Doulos

Pretty much have this whole story mapped out, but its the writting that will take the time... plus I don't want to tell the story faster than I level!

The room was dark, the gentle beep of the machines kept a steady pace, the quiet hum of machinery provided a seemingly endless drone to the atmosphere. The figure lay motionless in the bed, his massive frame raising and lowering the sheets covering his chest almost in time with the beep of the heart monitor. Electronic pads attached to his head flickered momentarily with a steady rhythm not matched to anything else in the room. If the lights were on then the condensation in the breathing mask over his mouth and throat would have been clear as it appeared and disappeared in time with the rising and falling of his chest. Light broke through the blinds casting lines of light across the ceiling of the room. Slowly the figure began to move, at first the movement was gradual and slow then as the hand raised to the face the sheet fell away to a giant mechanical forearm that glistened with a dull sheen in the weak light of the room. The metallic fist protruding from the arm began to slowly pull off the electrodes and breathing apparatus.

The form raised itself off the bed, vast muscles flexed as it took the strain of lifting itself; the sheet slowly fell away as the torso sat up. Swinging legs over the edge of the bed, silhouetted against the dim light from the window the figure ran the more human hand over a shaved head before raising his head. Blue light glistened in the room as he opened his eyes and looked around slowly, gently rolling his neck and pulling back his shoulders he stretched his arms out. Joints cracked as massive arms reached away from each other. As if surprised the man examined his mechanical arm, delicately running quivering fingers over the metallic forearm and examining the fingers that flexed delicately. The figure stood up, a vast towering shape making the room seem small. A couple of unsteady steps and he was in front of the basin and mirror in the room and staring at himself like a man looking at a stranger. The vibrant blue of his glowing eyes reflected off the mirror casting an eerie light onto his face. Strong features met with metal as he examined his jaw, metallic and strong, with plating running down his neck to his shoulders, tearing his eyes from his reflection the figure turned away.

The door to the room opened. Two men in doctors’ garb entered the room one held a clipboard. The first spoke, “The process is taking considerably longer than expected, the cerebral reprogramming is being met with more resistance than…” his words trailed off as he looked at the massive man standing naked before him.

“Is he meant to be mobile yet?”

“No. Guards,” two figures clad in tight blue and yellow stepped into the room, “restrain him.” White blue light surrounded the fists of the first while claws sprung from the fists of the second. Time appeared to leap forward as three figures blurred in motion, the clawed individual sprung forward only to be met my the massive metal fist which flashed with the same white blue light of his comrade. The blue and yellow figure was thrown back violently crashing through the doorframe on his way out of the room, the second man unleashed a torrent of energy that washed past the giant man smashing the window behind him. He took half a step back before lunging forward crashing his metal forearm onto his assailant’s head, there was a sickening crunch. Before the man had even fallen to the floor the natural fist caught him in the chest driving him with such force into the wall that as he fell to the floor an indent was left in the plaster where he had hit it.

Looking around the room in shock the giant took a step towards the hole in the wall where the window had been before pausing and turning. He took one giant step towards the doctors who stood motionless watching him and plucked the clipboard from the weak grip of the doctor. “Erm, thank you.” He said somewhat awkwardly before leaping through the broken window frame.

“Well, he appears to be functioning well.”

“Yes far better than we expected for the preliminary stages.”

“We need to get him back for the second stages of development, with that potential it would not be good for us if we were to loose him now.”

“Agreed, he won’t be hard to find, an eight foot tall naked cyborg in Crey’s Folly shouldn’t be to hard to locate.”

“Unless he falls into the hand of the freaks.”

“Valid point, send out the protectors, tell them to bring him back in one piece.”

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Steam from factories and early morning mist filled the streets, the aroma of waste, toxic and otherwise hung thick in the air. The man stepped warily from the shadows and moved as cautiously as an eight foot tall man can, running from cover to cover. “What the hell is going on?” he muttered as he dived for cover. Uncertainty raced through his mind as he covered the ground, some deep-rooted instinct seemed to be guiding his path but for every answer he had, he had several dozen unanswered ones.

He stopped at the sound of footsteps approaching and hid behind a collection of barrels. In front of him a group of strange looking beings halted. Well one of them is my size. he thought as he watched the group, there are only five of them, I can handle that, I think, better take the opportunity. He jumped from his cover, going straight for the biggest person in the group. As he leapt three of the group pulled out weapons and opened fire on him, lithely he dodged the blasts and punched the closest of them, he flew through the air, crashing into a wall before slumping to the floor. A well placed kick to the back of ones knee dropped him to a good height for a back fist to the face and a final motion released a blast of energy into the chest of the third gun wielder hurling him a considerable distance. He paused, and looked at his hand, “Wow.”

