no use, a series of thick straps held her down to the table she was lying on.

Then she remembered. The bounty hunter. Bloody Bay. He had used some kind of EMP Grenade on her, it had shorted out her Hospital Teleportation device. When she tried to activate it, he had simply laughed at her, and like every good villain did, explained in exacting and excruciating detail how he'd done it.
The battle had been fierce. The bounty hunters thick stone armour looked like it would slow him down, but it didn't. That had been her first mistake, underestimating her enemies. He was as fast as anything she'd seen and faced off against, but he was strong. Stronger than she anticipated and as she staggered back from blow after blow from his fists and stone Mallet, that's when he threw the grenade.

It was going to happen sooner or later. She'd been running into Bounty Hunters all day. First there was the peculiar Bishop of Battle, he brought along a little surprise with him too: a stalker who seemed to get a kick out of trying to puncture her with Spines. Tera had the good sense to run that time, back to the Freedom Base and into the chopper. But they weren't giving up, even as the Helicopter door was closing, a batch of spines pierced the metal door, becoming lodged inches from her face. The villains had let her slip through their fingers. This time.

Getting increasingly frustrated with the Bounty on her head, Tera went to the Pocket D club to try and get some info on FUTURE and why they wanted her. Despite how the day had gone prior to that, it was all she could think of doing. At least it was safe. And safe was a comfort much appreciated.

She walked up to the bar and grabbed a soda before moving over and sitting by War Witch. Of course, War Witch was quiet and unresponsive, not much different than when she was dead, but the company, no matter how quiet, was welcome.

From her right, she heard a giggle, she turned to see a girl de-cloak herself.

“Nice hair” said the girl.

She noticed that they shared a similar style and Tera laughed uneasily “Yeah, you too”

“We're going to get you eventually you know, Vicegrip is determined to capture you.”

Tera stood up quickly and backed away.

“You're safe here, you know that. But for the record, it's nothing personal. Just another job.”

“Who's Vicegrip?” Tera's head started to spin a little, she'd never heard of Vicegrip or, until earlier, FUTURE, but here they both were, looking to take her for goodness knew what.

“Vicegrip... remember last night? You were talking with... Andi, you said something came through the Portal after you did... that's Vicegrip.

Tera's eyes widened as the horrible realisation of what was going on finally hit her.

“You were SPYING on me?!”

“We like to know who our targets are.”

“I'm not going with you, or any of those sickos you have tracking me, if I see you out there I'm going to take you down. Nothing personal, of course.”

“Well you do what you have to do Tera, see you around, my names Leiura.” she smiled sweetly as she said it.

Tera walked away “Thanks for the heads up. Maybe next time I see you I'll buy you a drink.”

“Next time we see each other I'll buy you a drink at the FUTURE bar”

Leiuras final words sent a chill down Teras spine as she walked away and downstairs to the other bar. She sat down and slumped. Trying to piece the puzzle together. She now had a name for her other self. The one that had made her feel like hell every time she got near the Rogue Isles. Vicegrip. From what Andi had told her, they were two halves of the same person. Something at Portal Corp had screwed up and split her into two distinct entities, and now, this other half, this imposter, this thief, wanted her for some reason.

A kindly voice snapped her out of her thoughts “Hello again.”

She turned round, it was Bob. She'd met Bob the night before. He'd been staring at her while she was talking with her friends near DJ Zero and she had confronted him about it. He was kind, and had apologised, they chatted for a few moments before parting ways.

“Hey Bob... what's up?”

“I wasn't staring, I promise.”

Tera broke a smile “I believe you.”

“May I get you a drink?”

“Sure, I'll take a Soda”

Bob gestured to the bartender “Two Sodas please”

He sat down next to her and she explained what had been going on during the day. About her escape from Bloody Bay from the Bishop and his friend with the spines, about FUTURE and their bounty on her head.
Bob listened sympathetically to her story.

“You should really just give yourself up, it would make things much easier for you.”

Tera scowled “You're... a bounty hunter, aren't you Bob?”

“A man needs to work Tera.” he replied, his face as calm as it was when they had first started talking.

“You son of [censored]... I thought you were one of us.”

“I used to be, but times change... now, your surrender, how would you like to go about it?”

“Go to hell, Bob” she stood up “Go back to the isles and pray someone else gets to me first.”

“Tera, wait, perhaps we can come to an arrangement?”

“I said, go to hell!” she didn't look back as she walked away. She knew he wouldn't follow her. He was smarter than that. She walked slowly toward the elevator, cursing herself for being too trusting.

