Doulos

Why not make base charges relative to the size of the SG?

Since I6 I've earned just over 30k prestige and I play probably 30 hours a week...

I'm in a large SG and we have a lot of very regular players but we have a scrawny 90k or so in the bank, last time I checked, once we spent out intial 300k pay off... (on top of a few more hundred Ks from inf transfers etc.

very nice dude...

YAY GG IS BACK!!! BEST NEWS OF THE DAY SO FAR!!!

Hoooray!!!! Gratz buddy, awesome stuff...

The church was silent apart from the click of the beads on the rosary. Every day she prayed, every day she cried, every day hoped, everyday she feared. After five long years why should she still come? Why did she still mourn? Her silent prayer with every Hail Mary was for her son, for the son she loved, for the son her husband had rejected. And the beads clicked. The priest walked softly up besides her, his footsteps making barely a sound on the polished stone floor, his robes making a gentle sweeping sound and he walked slowly towards the woman. He stopped about ten paces away and waited for her to finish her prayers, she knew he was there, but she did not hurry, the earnest hunger in her soul would see it done properly. She said her final “Our Father” then meditated for a few moments on the stanza “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” That is what she prayed for her son most of all, that is what she begged the Almighty One of Heaven for, and she just had to hope in faith that he heard her.

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The boys played rough, they were boys after all, that is what they did when given the chance, provided by the lack of supervision. Two seven year old twins that no one cared for in an orphanage that no-one cared about. Sure they got some discipline, both of them had notches on their bunk for the times they had been beaten, Chad was slightly ahead, both of them had bruises from only a couple of days before when they had had a food fight in the orphanages’ embarrassingly named library, if a collection of old magazines made a library…

For 5 years they had been moved from home to home, each one giving up on them, this one had lasted for five months, the longest so far, the last home was run by a Mr. Rollins, an ugly man in every sense of the word who had beaten them regularly, deservingly or not, he had made it clear to the boys that he believed they were already criminals so he should punish them well in advance of any misdemeanour, big or small. Neither of the twins had been sad or surprised when the place had burned down, although of course neither of them had the slightest comprehension of how it happened.

This new place seemed ok; there were a few kids their age, and a few older ones who they really looked up to.

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The nun stood up, as she had done daily for the last seven years she stood then knelt, signing her self with the cross before walking down the aisle to talk to the priest. It was eighteen months since she had taken her vows, but she had lived by them for years. The Priest was the only one who knew what she prayed for, and the only one who asked, each day he would meet her from the convent, they would walk in silence to the church and then once she had done her prayers they would talk.

“Do you believe the boys to be well Miriam?” asked the priest.

“I do, my son is well, I would know if he wasn’t.” replied the nun.

“You have two sons, why do you only ever refer to one of them?”

“I gave birth to two, but I have one, the other is not mine so he does not receive my prayers.”

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The boys stood in front of the magistrate, they were asked their names, and they gave them, the age they declared as eleven, which made them considered as capable of conscious criminal action. The older brother stared proud and defiant, angry and aggressive, the younger, smaller brother, looked down, fighting back tears. He had known that attacking the elderly lady was a bad idea, but then his brother had convinced him to go through with it. The younger brother was full of remorse that the old lady had broken her neck on the fall down the stairs as he watched his elder twin push her. The older brother said that he was looking after them, and that gratitude not distain was the right response.

The judge took into account their unsettled up bringing, but there was no excusing the actions. Both the boys were to face equal sentence of two years in a young offenders penitentiary.

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“They are both your flesh and blood…”

“But they are not both my spirit, and I will not bless the son of that man.”

“But…”

“There are no buts, father, we have been having this conversation for many years now and you still cannot grasp it. I pray for my son that he would be delivered from evil; but that mans son can go to hell.”

“Miriam, you must forgive or bitterness will destroy your soul.”

The nun looked at him through tearful eyes, “Then I will loose my soul; so long as my son has his.”

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Other members of the gang found it hard to believe that the two were even brothers, sure they looked alike, they sounded the same but they were so different. The elder was so aggressive he, drove the group forward. His time inside had gained him a certain reputation, and he loved it. His plans were flawless and the gang did well from it. His brother though was a liability; they only respected him because of his kin. He followed the plan, but he always questioned it, always resisted it, always tried to find a more honest way, that meant the hard way, and that didn’t suit them, but the only person he ever spoke to was his brother. They didn’t speak, they argued.

Fourteen years old and hard as a nail, with anger to spare the older brother really was making a bit of a reputation for himself.

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“That man stole my life from me, that man nearly killed me, nearly killed him…”

“Them…”

“No: him. He would never hurt his precious son, never damage the one he loved, he hurt the one I loved, he hurt me. And because of him they took them away from me. Fifteen years, fifteen years I have mourned my son and still the pain does not relent. My prayers are answered though he is good, I know this, I know it, and he will see the eternity he deserves.”

“Miriam, do you never offer a prayer for the elder one?”

“No. I shall never pray for him.”

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The boys were in trouble, they were arguing, and they were doing it publicly, for the first time ever, they had been heard to argue many times, but never verbally attacked each other like this, the Outcasts gathered around them watch with amusement as the two teenage gang members tore strips of each other.

“You’re weak, you’re a fool, we have the opportunity for greatness presented to us and I have to carry you, I hate you, I hate you.” snarled the older brother.

“I will not do it, I will not shoot him.”

“Then give me the gun and I’ll kill the pig.”

“No, he’s done nothing wrong; he is trying to help people.”

