Caios

(( as originally posted by TheCheshireCat ))

"Guardian Angels: An insiders view of the superpowered subculture and its effects on society at large" read the display. "Meet the author, Dr. Ellen Timmit. 2:00 PM today!"

The book signing went well, but Ellen was glad that the tour was nearing its end. It wasn't that she resented public speaking, but travelling around the country promoting her book was a much more demanding schedule than teaching ever was.

She was speaking with her publicist, Julie, when the team of Longbow agents approached her.

"Ms. Ellen Timmit?" Their leader said in an authoritative tone. He seemed to be trying to give off the impression that he was a much larger person than he was, which was silly given Ellen's own diminutive stature.
"Doctor." Ellen said.
"Excuse me?"
"Doctor Ellen Timmit. It says so on all the signs around here, dear."
The Longbow officer was not amused by her correction.
"We're here to place-"
"Yes, place me under arrest for the robbery of the first bank of Paragon or whatever such nonsense they've been going on about on the news. I do WATCH the news, officer." Ellen cut him off. "And I suppose the fact that I was provably out of the city at the time of the supposed robbery won't do much to dissuade you either. After all, you have your orders, yes?" She put out her wrists. "Cuff me, then. I'm not going to resist arrest and give you a real crime to charge me with on top of the fake one. Do me a favour and escort me out the back way though, will you? I do have my reputation to consider what with the book launch."
The longbow unit looked a bit unsure about what to do at this point. Every other attempt they'd made to bring in a member of the supergroup known as the Guardian Angels had resulted in a badly injured squad and an escaped fugitive. They seemed genuinely unprepared for what to do in the event that one of them actually gave themselves up.

The Officer said nothing and pulled out a pair of handcuffs which he slapped on the woman's wrists. As they escorted her out, Ellen turned to her publicist. "Julie, be a dear and handle things in my absence, will you?" Julie nodded back at Ellen, a gesture more meaningful than the longbow unit realized.

When longbow had cleared out, Julie reached into her pocket and pulled out a smartphone. She thumbed through the most recent messages, mostly related to the book tour, and found the messages that Ellen had told her about before Longbow had arrived.

<<REZ. CAVE WHERE JEWEL OF HERA KEEPS ENDING UP. CURRENTLY EMPTY, BULLIED LOCALS INTO HELPING SECURE AREA. NEED CLOTHES B/C RUNNING NEAR C VELOCITY IS BAD FOR NATURAL FABRICS. ALSO, ANGRY WELSH WOMAN NEEDS FOOD BADLY. BURNED TOO MUCH PWR ESCAPING. -MES>>

She switched over to the calender application and moved a few things around until she was able to free up time for the meeting. She then tabbed back into the message and typed out a quick reply.

<<Former member Firanima will not be able to make the meeting due to police incarceration. I am her publicist and attorney Julie Brennan and will be representing her in this clandestine meeting. Will bring clothes and food. Hope green is your colour, Mes -Julie>>

(( as originally posted by Snowdog ))

Pocket D

Xenolizard paced worriedly. It had been a hectic night. Shed' hooked back up with Rhonda for a night on the town, who was back in Paragon City for the first time in months after spending time in Japan. Polekitty had needed a break from worrying about her missing little brother, so Amy took it on herself to get her out on the town for an evening. Well out to Pocket D at least, the two of them tended to stand out in most nightclubs in paragon, with Rhonda's fur and her own lizard skin and wings. It was a bartender that had clued them in on what was happening back in Paragon. It was totally insane she thought. Hell, the sword was called the 'blade of justice' for crying out loud, it was semi sentient, and couldn't even be manifest unless it was for a righteous cause-if she had tried cutting open a bank vault with it-it would disappear and all she'd get was a sore hand.


She wasn't able to get through to anyone else, and was waiting in the entrance way from Pocket D while Polekitty stepped outside to check to see if it was clear, and to talk to someone who could help. The two of them (and the sword) had come up with a plan over several cops of coffee to erase the buzz of the nights effects from them-Rhonda's metabolism accelerating pheromones helped a lot as well. She glanced a worried eye on the doorway to Kings Row, hoped everything was going OK on Polekitty's end..

PPD Headquarters

Rhonda sat on the edge of the roof of the PPD headquarters building. Not that she was distrustful of cell phones, but the less folks that could listen in the better. There was a click from behind her, and a familiar voice “you know I still get nervous when you sit on the edge like that, even though you can fly.”

She just smiled as she got up, moving away from it a bit “I know daddy, glad you came.”

Detective Randal Evans just smiled tiredly, hugging his daughter “things are a madhouse right now, Longbow going in heavy handedly is just making things worse for everyone, your friends in the Angels included.” he sighed, running a hand through his graying hair “Lacceter told me about the attempt to bring Caios in. He thinks if longbow had let him just go talk to her without them like he wanted, she might have come in to clear her name. The way things went however...” he just shook his head “I almost feel sorry for Longbow. Almost."

“so you don't believe they did it?”

“Heck hon, I've had most of them in my house for dinner. I can usually tell if folks are decent or not, that's half the job of police work” he said with a sigh, sitting down on the edge of a AC unit. “it could be a Nemesis plot, duplicates from Praetoria or some other parallel earth, mind control, heck some rogue folks in Crey framed you for breaking into their labs not too long ago.”

“ah remember that daddy” she said, frowning a bit. The Countess had managed to weasel her way out of that one, throwing lackeys under the bus to take the fall.

He nodded, that had caused a bit of stress for himself at the department as well “thing is, they're not helping their case by running. But then...longbow is unusually aggressive for some reason. So I can understand it. I mentioned your idea to the chief, and she agrees. If Amy turns herself into the PPD, she stays in PPD custody. I read her FBSA file, it doesn't sound like she's capable of doing what she's accused of. Same goes for any other Guardian Angels that we can get to before Longbow.”

“Longbow ain't gonna like it.”

He stood up, offering his hand to his daughter, helping her to her feet “Franky, ah don't give a damn what Longbow likes at this point. We could have sent a couple detectives down to talk to them, and probably gotten a bunch of them to come in quietly to get this cleared up. Now..” he shrugged.

She nodded, pulling out her cell phone “where do you want her to go?”

Randy thought for a moment “tell her to just meet us here up on the roof. There's Longbow down around the building on the ground level, they'd probably try to jump her. Hate to have any more of those idiots hurt due to their own stupidity. We do this quiet, she'll be safe in custody before they know. Just make sure she comes in from this side, so they won't see her over on the helipad on the other side of the building.”





