Citizen_Stu

Harris was puzzled that Erik offered to help him after everything he had done. He couldn't understand because if someone had done the same to him he would have sued them back to the stone age. He certainly would not be talking to them calmly and offering help. It made him think. Harris still sounded depressed and quite as he spoke. He hardly made eye contact and his shoulders slouched.

"We can get out that way. If we take the second left it should lead to a ladder up to the surface"

He looked at the others, only moving his eyes not his head. They were both looking at him puzzled how he knew.

"I did a report down here three months ago about crime fighting in the sewers and possible health hazards."

The Sewers:

Harris was still looking at the ground as Erik approached him. He saw Erik's feet stop in front of him. When Harris looked up he saw that Erik's was holding his hand out to him. Harris looked at Erik's hand, then looked up at Erik's face, then back to his hand. He took Erik's hand but didn't know what to say.

The Hospital:

The reaper struggled to free himself from the hand around his throat. Realizing it could not so it stopped and look at the hero who held him.

"What is it to you?"

He felt the grip tighten.

"Alright, alright......."

The grip lessen but he still had trouble talking, grabbing breaths between words when he could.

"We were sent here to take her.......to use her as a bargaining chip....a hostage. We can bring her out of her coma..........that would mean a lot to...........someone we have been tracking. We could get him to do what we want if...... we gave him his wife back."

The reaper paused then smiled when it spoke again.

"One other thing hero.............you forgot about my partner."

The reaper started to laugh. The curtains were blowing in the wind coming from the open window. The other reaper and the body of Amy Harris were long gone.

************************************************** ****************************

The Sewers:

Harris didn't speak for a while after his apology. He was not sure how Erik would take it.

"So........ what do we do now?" He finally asked.

Sarah and the remaining two crew men were being taken across the campus towards the class the students were being held in.

There was a sudden flare of green light from one of the windows two floors up from the building. The windows exploded outwards and shattered glass rained down. Sarah and the rest of the crew shielded their faces with there arms from the falling glass.

A student suddenly jumped out of the window and ran across the campus screaming and holding her ears. As the girl ran passed Sarah heard what sounded like the sounds of a hundred voices talking and screaming at once.

"What the hell?" Sarah thought to herself.

Suddenly among all the noise of voices she heard one that sounded like her own.

"What the hell?" It said.

[ QUOTE ]
She sat back. "Finally, Mr. Harris.... we need to know what information was in that notebook. All of it. NOW."

[/ QUOTE ]

Harris felt like he was back at school being told off by a teacher. It annoyed him but he simply did not have the energy to argue any more and he didn't much like the idea of being placed under sedation when in a dangerous situation.

He knew it was true, if it was not for them he would already be dead and he needed them to get out of here. He didn’t agree with what GG was saying but he nodded his head anyway, it was just simpler.

"It was Roberts the head of our legal department. He had a kid in Dr Sanstad’s class who got failed. He found the information his your wife and kid, his home address and his wife’s job. He said something about he had to pay money for the information."

Harris was looking at the ground as he spoke then he added as an after thought, "I was only planning to interview them."

[ QUOTE ]
"Look. I'm mad at you, and I think I have every right to be. But right now that's just not going to work. You've had bad stuff happen to you and your family. For that I apologize for whatever it may be. I spoke out of anger and fear for my family. I'm sorry you hurt your hand, and I'm sorry I called you a monkey-humper, but you have to realize my wife and child is in danger. If what you just said about your family is true then you of ALL people should know how terrified I am right now and how desperate I am."

Erik looked at Harris and nodded simply.

"I'm sure to your mind this changes nothing, and I'm still not too fond of you. But for my WIFE and CHILD Harris... we need your help. I... need your help..."

Erik dropped his head and sighed. His fist flared with green fire as he punched the wall out of fustration. Stone chips hit him in the face.

"My God... I swore I'd protect Enid and Cassie... I promised that I had plans for this..."

Erik inhaled deeply and exhaled and shook his head before sinking to the floor...

