Burning_Brawler_NA

Void nodded and shut it. He leaned against it though, in case a quick exit was needed,

"Hey Val. You don't... you know... still get hungry often, do you?"

He looked around the apartment.

"The first few pages don't look too great either."

Void walked up to the door next. "You'd think if they could afford first class tickets they'd have a nicer place."

((Yeah, normally the only threads I let my chars recognize others is the school ones.))

"Oh, hey Shinji. How've ya been?" Ok, these two are definitely both going to the same place as I am. Is this another one of those tournaments?

"A vacation." This was only half a lie. "You?"

((I would assume so as well.))

Void Brawler sat back in his chair for a second. First class ticket... I wonder who wants to see me so badly...

He shrugged and walked outside, tossing his rootbeer onto the Snake that had snuck up behind him.

As it hissed in frustration, Void pushed up his glove to press a button on a black watch. "Elitist, I'm taking a little vacation time. See ya in a few weeks."

Before someone could respond, he pressed the button again, ending the communication.

It was amazing how easily one with his type of powers could evade the security and skip to the front of the line to board the plane.

As he sat back in his chair, the attendant walked up to him. "Anything to drink?"

"Some wine?"

"You aren't legally old enough."

Void sighed. "Just get me a Coke."

Ruby Blade silently leapt across the Siren's Call rooftops, Nictus Brawler teleporting ahead of him.

A hero stepped forward and challenged the Kheldian. As Nictus flew away, he yelled angry curses about cowardly villains when a sword pierced his chest. The man collapsed on the ground.

Ruby stopped for a moment to admire the medi-porter he had stolen from him. One less hero for Paragon City it would seem.

Nictus teleported just over the hero base. With the signal from Ruby Blade, he carefully let himself fall, then teleport in the corner of the gate.

The S.W.A.T. guards cried out in alarm, but were quickly silenced by a gemstone sword.

The two villains casually walked through the gate into Steel Canyon.

----------------------

Torcher walked along the base, the building mostly arcane in style, but with a few technological items for those less mystically inclined.

He saw Pyra leaning against a wall, staring at a rotating ball and ring object. He teleported next to her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Hey, babe."

She playfully pushed him away and began to run. He teleported ahead of her and she'd run back the other way, just for him to port in front another time. It became something like you'd see in baseball.

Project Heat Seeker coughed loudly and the two stopped their game.

"There will be time for fun after our enemies are destroyed. For now we plan our attacks. We have made ourselves known and revealed our strength."

Another costumed villain walked down the hall. "Hey, boss. Do you know where the jet boots' thrusters are?"

"In the lab. Dare I ask why, Techno-Flame?"

"Err... probably shouldn't, just because I don't think you wanna know how I'm using them to build that thing you wanted."

----------------------

Heat Seeker walked into the lab, long after Techno-Flame had left. The place was a mess. There were tools and wires everywhere.

"A mad genius, but maybe the most unorganized villain I have ever met." There was an ex-Hellion walked outside. Project Heat Seeker reached his hand out to the man and stole his speed.

As the minor thug stumbled around with his slow movement, Seeker sped through the room and had it cleaned in only a few seconds.

He walked down the hallway, inspecting the rooms behind open doors. He heard the sounds of Pyra and Torcher making out in one room, and the sounds of Techno-Flame's mad hammering.

The latter was the room the villain leader entered. "And how is it coming along?" he asked.

The madman almost seemed startled by his leader's entrance. "It's almost ready... a few more adjustments to the power augmenter and it should all be perfect."

"Good, good. I want it ready for the final assault. We strike in only two weeks."

***

Three Hellions were joking in the woods of Perez Park. One lit a joint with his finger and breathed heavily. "Those things aren't good for you, dude," said the second.

The first replied, "Shut up, it won't kill me."

"This will." A sword made of rubies thrust through man's throat.

Nictus Brawler suddenly appeared behind the second and broke his neck with a quick flick of his hands.

The two turned on the third Hellion who was chuckling. "Now was that necessary?" he said pointing to the smoker.

"He would have had a hole in his neck eventually anyway," Ruby replied with a grin.

"Too true. So you wanted info on who's been recruiting away these fire gang members?"