The police officer knelt watching the dialogue.

“KILL HIM!” screamed the older brother.

“NO! I am not like you, I am not full of anger, I will not hate for hates sake, I will not.”

The older brother lunged forward swinging a fist to hit his sibling, as he did fire erupted around him, the younger brother dodged out of the way raising his arms to defend himself, they turned to ice as his brothers flaming fist hit him. The two fell back…

“What on earth was that?” exclaimed the younger brother.

The elder looked at him, an angry grimace on his face, “You kill him or watch me burn him.” Advancing on the officer he raised his burning fists, the officer scrambled backwards.

“No you won’t!” Shouted the younger brother, and ice flew from his hands encasing his twin. He ran forward to stand before his flesh and blood. The outcasts watching waited with baited breath.

With ice up to his chin the aggressor could not move. “You better start running now, because when I get out of here I will kill you for this.”

“But…”

“I’m going to give you one chance. Run now.”

Stumbling the younger twin began to run, as he did tears began to flow, sixteen years old, an orphan, strange powers appearing and now his brother wanted to kill him. He wanted to believe that his brother would forgive him, but in the last few years he had begun to realise that the goodness and humanity they had shared as children was leaving his brother. He ran, because his brother would kill him, he ran because the outcasts would kill him, he ran and he had no where to run too. In Eastgate Heights he stopped running, and curled up in a ball, the world had collapsed, and it had seemingly collapsed on him.

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“I said his name in my prayers today father.”

“Really well done, that’s wonderful news. What did you say?”

“I prayed that the goodness of his soul be stripped away so that his father will suffer at his hand, I prayed that the goodness of his soul be given to my son, so that he might be exulted among men as righteous beyond question.”

“That isn’t what I had in mind; you know that that might mean that you damn your son to hell.”

The nun laughed, in the sixteen years since she had given birth to twins, she had never before considered her faith in relation to that, sixteen years of seemingly unanswered prayers made her words reckless. “Father, I do not laugh at you but at myself, I believe my faith is gone, I believe my prayers go unanswered and I believe that both those I bore are dead already, yet still I come to pray, even when there is no hope I still come.”

“But what if they are alive and what if your prayers are answered?”

Again the nun laughed, and this time she sobbed in sorrow too, “Then I have given the world something that no one else except God himself has been able to make, a demon and an angel.”

“Where do you think he went?” asked Crossfire as the Rangers walked away from the station. They had left pretty quickly, Frozen Rogue could move fast when needed and it looked like he had done just that.

“I don’t know, where would you go?” asked Cryostrike.

“I have no idea; if someone accused me of murder then I would probably try to prove I was innocent.” Crossfire continued.

Cinnamon Brandy activated the comm. “Ops are you there?”

“Gen here CB what can I do for you?”

“We have a situation with Frozen Rogue.”

“What’s going on?”

“Someone is dead at the Talos Station and the finger is being pointed at Frozen, has he checked in at all?”

“Negative.”

“Cryo here Gen, can you do a satellite sweep for him? Pick up his locator?”

“I should be able to, I’m running a sweep for Doulos right now over Crey’s the satellites have gone crazy today and the access times are horrendous, as soon as I can get on, or open another server I’ll get back to you.”

Terra Byte broke into the conversation. “Genergy, is there any mention of how long the satellite traffic has been bad?”

“The guy at the satellite station said it’s been crazy for about four hours, but yesterday was quiet. Why do you ask?”

“No reason, the police scanners quiet?” Continued Terra.

“On a global level yes, some local traffic, checking the log it seems to have gone up since whatever happened, happened at Talos, but its still pretty normal. I think I see what your getting at…” Genergy didn’t finish the line leaving it as an open question for Terra to finish.

“Why are the Satellites so busy if there is little police traffic, who’s demanding stuff? The SGs wouldn’t be going nuts over nothing.”

“You may be onto something Terra,” said Genergy thoughtfully, “I’ll send a couple of Rangers over to see what’s going on, as its software if I go it would make sense, I’ll get some one to relieve me here, then I’ll head over with a couple of others. I’ll get back to you, I’m finally getting that download from over Crey’s.”

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In the lights of the Precision Rangers HQ Genergy examined the satellite stills coming through to his monitor. “Doulos, this is Genergy, we really need to talk, something serious went down in Crey’s and something serious is going on with Frozen…”

Genergy went on to explain what he was seeing.

“Open up the coalition channel Gen, this is something big, then get yourself over to the satellite station with Lead Hose, get Columbo to man the desk, his experience might help today.”

“The Channel is open D.”

“All Coalition Groups, this is Doulos of the Precision Rangers, who do we have on comm..”

“Inspector Frost of the Overlords.”

“Chives here, Scrappocalypse”

“Tufty, SNHS”

“Rock Eagle, Armoured Core.”

“Any other groups available?” Doulos continued, pausing for any responses. “It appears that we have a situation, one of our members has apparently murdered a civilian, I use the word apparently in the loosest sense possible, I am sure you are all aware of the traffic flowing across satellite, that we can’t get access, I’ve sent a couple of Rangers to check it out. More worrying currently is the situation we have in Crey’s, from the evidence it appears that the pool of Rikti that we encountered earlier were a diversion of some kind, one man appears to have orchestrated this attack, but we have no fix on where he went, he became completely invisible to all light, even infra red couldn’t locate him once he cloaked, but he left over thirty dead on a roof top, both Rikti and human, we need to find him. I ask your help in doing so. All information will be spread across the coalition channels as we have it. Something large seems to be about to happen, we need to know what.”