As always there were a few characters waiting by the elevator. None of them looked particularly out of place. The Elevator arrived and they shuffled in one by one. Except for the orange, brutish looking guy covered in rock. As Tera passed him he reached out a large, crumbly hand, blocking her exit.

“Not so fast Tera Summers, or should I call you Clobber-Girl?”

She exhaled loudly and glared up at him “Let me guess... another Bounty Hunter?”

“Yes, I don't normally hunt squishies like yourself, but the bounty on your pretty little head is tempting enough for me to reconsider my policy.”

“Lucky me.”

“No, lucky me... but I will give you a chance to surrender or...”

Tera cut him off before he could say it “If you're going to offer me some kind of deal, forget it, I'd rather just beat you and send you back where you came from.”

“A deal? No. Silly girl, I was merely going to say that I won't be able to promise to leave you unharmed. You're wanted alive, but that is all.”

She glared up at him, trying her best not to show how scared she was and run away. The elevator was on it's way back up and it was taking, what seemed like, forever to get there.

“I will see you on the battlefield Miss Summers, I shall enjoy our battle. Rakescar always enjoys his battles, even if it is with a squishie little girl like youeself.” he withdrew his huge arm and walked away, back toward the villains designated bar.

Tera exhaled heavily as the elevator doors opened. It was empty and she stepped inside. As it sank back down she finally lost her temper.

“No running, no hiding... I'm going to face this head on.” she said it out loud, trying to convince herself it was the right thing to do. She took the exit to Kings Row and as she stepped through she activated her armour and took off for Skyway City and the 'copter to Bloody Bay.

As she climbed inside the chopper she flipped open her Cellphone and dialled. There was no answer the other end so she left a message:

“Hey, it's me, look I might be late for our date tonight, seems someone from this FUTURE group have put a bounty on me, I need to check some stuff out. Let yourself in and make yourself at home, the keys under the doormat, love you...”

She flipped the phone shut and clutched on to it tightly until the chopper arrived at Bloody Bay. She peered out for a moment before being urged by the Longbow operative to head out. She took off and headed Northeast to where she had fought the Bishop of Battle earlier that day. She landed, surveying the ground for some kind of clue or way of finding out anything about Vicegrip, FUTURE or anything.

“So... you came?”

Tera snapped her head up, it was the rocky guy from the club, Rakescar, he was wielding a stone mallet.

“Ok... so this is how it's going to be huh?”

“It's nothing personal... just a job.”

“What is it with you guys and 'it's nothing personal', is that your motto or something?!” she snarled.

“Very well... let's begin.” as soon as he had finished saying it, he reached into his belt and threw a grenade, ensaring her and shorting out her armour system. She tried desperately to break free but Rakescar had closed the distance between them so fast that she didn't even see the first strike of his huge mallet coming. It sent her hurtling back. She tried to fight back, but he was too strong, too fast. Too much.


And now, now she was a captive. Her hot head had got her in to trouble again. She'd played right in to their hands, they'd played her all too well and she knew it. She sighed and closed her eyes, tears started forming. Instinctively she tried to wipe them away but her hands were strapped down. She struggled against them out of sheer frustraio, but to no avail. She was going to be here for some time it would seem.

((Sorry it was so long!! I didn't realise there was so much to fit in. Hope you like it, C&C's welcome, and thanks for playing all those that did!))

((Thanks to everyone who took part tonight, I had a total blast and will be writing it up tomorrow... I wanted to do it tonight, but wouldn't you know it, my peace an quiet was shattered by my housemates coming home.

Thanks to Clobbertime, Rakeskar and LylaTwilight for all their help this evening! <3))

Seems this is building up, no fewer than three villains have been all sneery and "Haha I know something you don't" with me in the 10 accumulative minutes I've spent in the PDP. Poor Tera is going to get a shock.

((This is totally open to anyone good or evil or both, the way I've been running the "plot" is just poking people and getting them to come forth with all sorts of neat and interesting stuff to keep it going, you've all been absoloutely brilliant, and I'm having a lot of fun with it ))

Gonna Total Focus you into next week!

Oop silly me

Why do I get the feeling I am going to get the worst beatdown ever...

OK. But if someone beats you to it...

^_^

Yay! Remember I'm GMT so my on/off time is weird compared to you Americanas.

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(( I have found most people will respect a 1 v 1 duel in SC. ))

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Yeah, I never got that memo... remember kids, in SC, if its on a rooftop, it's consentiual... or however you spell that darned word.