Doulos

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I volunteer to be ganked... as much as I try to resist it will probably happen, thats if I don't [censored] you off first with mines and TP foe then flee the area!!!

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You flee the area, I'll track you down and destroy you thrice in a row again

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But I shall never again return to warburg in fear that I may have to face justice for being a cowardly ******* with a big stack of bombs...

I volunteer to be ganked... as much as I try to resist it will probably happen, thats if I don't [censored] you off first with mines and TP foe then flee the area!!!

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the bugger that ganked me

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sounds like a porno version of a James Bond film

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LMAO

Only time I have a problem with being one shotted is when I can't do it back...un nerf my snipe!!!

Only time I have a problem with being one shotted is when I can't do it back...un nerf my snipe!!!

Indeed there are, post them here and win prizes if the judges like your entries!

Damn it, and I thought it was Chives all along.

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It's just that I have a bone to pick with him for attacking a poor defensless Blaster who was hovering over a beach last week whilst the blaster was sufferring intermittent lag problems.

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Why were you in a pvp zone if you were having lag problems?

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I don't get massive in game lag problems unless I'm on the beach, long loading times but not massive lag, the beach however is lag hell as soon as more than 15 people are there.

Genergy is an Elite Mentor... the only person in the Rangers more overpowered is a level 50 Commander... DK

But seriously, how? With the Guardians he only has power when his is symbiant with one, which has only happened once and the Guardian tried to absorb him into its psyce as happened to Tyreus in the "End of Dreams" his ability to manipulate technology and stuff is just a bonus... the satelite thing... wait til other stories play out to see how that affects him, being all seeing might not be the best thing to happen to someone, and remember, he is a target because of whats happened to him in the past!

So frosty, do you want to compare numbers??? We need a manision!

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GASP! Screwdriver's my villain! He was the one who was always cleverer than Accel! How did you know?

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Look at the questions post in part 7...

Frozen Rogue sat cowering in the corner of the secure room, he hadn’t spoken for two weeks, but was having nightmares and was often tearful. He had backed away from everyone who had come near to him.

The city had slowly been taken back in fighting that had lasted solidly for over ten days, but they had triumphed. The last few hours had seen the teleportation network finally completely restored. Since its shut down there had been several incidents of accidents where teleporters had gone wrong, it seemed that the virus that had infected the Satellite system was a manifestation of one that had also been set to infect the entire defence mechanisms of Paragon City. It seemed that whoever had orchestrated the trap for Frozen Rogue had tried to ensure that the satellite system and teleporting system could not have been used to locate him.

As a result of Tyrus’s testimony Frozen Rogue had been completely vindicated of the charges, and there was a city wide man hunt established for Burrel, again as a result of Tyrus’s testimony. Terra Byte hadn’t been to the trial at all, a fancy lawyer name Clixaman had been hired to defend him, and it seemed he was using the publicity of the case to build the foundation as a campaign for the Mayors office, which seemed to be going well.

Genergy had recovered, he had downloaded all the codes to the satellite links, and his brain had been overwhelmed by the images that his brain had begun receiving. For over a week he had been working with the teams in various departments of the city’s infrastructure restoring databases and securing connections, but in doing so he had gained the remarkable ability to watch satellite images in his mind. To control the onslaught of images he’d build a blocking device which he attached to the base of the skull, it allowed him to activate and deactivate the images, however when watching them he was effectively incapacitated from doing anything else.

Doulos, Terra Byte and Scapegoat stood watching Frozen Rogue, the two senior Rangers had been busy fighting, Terra though had not been involved. She had spent the entire time watching Frozen. Star Jewel came to the group, “D, Scape: Shnyet and DK are ready to be debriefed now.”

“Thanks Star.” Doulos said before walking down the corridor to the command room. Scapegoat lingered a moment looking with concern at Terra Byte.

“Will you be ok Terra?” Terra nodded, Scape patted her on the arm then looking past her at Star Jewel she mouthed, “keep an eye” whilst indicating at Terra. Star nodded.

When Scapegoat was gone Star started the conversation.

“You need to tell them what happened to him, he’s like a kid brother to Doulos and I’ve never seen D looking so tired.”

“I can’t tell them, you can’t tell them, they wouldn’t understand.”

“And you do?”

“Yes, I do, I know. I saved him.”

“He drank your blood; its healing properties saved him, so why should he be acting like this?” Terra said nothing, but tears crept to the corners of her eyes. “Terra, you need to talk to someone.”

“How old do you think I am Star?”

“What…”

“How old do you think I am? Simple question.”

“I don’t know, eighteen, maybe twenty at the most.”

Terra shook her head. “I’ll be one hundred and eighty this year; I’ve lived for nearly two centuries.”

“How is that possible?” said Star Jewel with concern.

“You know I am a vampire right?”

“Well, yes, a non-practicing one…”

“I come from a long line of Vampires, for fifteen hundred years my family has controlled a hidden syndicate, in that time I have seen and done some things that the devil himself would feel remorse for.”

“But what does that have to do with it.”

“Blood never forgets.”

“What?”

”All minds will fail,
The memory fades,
The season change,
The truth trades,
When all is forgot,
And future has set,
The soul remembers,
Blood never forgets.

It’s a poem my mother taught me. Frozen Rogue has my memories, right now he enduring over a century of evil unveiled before his eyes in an instant, and believing that he did it, with a soul as pure as his that will hurt.”

“Will he recover?” asked Star Jewel full of concern.

“Eventually, but it will always haunt him, he and I are bound now, he will always know where I am, he will always know how I feel, if I was to take his blood then he would become like me, but I will not do that to him.” Tears ran down her cheeks freely now, and Star Jewel embraced her holding her close. “Will he ever forgive me?” she said between sobs.

