Heavenlyman

Hero Chronicles
Chapter One
“We Are Powerless”

The second Rikti invasion had transpired with little warning. Newly prepped heroes of the city knew not of what the skies had reaped that morning. Everyone was well aware of the remnants of the last war, there numbers dwindled evermore slightly with each passing day. With all of our knowledge, we did not predict another invasion. We ignorantly assumed that these creatures from the bowels of another dimension had senselessly given up, finding it most futile to go against such a large force here on Earth. Since the final attack years ago, we had let our guard down. In our rush to rebuild Paragon to its former glory, survivors of the battle sent out a signal to their brethren across the dimensional rifts, telling their brethren that were were severely weakened as a “military” force, and that another attack would be staged to finish us off for good.

And we were totally oblivious.

When the faithful moment arrived, I could practically hear the low roar of hundreds of voices crying out in despair. Our heroes totally unprepared, the Rikti easily took hold of a rather large outpost inside the city. They set up pylons, which transferred energy back into a portion of their main vessel. Many brave legions of heroes took up the offensive, desperately attempting to rid of the pulsating structures. We had believed that whatever it was the Rikti were preparing, the pylons were their only was of accomplishing it. Unfortunately, only a handful of our fighters were experienced, the rest recently qualified recruits. They knew not the travesty of war. The sacrifice involved. Among the fallen, my father took his place. I was told that he had gone valiantly, as he would have wanted. He had been a member of the Freedom Phalanx, our cities highest supergroup of the time. Till this day all I have of him are photos of himself and his best friend, a fellow Phalanx member by the name of Positron.


But I can get into all that later- I have more important things to tell you. As I was saying, they were relentless against the pylons. However even with our combined forces, we were unable to attain a full victory. The thing the Rikti had been storing energy for was, in a way, a weapon. Unlike what most believed at the time, it was not one of direct destruction. Its uses were, in my opinion, much more devastating. You see, the pylons were not only gathering distilled power from the minerals in the ground, but from a pipeline. This pipeline was connected with the Terra Volta reactor- a nuclear core that up until this point had always been under attack by average villain organizations. Teams of superheroes were constantly sent to bring the attacks under control, but when the heroes would return, they would come back with their genetic makeup severely altered. Any powers they previously possessed would be changed dramatically, or strangely enough, changed completely.


At this point, it still wasn't obvious as to what the Rikti were planning to do with this unstable energy, but we did not need to wait long to find out. On the twentieth day of the war, they made the weapon known. Fully operational, it had risen from a gaping chamber at the top of the vessel. The constant battles in the warzone had ceased. All gazed upon the lumbering mechanized device. After a few moments, the device opened to reveal a glowing green core, one closely resembling the one from Terra Volta. However this core was at least fifty times its size, and the heat that pulsed from it could be felt from miles away. In a effort to protect themselves from the inevitable, the superheroes made on final attack on the interdimensional nuclear weapon.

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

I can still imagine it clearly in my mind, as if it were a movie replaying over and over with no intent of stopping. Dazzling lights and colors assaulted my eyes as hundreds of varying attacks went off at once, shifting the sky into a living, breathing form of energy that with all it's fury, confronted the Rikti weapon. I too added to the vibrant attack, sending out my own controlled blasts of a mixture of both energy and electricity. My muscles flexed as I continually writhed my arms forward and back, each movement getting faster and more feral with internal prominence. I don't remember every using so much energy in one fight- I was always told that too much would leave me overloaded and - quite possibly – dead.


To tell you the truth, when the lives of an entire race is on the line, you tend not to really give a damn about making yourself a bit tired.


The ferocity of the gathered blast hit the weapon directly, sending out a blinding flash of white, luminescent light. I needed not to shield my eyes as my visor took the blunt of it, leaving me to make out the outlines of a few unidentifiable objects. The light lingered for a moment before leaving as quickly as it come. It took my eyes a moment to adjust as I peered around, examining the battlefield. Many heroes were sprawled out on the ground, either unconscious or dead from the prolonged fight. I shifted my gaze back to where the weapon still stood, encased in what seemed to be a secondary repulsion barrier. I couldn't believe it. Through all our efforts, the weapon stood as tall and menacing as ever, and almost seemed proud of itself that it had proved it's dominance.