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Genergy and Lead Hose walked towards the Satellite relay building, the building was huge, when they were within a hundred meters of it Genergy froze. “There’s something very wrong.”

“What do you mean Gen?”

“The computers inside are… I’ve never heard this from a computer, but it sounds like they are in pain.”

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know, but whatever’s going on we need to get in their fast, I’ve never heard of a computer in pain, but to me these feel on the brink of panic.”

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Frozen Rogue held his breath, he’d never been here before, but he was pretty sure that no one would look for him here. When he’d boarded the helicopter at Kings Row no one had looked at him twice and he had been relieved, here he was terrified that anyone would at him twice. He’d heard of Arachnos, everyone had, but he’d never seen them before and today he didn’t think was a good day for it. He’d pushed deep into enemy territory, hopefully here he could figure out what to do and no one would be looking for him.

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The man was in Talos, no one could see him, no one would ever know he was there, he’d seen the Precision Rangers go into the station, he’d seen them come out of it. He’d expected that, what he hadn’t expected to see was Terra, what was she doing with the Rangers? One of his brothers would have killed her there and then, but he wasn’t stupid enough to blow his cover this deep into hero territory, so instead he followed. It would seem that an unexpected bonus might be on the cards here, after all daddy’s little girl was worth more than the fat fool could possible pay him…

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“Doulos, this is Columbo.” It was over the private channel. Doulos stepped away from the other Rangers.

“What is it Col?”

“Well you know things were looking bad?”

“What do you mean were?”

“We’ll they just got a whole lot worse.”

“Col, stop beating around the bush, what’s happening?”

“There’s been an arrest on sight issue ordered for all male Precision Rangers, we have the choice, either we can return to base where we will be monitored or we will be put in the cells and questioned there.”

“The hell we are, they can’t do that.”

“They can, I’ve got them looking over my shoulder right now. We all need to get back here, and they are removing our comm. capacity from the base, field comm. only.”

“What are they trying to do?”

“I don’t know D, but get back here soon, or there’s an open warrant on you and every other male ranger out there.”

Cursing loudly Doulos returned to the Rangers he was with. “Listen up people, all male Rangers are to return to base now, I’ll explain it to you when we get there. Female Rangers, Scapegoat is now in charge until further notice, most of our comms. will be down. Good luck to you all ladies, find Frozen and bring him home safe.”

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The phone rung, the figure picked it up in his darkened room. “I think you might find this interesting…”

“Who are you I know your voice?”

“No one of consequence, but I thought I should tell you that your brother is now in reach.”

“What do you know of my brother?”

“I know he’s in the Warburg, and I know he is alone.” The caller hung up.

The room remained dark for a while, no sound, no movement, then a light flickered in the darkness, and a cigarettes warm glow caused a fuzzy bubble of light to appear, illuminating the features of the man who smoked it. Any Ranger there would have sworn they knew him, any Ranger there would have sworn they were looking at Frozen Rogue.

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Burrel opened another packet of cigarettes. It would seem that everything was going to plan today. He looked at Daphne lying on the bed, she was dead, it seemed her blood hadn’t clotted properly or something, probably too many drugs, and she had died from blood loss via here mouth, shame really, she’d been amusing. One of the best screams he’d heard in weeks. The sheets were ruined of course, nothing could get rid of that much blood.

Lost in thought he fiddled with the first thing his hand touched on the table, it took him a moment to realise it was her tongue, unperturbed he picked it up and walked around the room playing with it. Looking at his watch he smiled, it was time for a snack, “Of all the sins I have yet to indulge myself in,” he said out loud to himself, “I have never yet been a cannibal.” He paused and smiled a broad grin that pushed his bloated features hideously out of shape, “Now, where did I leave that frying pan.”

Laughing out loud Burrel walked towards the kitchen, it would seem that his surge of chaos was just beginning, and he would enjoy the ride until the end. He paused by the door and looked at the body on the bed, time for another order… all this excitement had left him feeling a little…frisky.

Yes, its called the union overlords, Inspector Frost, Illusion Gem and Okata (I think its spelt like that) are the men to talk to, I handed over the reigns to them today. There are about 30 odd members of all levels in there.

you won't believe me but it says S N A T C H

Warning unpleasant scenes near the end...

Terra Byte looked at the ball in her hand, right now it was the source of all her frustrations, or rather the focus. It was her turn to be on duty in the operations centre, over the comm. she could hear all sorts of things going on, and she was stuck here. Her shift had finished a few minutes ago but no one had yet come to relieve her of duty, Genergy was next on the list and he was running late, again. So that left her with the ball. She rested it in her hand and focused.

“Terra you have to concentrate, you have to control what you’re going.”

“But the damn ball won’t stay still, it’s keeps trying to roll off.”

The morning had gone badly for Terra in her daily training session with Scapegoat. She’d been trying to balance the ball on a stream of energy from her hand for the last half an hour and she just couldn’t get it, either the ball sped to the ceiling or dropped to the floor, she thought she had it on the last one but the ball had just rolled off her stream.

“Look Terra, you have the ability to blast but you need to hone it and refine it, this exercise will give you accuracy and control in what you do.” Scapegoat was being very patient today, the fiery heroine sometimes lost it before her student did but today she seemed at great peace with herself.

“But surely I can just unleash a wave of energy and that’ll do it for me, that’ll do the damage.”

“Yes you can, but what if civilians are present, what if your target is a long way away, or there is something volatile near by? A wave of energy can do as much harm as good that way.”