"We already know who it is. We want to know what he is up to. I know you're a double-agent for the Hellions, human," said Nictus.

"Hehe, you should watch what you mind read. My prices rise for forced acquisitions. His plan is mostly hush-hush. We do know he's going to attack the Masters of Mayhem, but what he hopes to find beats me."

"And?" said Ruby. He knew there had to be more.

"Well I know he plans to do some reputation damage to... what are they called... my memory escapes me at the moment."

Ruby Blade pointed his sword tip at the man's throat and Nictus Brawler let the Nicti energy in his hands gather.

"Alright, alright. He wants to do something worse than destroy those heroes. He wants to make Paragon City lose respect for 'em."

"Who?" asked Ruby.

"I dunno... Butter Snickers of the Fantastic or something."

Pstorm saw the Trolls ahead, and the obvious super-villain approaching them. "This won't end well for any of them."

She began to create a storm around the camp, when something seemed to stop her.

She began to think what the voice had said about her being 'queen.' This was no kingdom... chess? No, couldn't be... but something weird was going on.

Pstorm wandered around, seemingly aimlessly, until a Knife of Artemis stepped in front of her. Wordlessly, the woman drew a knife and stabbed at her.

Pstorm leapt back and called down a lightning strike. The teenage girl twirled around warily as three more took the convulsing woman's place.

"Back off," she said, waving her hands to create an air gust. As one leapt forward, she threw the blast, sending it all the way to the statue of Talos. The second came at her, but she quickly put her to sleep with a psionic suggestion.

The last one had something in her hand. "Is that what I think it is?"

The Knife held out a bomb, its last ten seconds ticking away.

5, 4, 3, suddenly, Pstorm had disappeared. She looked around in confusion at the new place.

Welcome, queen. Serve me well.

Back on earth, 2, 1, bee-bee-bee-beep! Bee-bee-bee-beep!

[ QUOTE ]
My only other gripe might be that you always have something to counter anything. When you were attacking Blight Lord, I couldn't help but feel kind of bad for the guy, you just seemed impossible to defeat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Blightlord getting pity? Gah, I need to show some more of my Fan Fics plot lines in threads .

Any other critiques for me? I acknowledge my lack of detail, and I've caught myself doing it for two different reasons.

1. I forget that the reader doesn't know what my chars look like, and I don't bother describing him/her. Or, in the case of my fan fics, they were originally written for my SG and they knew what my chars looked like. When I moved them onto the CoX boards, I didn't do any re-writing.

2. Sometimes I think describing things slows down the pace of a post I wanted to be more action and leave the reader kind of... pumped up a bit by the end. The details I sometimes fear will take the edge off the cliff-hanger, ending, fight finish, etc.

I like your style. Really creative characters and weapons. Sometimes I feel ganked but it's always in a way that makes a little sense (the sinking of Dead City).

My turn! Critique meh!

Role Playing is when you act like your character. Virtue is a popular server for RP'ers.

An example of role-playing would be, let's say your character is a medeival knight. Instead of talking like everyone else, 'R u ready to start?' you would say, "Art thou ready to begin?"

Or if you are playing a villain, when you threaten people in PvP, instead of saying 'Keep it up and I'll get my Brute and pwn you!' you would say, "I suggest you stop now, lest my more powerful allies should come to destroy you."

Hope those are good examples. RP is all in how you talk in the game. You still play the same. Also, when speaking OOC (out of character) type with double parentheses, like this ((come on, get this mission already)).

Hope that helped.

Hyper-Man looked at the news reports on the computer terminal. 'Hellions Gone Good?' and 'Is the Fire Out?' were the two he looked back at the most often. "They must be working on something, but they would never be able to keep quiet for so long. Maybe we should interrogate some of the Warriors or..."

The hero sat back in his chair to think when Johnny Velocity rushed in with another box of pizza, Super Shard running behind him. "Give it back, or give me the money at least!" he yelled. He fired a blast of ice onto the floor, making the hero slip and the box fly into the air.

As Jack walked in it landed open on his head and the cheese slid down his face. "Great, and I had a date tonight to." With a sigh he turned back to his room.

As Hyper chuckled at the whole scene, a new alert flashed across his screen. As the local news channel's live feed displayed pictures of Hellions breaking into a Portal Corp. building with torches and gas cans. Not just Hellions though, Outcasts and a few villains recently escaped from the Ziggurat.