Amy was getting worried-it had been a while, when her phone suddenly buzzed with a text message
<X-ppd thumbs up. On roof, come in high away from chopper. Dad will do paperwork. PK>

Well that was good at least. She HAD to clear her name, the sword was most distressed at being accused of such crimes. Spreading her wings before even stepping through the portal, she started beating them for altitude as soon as she saw the light of the morning sky over Kings Row. She was no where as fast as some of the faster fliers in Paragon City, Kelly or Jack for example, but in seconds she was over the tops of the buildings, leaving the ground far behind her. Thousand feet or so should be good enough she thought as she leveled off, heading towards Police Headquarters. There, she could see two figures on the roof on the other side of the building from the helipad, Polekitty and her father. Might as well get moving, at least this would all be over soon.


THOOOM!

Randy's first reaction on the shot was to push his daughter down towards the roof, a fathers natural instinct, pulling his own weapon. There was a scream, then several more. He remembered glancing at the them on a lower ledge of the building in shock...there was no mention of Longbow putting forces there, much less sniper teams. He remembered Rhonda screaming , diving off of the roof, trying to reach the fluttering figure before it impacted the ground, but it was too far...he remembered his own roar of rage into his radio, reporting shots fired, requesting backup as he leapt down onto the snipers, his cowboy boots smashing into the face of the spotter, his 1911 pressed against the shooters head , screaming hands on your head, down now! And worst.. he remembered the sound as Xenolizard hit the ground.

(( as originally posted by Hollowpoint Heroism ))

A few days later...

The Red Mane Armory, Talos Island. 1154 hrs.

The day had been relatively quiet. A few customers here and there, a few interested parties poking their head in to see what the new store had to offer. He'd also done a few repairs and refits as well.

Though nothing much of anything had really occured in regard to Adrian De'Havaland, proving that his concept of laying low had been rather effective...and immensely troubling. The news had been listing off more and more Guardian Angels apparently involved in various criminal deeds of which he knew that so many wouldn't even consider. Everything from extortion and theft to armed robbery and murder...and it got worse.

It was days like this that he cursed his poor fortune. God help him, he wanted to stand up, wanted to fight. Every name sullied was a knife in the chest for him. Deep down he knew that while he could do little to help, it wasn't in his nature to let others fight his battles for him. He slumped forward, palming at his face with both hands, one metal, the other natural, sighing with a weight of morosity that only he could shoulder.

A jingle of the bell attached to the front door of his shop caused him to swiftly lift his head from his palms and blink, watching as five men in red and white came tromping through the front door, weapons slung across their chests as the the Sergeant turned to him, reading off a sheet of paper which he had previously plucked from his belt,

"De'Half-land, Adrian?"

"De'HAVALAND. Where the hell did you learn to read?"

The Longbow Sergeant, a Sergeant Donovan by his tag frowned sharply and nodded "Right. Mr De'Havaland, we're here on behalf of Captain Sp.."

"Spangler, right? Yeah, heard about him on the news. Him and that Congressional hopeful White are one some kinda witch hunt. A very SPECIFIC witch hunt, so I hear."

Again, Sergeant Donovan frowned. Clearly this man was either being purposefully difficult, or was in a really foul mood to begin with.

"Yes, Mr. De'Half-"

"HAVA-LAND. It ain't that hard, Sergeant. Really."

Sergeant Donovan was clearly flustered now, while Adrian made with a sly grin as one of the green-horns in the squad chuckled to himself.

"FINE. Listen, We're here to ask you some questions in regard to your departure from the United States two years ago and the connection it might have with the disappearance of a certain Vigilante."

Adrian blinked at that, his face turning to an expression of confusion "There's...lots of vigilante types around Paragon, Sergeant. Which one are you referring to? And what makes you think I might be linked to one by taking a bit of time out to travel?"

"The vigilante we're referring is known as the Shadowstormm. He's wanted for questioning."

Adrian nodded, "Aaah"ing in realisation. "Yeah, yeah, I know 'im."

Sergeant Donovan blinked at that, stepping toward the counter as a hefty growl from a German Shepard followed. Kaiser didn't like that movment. Not. One. Bit.

The shopkeep playing dumb turned to his pet and made calming gesture, smiling with mock appology...which was conveniently mistaken as an ACTUAL appology to Donovan.

"Sorry. Typical German Shepard instinct. Good, loyal dogs, but somewhat distrusting of...strangers. Yeah, I know him. Read alot of articles about him in the paper. Real mean sort. Had a penchant for ******** up badguys, right?"

The Longbow Sergeant nodded heavily and spoke, one of his lackeys trying the tough act. Adrian sized him up, a simple glance putting the brat back in his place. His eyes spoke of significantly more experience than this whelp, that alone was a terrifying prospect enough.

"He's considered to be an..."

"The guy's missing, Sergeant. Don't you read the papers? He was rurmored to be operating in Europe for a long time before he just...dropped off the map. No news, no info. Some folks are saying he's dead, others just don't know..."

Adrian, currently sitting behind the counter folds his arms and shoots the Longbow grunt a sharp gaze "Fact of the matter is, I think that doesn't really matter much to you. Does it?"

Sergeant Donovan blinked, glancing around at his squad before responding

"What...I have no..."

"Don't lie to me. You came down here with the intention of trying to bully a confession outta me with this Gestapo act. Sorry, ain't happenin'. All you got are a vague pair of dates and potentially, if you can pinpoint WHEN the Shadowstormm went missing, a list of several THOUSAND people who exited the country that day on God-only-knows how many different flights. Even if you narrow it down to one, that's still a lot of foot-work considering the several hundred passengers you gotta check through."

Adrian De'Havaland, the man behind the Shadowstormm's mask sat back on his stool, folding his arms and sighing as he continued,

"Y'seem like a good soldier, Sergeant...but you ain't much for detective work. Might want to get some facts under your belt before you leave the office next time."

A dumbfounded Longbow Sergeant AND the no-******** shop owner both sit there, staring at one another a moment before Sergeant Donovan gestures to his squad, heading toward the door

"Th...thankyou for your time, sir. If you have any information, please..."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll call Longbow. Bye."

Amidst the tromp of of hefty boots and red-white uniforms stands a single delivery man, no older than his early twenties going by the scrap of a beard on his chin. He makes sure to avoid the crowd of burly Longbow-types, the owner of the Red Mane Armory limping to the door as the young fellow pulls his hat off, stepping inside the store as he runs a hand through his orange hair and comments "Real hot out there today..."