“So I have to balance the ball?” Terra asked, this was so frustrating.

“Balancing a ball is the exercise,” said the older Ranger, “This is the power.” Looking down the shooting gallery Scapegoat pointed her hand at one of the targets. After a moment she unleashed a blast of pure energy that punctured a precise hole in the target. “If you want to do that then this,” she said holding up a tennis ball, “is the best way to do it.”

Scapegoat held the ball in the palm of her hand and slowly it lifted off, balancing on energy that her body emitted. “You see Terra when you focus one ball is easy.” With her other hand Scapegoat picked up a second ball. The hovering ball moved as Scapegoat changed the energy flow to come from one of her fingers. It all seemed so casual, the ball didn’t bobble, it just stayed perfectly stil., Scapegoat held the second ball over another finger and dropped it, but it did not fall, she then added a second a third and a fourth to the collection.

“Terra may I have your ball for a moment please.” Terra passed over the tennis ball she was holding and Scapegoat added it to the collection. The five balls then began to raise and lower seemingly of their own free will until they fell into a wave like rhythm that rippled across her hand.

“Look Scape, no offence or anything, that’s a great party trick and all but what in hell does it have to do with blasting?”

Scapegoat gave a knowing smile and turned to look at the targets. “Control is everything Terra, knowing when to use it knowing when to unleash it,” as she spoke the balls raised high towards the ceiling, then slowly lowered down until they nearly rested on her finger tips. “Control comes through discipline, discipline through practice and practice is the art of patience, patience is the ultimate control.”

“But how is balancing balls going to make me a better, stronger fighter? It looks cool, but surely I need to develop my strength rather than control it?”

“Exercise, start of with what you have and build on that.” Scapegoat suddenly twisted her hand and the balls sped off down the shooting range. Five targets shuddered as the balls hit them. Scapegoat turned away and smiled at Terra, “I think we’ll leave it there for today, could you pick up those balls for me? Thanks, I have to dash.”

Scapegoat walked out of the room leaving Terra standing opened mouthed, her protest at tidying up someone else’s mess never leaving her tongue. She walked down the range and began picking up the tennis balls. “Bloody Scapegoat and her bloody party trick, what’s the bloody point of…” Terra stopped dead, looking at the targets she saw a perfect hole in the dead centre of every one that a tennis ball had hit. Perfect.

Terra kept trying with the ball. It just wouldn’t work for her. In frustration she let out a petulant shriek and hurled the ball at the monitor in front of her before slamming herself back into the chair with her arms folded. The ball didn’t bounce behind her. Slowly she turned around on the high backed swivel chair. Genergy stood there, the tennis ball in his outstretched hand.

“My, my, don’t we look moody today? Let me guess, Scape’s trying to teach you the ball control thing.” Terra just nodded, and consciously made herself pull her bottom lip in, “Impressive isn’t it.”

Again Terra nodded. Genergy allowed the ball to levitate off his hand, “You know, I could never do that as well as Scape, she has a truly incredible knack for it.” Genergy dropped the ball into his hand. “Anyway, I’m on now, off you go, sorry I was late.”

“That’s ok Gen, not got a lot on today, everything seems to be going on in Crey’s Folly and I can’t go there yet.” Genergy nodded, I know, I’m on Ops today or I’d have gone along to. Terra stood up and began to walk towards the door.

“Oh Terra.” Genergy said as she opened it, “You’ll want this.” Turning Terra was just in time to [censored] the ball out of the air.

“Thanks Gen. Have a good day.”

“Oh I will, you too ok?”

Terra nodded, just as she turned to go the speaker crackled to life. “This is Frozen Rogue, I am on my way to Talos Island attached to the back of a train, I request back up from all available Rangers as soon as possible please!”

“Tell him I’m coming!” Terra had to refrain from squealing with excitement, she had to give the impression to all the rangers, especially one as senior as Genergy that she was always cool, calm and confident.

“Frozen this is Gen. Can you SK Terra up?”

“Course I can, I’d love to.”

“Right then, she’s on her way.” Genergy waved Terra out of the door, she nodded and as soon as she got around the corner she started to run. Activating her comm. unit she reported in “Ranger Terra Byte, reporting and ready for action.”

Genergys voice came over the comm. “Frozen, I’m sending Cross, Cryo and CB to you as well, where do you want to meet them?”

“The station will be fine.”

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Doulos and the other Rangers walked through the sprawl of unconscious and injured Rikti. “Anyone found which one was in charge yet?” asked the Deadeye.

“No, it all seems weird. They went down so fast after the nova.” Aeronaut replied.

“So did Yellow though.” Luminos said smiling.

“Hey D, I think I’ve found something.” Halo shouted from a nearby roof top, “Come and check this out!”

The rangers gathered on the roof of the building, around them lay the bodies of several Rikti, each seemingly executed by a single shot to the head, behind them lay the bodies of several men, each riddled with bullets. Halo squatted on his haunches. “Well I’ll tell you this for free, they didn’t kill eachother.”

“Thanks for that Halo.” Mumbled Changomonster, “But there is something weird here.”

“What do you mean?” asked Doulos.

“Well correct me if I’m wrong, you guys have fought more Rikti than me, but aren’t these all communications officers, that emblem on their breast?” The masked ranger said as he pointed to one of the fallen Rikti.

“So they are.” Halo said scratching the back of his head, “I can’t believe I didn’t notice it.”

“So we know where all those Rikti came from,” Scapegoat interjected, “but it doesn’t explain why they came or why there was no one commanding them, there must be well over three hundred Rikti down their, any of you ever see that many with no leaders?”