The remaining two armoured figures drew massive blades, Not good. the first blade rung loudly as it clashed with his forearm, the force of the blow drove him back, the second figure lunged towards him, he recovered himself enough to dodge the attack and watched as sparks flew into the air as the blade met concrete. The first enemy swung again and he rolled forward under the blade, rising as it passed over his head to land as strong a blow as he could muster on the strangely dressed creatures jaw, there was crunch as the neck broke under the force of the impact.

Four down, somehow, one to go. The two circled each other warily, the element of surprise gone he watched for an opportunity to strike, this foe seemed more competent than the others, he fainted a lunge and the creature braced for the challenge, this wasn’t going to be easy. He focussed on his foe and how to knock him down and he grew an awareness of power in his mechanical arm, it built up until the energy became almost uncontrollable, not knowing what else to do he hurled his fist toward his target. A massive roar of energy flew from his arm smashing into the creature and hurling it backwards, as it did he took the opportunity and leapt forward to plant the massive fist on its face, the body went rigid for a moment then slumped limply to the floor.

Well at least I have something to wear now. He thought as he pulled the armour of the creature, its contorted form made him grimace but he continued none-the-less.

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Clad in his newly acquired body armour he set off again, by the sun he knew he was moving east, where ever it led he knew it was the right way to go. As he ran he mused over his situation. He was in a medical facility of some kind, seemingly an experiment from the information he had gleaned from the clipboard he had taken, they had tried to take him by force. Now he was running from something unknown towards something unknown in a suit of armour that must have been stolen from some kind of alien he had punched the lights out of, and he didn’t even have a clue what his name was.

From the corner of his eye he saw movement, diving into the only cover he could find, that happened to be a sewage drain. Dozens of men clad in the yellow and blue like the ones from the hospital were making there way towards him fanned out and clearly searching. It didn’t take him long to conclude that they were looking for him. Crawling on his elbows he worked his way along the drainage channel. There was a large pool looming in front of him, sickening and green, but it seemed to be his only way to go. It was all he could do not to vomit as the smell from the water assailed his nostrils, sickening as it was it was his only way to go.

Closing his glowing eyes and closing his metal jaw firmly onto his flesh upper lip he slid into the vile pool and swum into the disgusting chemical waste.

He swum until his lungs felt like they were about to explode, pulling himself along the bottom of the pool with firm powerful strokes, until he could hold his breath no more. He allowed his head to break the surface of the shallow pool and draw in all the air he could into his lungs. A quick survey of the area showed that he was some distance from the point where he entered the pool. Allowing himself to stand he waded on through the thigh high thick slime.

Behind him a loud thud resounded. The slimy liquid rippled as he walked. He stopped, turning slowly looking over his shoulder he saw a gigantic monster made of stone carrying a massive club, with a car attached to it. Not good. The creature swung its club catching him in the chest and hurling him far across the pool. Not good at all. He struggled to his feet turning around to look at the thing coming towards him. Now this I can’t handle. The creature swung its club again, as it came towards him all he could remember thinking was “Ouch.”

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The room was dark, the gentle beep of the machines kept a steady pace, the quiet hum of machinery provided a seemingly endless drone to the atmosphere. The figure lay motionless in the bed, his massive frame raising and lowering the sheets covering his chest almost in time with the beep of the heart monitor. Electronic pads attached to his head flickered momentarily with a steady rhythm not matched to anything else in the room. If the lights were on then the condensation in the breathing mask over his mouth and throat would have been clear as it appeared and disappeared in time with the rising and falling of his chest. Light broke through the blinds casting lines of light across the ceiling of the room. He sat up, “Where the hell am I now?” he muttered rubbing his bruised ribs. The door opened, two figures entered the room, the light from behind them cast their shadows long across the room. “Who are you?”

A female voice spoke, “Hi, you’re in the headquarters of the SNHS, my name is Tufty and this is Manf, we’re here to help.”

He nodded, “Well that sounds better.”

“What’s your name?” asked the man called Manf.

“To be honest, I have no idea.”

Thank you everyone for comming out, I don't think theres ever been a team like it! The most special level 50 ever probably, my first but not my last, lets make that a tradition in the coalition, I'm smiling more for the turn out than the ding... now that is a good feeling!

Cold wind swept Peregrine Island, leaves rustling in the wind were picked up and carried as a gust lifted them high into the sky. To the north dark clouds were rolling across the sea, soon the storm would be upon this most remote section of Paragon City. The Coalition team stood watching from the hill top by the Portal Corporation.

“Let’s move out,” muttered Doulos, “Today has been waiting for us as long as we have been waiting for it.”

“Lead on D, lets make this happen.” Said J. Brute. He balled his fists and his knuckles cracked in a ripple from him little finger to his index.

