Kasoh

I named the secretary in William's office.

Mrs. Monroe

Middle Aged, F. Somewhat prim. Likes Floral prints.

Don't know if anyone needs or wants that information.

For a school, it sure looked like a prison. Not one to hold back, that was what she had told the old man at the gate. The sinister grin she had recieved in return had been comforting, oddly. He wasn't going to lie to her, and Hideko Yoshihara appreciated it.

She tugged on the collar of her blue uniform shirt. Bad enough she needed a uniform to fight crime, but now she needed one to learn how to fight crime. As Hideko walked down the hallway, dutifully following the signs to 'Admin' her eyes flared with tendrils of purple smokey energy as her fingers vaporized the top two buttons of her shirt. Collar successfully loosened, she stepped into the office.

Fake plants: check. 'Hang in there' kitty poster: check. Middle aged woman in a floral print blouse typing at a computer: check. It was just like her old school's admin office. The lady turned her gaze over Hideko and she felt the dissaproval like a wave.

It couldn't be the shirt, Hideko didn't have the cleavage to flaunt. Was it the hair? She idly wondered. Though her long hair was neatly arranged in two buns carefully pinned in the back with a long slash of bang partially covering her forehead it was a rich, deep purple. Hardly a natural hair color for four foot eleven japanese girls. And it wasn't, she just didn't color it either.

Glaring disaproval right back, Hideko resisted the urge to cross her arms and tap her foot. Instead she reached into her backpack and pulled out a folder. Pulling out the letter she had recieved, she handed it to the woman.

"I have an appointment." Was the tone in her voice haughty? Or just defensive?

The secretary took the letter and glanced over it, then checked with something on her screen. This happened three times. Why, yes. The rude girl wasn't pulling a fast one on you. Hideko waited as patiently as she could, which wasn't very. Her gaze wandered around the room, reading a notice about the end of semester party going on in the dorms today.

She made a bet with herself that they'd try to send her over there to make friends.

"Go ahead, Principal Williams will see you."

Hideko walked into the Principal's office curious to meet the man who was ultimately going to be in charge of her for the next five months of her life, maybe more. Physically, he was impressive, even for an old guy. When he stared at her with those strange gold eyes of his, she flared her own Kheldian enhanced eyes back at him.

He didn't even flinch. She had to give him credit for nerves. Her social worker wouldn't look her in the eyes at all anymore. "Normaly, this is conducted with your guardian present, but as you'll learn, Golden Eagle is used to unusual circumstances Ms. Yoshihara."

What a nice way to say 'no one wants you'.

"The faculty has been made aware, and all permission slips will be forwarded to my office. Your Hero Support Stipend is also being garnished with appropriate costs."

There is no escape. We control the horizontal. We control the vertical.

"The details of your scholarship are no doubt clear to you, so I won't waste our time going over them. Needless to say though, I will not tolerate the truancy I found so prevalent in your previous academic records, no matter your scores--which are also going to need work."

He handed her a three ring binder, "These are the school regulations. Each student recieves one. Your ID, you have. Don't lose it, it accesses your dorm and your cafeteria account. You've been assigned a dorm in the East Wing, Room 207. Pick up your class schedule from Mrs. Monroe on your way out. Do you have any questions?"

"When do I get my life back?"

"When you run away again. Until they catch you. Then you're right back here and it will take even longer. The fastest way? Graduate." His hard, british voice softened for a brief moment, "Though I do hope you won't find it neccessary. This is a home for many children your age, some of whom are in similar circumstances to yours."

That she doubted.

"The students are having a soiree of sorts to celebrate the end of the semester. You should go, introduce yourself to your new classmates."

Now she owed herself ten bucks.

Hideko nodded where appropriate to get out of the room. No way was that man going to flinch. Feet? Meet thin ice.

She collected the paper from Monroe and took a moment to stare at the list of courses. Stuffing the schedule into her pocket, she walked out of the office and tried to her dorm room.

Both beds were bare, linens in the closest, so Hideko tossed her bag onto the right one and walked out. Principals, like social workers, had spies. He'd know if she didn't go to that thing, and she needed to keep the staff off her back.

It wasn't hard to find, really. She just followed the loud bass heavy music until she found herself in a large room full of people who were entirely too comfortable with each other. Navigating the throng of people, Hideko spotted a couch with an empty seat. And even better, the other occupant of the couch was putting out a really impressive 'bored to tears, don't bother me' vibe that even she hesitated. But only for a second.

Sitting down next to the purple skinned boy, Hideko scowled at the uniform skirt and tried a few different sitting positions until she no longer felt awkward with the damn thing.

