JayWarr

I call them short, but I'm pretty sure even the shortest breaks the word limit for submission to the comicbook.

Doesn't matter much, this first one in this thread was for my Supergroups Halloween contest. Something spooky I was told. It didn't win, but hey, somebody might like it...

My first story, possibly to be added to this collection after some editing, you can probably find with a search, is titled "I'm a Terrible Defender".

********Clockwork Ghosts********

Normally Johnny liked Astoria. The otherworldly creepiness of the place somehow synced with his own. Not perfectly of course, but enough that he didn't feel uncomfortable as he traveled down the streets. To an outsider he would appear to be racing by, if one could see him at all. Between the blur of the speed he was traveling at and that he grew transparent as he used his gifts it was unlikely that anyone could see him at all.

Several of the shamans of the Banished Pantheon didn't. They had raised a small army of dried and preserved corpses, and they hunted the street. While the shaman wove the magics to animate their ghastly puppets, floating masks imbued with the spirits that served the dark and departed gods, watched on.

Johnny Wraith, traveling at what he felt was a comfortable and easily controllable speed, saw them through the fog that blanketed the region known now as Dark Astoria. With a quick mental calculation he altered his path.

Johnny had heard other heroes talking about the life of a speedster. How they felt frustrated that the world was so slow, that carrying on a normal speed conversation grew boring as they had to wait for other person to finish talking. Johnathan Wraye had felt like that his whole life. He couldn't understand the complaints of the other speedsters, particularly not the mutant ones who were born with the power to move themselves at impossibly high speeds. After the accident that had stuck his body between phases of this dimension and the next he actually felt somewhat relieved. Now he could move his own body at the speed of his thoughts.

It was true, his senses were heightened somewhat, but he didn't think any faster than before. His reactions weren’t better because he saw things coming at him any sooner or that things moved slower relatively, though both were true to some extent, they were better because he could act as he thought, moving either at high speed or in bursts of even faster preplanned motions. He executed one of those now.

The shaman might have noticed that the spirit masks had shattered suddenly, but he didn't have time to do anything about it before a solid blow to his solar plexus left him on the ground gasping for air. With his concentration broken the advancing zombie horde stumbled around confused. But only for a moment. Johnny paused to recalculate the battlefield that the open freeway had become, and then once more sped into it. Each husk and chamber would have felt, if they had the ability to feel anything anymore, their hearts being torn from them. The complex markings carved into their chest and then empowered with a force that made them glow suddenly seemed to flicker. Some of them turned and looked with unseeing eyes as Johnny Wraith stood in the middle of their formation. His lithe young body outlined by the dark blue suit he wore, flexed and seemed to grab something unseen. He was taking hold of something that wasn't part of this world. And then he pulled. The dry corpses crumpled, the glowing emblems on their chest extinguished as if blown out like a candle.

"Do I need to tell you what you're charged with?" Johnny Wraith asked from behind his rebreather and goggles. The shaman simply crawled away. With a sigh the young hero returned to his speeding travel down the fog shrouded roads. He didn't want to deal with trying to haul one shaman back to jail, and sending the police in to clean up this mess would probably be more trouble than it was worth. He'd report to the guards what he'd done. The security chief would probably put out another request for other powered heroes to patrol the zone and cut down on the number of shambling pawns the Banished Pantheon had created. It would contain them for a little while, but wasn't a permenate solution.

Still, there were other things that needed to be looked after. Johnny slowed his high speed gliding, letting his legs resolve back into the world with the rest of his body, and he checked the address. This was the place.

In its earlier days it might have been an average office building where people worked for purposes uninteresting and thus unknown. The perfect front company for Nemesis, the amazing robotics genius and certifiable madman. Who knew how the prince of automatons funded himself? Well, a little investigation into the records of one of his forgotten front companies would help solve that. Checking out any of the front companies or offices might have, but this one would be the best chance. It was three years condemned, nothing having gone into, or out of, the building since before Nemesis had vanished just before the Rikti invasion and the chaos that event caused. An old dead building, swallowed up by the shrouded fog of Dark Astoria and now forgotten by all. A place of ghosts.

Johnny Wraith gave a smirk under his mask at the thought, and walked through the door, not bothering to open it. After all, he didn't need to when he was out of phase. The odd thing was, while phased like this, he still couldn't pass through solid walls, but doors, thin materials like glass or wire fences, even people, he passed through with ease. But some things seemed solid in both this world and the next.

Something about this place set Johnny's nerves on edge. He decided, standing there mostly intangible and invisible, that he'd pin down what it was before proceeding onward. The building was abandoned, yes. That much he could see, the lights being out, the wall paper peeling, and the whole place looking rather dilapidated. For a moment he paused, letting his senses soak in the area, letting himself see his surroundings not just with his five human senses, but the extra sensory abilities he seemed to guide himself with as well.

After a few moments of finding nothing particularly amiss in the foyer he started to take a step forward before realizing what it was. Or rather what wasn't. The carpet had been cleaned recently. Bringing himself into solidity he knelt down and touched the carpet. It was a silly gesture, his hands were encased in gauntlets, but he saw that the marks where a vacuum cleaner, or perhaps one of those rolling carpet cleaners, had passed over. Perhaps it wasn't as abandoned as originally believed? As he stood up he faded out. Johnny Wraith didn't leave footprints in the carpet. When he moved at his ghostly speed he sort of hovered or slid on some sort of ethereal energy. He couldn't lift upwards, but he enjoyed the sensation of skating.