Okton ran a hand through his wild hair then undid the top button on his shirt to loosen his collar and pulled his tie loose, “I’m ready.”

“Manf, are you with us?” asked the Precision Ranger.

Slowly the empath nodded. “There is something wrong with today, I cannot say what, but we must be cautious.”

From behind them came the sound of feet landing on wet earth, the heroes turned, “I’m not too late am I?”

“No Frosty, you made it just in time.” Answered Doulos smiling before pulling up his face mask.

The heroes waved at Tina MacIntyre as they passed her going into the build grey building, against the black clouds coming in it looked even more stark than normal, cold and ugly. Tina waved at the group, she knew them all pretty well, J. Brute blushed slightly as she winked at him, the other said nothing, but Okton did give him a nudge in the ribs as they got to the lifts.

The roar of the portal greeted them long before they entered the cavernous chamber, a familiar noise to them all, but the sight of the huge device still filled them all with a slight feeling of wonder. The clanking and whirring of the big machine was deafening up close. None of them said anything, there would have been no point, just a nod to each other and then they stepped into the portal. Doulos paused as the others went through, checked his rifle, launched his targetting drone and activated his cloaking device before leaping through the flashing surface of the portal, whatever waited for them, they would be ready.

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The Amazing Shnyet stood in the Rangers control room with Frozen Rogue and Scapegoat. “Good Morning all on this fine winters day, I would be most grateful if every Precision Ranger who is out on a mission would be gracious enough to check in and lets us know there stance.”

“Squad Leader PowerSWAT checking in, I got Crossfire, Accel and Chillblaze with me, we’re busting some Nemesis out here in Crey’s Folly.”

“Solar here Shnyet, I’m at a convention between heroes in Galaxy Girl, we’re currently discussing the lack of options for the fire department in rescuing cats stuck in trees.”

“Very good,” said Shnyet watching a screen, “Who else is active?”

“Aero here,” came a transmission of less clarity, from the noise in the back ground it appeared he was thick in combat. “Yellow and I are out with Linx, these bloody sewers stink, if I ever come down here again it will be too soon.”

“Aero,” said Scapegoat into the comm. “Do you need any back up?”

There was the sound of a massive explosion in the speakers, “Nah toots, we’re ok, I just wasted them.”

Scapegoat shook her head and rolled her eyes, Shnyet continued, “Very good Squad Leader Aeronaut, keep it up, Kid Hellfire, Doulos, I have you both on as active please check in.”

“Awaken please?” Came Aeronauts voice, then “oops, wrong channel, sorry.”

“Kid Hellfire, Doulos, please check in.”

“This is Kid Hellfire.”

“Kid Hellfire, where are you?”

“Seeing the nice nurses in IP again, if I get treated like this every time I go for that stinking squid I’m gonna have to keep doing it.” There was a momentary pause then a muttering, “Oh right there baby, you know where kiddy likes it…”

Frozen Rogues hand darted to the control panel cutting off anymore of the communication. A low growl rolled out of Scapegoats throat. “Frozen, go and find Sun Beam, tell her that Hellfire is in the hospital again!”

“Shall I tell her which one?”

“No need to bother, she’ll know.” Frozen Rogue ran off in the direction of the living quarters. “It was bad enough when we had to pull him out of bars…” Scapegoat said frowning, “this is even more embarassing, at least there the employees were meant to strip and he could blame the alcohol.”

“But we have managed to keep him sober now for several weeks.”

Scapegoat folded her arms, “Only because he has found another addiction. Doulos check in please.”

“Hi Scape, Shny,” Came Doulos’s voice over the comm. Disrupted by gunfire, “I’m here with some of the boys and a load of weird little blue monkey things.”

“D, why didn’t you wake me this morning?” Asked Scapegoat.

“Because you got in so late last night Scape, I thought I should let you sleep, you looked so peaceful.”

Shnyet smiled at Scapegoat and was surprised to see her glowering at the speakers that Doulos’s voice was eminating from. He would never understand women, and failed to understand how any man could understand any woman, computers were so much easier.

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The assault rifle blazed again and again as the praetorian creatures charged the heroes. Their size and speed made them difficult targets, but once they hit the caltrops they became sitting ducks. The air was cold around the heroes who stuck close for safety, small blue and furry but lethal to a lone here. Inspector Frosts ice patch gave them a little more protection as the creatures struggled for their footing. Eventually the jabbering stopped, as did the noise of gunfire and moving ice, Manf checked J.B.’s head where a fall on the ice had cut his head open, as the others watched it sealed before them. Weird and slightly stomach wrenching, yet everytime they were all impressed by Manfs miraculous healing ability.