"If I say Hi will that fulfill my social obligation?" she said to the boy, thinking only on how long she'd have to stay.

"Tango!" Ocnar shouted as the woman revealed herself, flinging some bolt of energy or another that missed them.

Crossing the room, Ocnar aimed and slammed his rifle into the woman's jaw, hopefully knocking her to the ground. Moose approached in a half circle pattern, so that he didn't cross Knuckle's line of fire, who was sighted in on the woman.

Moose drew a set of plastic zip ties that they used to restrain people. As soon as Ocnar had the woman on the ground, he'd be in and assisting, ready to secure her arms, and find a gag.

Samwise and Rick kept their weapons trained down the hallway, waiting for the clear, or backup sign from the entry team.

The stack of mercenaries, quite used to ignoring battle going on around them, finally managed to find the maintenence closet.

Ocnar spotted the unconscious men, but waited for Moose and Knuckles to get to his back before they entered the room, Ocnar sweeping on the left, Moose the right. Knuckles began to check underneath any space large enough to hide a human being.

---

Upstairs, Balgair finally muttered something coherent, "Sweet chocolately Christ, my head hurts..."

Dr. Grimwald glanced at Sev, who had not moved from his position at Balgair's side. Shrugging, the doctor set down a bottle of pain pills, "I'm going on my rounds, those should hold her. I'll check back in a few minutes.

Ocnar lead the stack of Mercenaries as they traveled down the staircase. Wrapped in shadows and stealth, the Special Ops soldier set himself apart from the group, knowing that if he tripped any traps, the others would have time to dodge.

Samwise and the grunts: Moose, Knuckles, and Rick moved without the subtlety of their pointman but a random passer by would be just as impressed with the amount of firepower the group displayed.

As they walked deeper into the basement, tracing electrical lines, the group thought they might have heard scuffling going on somewhere in the basement, but didn't let it deter them from their mission.

Balgair's doctor was an older gentleman with salt and pepper hair. His nametag said Dr. T. Grimwald. The T. was for Thaddeus, and it was hard to tell if his aire of 'seen it all and am not impressed' was because he was a doctor in Paragon City, or because the money he came from was older than dirt. He examined the wounded mercenary captain scribbling things into the paper on his clipboard smartly.

"Looks like a rather severe concussion. You say she hit her head?"

Samwise nodded, "Boss is tough, you know, but the lizard man knocked her around with his bubbles and she smacked into the bridge."

Dr. Grimwald noted the scenario, 'patient was impacted by a projected force bubble, and collided with metal support structure of Valor bridge. Check for Tetanus. Likely double impact caused disorientation.'

"The head wound is largely superficial, but there is a chance it could be more severe than appears. I should like to monitor her overnight, and see that she gets bedrest for some days after."

Samwise shifted from one foot to the other, a rather distressing sign for such a figure. "Boss won't like that."

"Patients rarely do. This would be easier if the lights were on, not that I don't appreciate the lamps." He gestured to Sev and Ocnar, who were holding their machine gun flashlights over Balgair.

Grimwald looked the mercenaries over, "In fact, the switchboard is in the basement. Why don't you take your merry band and see if you can turn it back on?"

Samwise nodded enthusiastically. "That's a good idea. C'mon guys! Err...Sev. You stay with Boss."

Sev nodded and watched as his brothers in arms collected their guns and walked towards the basement stairs.

I'm all for it. Could be lots of fun.

Samwise gestured to Rick to take the receptionist's form, who quickly filled in the blank spaces. Most of the information he was putting in was false, excepting the pertinant medical information.

Over by the doorway, Sev and Ocnar looked out into street again. They shared a shrug, and went back to watching with their machine guns in their hands.

((Out of town for the weekend, move them to the waiting/treatment area if needed.))

Given their differences, I would doubt that Statesman and Recluse would ever just sit and chat, but in that vein, a scenario where they are combating the 'larger threat' (Perhaps Tyrant, Rikti, or Hamidon) together and make it apparant that they know each other so well even after all these years I imagine a back to back style where they fight around each other in some masterfully choreographed sequence, which would end with Statesman saying something akin "it wasn't so bad fighting together again, yadda yadda" to which Recluse replies "You're still an idiot."

Samwise looked at the receptionist, then down at Balgair, still cradled in his arms. The mastermind's eyes fluttered open but quickly shut as she mumbled, "Crazy..."

A frantic look that was unsettling on the Commando's over masculine features gave way to Samwise's worried babbling, "She took a nasy hit on the head. The other guy too." As if to indicate which one, Moose held Charlie out to the receptionist.