“Frozen is among the purest of souls I have ever met, he is one of the finest young men I have had the privilege of knowing, he will forgive you, he will make a point of it.”

“But when will that be?”

“Let’s go and get a drink, you need to not beat yourself up, the only reason he’s alive right now is because of you.”

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Disco King Jr and The Amazing Shnyet sat in council with Doulos, Genergy and the Squad Leaders. “Been a rough few days hasn’t it.” Disco King Jr began. Doulos and the others nodded. “You held it together Rangers; you all took responsibility well done.”

“The next question that we must analyse is why Burrel seems to have targeted Frozen Rogue.” Shnyet said.

“Cause he wanted to get me out of the way, he wants to get to me.” Doulos said. “And my closeness to Frozen Rogue makes him and every other Ranger a target, if he’s not found then we can expect him to come at us again.”

The conversation continued. Until it came around to Terra Byte and there was a pause. “How’s she doing Scape?” asked Disco.

“Not great, she’s hardly eating, hardly sleeping; she spends all her spare moments watching Frozen Rogue. I’m really worried about her. Star Jewel is looking out for her a lot.”

Disco nodded, “Keep an eye on it Scape, I’m sure Star will do her best, but we all need to look out for each other.”

Doulos spoke up, looking exhausted, “Damn it’s good to have you guys back, this has been one hell of rough ride.”

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Burrel sat staring at the tiny television screen; as soon as the tide had begun to turn he had fled from his cosy surroundings in Boomtown. He had eventually managed to secure passage on a smugglers vessel from Talos Island to Mercy Isle, and it stank of fish. As he watched the TV his temper grew worse and worse. Clixaman was on the steps of the court house, he and that bungling idiot Tyrus Bytennium had been on the television every day for the last few weeks, the lawyer seemed to have somehow put himself in a prime place for the Mayoral office, the Vampire had been cleared of almost all charges and would be placed on community service for a measly ten hours. Part of Burrel respected Clixaman for his obvious abilities, but part of him loathed him for his success, and the fact that he wasn’t sitting on the boat too.

May be this mythical Lord Recluse could help him exert his revenge on Doulos and the Precison Rangers, without a doubt it was Doulos’ fault that he was on this stinking boat, with this stinking pilot, in stinking clothes, off to what was probably a stinking island, time to lick his stinking wounds, and plan a truly stinking revenge.

No, thats just an aside...

Frozen Rogue lay, there wasn’t any pain, there was just cold numbness. He could taste the blood in his mouth and feel the warmth seeping out of his belly. Terra was dancing in combat with the man who had claimed to be her brother. The two moved at startling speed, the man sweeping and cutting with his sword, Terra weaving and diving out of the way, unleashing a blast when possible, it seemed that neither could get the upper hand in the struggle, but it was evident that neither of them holding back.

The man, Tyrus, lunged at Terra, she dodged aside but the blade flicked as she did and it sliced through the edge of her clothing, rather than pulling back as instinct should have let her to do Terra stepped forward until the hilt of the sword was pressed against her stomach, twisting sharply Terra used her body weight and angle to pull the sword from her brothers hand before hammering a spinning back fist onto the side of his head. It would’ve been the side of his head if Tyrus hand hadn’t jerked up to deflect the blow, Terra continued her spin, sword still trapped in he clothing and swung a leg sweep towards he opponents knees, he leapt gracefully out of the way, but whilst he was air borne Terra released a blast of energy that caught him square in the chest, sending him crashing into the wall of the building behind him. Pausing to pull the blade from her clothing. Tyrus lay completely unconscious in a crumpled heap but Terra didn’t seem content with that, walking to her fallen kin she sat him up against the wall and drove the sword through his shoulder into the wall behind him, pinning him in place. Only then did she run towards Frozen Rogue.

Kneeling next to him she lifted his head gently onto her lap, “Why haven’t the porters kicked in?” she asked.

Frozen wasn’t able to speak but managed to shake his head, he had wondered the same thing himself, and was certain that if he didn’t receive medical aid soon then he would never need it. Terra looked around the street, there was no sign of anyone, Chad it seemed had made his escape during the fight, so the only life visible was Frozen Rogue, Tyrus and herself.

Looking down at the fading Frozen Rogue she smiled sadly, “I can save you, but you will have to forgive me for it later.”

With glazing eyes Frozen nodded, Terra bit deep into her own wrist and placed the wound to his lips.

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At last it seemed that the Arachnos had stopped coming, the Rangers on the Roof sat down in exhaustion. Cinnamon Brandy was shaking physically from the tiredness, and some of the others looked ready to collapse. Lead Hose had resorted to using her assault rifle as a club, and was examining the blisters on her palms. Scapegoat pulled herself to her feet, “Come on, we need to move out, we’ve not done what we came for yet. Let’s find Frozen and get him home.”

The beleaguered Rangers struggled to their feet. “He was that way, Sun Beam.” Said, she ran her fingers through her hair to steady her shaking hands, “Let’s go see him.”

One by one Rangers left the roof, around the base of the building Arachnos lay piled high, from the base of the pile a single hand appeared and a soldier pulled his way out to of the dead and the debris.

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The Rangers in the base sat in stunned silence listening to the communications chat coming over the tannoy, some of the Rangers unashamedly had tears flowing from their eyes as they head of heroes falling, heroes dying, the police being driven back, and they were helpless to help. Chillblaze sat with his hands on his head and his eyes sqeezed closed. “To hell with this, I’m going out there.” There were calls of agreement from other Rangers, Doulos stood us, raising his hands for silence.

“Friends, we cannot break the law, but I will be damned if I have to hear about another hero falling from here.” Turning to the police officer in charge, Doulos looked at him. “I suggest you move.” The policeman hesitated, then stepped aside. “Crossfire?”

“Yes D?”

“Open the comms, tell the coalition that the Rangers are going to war, and that we need their help.”