I chuckled to myself, admiring our foolishness. We had underestimated them once more. I collapsed to the ground as the radiation that had been hovering around the core withdrew back, absorbed by it. All was still as a ear-shattering explosion took place, engulfing the all of the Earth in a pale green glow. I cannot recall what I did then. I knew I was not dead – but how, I wasn't sure. I managed to bring myself to my feet, my body quivering with both exhaustion and fear. Those few who stood with me were also quite alive, shaken, but alive nonetheless. At that moment, I knew that I must find out what exactly the radiation had done. I levitated upward, drifting as if in a dream back towards Atlas Park.


The trip only took a few minutes. I landed softly atop the statue of Atlas and looked down upon the streets I knew so well. A few hundred citizens dreamily walked about, looking as though they hadn't slept in days. At first glance they only looked like sleep-deprived people, however that perception changed as one man's eyes began to glow dark red as he released a stream of heat from his pupils, sending a shockwave of bodies into the air. A woman, in her fear, retaliated with a spray of frozen air from her mouth, while another rocketed upwards in a blaze of bright orange flames. It dawned on me, as every single person displayed some kind of super ability, what the Rikti weapon had done. Everyone on Earth without powers – children, men, women – had their genetic makeup altered, mutated by the nuclear radiation. They were all out of control with fear – all equally dangerous.


I knew from then on what our world had become, and what it would take to change it. For that moment, however, I did the thing I had done only a select few moments of my life. I fell to my knees, and wept.

********

I hope you enjoyed reading this. I posted part of it some time ago and have since added a bit more to it.

Please feel free to comment and thanks for taking the time to read

Hero Chronicles
Chapter One
“We Are Powerless”

The second Rikti invasion had transpired with little warning. Newly prepped heroes of the city knew not of what the skies had reaped that morning. Everyone was well aware of the remnants of the last war, there numbers dwindled evermore slightly with each passing day. With all of our knowledge, we did not predict another invasion. We ignorantly assumed that these creatures from the bowels of space had senselessly given up, finding it most futile to go against such a large force here on Earth. Since the final attack years ago, we had let our guard down. In our rush to rebuild Paragon to its former glory, survivors of the battle sent out a signal to their brethren across the universe. They told of how we were mortally weakened as a “military” force, and that soon another assault will be staged to finish us for good.
And we were totally oblivious.

When the faithful moment arrived, I could practically hear the low roar of hundreds of voices crying out in despair. Our heroes totally unprepared, the Rikti easily took hold of a rather large outpost inside the city. They set up pylons, which transferred energy back into a portion of their main vessel. Many brave legions of heroes took up the offensive, desperately attempting to rid of the pulsating structures. We had believed that whatever it was the Rikti were preparing, the pylons were their only was of accomplishing it. Unfortunately, only a handful of our fighters were experienced, the rest recently qualified recruits. They knew not the travesty of war. The sacrifice involved. Among the fallen, my father took his place. I was told that he had gone valiantly, as he would have wanted. He had been a member of the Freedom Phalanx, our cities highest supergroup of the time. Till this day all I have of him are photos of himself and his best friend, a fellow Phalanx member by the name of Positron.


But I can get into all that later- I have more important things to tell you. As I was saying, they were relentless against the pylons. However even with our combined forces, we were unable to attain a full victory. The thing the Rikti had been storing energy for was, in a way, a weapon. Unlike what most believed at the time, it was not one of direct destruction. Its uses were, in my opinion, much more devastating. You see, the pylons were not only gathering distilled power from the minerals in the ground, but from a pipeline. This pipeline was connected with the Terra Volta reactor- a nuclear core that up until this point had always been under attack by average villain organizations. Teams of superheroes were constantly sent to bring the attacks under control, but when the heroes would return, they would come back with their genetic makeup severely altered. Any powers they previously possessed would be changed dramatically, or strangely enough, changed completely.


