((Ok, first off, an appology. I haven't written in years, and I think this became kind of long winded so I'm sorry if you get bored.
I just wanted to try and get the scoop on how the Rikti affected different countries, and how it affected the people who had no homes to hide in, and also, explain the origin of my main toon. Anyway, if you can make it all the way through, I hope you enjoy. Also, sorry for any spelling mistakes.))
So, lets get started, can you tell us your name please?
Um, what like my real name? Or my hero name? what?
Whichever you feel comfortable with.
Oh, well I guess I can tell you my real name, I didn't tick the annonymous box when I signed up to be a hero. My name's Jamie Tide, otherwise known as Kryoman. *he smiles lightly*
Pleased to meet you Kryoman.
You too mate, when I saw in the paper that you guys were looking for people to interview who weren't from Paragon I figured why not, ya know? People around here got hit pretty hard, but they weren't the only ones, we got it pretty bad too.
And by we you mean...?
Oh yeah, sorry. England, or more specifically London.
Well, why don't you start by telling us about invasion day where you were?
Hmmmm. I was living on the streets at the time, so I didnt have access to the TV like most people did, I learned most of the news from the other homeless folk.
Homeless? How old were you at the time?
Well, I'm 24 now, so I was about 18 when it all kicked off. And as for being homeless, well when you live in a council estate in London with no dad and a mum struggeling to cope with two kids on her own, and over the course of six months or so your 13 year old boy starts to develop powers you pretty much freak out. She got sent to the nuthouse and me and Claire, my sister got put into foster care. Back then they put all the powered foster kids in a group home, wouldn't let me see my sister, so I thought **** it. I ran away, lived rough right up until the invasion.
Sorry, please continue.
No need to be sorry. Anyway.
Like I said, I was on the streets at the time, when suddenly over the Thames, a great big red disc appeared, bloody huge it was. Me and some of the others thought we'd get a closer look. We didn't really care about what it was, we just figured that the press would want to interview a bunch of homeless people about it, see how it affected us, and they always used to give us a few sarnies ya know? Sweeten the deal.
Anyway, on the way there we saw no end of those red *******'s floating in the sky, small ones at ground level, the coppers were going mental moving people along, telling them to go home. Thing is where do you tell a homeless person to go? The shelters were full, and no one really gave two ****'s about us. Fine with us through right? No one ever has.
I remember the majority of us split up, some of us wanted to try the shelter in Whitechapel, rumour was they'd opened up another temporary shelter in a disused warehouse. Me and this kid we're the only two left on the streets. Jenny her name was, about 15. I'd told her loads of times to go with the others, but she didn't want to be there. Despite all the fear and confusion on the streets the shelters we're still pretty dangerous places, junkies and that. No place for a kid *he shakes his head slowly*
Anyway, there we were, two people alone in the world, but surrounded by people. Weird eh? She said she'd feel safer by the coppers, so we went down to one of the police roadblocks. They'd set up right infront of one of the ground level discs, of course they weren't gonna let a bunch of people hang around, so they kept moving 'em on. Me and Jenny decided to sneak down one of the alleys near the roadblock, that way we'd be able to stay there. Not be seen right? Looking back at it we should have gone to the shelter, but she said the coppers made her feel safer.
Were there any heroes on the streets with you?
'Course there was. They were as paniced as the rest of us, but they put on a brave face. They had to. The greatest of 'em all though. He was over here with you lot. Im not bad mouthin' him or nothin'. I'm glad he was here, otherwise things woulda been a lot worse.
The greatest of them all?
Yeah, Hero 1. There were others of course, like The British Empire, he was on the streets helping people get home, clearing any car accidents up. Westend Lucy, she was there as a police advisor, using her magics to try and see what those things were.
I didn't know any of this at the time 'course. I found it all out later. At the time I was just tryin' to make Jenny feel safe. So we stayed by the cops.
Please continue.
Well, I dunno what time it was, we coulda been there for an hour, or for three, but we heard some of the coppers talking about some geezer over 'ere in Paragon going through one of the red things, people freaking out about how he didn't come back. They went on and on about it, how we'd sent some probe through and all it had recorded was screamin'. I dunno. Jenny started to panic. I tried to calm her down, but the poor kid just sobbed and sobbed. She passed out in the end, hyperventilating or some ****.