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Genergy lay in the hospital bed, the doctors had been unable to rouse him, his face was contorted with pain. “Do we know what’s wrong with him?” asked the consultant.

“No,” replied the nurse, “but there is some seriously weird stuff going on, look at this.”

As the nurse turned on the heart monitor the consultant expected to here the familiar beeping oh the pulse, instead the screen flashed with 1s and 0s as binary code charged through the system.

“We need to get someone to look at this.” The consultant said.

“The duty doctor already sent for someone, they should be here soon.”

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The door to the Mayors office burst open and a squad of policemen burst into the room, Miss Liberty followed them in. “Mr Mayor, I’m afraid I must ask you to come into custody.”

The Mayor put down the glass of whiskey with a shaking hand, and looked at the Freedom Phalanx member with tears on his cheeks, “Thank you, thank you so much.”

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Star Jewel was the first to reach Frozen Rogue and Terra, as she rounded the corner she saw from behind that Terra had Frozen’s head on her lap, as she got closer she saw that her wrist was in his mouth. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

Slowly Terra turned her head to the Elite Ranger, tears in her eyes, “Saving him the only way I could.” She pulled her wrist away and as she did the wound in it sealed itself in seconds, the other Rangers rounded the corner.

“What’s up?” demanded Scapegoat.

Terra shook her head slightly at Star Jewel, who replied, “It looks like he’ll be ok.” Terra mouthed the words thank you to Star.

“Who is that?” Demanded Scapegoat pointing at Tyrus still pinned against the wall, he sat staring at the Rangers full of hate.

“That is my brother.” Gently Terra laid Frozen Rogues head on the pavement and walked over to him, “I plan on killing him.”

“You can’t…”

“I can Scape, he reminded me of the Bytennium way, kill or be killed, he lost, I kill him.”

Scapegoat put a hand on her shoulder, “That’s not you Terra. Not anymore.” Compassion filled her voice.

Tears again filled Terra’s eyes, “I’m sorry Scape, but if I don’t kill him he will come again and again to kill me.”

“We can have him locked up.”

“No good, no prison ever held a member of my family, and no prison ever will.” Pulling the sword sharply from Tyrus’ shoulder she raised it to swing at his kneck, he just looked at her calmly.

“You kill me and nothing is restored.” He said as if asking what the time was.

“What in hell do you mean?”

The vampire smiled. “I’m the only one who knows that your friend there didn’t kill that man, I know because I arranged it. And I know who is behind everything today, all I ask for in return is a good lawyer, I won’t even ask for you help, lets justice decide my guilt.”

Terra hesitated. “I don’t believe you.”

“Then your friend there can always go to the Zig…”

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The computer programmer watched the code fly by on the monitor. “This is amazing, truly incredible, this code is so complex.”

“Can you tell what it is?” asked the consultant, “No but I can get it interpreted, all I know is that this is a live feed of some kind of video, that’s all I can tell you.”

“Do what you can.”

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The portal from bases opened, heroes poured out into the zones of the city, “Coalition, this is Rock Eagle. I don’t know about you but I am in a thoroughly bad mood.”

“Dark Neo here. I’m in Founders, who else is around?”

“Get yourselves sorted coalition, this is Disco King in Pereguine, form teams and get the Hazard Zone gates sealed, all I can say is thank God that the portals remained closed.”

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Clixaman watched as the Mayor was led out of the City Hall by an escort of police officers. It was funny how these things turned out, holding the envelope of pictures he had used to force the mayors hand, it would be no good now, he used his chaotic self to grow hot. Slowly tendrils of smoke rose from the package. There would be an election soon for a new Mayor, now that could be an interesting role.

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The guard opened the prison door cell, "You," he said pointing at Midnight Agent, "You in the pink." Midnight Agent pointed at himself, "Yeah you, you're out of here."

"What do you mean? I was looking forward to dinner!"

"Come on, you're a hero, you've been ordered free."

"But it's roast chicken with stuffing for dinner."

Screwdriver giggled, "I love a good stuffing." he said winking at Midnight Agent.

Midnight Agant blinked and leapt to his feet, "Erm. Thank you officer, I think I will leave now." He nervously rubbed his leg, "Nice to meet you chaps, good luck and all the best, I hope you get what's coming to you." Midnight Agent said backing out of the cell.

Chives was waiting for him outside the cell. "You ok buddy?"

"Yeah, let's go hit things. And never talk about this again."

Chives just nodded.

Back in the cell Screwdriver started sobbing. As they left the cell block the last words they heard were in Screwdrivers affeminate voice, "Come back Pinky, I miss you."

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But I'm sure that rev would love to nut Doulos too, though I'd never write of any harm befalling my idol...

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Why not? I've killed myself, taken my own eye, had my chest replaced with a steel plate after trolls destroyed my rib cage...

Nice stuff power.

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Im guessing myself and my new boyfriend, Dave "Screwdriver" Ronson, are going to save the day, teaching the world that tolerance and love for your fellow man are the greatest ideals that a human can aspire to.

But I dig chicks. Honest.

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Q, I have to give it to you, when your funny, your bloody funny!

If you want I'll develop this little comedy aside to run with the rest of the story. (If I can muster enough humour in between "killing" some of my best mates online!)

Aw but hobo, your welcome on ours...

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That was really cool altough I am with Q and schny on this one. I understand you can't tell about everyone affiliated with the PR but in your first 2 stories Chill atleast had 1 line each to say .

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I have PLENTY more stories to go, and I know that there is a core cast I tend to use, but thats becasue my knowledge of the characters is greater, so I feel more comfortable using them, don't worry, incase you hadn't guessed this story is going to have a very grande finale...

Hello arch rivals just thought I'd let you know that I have put a cheeky little addition in to my latest story as a post in response to one of Qs... Chives is in it to...