The Rangers shook their heads. “Something is wrong, this feels bad.” said Doulos. “Ops come in, Ops this is Doulos.”

“Hi D, Gen here, what do you need?”

“You been following this Gen?”

“Yeah, it’s a weird one for me.”

“I need you to find satellite coverage of what happened on this roof, I need you to send it ASAP.”

“I’m already on it. The systems got a back log today but I made the request when you guys got to the roof, it should be a few minutes if they have cover, as soon as I have it you will.”

“Thanks Gen, can you get the authorities to come in and clean this up? I don’t think we’ll have time.”

“They’re on their way D, what are you doing.”

“We’re moving out, I have a feeling we might be needing to move fast.”

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Frozen Rogue stayed on the trains back window, the target had not moved since he boarded the train, and the station was approaching. As soon as he could he leapt off the vehicle and ran to the doors. His quary was just sitting their staring into space. Frozen walked forward and grabbed him on the arm, there was no resistance the man just followed him off the train.

On the platform Frozen looked into vacant eyes. “Why did you run when you saw me?”

The face looked at him, a monotone lifeless voice came from its lips, “Because I was meant to have you follow me.”

“What in hell does that mean? Why do I have to follow you?”

“So that you are in the right time at the right place.” The voice was empty of anything.

“What do you mean? What is the right time and the right place?”

Again the soulless voice spoke.

“The right place is with your brother, the right time is soon.”

Frozen grabbed the figure by both arms and leant forward shouting.

“What do you know about my brother? Where is he? Did he send you?”

“You will find him and he will find you, when brothers departed are reunited you shall see that hope is blighted.”

“What?”

The body repeated the same phrase, and kept repeating it, as it did thick black liquid began to spill over its lips and run down its chin, oozing like honey off a spoon, Frozen Rogue stepped back. As more of the black ooze ran from the figures mouth its eyes began to gain their colour and the body tremebled. Suddenly a scream ripped through the figure “NO! NO! NO! Don’t hurt me, no, what are you doing to me, NOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Frozen Rogue could only watch as the figure toppled forwards onto its face, black ooze still pouring from its mouth, twitching and shaking violently. People who had gathered around to watch the scene screamed as the ooze spread across the floor.

“What did you do to him?” A man shouted.

“Oh my God, you killed him!” Screamed a woman.

A child began to wail, Frozen Rogue backed away from the people who were screaming, pointing and staring at him, “I didn’t do anything, I promise it wasn’t me.”

“You killed him, you murdered him, he begged you to stop!”

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A few minutes later Terra Byte and the other Rangers arrived on the scene. The police had cornered off the area and people were being asked questions. Cinnamon Brandy walked up to an officer. “What happened officer?”

“Apparently some hero who was really a villain killed this poor hapless chap in a most gruesome way.” Said the police man pointing at a body bag, “Then he ran off.”

“What did he look like?”

“I can’t be sure, people have made him everything form looking like a demon to looking like some punk kid, but the all agree on one thing though.”

“Which is?”

The policeman placed the tip of his pen on the Precision Rangers emblem on Cinnamon Brandy’s chest. “He had that on him…”

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“Let me go mister, please.” Begged the girl from the bed. Her ankles and wrist were bleeding where she had been fighting the restraints. “I promise I won’t tell anyone, I’ll just leave.”

Burrel, stood with his back to her, watching out of the window with his phone to his ear.

“Please mister, please, I’m just a kid really, please let me go.” The young woman had tears flowing down her cheeks and bruises were beginning to appear all over her naked body where Burrel had beaten here.

Burrel took the phone away from his ear and turned his head motioning her to be silent, she screamed “HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME!”

“I’ll call you back.” said Burrel quietly into the receiver. Turning round he looked at her. “Daphne wasn’t it.” She nodded, “Now my dear let me explain something, you pleased me, I like things that please me, I keep them for a bit, if you hadn’t pleased me you’d be dead.” Burrel walked across the floor a table by the wall and picked something up. “So well, done, now as you’ve noticed, I am rather a busy man and I can’t have you interrupting my phone calls.” He walked towards the bed, “Which means I need you to be quiet.”

Raising his hand Burrel showed her a pair of pliers, then leaned forward with his other hand and grabbed her jaw forcing it open. “Now this might hurt a bit” he said as he moved the pliers towards her mouth. Daphne’s scream was suddenly cut short.

All the best dude.

And there is Q saying that there is no way that Scappocalyplse can buy a base!!! still 60mill = a measly 120k prestige!!! how is that fair?

Doulos rubbed his shoulder, there would be fine bruise under his armour where the butt of his assault rifle had been repeatedly driven into it. He sat with some of the Rangers behind an over turned van in Crey’s Folly. The Rikti had given them a couple of minutes peace it seemed and the Rangers were using it to catch their breath.

“When in hell are they all coming from?” asked Scapegoat, her normally perfect hair in disarray, she looked flushed, and not surprisingly, it was a hot enough day as it was without the fighting.

Aeronaut was examining his cape, it had several small holes in it from where he had been shot at whilst air borne, he put his finger through some of the holes, “They’re not fighting normally today. I don’t understand it, this many Rikti with no mentalist, no chief, nothing, they’ve go no tactics or style, they haven’t even tried to out flank us, something is seriously wrong.”