And when did the alien invaders first make themselves known?
Damn. I dunno. Coulda been ten minutes, coulda been hours. All I know is, when it all got worse I was still cradeling Jenny. Poor kid. *he shakes his head again* One of the coppers started shouting, I couldn't hear what was being said, but I knew it wasn't good. I put my jumper on the floor and laid jenny on it, and covered her with my jacket, and went to have a gander.
And what did you see?
****in' 'ell. It was scary mate. About ten of these things stepped out of the dics.
The Rikti?
Yeah. Ugly lookin' *******'s they were too. Armed to the teeth with ray guns. ****in' ray guns! The coppers didn't know what to do, what can you do in that sort of situation? One copper just stared, he was the first to go. No warning, no shouting, one minute he was there, the next he was just a pile of burnt meat and smoke.
That's when the screamin' started.
How did the remaining police react?
They died. I mean, how the **** were they supposed to fight back? Coppers don't carry guns in England, so they were pretty much screwed from the beginning. I don't think any of that lot got out alive, but to their credit they tried, they didnt run.
What happened next?
*He looks down at the ground* My first instinct was to scarper ya know? I'd done it before at the home. But, I dunno. I couldn't leave Jenny there in the alley. She reminded me of my sister, she needed help yeah?
I ran down there, hopin' to christ that none of them ugly *******'s had seen me. When I got there Jenny was already awake, poor thing was scared outta her mind. She tried to ask me what was going on but I couldn't find the words. How can you explain to a 15 year old kid that ten foot away there were coppers being incinerated by ****in' ray guns?
I picked her up and I ran. Clear out the otherside of the alley. That side wasn't much cop either. Great big bloody tanks were spewing outta the discs, blowing up cars and buildings like they were nowt. I ran. I ran and ran and ran. I had no ****in' clue where I was going. I had nowhere to go. I saw the military send in it's troops, and heroes alike. Trying to stop those ****ers from killing everyone.
And how did your heroes fare against the alien invaders?
Pretty much the same as yours did. Alot of good people died that first day, alot of street heroes died facing down those *******'s. Me and Jenny seen The British Empire die. He was a good bloke ya know? A Good friend of Hero 1. And he gave his life making sure people could get off the streets. I dunno how the rest of 'em were doing though. I know it sounds *****y but I didn't really care. I was just worried about me and the kid.
And where did you go?
Well, I figured I'd try to get into one of the makeshift shelters they'd put up, they'd forced everyone into the London Underground since them things were used in world war II as shelters. But we never made it.
What happened?
I ran round this one corner, and there they were. Twenty of 'em, just standing there plain as day. A tank was on fire behind 'em and the poor bloke inside was screamin', but they just stood there, emotionless. Then one of em shot me, right in the chest.
How did you survive that?
Well... *he looks down and rubs his eyes gently* ... I was still carryin' Jenny.
If you need a minute...
No no. I'm fine. I woke up what must have been a few seconds later. And I was still holdin' her. 'Cept now she was just smokin' meat. Poor kid never even had time to scream. I was alright, I mean, my powers make me pretty tough, even back then before I used 'em everyday, I wasn't even really hurt, just winded. But she was gone. How ****in' fair is that? They didn't even care.
And what happened next?
I don't even remember mate. All I can remember is the cold and the sound of crunching bone and metal.
You don't remember what happened?
Nope. I woke up in the AnE on the other side of the city, I'd been brought there by some passing hero. They'd seen what happened. Apparantly I'd gone nuts. After Jenny died my powers came to full bloom. I'd taken the lot down, froze 'em like ice cubes and smashed 'em to peices. Broke danm near every bone in body doin' it too.
And someone had seen this happening and rescued you?
Yeah, I don't even know the guys name. I never met him again, some nurse told me what he'd told her, so I don't even know how much of it's true.
And what happened then?
Not much really to be honest. I was tucked away in the hostpital for the rest of the war. I heard some news come through now and then, but I was passing out every ten minutes, shock and anger and grief and broken bones'll do that to ya.
When I came round for good it was all done. I was told about Hero 1 and the rest of 'em giving their lives to save us, I got all healed up, and then they booted me out back into the streets.