At this point, it still wasn't obvious as to what the Rikti were planning to do with this unstable energy, but we did not need to wait long to find out. On the twentieth day of the war, they made the weapon known. Fully operational, it had risen from a gaping chamber at the top of the vessel. The constant battles in the warzone had ceased. All gazed upon the lumbering mechanized device. After a few moments, the device opened to reveal a glowing green core, one closely resembling the one from Terra Volta. However this core was at least fifty times its size, and the heat that pulsed from it could be felt from miles away. In a effort to protect themselves from the inevitable, the superheroes made one final attack on the extraterrestrial nuclear weapon.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The previous was the beggining of what I hope becomes a successful story based on my newest alt, Chronosome. The basis of the story will take place in Paragon City in the not-so-distant future, when the outcome of the newest Rikti invasion goes horribly wrong.

I do hope you enjoy this first, yet short, installment. I would ask that if you would like to hear more, simply post below and I will happily continue the story. While I do enjoy writing these, I find that I usually know that I am not the only one being entertained.

I have a great guide to teaming and what role each AT should be playing:

Tanker: Does the tanking.
Controller: Does the controlling.
Defender: Does the defending (of your team).
Scrapper: Does the scrapping.
Blaster: Does the blasting.
Kheldian: Does everything.

Thats usually what I go by.

My contribution:

<ul type="square"> I know how a lot of people love to make bada**, hardcore, demon-winged, Batman-esque costumes for their superheroes, but please, limit yourself to only one per character. These emo/gothic themes are too overused.[/list]










Just kidding. Maybe.

C'mon guys, post some comments! I don't write these for my own reading pleasure- tell me what you think.

Paragon City, Faultline. Present day.

Ben sat up in his bed with a start. He was breathing heavily and covered in sweat. He had the same dream again. It'd been coming to him for the past two years. Every time he went to sleep, the same dream would make itself apparent. He could never make out what was happening, or who was in it. All he knew was that someone was in trouble- and Ben was the only one who could help them.

Ben dragged his legs off the end of the bed. He could feel them burn slightly, but the feeling quickly went away. After a year of muscle reconstruction and learning how to walk again, he had found himself somewhat of a home in the newly rebuilt Faultline. With his life as a superhero gone, he took up a small job working construction on several projects in Faultline's northern wall. It wasn't the powered lifestyle he once had, but at least it gave him some privacy.

He stood up in his place and yawned slowly. It was funny to him, yawning. Hard to believe that before his confrontation with Sean Marcone, he never had yawned before. A lot of his Plutonian brain was severely damaged in the fight, leaving him utterly powerless and seen as a loose end that needed to be cut by his Plutonian bretheren. They stripped him of his rank as General of the Plutonian army, and abandoned him on Earth in a search for a new, more worthy home base.

He walked to his stained window and peered into the darkness of the alley below. He saw movement as a man in a plain gray business suit walked by, chatting incoherently into a phone. Losing interest, Ben was about to look away when he saw further movement in the direction directly behind the unknowing stranger. A giant of a man stepped from the shadows, carrying a sword that must have been twice his own size in height. His eyes gave off a faint and sleepy yellow glow as he took another step towards his talking prey.

Ben had been a hero long enough to know that something very wrong was about to happen. But what could he do? As far as he knew, he was completely powerless. The only weapons he had was his new physique, which didn't quite cut it against a sword the size of a baby elephant. He continued to watch as the armed thug grasped the business man by the scruff of his suit's collar. Picking him up as if he was a feather, the brute snatched the cellphone from the now wimpering man. With a small grin, he tossed the phone into his mouth and swallowed, easily downing it. At this the scrawny man yelled with fear. The big one apparently didn't like the noise, and promptly tossed the man like a frisbee into a molding dumpster.

Ben couldn't stand it anymore. Without thinking, he opened his window and clambered onto the firescape. He was only on the second floor, and he was sure that if he could get enough air during his initial sky assault, he could possibly knock the villain out. He grabbed hold of the metal railing of the firescape and hoisted himself over. The muscles in his arms shuddered with a pinch of pain, but were soon overwhelmed with a shot of adrenaline. Ben fell seamlessly over the head of the human giant and delivered a powerful haymaker to the noggin of his unsuspecting foe. It did more damage than he thought it would, and the thug went down like a sack of bricks-which Ben was sure his head must have been filled with.

