Kasoh

I like it. I think your Synapse is pretty good, tries the polished, charming famous hero of the city schtick and it fails him utterly but he's still able to get something out of it.

I did notice that he seemed fairly jaded when he was talking to Positron earlier and he doesn't seem to have that in this section, and I'm perfectly willing to chalk that up to public face/private face, but I figured you'd want to know that his personality seemed to flucuate inbetween sections.

Good read, yes. Disturbing: exceptionally.

I understand fundamentally how one can come to that conclusion and how the character could see things like that, but he and I will not agree I'm afraid.

If that's good, I'll be evil, thanks.

[ QUOTE ]
"Why are Malta in the sewers of all places?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Ceus blasted at a Hercules Titan as Kokuin asked the question, "Could be bad luck. Maybe someone ducked out on their ambush and we're cleaning it up?"

Ceus flew into the mob of Malta, next to the Ice Tank, then Fulcrum Shifted their damage base.

Ceus growled as their numbers dwindled. With a full team she could hold back, even against Malta, but now it seemed that it was going to get rocky.

She saw the Sapper charge his rifle, to clear the way for the Hercules Titans behind him, and knew he was the First target.

Stretching her arms out she chanted in Gaelic, "Spirits of the Dead serve me, Bind this minon, As I will--so mote it be!"

Bright yellow strands flew from her fingertips, wrapping the Malta agent tighter than a sailor's knot leaving him helplessly floating in the air. The Soul Storm was Ghost Widow's signature move, something she taught to to her favorite servants and once again Ceus wished that she had a single target hold in her primary...

She hastened her 'allies' with temporary speed and recovery, then let siphoned speed from the helpless Malta stooge.

Closing next to him, she let loose a massive blast of concussive force, hard enough to knock him senseless.

Then she drained his stamina, letting his energy out into a wave that others could absorb. "How does it feel? Scum."

Drained, unconscious and floating in the air, Ceus was finally satisfied with the Sapper and turned to see how the others fared.

Her life was a series of tragic and strange events chained together by arcane forces that would make heads explode trying to comprehend, and somehow Ceus was certain that if she had a mouth, it would be agape. Stupidily selfless and rediculously righteous they may be, but damned if she hadn't encountered more politeness in the past 30 seconds than the last three weeks in Grandville.

It was sad to think that she'd probably have to fight such polite folk later. Oh well, she could bask in being treated like a person for a few more minutes. Till they got out of the sewers at any rate.

"Asuki, that was her name, I recall..." she trailed off as she heard something coming up the sewer

The metallic clomping was as obvious as the bright blue energy rifle that was rounding the corner.

I never thought I'd be so happy to see Malta....

Wait...I'm never happy to see Malta.

"Karma. it has to be." Ceus muttered as she pointed, "This is getting silly."

Ceus took a step back from the hero and scanned the length of sewer. No exits nearby.

Still, no one had called her 'Miss' in a long time. Hell she was borne before the word was coined and a monster after it was. Such civility in the face of turmoil, it...pleased her.

"I'm Ceus. My team leader sent me to Faultline to find an assassin. I was searching the old base when everything started blowing up. I think she got away though. I'll have to chase right after her as soon as we get out of here."

((Ceus is carrying Techblaze, traveling with the heroes, trying to pass herself off as a hero until she can make good her escape. I'm assuming all the heroes who were going made it to the sewers.))

Ceus quickly took stock of the heroes standing around in the sewers. 1 controller, 3 tanks, and a scrapper. The blaster must have been the one to leave out the front door. Bah. If her cover got blown now, she'd be creamed faster than Recluse after his Web Fiasco without so much as a single exchange of witty banter.

Setting Techblaze down, she asked, "Can anyone wake him up? I'm stronger than I look, but I'd rather not carry him the whole way."

Ceus watched Techblaze fall and cursed. Can't heroes even escape a burning building without heroic sacrifice coming up? Sweet Rosy O'Grady!

She backtracked quickly, picking up the hero and tossing him over her shoulder. The backtrack was important, it let her send out a small sphere of psychic communication away from the other psychic hero

Asuki, Lord Voltarr has a job for you, if you survive, meet me by the Faultline entrance to Pocket D.

Her message sent, hopefully recieved, Ceus siphoned some speed off a fire and followed the heroes into the sewers.

It had been so long since she'd done a psy-ward, Ceus wasn't sure the old enchantment was still holding, but if anything it just proved how superior the old magicks were.

Priorities: Get the hell out of Dodge, Find sneaky sneaky assassin, Get back home.

One of the heroes walked out, and that's when it all went to hell. Whoever made this overly complicated trap for a random assortment of heroes obviously didn't plan for derilict buildings to start collapsing because as soon as the ground starting shaking explosives started going off.

Cascades of fire started billowing up, and Ceus floated away from her cover, her cloak fading out of existance as her concentration faltered. Staring at the six heroes, Ceus changed her plans, what better way to get out unscathed than to have the heroes help her out?

"We have to get out of here! This whole place is going to blow!"