Adrian simply nodded, acknowledging with a grunt as the lad drags a hefty metal crate into the shop front and holds up a digital signature reader. "I got a package here for an Adrian...De...Half-land?"

Adrian frowned, signing for his package and supplying a thumb print,

"De'Havaland. You're the second person to get my surname wrong today."

"Err..sorry."

"Its fine."

With a nod, he handed back the signature reader and smiled, the young fellow returning to his truck and eventually burbling away in a cloud of exhaust. Adrian looked over the crate, considering it for a long moment before tugging an eleqouently scripted letter from the lid and reading it over...then re-reading it again, just to make sure.

He gazed at the case, almost peering through the metallic lid to its contents within.

This letter, this crate, its contents. They all carried the potential to rewrite his current fate. He needed time. Time to think. Time to reflect.

With a grunt, Adrian dragged the case out of view, whistling to Kaiser who quickly departed his bed and came front and center, his owner slipping on a pair of dark sunglasses before nodding,

"C'mon, boy. We're goin' for a walk. Its lunchtime as it is...and I need to do some thinkin'..."

With that, he hung an "Out to lunch, be back by 1300" sign on the door of the Red Mane Armory, and headed for the northen-most tip of Talos Island. He needed to speak to some phantoms of the past...and hopefully garner some guidance.

(( as originally posted by Snowdog ))

Dothan Municipal Airport, Dothan Alabama

She wasn't the only one that had gotten off the plane at Dothan. Being that in this part of the south, to go anywhere meant changing planes in Atlanta, the diversion put a good number of passengers closer to their final destination, or some of them there Rachelle thought, watching the US Army Warrant Officers standing in line in front of her at the Hertz rent a car counter. They had reservations, down in this part of the country for duty at Ft Rucker. She, and several other refugees from flight 231 did not. And from the looks of things, there weren't that many cars available for walk up customers like herself. Excusing herself , she got out of the line, stepping out of the terminal into the warm Alabama evening. Should have thought of this earlier she thought as she pulled out her cell phone. These things were supposed to be encrypted Jack said, guess it was time to find out, and just how much trouble she was in.

The phone picked up after a single ring, there was a buzz on the line, for a moment she thought she had dialed a fax machine number by mistake and was about to hang up when a voice cut in “Dr Kincaid?”

“yes?”

“Stand by, voice print authentication....” she waited , glancing around a bit nervously, hoping than with the footage of Longbow forces being manhandled like a Jr high football team paired in a scrimmage with the NFL that her picture wouldn't be shown. She was a bit distinctive, maybe she needed to find a drug store and get some hair dye before she got much further.

“Voice print verified, this is Mr Green in Wolfetech legal, how can we help you?”

“I'm in-”

“don't say where you are, we know your location-however while this is supposed to be a secure line, there have been attempted intrusions.”

“which would explain why I can't get into the network.”

“Correct Doctor. Longbow forces are attempting to enter your base as we speak, we've filed an injunction however it may be several hours until it is heard. Our closest transport is a Lear 35 in Atlanta that could get you in a few hours as soon as the airspace there opens, there seems to be a massive storm cell in the Atlanta metro area.”

She blushed a bit at that “uh, that was kinda me.”

there was a pause on the other end of the line “there are reports of several tornadoes in north Georgia Doctor-”

“look that cell was building to do that anyway-i just triggered it earlier. Probably less damage than there would have been if it had been allowed to grow for a couple more hours.”

“perhaps, I am not a meteorologist , but I am a lawyer. I would advise not to mess with any more building thunderstorms until we get all this sorted out.”
She grimaced but nodded “alright. Whats the status of the others?”

“we have no reports of any one in custody or injured as of yet. However charges are growing.”

looking up at the CNN footage of Caios waltzing through a Longbow strike team, and pictures of the damage to Paragon University where Stern Impact streaked past light speed, literally...”I can believe it.”


“also, Mr Wolfe has left the Guardian Angels-”

“WHAT? He's not just leaving us out here to-”

“Calm down Doctor. He left the group as a strategic move, his name will be easiest to clear being he is off planet-once that is done he can provide a safe haven for the rest you. Mister Wolfe does NOT abandon anyone.”

She calmed down a bit, she could see the logic in it yet still..” OK, what do you recommend I do?”

“staying in place is not an option I am afraid. Your name was on the manifest for flight 213, and it was noted that you left the plane in Dothan. There was a longbow team in Atlanta, however they can not fly out and it's a five hour driv-standby please.”

Rachelle stayed on the line, trying to listen in, fortunately these lines didn't have the cheesy hold music like many companies did. She heard muffled talking on the other end , and some cursing “Dr? We show you as multi-engine rated, have you ever flown a Cessna 310?”

“uh, I'm not checked out in one but yes-”

“good. Because Longbow passed along the fact that you can manipulate the weather to the TSA in Atlanta-and now they're putting a warrant out on you.”

“Great...dammed if I do and dammed if I don't. Why did you ask if I can fly a 310?”

“Because Wolftech just bought one that was for sale. Wiregrass Aviation, on the other side of the airport. Insurance should be-there, it's covered, and they're pulling it out of the hangar to fuel it now. Get over there and get out of Alabama.”

(( As originally posted by Shadewing ... ))

King's Row, Paragon City.

"Your money or your life, lady!" Yelled a member of the street gang known as The Skulls as he tried to wrestle away the purse of one of Paragon's citizens.

"Just leave me alone!" Screamed the lady, who looked no more than 25 years of age, she was desperately trying to hold onto her purse.

----

Shadewing was patrolling the neighborhoods of King's Row as she normally did when she heard a faint cry for help. "Well, guess it was too much to hope for that today would be quiet..." She mumbled as she dashed off towards the direction the cry was coming from. She arrived just in time to see a member of the Skulls shoving a girl to the ground, the straps of her purse in his hand. Acting quickly, Shade flew in front of Skull, blocking his path, "Drop the purse, and I might let you off the hook..." she threatened.

"Hah! Yeah right! Why would I do something as stupid as tha----Aahh----AHH! GET AWAY FROM ME!" The gang member yelled out as he gripped his head with his hands, dropping the lady's purse in the process. He was experiencing his worst fears, and quickly dashed off. Shadewing had no intention of harming him if she could avoid it.

Shade picked the purse up off the ground and offered it to the shaken civilian, "Here you go!" She said in a cheerful tone, smiling.

"Thank you! Wait...You were on the TV earlier! No! Stay away from me! You can keep my money, just stay away!" The girl yelled out in a terrified voice as she ran in the opposite direction, leaving her purse behind.