See you on the beach boys!

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Am I still in jail or what? Your focussing too much on the peripherary characters. Let the people know about their hero!

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LOL, just for you Q

Midnight Agent sat in the cells, he'd been very confused by being arrested, he'd been told that because he had no supergroup base to keep him in that he was to be kept in custody in the station.

It wasn't too bad really, he'd had a very nice fry up. A couple of the other prisoners had looked at him funny cause of his pink underwear but they gave him space. There were three others in the cells with him, Chives was in the cell next door.

The door swung open as an a gigantic man was bought into the cell by 4 officers. He looked at Midnight Agent with a broad smile, then in a remarkable affeminate voice said "Now you look like my kinda fella." He sat down next to scrapper and ran a hand along his thigh. Midnight Agent scurried backwards along the bench until he was up against the wall and pulled his knees up to his chin.

"Get away from me!" shouted the Scrappocalypse member.

Chives called through the wall, "You OK MA?"

"I really don't think so!"

The big man slid up the bench after him giggling, "Oh how precious, you're playing hard to get..."

Midnight Agent squeezed his eyes closed shut, if he focussed hard enough maybe the man would leave him alone.

"Chives?"

"Yes?"

"We need a base..."

It started slowly at first, one or two found their way, but slowly the numbers rose, slowly word was spread, slowly chaos happened. The guards at the gate tried their hardest to keep the hazard zones sealed, extra officers were allocated, but the waves of villains were too great. Devouring Earth, Sky Raiders, Trolls, Outcasts, every type of villainous scum that dwelt in the hazard zones began to descend on the city. The giant monsters surged into the main part of the city as any semblance of order disintegrated. Civilians ran screaming to their homes, those that had not hidden in them. The few heroes remaining on the streets battled long and hard, but the outcome was inevitable.

Clixaman walked calmly through a deserted Atlas Park, he’d had his own fun. There had been some Circle of Thorns who’d tried to take him for some ritual of some kind; they didn’t last very long. Clixaman had a few issues with the circle, admittedly he was only here because of them, they had summoned him after all, but he didn’t like the fact that they had tried to control him. He smiled as he remembered the feelings. The blackness of limbo had been disturbed by a ripple of energy, slowly that had become a portal, and the spirit, his spirit had been drawn to it. Five hundred years of loneliness ended by some fools who thought he would obey them. The had summoned Diloar to them, and Diloar had brought his wrath to them. He smiled to himself as he remembered how the Behemoth Overlord had grovelled to him, bowed to him, worshipped him, and he remembered the taste.

The Mayor would most definitely remember his next visit; in fact the city would too.

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“This really ISN’T fun.” Kronosy46 shouted over the sound of Scapegoats nova.

The Arachnos didn’t seem to know when to quit either that or they had nothing better to do today. Over in the distance the blasts kept coming, whoever was fighting Frozen Rogue was having a hell of a time but then it looked like Frozen Rogue was too. Star Jewel swore, very uncharacteristically for her, as another tarantulas legs appeared on the side of the building.

“Someone needs to go and help Frozen,” Scapegoat said calmly. Kron could never understand why her friend was so fiery day to day but when in combat was so calm and focused.

“Can we spare anyone? This is a little rough!” Sun Beam said as she unleashed a blast into the face of an Arachnos soldier.

“I’ll go.” Terra Byte said through gritted teeth as a Mu evaded her snipe, she ducked in close and released a power blast into its chest sending it flying off the roof.

“Then go now.” Scape said, “help Frozen and then the pair of you get back here.” Terra began to move out, “And one thing Terra… make it snappy.”

“KK.”

Doulos had gone from calm to insane it seemed, but he wasn’t the only one. All the Rangers in the base had seen what was going on and none of them were able to stand still. “You have to let us out, we can help!” Shouted Torque at the policeman. The Police were terrified, but they held their ground, credit to them, none of the Rangers would attack a policeman, well, maybe a couple would…

The Police had seen what was going on too, and they were afraid to leave the building, which meant that they had to keep the Rangers there to have an excuse to stay, outside anyone in uniform was a target.

“Come with us, help us protect the city damn you!” Doulos shouted, “There is something very wrong and you need everyone capable on the streets.”

“I know sir but orders are orders…”

“To hell with orders, we need to stop this. What are you going to do? Wait ‘til there is no city to defend?”

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Burrel smiled to himself, he’d been smiling a lot today. He had to hand it to Clixaman, the man had turned his personal vendetta against the Rangers into an all out war. Where Burrel had dreamed only of taking down one superhero group, it seemed that Clixaman had set out to destroy them all. Burrel looked at the pile of white powder on his table, he might as well enjoy himself while he plan his ascendancy in the new world that looked to be shaping itself today.

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Frozen Rogue met another blast of flame with ice and yet more superheated steam fizzed into the air as the two met, whoever he was fighting was exactly his equal but he’d never been close enough to see his face. A statue lay in ruins where he had ducked into cover, it had nearly fallen on him when the base of it corroded at a truly unnatural speed. He was tired, and was sure his opponent must be equally drained but he kept fighting, catching a breath wherever possible. Leaping from cover he fired a blast of ice, somehow he knew where his opponent was every time, he could’ve pointed straight to him with his eyes closed, the downside was that his opponent seemed to have the same ability. No sooner had the ice left his hand then it turned to steam, the flames had got a little to close to him that time. Ducking back into cover he paused, there was no sound, maybe his opponent was worn out, may be his foe had fled, may be this was his chance, may be going for another attack was suicide.

“Who are you?” He shouted in hope of a reply that didn’t come. Instead a wave of flame, pure and angry, swept over his head.

Then the reply came, “Don’t worry Frozen Rogue this is VERY personal.”

“Chad?”

“I used to be, until you threw me aside, my name is Festering Blaze now, and all I want in the world is to take you down.”