"She's saying nonsense and bleeding, and I'm not supposed to be in charge, and..." What do I do? She's the boss!

Sev and Ocnar took positions inside the doorframe, checking outside to what was going on there.

"We can pay. But someone has to fix the boss." Samwise finished.

The two special ops soldiers, Sev and Ocnar, dragged Moose and Knuckles out of the water. Standing them up with a glower unseen behind their masks and goggles the two charred mercenaries tried to look chagrined, but only managed sheepish.

The medic, Rick, handled Charlie off to Moose, and began to move towards the hospital, his small machine gun on point. Ocnar and Sev filed in behind him, forming a stack that approached the hospital as their commando carried their delirious boss behind them.

"Could just be a concussion." Rick said as they crossed the street, "But there's some blood back there, just to..."

They held up as they approached, noticing the same lack of lights that Acid Zero noted. Cautious to a fault, the mercenaries slowed down outside, also taking in the evidence of whatever Acid had called in for back up.

Samwise considered starting the fight they had back on the bridge, but without Balgair to deploy her kit and provide tactical coordination, they'd probably get crushed.

So, the commando ignored the reptilian and the hero confronting him. The massive soldier walked up to the doors and tried to push one open with his boot while the other mercenaries formed a defensive ring around him.

Of the mercenaries Balgair employed, Moose and Knuckles were, as their names implied, not the brightest of the bunch. They made up for their dull wit with excessive enthusiasm, but that did not spare them when Acid's large robot doused their area with flame gel.

Even before the stream finished deploying, Moose and Knuckles had been caught on fire, and were employing the traditional Stop Drop and Roll method that they remembered watching on Sesame Street.

Harder to see, and with more mind of taking cover behind large objects, Ocnar and Sev were spared being set directly alight, but ceased firing to duck behind a ruined car. Taking the opportunity behind cover, the two special ops soldiers tried to stealth away from the robot.

The remaining mercenaries gave up on their shooting when Acid Zero and the congressman dissapeared, the large Commando running over to Balgair, noting with worry that she was incoherent and babbling about crazy people.

"Oh Fooey." The massive mercenary commando said. "Better get Boss to the chop shop."

Picking up their bruised leader, Samwise noted another man unconscious by their leader. Pointing, the commando directed the medic to pick up Charlie.

To the four mercenaries getting slapped around by giant robots, Samwise commanded, "We are leaving. Now, where is that hospital?"

Crazy people.

This town was full of crazy people.

The words just wouldn't leave her addled skull. For all Balgair knew, she might be actually saying them.

She possessed no sense of magic to discern what was happening by the vehicle, but that sixth sense that gave her bad feelings when an op was about to go belly up was tingling.

It was most definately not a pleasant tingle.

Not even bothering to tell her mercs to cease firing at Acid Zero--maybe one would get lucky and kill the lizardy *******, Balgair dragged herself behind some form of cover, it might have been a vehicle once, or maybe a dumpster.

Pulling her night vision goggles off her face revealed blue/green eyes and a purple X tattoo across her face. Bloody hair stuck to her goggles and she hissed as she yanked them off.

As she hid/recovered behind the cover, Balgair noted Charlie's unconscious form. Fortunately for him, he was within arm's reach, so she pulled most of him behind the cover with her.

Least she could do with all these crazy people running around.

She didn't see it, but something hit Balgair right in the chest, sending her flying back--over the murky circle barricade this time. Landing roughly on her back, the mercenary commander rolled on the ground until she slammed into one of Valor Bridge's support cables.

Vision fuzzy, and feeling numb all over, Balgair knew that her Mercs had been similarily ejected. On her radio, she issued commands, "Screw the circle, Kill that @#$!% lizard man! Immobs first, and aim, he's a force fielder!"

"What about the target?" Sev asked.

"Doesn't matter, just stop that iguana!"

Moose, Knuckles, Sev, and Ocnar all ceased firing at the Circle and looked down the street at Acid. Reloading fresh clips into their assault rifles, they opened a new barrage at the Khelari.

In a few seconds, Samwise would pick himself up and whip out his flamethrower.

Not satisfied, Balgair shouted, "He's got the congressman, stop him!" hopefully catching the attention of the heroes present.

Still not sure of her own aim, Balgair tried to stand herself up, feeling for her triage station in her kit.

Crazy people.

This town was full of crazy people.

With people screaming about cake and metal spikes flying through the air, Balgair couldn't help but repeat that mantra to herself over and over again as she slung her assault rifle and drew a pistol gripped sawed off shotgun from her hip.