[/ QUOTE ]

Harris did not look up from the floor. His tone of voice did not change. He still didn't like Sanstad but he felt he should say it, even if it was just to make things easier for himself.

"I'm sorry."

Slowly Harris let go of GG and moved away so he was sitting with his back on the wall of the tunnel. He wiped away his tears with his good hand while his broken hand rested in his lap. He watched Omega leave.

There was a silent pause. Then Harris shock his head as he spoke.

“Do what ever the hell you want with me. I don’t give a dam anymore.”

He truly looked like he did not care. His face was emotionless and imposable to read, it was spooky. He looked like a man who had nothing left to lose and had simply given up which in the current situation could be dangerous.

((OOC: Sorry to see you go. I hope what ever is wrong works out alright for you."))

Harris buried his head in GG's shoulder and continued to cry.

"He was out of control......... We couldn't stop him......... He was hurting people........ He thought he was better then normal people........ because he was a mutant....... then he turned on us.............. and now my wife has been in a coma for six years........because he but her there.......... I couldn't stop him......... I wish I had never had a son.................. *beep* My *beeping* hand. You broke my *beeping* hand."

In Atlas Park a woman with blond hair lay in a hospital bed. The workers at the hospital referred to her as sleeping beauty and that was the only name that most people knew her by. She was in the best room of the hospital and was well looked after. The hospital received a lot of money for making shore she was looked after and to make shore they did everything possible to bring her out of her long coma.

“How is sleeping beauty?” Darrel the hospital security guard asked Gemma the night nurse. He had been trying to convince her to go out with him for weeks. She refused of course. This was the best line opener he could come up with on this night.

“She is fine,” Gemma said with out looking up from her paper work. Darrels advances were really starting to annoy her. He would not take no for an answer.

“Has…he been by,” Darrel asked.

“Not for a few days,” She said still not looking up.

He paused, “So……Gemma…”

“Save your breath Darrell.” She replied.

There was a sudden scream and a crash as the body of one of the other nurses was flung from around the corner into a near by wall.

“What the *beep*” Darrell shouted as he struggled to get his gun out of its holster.

A large Cadaver came around the corner followed by two reapers. The Cadaver walked over to Darrel and grabbed him by the head before he could free his gun. It dropped him to the floor with his neck broken.

One of the reapers walked over to Gemma. “Where is she?” Its breath smelt foul. “Where is the one you call sleeping beauty? Show me.”

Gemma was terrified but she showed them to the room. One of the reapers walked inside and looked at the form of the woman lying in the bed.

“Yes this is the one.” The reaper looked at the Cadaver then pointed at the nurse. “Take her for spare parts.”

The Cadaver grabbed Gemma and pulled her down the corridor.

The other reaper walked into the room. “Why are we here?”

“Back up plan,” the other Reaper replied as he picked up the chart at the end of the bed and looked at it. He looked up at the woman in the bed deep in her coma, “Hello………… Amy Harris.”

[ QUOTE ]
"Harris, be VERY glad I have morals right about now. I ought to irradiate your groin to make sure such an *** like you never BREEDS!"

[/ QUOTE ]

The words rang in Harris ears. They replayed over and over again in his head like an echo. Erik continued with his little speech but Harris did not register it. He just concentrated on those first few words. How dare he. How dare Erik say those words to him.

Maybe it was the pain of having the memories replayed for him of what his son had done or maybe (and most likely) it was a pain running six years deep from the original events that made him feel such anger at those words.

He felt the anger growing in him like a fire as Erik spoke. How dare he. How dare he speak those words. Then he turned away. Erik turned away to address the other so called hero. Harris felt the anger spill out of him.

"MOTHER *BEEPER*!!," He screamed as he lunged at Erik and punched him hard across the face.

Given Eriks super powers Harris did not know if his strike had any effect. However Harris himself fell to the ground holding his now broken hand in agony.

"MY HAND......YOU BROKE MY *BEEPING* HAND."