“You guys ready to move out?” Asked Doulos. The others nodded. “Great, then lets go.” He activated his cloaking device and the air spoke. “I’ll take point.”

The building marked as the target of the mission loomed in the distance, it was suspected that plans for a Praetorian invasion were in there somewhere. Previously a conflict with Battle Maiden in this section of Praetorian Paragon had driven out the foe, the hope was that the plans she had left were still in her previous head quarters. Aside from the shadow monkeys there was little sign of any other villains in the area, which was a relief as the monkeys themselves were enough of a handful. The wind blew and a familiar scent wafted in the breeze, Doulos frozen and spoke into the comm. “Rikti.”

The group behind him stopped, “Let me scout.”

“Careful D, you’ve run afoul of drones before.” Said Inspector Frost.

“I know buddy, I won’t do anything stupid.”

Doulos activated his anti-grav unit on his belt and then lifted into the air, moving with grace he flew high enough to be out of scanner range of the drones and began to scout the area. From a safe height he assessed the opposition. “Looks like the Rikti are after the same thing we are, but they sent more than we have. I count at least five mobs closely grouped, they appear to be on guard, like they’re expecting an attack.”

“They know we’re here?” Asked J. Brute.

“No, from the looks of things they’re having as much of a problem with shadow monkeys as we are.”

“Can we get past them?” Queried Okton.

“Not a chance of all of us getting in there through the front door, Oky if you can get past them you can get us in.”

“I hear that.”

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The control room of the Precision Rangers head quarters had been quiet all morning. Scapegoat sat with a magazine on her lap and her feet on the desk, she’d long given up actually reading it but it was better than looking at blinking flashing lights that said nothing. Frozen Rogue sat behind her on the edge of the control platform drumming his hands on his knees. The pattering was getting to Scapegoat, it had been for the last half an hour. She could have been out on patrol but instead she was stuck on duty with Frozen on a day when nothing was happening. The blip of the computers and the patting faded into back ground noise as she read for the fifteenth time an article on heroic make-up and how to make it match your outfit. “Is nothing going to happen today?”

“Probably will,” answered Frozen.

“You can handle this can’t you Rogue, I’m off to join Aero and Yellow.” Scapegoat stood up dropping her magazine on the terminal desk. “If anything comes up just call me.”

As Scapegoat was leaving the room the terminals drone changed into a sparkle for a second. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” said Rogue already at the terminal, “I don’t know enough about these things.”

“Get Shnyet and Genergy if you can find them, there’s nothing different on the screens, but I’m sure the machines are droning at a different pitch to before.”

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The Heroes gathered in the building, Okton had found his way in through a broken window and had teleported them into a room sufficiently far away from the Rikti. It seemed that they were tearing the place to pieces looking for the plans. “We need to find those plans and get out of here.” Said Manf, “This place is a little rough.”

The others nodded in agreement, “From outside it looked like the Rikti are searching top to bottom.” Doulos said, “So we better go bottom to top, and hope we’re right.”

“So how do we get down there without them seeing us? We can’t all cloak and there are too many drones for Okton to get us down there.” Stated Frost.

J. Brute grinned, “That is something I believe I can help with.” Said the massively build tank. Without waiting for a reply he slammed his foot through the floor below him. “Don’t worry D, the Rikti are making enough noise on their own, they’ll just think it is one of their own teams.”

The group began to move swiftly down towards the basement, J.B. taking apart ceilings with hands and fists like they were made of cardboard.

“You know, I think this is the place.” Said Okton as he and the others looked at the thick steel door in the basement, “I can’t believe the Rikti started at the top.”

“Just so you know, there is no way on earth I can take that door down.” Said the tank, “It is too big, if we could weaken the hinges then we might be able to move it but…” he shrugged his giant shoulders.

Without speaking Inspector Frost walked to the door and placed his hand on it, “It’s going to get very cold in here.” He said as he placed his hand on the door. Slowly the metal began to dim as frost covered its surface, creeping with painful slowness across the face of the vast metal door. “Its big, this is going to take some chilling. D, you might want to lay some mines to blow the hinges when its cold enough.”

“Roger that.” Said Doulos through gritted teeth. Already the room was getting cold, “You know they’ll hear the bang right?”

“Then we’ll just have to be quick.”

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Genergy rested his hands on the terminal in front of him, the machine and he had been in conversation for the last few minutes. Shnyet was under the desk doing the physical tests on the ports and connections. “So have you guys figured it out yet?” Asked Scapegoat.

“Everything is appropriately placed here, I can only assume that the difficulties lie within the programming, if they do then I am sure that Genergy will be able to locate any issues that need a resolution.”

As if on cue Genergy snapped out of his trance like communication with the machine. “Pull them all out.”