"Wait...What...?" The lady's purse dropped to the ground. Shade just stood there for a second, stunned at what just happened, "But...I was just...huh?" She turned her head in the direction of a nearby TV store, where all the televisions on display seemed to be broadcasting a breaking news announcement. Curious, Shadewing made her way over just in time to see a bank being robbed. Normally this wouldn't surprise her, however, this time she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw who the robbers were: Members of the Guardian Angels!

"Wha....No. No way! This can't be happening! No!" Shade yelled out as a blast of dark energy crashed through the window of the TV store, destroying the TVs on display, "This can't be for real! None of us would do such a thing! Something's wrong, I just know!" Noticing a crowd of people gathering, Shade decided it would be in her best interest not to stick around, so she flew up high into the sky and rushed off away from King's Row.

(( as originally posted by Hollowpoint Heroism ))

The Red Mane Armory, Talos Island 1820hrs


The white-blue light of a television screen was all that lit the relatively small firearms store at this point in the evening, its owner, a tower of a man limped from place to place, locking up windows and safes, checking inventory all the while the TV continued to warble on in the form of cold comfort.

Laying beside the counter was a hefty German Shepard, 'Kaiser' by his tag, awaiting the moment when he and his master would walk home and see about something to eat.

For Adrian De'Havaland, life had slowed to a crawl ever since returning from Europe and a brutal manhunt to end his Father. He had been a Vigilante that had turned Arachnos agent a good twenty years ago, slaughtering the store-owner's family in cold blood when he was but a boy.

However, life at this juncture lacked the same direction it used to have. He'd given up so much for the sake of the safety of others, and now it seemed that life saw it fit to rub salt into the wound. With cane in hand he checked the locks on the front door, hobbling over to them with a grimace of discomfort, clicking them home one by one.

He had been a Hero once. People had branded him a vigilante, but that was just a title for someone who got things done around here. Still, none could forget the name. Shadowstormm had carved a bloody path through Paragon's underworld, often times leaving section of it in such disarray that members of criminal factions were left horribly traumatized, unwilling to so much as jay walk for fear of retribution.

Though, that was then.

Thanks to a ruined left knee, Adrian had resolved himself to the quiet life, running his little firearms store and gunsmithy in lower Talos Island. It wasn't much, but it kept his mind busy, gave him a reason to continue living...or at least existing as he sharply reminded himself. He'd done his best to keep fit, keep himself in shape over the months that had passed since his return and it had helped a lot. However, he also had a lot more time for watching TV.

Senator White's appearance on the campaign trail had caught his interest early on. His immediate spat against the Heroic community had made him chuckle. Seeing one of his former team mates, Caios and her one-sentence dressing-down had added all the more amusement to it. So when he switched on the news this evening, he had expected to see the man yet again shooting himself in the foot, or at least on a massive backpedal from his previous statement.

Not so.

He watched in shock, then anger, then fury as the name of his brothers and sisters in arms, the Guardian Angels had been made the scapegoat of a publicity campaign. The footage was bogus, it had to be.

"**** me, this is a ******* joke..." He growled. Grey eyes narrowing sharply as a mechanical prosthetic arm clenched around the remote, threatening to crush it in his palm. This disgusting, fat-fingered, congress-hungry pig of a human being had just crossed a line....

But what the hell can I do about it?

His gaze shifted to his knee, that had never healed quite right and was painful enough just to walk on. It seemed as though as much as he wanted to stand up, arm himself and lay bare the truth in a path of blood and bullets, life had a way of reminding him that his time was up.

He sighed, slumping down on a stool behind the counter, watching the speech as it continued. Longbow, this ******* had pulled strings and gotten Longbow into the picture. This Captain Spangler looked like an honest-to-God, upstanding soldier: Honorable, loyal...and all too willing to accept his orders on face value. The kind of man who would gladly pull the trigger on a man if told it was for the best. Sure, he probably meant well, but best intentions do have a habit of paving the path to Hell.

"..Thankyou and God Bless Ameri-"

The TV blinked off, Adrian turning his gaze to his dog who looked up at him as if to ask "Is it time to go?" With a reluctant nod, he struggled to his feet, the Shepard at his flank as he hobbled out the back door, locking it behind him "As much as I want to Kaiser, I'm not sure I can. I know they need help, but what good is a cripple gonna be in a firefight?"

With a folorn gaze skyward, he shifted his gaze back to his faithful companion, smiling somewhat and jerking his head toward home,

"C'mon, Lets see about some dinner. They'll be alright without ol' Stormmy." His gaze shifted to stare into space and thought, brow furrowing "They HAVE to be, for all our sakes..."

“Sir, you have –”, The secretary barely began to speak.

“Not NOW Ann!” White interrupted her loudly. He was clearly very angry still. Aside from the yelling, he never referred to the women in his office by their real names if he could get away with it unless he was truly annoyed. Typically he liked to use pet names like ‘honey’ and ‘sweetheart’.

At the time Annie Walker was trying to decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Donald White simply ignored her as he stormed into his office, closing the door behind him forcefully. He didn’t even notice the man standing by the window until he spoke.

“Come now Mr. White, you should be able to better handle such situations on a personal level if you expect to succeed in Washington.” The tall middle aged man said.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” White barked at the man suddenly confused. He was very well dressed, had a strong build about him. His face was weathered and his hair was a mix of black and grey, but there was no doubt that this was a hard man. He was in many ways nothing like White whatsoever.

“You may call me Mr. Pearl.” The man smiled devilishly. “As for my presence here, it’s quite simple. You have a problem; I mean to help you with it.”

“I don’t need you help, thank you.” White began, immediately taking on his business negotiation tone, “If you’d like to contribute to our campaign you can speak with my secretary and she will give you the details. If however you are interested in more … significant donations then you can leave your number with me and I will make arrangements of my choosing.”

“Always ready to make a deal aren’t you.” Mr. Pearl observed. “Unsurprising. I suspect you are becoming rather desperate for donations given your latest standing in this Senate race.”

“A minor setback, nothing more.” White said as he walked over to sit at his desk. He was trying to take control of the situation but knew he had little to work with. Despite his words he was bound to lose the election at this rate, he needed all the help he could get. “My speech writers are working on a way to reword my earlier statements to regain the hearts and minds of the public.”

“And you believe backpedaling like this will help you?” Mr. Pearl’s tone was bordering on insulting, “That will only make you appear even weaker then you already are. What you need is vindication. Show the people that your words were true. If the proof is compelling enough then you will gain all the votes you will ever need, while your opponent’s continued support of such dangerous heroes will become a liability. In one fell swoop you will be able to completely turn this election around.”