"C'mon 'Kickers, let’s move!"

----------------

In Peregrine Island, the Buttkickers of the Fantastic flew, ran, teleported, and jumped to the smoking building.

They ran past screaming scientists who kept crying for the heroes to save their work first.

Jack charged forward and broke down the door, the rushing heat from the flames making him stagger back. He coughed from the smoke and warned the 'Kickers before going in to make sure the coast was clear.

With a wave from Jack the heroes entered. Shard quickly started to put out the fires with blasts of ice as Burning read a water scroll.

"Vi, you, Java, and Chris see if there are any more people trapped in this building. Jack, JV, and I will find the person leading these guys. Shard, Burning, keep that up. "Blank, I need you to take Phantom, Woot, Otsob, and Dillinger to clear the everyone out of this place. Let's go everyone!"

The heroes split up and went in different directions. Burning finished reading his scroll and a wave rushed through the main hall. When the water had been absorbed into the floor, the front fires had been put out, and the paper was blank. He turned to see a very soaked Shard glaring angrily.

Burning shrugged as they moved deeper in.

It didn't take long for Blank's group to find a group of Hellions cheering as one threw oil down and an Outcast made it explode.

The group turned to see the heroes enter and a uniquely costumed villain stepped forward. She noticed they were ready for a fight. "Heya boys, name's Pyra. What's shakin'?" Her eyes lit and she sped into the group, hands whirling madly as she gathered the flames of the room around her in a protective shield.

Blank leapt back, firing blasts of energy as Phantom worked to find what illusion would keep her terrified long enough for her capture. Woot, Otsob, and Dill all worked to divide her attention. As her energetic fists worked hard to down them, she felt a dull thud through her shield from the blows.

Blank saw her friends rushed forward and quickly dropped down into the group. With a burst of light and sound, the men were sent flying.

Violet let her decoys lead. Any villains would think they were more heroes and attack them first. Chris was right behind the decoy heroes, eyes open for any trouble. Next came Java and Violet herself.

"Did you hear that?" asked Violet, her sensitive, cat-like ears picking up a sound.

"No, what was it?" asked Java. They got a little closer and he began to hear it, someone crying for help.

"This way!" yelled Vi. The two followed her as she ran down a hall. "There's a scientist trapped over here."

The two ran into a room filled with burning equipment. "Help, help!" came a cry from the back.

The group carefully moved around the flames. They saw a man in a lab coat in the back.

"Are you hurt?" called Java.

"No, no; I'm fine," said the scientist. He ripped off his lab-coat, revealing a leather jacket. The man's black and red hair fell back as he stepped through the flames he had been 'trapped' in. "You could say I'm doin' great!" He grinned as he threw a blast of fire at the heroes.

Chris took it without flinching as the other two leapt out of the way. Chris ran forward and swung, but the man was gone. He had teleported behind the man and threw a blast at Java. It hit him hard, but he quickly returned with an energy blast. The villain was flung back, but before the hero could fire a second blast, the villain had teleported again.

Violet was ready and her Phantasm fired hard and fast. The villain dropped onto the ground and under the fire. He punched Violet in the stomach and she was set aflame.

"Name's Torcher, get it?" He laughed as she dropped on the ground and rolled frantically.

"Hold on!" yelled Chris, punching in the glass case of a fire extinguisher. Java grabbed it and ran over to Violet.

He sprayed her with the foam as Chris leapt over the pair and onto Torcher. He gripped the man's jacket collar and glared down. "Who's leading this raid?"

The man's eyes drifted to the side, almost as if he were listening to something. "Sorry, dude. Gotta go!"

Chris's fist slammed down but Torcher had already disappeared.

"C'mon boys, it's nothing to get so angry about." As a Phantasm and Blank raised their arms to fire, Pyra stepped back. "Are you really gonna kill me over this?"

"Nope, just send you back to jail for a loooong time," said Otsob.

There was a flash behind the heroes, then again next to Pyra. Torcher kissed her on the cheek and said, "Hey babe, missed me?"

"'Course. Mind giving me a hand?"

He grabbed her arm and her shield surged to him. His other arm was aimed at the heroes, and an intense stream of fire coursed at them.