“Who?”

“Everyone you can, get them out of the missions.”

“What do you mean?” Frozen demanded.

“I don’t know exactly, but I know this, someone has hacked into the teleporting network, I don’t know what they have done, but until it is fixed get everyone back here.”

“What are you going to do?” Asked Scapegoat.

“Get some more answers. I hope”

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“Are you guys getting this too?” Asked Okton as he shivered in the freezing room.

“The general return to base call?” Replied Manf, “Yes, its coming through strong.”

“Are we going then?”

“Just a couple more minutes.” Inspector Frost said. He looked drained as he leant on the door, pouring all his energy into freezing the thick metal. “Doulos, hows it going?”

“There’s enough explosive laid to blow apart a mob of Zeus Titans, the door should be no problem. We’ll all be deaf until tomorrow probably, but hell, at least we will have accomplished our task.”

“I’m all ready to do this.” Frost said, staggering away from the door, J.B. stepped forward and caught him before he fell. “D, blow that stupid door apart.”

“Everyone get into whatever cover you can find, when the door goes down, get in there as fast as you can, find the plans and get out of here, those Rikti will get here very fast, and we really want to be out of here when they do.”

“We’ll get the door D,” Said Okton nodding towards himself and J. Brute, “You guys do the searching, we can hold them for long enough.”

“And I can help.” Said the Inspector leaning heavily on J.B.’s shoulder.

“Do it D!” Manf muttered.

The room errupted in fire, smoke and noise. As soon as the blast had past the heroes sprung into action, J. Brute threw aside the heavy metal door and Doulos and Manf leapt through the doorway into the dark vault room.
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The Rangers base was filling up as the recalled Rangers arrived. “What the hell is going on?” Aeronaut demanded taking off his helmet.

“We’re not sure yet.” Said Disco King Junior to the assembled heroes, “All we know is that someone has tampered with the Rangers teleport frequency, the other Coalition groups report no such loss, which means we have been targetted for some reason. We’re drawing up a list of suspects.”

The room fell into silence, but only for a minute, Genergy burst into the room, “Doulos’s teleporter has been altered, some ones after him again.”

“Woo, bloody woo. Why am I not surprised.” Grumbled Aeronaut, “And that narrows down the list of suspects how? Doulos has more enemies than anyone else, mainly his fault I think you’ll find.”

“It will be Burrel.” Terra Byte said.

“And how would you know?” said Frozen Rogue.

“Stop it Rogue. Whatever the issue between you and terra there is no reason to speak to her like that.” Snapped Sun Beam.

“Actually Sun Beam, its quite simple.” Said Terra with a hint of sadness in her voice. “Burrel has hacked teleporters before, and who else do we know that wants Doulos dead as much.”

“But we haven’t heard from him for almost three years.” Byte said.

“Three years in so time to wait for revenge.” Replied Terra.

“You’d know all about planning revenge wouldn’t you Terra.”

“Frozen Rogue, you will change your tone now, whatever you’re issues are with Terra Byte you will resolve them behind close doors, and display a little decorum.” Snapped Scapegoat. “The issue now is Doulos and getting him here before he teleports anywhere.”

“I will try to raise him on the communications network.” Said Shnyet leaving the room.

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“FIND IT!” Roared J. Brute as another Rikti drone exploded under his fist, “We can’t hold out much longer!”

Sweat poured off Okton as he struggled for control with a Chief mentalist, Inspector Frost leant on the wall, doing his best to maintain the ice field that gave some balance to the fight. Manf had joined the fight, keeping the others upright whilst Doulos frantically searched the room. “Doulos,” yelled Manf, “The Rangers are trying to get hold of you.”

“My comm. is scrambled, tell them I’ll talk to them when I get out of here.”

“They say it’s urgent.”

A blast from a Rikti gun ricochet around the vault, “And so is this!”

“I have it, let’s get out of here.” Said Doulos pulling a file out of a draw. “Everyone get out.”

Doulos reached for his teleport recall device, “Wait D, they’re telling me not to let you…”

There was a flash and Doulos was gone, “Everyone out,” J. Brute shouted, “We need to go.”

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“Where is he?” Scapegoat yelled as they watched the monitors in the base. “Where did he go?”

“I have no idea.” Genergy said, “something encroached on the signal as he teleported out, I have no idea where he is.”

Scapegoat grabbed his arm, “You have to find him. Frozen, Aero, Yellow, Deluge, come with me.”

“Where we going Scape?” Asked Deluge.

“Warburg, we need to talk to a villain.”

“Why?”

“Because someone must have arranged this, and a villain is more likely to know who.”

“Scape, that’s a needle in a haystack.” Said Disco King.

“That’s better than nothing.”