There was a figure sitting at the desk. Johnny cautiously approached while invisible. She sat there motionless with a pleasant smile on her face and a slight tilt to her head. Johnny floated around behind the desk and saw she was not quite motionless. Her hands were typing at a keyboard still. The keys however had worn down, nothing was being typed. Her eyes were glassy and her blinks clockwork precision. This was an automaton, one of the clockwork people Nemesis builds to replace the disloyal.

Johnny Wraith straightened up to leave the lobby, but then glanced back. Her clothing even had a layer of dust on it. She had been left here for sometime, and pretty clearly was malfunctioning. Johnny Wraith made drew back and slammed a palm strike into the back of her neck, imparting a little bit of his ghostly presence along with the physical impact. There was a mechanical click, as if some gears had come out of joint, and her hands stopped typing, her eyes stopped blinking. The automaton was deactivated.

He wasn't sure why he did that, but something felt a little more right, shutting that automaton down rather than letting it continue to type the same paragraph over and over again. Laying one ghost to rest.

Johnny slid through the office, watching as other automatons went about a twisted version of their daily grind. One of them had walked into a corner and was still going through the motions of paperwork despite looking at a blank wall. Another sat at a desk that had not had anything placed in it's inbox for years.

"Have-it-by-tomorrow." one of the automatons said to empty air. The words were accelerated, like there was no pause between them and it made Johnny start slightly when he heard it.

"I w-w-w-ant the the the PST re-re-reports on my my my desk." One of them asked another, his voice recording jumping. The firsts timing was off, responding to a request not yet given.

Johnathan wasn't sure if it was somehow his wraith senses telling him these automatons weren’t alive even as they walked and breathed, or if he was disturbed more by how their movements were sluggish and jerky, more like the animated zombie puppets he had destroyed than the smooth flawless toys he had encountered previously when fighting against Nemesis' agents.

Johnny Wraith fought down the urge to reveal himself, just to see how they would react. They would probably be hostile, and this mission was one of urgency and secrecy. The location of this Nemesis front company had only recently been revealed, and it might still have some useful files or plans in it that would reveal more of the evil super genius' plotting.

Johnny floated through the building, down the stairwell and following a helpful floor guide posted on the wall to the archives room. As he glided through the halls silently and unseen however, he noticed something familiarly unpleasant. There were marks in the carpet as if something on spikes and moved across it, as well as the peeling wallpaper created by the residue of the steam powered creations Nemesis was famous for. The lights were out, and Johnny was passing through dark hallways. He could barely see, but it didn't bother him much. He managed to find the archives just off the side of a large multi-tiered room. The kind that, if it were lit and inhabited, might have been a pleasant place to take in lunch without needing to leave the building. At the moment the open space seemed sinister somehow.

Sorting through files was always a bothersome chore, but part of this job. Nemesis didn't like using computers, so the files were always hard copy, meticulously copied by hand in triplicate by one of the officers. Join Nemesis, fight to rule the world, learn to fill out excessive amounts of paperwork.

There was a faint click, inaudible beneath the sound of Johnny shuffling paperwork, the sound of steam driven clockwork gears activating. Then the small room was filled with gunfire, twin muzzles unleashing automatic fire from the small robotic platform. When the gunpowder smoke cleared somewhat the Jaeger robot closed its brass dome and scanned the area. Papers were flying and bullet holes filled the metal filing cabinets, but it didn't see its target to confirm the kill.

Johnny curled himself tight into the small alcove created behind the filing cabinet he had been searching. He was vaguely aware that he had been hit, one of the bullets having torn into his leg. He waited, trying not to breath, as the machine processed its next move. The Jaeger moved on four spindly but surprisingly strong spikes, vaguely resembling a crab with its domed top and bottom. It was a hunter, and while Johnny didn't know how it could see using only steam and gear work technology, but it did. It would find him if he stayed there, even if he faded into his near invisibility.

Johnny Wraith rolled out of his hiding spot as the Jaeger closed in on him. It rotated to lock onto him as he circled around and tried to get behind it. He leg hurt, so he avoided putting any more weight on it than he had to as he maneuvered. The robot was rotating itself faster than he was racing around it. This one's gearing was near perfect, so much unlike the other automatons he had seen in the building thus far. It made sense though; this one probably hadn't undergone the stress of daily activity. Time to fix that.

In a sudden rush Johnny Wraith came at the robot with his fists. Moving faster than the eye could follow he pummeled the brass filigree, imparting some faint ghostly power along with the incredible speed of his gauntleted fist. The metal warped, the inlayed designs being damaged, but the robot itself didn't seem to take notice. The top dome sprang open and two wickedly sharp blades spun out. Johnny pulled back not quite fast enough, but phased out his torso and let the blades pass through him without hurting him.

The Jaegers legs looked like a good target. Charging his gauntlet with extra otherworldly force Johnny dropped down, taking a swing at the side of one of the leg joints. He was rewarded with the sound of metal snapping, the ghostly power causing the metal to decay and the impact putting it over the breaking point. The Jaeger didn't fall over though. Infact, as Johnny drew himself up, the robot jumped, it's shell springing open again and the clank of gears meshing was the only warning as the central spoke for the shell spun, a thin chain attached to it with a heavy iron ball at the end.