The giant lay unconcious as a groan came from the man in the dumpster as he lifted his head into view, rubbing it with his palm.
"Hey man.....thanks for that." he said, swinging his leg over the dumpster's edge. Ben nodded with a small smile.
"No problem at all, really. I actually have experience with these kind of things."
The man grinned.
"No doubt. Judging by that stuff on around your hands, I'm guessing you are a local superhero, eh?"
Ben stopped. He hadn't really looked at his hands during his attack, but he did sense that they were a bit heavier than usual. He lifted them to his face. He couldn't believe what he was looking at. A thin layer of rock encased both hands- it wasn't the toughest looking layer of stone he'd ever seen, but it was stone nonetheless.
Ben blinked stupidly, "I'm, uh, not really a superhero."
The man's smile broadened as he walked towards Ben, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, judging from what I've seen, you'd make a damn good one."
The man patted him on the shoulder before walking off into the night, leaving a astounded Ben alone in the alley, still staring at his hands. He wasn't sure what to do- and he honestly didn't care.

For the first time in two years, Ben felt like he was finally coming back to being his old self.

Sometimes, things don't always work out the way you want them to. Everything that could go wrong, will go wrong. And whether or not you are prepared to face the possibility that maybe, just maybe, one person's actions can change the path of another, is pure opinion.

This is the day Ben was having.

He awoke in the middle of the night, letting out a cry of angst as his muscles began to burn with startling ferocity. Ben tried to lift his arm, however more pain shot through his body. His head lay to rest on a uncomfortable pillow, covered in what he thought must have been a hybrid between cheap linen and plastic.

He looked around the room as his eyes began to adjust to the darkness. He was hooked up to several machines, all making a similar beeping noise. From what he could tell, he was in a hospital. However, how he got to a hospital was what intrigued him most.

A crack of light shone on the opposite side of the wall as a man in thickly-rimmed glasses appeared in the doorway. He could hear mumbling coming from the man as he waved his hand wildly around the wall, searching for the light switch. The doctor struck gold when with a soft click, the room was flooded with an annoyingly bright glow from the several lights on the ceiling. The doctor took a few steps forward into the room, glancing back and forth from Ben's face to the clipboard in his arms.

Acting as if he had assured himself of the situation, the doctor took a seat in a chair at Ben's bedside. There was something in eyes that told him that something was seriously wrong. The doctor spoke softly,

"Do you have any idea as to why you are here at Steel Canyon medical center?"

Ben thought for a moment, searching for any kind of explanation. He searched deeper and deeper into his memory until he came up with the cracked smile of one Sean Marcone.

"I....I was doing battle with Sean- I mean- Maelstrom, in Siren's Call."

The doctor nodded, taking out a pen and begging to write on his clipboard.

"He...he was about to, well, blow himself up. I had to stop him so....."

Ben cut himself short. He couldn't remember anything after that, and by the look on his face, the doctor wasn't too surprised. He straightened his back, as if trying to give himself confidence in what he was about to say.

"Mr. Brimstone, I am afraid to say that when you attempted to stop Maelstrom from wiping Siren's Call off the map, you suffered from a massive concussion."

Ben's heart skipped a beat. He had "attempted" to stop the explosion. Did that mean he had failed? Had hundreds of civilians been killed? He didn't have a chance to inquire as the doctor continued to talk.

"The force at which you hit the ground was too much for your body to take. When paramedics arrived on the scene, you were unconcious. You were, however, still layered within your granite shell. It seems that your armor protected you from sustaining a fatal blow, but during the time it took for us to wear down the stone to get to you, several vital parts of your brain lay inactive."

Ben wasn't sure what this meant. His head seemed perfectly fine- the only thing hurting right now was the rest of him. The doctor took a breath before talking again.

"During this period of deactivity, a very important part of your brain died. This part of your Plutonian mind, that gives you your ability to control the earth, has nothing to do with you being alive or dead, but i'm terribly sorry to say that your career as a superhero is, well, over."