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Cracked earth ran as far as Doulos could see in any direction, he held the file in one hand and had his rifle in the other. He was south of Paragon City, a long way south by the sun and the heat. All around him the heat rippled off the ground.

He heard the crack of a rifle, fractions of a second later he felt the hot lead rip through his calf muscle, and another crack and a bullet hit him in the thigh. Turning around to face the direction of the shots and another shot it him in the shoulder throwing him to the floor.

As he pushed himself to his knees he saw some of his attackers, three soldiers with raised weapon came towards him, he raised his rifle to shoot but another bullet hit him from behind driving him to the floor.

Shadows fell across him and his gun was kicked from him, the file was pulled from his hand. A boot was placed on his back and his face was driven onto the ground.

“Hello Jackson, I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.”

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The Arachnos foot soldier spat blood from his mouth. “I won’t tell you anything.”

Scapegoat grabbed his neck and released another vault of electricity into the soldier. “You will tell us one thing, who is your senior.”

The soldier began to cough blood, “Scape, you’re killing him.” Said Deluge reaching for her arm.

Turning with tears in her eyes, “Someone has to know where he is, and Arachnos is the most likely to know.” But she dropped the soldier to the floor.

The comm. crackled to life, “This is Genergy, we have a location for Doulos.”

“Where is he?” Asked Frozen Rogue.

“Arizona.”

“How the hell did he get there?”

“Burrel is there with him, I’ve been able to acquire the satelitte.”

“We’re on our way, send back up.” Said Scapegoat.

“Pretty much everyone has already offered to go.”

“Then send them all.”

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A soldier grabbed him by the hair and pulled painfully onto his knees. Looking forward he saw Burrel. “Looks like I have you this time Jackson.”

“You have nothing Burrel, you never did.”

One of the soldiers smacked him in the face with the butt of a rifle, Doulos rubbed his jaw and spat blood. “I want you to take his trigger finger.” Burrel said to one of his mercenaries. The soldier pulled out a combat knife but Burrel caught him by the arm, “With these.” Burrel handed him a pair of pliers, “I want it to really hurt him.”

Swallowing the soldier took the pliers and stepped towards Doulos. Doulos looked into his eyes with his one good eye, “You touch me and you will die.” The soldier hesitated until a growl from Burrel made him step forward. As he did Doulos moved with lightning speed, his taser flew into his hand and his hand flew hard into the soldiers groin, driving the electric charged unit hard into the soldiers flesh as it crackled to life. At the same time he hit his teleport device on his belt and the scenery jerked around him. 200 yards behind him he could hear the yells of pain from the mercenary, he pressed the button again, but the men working for Burrel were professionals, and very good. Bullets pounded into him as he moved through the air, landing sprawling on the floor with more bullets in him, this time he couldn’t get himself up again. The soldiers ran towards him, leaving their screaming comrade behind them.

“Nice trick Jackson. You give any more and I will kill you.”

“You’re planning on killing me anyway.”

“Fair point.” Said Burrel, and he pulled a gun from his belt, “I’ll take your finger from your corpse.”

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Scapegoat and the other Rangers and members of the coalition landed in the desert. Doulos lay a mound covered in dust. Rock Eagle put a hand on her shoulder, “Let me go Rocky.” But the heavy hand didn’t move.

Frozen Rogue and Aeronaut ran forward, Manf and Electrify right behind them. The empaths too one look at him then turned away. Scapegoat screamed. Frozen Rogue and Aeronaut looked at each other, tears welling in his eyes Frozen Rogue turned away. Aeronaut shouted to Rock Eagle, “Keep her back Rocky, keep her back.”

Genergy, Kid Hellfire, the Amazing Shnyet and Disco King Jr. stepped forward joining Aeronaut and Rogue, in lifting the fallen hero to their shoulders they began the long journey back to Paragon City.

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This is not the end of Doulos, however it is the end of his story for now. You will still see and hear from him in Paragon City as he campaigns for his badges and his accolades, however he will be leaving the Precision Rangers to make to make room for my new blaster: Blapper. I would like to thank everyone who has helped me in the quest for 50 with Doulos, the list is long and esteemed:

Rock Eagle
Inspector Frost
Aeronaut
Scapegoat
Okton
J. Brute & Jiaozy
Disco King
The Amazing Shnyet
Okton & Changomonster
Manf
Luminos
Kid Hellfire
Guise
Electrify
Mr. Knockout
and numerous others.