His manner suddenly changed as he broke down and started to cry. He felt a pain that ran deeper then physical. Six years of sadness and sorrow hidden behind hate and anger suddenly flowed out of him. It was more pain then he could bear. His words came between short burst of tears.

"You broke my *beeping* hand.........*Beep*......... You don't know me...... You don't know what I have been through you *beep*. I wish I could have....... I with I could never have had a son...... then maybe my wife........ *Beep*...... It should have been me........ *beep*."

Harris was crying so hard that when he screamed the pain he had felt for six years no sound came out.

"Mother *beepers*."

He lay down on the dirt covered floor, crying.

"Holy [censored]" David was horrified at what he was seeing through the lens of the surveillance camera.

"What's up?" Sarah Jenkins asked.

She was board out of her mind, sitting on a pile of boxes holding a cup of weak coffee. Harris had ran of with out saying anything and they had lost the signal shortly after the students had. Even Roberts had not been back.

"We have to get the hell out of here now." He was panicking.

No one knew what he was talking about. Sarah looked at him puzzled as he ran for the door. There was a sudden scream as he came flying back through the door and slammed into the near by wall. Everyone looked in horror as a huge cadaver walked into the room followed by a eiledon. The eiledon looked around the room at the cowering camera crew. One of the crew ran at the eiledon, he was dead before he even got close.

"I suggest no one be as foolish and you might live........a little longer."

"What do you want?" Sarah asked.

"You'll find out but for now we are going to take you to join the students you have been spying on. Get up."

********************************************

[ QUOTE ]
She turned to the robot. "Secondly," she held out her hand to it, "We never got a chance to introduce ourselves. My name is," she paused briefly, "going to be The Village Idiot, but I haven't registered it yet, so I am listed in the Paragon City Hero Roster as Girl Genius. Thanks... for the rescue. I didn't think we were going to make it out of there."

[/ QUOTE ]

Harris had been strangely silent. When Erik had set down on the ground Harris had pulled himself away with some force as if to said, "get off me," with out actually saying it.

Now he was sitting on a pile of rubble with his head in his hands. He was covered in dirt and his shirt was ripped in several places. He gave a little laugh.

"The Village Idiot............that would be fitting." He said with out looking up, almost speaking to himself but it was loud enough for the others to hear.

[ QUOTE ]
"We don't have TIME for you going nutso! You wake up or I'll knock you out so you won't KILL us!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Harris was suddenly aware of being shaken and the whole world around him suddenly snapped back into focus.

Suddenly he was flying along a sewer tunnel which confused the hell out of him at first. How could he be flying? Then he looked up and saw he was being carried by Erik.

"What......what is going on?" He still felt a little dizzy.

[ QUOTE ]
"You are going to be all right. Can you hear me? You are going to be fine, we are getting out of here, we're leaving. C'mon Harris, snap out of it, talk to me..."

[/ QUOTE ]

Harris looked up at the voice of the person carrying him. The drugs affect were fading and he was starting to be able to move again but things were still muddled in his mind.

"I said if I ever saw you again I would kill you....."

He looked straight at GG with a sudden look of anger.

".....Max."

Suddenly he grabbed her by the throat and started to strangle her.

"Dam you Max." He shouted. "How could you?"

Shadow Marshal:
Shadow Marshal was just a normal guy with a happy life until something went horribly wrong (I wont say what yet because I'm writing his origin story at the moment). Now he can not go back to his old life and he became a hero simply because he did not know what else to do with his new found powers. He never asked to become a hero and he never wanted to be one. He sees himself as just a guy who was forced into this situation.

Straight Jacket (aka: Jack):
Straight Jacket had a troubled childhood. The only way he could keep himself out of trouble was to use his mutant abilities to become a hero. He thinks of himself as better then normal people because they hate his kind. He is a hero with a dark half. He does not think of himself as a normal guy but he does not really think of himself as a hero either, he is simply....better......more powerful.

Fused:
.......I don't know yet. I'm still trying to work out his character really. I was just playing him for fun at first.