“I won’t fight you Chad, you’re my brother, and in spite of everything I still love you.”

The man landed in front of, it was like looking in a twisted mirror, before Frozen could react a boot whipped forward and caught him in the solar plexus driving the wind from him, the as fast as a viper Chad had him pressed against the wall, finger tips digging into his neck. “Then you’ll just be killed quicker.”

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Terra Byte ran down the alleyway, the noise had stopped but the air was humid and thick with moisture. She skidded to a halt as she hit the larger street. Against a wall opposite her someone was choking the life out of Frozen Rogue, without further hesitation she charged, energy welled up inside, as did her anger, the anger made her hunger for blood, she fought to repress that as she fought to maintain the energy. He target never heard her coming, Frozen Rogue looked on the edge of consciousness. She screamed as she released the energy. It hit her victim hard, sending him flying meters through the air, Frozen Rogue collapsed on the floor, breathing hard, he knelt barely staying upright. He would live.

The man she had attacked began to stir, and Terra walked towards him, as she did the blood lust grew. How long had it been since she had tasted its warmth? This was a villain, he deserved whatever came to him. Her vampiric urges began to flood her body, memories of the sensations of biting through skin, drawing in the life force, drawing in the blood, her sense heightened as she allowed the fangs to grow in her mouth, surely just this once couldn’t hurt.

The man lay on his front, trying to push himself upwards on his arms. She grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled his neck upwards placing a knee on the base of his spine. “This’ll teach you.” She purred into his ear as she leant over his shoulder to bite into his exposed neck.

“Terra wait…” Gasped Frozen Rogue behind her as he fought for air, “wait…”

Looking round she saw him pulling himself on his knees towards her, hand outstretched. “Why? He’s a villain. Better to end him now than let him try this again.” She snapped angrily, when her blood was up she remembered her temper; a temper that had bought a century of pain and suffering to hundred of people.

“He’s my brother.”

“What?”

Frozen Rogue had been able to recover his feet now, and stood resting his hands on his knees pulling air into his lungs.

“This is my twin.”

Terra rolled her victim over, sure enough she looked down and she saw the face of Frozen Rogue, but as it would be if twisted by evil. As she looked into the eyes of the incapacitated victim she couldn’t help but draw back, dropping his head roughly onto the street. “He has no soul…” she exclaimed.

“How is that possible?” Asked Frozen, nearly recovered.

“Look out!” Shouted Terra, behind Frozen Rogue a figure had begun to emerge from shadows that weren’t there; but Frozen couldn’t respond in time, a sword burst through his stomach as the shadowy figure plunged it through his back, blood spurted out of his mouth, and the figure became visible. Gurgling Frozen Rogue slid off the blade onto the floor. Terra looked at the man. “Tyrus!” she screamed, “You *******!”

“Hello little sister, daddy will want to see you.”

“I am not your sister, I am nothing like you.”

Tyrus laughed at her as he licked the blood from his blade. “You’re friend really tastes good Terradorma Bytennium, you should have a bite before we go home, and you ARE my sister.”

“Not a chance.” Terra gritted her teeth, where before she was simply angry, she was now furious.

“I hoped you’d say that… lets dance. Do you remember, I always out sparred you?”

“But then I never had anything to fight for.”

Tyrus danced towards her sword flashing, he was fast, Terra had forgotten how fast. She dodged as the blade whipped narrowly passed her left side, then danced backwards as another sweep that would have taken her head of sliced the air millimetres from her neck. The next sweep was aimed at her stomach, rolling to the side she unleashed a blast taking out Tyrus’s legs knocking him to the floor, in a flash he was back up… out of the corner of her eye she saw Frozen Rogue lying bleeding, he didn’t have long, she had to make this quick.

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“You what!” Exclaimed the Mayor, “I cannot do that! There is no way.”

“Then consider yourself out of office Mr. Mayor.” Clixaman sneered.

“I was out of office when I first gave into your demands, so I can say what the hell I like. Now get out of here.”

“Mr. Mayor I don’t think you’re listening to me.” The Lawyer snarled as he walked towards the Mayor. “You will disable the teleportation grid or I will destroy you.”

“I am already destroyed.”

Clixaman laughed, “Politically is one thing, but existence is another.”

“Are you threatening me you piece of slime, get out.”

Clixaman stood very still and silence filled the office, slowly the air around him began to shimmer, slowly the air around him began to change, slowly another form appeared behind him. Vast and monstrous, black scaled that glowed as though pure flame lay beneath them, a horned head, hideous and animalistic looked at the mayor with glowing yellow eyes twenty feet above the ground, massive arms, as thick as the pillars that supported the marble roof, that nearly reached the floor ended in clawed hands the size of a cow. Wings, black and leathery with sharp spikes ridged along the bones, and a tail with a spike a meter long flicked around the room, four tentacles, black and sinuous came from the monster abdomen, and snaked their way towards the Mayor, wrapping around him and lifting him from the floor. Clixaman’s form slowly melded into the beast. “Do you understand me Mr. Mayor?” The beast spoke in a rasping voice, fire lighting up the inside of its mouth, “You will disable the teleportation grid.”

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

A few minutes later a lawyer in an expensive suit with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail left City Hall in Atlas Park, and around the city, heroes that fell never rose again.

Just wondering if you'd be so kind as to let me know what sort of level you guys have got your scoundrels to? Warburg is good but I want to beat up villains, not heroes! Was wondering how long I would be waiting!

Get there soon, there's a few heroes desperate to bring you to justice.

Theobald Clixamon, that’s what it said on the door. That’s who he was and that’s who he intended to be for a long time. The world had changed; the world had made itself perfect for him. No longer were powers impressive, that suited him fine, people who respond from terror and fear often didn’t respond sensibly, but people who believed their response to be inevitable, to be sensible, now, they would make themselves a martyr for the cause. Even heroes could be manipulated by the concept of truth, but the great joy of post-modernity was that there was no truth, which made manipulation so easy.