But a special mention must go to one player. It is now tradition in the Rangers that when Commander reaches level 50 he or she appoints a new commander. And my last ish as a Commander of the Precision Rangers is that this individual to be promoted to the rank of Commander before Doulos leaves to make space for Blapper. This player has shown much promise and commitment to the Rangers and this Community in general, that after discussion with Disco King and the Amazing Shnyet we have agreed on his promotion. The new commander to the Precision Rangers sent his first ever private message to me on the forums and has been a good friend both in game and on the forums and on topics not covered by the forum. So without further ado the new Commander of the Precison Rangers is Frozen Rogue. Gratz dude, you really deserve it.

Take them both, then you can cycle them to perma stun nasty bosses.

Well it kicked me at 450k from 50 so I failed the target by just under 300k, but just over a bar should be fine for a mission in unyielding or on invinceible tonight...

Kid said he'd try to come if he could get on. Man I am SO excited. Dr. Nookie said he'd try to make it as did a warshade called Miss Mischief (both 49) but primary spots will be going to Coalition players who want to spectate!

Dark will try to make it, Doulos dependant, Mrs Doulos dependant!!! but I believe Terra Byte was up for this too...

9.30, I'll be there, I am a bit behind you... country side for 4 days will do that to a man, however I've written the story for when I ding 50 and the team in it is:

Manf
J.B
Okton
Frosty
Doulos

Will be home this afternoon and will try to claw my way up another bar or two before 9.30... wife dependant of course! Can't be in bed too late, work starts again tomorrow.

Level 49.7 Ar/Dev blaster signing up to try and help if I can!

Web grenade, one accuracy should do the trick.

Burst slotted with 3 range and 3 damage is a very useful power, no point taking an attack and not slotting it for at the least 3 damage

Slug slotter with 3 damage and some rec reds is handy

Buck shot - not a great fan of it, this build isn't great at close range, and buck shot is a close range power, If you must take it have knockback in there somewhere so that you can send people flying and buy some space

M-30 grenade - never had it, never felt the need for it, generally agreed to be the biggest waste of space in the set!

Hasten especially handy with mines and laying them out fast for telemining (teleporting a foe onto mines a very useful alpha strike! can one hit kill anything you can teleport!)

Targetting: = your best friend

Sniper rifle, put rec reds in this and an interrupt, this is a fantastic power I have 3 ranges in mine but then my build is built around sniping, all my main blasts (slug, burst snipe have 3 ranges in them) will be changing this at level 50 next week.

Super speed, pet hate of mine outside PvP, fly and hover are WAY more handy than SS for getting around safely and are great for getting above enemies and sniping them from on high

Hurdle, if you want stamina its better than swift IMO

Flame thrower, don't bother increasing cone, just rec red it

Health, at least slot it with one! it is a down time shortener which will make you a bit tougher

Stamina: DO NOT 6 SLOT as now it is a waste of slots with 3 SOs you will effectively reach the cap (its more complicated but 6 slots is POINTLESS) 3 slots here is plenty

Smoke grenade, not worth taking if you ain't going to slot it with 3 at least as the debuff would eb so minimal

Caltrops, get ti slot it, get ti early, this power has saved my life, my teams life more times than anything else I can think of. If in PvP, stand in the middle of the trops to make stalkers life a bit harder

Trip mine: perfect!

Cloaking device: take this ASAP, slot for 3 end reds and live with it on..

Full auto, no longer the mob killer it was 3 damage 3 rec reds if you must take it (I respeced it out until 49 because I just don't use it enough, it doesn't kill stuff but draws more aggro than you can possible handle

Ignite: No rec reds needed it comes up fast enough anyway, best used when a foe is immobilized or held to burn them, as a power it fades unless it has fuel. combine with cryo freeze ray for a most potent attack.

Recall friend? NO TP foe!

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Get bean bag and Taser in there, they are fantastic powers that are great for saving your hide, I can perma mez a +1 boss with them, which trust me, if its a rikti mentalist you WANT to do...

I'm not at home so can't send you my full build but send me a PM and I will send it to you.

I'm a sniper hunter.

Tactics for this set? telemining is essential in my opinion.

disorientates and immobilizes with burn.

use caltrops to avoid melee if possible

careful with full auto, it will lock you down for 6 seconds during which you are a sitting duck for anythign, it has short range and therefore you are likely to be in melee combat before it finishes... mobs run towards you!

This build is hard to solo but a lot of fun, it does take patience, a lot of it. I have teleport as an emergency get away power, when you are immobilized you can still TP, very useful for getting away (just 1 range in there!)

Hope this helps

Make sure you have great heals early, build up, fast cycling attacks and good accuracy.

And it is arguable that unyielding is actually faster and better XP vs Debt that invincible, my level 27 plays on that with no difficulties and gets very good XP very quickly. Sure you don't kill as many bosses, but then you get less debt!