The effects of the drug Harris had been injected with was starting to wear off but slowly. At first he could only hear what was going on around him but it sounded far away and muffled. It started to mix with the memories he was experiencing.

When he was finally able to open his eyes everything was blurry. All his senses were dulled and he felt strangely detached from what was going on around him. His body was still paralyzed from the drug. In his mind things were starting to get mixed up.

Sarah Jenkins grabbed hold of him.
[ QUOTE ]
Abruptly she thrust the unconscious form of Harris into Erik's arms. "Watch Harris for a minute!" she shouted.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sarah thrusted Harris into the arms of the doctor who had told him the bad news about his wife; Harris could not remember the mans name. Then the face changed in his mind and the man now holding him was Roberts.

"Roberts......stick to what you are good at.......get me some coffee." He mumbled his voice almost unheard.

Sarah was trying to remove something from the other side of the room while they were being attacked by all the heroes he had interviewed.

He saw someone in blue armor trying to hold them back.
[ QUOTE ]
"You are now under arrest for assault and resisting arrest as well as your previous violations. Do you wish to continue compiling additional charges ?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Then the image shifted in his mind and it was his 22 year old son Max.

"Get out of here.....Max...........If I ever see you again I will kill you." He mumbled again.

((OOC: I was a bit late with my post but I changed the end a little to try and make it fit in better ))

[ QUOTE ]
“You dirty SON OF A…!!!”

[/ QUOTE ]

Even though Harris was still trapped in his own memories he heard the sound of shouting from the other room on a sub-conches level. It triggered another memory.

***********************

Doctor Erik Sanstad looked at Harris. He was not happy with the question, "Read a book sometime Mr. Harris."

*Skip*

Harris was still blind from the flash but he could feel the thing that now had a hold of him. "I was able to convince my cohort that you would be best alive... Until we got you to OUR labs to see just what makes you such a wonderfully bitter man."

*Skip*

"No, Max your killing her," He begged for his son to stop.

*Skip*

"Why you magnificent ******* Harris."

*Skip*

Harris sat in the waiting room of the hospital, still in shock. The doctor walked over to him and Harris heard the words he dreaded. "I'm afraid I have bad news about your wife. Mr. Harris."

*Skip*

"Robert....why don't you leave the reporting to the big boys and do what you’re good at." Harris smiled. "Get me some coffee."

*Skip*

"Get out of here Max. If I ever see you again.......I will kill you." and with that Harris walked away.

****************************

Even trapped in his own mind Harris started to cry as he lay on the autopsy table.

Still unaware of what was going on around him he did not know that Girl Genius was now fighting for his and Eriks life.

Harris fought to free himself of the straps that held him to the cold steel autopsy table. The table was covered in a mixture of dirt and dried blood. All this struggling did no good and the gag made his cries for mercy come out as only muffled noise.

The mortificator slowly picked up one of the needles and gave it a tap with his boney index finger. Bubbles gathered at the top of the greenish liquid inside and he pushed the plunger forcing the air and some of the liquid out. He turned to look at Harris.

"We wouldn't want you getting hurt now would we Mr. Harris, not with all the information you are going to give us."

He stuck the needle into Harris arm and injected its contence. Placing the needle back down he walked to the other side of the table and removed the gag in Harris mouth. Harris could already feel it taking effect, what ever it was. He felt lightheaded and everything was starting to go a little blurry.

"What did you give me?" His words were slow. His tongue was starting to go numb.

"Just a little something to make you talk." The mortificator looked at the other tools on the table. "These are just for fun once we are done with you."

Harris tried to fight it but he was getting more and more sleepy. He let the darkness take him.

**********************************************

Max lay on the floor in front of the TV the way most children do. His head rested on his hands and his legs swung back and forth in the air.

Behind him Steven Harris sat with his arm around his wife on the sofa. They smiled as they watched the news and the heard about how The Statesman had just saved another group of people. He looked very.....well....heroic.

The eight year old boy turned around to look at his father.

"Dad, can I be a hero when I grow up?"