Johnny was struck in the side of his head, his body only partially phased out. The impact was enough that he was knocked sideways into a filing cabinet, his ears ringing and his vision somewhat blurred. The Jaeger landed on its feet, but had been programmed to land on all four legs, with one missing it tilted and fell onto its side even as it reset and extended its two automatic rifles again.

Johnny pulled himself to his feet through the pain of his new headache, leaning and letting his ghostly aura carry him away from the gunfire. The robot couldn't track him as he circled it this time, and it only took another precise strike on the steam box mounted on the rear of the robot to completely disable it. With a dull grinding of gears the Jaeger collapsed into a heap, the last of the steam pressure venting. Johnny quickly gathered up the files and papers he wanted, trying to keep them away from the steam jet that was the last breath of the dying Jaeger.

"I knew..." The rasping voice made Johnny pull up short as he left the archives room. "I knew Lord Nemesis had a reason..." Glancing up to one of the higher tiers in the lunch room he saw the source of the voice. "Lord Nemesis had a plan, a purpose... for me to stay here... to guard this facility..."

For a moment Johnny Wraith could only stare at the figure. He recognized it's design, the capsule of clear glass filled with some sort of greenish bubbling fluid, the massive treaded boots and the arms that hung to the sides ending in alternately a cannon or a nasty looking sharp claw, the steam engine on the back, it was unmistakably a War Hulk. The pilot however, the figure curled up within the greenish fluid, wasn't the handsome solider, fresh from a promotion and piloting this weapon of destruction. This one was a floating corpse. "...yes... guard this facility... for all eternity... alone... with the ghosts."

Johnny Wraith watched in mute horror as the War Hulk raised one arm. The cannon mounted on it spat a blazing sphere at him, galvanizing the young hero into action. He phased out, darting forward as the shell exploded against the floor behind him. He felt a wash of heat from it, but little else. The War Hulk was moving though; with speed that something that bulky shouldn't have it vaulted the railing of the third floor tier and landed with a bone jarring thud directly in front of Johnny.
For a brief second Johnny Wraith looked eye to eye with the corpse in a jar. Bits of skin had come loose and were floating in the water, the skeleton was clearly visible, and the eyes were rotting away. But what repulsed him most was that it was still alive. It still moved of its own will, alive and preserved in its jar. Then the intricately detailed yet powerful arm swung at him, and he ducked under the gleaming bladed claw, pulling away from the ghastly specimen.

"They're all ghosts..." The all but dead pilot of the hulking war machine continued to mutter, possibly more to himself than anyone else, the speakers giving the aged, rasping voice an inhuman quality. "... once they were people, now they're just automatons built in their own image. Echoes, ghosts, to be tormented forever... forever trapped... forever repeating..." Johnny Wraith continued to be pushed back by the flailing claw. For a brief moment he was staring down the barrel of the cannon as it was brought up into his face. He grabbed it and pushed upwards while ducking under the arm. A blast of flame spread itself across the walls as the cannon used its flame thrower mode.

Johnny ducked under and around the War Hulk, slamming punches into its armor, hoping he could find a weak spot or corrode something vital with his powers. No luck. "You can't win, you're fighting a ghost... just a ghost... ghosts don't die..." The voice kept moaning at him through the speakers. Taking a chance Johnny grabbed hold of one of the panels, letting the War Hulk pull him around as it turned.

"...where...?" The pilot muttered as he swept the room with his flame thrower. Johnny pulled himself up the back of the war machine, getting a good grip on it and then hammering away with one gauntleted fist, smashing the steam engine.

With a rough twist Johnny was thrown free, but he landed well this time, rolling on the old carpet. "You're not the only ghost here anymore." Johnny Wraith taunted. The War Hulk leveled its cannon and the blue clad adventurer avoided the blast. "I'm here to put y'all to rest."

"Rest." The pilot was still muttering, and it was hard to tell how much was his actual voice, if any, and how much was part of the War Hulks speaker system. "How I long for rest... rest eternal... it has been denied to me." Even through the muttering however, the Nemesis solider continued to attack, lunging forward with the clawed arm. Johnny Wraith darted back out of the way, ducking behind a pillar that held up the second tier balcony. "I cannot leave my War Hulk... cannot leave my post... and I cannot die at my post..." The pillar was shattered by the War Hulks clawed arm. Johnny fled towards the hallway, hoping to phase through the door, when another explosive shell struck the hallway, making him pull up short to avoid the fire.

There was the heavy thud of treaded metal boots as the War Hulk charged Johnny. Spinning around, once more an exit was sought. The archives room. Johnny raced for the door in what was becoming a blind panic. His leg hurt, he wasn't moving at full speed, he simply couldn't concentrate enough, he needed breathing room. The flames licked at him, either from the fire already started or another spray from the War Hulks flamethrower, it didn't matter. As Johnny dove into the file room he heard the War Hulk rushing after him. He wasn't moving as fast as he could, but he was still out racing it. For now.

The War Hulk tore the door to the archive room off its hinges and flung it away. A needless gesture, the door was already open, but one that gave a moments respite Johnny Wraith used to his advantage. For a brief moment the slim figure in dark blue seemed to be everywhere around the shining brass war machine. Specially designed alloy gauntlets and battle hardened fists slammed into intricately carved brass armor from all different directions. The pilot couldn't react fast enough as his armor was mauled by shadowy blows. It swung wildly, trying to swat the blurred assault.