I've got my chappie up to level 10.8 now Del, and I am so glad I took torrent early, I am going to slot it with knockbacks rather than damage as it is a totally cool opening power, select furthest strong enemy in mob (angle your run if possible to make them near the back of the mob), hit build up charge in with torrent selected then keep running hit with bone smasher, energy punch etc etc, I almost got Frostfire on my own, he held me when I was one hit away from taking him down (I didn't have bone smasher in the chain at the time) butt he damage was done. Torrent for the win!

I also plan on taking snipe late...

Playing Risk tonight, still 1 million off, the wierd thing is that I can't get a team with D without you lot on! Frosty reported the same phenomonon... I will hit it in the same session though... My missions are all AV and my bug bear about pick up teams means that they ain't likely to happen either.

hmmm good point, if I can get rad to 15 tomorrow morning I might be able to make it... just hit 14 with him so SJ is mine! But then I need to get my tank to 14 before they take away my free travel power! But Rad is my next main so it might be him...

[ QUOTE ]
As the title says, any info about this nice TF can be found HERE .
This TF is for lvl 15+ heroes, with level limit of 20, wih auto exemplar for those higher in level.

During the TF there will be the chance to get Clockstopper badge from killing Babbage!

Anyone that wants in just put a reply here, see you all tomorrow for this!

[/ QUOTE ]

You really are a TF addict... I need to do all the TFs bar the talos one with D... but I am busy tomorrow night. It will be part of my badge earning crusade once I have all my nice shiny slots.

*sarcasm*

What is it with all these stories that Rangers write! Honestly we must have so much time on our hands to write them. I mean, they're all just SO long, who has time to read em!

*sarcasm ends*

GJ SJ... keeping up one of the traditions that has set the Rangers apart. Stories... LONG stories!

And now SB has to promote a ranger to squad leader...

any of the radrangers can invite, one of the ways this SG is special, so if anyone sees you on, we will get you invite! or send @doulos a tell as I will be on as my main very shortly...

and I just hit level 14!

I will wait, much as it will pain me, lumi, if you want to go ahead do it. Oky, JB, Manf and I have been through a huge amount of the never ending 40s together and I want to get there with them, and Frosty too would be awesome. 193k from 50 is now my target.

[ QUOTE ]
I was talking about Rad/Rad Defenders and /Rad Controllers the other day in the SG (NBR) channel and several players wanted to try. But since you already have the group...

Do you take /Rad Controllers? I have an orphan one :-)

[/ QUOTE ]

AS J says the Union Overlords is THE place for controllers. Radrangers are RadRad defs... but we are in coalition so thats easily solved!

Oh yeah, and welcome MANF to the Rad Rangers!

Well, Manf and JB are sitting at 200k from 50, I am at 49.4 and plan to be at the same point soon too, Lumi is I believe joinign us and Showstopper said he was up for it (currently 49.6) I hope Doc Nookie comes along too, we plan on hitting this in the next couple of days, as close together as posisble in one mission. Is there anyone else who would be interested in joining us?

There are a few questions over rad rad in pvp... the AI of those who play villains is considerably greater than those who we fight in paragon! But I will be interested to have a go at PvP with them.

an now this gets snyde? well done bob for being a rubbish influence on the boards.

Happy doo daaS ALL of you, hope you have a good day! Looks like CHristmas might be the only day of the year I don't play!

Dear all, please do not lower yourself to replying to this person he obviously has a bee in his bonnet about something and it would be a shame for us to treat him with the same lack of respect that he clearly has for us. I would ask that rather than reply to this thread you spend the time sending a PM to either Bridger or Rockjaw as Bob's attitude has clearly contravined the rules of the forum, the more of us who let them know our distaste for this attitude: negative, critical and openly insulting, the more likely action is to be taken on the matter.

Bob, you have made this personal, I do not understand why and to be honest I don't care. The fact is you shouldn't have.

I leave this in the hands of those who have the ability to do something about it, the moderators. If you have not notified them about this thread and feel that they should be then please do, the third icon at the bottom of each post is the relevant clicky.

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Raids require organisation. Organisation requires leadership. Leadership requires respect. Sorry, bob, but I don't see your raid happening on Union anytime soon.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please bob start a hami raid sign up thread!!! It would be quite funny!

[ QUOTE ]
Nope....just the facts. Can you point out 1 lie in my post?


[/ QUOTE ]

I've still reported it to a moderator, truth is not the issue here, attitude is, your attitude has been disrespectful to other players, rude, insulting and not befitting a forum which has a good reputation for being positive.

I know it is Christmas and not Easter but I feel quoting Pontius Pilate is appropriate in response to your post, "What is Truth?" your perception of truth may well be appropriate from your point of view, but to others here it is (and now I quote an equally significant figure? ) "Burridium Beloni" (Aeronaut could tell you who said that, he's educated)