Her force field generator shrieked an audiable warning as the field integrity began to collapse under an acidic spray. Ignoring the device, Balgair let out a few blasts into whatever Circle she could see, but for the most part let more martially inclined interlopers do the fighting.

"Samwise, Rick, Take the truck, I'll meet you there. "Sev, get over to the firefight."

Knowing already that this was going to hurt, Balgair charged through the black ring that the circle demons had formed, gasping as the darkness sucked something out of her.

Stumbling as she pushed through it, she heard her Force Field Generator explode as it came into contact with the magic forces.

The lizard looking man next to the estate vehicle looked familiar. Balgair didn't keep such good track of who's who amongst the meta human community--something that she'd have to work on if she was going to keep on taking jobs here in this part of the world.

Still, she wasn't about to let anyone walk away with the target.

"I swear to god, if I was double booked..." she muttered as she limped toward Acid, only giving a half glance to Charlie.

Her Commando and the medic, Samwise and Rick, stumbled through the darkness, worse for wear than she was, but both were alive. Brandishing her shotgun, Balgair spoke to Acid, "I didn't just mean the Circle should step away pal."

M221 led the way, his massive form easy to spot even amidst the occasional patch of low floating smoke. Obviously not a unit designed for stealth, M221 tromped along, each footfall sounding out among the empty streets.

Whatever offensive the zombies would be mounting next, it appeared that it would take them some time for their controller to reorganize them. Either that was good because there just that few zombies left to organize, or it was horribly bad for any number of reasons. While M221 was of the belief that it never hurt to hope for the best, he did realize it was more practical--if depressing--to assume that the next wave would be a terrible thing indeed.

((Might as well call this the halfway point of the zombie mission))

M221E hovered down to the ground, setting a stabilizing arm on Alex. Calculating the distance, she prepared another energy extracting manuever--one that would rejuvinate exhausted allies.

But, as she engaged her energy manipulators, M221 crushed the last standing zombie with its mighty glowing hands.

Defeated foes provided no energy, and M221E watched as the last zombie fell to the ground, shaking her head. Time and time again she explained the nature of her abilities to the large robot, but it never seemed to sink in. Holding back a sigh, M221E scanned the area around them for more combatants. Once again, there was a lull while the zombies regrouped for their next attack.

"That was impressive!" M221 exclaimed, giving Alex a large thumbs up. M221E watched as gore flicked off of its thumb as it did so. How...macrabe.

"We should advance while there is a lull in the attackers. If the simulation is accurate, you will have to defeat all of the population of Paragon City before they stop coming." M221E offered.

((I'm away till Sunday Evening. Peace folks.))

"My God. There are two of them." M221E muttered as it watched Alex and M221 rush into the zombies.

A part of her was of the mind that she should let them get overwhelmed by zombies out of spite, but Alex was a human, or human enough to trigger her first law override.

Angry at not being able to get her spite, M221E growled, "If I ever meet Asimov, I'm going to punch him in the face. But not hard enough to hurt him mind you."

When Michael Velsnir designed the M221 series, several sources were the inspiration for their design and programming. Earlier models like M221 were given the Three Laws of Robotics verbatim along with an overdose of anime influenced passion for abstract concepts like "justice". The inevitable conflicts lead to a break down of the large robot's artificial brain and since its recovery, it has been able to ignore the laws of its programming at will. Stronger safeguards were placed in the later models that followed the spirit of the laws, with several caveats for those undergoing criminal acts. When those restrictions were combined with M221E's personality matrix, it made her an angry, spiteful robot who had little choice but to save people who might not be worth saving.

Targeting a zombie that stood inbetween the two combatants, M221E transfused some of its energy into a more potent energy that reconstructed cells on humans and would multiply M221's nanite reassembly system.

Still centralized between the two, M221E then activated her Energy Converter, reducing enemy destructive power and giving it to her allies.

Finally, She targeted a large 'boss' zombie and exhausted its own energy reserves with a large electrical discharge and an application of her energy altering powers. Satisfied with the results, M221E began to use her single target electrical powers to finish off weakened zombies.

M221 had a knack for making itself a target. Being large helped, but what kept the minions of evil coming back was the appearance that he was actually getting hurt. It was easy to dent and scrape his armored hide and could take quite a few rends and tears before system operations were compromised. With a support unit like M221E backing him up, M221 was capable of sustained fighting for days.

Unfortunately, These new zombies, larger and more powerful than the endless horde that seeped out of every nook and cranny were also more sturdy than they appeared. Even as M221 struck them, their bones did not crack in brittleness, nor did their flesh tear. It was disconcerting. Perhaps longer exposure to Alex's radiation would make them more susceptible to his energy laced fists.