Johnny Wraith sped out of range of his flailing opponent. He felt the battle returning to his favor, and calculated another attack. Nothing he seemed to do was working though. He phased out as another exploding shell came flying at him, then again as the War Hulk flung the door to the archives room at him. He let himself grow solid for a moment, the strain of willing his body into an ethereal state, even if only partially, was too much to keep up. The War Hulk was charging him again in its massive loping strides. He braced and made ready to dodge around again, getting in a few more hits as he did, when the balcony behind him collapsed, falling forward onto him.

Johnny Wraith barely had time to react as the burning wood crashed down onto him, pinning him to the floor. He glanced over at the looming shape and the War Hulk brought its claw down onto him. The sharp blades of the claw caught the debris that pinned him, but it was still crushing him. He couldn't breath, he couldn't move. Panic started to well up inside of him again. All the times he'd fought before, and this was how he was going to meet his end?

Something dripped onto his goggles. He glanced up at the War Hulk as it dripped another bit of the fluid that preserved the pilot. Several of his blows had struck the clear pilot housing, it was cracked and leaking. The claw was having trouble closing, it couldn't build any more pressure, the steam engine that drove the War Hulk had leaked out, all the pressure was gone. Johnny Wraith lay there, helpless, and watched as the War Hulk collapsed, unable to support itself.
"Let us... rest..." The moaning raspy voice played out as life fled from the machine. "End... the... haunting..." Without the fluid to preserve him the pilot was falling apart. He spasmed once, going into cardiac arrest, and then was still within the fallen hulk of metal.

Johnny Wraith pushed through the debris that pinned him, letting his body pass through it as he could pass through just about anything else, if he concentrated enough. The flames and explosions had left terrible scars on the room, and the fire was still spreading. Shaking himself, Johnny grabbed up the files he needed, amazed they hadn't been destroyed during the fight, and raced out. The heavy fog of Dark Astoria kept the fire from spreading. But the building haunted, not by living souls but by lifeless automatons, burnt to the ground, collapsing onto itself agonizingly slow, as if even this laying to rest pained it. It wouldn't be until the next morning that the ruins seemed to form some semblance of peace about them.

Even then some of Nemesis' clockwork creations continued to move, giving an appearance of wretched life to what had long since passed on. Johnny Wraith would return to lay these ghosts to rest as well. After all the haunted ground in Dark Astoria could not bring the fear to his heart the way these clockwork ghosts could. But he would never know if all of them had been released from their endless programming. Some might still stalk the streets, obeying their long outdated commands. Next time you see such a robot walking the streets of Paragon, be warned. Even the unliving can seek death.

*************

Raindog, first, it would be Science Accident Concept, since this is a guide for concepts, not origins, and there are several different ways for the science origin to be interperated(Super-Solider concept, ect). Secondly, look at the post that UncleYuan made just above yours. He is, politely and understandably or not, telling us the "proper origin" for our characters of certain concepts. Enantiodromos was not doing that, but also was noticably less polite about his phrasing. In the end that's sometimes how things go.

For referance the early Superman was Natural. His abilities were shared by his entire race and universally accepted as "normal". The current Superman has a photonucleaic effect that lets him absorb solar radiation, something his race didn't have natural access to. Radiation bombardment = Science Enhancement. With, of course, any interpretation the writers want to put on him(Spider-man has gone from Science to Natural to Magic origined recently in the comics). It all depends on what the writer wants to write in the end.

Remind me to write a Magician Concept character guide and Armored Concept character guide when Enantiodromos writes his Science Accident Concept character guide. Heck, Doctor Strange could be Natural Origined(his powers come not from the deities he calls on but from his skill and training), but he's pretty clearly Magic Concept.

Oh, I have a relatively Natural Concept stalker(Magic Origined). He is NRG/Ninjitsu.

Ninjitsu is fine and dandy for a Natural Concept, but you're going to have to ignore little things like all the Kujin-In powers looking like your character is casting a spell. If the effects overlay of the sigils wasn't there it would be just fine(the animation is basically the character pauses a moment to collect his thoughts, which is what the power is supposably doing), and as stated before there is alot of "wiggle room" when it comes to just effects. After all, if you ignore the glowy energy(and that it's doing energy damage instead of smashing) around my monks hands, he really is just boxing, something anyone can understand an accept as being nonpowered.

I tend to look at the game as if we're seeing things the normal ingame bystander(yes, I'm trying to look through the eyes of a ficticious character) can't. You can tell when your teammates health endurance is low, even if they're across the map from you, right? Well, a normal person can't. Just like I'm going to assume that a normal ingame person won't notice the brilliant green glowing aura of my Kat/Regen character, even if other players do. It was mentioned in Web of Arachnos that often powered people in the City of Heroes world can identify other powered people by their aura when they use their powers. A golden glow around their fists when boxing with Super Strength powers, or around their feet and legs when kicking with MartialArts powers. Kinda like how it looks in the game.