Jack kicked down a door.

"Pizza man!" yelled Johnny, speeding inside. He zipped around the room for a minute before stopping in front of Hyper. "Nobody's here..."

"I wouldn't say that," said a voice from above. Hyper raised his arm to fire but felt his strength suddenly disappear. He kneeled for a moment as Jack leapt into the air.

Johnny began to run forward but he felt sluggish, a real first for him since he had gotten his abilities.

Jack grabbed at an ankle, but the man zipped away as fast as Johnny.

He dropped down on the floor and surprised them. "I hope you enjoyed the show. Consider this raid a warning, stay out of our way."

Project Heat Seeker threw a blast of fire, enhanced by draining some of Hyper's power.

He ran over to a computer and placed a hand on it. A panel flipped up on his wrist and with a voice command, he and the device were gone.

Torcher seemed to be listening to something again. "Time to go, babe."

With a flash the two were gone.

The 'Kickers regrouped outside to attempt to catch the must be coming rush of who they now realized were Legion members.

When none came, Shard slapped a hand to his forehead. "They rigged a portal to their base!"

"If they did, it's inactive now," said Hyper. "Let's head back to the base, we have some work to do."

----------------

Ruby Blade sat cross-legged in front of a burning building. "How many Hellions have we killed?"

"Humans..." Nictus said, annoyed at their lesser memory. He thought for a moment. "Almost seventy... in the last hour."

"And the only information we find is that Project Heat Seeker is the one in charge. They could give us that, but not one location of a base." Ruby Blade stood in disgust as he wiped the blood off his sword. "These lowly gangs are tiring my patience.

Nictus looked at the sky, almost as if he were speaking to someone. "I believe we should try Paragon City, where the Hellions are much more... plenty. We could also interrogate the Outcasts."

"Ah, but where do we start? Certainly not Atlas Park, not anymore. Ever since the more able heroes began living there, instead of just the weaker new ones, infiltrating there has become much more difficult."

"I was thinking of Steel Canyon."

"Through Siren's Call? There are far too many Longbow and Police Drones for that."

"I could get us in there easily."

"How is that?"

"Simple, they are only humans."

This summer I'm moving out to Houston. Maybe I can make the next meet n greet

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Quite frankly I'm sick and tired of the dozens and dozens of hero's that camp the villians base. They have been doing this since I7 has hit Test and I'm really, really tired of it.They aren't giving the villians ANY chance to leave their base saying such stupid things as "We're testing out camping" and other stupid crud. There's needs to be some kind of GM or game Administrator to come in and tell these players to stop as the villians cannot get ANY TESTING DONE IN RV. At this rate, it will hit live and something will be wrong with the villians side. Then, the flames and everything will come showing how ignorant human beings can be. I know that over 80% of the people who play this game are probably the most arrogant people you will ever see, but for god sakes I beg of you, please, please, please let the villians out of their base at least and stop camping like a bunch of wussies with a shallow feeling of superiority.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I agree here, but on the upside, this was happening in BB during beta and died off immediately as soon as it went live. I think it's a "wee, nothing really matters" thing, as much as anything.

My big problem, more than anything, is being disconnected every 5-15 minutes for no reason, without warning lag or choppiness. Just BAM, the arachnos I just electrocuted do this wiggly dance for a minute and I DC.

[/ QUOTE ]

Siren's Call had this changed to. The villain base used to be easy to sneak into and stand next to the hospital. Arachnos has since "built" a door that somehow no heroes can enter. >.>

Battalion and Frost Fire stood in front of Project Heat Seeker, each had their eyes filled with hate.

"Listen buddy, you've been taking our men over to your group and we don't appreciate it. You better disband before you get hurt," said the Hellion leader.

Seeker chuckled. "Why are you here? You're not the Hellion's real leader."

"I'm here on behalf of the three D's. They don't wanna waste their time with a punk like you."

"So the Hellion leaders fear me. This will make absorbing them into the Legion much easier."

Battalion’s hands lit. "They don't fear nu-"

"Shut up!" cried Frost Fire. "Your Damned losses are much less than that of my Scorchers. I want to talk to your so called 'Legion' to show my men the Outcasts are much better than following some moron like you."

