Lord_Raymond

Raymond took a look around the group.

"Eegads, our number have grown larger than I recall, and I haven't even introduced myself," said Lord Raymond as he bowed low. "I am the Courageous Majestic Lord Raymond, or just Lord Raymond. I am a member...former member of the British Royal Family. I was incharge of a large portion of the military as well 8th in line for King. I was at a presentation of new technologies by Crey Industries, when an item "malfunctioned" and exploded killing all except myself. The explosion gave me bizzare abilities including, flight, the ability to travel without friction, teleportation of friends, and the power to command the earth to rise up around me. When my family saw me they were disgusted, I had not realized that the explosion had also made me very short and badly disfigured my face. Not to mention how upsetting the powers were to my family. Then they banished me and I came here to regain my honor and to regain my family's love. This is my story. What is yours?" finished Raymond, motioning to the newcomers to tell him there stories.

OOC:Sucks that I can only post in the mornings and at night. I get left behind a lot.

----After Alan had kicked him----

"Strong Kick there Alan, you seem a bit tense though. Don't let anger get the best of you. That goes for everyone. The key to taking a hit, or even a bullet is to focus on your overall goal. I don't mean your goal for the fight, I mean for your life. My goal is to be accepted home again. So everytime I fight I focus on my goal and you can't keep me down. Even when an opponent shoots me while I am not using my armor, ol' chaps, even if I bleed, I will finish what I have started."

Raymond continued to talk of self defense for a while after that...

----Now----

"Its all our jobs to help people...However you should take the barrier down, you need healing whether we know this chap or not. Speakin' of which, Psyosis, where are you from, and what brings you to our group on this fine day?"

OOC: What times do you all generally post?I want to know when I can actually stay a part of whatever is going on. I only post at like 5:30-5:45 CST or anytime from 4:00-11:00 CST.

"Greetings one and all," said Lord Raymond as he approached the group. "Are we going to be having a spot of training today chaps? I'd be happy to teach you all how to take a hit without expeiriencing much pain. That is one thing I have been able to do since long before getting powers."

Lord Raymond was in an etraoridnarily good mood, for him that is, and was greatly looking forward to the days training.

"Go ahead someone, hit me."

OOC: Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I am still here.
Also I have decided that Rook is going to head back to England to spread the news of Lord Raymond's fake death.

"It's been good to see you mee Lord, I promise to make sure everyone knows that you are not dead." said Rook

"Aye lad, and it has been good to see you too. And I thank you for all you have done for me. Do not be afraid to come back to visit from time to time. Goodbye" said Lord Raymond going into a sweeping bow.

"Goodbye, Lord Raymond," said Rook mimicing the motion.

Lord Raymond then headed out to the Drill Field to await the day's activities.

Franklin bowed low, much like Raymond often does, and said "Pleased to meet you to Mr. Shott."

Lord Raymond cheerfully replied "Yes those are my dogs, but I don't think they should be outfitted with weaponry. They are dangerous enough as it is," he said patting the dogs on their heads,"But thank you for the offer just the same. It is nice to finally have some friends from home."

After Buck and Tommy had left Raymond turned to Franklin and said "Here Franklin," tossing the rook back, "if any of my villains saw me walking with a kid they might try to abduct you so you may want to be in your stronger form."

"Right me Lord" said Franklin as his voice suddenly changed from the young sounding teenage voice to the deep voice of Guardian Rook.

"All right Rook, lets be on our way. Come along now, Tank, Bull" said Lord Raymond as he scooped up the two large dogs and flew them home."

As he landed at the Academy Raymond realized that Rook was not behind him. It then dawned on Raymond that Franklin could not fly, so Raymond quickly locked onto the Rook life signature and Teleported him to the Academy.

"Sorry...forgot you can't fly."

Lord Raymond got up from the ground tired and sore. He checked on his dogs. They were okay. Its pretty tough to keep a 230 pound dog down let alone two of them.

"Good chaps, you two are," said Lord Raymond to the dogs.Then, turning to the new comer who had only swung his hammer once and then became too tired to carry on the fight much longer, he said "Well who are you then?"

"I am the Guardian Rook" the man bellowed once more. "But you Lord Raymond may recognize me better like this..."

The man tossed a chess rook at Lord Raymond which Raymond caught and looked at.

"This is just an ordinary chess piece..." said Raymond tailing off at the end. He had looked up and in the place where the man was a teenage boy stood.