“True,” said Doulos, “it is a bit weird, but they’re keeping us pinned down well enough.” The Rikti had stopped charging the Rangers positions, taking shelter behind a wall run down wall Luminos, Deluge and Sun Beam seemed to be having a similar conversation. More Rangers were on the way, Halo had called through; he had Solar Blitz and Yellow Feather with him and was calling in every Ranger with access to Crey’s.

Aero was peeking over the top of the van, “If I could just get a nova in their then we’d be able to move out.”

Doulos looked around the end of the van, “If you make it I’ll give you an awaken.”

Scapegoat chuckled, a warm bubbling laugh, “And I’ll give you one D, when you’ve given him one. Where are they coming from?”

It had been half an hour since Luminos had sent out the call for aid and the Rikti just kept coming, if their hadn’t have been so many of them their tactics would have been lamentable but the weight of numbers which they surged forward with meant that the Rangers had to hold their ground with defiance.

“I’m going to see if I can find out where they’re coming from.” Said Doulos as he activated his cloaking device, “You guys are right, something is seriously wrong here and we need to get to the bottom of it.”

Are reached out a hand and grabbed Doulos’ barely visible arm. “D, you know that if they have any drones over there you won’t make it ten foot out of cover, wait for the others to get here then we can take a look.” Scapegoat nodded in agreement.

Doulos deactivated his cloak, “I guess you’re right.”

“Halo, what’s your ETA?”


“Give us a few more minutes D, we’re stocking up. Anything you guys need?”

“Yeah, a hand…” said Luminos over the comm.

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Frozen Rogue ran through the streets of Steel Canyon, not a great place to find bad guys, true, but a good place to pummel out some of his frustrations. A group of council were on the street corner preaching their hate again, Frozen didn’t think, within seconds he had laid the mob to waste. There was little satisfaction in it. May be burning some cash in Icon would do the trick, other Rangers did it and they got satisfaction, may be he could too.

Frozen headed north, he decided to swing by the station, the roads were empty of traffic today so there was little slowing down except for cornering, the wind rushed through his hair and his eyes watered as his speed caused his tear ducts to open. He stopped for a break by the station, not that he needed the break but that girl had been hot. As he watched the young lady walk up the station ramp he saw a head poke around the frame of the doorway. That wasn’t right; the only people who poke their heads around doorways are either in trouble or trying to avoid it. Frozen didn’t want to alarm the figure so he strolled casually up the ramp, making himself look as inconspicuous as possible, not easy to do as a superhero. As he rounded the corner at half way up the ramp he glanced up and saw the figure again, it was definitely a man, definitely hiding, and had definitely seen him look. The figure leapt away in the direction of the train, and Frozen ran in pursuit. He saw the man board the train just as the doors slid closed.

The train pulled out before he reached the platform but Frozen’s blood was up. Leaping onto the tracks he pursued the train along the tracks, careful to avoid the line carrying the charge, the train moved fast but he moved faster, catching it before the tunnel through the defensive wall. Frozen jumped and grabbed the back of the train, there were too many people inside to make out his quarry. He clung to the back of the train as it sped up, freezing his hands he attached himself to the glass. All this because someone ran away from a hero? It better not be a pick pocket… this was too much hassle.

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

The Rikti weren’t getting any closer, it seemed to the man on the roof that the Rikti had dried up. Still their focus was now firmly on the Rangers. Another group had joined now, this could be an interesting fight; he just felt sad that he couldn’t be around to watch it, other things to do. Turning to the men holding the Rikti he nodded. A series of silenced gun shots punctured the air across the roof and the Rikti slumped to the floor. The man looked at his watch, time was getting by. He raised his small auto fire weapon and without pausing he opened fire on the men standing on the roof. When loose ends need to be tied up, you tie them tight. Taking one last look through his binoculars the man smiled. He would love to have stayed around, but he had somewhere else to be.

If anyone had been watching then they would have seen a man fade into the background of the sky, but no one was watching, no one had seen, and no one would see. The villains were upon the city and the heroes didn’t even know about it yet. But they soon would. He jumped from the roof top and was gone.

The Rangers held their ground, the Rikti were firing wantonly at their cover. “Anyone bring a pick-nick?” quipped Aeronaut.

“Yeah,” Doulos answered, “I bought a main and a pudding, my main is ‘this is Aeronauts fault’, and my pudding is ‘this is still Aeronauts fault.’”

A few of the Rangers laughed, a few didn’t. “Hey D,” said Yellow Feather, “What do I get if I can make it round behind them?”

“You get the chance to nova, and probably a free trip to hospital.”

Yellow Feather pursed his lips as he thought, then he nodded, “Ok, sounds good, cover me in 5 guys.”

Doulos shrugged and look at Scapegoat who crossed her eyes and pointed at the side of her head. Doulos laughed, she was still cute when she did that, and she was right, Yellow Feather was crazy.

“Ok guys, Yellow wants to be a martyr, and who am I to stop him… on my mark lay down cover fire, everything you have. 3, 2, 1… mark.”

The street erupted with noise as Yellow Feather broke cover.

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

“It is done.” Said the voice over the speaker.

“You know where the target is?” Asked Burrel.

“Indeed, my man has him well insight.”

“You cannot mess this up for me. I need them to see each other without you being seen.”

“Understood. I do what I’m paid to do. Is the other target in place.”

“By the time you get to the rendezvous point he will be. If you fail me…”

“I know, I know, then I don’t get paid.”

Burrel laughed uproariously, “No my friendly mercenary, if you mess up I send you back to Mercy in a box, or three. Do we understand each other, this cannot fail.”

