Heroid

((I'm still waiting for a response from the mod. It doesn't violate the letter of the rules, since art is not the same as currency (if you think it is, try earning a few dollars by doing commissions -- not as lucrative as you'd think, unless you're really, really good). However, I can see it violating the spirit of the rule. So I'm just waiting for tomorrow to see if this thread is deleted or not (as per request). I don't want to open a can of worms either way, so even if this is allowed, I'll probably move it to the art boards where people normally solicit for commissions. ))

((Retracted ))

((I'm taking commissions on a barter basis based on some in-game goals I have. I'm hoping this is allowable to post here, and if it is not, I already have sent a request to the mods to have this thread pulled. In the meantime, I like to draw, and you can see my stuff at my devart site. Just follow the link in my sig.

To the forum moderator -- I should have done more research on this issue and apologize for any cans of worms I have opened here.))

((Spadra... your presentation rocks.

Man... I'd hate to be the judge on this.))

((My goal is to post by Saturday every week, but I really like to post by Friday afternoon. Missed that this week, but I did make my Saturday deadline.

http://alternautuniverse.blogspot.co...ment-pt-4.html

))

The Freedom Phalanx is gone! No one knows where to. No one knows if they're coming back. The torch is waiting to be passed, but no one is handing it off. It's up to these eight teenagers to take it for themselves. Are they ready to step up and live up to the name?

Get ready for Freedom Phalanx: Gen Now!

((Taking out a snipey comment to put in a positive one: There are sooooo many good costumes on here, that *I* would NOT want to be the judge of this contest. I'm glad I did mine before I looked at anyone else's. As it was, I almost pulled my entry back out after going through the others. Just... wow! ))

((No names on the pictures. If you can't figure out who they are then I didn't do a good job at all.

Some really nice costumes so far. And I'm liking the reconceptualized versions of the characters also.

Nice contest! Great bit of forum fun! ))

((Written with the assistance of Ryan's player. ))

No cars had sped by for a while. I figured there was still a man-hunt going for me, but for now, they were probably focused on Mr. Counsel’s building. I climbed out of the storm drain with all the documents rolled up and frozen into a log. I couldn’t risk dropping something and literally leaving a paper trail.

I walked up to the street, peering above the crest of the bank to make sure the coast was clear. It was. As nonchalantly as I could, I walked up the street toward yet another phone booth. I wish I had just kept the first one I’d found. Though probably, if there was a Crey facility nearby, it wouldn’t be listed in the local Yellow Pages.

As I neared the phone booth, my mind was running in circles trying to figure out the next step. I couldn’t stay on the streets – it was Christmas Day. No one was out except me. I might as well have a flashing yellow light on my head. If the phone book didn’t help me…

Then I wondered why I didn’t think of this sooner. Why not just call Mr. Kinsolving? I should have already done it. Reinforcements could already be here. Tami could already have been saved. I’m so –

Wait… I remember. At the airport, when we thought Tami’s bag had been lost and I said we could call the Rock and have them send her some things, Ms. Post had said, “No, don’t bother calling them while you’re visiting down here. You need to get away from them.”

But I could call them now. Help would be here… when? Were there any teleportation facilities nearby? A Longbow base? Or did Quantico have a teleporter?

Suddenly all of that flew out of my thoughts as I heard tires squealing! Busted! I hung up the phone, put my hands in the air and turned around slowly to give myself up to –

“Ginger and Michelle?”

“Hey! You remember us,” Ginger called from the driver’s seat. “We can do small talk in a minute. Right now, you have to come with us. Tami needs you.”

((Thanks! ))

((Thanks! ))

((New post! ))

http://alternautuniverse.blogspot.com/2010/02/yes.html

Mikey weighs about 180 without the armor, and he’s in good shape, so with his strength augmented and his vulnerable areas covered by a lightweight aluminated titanium alloy augmented by a variable quantum field, I had no chance of pulling out of his grip. I had a pretty good idea of what he had in mind, but let’s give him the benefit of a doubt and say that he was going to turn me over to a nice old lady who would help me clean up. I still wanted to get away, so I said:

“Dyeviat, syem, dva, dva, Prokhorov.”