"Another mere representative. Do either of your bosses TRUELY take me seriously?"

"Listen you, I'm the leader of the Hollows Outcasts, that means you show me RESPECT!"

Frost Fire's hands became encased in blocks of ice. He pulled back to swing when Seeker placed a hand on his forehead.

Wispy blue smoke snaked from the Outcast into Seeker. When he swung the attack was sluggish and Heat easily sidestepped it.

He delivered a quick punch that sent the man to the floor. He then turned to Battalion. "Well?"

The Hellion got on his knees.

--------------------------

As the Masters of Mayhem left the base to accomplish new schemes, Ruby Blade and Nictus Brawler went to visit an old contact in Port Oakes.

"You said you wanted to talk with us?" asked Ruby Blade.

"Actually I did. There's a highly valuable artifact holed up in a Circle of Thorns base. If you can stealth in and retrieve it, then I'll split the pay seventy-thirty. You two being the seventy of course."

"It has that much value, human?" said Nictus. He knew the greed of humans, especially this one.

The broker nodded excitedly. "Take this, it has the locations of the base. Find me when you got the artifact."

The two turned to leave. As Nictus Brawler teleported using shadowy paths, Ruby Blade sped at high speeds.

They reached the base in a matter of minutes, a large warehouse.

"This is odd, normally these humans seek underground lairs," commented Nictus.

"It doesn't matter. We'll do the normal theft plan. I'll grab the item, then teleport me back to the entrance."

They entered the large office building and were surprised to see the first hallway empty. Normally there would be a crowd of mystics there, actively looking for anyone to try to stop them.

Ruby Blade cautiously walked through, eyes seeking traps.

The entire first floor held no enemies. Nictus Brawler felt the other villain's concern through a mental link. He began to ponder this new level of foolishness humans showed.

As the stealthy villain entered the third floor he saw the secretary's desk. There was a large businessman's chair facing the window.

Sneaking up to the chair, he turned it and held his sword in front of the occupant's throat.

He stumbled back in surprise to see it was Project Heat Seeker, not a Circle mystic.

He pointed an accusing finger. "You! You are dead!"

Seeker stood up and chuckled. "One rule about our line of business is they aren't dead unless you see a body. Hell, even then you can't be sure with how many times Nemesis has 'died.'"

Ruby Blade swung his sword to cut the villain down before he had a chance to explain this resurrection.

Seeker stopped the blade with his forearm, the armor not even scratching.

"But unlike Nemesis, I am much stronger." He raised an open palm to Blade. He drained just enough energy to make Ruby's legs shake, but not for him to lose all strength at once.

Not yet.

"And I have regained control of my followers!" he said happily. Legion members emerged from the many doors of the room.

Ruby raised his sword, ready to attack. That drain had taken so much out of him though...

As one charged, he slashed. But instead of cutting the man through like he would normally, he simply created a gash.

The large man landed a right hook to Ruby's jaw. Whatever Seeker did had made him more sluggish.

He kicked the man off only to be tackled by the other dozen members, landing hard on the desk. As he kicked and struggled with what little strength he had yet, he saw Seeker looming over him, obviously preparing to gloat.

He raised a flaming hand to burn Blade. Struggling, Ruby ripped a hand free and waved it in front of the man's face.

Forgetting what he was doing, the ball dropped and one of the Legion caught fire. He kicked as he patted wildly at the flames. The sudden distraction was just enough for Ruby to break free.

He turned to the large window and leapt out. Port me! Port me NOW!" he mentally screamed to Nictus.

As he was about to touch the ground he appeared at the ground floor of the office where already footsteps were thundering towards them. A wall of flame turned the corner and sped towards them.

"What is happening?" questioned Nictus.

"No time."

With that the two fled the building.

---------------

Ruby Blade and Nictus Brawler ran for the base portal. As their surroundings changed to the inside of the Masters of Mayhem base, the two went to find Elitist.

They found him huddled over a computer terminal. That's all he seemed to do lately, scheme.

"Elitist," called Ruby. The man turned to see what the two wanted. "I do not know whether or not Harlequin gave you all of the details of our escape, but in the process we killed Project Heat Seeker as a distraction."

"Survival of the fittest, nothing more. But why just now tell me? What's going on?" he demanded.