"Greetings me Lord!" shouted the young irish lad.

"Well I'll be Mary Queen of Scots, its my Butler's child Franklin. What the devil are you doing here?"

"I ran away to find you after the explosion because I didn't believe in the stories the family told everyone. I knew you had to be alive. I didn't think I would find ye so soon me Lord."

"Well thats all good and well but how did you become a surly man with supernatural powers."

"Oh right, I was kidnapped while trying to find you by a Circle of Thorns Mage. He said that if I beat him in a best of three series of chess he would let me go. I noticed he was cheating after the first game because he was using magic pieces, so I subtly switched colors with him after the first game. However because I was not magical meself as soon as I grabbed one of the magic pieces the soul of a previously defeated person became infused with me. The peson in the rook happened to be a superhero named The Guardian Rook. After being infused with this hero I defeated the Mage and freed the other souls of the pieces. And so then I came to the City of Heroes, Paragon City. While watching the news I heard your name mentioned and came to find you and well me Lord, here I am."

"Come back with me to the Academy I am sure there is much to talk about."

OOC: Rook's flaw is his neivity because he is a teen. Just so you know.

"Heh," Lord Raymond laughed getting up from the ground, slightly in pain,"Congratulations, that Scythe is pretty sharp. Lucky for you I don't have an armor to protect against negative energy yet, but don't worry, I'll work one up for you if you are fit to fight again another time. However if you want a new arm you are going to have to swing a lot harder than that."

Lord Raymond pushed off from the ground and brought his axe quickly accross the chest of Reaper Man. "Lets see you blcok this," he said as he swung.

Tank and Bull were hurt and ran away with their tails between their legs, but were blocked by a very tall man with a Rook on his chest.

"I am the Guardian Rook!" he bellowed in his deep voice. "I have come to assit you!"

Rook formed a solid Rock Hammer in his hand and swung hard at the ground forming an increasingly large crack moving towards Reaper Man.

Lord Raymond was walking his dogs, and was very very happy, when he heard a bit of a struggle starting up.

"Lets go see whats up shall we boys." said Lord Raymond talking to Tank and Bull.

When they arrived on the scene Lord Raymond could tell that something was not right and so could the dogs who took off towards the fight and began biting at the Reaper Man with their massive jaws.

"Well I suppose if they are going to fight I should as well," said Lord Raymond as he bowed low to his opponent as fencers do. As he bowed he became incrusted in all his familiar armors because he did not know which armor he needed for this little venture.

"Feel the Power of My Glory!" yelled Lord Raymond as he jumped into the air, axe over his head, to come down on Reaper Man.

Wow that is a really good question.

I think it means people will be grounded and restricted to Spring or Power Slide as the only fom of travel. But I don't know for sure.

"W.T. Sherman once said 'War is hell.' There is not a statement more true than that. People die in war. My only desire is that their loss in not in vain. With that I am going to leave. I'll see you all back at the academy."

Lord Raymond left the ice cream shop and went back to the Academy. Upon his arrival he was barraged by screams from Corpral Punishment.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN SOLDIER! I HAVE BEEN WAITING ON YOU ALL DAY! DROP AND GIVE ME FIFTY!" shouted the Corpral.

Lord Raymond grabbed Punishment by his shirt and pulled him close to his face and whispered, "Listen hear good sir. I am here to be taught and to teach, I am not here for military training. So until you get as far in your military as I did in mine I will not be doing any number of push-ups for you. I am whispering this because I have respect for you; I think its time you learn to respect others. A teacher who does not respect his pupil, is no teacher."

Lord Raymond let go of C. Punishment and turned to walk away.

"Lord Raymond!" Punishment shouted. Raymond turned around and said "Yes?"

The Corporal continued, "A man came by here earlier today and dropped a package off in your room. He said he was a friend of yours. Sounded like there were animals in the box."

Lord Raymond saluted Corporal Punishment and said,"Thank you for relaying that information sir," and then took off excitedly to his room.

Upon entering the room he ripped open the box which was extraordinarily large,and had air holes in it and found his two Newfoundlands(really big dogs for those who don't know), Tank and Bull, from England.

"How did you two get here. There is no way my family would havee sent them here. And who was that man who left you here?" said Raymond, talking to the dogs which were 2 times the size of Raymond since the explosion.

Lord Raymond was overjoyed to have his dogs back but was slightly puzzled by how they arrived, and became nervous that someone was stalking him.

"I can't wait to show the others!"