“Interesting.” White tried not to sound too eager or desperate for what the other man was suggesting, though he clearly was, “But how exactly do you propose to do just that?”

“You make an example.” Mr. Pearl said seriously, “You take those who are thought of as heroes and show the world their evil deeds. Not just one hero either, but an entire group of heroes to be your own scapegoats. Not just any heroes however, those too perfect and too loved by the public will have too many followers, too many skeptics of their fall. No what you need are those heroes already close to the edge, heroes exactly like those you talked about in your speeches. That way when they fall their actions will be that much more believable. And your words will ring true in the ears of your voters.”

“I admit, this would be extremely helpful to me right now.” White said eagerly, “But there’s one problem, I can hardly wait around for one of these fringe heroes to fall like you said. The election is in a few months after all.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. White.” Director Pearl’s smile was downright evil, “I already have the perfect group of heroes in mind for your little comeback. I will make sure they fall, or at least appear to. All you have to do is make sure to capitalize on that moment when they do.”

“If there’s one thing I do well, Mr. Pearl, it’s capitalizing on the moment.” White said before adding suspiciously, “However this is all a bit too convenient to be true. Tell me what are you really after? What do you want from me?”

“All you need to know is that I have a vested interest in seeing these particular heroes fall.” Pearl explained, “All I want from you in return at that point is do what is already in your best interest. Go after them will all your political might. I want you to leave them with no where else to turn. Do that and you will have done me all the service I need in exchange for giving you this election.”

“Alright, I’ll do that.” White smiled, “And since you’re here already, you sure I can’t interest you in a campaign donation? I’m sure I can provide you with even more services once I’m elected after all.”

“When that time comes, Mr. White, we will contact you.” Pearl said already walking out of the office.


A few days later…

“Terrible news today as new security footage is brought to light of the Steel Canyon Bank Robbery yesterday.” The anchorwoman spoke into the camera remaining professional, however there was a clear hint of shock in her eyes over this particular bit of news, “The footage clearly shows several members of superhero group ‘the Guardian Angels’ as the perpetrators of this crime. In the wake of this shocking turn of events, more videos of other Guardian Angels members commit other crimes throughout the city have been brought forward. Video evidence of drug trafficking, extortion, arson, even murder, have all been making their way into the public.”

“In the aftermath of these events,” The anchorwoman turned to a new camera as the image of Donald White appeared over her shoulder, “Senatorial hopeful Donald White was quick to comment on what he calls an inevitability. Here’s what he had to say.”

“It is a sad day that things had to come to such tragic and violent occurrences for others to head my warnings.” The video of Donald White at a special press conference came into full view, behind him were an assortment of other suits, police officials, and even Longbow operatives. “But this are the consequences of our own failed vigilance. These are criminals and monsters that we invited into our city, our streets, our very homes. It had always been merely a matter of time before some of them would take advantage of our hospitality. But I don’t blame the people of this great state. Oh no, for they came at a time of our desperation, when we needed anyone who was willing to take up the title of hero. Even if we knew we were inviting the wolves into the flock. But now the wolves have grown hungry, and the look to the sheep among them to kill for their own hungry desires.”

“But I will not fail you, citizens of Rhode Island.” White smiled to the cameras, all in perfect timing to his script, “I have taken up this cause, to rid ourselves of those horrors that pass themselves as heroes, as our protectors, to root out such evil and bring our true guardian angels to a higher standard then those who would dare sully the concept by taking that name.” As he continued he motion back to the lead Longbow officer standing behind him. “It is for this reason that I have called in many personal favors and called upon my dear friends in the law enforcement communities to take action against those who have betrayed us. I present to you with Longbow Senior Captain Spangler who has graciously volunteer to lead up a special task force of Longbow operatives to seek out and arrest the entire group of villainous Guardian Angels. He has already issued arrest warrants on behalf of Longbow, the first step in making these criminals pay.” Captain Spangler merely nodded in agreement as Donald White continued, “We will make things right for the citizens of Paragon City, and as your future Senator I will continue to make things right for all of the people of this state and indeed this country. Thank you, and God Bless America.”

(( As originally posted by Sareini ... ))

Steel Canyon. Morning.

“Bingly-bongly-beep,” said the computer.

On the other side of the room, a shape buried under bedcovers started moving, and then a few moments later a pillow flew at the computer. “Screw you, Alheron,” said a muffled voice from under the bedcovers.

“Hey!” said the computer. “I’m just trying to be helpful here!”

“Did I ask for you to wake me?” replied the shape. “I have enough problems sleeping as it is without... without being woken at whatever-the-hell time it is-”

“8:15 am,” the computer supplied helpfully.

“Whatever.” The shape under the bedcovers moved some more, and then a messy-haired James Walker slowly sat up in bed, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. “So, what do you want?”

The computer’s monitor turned itself on and, after a moment, a green, digitized face of a man in his early 20s appeared on it. “Want?” the digitized face asked, “I didn’t want anything. Except to check up on you. You’ve been at serious risk of turning emo again since Cherish lef-”

“She didn’t leave me, we agreed that we needed time for ourselves,” James snapped a little too quickly. “She wanted to travel and explore the world, I wanted to stay here and finish college and stuff. We didn’t break up,” he finished archly, glaring at the computer screen.

“Of course, of course,” Fenix said, his tone indicating that he didn’t believe a word of it, “the two of you are just “on a break”. Just like Ross and Rachel. But seriously,” he continued, “she left town and you decided to move back here?”

“It’s my home,” James muttered.

“Your father was killed in the kitchen! Most people would have burned the place down and thrown salt all over the smoldering remains!”

“Yeah, well, I’m not most people.” James got out of bed, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of tracksuit pants that seemed too big for him, as did most things he wore. “And... It just feels like home to me, okay? Even after everything.”

Fenix was quiet for a moment. “Fine,” he said eventually. “But let me tell you, if you start styling your hair like Justin Bieber, we’re staging an intervention.”

James actually laughed at this. “If that ever happens, I’ll expect you to hand me the gun so I can end it all myself,” he told Fenix, before padding over to the computer and sitting down. “So, what’s been happening?”

“Not much,” Fenix replied, as the computer screen split into two images, one of Fenix’s face and the other of a web browser. “Few fires in Steel, Devouring Earth made a go of invading from Eden again and got pushed back, Caios was on the news... Oh, and I rickrolled Glenn Beck’s followers again.”