There was no answer, the dial tone wrung out. “And for 20 million, even if you succeed you might go home in boxes.” muttered Burrel lighting up a cigarette.

There was a knock on the door, “I got a delivery for you.” came a woman’s voice.

Burrel walked up to the door, pulling a pistol from the small of his back. He placed his eye to the spy hole, outside a young woman stood nervously scratching her head. She didn’t look much older than 17 or 18, another junkie earning a fix by couriering the stuff. She was pretty, if a little petite, and a bit skinny for him. Her hair was short and spikey, and her clothes were all black aside from a red rose emblazoned on the lapel of her leather jacket, she had a rucksack on her shoulder. Burrel smiled and put away his gun.

Opening the door the large man smiled at the girl, who visibly withdrew. “And I will take that delivery young lady. Would you please bring it in.”

The young woman looked about nervously, then stepped into the apartment, “Nice place you have here mister,” she said pulling a large package wrapped in brown paper from her bag, “but I gotta get going.”

“Are you sure you won’t stay?” Burrel asked keeping his best smile on. “There’s a lot here and I think I need someone to help me get through it.”

The young woman was clearly uncomfortable, but her eyes strayed longingly to the package in Burrel’s fat hand. “I dunno, I’ve gotta go get another package.”

“I’m sure that your boss will understand… go on, it’ll be fun.” Burrel smiled, his dealer knew his appetites and as ever he had delivered very nicely, sure she wasn’t that much of a bonus meat wise, but she’d be good enough for a while.

“Ok, you’ll square it with him though right?” she said stepping further into the flat.

“Oh yes, I’ll make it all clear to him, he’ll understand, now make yourself comfortable.”

Burrel gently pushed the door shut and quietly locked the door. He watched as the young woman walked into the living room. She would do… after all, who misses a junkie…

Burrel sat up from the table and wiped the powder from the rim of his nose. He picked up his cigarette from the ashtray and leant back in the black leather sofa. The room around him was affluent to say the least, the money he had earned in his mercenary work and the money he had embezzled from the army before his court marshal made sure that he was well in pocket. As he rested on the sofa and thought about the last few months of his life he toyed with the rolls of fat around his belly, it was a subconscious thing he did.

On the bed in the corner of the room lay a woman. He’d taken her for both information and pleasure, she had provided him with information but her failure in the second department had meant he’d killed her. It didn’t bother him, he’d undo the cuffs from her limbs soon and dump the body out there, the Vhaz would pick it up soon enough and Burrel like to think he helped by recycling. That thought made him laugh, and the fat covering his bloated body rolled as he did.

He was a coward, he knew that, Burrel had realised very early on that cowardice worked for him, as if you were a coward then you didn’t fight, if you didn’t fight you didn’t die. Bravery was over rated to him in any respect, but Burrel had brains, he knew that, in fifteen years he had got himself to Major in the army, when everyone thought him a fool, no one suspects a fool of scheming. Also no one had suspected him of embezzlement and corruption, just incompetence. His deal to have the president assassinated fallen through because the idiot Sky Raiders had attack the wrong convoy. He seethed with anger over that, Jackson should have taken the fall when it all went wrong, if he had died then Burrel would still be in the army skimming money and selling weapons, but he vanished and it was all Welson’s fault. That made him laugh out loud again, Welson, Burrel had got very drunk to celebrate that do gooder fools death, very drunk indeed, until he had found out that Jackson had become “Doulos” he had thought his revenge complete, but now a new agenda had arisen for him, the Precision Rangers and their Allies, simply because he hated Doulos, and if he wanted revenge, then Doulos and all his white and red wearing friends would pay for it. Dialous had tried but his motive was too selfish, he wanted power, power and glory, both complex things, Burrel would succeed because revenge was pure.

He stood up and walked to the window overlooking Boomtown. No one looked for him here, no one would think of looking for him here, but with the right money anything was possible, even turning this ruined skyscraper into the palatial residence he now lived in had been possible, how hard could it be to kill one man. Turning away from the window he looked at the wall, photos covered it, with a map of the city. Each of the photos was arranged in a circle around his target, white and red clad heroes, black and white clad heroes… but mainly white and red. Burrel stubbed the cigarette out on his hand and a shudder then through him as the pain caused him pleasure, the smell of burning flesh filled the room and he breathed it in deeply. He walked to the wall with pictures on it and looked closer. Who to pick, who to suffer, who was close to Doulos, and how could he catch them? His finger rested on one of the pictures and Burrel smiled, this one could be the key, those with family always were easier to manipulate.

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

Frozen Rogue sat behind the drum kit, his feet pounding on the dual kick pedals that made the drum kits bass drums thunder. He was warming up, Doulos would be coming soon to have a jam; the massive amp in the corner was ready to go. The jams had been sporadic to say the least of late but D had promised he’d make this one. He’d been asked to go and open another supermarket, the pressures of profile. With DK seeing to other duties and Shnyet still on leave Doulos had been saddled with a lot it seemed, but he had promised a jam today and he’d be there.

The door swung open and Halo stuck his head in. Frozen stopped drumming, “Hey buddy, just had a message from D, he’s been caught up in something, he’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“Did he say what?”

“Something to do with an outbreak of Rikti that he has to shut down.”

“Does he need a hand?” Asked Frozen.

“A few of us are headed out there now...”

“Great, I’ll get my stuff.”

“Sorry buddy, this ones for SL30s and over only, its over in Crey’s.”

“Oh, ok, thanks, good luck.”