"I don't think that you should offer your opinions of Sartain just yet. Personally, I think she has had a rough past much like all of us, so she probably just has trouble with other people sometimes. I know that I have trouble with people quite often. You should always treat a lady with respect, even a lady who would prefer not to be thought of as a lady. But in response to Alan's earlier question, I am honestly am worried about it not having an affect. You joked about me not having any fears left, but that may not be too far from the truth. Why yes, now that I think of it that is the truth. All through my childhood and even my adulthood my greatest fear has been losing the love and affection of my family. That may sound silly, some people think royal families have no affection for eachother, but thats not true. I loved each member of my family earnestly and dearly. But I suppose the love I had for them was not reciprocated. Thats why I wasn't affected, I am living my greatest fear. I mean honestly, what have I got left to lose? I am not welcome in my home country and I have no home here. Well the good news is I am alive and that certain negative energy powers will have no affect on me. So you should watch out for me in the Arena when its finished, shouldn't you Alan."

Lord Raymond, now a little upset, jabbed his spoon into his ice cream bowl, which he had not noticed was empty and shattered the bowl.

"Ummm, add it to my bill?" said Raymond hopefully to the owner of the shop.

The shop owner nodded and Raymond continued to talk.

"Besides the killing and the whole greatest fear thing I think we had a pretty succesful day, don't you?"

Raymond said calmly,"Honestly Alan, I don't think it affected me at all. Isn't that odd? If you all don't mind me asking, what was it that you all saw as your greatest fear? I am interested to know why, of all people, I was unaffected."

Raymond now instead of jamming ice cream into his mask went under the mask with the frozen treat. Thats better he thought.

Lord Raymond who had been silent since Buck yelled at them for "killing" a troll, sat down in the booth.

Finally speaking he said,"Now see here Buck, I have never killed a man. Even at that fight I never killed any of them. The only one anywhere near death was the one I knocked infront of the police drone so that survived anyways. And I would appreciate it if in the future you would not jump to conclusions about my fighting style. Why if my family were here right now they would stand up...no...no they wouldn't...they wouldn't stand up for me at all. I'm sorry, now I've got myself all upset. You see I miss my old life. I had a comfortable living as you might assume, but the thing I miss most is taking a long walk in the garden with my dogs. Very large dogs, but I won't ever see them again...Oh well, I suppose I shall just have to drown my sorrows in ice cream. I do so enjoy cookie dough."

Raymond felt even worse now because not only had he talked about his family but he kind of pu a negative atmosphere over the group.

He then tried to feed himself some ice cream. However he forgot he had his mask on and instead made a mess of his mask.

"What a day this has been..."

OOC:I am assuming that I was helped by the newomer, so that I can post

Lord Raymond was awaiting his team at the bottom of the fire escape after the fight.

"That was some brawl there wasn't it chaps, nearly had my body smashed by an AC. Took a little spill there but I am all right now." said Lord Raymond. Turning to Alan, Raymond said, "That was an interesting show you just put on up there Alan. Perhaps you'd like to explain things a little deeper now that we know what you are actually capable of?"

Lord Raymond could tell that this was now a touchy subject with the group and began to wish he hadn't mentioned it, even though he didn't know why Janice was so upset that Alan had used his power.

So as to let it be known that he was not mad at Alan for anything Raymond said,"Maybe you can tell us on the way back, I am sure Corpral Punishment is wondering where we are."

"Wha...uhhh...Goodness I feel like I have fallen off a building...AH, what in the name of the Queen are you?" said Lord Raymond as he saw this angelic looking figure down at his body. Am I dead? he thought to himself. No I can't be dead, heaven would look a whole lot less like Paragon City. Well then who is this? She can't be an angel

It was then that Lord Raymond recognized that she had asked if he wanted her help. "Well I am not in much of a position to refuse help, now am I?" laughed Lord Raymond who still could not get up. "I would be quite grateful if you were to help me."

(OOC: I didn't really want to reveal this just yet, but Alan's powers aren't really going to affect Lord Raymond very much because Raymond has no greatest fear anymore. He is already in a perpetual state of inner sadness and fear of the fact that he has been abandoned by everyone he had ever been close to, and was foribidden ever to return to England. So he is already living his Greatest Fear and won't be affected by it the way the others are. However Raymond doesn't know that he can't be affected by it, and neither do the others. After this little episode on the roof he will discover it. Hope that this is okay with everyone)

"Bloody Hell?" said Lord Raymond as he began to witness Alan's bizarre powers. "Good thing he's on our side, right mates." Having been abandoned by his family Lord Raymond had learned that no matter how weird someone was they should be treated with respect and revered for their good qualities. "We're in pretty deep here chaps. Where are they all coming from. Its as if there was a trollkin factory around here or something that was making all these trolls. I am getting tired of Trolls, they are kind of starting to tick me off." said Lord Raymond as he hovered above the mob of trolls that was approaching Sartain.