“You’re not going to get bored of that any time soon, are you?” James asked. “Wait... Caios was on the news? What happened this time?”

“No, no, we’re in the clear on this one. Some news reporter tried to interview her about the ‘hero on the street’s’ opinion on that senator who thinks we’re all demons from hell itself.”

“Oh, him. He’s a tool,” James agreed. “So we’re not having to pay for another new camera?”

“Nope. Although let’s face it, it would be worth the cost if we got her and that guy in a room together.” Fenix’s image flickered suddenly. “That’s strange...”

James shrugged. “Hey, you’re the computer expert - literally. I’m the psych major. So we’ve got nothing major to worry about?”

“Nah, don’t think so.”

“Good.” James leaned back in his chair, stretching. “I’d like a day where nothing explodes in our faces and no-one is trying to kill us.”

“Yeah, but what are the odds of that happening? Oh, and you should get some breakfast. Most important meal of the day, you know.”

“...Fenix, if you’re going to act like my mother, you should at least try looking like one.”

(( as originally posted by Snowdog ... ))

Meanwhile...

Paragon University, life sciences building.


Rachelle's feet barely touched the ground, not that she was flying, she was after all in the middle of the university, surrounded by other faculty and students. It wasn't really proper for someone at her position in the university to skip like a school girl through the halls..but dammit. They got the grant. With the recession funding for science research had been cut back drastically, despite what the political heroes in congress said about how they were so much better than the guys they replaced, please re elect me. Weasels all of them, but no, that was insulting to weasels. At least the CDC and the EPA liked the work she had done on the mutating wildlife in Eden, and agreed with her that it should be studied more.

Thirty three point seven million dollars in agreement. Hell that was more than the entire department budget! Part of her didn't like taking money from the government, but dammit, this was important. There had been ongoing talk about removing the war walls around Paragon City due to budget restraints, a horrible idea in her opinion unless they wanted green five feet tall raccoon mutants in Ohio before the end of the summer. She managed to stifle the grin as she arrived at the Biology department enough to cause a few worried faces on her assistants, staff and grad students, visions of no more grant money induced unemployment dancing through their heads...

“Well, what did they say Dr Kincaid?”


she did fly now, course everyone in the office knew of her other identity by now as Snowdog. “WE GOT THE GRANT!!!”




Portal Corp, Peregrine Island

“I really think I'm gonna like it here”

Justin smiled at the HR Manager has she gave him a tour of the offices. Working on his doctorate at MIT, he'd turned down a chance to work at some secret government lab out west at the Dark Mountain facility, doing theoretical teleportation research. After all, this was Portal Corp that offered him an internship. While unpaid, he'd be working with some of the best in the fledgling teleport industry.

“I'm glad to hear that “ she replied, “over here is the interns office, you'll be sharing it with three others.”

“Wow, we get a whole office? Last summer when I interned at Aperture, I didn't even have a cube. Well I did, but it was a literal cube. That place is weird...” he said, his voice trailing off as he noticed the office across the hall. Instead of futuristic styled office furniture, or the dark wood tones of management office...this one looked...different.”uh...is that a scratching post?” he asked, pointing at something that looked like one of those cat towers he bought for his girlfriends cat, only bigger. Much bigger. “and why does that coffeemaker have a lead carafe?”

The HR manager just smiled “oh we put our interns next to Dr Schroedinger's office. We figure that if they can survive that, they'll fit in just fine at Portal Corp”

“what, your kidding? My thesis is about some of Dr Schroedinger's quantum string theory!”

“Well I can introduce you then, you'll be meeting her eventually anyway” Oddly though she didn't go to knock on the door, instead to call out in a loud voice “Schrodi?”

Justin was really glad he skipped that large coffee on the way to his orientation-and that he was wearing dark pants as there was a bang, the surprise causing him to fall onto his rear. Looking up he saw the source of the noise, air displacement from a glowing circle that opened up in the ceiling, a green haired cat girl poking her head out “myah?”

the HR woman just smiled “Dr Schroedinger, this is Justin Whitam. He's interning with us this summer”


He just stared at her open mouthed from the floor. Great...one of the top physicists in the world...is ceiling cat. Maybe working fast food the rest of his life wasn't such a bad idea after all. There was another bang and she was standing on the floor next to him , helping him up “Nice to meet you Justin” she said “have they given you your crowbar yet?”

“my what?”

“Crowbar, sheesh, you're from MIT, you can't be a physicist without a crowbar!” she said, pulling one from somewhere...where she was carrying it he wasn't sure he could figure out. “they give them out now when you get your PhD.”

“i, uh, haven't gotten mine yet”

“oh thats OK, you'll earn your crowbar eventually! I just confused you with one of your quantum doubles is all, happens all the time”

He was wondering if he could stay sane and ask her to explain, when an alarm klaxon started sounding, rotating lights on the ceiling giving off an amber glow “WARNING! PORTAL BREACH BAY 12! DR SCHRODINGER TO BAY 12!”

Justin did wet his pants now, sure that the end of the world had come. Schrodi just smiled reassuringly “it's yellow alert, not dangerous just annoying.” she said as she reached her hands in front of her, and pulled open a hole in space time, and stuck her head through “whats the problem Phil?”

From the other side there could be heard a cacophony of screeching, with one voice shouting to be heard over it “we've got an infinite number of monkeys down here that want to talk to you about a script for Hamlet!”

“Again? Fine, be right there” She smiled at Justin “gotta go take care of this, nice to meet you!” she said before diving through the portal which disappeared with a quiet poof.

He just stood there gasping like a gold fish, looking at the now solid wall where she had disappeared through. The HR manager just smiled “now then, we've got a few liability waivers we need you to fill out, and we're all set!”

(( As originally Posted by Killswitch ))

"No love for White from the heroes on the street."

The room was aglow in bluish light from dozens of monitors, news stations from the world over. The Malta listening post was smaller than optimal, but the basement of the call center was just large enough for the task at hand. A few feet straight above, dozens more Malta operatives busied themselves with dress shirts and ear pieces, monitoring thousands of conversations while a nice believable front for the operation.

A mono-tone robot voice chirped over labored breathing. "Remind this to the begining, Tango." The Gunslinger Siren Cobalt Domino's cold hand gently rested on the intelligence officers shoulder as he pulled the news report back to the pale hero. "Shall I begin compiling information on -"

Siren's eye twinged annoyingly, "Further, Tango. To the begining." The report started over, the camera angle switching as White slammed his fist down to get a reaction shot of the crowd. "Freeze." Siren leaned in, her eye going to each and every face in the crowd.