Ben blocked out the rest of what the doctor said after that. His whole body was numb- he could barely bring the energy forth to even breathe correctly. He didn't want to believe the doctor's words. Yet something in the back of his mind forced him to take this statement as fact.

Brimstone Ben was gone. And he wasn't coming back.

Alright guys, i'll write the next chapter tomorow afternoon. I'll try and fill in some of the gaps.

C'mon now people, don't just read it. Give me some comments! If you want to hear some more, just give me the say so.

The caped hero strafed to his right, narrowingly avoiding the brunt of the energy blast. The glowing beam shot passed his left shoulder and collided with one of the many serene buildings of the area.

A shower of concrete fell upon the hero's back. He ignored it as he once again dodged another rogue blast of energy. The attacker was a wanted criminal, member of the infamous Marcone family. The hero had been sent out to bring the evildoer to justice after several reports of Longbow casualties here in Siren's Call.

Things like this were common in this part of the city, mostly because of the stronghold set up on the coast by the villain organization known as Arachnos. However, the insane amount of the lastest Longbow attacks had alerted the authorites of a core archvillain that held himself in the center of the city.

The villain cackled heartily as he sent a barrage of gleaming energy spheres in the crusader's direction. He crossed his arms in front of his face, protecting it. His muscles tightened as a thick layer of solid rock encased his forearms, taking the assault head-on. The impact sent a flurry of stone pieces over the hero's head, but the defense had done it's job.

He let down his arms, allowing the stone to seamlessly fuse back into his skin. The villain laughed more than ever at his own failure. He spat,
"Still resourceful after all these years, eh Mr. Brimstone?"
Brimstone Ben frowned.
"Still using the same useless tactics, eh Sean?"
It was Sean's turn to scowl. He lifted one arm into the air. It began to glow a bright red. He spoke,
"My name...my name..isn't Sean."
His arm ignited with surprising power.
"It's Maelstrom!"
He flung his arm forward, leaving a glowing trail in its wake. A shadow-filled blast rocketed towards Ben, gaining strength with each and every second. Ben didn't have a choice, he willed his body upwards in a attempt to escape the blast radius.

He heard what he thought was a grenade go off below him as a wave of energy engulfed his entire body, forcing him ever higher into the night sky. He wasn't severely hurt, but it was enough to make him rethink his battle plan. He looked down below in the face of his opponent. He knew that only one of them would survive this fight, and Ben intended on fighting another day.

Ben forced his body straight down into a free-fall. He positioned himself to run straight into Maelstrom's chest. His change in tactics apparently caught the villain off guard, as Ben pulled his arm back to deliver a powerful right hook to his jaw. Fist collided with bone as Maelstrom's jaw shattered, sending his body like a bullet towards the street below.

His body hit the pavement with sickening force, making an imprint of his body in the concrete. Ben hovered in place, taking deep breaths. He had put everything into that punch, and he was sure Maelstrom was down for the count. To his amazement, Maelstrom opened his mouth. It wasn't a scream of anguish, or pain. But a laugh. A sick, desperate laugh.
"Y-y-you think you've finished me....but you have n-n-no idea of the powers I possess."
Before Ben could respond, Maelstrom's body began to glow a dark purple. The pupils of his eyes began to white-over as he stared Ben straight in the face.
"T-t-t-this is the end of the line, f-f-for both of us, Mr.Brimstone..."
Ben's eyes widened. He knew what Maelstrom was about to do. But how could he stop it? He couldn't fly away fast enough, that much he knew. The thought came to him, and he knew there was no other way.

Maelstrom's body began to shake uncontrollably as beams of light erupted from cracks in his temple. He spoke once more, quietly, as if speaking a secret only for Ben to hear.
"G-g-g-goodbye, Mr. Brimstone."

Ben dropped himself, letting himself go into yet another free-fall. He put his head straight down, laying his arms to his sides. He accelerated further as his body began to undergo a change. Large, bulky pieces of gray stone covered his entire body. His trump card had finally come into play as his body broke the sound barrier, white streaks flowing around his body.

With a final yell of triumph, Ben collided with Maelstrom's broken body. Not knowing what would happen, everything around him went black.