Frozen picked up the drumsticks off the snare, and set off drumming again. As he did, tears came to his eyes, why was he always left out? Why didn’t Doulos call him to say he was caught up? Why did Doulos break yet another promise? One of the sticks broke as he hit the rim of a tom with it, he threw the broken stick into the air in frustration and stopped drumming. Wiping his eyes dry with his sleeve, Frozen stood up, and kicked the drum kit. As he did he released a wave of energy that sent in flying across the room, there was a tumultuous noise and the kit broke and banged against the opposite wall. Taking a moment to compose himself Frozen Rogue walked out of the recording studio, “If they don’t keep their promises then why in hell should I?”

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

The man sat on the room holding a phone to his ear. “The target is engaged. I can keep him here for some time.” He nodded as the person on the other end of the line said something. “Will do, I think we can keep them from going anywhere for several hours.” Some more nodding, “Understood.” Hanging up the phone the man looked around. The Rikti communications officers stood in a line, each of them had a gun placed right to their head, from the portals they created Rikti surged out and more men with weapons pointed them towards the fight going on in the street below. The man crawled to the edge of the building and looked through his binoculars at the hundreds of Rikti attacking the small group of heroes in the street. Oh yes Doulos and his Ranger friends would be here for quite some time.

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

Burrel sat looking out of the window; below him he could see some Vhaz dragging the woman’s body away, no doubt she would soon be one of them, he might even see her again, he licked his lips at that thought. Once again the hero was being a hero it seemed. He picked up his mobile phone. “It’s me.” He said when the phone was answered. “I have some information for you, and this time no one will get in the way…” The call only lasted a minute or so, but the smile on the fat mans face broadened as it went on. Hanging up the phone he ran a hand through his thick ginger beard, this could be a most entertaining sequence of events.

He placed his razor blade back in its small black leather pouch and leant forward over the table.

[ QUOTE ]
Because you get 1 prestige for every post. Hack the planet!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

ooooooh time to power post!

Nice stuff... liking it... make it LONG...

For some reason 1 click becomes 2 today!!! I know not why!

I am indeed shamed... my capacity for over wordedness has cost the rangers dearly, if only I'd written something as simple as "nothing to steal here" I'd have left us enough money to actually have a base.

But the prestige farm is coming along well, I've put an apple tree down as its very good for the soil, hopefully we'll harvest some nice prestige in the new year an build a base out of acorns that will grow into the mighty elven city of Loth'Lorien in a few hundred years...

I saw your door in kings, it had a sign on it, another sign that is, it said "Evicted for failure to pay rent" on it... I believe it was Agent Midnight that they were locking up for attacking the bayliffs who carried off the door handle. Chives sat stunned with his cap in his hand asking passers by to contibute prestige to the group so that they could save up for a cardboard box and a bin liner to keep it dry...

And how are we meant to fend of the plague that is the scrappocalypse when the sign on our door say "sorry, only one room, not terribly interesting place at the mo, come back sometime next year." Besides we're blasters, the best defence we have from the scrappocalypse is currently to run away... but wait til the 50s list is equal, then we can have some fun running away from you and shooting you whilst your nerfed regen/SR desperately tries to keep up!

our SG has over 60 members most quite active... we have the 300000k starter prize which is dandy, and then we have an extra 120k that was earned by several of us over the weekend. This is a lot of money. I won't be exiting SG mode til 42 to save for my new SOs at 43 (to plus them) becasue I will need about 3,500,000 inf for SOs and then at level 48 about 5 million.

They need to sort out the cost of stuff in prestige cause at the moment its a bigger rip off than Icon. I think when the level 40-50 part of CoV comes out they might redress this as that is when base raids will really pick up, most people need influence too much to buy stuff to make it worth their while for such a small amount of prestige. My main income now is selling enhancements, which I do, but only ever keep dropped SOs now. 10 of which equal roughly 100k influence income, I wish you could select it so that you only pick up SOs SO/DO or ALL enhancement types becasue its a pain to keep having to delete TOs and DOs that I won't use and aren't worth selling...

Who on earth has 50 million influence??? Thats nuts, will never have that much inf now that bases are going to suck cash.

I want them to introduce a bounty system in the game where a hero or villain gets a mission to hunt down a villain or a hero, that would be so cool. Oh suggestions thread time!

The Precision Rangers have quite a few PvP orientated blasters and I think that the higher levels in the SG are leaning that way so look out for us. A few of us are refusing from playing as villains so you can probably count on (not) seeing us snipe your butt out from under you in the PvP zones.

I still love it.

[ QUOTE ]
Assault Rifle-good damage, the best power set ever

[/ QUOTE ]

thought you had got confused so I rectified it for you

Seriously, AR is a very versatile set, 2 fire AoEs, the fastest "nuke" which uses the least endurance (lest damage too but enough to take down most same level minion mobs.) really good accuracy. (flame thrower has an inherrant +30% accuracy I believe) Bean bag is a fairly effective mez tool. Lacking in contoller stuff, but its a gun, what do you want it to do? Your Ironing?#

I love it. Not as fast on the draw as some others and no built in booster like aim, but it flipping rocks...

Problem is resistance to lethal dmage from things later in the game...

If you want a look at AR/Dev then I'm always around!!! And can put you touch with a blaster of any combination!!!

Check out the precisoin Rangers website to find out what are builds are, whatever your interested in, one of us will have it!

Looks good, only comment is on the drone. This is a toggle light build, I can only see you running CJ, Acro an TD at the same time, not sure if you need an endred on TD I would put that as a rec red on either a heal or aim

Think I saw you in IP last night...