"I want to know who each and every one of these attendees are, Tango. Cross reference all of them with Anti-meta agenda's or ties to Malta. I want to know just who is giving this White his money." Her voiced droned as her breathing became more and more ragged.

She turned walked to her chair, almost collapsing as she sat down in the leather. She made eye contact with her medical officer, she needed to nothing more. By the time she had opened her laptop he was already adminstering the morphine. She tabbed through pages video, pictures, and reports plucked from the networks. Graviton, Storm Break, Bright Dust, Black Dust, vampires, personified computer AIs, meta-humans, they all had one thing in common. Failures, all. All of the operations had Director Pearls' fingerprints all over them, and they were all failures. Pearl must be frustrated at best now, running out of plays. He would slip up soon, and she would be there when he did.

She had arranged file photos of Pearl's targets on her screen. She clicked on an intercom and waited for a response from the server room, "I would like the files of the Guardian Angels, please." She had come across them before, just in passing. During Siren's campaigns against the Silver Guard, and later, the Children of Egypt her eye had watched them wearily. That seemed like such a long time ago now.

"Madam? Shall I assemble a kill-team?"

She blinked, "No, that will not be necessary. I think we may need their help."

"Why would they help us?"

Her eye drifted back to Senator White. "I'm sure we can find a reason."

The Director sat in his office with a grim stare on his face. Codenamed Director Pearl, he was one of many directors in the secretive organization known as Malta Group. He wasn’t the most powerful man in the group, but he was high enough in the ranks that he could demand perfection. He usually got it.

Not today however.

Some heroes who have had run ins with the Malta Group eventually come to the assumption that after failing several times to capture a hero for their own purpose the group would eventually decide to stop dealing with said hero whatsoever. Usually those in charge of such operations choose instead to go after other more attainable subjects leaving the others for another time. Some super powered people are far too dangerous to allow to roam free.

Such was the case with a number of members of the rogue group known as the Guardian Angels. Not only were they powerful, but unpredictable as well, unwilling to bend to the same rules that other super heroes tend to fall into line. Clearly they had to be caged up, so their collective abilities could be used for a better purpose, Malta’s purpose. Or failing that the only other option was to remove the problem heroes entirely, and permanently.

But despite their best efforts neither option had proved possible, and now Director Pearl had the displeasure of debriefing the battered operative in front of him about those failures.

“Tell me about Operation Nightfall.” He ordered the operative, his tone heavy with disappointment.

“She walked right into the middle of the trap, sir.” The operative replied. He had a name, the Director knew but couldn’t care less what it was at the moment.

“If the trap was sprung then explain to me why she is not in our custody now?” The Director demanded.

“Sorry sir, I didn’t mean it like that.” The operative struggled to explain, “ I meant she walked into the middle of the trap on purpose, knowing we were waiting for her, and took out every single one of our forces along the way.”

“And the hostages?” The Director frowned.

“She took them with her.” The Operative sheepishly admitted.

“So a total loss. Again.” The Director let out a heavy sigh. “Very well, what about Operation Graviton?”

“We finally managed to find the last of the missing soldiers from that mission.” The operative said, “They are currently in orbit, passing over Australia by our last estimates.”

“Operation Storm Break.”

“We lost him in Europe somewhere. But not before losing two of our men to gun shot wounds to the head. One in each eye.”

“Operation Bright Dust?”

“Operative Daniels was turned into a goat during the initial engagement.” The operative seemed unnerved at the memory, “Everything went downhill after that.”

“Black Dust?”

“The men are still suffering waking nightmares, and we never managed to get past the front door.”

“Enough!” the Director finally cried out, “Obviously none of you have the capacity to deal with these threats. All of our methods to neutralize them have failed, it’s clear we will have to use alternate, more drastic methods.”

“What should we do sir?” the operative asked tentatively.

“We will do nothing.” The director shot back at him, “I will take care of this personally, this time we will attack these supposed guardians with an attack they will never be able to defend against.”

“What sort of attack?”

“The truth, of course.” The Director smiled, “Or more specifically, the perceived truth. We just need someone who can spread our truth effectively without leading back to us.”
_____________________________________________

Donald White, Esq., was in all ways a despicable man. Fortunately for him no one ever knew this. He was good at hiding his overweight body beneath a very expensive suit. And he knew how to smile for the cameras. He LOVED to smile for the cameras. But what he loved most was money and power, always had. It was why he became a lawyer, and now a politician.

As a lawyer he made thousands every day defending the worst criminals, with the biggest bank accounts. As a politician he spun his successes in his favor, projecting the image of a defender of the common man. In truth he couldn’t care less about the common man. If you couldn’t write checks with a minimum of six figures in it he wasn’t interested. He certainly didn’t remotely care about the state of Rhode Island. However becoming a senator for the stupid little state meant he would have a great deal more power at his disposal. And already he looked forward to all the bribes, or rather “campaign contributions”, he would get once he took office. It was unfortunate he still had to be voted in. But manipulating public opinion was always easy enough if you had the money for it, or so he believed.

“Mr. White?” A buxom pretty blonde called for his attention as she entered his office. He always hired secretaries based solely on their looks. “You’re on the news Mr. White.”

“Thanks honey.” White said as he waved the secretary away with a dismissive hand. Picking up the remote he turned on the TV in his office to see himself at a recent fundraiser giving one of his many speeches. He always did love to watch himself on television.

“I stand for the very purity and moral fiber of our people.” His own image called out from the screen. “Because it’s not enough today just to be safe. We have to demand not just our security, but the quality of those who protect us. Some say it’s enough to just be out there trying to save lives. But I say letting any two-bit lunatic with a gun or a power stand over us is a recipe for disaster! Look at the so called heroes we have watching the very streets which you live in! Many of them are monsters, in the very real sense. All manner of horrible beast and creature from the darkest pits of hell. Vampires and cat people of every imaginable shape, machines who are nothing more then sick facsimiles of real men, demons from the very depth of hell itself! Is this the sort of person you want watching over you? Over your children?! What horrible role model, what sick example do these so called heroes place upon our young minds and hearts? That it’s OK to drink another’s blood, or to swallow their very soul!’

“No I tell you!” His speech continued to the cheers of the hand selected, pre-paid crowd. “I will not have this town, this state, this country that I love be reduced to the playground of the forsaken. As you senator I would see all our heroes become people we can be proud of. People of integrity, people of higher standing, people who do not feel the need to dress like harlots and strippers! And those who refuse to live up to our higher standards shall be removed of their positions for the safety and security of not just our person, but our hearts and souls as well.” Donald White could only smile from his desk chair as he heard the crown cheer his name once more, he didn’t care that they were simply paid to do so. Abruptly the speech ended and the news anchor came back into view as they continued their coverage.