"The mastermind behind this zombie plot is more clever than given credit for. By engaging in combat with the lessor foes, we think these new ones will be just as easily vanquished, giving them time to regroup. A fiendish strategem." M221 commented as his fists pounded on their flesh, having no lungs to circulate breath, its voice was always a steady pace apart from the motion of the rest of its body.

"We are shielded from most forms of energy emission, no need to hold back!" M221 said, its voice slightly jovial as it charged forward after the knocked down zombies.

The Titainium Titan waded into the group, punching the zombies that tried to stand up and stepping on the ones that were too slow to do so. When he was surrounded by the zombies, the larger ones in the back raised their fists which burst into a black flames as they struck the large robot.

"Grrrr..." M221E shook her head, "I swear to the maker, he must think his armor is actually made of plot protection..."

Still standing next to Alex, M221E reached out and pulled the mystic energy off of one of the large zombies--her Inobtanium converter manipulated that energy into a form she could distribute to herself and nearby allies--in this case, Alex.

Holding out both hands, a large bolt of electricity jumped from her fists and into the horde, finishing off a wounded undead.

90.91%

I expected perfection, got this instead. Story of my life.

Landing on the ground with a loud 'thud', M221 extended its large hand to Alex, unconcerned that its hand was oversized compared to its upper arms. The forearm sections where M221 generated energy capacity for its attacks were as large as a small human's torso and its hands matched in size, a closed fist the size of a human's head.

M221 Introduced himself and M221E, doing its best to avoid reciting his own press release and product information line.

"If you find it troubling that our names are so similar, please refer to her as Epsilon."

"I was informed that the mission parameters are to rescue the 3 remaining humans in Atlas Park. As so far, we have not discovered them."

M221E scoffed lightly, "Maybe you need to wipe the zombie gore off your optics."

M221 turned to stare at M221E. It was hard to tell if it was an angry glare or not, but it lasted several seconds before M221 shook his head and turned back to Alex, "Would you like to accompany us while we search these ruins, making sure to eliminate as many of these vile monsters as possible?"

While the discussion moved on, a second wave started forming up, several meters away. Though still mostly regular zombies, there were two in the back that stood two heads taller than the rest of them. Their eyes were brightly shining with some arcane force, but something was holding them back.

M221E hovered off the ground until she could tap M221 on the shoulder, "There's more of them coming."

The support robot then applied an energy stimulant to M221 and Alex. It boosted stamina and speed through friction manipulation.

((Welcome to the zombie apocolypse Rebel))

The M221 series had been designed with the most realistic emotion engine simulation in mind. Their creater had not wanted to fall under the trap of creating a super powered robot whose use of logic will drive them to destroying humanity. That he forgot to put a 'do not destroy humanity' clause in their programming atested to his belief that the emotion engine would work.

So, it M221 was not surprised when his diagnostic systems reported back to him that his emotion was now glee and the massive robot's vocal pattern changed appropriately.

Already covered in enough gore to dull the bright blue finish on its armor, M221 was unconcerned by looking as if he had wandered out of a slaughter house.

Surrounded by a few dozen zombies, uselessly breaking their nails and teeth upon the robot's nigh impervious armor, M221 cackled.

"You like that, do you? My armor is rated up to 12 angry oxen and a rabid badger!"

Meanwhile, M221E kept a careful watch on the crowd around M221. It was optimum positioning for an energy transference, but something was drawing her attention away from the battle.

Due to a design flaw in M221E's programming, her emotion generator was weighted towards criticism and irritation, So when she tried to bring up a map and was unable she cursed quietly the post apoplyptic simulation.

So, in as abrubt a manner as she could manage, she flew over M221's head and activated her energy transference capacitor. Drawing large amounts of combat energy from their foes, transfering it into combat power for herself and M221.

"Take this! My love, my anger, and all of my sorrow!" M221 screamed as it raised its hands slowly before slamming them into a rather brutish zombie, crushing its chest cavity and exploding the remains. Even the tough zombies were not well equipped. Almost not worth the combat experience files he was accumulating. M221 made a note to check with the unit's designer.

M221E Destroyed the remaining zombies with two large Static discharges. "There is another person over there." the smaller robot pointed.

"An Objective?"

"Negative. It would appear to be an actual person. Not that we would have to make this distinction if we were--"

"Nag, nag." M221 carelessly waved a hand, "But we shall investigate."

The zombies had seemed to notice how untasty the two metal heroes were, and seemed to be shuffling towards Alex, the omnipresent desire for flesh driving their actions.

Spotting the heroine locked in combat, M221 waved its giant hand, "Ahoy there fellow champion of Justice!"