Yes! Leave already! Ceus imagined knocking that Ice headed tank's shell into a wall, if anything just to drive her point home. Going back to the Zig was not an option and the idea of going back to the Isles in defeat was something her pride was not going to let her do.

As more heroes came to the assistance of their downed teammate, Ceus lost sight of the assassin as she ducked behind the remains of a Arachnos Tarantula, never happier to have been entirely ignored in her long life. There was what, seven heroes running around in this place?

Willing her shield of invisibility around her again, Ceus hovered behind her cover keeping her grumbling to herself.

And where did that Asuki dissapear too, anyway?

As she stepped out of the portal, Ceus shielded herself from the visible spectrum. Good old Mender Lazerus didn't disappoint, and the crazy old bat didn't ask questions as long as she signed up to kill Nazis every other weekend, almost as entertaining as killing the Rikti for Vanguard.

The building was a mess, Ice and mechanical tarantula bits everywhere, but since she wouldn't be in it very long, it didn't matter.

The assassin had moved up for the easy kill on a hero transporting one of their fallen, who had jerked into the path of the blow. A comedy of errors, it seemed.

Before the hero thought to react, Ceus dropped her invisibility and reached out tried to drain her speed.

"Asuki? I've got an invitation to extend."
((At least that's how I read the last few panels.))

Biting back an acerbic comment about who was hiding from whom Ceus nodded at the bellowed order. Vauge commands always yielded the most interesting results. Rather than pry for more information, the villain activated her Ouroboros portal. Lazerus still owed her a favor and what better favor than to appear in Paragon before His lordship even bellowed the order?

The faceless woman considered her target. Asuki the Assassin. Didn't ring any bells. Hopefully they possessed enough common sense skip the obligitory fight sequence.

I assumed PP was an abreviation for Paranormal Psychology, the department he works at.

Ceus hovered over the metal deck of the Arachnos base, her legs crossed as she rested the backs of her palms on her knees, keeping her magical senses spread out.

Normally she didn't work with strangers, especially ones foolish enough to claim lordship with no real claim to the title, but Ghost Widow insisted that she 'get out' more. When a ghost is concerned about your social health, it was probably wise to consider it.

Still, it was irritating that he hired assistance and then stalked off to an abandoned spider base without so much as a cursory 'This is your part in my evil plan.' He was either obsessivly paranoid or a moron and neither boded well for her medical debt balance.

Oh well, if he continued to annoy her, she'd wait for the most opportune moment to abandon him. She'd killed for Morgan Lefay, Cleopatra, and Rasputin; she didn't need to abandon her standards just because her patron thought she should get out more.

((Ceus is an Energy/Kinetics Corrupter who appears in the Sinister Boots, Pants, with a bare Bio-organic torso and arms skin a blue-ish green, Silver viens of magic pulse in a beat that seems both soothing and unnatural. She has no face, only agnsty patches of silver covered by her blue-ish silver hair. A tattered cape hangs to her waist, held by a gold clasp in the shape of a crown. Heavy chains are wrapped around her upper arms and around her waist. Under a magical curse, Ceus was at the beck and call of Damn near every villainous despot in history, you name him, she's worked for him in some aspect. Currently she appears to not have been summoned at all, but acting on her own intiative.))

The air thrummed as Ceus gently lowered herself to the beach, her heavy booted feet never touching the ground. She watched in slight curiosity as the large bald man tortured the Spider. His methods were effective, but sloppy. There were so many more elegant ways to extract information from a subject.

When he was done questioning the operative, the man tossed the body aside. As it landed a few feet from her, Ceus finally spoke, "You Voltarr?"

"Its possible. Who're you?"

"You put a job offer out with the Brit. I'm Ceus. Magical WMD." She said calmly, her voice turning bitter and cold as she described herself.

His cold eyes looked her up and down before shrugging, "Yeah. That's me. Assualt or Support?"

"Both."

"Good. You're hired."

Wow. This is certainly interesting, I'll give it that. Given that we don't know who the doctor is working for, (I've gone ahead and assumed Malta or a Malta-esque organization) But the steady build up of eerie events is leading to something and its going to be bad. I had thought at first that the doctor would degenerate to raving madman before the end, wallowing in failure, unable to see that the subject was the who had caused his instability, but by keeping it going as it is, there is some fascinating possibilities here.
I'm not sure if it would break the style you have going here, but are we going to see sections of interview transcripts and other misc. record keeping aside from the journal?
Great work, by the by.

Well, for most of the Phalanx you can read their origin stories when you 'ask about this contact' during their task forces. The only way I know to get info from the vindicators is to read it while fighting them on the red side. Someone did write a novel that took place when this incarnation of the Freedom Phalanx first formed and it has some background information in it.
You can also try looking on Wikipedia, (Positron) but the entries aren't what *I* would call top notch.