"Bombs away you might say" laughed Lord Raymond [censored] he dropped right into the thick of the mob and began to swing quite violently, spinning his axe around like a high school ROTC drill team with their rifles. Trolls were being knocked senseless all over the place until two abnormally large trolls lifted up the air conditioning system from the roof and lobbed it at Lord Raymond.

Lord Raymond was too tired to dodge effectively, but did manage to dodge it enough to avoid being smashed entirely. However the hit from the AC was enough to send Raymond tumbling backwards over the side of the building, smashing into the ground with a thud. The armor protected Raymond from breaking any bones but he was only semiconcious from the fall and was laying quite still on the ground.

Lord Raymond stopped breifly, seeing that Mended Ribs had arrived. Lord Raymond was shocked. He had never seen someone so happy to be fighting. Sure Raymond enjoyed sometimes, but not like Alan.

"Glad you could make it friend. I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it in time."

Just then a troll had climbed up from the ground behind Raymond and pointed a machine gun directly into Lord Raymond's back.

The Troll laughed,"Me have you now!"

Raymond smiled and said "You must be new to the Trolls, otherwise you would know that I don't take kindly to cheap tricks. But if you are going to shoot me go ahead."

The Troll pulled the trigger and the bullet shattered upon impact on Raymond's hardened rock armor.

"Well isn't that a shame. Unfortunately for you there chap that my armor is its strongest right on my back. Better luck next time."

Lord Raymond turned, saw that the young troll was in shock after the failed shot and reared back for a golf-style swing of his axe.

"FORE!" yelled Raymond cheerfully as he smacked the troll clear off the building and over two more before the troll laded in front of the entrance to East Gate, where a police drone was in place.

"Oh shucks, looks like he won't be having a next time."

"Good show man. Its always a good thing to have a healer around. I do believe you arrived in the nick of time."

Having gotten some energy back Lord Raymond went back in for another go at an ogre. This time Lord Raymond did something different though, he suddenly had a glowing red aura about him just before he swung his axe at the ogre. This build up of energy was just enough power for Lord Raymond to send the ogre rolling down the fire escape, knocking over two armed trolls over the side at the same time.

"I hope Alan shows up soon, he seemed so anxious to get out and do this. I hate for him to miss the fun."

Lord Raymond heard the shout and quickly responded to the call. Lord Raymond was almost to the roof top when on eof the trolls tripped the mine. He knew he needed to speed up. Just as the trolls came charging through the smoke of the mine Raymond landed in front of them.

Without looking away from the trolls, Raymond said." Don't be afraid to shoot at them while I am in the fray. For one I can take a bullet and two I have a feeling your accuracy is good enough not to miss."

Just as finished his sentence he charged in knowing that the trolls who had not come to the building would soon be here and that he and Sartain needed to finish these ones up before they arrived.

Lord Raymond swung swiftly at each troll coming out of the smoke on the fire escape. He easily knocked out several before entering the actual smoke. Unfortunately, Raymond could not see the trolls that were still in the smoke and was soon hit hard in the stomach and was sent flying out of the fire escape and rolled to Sartain's feet.

"Maybe I should armor up..."

Raymond charged back in coating himself now with all his various types of armor, however this would soon make him tired and he would need help again. Inside the smoke Raymond's bellowing voice could be heard shouting his many battle cries.

Lord Raymond was flying into East Gate to wait for the others when out of no where, a huge boulder came crashing into him.

Lord Raymond fell out of the sky and smacked hard against the ground infront of a Police Bunker from the Trolls Task Force. Lord Raymond looked up just in time to see another boulder coming towards him. Lord Raymond threw himself over the bunker wall and ducked as the boulder flew over him. Lord Raymond thought to himself," Ah, just like the old Military Camps I used to teach back home, except of course those were bullets not boulders travelling at the same speed as bullets." Although a little saddened by the memory of past times, Lord Raymond stood up and smiled at the group of trolls he had been ambushed by.