Of note: Daredevil could be a great Natural Concept character(depending on how the writers treat him). He has no fancy gadgets that can't be designed by any average mechanic, and his abilities are olympic level but not beyond human reach. If not for his radar sense(heightened senses similar to a radar sense would be /SR or /Ninjitsu) he would merely be a highly trained and determined human. Because of that Radar sense however, he's Science Origined. Once more I repeat, this is depending on how the comic writers treat him and if they play up his radioactive accident and superhuman senses or not. I've seen the same writer go both ways in two different comics even(one issue he was a superhuman unstoppable force, the next just a determined man who wouldn't give up despite being beat down really badly). As a natural concept hero Daredevil is pushing, and at times just barely stepping outside of, the boundries. As a character concept I think he's a pretty good one.

I really don't want to get into listing all possible Natural Concept heroes, I'm just trying to point out the really off the wall ones. Best to define by setting boundries.

Martian Manhunter I believe was mentioned. Yes, if I remember him correctly, he's entirely Natural Origined. He is not, however, Natural Concept. His powers are, for his planet and species, perfectly natural(albeit, their version of Olympic level). For our world and species however, they are not.

Oh... one thing... apparently jump boosters are not uncommon in the City of Heroes world. A level 1 Hellion can superjump to catch you on top of a three story building. Heck, a homeless person taken hostage by the Lost can do the same when you rescue them. Sometimes concept has to bend to game physics...

Hrm... I'm half asleep here, but I'll try a shot at making a comment:

I have a "Natural Concept" character(several actually, I like the genre). A Katana/Regen who trained to the peak of human performance and has a unending will power to dig down and ignore the pain inflicted on her and press on, for example.

They're not all Natural Origined however. One of them is Technology(he's an inventor and solves crimes with detective work, skill, and intelligence as well as a little help from the occasional gadget and a whole lot of persistance), and I'd say he would be fit right in, if not with Doc Savage, then one of Doc Savages sidekicks. I also never trained him, so he doesn't even have the Rest power yet. That's something entirely different though.

I also have one that's Science Origined. Super-Solider serum gave him his unusual looks(okay, green tinted skin isn't THAT unusual in Paragon) and helped him, through intense training and a supply of high end equipment, to become the hero he is now. His abilities and equipment are no more beyond human than Batman or Doc Savage though(quite a bit less so, and in my mind more identifiable to a normal person in fact), but because of the serum that started him off I couldn't go with a Natural Origin, even if his concept was that of a natural human with (Non-super)government issue equipment.

I also have several Natural Origined characters who are nowhere near Natural Concept characters.

When I'm picking Origin I'm not only thinking about the source of the characters powers, I'm thinking about enhancements. How would this character seek to further themselves, to better their abilities(or just give themselves a slight edge in the next fight)? Do they build themselves more gadgets? That's technology origin. Do they turn to practice and technique, intensely training themselves in the use of their abilities? That's Natural Origin. Not nessisarily Natural Concept(I can think of several of my Magical Concept characters that would prefer to better their personal technique or their faith in their own abilities than request assistance from the Entities). Origin does not always equate to concept.

While I disagree with a few minor points on your power listing(You skip mentioning the Fighting Pool completely? I couldn't think of anything more Natural! You say superleap is not less viable than superspeed? Superleap is as near to "gliding" as we have) I do get the point you're trying to get across, and I appreciate it.

I think what others are getting upset about is that they see this as less a guideline to a concept, and more as a commentary on the proper way they should define their characters. You can see how this misunderstanding can make people feel a little touchy. Hopefully they can see that it is a misunderstanding.

Oh yes, of note: The comic book Manticore has yet to use teleport on himself or other people. He's staying pretty true to the Natural Concept thus far, even if his arrows are high tech, none of them are beyond the realm of believable science. Even his one touch of magical abilities(the Teleporting Arrow trick) isn't beyond the Natural Concept character(as The Shadow had some "magical" abilities such as becoming invisible in darkness, or Indiana Jones could use "mystical" artifacts he discovered). Plus the teleporting arrow trick would fall under "some one else is doing it to/for him". After all, while the heroes themselves may be natural concept/origined, the world they live in clearly is not.

Actually, yeah. My Necromancer is origined as just a normal college student who suddenly had his door broken down by M.A.G.I. and other heroes(Legacy Chain?). He was dabbling in "forbidden" magics, without ever being told they were forbidden. He figured they were just interesting occult learnings, he wasn't even planning(at the time) to use any of them, just learn about them. Still, as the CoH comic shows, Magic and Legality are somewhat... confused when they meet each other.

While in Da Zig he got a few more lessons on how to harness the dark arts...

Pretty bland and unimaginative I thought, it wasn't a character driven by concept, just a generic and uninteresting origin I slapped onto my character because I wanted to try out Zombie minions.

Yeah... I saw some people who tried that...

Turns out she was a Claws/Regen Stalker, she didn't take to kindly to the attempt with the boiling water and such...

Shout out to Triumph Villains who know what the heck I'm talking about.

Bah, I wanted to edit some spelling and grammar mistakes I apparently made, but the time window for editing it is apparently closed. I guess that will teach me to hammer one of these things out in the middle of the night without using spell checker.

And in response, since 'Dactyl and Gvnega Asoyv are both my characters, on the same server no less(Triumph, big warm hello to all my friends on there!), they can't actually team up with each other. They are both also extremely effective solo or in teams.

However, I find myself feeling some resentment when pushed to team with another who is intended to fill the same role I'm attempting.