"You can be anything you want." Harris replied with a smile. He looked younger then the man who lay on the autopsy table now.

His wife gave him a playfully dig in the ribs. "Don't encourage him." She said with a smile.

Then Harris was in another memory looking a little older.

"No Max, Don't" He screamed.

Another memory, a few years earlier (Between the first two)

"Can you tell us what is wrong with our son doctor. Please." Harris did not look like he had had much sleep.

The doctor leaned forward and put his arms on his desk.

"Mr. Harris. Your son seems to be developing mutant abilities."

The memory skipped again

"No, Max don't do this." Harris was on his knees crying.

**********************************************

Harris lay on the autopsy table speaking out loud the parts for all the characters in his memories that now replayed in his mind. Sometimes he even took on different voices.

"Interesting" The mortificator said while listening to Harris and checking the sharpness of his tools.

Harris panicked as GG disappeared again. "Don't leave me here." He thought to himself but managed to keep from saying it out loud.

He squinted his eyes and he could just make out her faint outline then it was gone again when she moved.

Then he remembered what she said. One for yes, two for no. He tried to stretch his hand out as far as his bonds would let him, hesitating for a second he held out one finger.

Then the Eiledon turned back, picked him up and took him deeper into the sewers.

Harris shouted something but through the gag came only a muffled sound. It sounded like something along the lines of, "Get me the *beep* out of here now."

The Eiledon heard the muffled yelling but obviously had less of an idea of what it meant. It spoke to him with out turning around to look at him.

"If you do not be silent little man I will sow your lips together with rusty wire."

Harris closed his eyes tight. He had no choice. He looked at Girl Genius and nodded.

((OOC - Most credit for this post should go to Jennifer8 ))

[ QUOTE ]
"Be a good boy then and hush up, or I'll peel you here like I wanted..."

[/ QUOTE ]

"But you have what you want. Why....."

"I said be silent" The voice shouted at him and he felt a sudden blow to the head. Everything went back.

*********

The first thing he was aware of was the motion of being carried. Second was the smell. It was the stench of sewage and rot; and, perhaps, the smell of corpses.

The fowl smell was coming from an old, rusted grate, set in the side of the wall like an afterthought that lead down into the sewers.

The wall that housed it displayed a wild riot of graffiti; and just above it, someone had spray-painted, 'ABANDON HOPE, ALL YE THAT ENTER HERE." The Eiledon walked into this wretched portal of Hell as if it was home, sweet home.

The tunnels were lit, here and there, by simple light bulbs. It carried its burden down hills, winding around sewage and industrial waste, diving into the earth in a maze of platforms, metal, and stone.

It set Harris down, and gestured. From the earth sprang coils of blackness, surrounding him. He would have screamed and yelled out but his mouth had been gagged. The Eiledon went ahead to clear out what looked like a very recent rockfall, which had blocked their way. Though the tendrils could have cut through Harris in the blink of an eye, they simply made it impossible for him to move or leave.

Harris was in a blind panic. Slowly his vision was coming back but he didn't want it to. He didn't want to see what had a hold of him.

"No wait......please....do you know who I am.......I'm Steven Harris the reporter..........please.......I can give you money.......I can give you anything you want....please don't hurt me........I'll give you anything."

He was starting to weep pathetically.

"...please...."

Harris was totally lost. He had been wondering around the building for a while trying to find were they kept the dead cadavers (dead dead as oppose to living dead cadavers).

Having corpses on campus for med students to work on was standard but the fact that they were cadaver and not just regular corpses at least meant he could twist the story. The standard kind of thing, play on peoples fears. What if one of these supposive dead cadavers was not really dead? What if it woke up and attacked students? Even better, what if they were keeping alive cadavers to work on?

The thought made Harris smile but he would still have to be careful because the doctor seemed to know what he was talking about when it came to legal stuff.

There was a sudden clang of something hitting the floor. Harris spun around. His torch illuminated the area he thought the sound had come from.

"Hello? Anyone there?" He said out loud suddenly scared.

There was nothing there.