"Our broker just sent us into a trap. The human sent us to battle Heat Seeker and his followers. It would seem that the resurrectors of the Ziggurat found him quickly enough to save him," Nictus said.

"Interesting, but why should I be concerned? Because he is gathering the thugs of minor gangs? They would be no match for us, unless he has something more planned than a simple raid, we have nothing to fear."

"Which is your way of telling us we should investigate his plans," said Ruby.

"Then why are you still standing there?"

The two turned and left.

Elitist ran a search on Heat Seeker's past. "What could he have planned?"

[ QUOTE ]
Bugs I noted:

No map in prison. This may be intentional, however the bank has a map. Again though... may be intentional. I can imagine being provided a map of the area I'm infiltrating and the bank but not necessarily the police station.

The villain in the prison ignored the door. As soon as I got close she popped right through the door.

She was EASILY distracted by civilians. Most of the time I didn't have her assistance as she was too busy beating up civilians. They either need to ignore civies or be more biased toward following me once I get to a certain range distance than continuing to beat up civies.

The 'hero' was just a lt in a cool costume. Not a boss, not an eb, not a hero, a bloody LT.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lucky you. I got Malaise as an EB and he owned me. And isn't he a villain now? It had him as a Vindicator

Sweeeeeeeeeeet.

That is the coolest looking real game footage video I've ever seen.

I like the Recluse voice.

Vengeance 3: Flame War

An alarm blared in the Ziggurat. Guards rushed frantically about looking for the cause of the disturbance.

One turned a corner and fell instantly, the hole in his chest on fire.

"Red alert, we are at red alert. The prisoner has retrieved personal items."

The villain laughed at the message.

Guards charged in only to have some incinerated so the rest ran in terror. The villain proudly, smugly, walked out the front door.

"Longbow, a welcome test."

As vehicles moved in to deploy troops they found their tires melted, their intense speeds causing them to turn over and catch fire.

The villain flew off and chuckled as he heard the explosions of the fire reaching gas tanks.

"Now... where were those old friends of mine?"

--------------------

A group of people snuck into a ruined building, carefully watching for approaching heroes.

As they entered they heard quick snatches of conversation.

"-heard he was dead but-"

"-and he broke out through the front door!"

"-way outta his league. Shoulda let me l-"

Eventually a man in red and black armor walked up to a small stage, his cape flying behind him. His helmet gleaming even in the dull light, he looked around at the crowd.

"Welcome, my Legion of the Black Flame. Minor setbacks have occ-"

"Minor?!" one Hellion shouted. "We were thrashed, you were roasted, then you somehow come back just to get thrown in jail! Which my cousin said you died in! What the hell is your definition of large?"

Project Heat Seeker reached out his hand and the energies of the man were sucked from him. He fell to the ground, his skin gray.

"As you can see the medics of the Ziggurat are very practiced in resurrections. I also was able to upgrade my armor for some more..." he incinerated the corpse, "capabilities. We have too much vengeance to take for you to question my leadership. Either you are with me or you burn. Take your pick."

--------------------

"In other news, the Hellions crime, especially arson, rate has gone down. Have the villains turned over a new leaf? The story at ten."

The TV clicked off. "Yeah right," said Burning. "The day they change sides is the day... well... never."

Jack chuckled. "The news is right though. The reported crime has gone down for the most part. Hellions were a good place to start with for information. Now it seems too hard to find 'em!"

"Bet the Skulls are happy," said Johnny, walking through the room with a box of pizza. He plopped down on the couch and set his legs on the table as he opened the box. "So's the badge crazy. I've never heard, 'Kill Skuls!' so much in my life."

The heroes didn't realize that the greater the calm the larger the coming storm.

So you all know, normally I'll finish a story, or in the case of "The Void" do half a story on our SG forums by posting pieces every/every few days before moving it here, spell-checked (with still some errors, sigh) and ready for reading here.

From now on I will move the story to here every three posts. That puts a new post here once every week give or take a day or two.

Definitely

An RP group would be neat. Preferably one that has you type ((....))'s in OOC. Or even just some RP events once in a while.

That seems like a lot of trouble to make fun of someone.

Funny list though.

Player's Choice Awards 2006 Nominee. Thanks for any votes guys.