Where did you go from there?
Well, the country was in a pretty big mess. The shelters were crammed full, and the Rikti as I found out they were called were holed up underground doing raids against our military bases. We'd won the war, but the danger was still there. I'm not gonna lie, I really couldn't have cared less at the time. I was so angry, so upset that I couldn't care about anythin'.
I went back onto the streets, did some pretty bad things to stay alive, stole, hurt people. I was lashing out at a world where a 15 year old girl could be murdered in the streets and no one was even lookin' for her.
How did you get from there to here though?
Like I said, I was angry and back on the streets. I saw alot of old faces that had made it through the war ok, and it made me mad that they'd made it and Jenny hadn't. I went back to one of the old houses where we all used to stay, and I found Jennys old makeshift bed.
It was probably wrong of me, but I went through her stuff. I found a letter she'd wrote to her mum and never sent. It was all about how she was ok, and fine, and they she'd run away cos her dad had been touching her up, and she needed to get away, and how she was safe with a bunch of other people blah blah blah.
That's when I broke down. I figured out there and then that I wasn't mad at the world. I was mad at me for lettin' her die. If I'd have used my powers sooner she'd have made it. I could fly for ****'s sake, even back then. But I wanted to fit in, I wanted to belong. Even homeless people are scared of super powers, and these people were my family as much as my mum and sister, I didn't want my family to be scared of me.
So I decided to fix things, to make 'em better for other people like myself. I set up a shelter in the eastend, it was pretty easy at first, I used an abandoned building and set up shop there. Then when I'd got enough people in there I applied to a grant, made things legit. Got it done up all nice like. I took in about a hundred or so folks off the streets. Helped 'em out.
And how did you get from running a homeless shelter to being a Paragon City hero?
Well, about a year down the line, the guilt started to get to me again. I knew that Jenny wanted to send that letter to her mum, and I knew that her mum deserved to know what had happened to her, and if I got the chance I would kick her ****in' dad's [censored] while I was at it.
So I found out Jennys letter and looked up the address, it was some little doss hole town in Leicestershire. Took me about an hour to build up the courage to knock on the door. Her mum answered almost straight away but it seemed like forever stood on that street. I dunno how she knew, but she did, as soon as she opened the door she burst into tears. We talked for hours and I gave her the letter. Turns out she booted Jenny's dad out a couple of weeks after Jenny had left.
I told her the whole story, about how I'd failed her, and how I couldn't live with myself over it, and she told me how she felt. It was very theraputic to get it all off my chest. Im sure she felt the same. She didn't hate me though, I figured she would but she didn't. She actually thanked me for being there for her daughter when she was scared, and she thanked me for bringing her the letter... we still keep in touch.
And that's when you decided to become a hero?
Kinda. I went back to the shelter to start off. Things weren't the same though. I was helpin' but not as much as I could ya know? I had these powers, and I wasn't usin' 'em.
Things got better in England, we managed to get rid of all our Rikti. Took hero squads months to sweep the sewers and underground bases out, but they did it. I mean, Englands pretty small, not too many places to hide ya know?. I kept thinkin' to myself, what could I do to help?
That's when I read up about the true fate of Hero 1 and the others, and how things were still pretty bad over here. We don't have all the gangs you guys do, and apart from the odd super villian trying to knock off a security van now and then we don't have much going on.
So I came here. I thought where best could I use my powers to help? This seemed like the right place. You lot have it tough, and there are more problems here than in most places in the world.
So you came here and become a hero?
Yep. Registered my first day, before I'd even got a place to live. Made my first arrest three hours later. Felt good too. Some poor lady being mugged. She sends me Christmas cards now.
And what about the shelter?
I still run it, but in name only really. It's doing good too. We're helpin' alot of people.
Have you got anything else to add?
Yeah actually. Alot of people critiscise some of the heroes on the streets of Paragon and in the rest of the world, but they need to rememeber, that beneath their masks, or helmets, or suits of armour, that most of 'em are just regular people too. They do what they can 'cos they can. Most of em don't even get paid for it, they spend all day at work and all night on the streets, no sleep, no rest. Paragon City is a City of Heroes, and you should be thankful for it.
Thank you very much for your time today Kryoman.
No probs mate.