Clixamon leant back in his high back leather chair as he mused over the philosophies that impacted the world around him. True and false, right and wrong, blurred edges, people return to something concrete, the only thing concrete was the law, and that is why he planted himself as a lawyer. The law could be manipulated, anything so solid could be manipulated, it had become an entity in its own right, and depending on how people saw that entity…

There was a knock on his door that broke his train of thought, his secretary poked her head around the door, “I have a package for you sir, it’s marked urgent.”

“Bring it in please Kimberly, then can you contact the Mayor for me, tell him it would be significant for me to see him very soon.” The elderly lady nodded and brought the package in. Clixamon opened it up, once again Burrel had delivered, he smiled, who ever was doing this work really was very, very good.

The intercom buzzed, “Mr. Clixamon, the Mayor says he cannot see you this afternoon.”

“Call him back for me Kimberly, tell him that if he doesn’t see me, his day will get a lot more difficult.” Hanging up the intercom Clixamon smiled, in this day and age truth could be whatever you made it, and the law always backed up truth.

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“Damn it, I should have worn my hair up today.” Kronosy46 grumbled as the female Rangers stood on the deck of the hero ship off the beach of Warburg. From somewhere Scapegoat produced a hair elastic and handed it to her. “Where did that come from?” Kron said pulling her hair back.

Scape held out her hands and shrugged, “I just always have a couple of spares with me.”

The group stood for a moment longer as the boat rose and fell on the wind driven waves, grey skies dominated the horizon. “Watch yourselves girls,” Scape said through gritted teeth, “this place can get a little rough.”

“I’m ready for anything.” Terra said.

Lead Hose checked her gun, “Let’s do this then.”

“Yes” said Sun Beam, “before I need some moisturiser because of all this damn salt water spraying in my face.”
Star Jewel laughed, as she lifted into the air. “Remember everyone,” Kron said with caution, “as soon as we hit that beach anyone and everyone can take a pot shot at us.”

The lady Rangers launched into the air headed for dry land. When they were on the beach another figure stepped onto the boat from the helicopter, he was all but invisible. The guard stationed didn’t have time to react as the sword ripped through his body carving from the base of his spine through his ribs and out of his shoulder. The figure materialised for a moment, long enough so that anyone watching would have seen his tongue run up the bloodied blade. “I needed that,” he muttered as he kicked the lifeless body into the water with his foot, and then he was gone.

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Frozen Rogue huddled behind the bins in the alley way. He had no idea that Arachnos had such a heavy presence here, for the last couple of hours he had dodged patrol after patrol. He was berating himself for running, he should have stayed but the whole situation had just got on top of him and he had panicked. This place was dingy, but at least the cold didn’t really affect him, it was just beginning to rain. Nothing felt right today, so the knots in his stomach didn’t surprise him. Pulling further into the shadows he watched as another hulking spider trundled past the alley way he was hidden in. Wishing very much he was somewhere else Rogue shook his head. “Time to get it together, come on,” he urged himself, “back to the chopper, back to the city, face the music.”

Cautiously he got to his feet, being careful not to knock the bins over. As he looked up he froze, at the end of the alley a man was standing, silhouetted against the greyness beyond him. The figure threw down a cigarette, “Let’s get it on.” He shouted as fire leapt from his hands surging down the alley towards Frozen Rogue.

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Doulos was back with the senior policeman, he had managed to calm himself down enough to not be shouting, “I want to talk to the Mayor.”

“I’m afraid that is not possible sir.”

“Yes it is, we both know it, now get him on contact, he issued the order, I am within my rights to discuss it with him.”

“I’ll try sir, but I can make no promises.”

A few minutes later the policeman called Doulos over, “The Mayor has agreed to speak to you, I’m sorry about all this Jackson; you are Jackson right?” Doulos nodded, “but orders are orders, you’ve all done great things for this city and none of us in blue like having to do this.”

“Thanks, then let us go.”

“You know I can’t sir.” Then holding the phone towards Doulos he continued. “The Mayor is waiting sir.”

Doulos took the phone, “Your honour, this is Doulos of the Precision Rangers, sir you know that there is no one out there better to find Frozen than us…. Yes sir I understand that sir but I must protest…. In light of what evidence sir?... May I be permitted to see it sir?... I find that hard to beli… I understand sir, thank you for your support, I hope you can resolve this soon.”

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

Clixaman placed his finger on the receiver. He was sitting on the Mayors desk. The mayor looked at him with anger searing from his eyes. “Don’t you know who I am?” The Mayor demanded slamming the receiver down. Clixaman moved his hand smoothly out of the way.

“In fact I do, you’re a public servant.”

“I am the Mayor of this city, I speak for right and truth…”

“Oh please spare me the monologue. You are a public servant. You were put their by the public, and you can be bought down by the public. The public believe that the media is the truth, and so what the media presents to them will be the truth.”

“These pictures are all lies, that tape is a lie, you are presenting lies, and I can prove it.”

“I’m sure that if these pictures are false as you say, and if the public believe that in spite of the evidence presented to them by the press…”

“Evidence? This is pornography of the basest kind.” said the mayor gesturing at the envelope on the desk.

“The evidence,” said Clixaman forcefully over the Mayors voice, “presented to them by the press that you are innocent of these, shall we say, incidents, it really might not harm your campaign for re-election, on the other hand...”

The Mayor starred at him, “No matter what comes as a result of this day I will destroy you.”

Clixaman threw back his head and laughed, “My dear Mayor, IF you get through this day, then I assure you, you will have so many difficulties that there is no way you will find time to even think about me.”

“Every hour of everyday I plan your down fall.”