That probably doesn’t mean much to you. It doesn’t mean a whole lot to me. Daddy tried to get me to learn Russian, but I just never saw the point to it. Spanish. French. Japanese. Something that people around the world actually use. But I did learn this one phrase because it was Daddy’s failsafe. I’m not sure why. It must have had some sort of signicance. “Nine, seven, two, two, famous Russian scientist.”

Anyway, I said it and Mikey said, “What the f—“

Well… you don’t really have to know exactly what he said. Besides he didn’t get it all out before the audio unit shut down. I gave him a push and he tilted against the wall, which worked out well for me because a loud thud would have brought people out to see what happened.

So, there I was smelly, but free. I knew in which direction the people I needed to avoid were, so I took off the opposite way.

The hallways were like a maze. Every corner I turned, my heart raced with fear that I would run into someone, but I listened, and if I heard voices, I always went the other way. I knew what I was looking for, and after what seemed like forever, but was really probably just a couple of minutes, I found it – an empty office with a telephone. I had maybe two chances to call out before I’d draw unwanted attention.

The first problem was should I call a nine or an eight to get an outside line? Most phone networks use one or the other. Fifty-fifty chance. I dialed nine.

Ryan’s cell rang four times, and when an unfamiliar voice answered, I ended the call right away. Who was it? Was Ryan a prisoner here somewhere? I had been so wrapped up in my own situation that I hadn’t thought about him being in danger too. Gosh… I’m so selfish.

There was no way I was calling 9-1-1 with Crey involved. There was only one other person in the area whose cell phone number I knew. I called my friend Ginger.

((Again, thanks to Ryan's player for this contribution! ))
I lost track of how long I sat under that tree thinking. With nothing to go on but her alias, looking for Ms. Post would be a waste. Mr. Counsel had to have known something, at least why he and Tami might be targets, but talking to him obviously wasn't going to happen. Still, he might have something relevant in his files if I could get at them. I knew he had an office downtown somewhere. That was something.

Without any better leads, I set off looking for a pay phone with a phone book. He had to have a listing. By now it had started raining, the water freezing as it hit the ground or trees. I tried to be inconspicuous, but that gets tough when you're wandering around at night in the rain without a coat and with a layer of ice forming. I didn't see anyone though, which was a relief.

It didn't take long to find a copy of the yellow pages and look up Mr. Counsel. I checked the book's map and headed off. Walking downtown probably wasn't the smartest idea, especially if the police were still looking for me, but I didn't know how much time I had or what else I could do. If nothing else, walking would keep me busy for a while.

I didn't know much about the city beyond what I'd seen from the car, and I didn't remember the map half as well as I'd hoped I would, so it was pretty late - early, really - before I found the place. It was a nice older building, four floors, only a few blocks away from Capitol Square. The door was locked, and opening it would probably trigger an alarm of some sort. I stood there a moment, considering. Part of me wanted to wait until the place opened and ask someone, but given Mr. Counsel's state, that it was Christmas morning, and that I was already wanted, that didn't seem likely to work. I took a deep breath and pushed the door open. This would have to be fast.

A sign by the stairs said Mr. Counsel's office was on the second floor. I went straight up and knocked the door open. There was a desk for his secretary and some chairs in the waiting area or whatever it's called, but nothing useful. I opened the door to his actual office the same way, anxiousness making me use more force than necessary and do more damage to the door than I'd intended. No time to worry about that though. I looked around quickly, taking in the file cabinets, bookshelves, desk... and safe. That seemed the best place to start. Some ice and a stone hammer got the safe open without much trouble, and I grabbed everything inside that looked related to the Martinov/Martins. Hurrying doesn't exactly come naturally to me, and I had no idea how much time I had left. It hadn't taken long for the police to get to Mr. Counsel's house, and they had to expect me to come here eventually. I looked out the window. It faced a back parking lot that at this hour was still empty. I was pretty sure I could hear sirens in the distance, so I jumped. Overdramatic, sure, but it worked.