"Well well, if it isn't the particular gang I was hoping for an encounter with. I only hope that the rest of the group shows up before I am finished with the whole lot of you ruffians. Well enough chit chat, lets get the show on the road."

Lord Raymond lifted his hands in the air and was quickly coated with stone. He then charged right at the leader of the group who was preparing another boulder.

The troll threw the boulder at Lord Raymond and Lord Raymond stone encrusted body just barreled right through it.

"Have at thee!" Lord Raymond shouted as he gave the troll a swift uppercut with his axe. As soon as the troll hit the ground Lord Raymond gave him two quick punches in the gut and a two handed over-head smash on the skull. The troll was unconcious.

"I do so love using Old English battle cries." said Lord Raymond cheerfully as he could tell that this was going to be a good day for fighting crime.

Unfortunately things soon turned sour. Four trolls lept onto Lord Raymond and were trying to hold him down to get a few good hits. Lord Raymond would easily knock one or two off but they just lept right back on.

After they had held Lord Raymond down for a few seconds and had hit him very hard a few times, Lord Raymond burst into the air throwing the trolls off of him.

Lord Raymond panted saying "Bloody Hell, maybe I will need help after all," as the trolls ripped large pieces of concrete out of the ground to hurl at the breathless warrior.

Lord Raymond was slightly sickened by the display of what was in her mouth, but stayed calm and polite just the same.

"Uh, No thanks, I prefer to avoid things like that. As a member of the Royal Family I must set an example and not do anything that could be used against us." Lord Raymond thought about what he had just said for a second and then realized that the Royal Family could care less what he does now, because they deny his relation. But all the same he decided not to take any.

"I'm going to go ahead and head over there then I guess. I need to get a feel for what I am going to be up against. I look forward to seeing you both in an hour.

"When I said that we would defeat some guys on the street, I did not mean to insinuate that I will beat up a guy just because, I may watch them from a distance, waiting for them to do something, but I do not hurl myself into a battle just because I can. But as far as how we get there, I think we should go together. It would help build our team efficency and we may get to know eachother a little better. But this is Alan's idea so he can make the final call." said Lord Raymond as he turned to Alan to see his decision.

Having also noticed Sartain's shaking Raymond, being overly friendly as usual, approached Sartain just shortly after Alan had gone to talk to her again. "Pardon me mada...Sartain, but you looked a little shaken up back there, and I thought I would come see if you are okay. Maybe you would feel better after beating down a few gang members out on the street?"

Lord Raymond was trying to adapt to Sartain's requests of treating her just like a soldier dispite how he was brought up, which was actually quite hard for him.

Lord Raymond watched the two teammates blow the ever loving crud out of the range. He was impressed.

"Very Nice Shooting Gents, but I do believe that you don't have to use guns to destroy a range." With that being said, Lord Raymond lifted his axe and threw it almost like a boomerang at one of the , which is not something he usually does but he was feeling as if he had something to prove at the time. The axe hit two targets as Lord Raymond lifted off from the ground and sped forward to catch his axe. Upon catching his axe he changed directions without the sligthest loss of speed and a barreld through several more targets swinging his axe like it weighed next to nothing. While this display did not create nearly as much destruction he did manage to hack down evey target on the range in a short amount of time.

Calmly flying back to where the group was standing Lord Raymond said, "I am certain that that was not nearly as much fun to watch as some of the other performances but on the street that would be a smashing good job. Unfortunately my most impressive powers are best used for my own defense rather than offense. Does this range have targets that can attack too?"

Lord Raymond, slightly annoyed by the use of weapons from someone outside the conflict, sliced the webbing from around his feet. "I'll go to Eastgate." said the muscular midget as his stone plating disentegrated and the floating minerals dissolved. However Lord Raymond did not put the axe back over his shoulder nor did he loosen his grip on his axe at all.

"Yes, I will go with you to Eastgate."

Lord Raymond was getting a lot of strange looks from various heroes of the academy but none worried him more than the cheerful look on Alan's face. "People are not usually this cheerful after a conflict has nearly occured. This Mended Ribs puzzles me. I know he is a hero but I also can't help but feel suspicious of him either. I shall keep an eye on him as well as the one called Dark Seiryu. Not even the demon has caused as much suspiscion from me as these two have. Although I am sure they are both good chaps," thought Raymond to himself.

"Well then chaps lets get moving to the training." said Raymond cheerfully to break the awkward silence that had inssuedd since he had prepared to fight.