“Really, I could walk out of this room right now and ensure yours, shall we try?” Clixaman leant to pick up the envelope but the Mayor snatched it up and held it to his chest.

“No.” he said as his resolve visibly crumbled, “I’ve worked too hard to get here to let a slimy scoundrel like you take it from me with lies. What do I have to do?”

“Well firstly I want all heroes with any connection to the Rangers ordered into custody, I want them guarded on a two to one basis, and I want that done in the next hour.”

“But that’s nearly half the heroes in the city, I can’t do tha…”

“Then I want you to order the police drones around the hazard zones deactivated, but the doors left open.”

“That would mean… what are you trying to do?”

“What does every good lawyer thrive of? It certainly isn’t law and order, I want Chaos. If you do not comply with these wishes then I shall be force to call my friends in the press.”

“Are there any other demands that I should know about.”

Clixaman moved forward suddenly, his hand gripping the Mayors cheek, for a moment his eyes blazed with fire as he stared into the Mayors face, then he calmed himself and patted the public servant on the cheek, “That’ll do for now don’t you think? We’ll just see what happens.”

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The lady Rangers gathered on the roof top, over half an hours searching and nothing.

“If he’s here we would have seen him by now.” said Sun Beam in frustration.

“This is pointless, he could be anywhere, we need more man power.” Scapegoat said, probably a little overly loud.

Lead Hose nodded. “Gen said he was here, but then Gen wasn’t exactly ‘there’ when he said it.”

Terra Byte chipped in, “I say we have another look, if he’s here, which I think he is then we can find him.”

The women looked at each other, “Come on guys, one more look can’t hurt.” Kron said. They nodded.

Just as they turned to look around for a direction to travel in they saw a flash of light a few hundred meters to the north, ice and fire clashed in the air and super heated steam hazed the air.

“Frozen?” asked Scapegoat.

The others just nodded.

Lead Hose screamed, spinning around the Rangers saw massive metallic legs coming over the top of the building behind them, then swarms of others appearing on all sides. “Looks like Frozen may have to wait to be found.” Growled Sun Beam, “Did I ever tell you how much I hate spiders?”

“No.” Terra answered.

Star Jewel flexed her hands, “Ok ladies, let’s get to work.”

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

“What do you mean I’m under arrest?” Yelled Midnight agent as the policemen shepherded him to the police van.

“Orders are orders sir.” replied one of the officers.

“Look is this about the pink underwear?” said the confused hero.

“I can’t say sir, everything will be explained when you reach custody.”

Across the city hundreds of heroes were being taken into custody. Burrel watched as the guards stationed at the gates of Boomtown were overwhelmed. He had to give it to Clixaman, disabling the drones had been a spontaneous stroke of genius.

And all across Paragon City Chaos Surged.

Yay, nice one Kron... write more stuff!

Scapegoat and Sun Beam headed to Talos. Scapegoat was in a foul mood and her tongue was spitting curses with almost every breath, her glamorous appearance made it easy to forget she was a street kid who grew up in the roughest of neighbourhoods. She normally kept a grip on her language but now she was fuming. Sun Beam just flew along beside not commenting, when Scape was in this kind of mood it wasn’t worth saying the wrong thing.

The reason why her friend was in such a foul mood was the thing that Sun Beam found hard to grasp as she listened to the tirade.

“That bloody man, making me bloody in charge, why the hell did he ask me to it, when I see him I’m going to kick him to the sofa for a month, if he thinks he’ll worm his way out of this one with pretty words and a smile I’ll kick his teeth in, what the hell do I know about being the boss? Damn it why couldn’t he get someone else to do it.”

Stifling a grin Sun Beam answered all the thoughts in her head. Scape was in charge because she was the senior ranking Ranger in the field. Scape was cross because she didn’t want to be in charge, the vent that Cinnamon Brandy had put across the open comm. was one of frustration at the police, Scape’s vent was at Doulos. SB didn’t doubt that Doulos would be sleeping on the sofa for a month, Scape and he had never even got near sharing a bed, as much as they both pretended they didn’t want to it was common knowledge in the Rangers that they did, just Doulos was too proud and Scape too adamant on being independent to admit it. All of a sudden the tirade ended and Scape looked seriously at Sun Beam. “They’ll be ok right?” she said earnestly, they meaning Doulos and the other male rangers, but mainly Doulos she guessed.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine…”

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

“What the hell do you mean in doing this?” Raged Doulos as he marched up and down in front of the policeman. “Are you a total fool?” For fifteen minutes the Ranger had been yelling abuse and shouting at the policeman.

“Sir, with all due respect if you do not refrain from this I shall have you cuffed and put into secure custody.”

“The hell you will…” Doulos stopped suddenly as Aeronaut pulled him back from the policeman.

“D, think about this, you’ll be no good to anyone if you get locked up, calm down.”

Sighing heavily Doulos paused “You’re right, you’re right, I’ve got it under control…”

Aeronaut nodded and let go of Doulos’s shoulder, at which point the other Ranger turned instantly and began again, “And another thing you retarded muppet…” This time Aeronaut and Halo grabbed their friend and pulled him back out of the room, holding him against the wall.

“Calm DOWN!” hissed Halo. “We’re in a big enough mess as it is, we need you to be on top of things.”

“They’ve put a warrant out for Gen because he didn’t come back, Frozen is being accused of murder and the girls are all out there without us backing them up, all because these pillocks…”

“Are just doing their jobs.” growled Aeronaut. “D, you know full well that the ladies can handle themselves, you know full when that Gen would have come back if something more important hadn’t come up. You know that full well where ever Frozen in he didn’t kill anyone. No calm down or do I have to slap you.”

There was a pause, Doulos said nothing. Aero whipped his hand fast and hard across D’s face. “What the **** did you do that for?” said Doulos rubbing his cheek.