I don't have any of my mains on hand, but all of my dead character's bios I keep handy in case I ever decide to resurect them. Here's a few of the gems:

Dynamo Rose Electric Melee/Electric Armor Brute Level 16
Daniel O'Grady had a dream that he would be known forever as the man who created free energy. He used an amazingly simple system that utilized the body's own electrical generation and magnified it 10,000 fold. Packed into a box the size of a pack of cigerettes, there was no reason why people couldn't have cheap, limitless electricty.
Daniel's Dream was never realized. Several notable persons saw his invention as a threat to their own fortunes or as a tool they could use to their own ends. A super powered assassin was sent to eliminate the scientist. The assassin dispatched the scientist quite brutally while destroying Daniel's lab and its contents. Little did they know that Daniel's wife, Rose had possession of the final working prototype. With a few modifications to the generator, Rose was able to protect herself and attack with the mighty power of electricty. Thus armed, she began her quest for vengence posing as an assassin for hire, hunting down down the villain who murdered the love of her life.

Lares Fire Blast/Thermal Radiation Corrupter level 22
In the year 4051 crime is but a distant memory, and humanity has devoloped to the point where no person has to work or put forth effort in any way, shape, form, or idea. (Which has taken all the fun out of sex, believe you me.) College student Diedre Wilson published a study paper that declared that humanity would be doomed to stagnation in 3,000 yours unless someone did something. Despite Humanity's progress as far, it was still capable of laughing and rediculing someone out of a room. Disgusted with humanity's complacency, Diedre took up the name of an ancient Roman Goddess picked randomly out of an encyclopedia and traveled back in time to destroy the uptopian future so that her 'peers' would likely never be born, let alone be able to mock her.

The Astral Asssassin (Killed by typo in name) Claws/Energy Stalker
People have looked to the heavens for answers since time eternal, and over the ages the ones who have recieved answers have been called many things: Prophets, Messiahs, Heretics, and Lunatics. I take none of those titles for myself, know only that the stars have spoken to me, and they said, "Kill".
Once, I merely studied the stars. Astronomer Janice Sanderson longed to unravel the mysteries of the Stars Above when late one night during a meteor shower I heard the most beautiful sounds, the longer I listened to the harmonious music, the clearer its message became.
Certain people are born with ties to the heavens, ties that give them power, and put great destinies before them. When these beings go too long squandering the power of the stars, someone must return the energies to their rightful place, else the music of the heavens will cease to be...and I do not know if I could remain sane if the only beautiful thing in the world was taken from it.


The Gold Wolf Katana/Super Reflexes Scrapper
Since she was three, Amber Brooke wanted to be a superhero. On her sixteenth birthday, she realized that in addition to a less than spectacular breast size (which all famous heroines need), she wasn't getting superpowers from some mutation. Lacking the means to get a technological patron or find some crazy science experiment to volunteer for. It wasn't until she tried beating up some Circle of Thorns to learn some magic that she recognized her own innate grace and reflexes. A brick to the back of some random Tsoo's head netted her a Katana, and she rushed off to register as one of Paragon's finest.

Plasma Beam Energy/Energy Blaster Lvl 9
Audrey Galloway was the favorite daughter of her family, after all, she was born with mutant powers that were actually useful, unlike her brother Carl who could change his eye color at will or her older sister Caroline's ability to make anything taste like chicken. Doted upon by her parents, she was well on her to becoming a selfish bore when the Rikti invasion devastated her hometown. Her family made it out alright, but the cost of rebuilding had her parents 'encouraging' Audrey to move out and do something with her life. With no place to stay and little desire to find a vocation, Audrey came to Paragon City with the intent of using her innate powers to coast through life. Only time will tell if her experiences helping people and stopping crime will make her a better person.

EMCS Grey Elec/Elec Blaster Level 6
Senior Chief Electrician's Mate (AW/SW) Thomas Denethor Grey was the LCPO of the Electrical Department aboard the USS Kittyhawk looking forward to his upcoming terminal leave ending his twenty-six year career in the world's greatest navy when his plans were altered forever. While chewing out EMSA Schmoe's terrible PMS work on the 2nd deck distributin switchboard, the faulty equipment overloaded, dousing Chief in a shower of high voltage/high amp electrical power that should have killed him instantly, but Grey used his amazing in-rate knowledge and powers as a Chief Petty Officer of the United States Navy to pull the life force back into him and redirect the energy into his body. Bestowed with the amazing ability to discharge the raw voltage from his hands EMCS Grey realized that he had a higher calling. He has to use this power to destroy Commies, Nazis, Terrorists, Democrats and Liberals.
With a stripped down F-14 to provide an armored exoskeleton, its time to take criminals to the paint locker!

Cohen's Cat Claws/Regen Stalker Lvl 6
Cohen, Stanely H. (1922- ). American biochemist who determined that DNA molecules could be cut, seperated and joined, thus paving the way for genetic engineering. Sadly enough, the only thing science has been able to do with this knowledge is create Cat girls to fill the harems of rich men with barnyard preferences and Anime fans with tastes for Furry. Created in a lab two years ago, Cohen's Cat was sold to a young man with good credit references. After weeks of being used and abused like property, sleeping on a pile of dirty clothes in some unwashed, rude, antisocial twenty-something anime fan's parent's basement Cohen's Cat escaped the clutches of its master with a certain deadly finality. Done with dead end relationships, Cohen's Cat supports herself by contract killing. Scientists and Anime fans for free.