“And that was the scene at a campaign fundraiser for Senetorial hopeful Donald White.” The pretty anchorwoman said flatly into the camera, “After this speech White’s conservative stance on superheroes has come under heavy attack, with many here in Rhode Island calling his words disrespectful and an insult to the much beloved local superhero community. One reporter tried to get a response from one of the targeted superheroes who had this to say.”

The scene suddenly changed to a field reporter running down a street in Paragon City after a tall woman in a long back leather trenchcoat.

“Excuse me ma’am, just one question please.” The reporter begged as she continued to follow the woman who was clearly not interested in giving interview.

“Fine. What?” The woman finally answered harshly as she turned around to face the reporter. Her long jet black hair flew effortlessly around her shoulders to reveal a pale young looking face wearing a pair of rounded sunglasses. The glasses did nothing to diminish the intensity of her icy blue eyed stare.

“Um..” the reporter was momentarily stunned from the unexpectedly sudden response from the woman and tried to recover, “Have you heard the latest statements from Donald White currently running for Senate?”

“White?” The disgust in the tall woman’s response was palatable. “Good God that man is such a tool.”

“Ah… yes but I was referring specifically to what he said in his most recent-“

“Don’t care.” The woman interrupted the reporter. “He’s an idiot, and a slimy one at that. That’s all I need to know.” Apparently having decided the conversation was over the woman quickly turned and walked away. After a moment the camera turned back to the reporter who looked quite a bit flustered for a moment before talking.

“And there you have it,” the reporter said professionally, “No love for White from the heroes on the street. Back to you in the studio.”

“Thank you. It seems the sentiment is shared by a majority of people in Paragon City.” The anchorwoman continued once the scene cut to her once more, “White’s opponent in the Senate race was quick to respond to the situation, releasing a statement that says; ‘It is unfortunate that my esteemed opponent is so quick to judge those who work so hard every day and night to protect us all from the terrible dangers of the world. Certainly none of us is perfect, and it is unfair to demand such perfection in others, especially when they’ve done so much for us all.’”

The rest of the broadcast was quickly cutoff as the remote smashed itself against the screen. Ignoring the sparks now coming off the ruined television, White quickly checked his laptop for the latest poll results. His worst fears were confirmed. He was dropping in the polls, and fast.

(( OOC - Prologue

Over the years much has changed, and with the release of Going Rogue major changes are now possible to entire groups as heroes become villains and villains become heroes. As a result those of us former Guardian Angels have gone through a major restructuring, with all new SGs, characters, and story developments. When it came time to put all these things into an in-game in-character context we decided to make something significant out of it.

Here you will find the story of the Fall of the Angels, the rise of Legends, and the source of all new Blood on the battlefield.


This is an ongoing RP taking place right here. We are reposting here to share with the entire server. Feel free to add in your reactions to this IC thread, and for those who want to participate even more just let us know.

))

Guess who's the newest Vigilante of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.

<--

That's right, it's official!


Of course some would say that's not that big of a change.

Sounds like I should attend this then, huh?

It's Blood Angels now.

As I said on deviant, Cute Stuff!

And you can find all the pics you want from me there as well...

http://caios.deviantart.com/gallery/

Have fun!

As I've said before, to anyone on this board who is trying to decide between CO and CoH. If you can only have one of them just stick with CoH, really you won't be missing much. But if you can try out CO, I'd say go for it, it's a fun game and you might like it.

As for the RP, that's always been a factor of what those playing the game make for it. Simply put it all depends on who you play with more then what you play.

But overall right now CoH probably blows CO out of the water from RP perspective. And the main reason for that is user created content. CO likes to tout the laughable user created content in their game via their nemesis system. But the truth is their nemesis system just doesn't hold a candle to what the Architect system has to offer.

The nemesis system lets you, at most, create a single character to be your nemesis. After that you're pretty much picking preset combinations of henchmen and power sets. The missions are still basically all the same no matter what you picked.

No really, that's it.

It's a fun added set of missions to take part in, but it's certainly nothing special. And it's hilarious to see the CO devs go crazy about how incredibly innovative their Nemesis system is and how it allows for an unprecedented level of user created content to be built into the game. At which point you just gotta point them in the direction of this game and laugh.

Despite all the obvious simmilarities, Champions Online is a completely different game then CoH. So different in fact that I see no reason why you couldn't play both (short of obvious monitary deficiencies).

If anything CO plays more like WoW for me. With it's outdoor quests, quest hubs, crafting system, etc, etc, hell even their contacts use the same "!" and "?" to mark quests with. The point is beyond the obvious superhero and customization elements, CO seems to derive more from WoW then it does from CoH.

If you're only going to play one Superhero MMO, Stick with CoH, there's a huge advantage to being part of a game that's been around this long. And with the changes coming in I16 and Going Rogue, things will only get better.
I Can't Wait!

But if you want something different but still want to play superheroes, CO is a very good choice to pick up as well.

I'd like to.
of course I'd also like to get some sleep.

... yeah.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

A lot of that RP happened at my Show. *remembers trying to explain the birds and the bees to Whale*

[/ QUOTE ]

I remember that as well. And felt sorry for you. For your backup in explain birds and bees to Whale was a drunken, angry alcoholic insect with a foul mood.

[/ QUOTE ]


Whale neber did unnerstand dat stuff..why woods da bee be all trying to git in ba birdies nests anyhoo.

[/ QUOTE ]

*GLEEE*

Go Whale!!

[ QUOTE ]
I won one of the sketches today, they called me saying I got it

So here's Trickster's Jackalope by Nakayama

This makes 3 - my three fifties. Year before last was Winter's True Spirit, and the year before was Retail Retali8r.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's awesome, he does truly great work. Gratz!

You can see the sketch itself better here:
http://Caios.deviantart.com/art/Comi...ch-1-130779476

Here's another one that I got while I was there:
http://caios.deviantart.com/art/Comi...ch-2-130780064

Here's a couple of sketches I got while at Comic Con that I HAD to share...

First is a sketch I won from David Nakayama at the NCSoft booth:

He loves the opportunity to add more blood.

Next one is from a friend of David, the talented Joel Gomez:

He went with something a bit more... violent.


... and remember, it's ok to admit if you're jealous.