Down in the parking lot I gathered up a few papers that had blown loose as I fell and took off. The rain had stopped, leaving a dense fog behind. As far as I was concerned, lower visibility was great. I could definitely hear sirens as I snuck away, so my timing was pretty good. Now I just had to hope I'd found something worthwhile.

I found a storm drain to hole up in until things died down and read through everything I'd taken, or at least as much as I could translate out of legalese. Tami's adoption hadn't been official, but I knew that already. From the sound of it, Crey had been trying to buy Sovtek out from under Tami while things with the will were still tangled up in court.

It seemed like a long shot, but if Crey was involved that might be a good place to start.

((New art! Hannah's Hope and Mr. Ping Ping.))

((I've been lucky enough to find people who will put up with me and my characters. I've had several stories involving different characters over the years. I've posted most of their stories on these boards or on sg boards. Almost everything I post in stories either is played out in-game, or has in-game ramifications.

As others have said -- it's entirely about the people you find yourself hanging with.))

Time passes. I smoke. I sleep. I dream dreams.

The morning sun streams through the window and shines in my face, waking me up, as it does every morning. No alarm clock could ever nudge me to wakefulness so gently. I open my eyes to see the same sight that has greeted me every morning for the past several months – the golden-haired angel of mercy who saved me and continues to save me each and every day simply by loving me. Jessie.

I kiss her cheek and her eyes flutter open. Eyes as blue and deep as the sky look up at me. Soft, pink lips part in a smile. I kiss her and she kisses me back, and then we kiss again. We tangle ourselves in the sheets and each other, and hope that today brings another foot of snow. There is no hurry to get out of bed. We have nowhere we have to be except here.

The evening sun shines like fire on the horizon, the ocean ablaze in its golden aura. The sand is gritty on my back, grittier with the salt from the water that has already begun to evaporate off of my body. But I hardly notice it. Instead, my attention is held by this exotic girl who kisses my neck, my chest. Her breath is warm on my stomach, warmer than the breeze blowing in from the ocean. Miu.

Suddenly, I feel a panic rise within me and I worry that a Family button man is hiding in the nearby palm grove with his sights on us. But this isn’t Etoile. It’s Key Largo. My Safe Place. I relax and close my eyes. We have the beach to ourselves. Right now, it seems like we have the whole world to ourselves. We’re in love. We have nowhere we have to be except here.

There is a change in the breeze. It smells of honey and spice. I open my eyes to see a shifting landscape that overwhelms my perceptions. Songs in an unknown tongue tickle my ears with voices that are so beautiful I do not ever wish to hear anything but them. Tall grass brushes my cheek and it is like a lover’s caress. I am in a place of spirits, insubstantial, but real.

I follow the voices – anyone would, everyone does – and wade through the soft grass until I find myself at the mouth of a cave. The voices echo within, and so in I go. The walls of the cave are dark, but glitter with tiny speckles of light – gemstones? Gold? I cannot tell. To me they are like stars in the night sky.

The voices are louder now, singing to me through the maze of caverns I was winding my way through. At last I found them, the singers. I knew them. I had met them before. The Three Sisters.

The Fates.

“Hello, Phaethon’s Brother,” one of them says and though she looks different, I know her as Chloe, the girl I met in Etoile. Ares’ girl.

“Hello,” I say. “Am I… dead?”

The sisters smile. “No,” they say in unison, and Chloe says alone, “You are not dead, nor are you exactly alive. Ares destroyed your body, only your heart and mind remain intact.”

“And your spirit,” another sister says.

“And your spirit,” Chloe agrees.

“Is that not death?” I ask, because it seems to me that if my heart and my brain are all that remain of me and my soul walks in the spirit realm, then I must be dead.

“The boatman has not taken you,” Chloe says. “We have hidden you from him. We have hidden you from the eyes of your father and all the Olympians.”

“But… why?” I ask.

“Because,” Chloe says, “though you have sought to defy both Fates and gods, still you have won our favor. This is our gift to you.”