"[censored]! I'm imagining things." He said to himself.

Then he heard something coming from outside.

[ QUOTE ]
"Freeze! I am a designated law-enforcement hero of Paragon City! You are under arrest!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Harris pulled a chair over to the high window at the side of the room. It shook as he stepped up onto it but he could now see outside. A group of Cadavers, a reaper and at least two mortifications stood near the window.

Over to the side Harris could see the two heroes. They had not seen him. Slowly he raised his camera to the window to record what was happening.

[ QUOTE ]
"Lets Dance... best look away, Erik,"

[/ QUOTE ]

There was a sudden blinding flash. Harris fell back off the chair holding his eyes. The pain was unbelievable. His eyes burned. He felt dizzy and sick. The camera in his hand dropped to the floor and smashed. Harris curled up on the floor, his hands over his eyes.

"Aggghhhh. My eyes. AAgghhhhhh!!!!!"

((OOC: If you heard Harris above the noise of the fight outside is up to you. But if you didn't maybe he could be found by the bad guys ))

[ QUOTE ]
"Last sighting put them near the medical building, near the med student labs." Derrell stated.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
"Figures, that's near the location they keep the cadavers for the students to work on. "

[/ QUOTE ]

Harris held the head set to his ear listening into the conversation. He raised an eyebrow. "Keeping Cadavers on campus. I wonder in the students parents know about that or would be happy about it."

This could be just the scandal he was looking for. Cadavers kept on campus for students to work on and the passable link to Vhaz attacks. Tutors exposing students to dangerous situations.

But he would need pictures. He could go there, get the pictures he needed then wait for the two so called heroes to show up then stay out of sight and follow them.

While the others worked at hacking into their communications Harris left to go and check out the medical building. He didn't bother taking any of them because in his mind they were incompetent fools who would only get themselves spotted. He already knew the basic layout of the campus from a report he had done three years ago.

He got there before the two heroes showed up. It was starting to get dark and it took him a while to find a way in. One of the windows had been left open. He was able to slip in but ripped his suit in the process and fell with a thump to the cold tiled floor.

"$%$#%#"

He took the small video camera out of his pocket and started to search for what he was looking for.

TELEVISON CEMERCAL:

Harris Voice Over:
Next week on; Behind the Mask. We explorer the effect heroes are having on our society and culture? Is it positive or negative?

*The camera shows the smiling face of girl Genius*

[ QUOTE ]
Girl Genius: “The webcam is always running when I am on duty, and you can view the live feed at any time, as long as I am wearing the suit. There are lots of internet viewers on for this!”

[/ QUOTE ]

*The camera changes to show The Great Beyond.* [/brown]

[ QUOTE ]
The Great Beyond: "Sure when I was a kid, I tied a towel around my neck and leaped from the garage roof - who didn’t.”

[/ QUOTE ]

Harris Voice Over:
“. . . . and we talk to one of Paragons own heroes who is shaping the minds of todays youth.”

[color=black *Camera shows the face of Dr Sanstad. He does not look amused*

[ QUOTE ]
Dr Sanstad: “Read a book sometime Mr. Harris.”

[/ QUOTE ]

Don’t miss Behind the Mask next week.

Wow, I knew your writing was good from reading the Whitemoore Apartments open RP (I spent two day reading it so I could join in) but I have only just read this story.

Its really good.

Good thing you bumped it Genius4Hire otherwise I would have missed it.

((OOC: Sorry I got the name wrong Bluto. That was a mistake. ))

Harris smiled as he looked through the telescope. He could hear everything they were saying through the head set he held to his ear. The sound quality was not great but it was go enough.

With out looking away he snapped his fingers. "Bring me on of the hand held cameras ...... and someone find a way of hacking into their feed."

David ran to the next room and brought back a small video camera. He handed it to Harris. Another member of the team started working on a laptop.

"Right......time for a little investigative reporting. We just have to stay out of their sight." Harris said.

"You mean follow them? Spy on them?" David asked.

"What do you think I'm saying." Harris said to him angrily.