Don't get me wrong, I love teaming with some one who compilments my abilities, but some one who overshadows them? Particularly if that overshadowing is only in the eyes of my peers and not in actual game statistics?

Here, take another example: Visti Tawodi (translates to Snow Hawk) is my Ice/Energy blaster. Recently while working on the Frostfire mission I was told "This team needs a damage dealer". Now wouldn't that hurt your feelings if you were the blaster or scrapper of that team? If the team leader had said "This team could use ANOTHER damage dealer" I would be fine, you can always use more damage output and I'd be perfectly happy having another blaster or scrapper teammate. But to imply that my contribution to the team is non-existant really chafes. The same with being a defender.

It's not so much about how formiddable or powerful our heroes are. If anything I think my force field defender is STILL over powered even after I5(and believe me the I5 changes were felt, the new Enhancement changes will be felt even more), it's about how respected we are by our peers.

((Just a note, this is somewhat in response to the newest update that seems to have everyone in an uproar. I'm not here to talk about that however, as while this was posted in response to it, it really has NOTHING to do with it.))

Few heroes actually saw rooftop level in Steel Canyon. Even those who could reach it's dizzying heights found it was more trouble than it was worth. In a city of heroes, even some sanity remains.

Sanity being a general concept. Something the greenish brown scaled heroine had left behind long ago. Her official hero designation was 'Dactyl. Her suit did look somewhat reptilian, with a long crest extending back from her helmet and a rebreather almost like a beak extending forward. The suit was technorganic, a technology that had yet to be developed. She was still practicing it's abilities, but flight seemed one of it's primary powers. If the woman who used the suit still felt pride, she would probably take pride in being the fastest, most stable and energy efficent flier at her level.

She didn't feel pride anymore however. She didn't feel much of anything. The trauma that caused her to don this strange suit she found in some debris of the Baumton section of Paragon City had quite snapped her mind. She was more robotic in many respects that most of the androids that 'lived' in the city. She didn't eat, she didn't sleep, she merely patrolled. Hunting for a new way to protect the innocent, trying to somehow take revenge against evil itself.

Despite the wind whistling as she flew, despite the faint hum of the kinetic field that surrounded her and kept her hover generators moving at high speeds, her suit's sensor array was still easily able to pick up exterior sounds. What she heard was sobbing.

Perhaps most emotions were burried in her scarred psyche, but curiousity was not. She turned, locking onto the sound easily, and glided over to a building top. There, sitting against a blinking warning light on the top of one of the highrises in Blyde Square, she found a young girl.

A quick scan showed the girl to posess a hero id badge. Registered as Gvnega Asoyv, a fellow Defender, though of Natural origin rather than technological. She wore a costum of dark blue with black designs. A sort of hooded sweatshirt mixed cloak being the prominate features, with matching boots and gloves. Bright gold studs on her leather belt made it so she wasn't completely monochromatic. A little grey kitten, probably stuffed, possibly just asleep, lay curled up on her shoulder hidden by the cloak/sweatshirt.

She was just sitting there crying when 'Dactyl floated up and touched down. A crackle on the helmets onboard com link interupted.

A hero by the name of Lizard Tail had just invited 'Dactyl to join his team. Ever helpful, 'Dactyl accepted this blind invite.

It was a big team, to large to be stealthy. 'Dactyl stood there on the building, sinking into an at ease posture and studying her situation. 'Dactyl seldom if ever teamed up with other heroes. She strongly disliked the attitude of most of them, prefering precise amounts of force to be applied rather than overpowering force. While she refused to hide her ID signature from other heroes, but she had tagged herself as not wishing to be invited to a team. With a special descriptive note added that "Won't team with you". It was almost true. She would accept any invites given, and gladly help those in true need.

"Hey, healer! Get over here now!" Lizard Tail demanded. "We need help!"

"Hang on, let's all fall back, give the Tsoo enough time to double their numbers so it's a fair fight with this bigger team." Came another voice from the team.

"That's what I'm doing, and I've got another healer here." Lizard Tail responded.

'Dactyl did a quick scan of Lizard Tail. He was a scrapper. A well established hero. Rumor had it he was invincible rather than merely heroic. Aside from that one voice, the rest of his team appeared to be in the hospital. They were apparently not as invincible. A few of them gave some weak hellos to 'Dactyl.

"Mission Objective?" 'Dactyl said over the team chat, glancing back at Gvnega Asoyv who was still lost in her tears she hadn't seemed to notice that the roof top wasn't empty anymore.

"We're killing a bunch of Tsoo!" Lizard Tail said. "Get over here now healbot!"

"Negative." 'Dactyl responded calmly, and sat down next to Gvnega Asoyv. 'Dactyl's own radiation blasts were non-lethal. They caused sickness, overloaded equipment and could definetly put somebody out of commission if they took a direct blast from it, but ultimately the bolts of greenish energy subdued rather than causing lasting damage. Besides, if Lizard Tail was truely invincible, he could proove it by 'killing' his foes without assistance.

"I'm sorry." A soft voice sniffled at 'Dactyl. "I didn't mean to take your spot." Gvnega Asoyv had noticed she wasn't alone.

'Dactyl switched off the com and allowed her speach to be projected from the suits speaker system. A channel jokingly refered to as the "local" channel, since only those within hearing range could listen to it, rather than having it heard to anyone with the communications gear.