I consider that. Why and how have I won their favor? I do not know, but it is an honor that I would imagine few mortals have been awarded. Still, what does it mean to me?

“What does that make me?” I ask.

“Free.”

I fade away, back to the dream? Back to the mushroom? I do not know. I simply… fade.

Where did he go?

I sent him away.

I cannot see him! Clotho! You have hidden him from all of us!

Yes. Only I can see him.

Zeus will be angry – he will force you to reveal Apollo’s son to him.

Then I shall see him no longer.

No – sister! Do not do this thing!

Clotho! No!

He shall not be found. I must make myself blind to him.

Why, sister? Why did you pluck out your eyes?

Speak to us, sister!

She does not speak – she merely goes to spinning the thread of men’s lives…

She spins them blindly.

Woe be unto those whose fates are not yet woven, both god and mortal, for their lives now begin as a thread spun by a blind Fate.

Some hours passed. I don’t know how many. I was placed in a holding cell – some sort of special room where they “contained potentially dangerous objects”, which was all I was to them now – an object.

I had to figure out how they were neutralizing my powers. Livvy did it somehow, with one of Daddy’s devices, and whatever the device was, it continued to function even after she left me. That means that either Albert and company now have control over the device or that it was in something I ate at Mr. Counsel’s house and it is now inside of me.

I spent the next twenty minutes puking in my holding cell. If it was in my stomach, then it had to be out by now, because I was completely empty and felt like I was going to die. It was the single grossest things I’ve ever done, but it was nothing compared to what I had to do next. I held my nose and looked through the mess on the floor for something out of the ordinary. If I wasn’t completely purged, I’d have gotten sick again. As it was, I just heaved as I went.

And I found nothing.

If it was in something I had eaten, it had moved on. Or passed into my blood.

Things could not possibly get any worse.

Then the cell door opened and they did.

“Hello, Auntie.”

It was Mikey Jr. all dressed up in that stunningly heroic looking Sovtek armor Daddy had made for him and Peter. He was crimson and gold with big golden metal wings that were designed to scoop hydrogen out of the air as they flapped to provide fuel for the micro-fusion engine that powered it. It was awesome and powerful, and before I really got to know what kind of person Mikey was, he was my hero when he put the armor on.

Now I hated him.

“Hi, Mikey,” I said, doing my best to sound cold and indifferent.

He looked around the cell and noticed the mess, then noticed my hands.

“Christ, Tami, what have you been doing?”

“What do you care?”

I’m sure he smirked behind the mask when he said, “You’re right. I don’t. Except that I expected to find you clean.”

“What does it matter?” His tone, even filtered through the helmet’s mic had a creepy kind of edge to it that made my skin crawl.

“Oh, I had some time to kill. I thought I’d come entertain myself with you.”

The creep! The sleazeball! As if!

“I knew you were a perv! I’m your aunt!” I said. If he tried anything, I was going to fight him with everything I had. He’d have to kill me.

Mikey laughed. “Tami, you’re nothing to me now. Not even human really. You might as well be made of rubber and wires.”

Ohhhhhh! When I got my powers back I was going to –

“Michael?” said another voice – Albert’s voice.

Mikey snapped around, stood almost like a soldier at attention. “Yes, sir!” he said, and I realized he was a soldier now, for Crey. Daddy’s magnificent armor would be used for evil.

“I hope you are not bothering my Rogue Atom here,” Albert said, “She is an important part of the deal and I would not see her tampered with.”

“No sir,” Mikey said, “I was just finding out why she was sick.”

Liar.

Albert looked past him and saw the mess. “Take her down the hallway and get her cleaned up.”

Oh no…

“Yes, sir!” Mikey said, grabbing my arm and pulling out of the cell.

((Her husband passed away this morning. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers.))

((New post! ))

http://alternautuniverse.blogspot.co...ment-pt-2.html

((And a new one for today at me devart page.

http://heroid.deviantart.com/art/Aegea-153614950

))

((More art!

http://heroid.deviantart.com/art/Bor...oral-152988616

))