“You didn’t say you would calm down,” grinned Aeronaut, “so I assumed you wanted the slap.” Halo laughed out loud as Doulos stuttered unable to find an answer.

“Right, now that that’s sorted, may be we can think out way out of this.” He said, “Firstly what was the last contact with Genergy? Secondly, what do we know about what’s going on today, let’s put the pieces together.”

The three of them walked back into the main room of the base, the other male Rangers looked up expectantly. “Are they letting us go?” Solar Blitz said hope covering his young face.

“No.” said Doulos, probably with a bit too much snap in his voice. Shrugging his shoulders he continued, “Sorry Solar, they’re not letting us go until they have Frozen Rogue in custody and there’s no word of what they plan to do about Gen either.”

The silence in the room was deafening until PowerSWAT spoke up, “But we want to find Frozen as much as they do, we can help.”

“That’s the problem, they think we’ll try to hide him from them, it’s almost as if they believe he is guilty before he’s even in custody. This is some gross over reaction.”

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

The Mayor sat behind his desk in Atlas Park listening to the lawyer in front of him. The Lawyer was angry with him but he didn’t care much for lawyers, so he didn’t care about the anger.

“Look at the tape.” said the lawyer pointing at the vidi-projection on the wall of the Mayor’s office. “You can clearly see this so called hero attacking this man.”

“That I do not doubt Mr. Clixaman, that is evident to me, however the action that you request is far beyond extreme, it borders on the insane.”

“Your honour,” said the lawyer, making it sound as he were an adult talking to a small child, “your honour, this man is clearly a Precision Ranger, that is evident from his chest emblem and his uniform, he is clearly assaulting this civilian who died as a result of it.”

“I do see that council, but I believe the precautions that I have taken with a forced hand are enough.”

“How can you say that.”

“I didn’t want any of them locked up, if you want to find Frozen Rogue then they are the best people to do it. I locked up the men to keep you happy, only because politically action has to be taken in an event like this, however I for one do not believe the footage I am seeing, I know Frozen Rogue and I know the Rangers, they have saved my life and the lives of thousands of citizen on many occasions and I cannot believe that one of their number is a murderer.”

“But its right in front of you!”

“That is enough council, if you wish to maintain the small patience I have left with you then I would recommend that you calm down right now and leave, or I will withdraw the order to the chief of police immediately.”

The lawyer stepped back, “I’m sorry you’re honour, if I may then I will take my leave.”

The Mayor just nodded and indicated to the door. He watched Mr. Clixaman leave his office, the man was loathsome, everything that a lawyer stereo type should be, but his hands were tied. He looked up at the repeating image on the screen in front of him, Frozen Rogue forcing a device of some kind down a mans throat. He shook his head in worry, the longer he could keep this silent the better. The Rangers were to valuable a piece of the City’s community to loose, but the whole situation just felt wrong.

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

As Clixaman walked across the steps of City Hall he pulled out his phone and dialled a number.

“He won’t budge…. I know I showed him the tape you gave me, but he’s not going for it…. He won’t take anymore action now… maybe more pressure could…. I understand…. Yes, I know what I’m being paid to do and I’ll get it done…. By the way…” At which point he pulled the phone from his ear, folded it closed and put it back in his pocket, bloody cheek hanging up on him like that.

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Lead Hose kept a look out down the corridor, Genergy was in the room behind her, when the call had come for all male Rangers to return to base she had tried to make him go, when the call came that he was to be arrested for not doing so she tried to keep him safe. If anyone saw them here and put two and two together then there would be trouble, Genergy was not best pleased.

“Gen,” She whispered leaning to the door, “Gen, how’s it going?”

“It would go faster if you didn’t ask that every thirty seconds.” Said Genergy, his voice fraught with tension, “this isn’t easy.”

Inside the room Genergy stood with his hands resting on the servers in the satellite building, the machines had be telling him so much and so little, he had watched all kinds of things on the images they threw at him but it was the feelings in the machine that were draining him so badly, sweat beaded on his forehead.

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

“Gen, someone’s coming.”

“Keep them out of here.”

The door closed behind him and he heard voices, the whirring of hard drives and fans drained out what was being said but the tones were abrupt. Suddenly something lurched in his mind and the machine squealed, he was hurled across the room gripping his hands to his head in pain, Lead burst into the room, “What is it Gen are you ok?”

Looking up at here Genergy could see nothing except binary, the pain poured down his spine and into every nerve ending, electrocution didn’t hurt this much.

“Frozen…” Genergy sputtered through pained lips, “Warburg… trouble.” That was all he managed before passing out.

Lead Hose ran to the doorway to get help, as she looked down the corridor she saw security guards and police drone coming towards her, “No good!” looking back at her friend lying prone on the floor Lead made a choice, and ran, Gen went through that to find Frozen, so she’d be damned if she wouldn’t get to him. Leaving Genergy prostrate on the floor she fled. “Ladies, we need to go to the Warburg.”

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

Burrel frowned, so the Mayor wouldn’t budge. That was a shame, at least he’d been able to corrupt the evidence and the satellites, with any luck the brothers would meet soon, it had been a bonus finding out from his sources that Genergy had been put out of action, the do gooder knew too much about what was going on once he got into the system, but if the virus ran its course then he wouldn’t be talking to anyone for a while.

Cracking fat knuckles he picked up another cigarette and rolled his neck around resulting in a loud crack. The Mayor would give, he had to when Clixaman went back to him, the “evidence” would be too great.

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

The man watched the Rangers get on the Helicopter in Kings Row. He’d be right behind them. So Terra was going to the Warburg. He rubbed his hands together, “The Warburgs not a safe place for you little sister, not safe at all.” With a snort that could have been a laugh the man leapt from his vantage point to the helipad, another chopper was about to land…