"Negative. Stay." 'Dactyl said. The young heroine looked at 'Dactyl again, studying the saurian armor of the heroine. After several moments 'Dactyl spoke to her again. "Why?"

The younger of the two was used to silent heroes. It was surprising how few heroes and heroines talked to one another. Those that did were often monosyllabic, or spoke in their own short hand. One seldom had breath to speak while fighting a horde of self replicating robots. But this kind of single word statements was something new.

"Why?" Gvnega Asoyv repeated, wondering what the question was regaurding.

"Affirmative. Why?" 'Dactyl confirmed and then repeated her inquery.

"Why what?" Gvnega Asoyv asked confused. "Why am I up here? Why am I sorry? Why did I pick this name?" 'Dactyl's bioarmored gauntlet reached out, gently touching the younger girls cheek where the tears still were fresh. "Why..." She tried to continue, possibly understanding now but having her voice faulter as remembering the reason made her fall back into tears. "why was I crying?"

'Dactyl wasn't going to repeat herself again. She simply looked at Gvnega Asoyv, who looked away at the moonlit skyline. The cycloptic visor often made 'dactyl appear to be glaring, even though the glowing slit was straight across.

"I'm a terrible Defender." Gvnega Asoyv finally said. She expected an immediate denial from 'Dactyl, as everyone else had given her. At least at first. Instead she got that silent staring that was somewhat unnerving but encouraged her to go on anyway.

*******

Gvnega Asoyv was from the newly formed Ressurected Tsalagi Nation. When the Rikti attacked, attacking major military and then population centers, the rural areas were mostly untouched. The reservations set aside for the tribal nations of the US had, for the most part, survived. As all nations are, they were not above grabbing power when they could. The United States of America now, quietly, had several new nations within itls boarders as these tribes of native americans ressurected their nation, supplying Vangaurd and other super powered organizations with man power that helped tip the Rikti War back in favor of the human race, and more dramatically, helped clean up afterwards.

In Tsalagi(Or Cherokee to those who spoke english. A word form a different tribe, the Creek, that litterally meant "They that live far away and speak strangely" whereas Tsalagi meant "Us"), Gvnega Asoyv's name translated to Black Wall. She was proud of her abilities when she first came to Paragon City. She could tap her inner will and create and shape a solid wall of force, as well as unleash a powerful bolt of darkness that seemed to drain the very life from whatever it touched.

Very quickly little Black Wall found her powers were nothing to be proud of. She was labeled a Force Field Defender, a very apt label in truth, one she accepted happily. Unfortunately the heroes who were Defenders were under a bit of a stigma. They were seen as nothing but healers. Doctors in spandex and on call. Gvnega Asoyv had nothing but the most minimal first aid training, something all heroes already knews.

Gvnega Asoyv seemed doomed to forever be a healer who could not heal. Such was the unfortunate fate of many Defenders actually, as the classification was far broader than the steriotype.

Bright eyed and eager, Gvnega Asoyv would remember her first foray into the newly Hollowed Eastgate. She had joined a team, and promptly surrounded them with protective walls of force in preparation for dealing with Outcast hooligans.

Only to be confronted with objections. The team had been slowed down as she had to demonstrate to the riflemen blaster that his bullets could indeed permeate the protective bubble, she had set it up to be one way and he could still perform while encapsulated. She never could convince the broadsword carrying scrapper that the bubble was letting enough air in for him to properly breath and not slowing him down any as he ran around the alleyways, out of sight of the rest of the team and into trouble.

After the third time the swordsman had returned to Davin Wincott to hear long inspirational stories that would remind him to awaken him after he had fallen in battle, they cry rose up. "We need a real defender! We need a healer!"

The Lead Brick who was wheezing as he tried to battle the bubble that protected the riflemen blaster agreed. The riflemen blaster, who's shots were bouncing off of the Lead Brick(whoes threat rating to that hero was purple) before him also agreed.

Gvnega Asoyv was kicked from the team and told to go elsewhere. They would find a somebody who could actually be a defender.

"We're better off without her." the swordsman said. The riflemen agreed as the force bubbles faded and Gvnega Asoyv walked away heart broken. The Outcasts who were still standing after the first volley of dark blasts also agreed, as they cracked their knuckles and summoned massive stone hammers or arching electrical bolts, also agreed.

"It's alright little one." An elderly hero had told Gvnega Asoyv one day as they and a team of other heroes had slogged through the sewers. "Most newbie heroes don't notice what you're doing for them. When somebody gets hit with one of those meat cleavers those followers of Dr Vahzilok use they really feel it. When I use my empathy powers, they really feel it too. But if they don't get hit in the first place, they don't feel anything, and you're keeping them from being hit. The reason I have enough power to cast my lightning bolt spells is because I'm not using my empathy abilities. You're keeping me from needing to."

Gvnega Asoyv felt a little better about those kind words, but she slowly started to doubt them. She always used her dark blasts. The force bubbles didn't drain much if any of her strength, and only then for a brief time when she had to refresh them for a full team.

For a time she considered focusing her force fields into a tighter focus, to use them as blasts, but the one Force Bolt stunt she learned, though proud of it she was, was next to harmless. There was little impact against the bubble as she launched it, even though it transfered a massived amount of kinetic energy and threw the target a great distance. In the end, after being told several times not to spoil others tactics by throwing bad guys across the room, she gave up on trying to focus her force fields offensively. She just couldn't get them into a tight enough focus. Besides, her dark bolts were just as effective, and she could certainly focus them into tighter and more powerful attacks.

Gvnega Asoyv passed security clearance level after security clearance level. Everyone wanted a Defender on the team. A Defender who could focus her destructive energies into a sniper class attack and one who was a walking node for the teleportation grid? Even better. Gvnega Asoyv could get there first by teleporting, then pull the rest of the team to the mission location as well. Once inside, she could also start off the battle, protecting herself from almost any harm that such a first strike usually brought by doubling her force field after making that alpha blast.

But then the teams always found out she couldn't do anything else to help them. She could blunt most of the incomming attacks, keeping the team safe, but most was not all. Always a teammate would charge out of where she could reach them, or the villains attack would simply be to precise to block completely. Heroes would call to Gvnega Asoyv for healing, and she would look at them helplessly.

The cry would rise up "You're not a healer! You suck!" and Gvnega Asoyv would be left alone on the streets again, to find her own missions to persue.

Growing ever more depressed, she also grew ever more determined. She would agument her abilities. She wouldn't stop at "most" attacks being stopped, she would stop ALL attacks! Delving into magical and mechanical aid at first, she eventually focused purely on technique. Her walls would be impregneble. She could do nothing else with them.

And yet perfection was forever out of her reach. The villains grew stronger, where she reached her apex. Even as she blunted their precision with blackness, still some would slip through her walls. Heroes would be hurt, and they would cry for some one to tend their wounds. And Gvnega Asoyv would be replaced by "A real Defender".

Walking out of the last mission, the team leader called out encouragingly. "Way to swing that sword Cruellock! Nice tanking Primal Prime, nobody keeps the damage off us you big ape! You kept those Freakshow locked down tight Stone Serpent! And that was some nice healing too."

"Thanks!" The illusion/radiation controller, sidekicked up, his security clearance being only level three, beamed back at the team leader. "That was some great blasting too! They didn't stand a chance against your ice shards."

"I just do what I can." The blaster shrugged humbly. "But we couldn't have made it through without that healing. You were almost as good as having a real defender along."

"Thanks for having me! I'll add your hero signature to my friends list, okay. All of you, if you'll accept me."

A round of "Accepted" came from all the heroes, who when offered the lock on accepted it.

Gvnega Asoyv stood there waiting for the friendship request to appear on her communications pad... and waiting... and waiting. The team broke up for a moment to return equipment they had captured from the Freakshow back to the proper owners.

"Did we lose some one?" Primal Prime asked as his super leap landed him at the next mission.

"Yeah Guney or something like that quit." The team leader said. "Ashame. I really like those funny hamsterballs she kept putting around us. They looked cool. To bad they didn't do any thing."

"Oh, okay, whatever. We shouldn't miss h..." Primal Prime started to say, before the Freak Tank knocked him out cold.

********

Gvnega Asoyv was crying again as she hugged 'Dactyl. Surprisingly the woman who felt no remorse, no anger, and seemingly no pity, held her gently and tried to comfort her. Even 'Dactyl could relate to some problems.

"And... just little while ago today..." Gvnega Asoyv babbled on, sobbing. "This guy named Lizard Tail, he's got regenerating powers... he wanted me on his team. I said okay... he was three security clearance levels higher than me... but the whole team had to mediport out of the warehouse... the Tsoo... they were just to powerful, I couldn't block everything..."

'Dactyl listened half to Gvnega Asoyv, half to the team communication fequency. Lizard Tail was swearing a blue streak from the hospital. It seemed that with those re-enforcements he had allowed the Tsoo to gather, the team of mostly Tankers couldn't charge through the warehouse one at a time without being assaulted and defeated. It was like a conveyer belt of heroes heading to the mission, being defeated, mediporting to the hospital, and then repeating the dance.

"Damn it healer, get your mask down here!" Lizard Tail shouted. "We can't do this without an even half decent healer!"

'Dactyl herself had only minimal ability to regenerate damage. She used it mostly on herself, transfusing energy from her foes. She wasn't a healer, she was a manipulator of energy, speed, force, and time. Officially a Kinetics/Radiation Defender, she longed to focus more on the offensive than the defensive. Perhaps a Corruptor?

"Not a healer" 'Dactyl said.

"You're not a healer?!" Lizard Tail shouted. "Why did you waste our time then!? You suck!" The burst of static and then silence told 'Dactyl she had been kicked from the team.

"... so Lizard Tail kicked me from his team. That's why I'm a terrible Defender." Gvnega Asoyv managed to say, feeling somewhat better that she had been able to confide in some one, even if it was this impassive, inhuman heroine.

"Same here." 'Dactyl said, giving Gvnega Asoyv a pat on the head.

"Thanks." Gvnega Asoyv said. "I guess... I guess I needed that."

'Dactyl gave the younger heroine a nod and a speed boost before diving off the building to continue toward her contact in Independance Port. Looking back through a truely effective force field she had just been granted, 'Dactyl saw Gvnega Asoyv teleport off the rooftop to her own business.

****************Fin**************

((All character names are my own characters to keep from offending the other players who have booted my FF Defender from their team and given her that inferiority complex I now roleplay her as having.

And as for the upcomming "nerf", I'll let you figure out what my stance is on it from reading the story.))