Mr_Grey

"I can't believe I missed the fight!” Nester complained once things had settled down, “This suit’s fully operational, too!”

Serge seemed doubtful, but let the issue go. However, Josiah seemed to have grown a bit of a backbone during his brief respite in the panic room, and was suddenly very adamant about not wearing the outfit the Defender was wearing.

“Well, you’ll be paying me for my time, anyway, Serge,” Mindy grumbled as the young model continued to whine about the future of his career depending on it, “You may as well showcase my work.”

“Oh, I’ll showcase it,” he replied darkly, “And I know just the man to model it. You, Nester, I’m going to put you on the runway.”

“It’s a dream come true,” the Defender replied as he smirked and lazily waved his fist from side to side, “You make it sound like it’s hard.”

“If you had any idea-!“ the designer was about to shout, but the hero interrupted him.

“How hard is it to walk with your head level, pause, pose, turn one-hundred and eighty degrees, and walk back. Seriously, if you’re trying to embarrass me, Serge, you’re going to have to try a Hell of a lot harder than that. I’m not a model, and I’m not about to be bothered by these modeling world shenanigans…”

Serge could do little more than grumble as he walked away to prepare for the show. Nester, however, didn’t get away scot free. The other models weren’t too happy about his assessment of their life’s work, and he could have sworn the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees.

He wasn’t certain they were ticked at him until he slipped on the petroleum jelly that was somehow surreptitiously left in his path on the runway. It made the show into something of a comical disaster, but it got a good laugh out of a lot of the heroes attending. Nester found himself looking up at one of the most hideous outfits he’d ever seen in his life.

“Oh…” he chuckled as the big man dressed like a psychedelic kaleidoscope helped him back to his feet, “Hello, Mister Subtle.”

“Nice outfit,” the big man replied, “Not sure if it’s exactly my style, but it’s nifty.”

---------

“I’m sorry the show didn’t go too well.”

They were back in Nester’s apartment, cuddled together on the couch, watching the newscast covering the show. The reporter looked like she was having trouble keeping from laughing, and indeed, they showed many replays and differentiating angles of Nester slipping off the side of the runway, flipping, turning on his hover belt while he pirouetted through the air, and eventually banging his head off a chair. His belt, after he accidentally tapped its activation switch twice in his dazed state, turned off and sent him crashing to the ground. Over on his computer, Mindy had a TrueTube video of it playing, complete with funny sound effects and music.

“Don’t worry, Nest,” she giggled, “Serge has a sense of humor, even if he doesn’t show it. And most of the girls were laughing their [butts] off after what happened to you. I think it would have only been bad if you’d been a [jerk] about it and started yelling at everyone or throwing a tantrum.”

“Heh,” Nester hugged her a little closer and nuzzled the back of her neck, “But then I wouldn’t be the cool-headed, dashing hero you fell in love with.”

“Cool-headed? Dashing?” she rolled over, smirking coyly, “Hero? Nester, in case you haven’t noticed, you only wear a cape in one outfit, and it’s that hideous thing you were wearing today!”

“It’s the hideous thing you made for me!”

With this, they started pinching at and tickling each other. It was playful activity, the kind that usually evolves into more rigorous activity…

-----

Later that evening, Nester awoke from a particularly intense dream. He couldn’t even remember what it was when he woke, he just remembered it being something great and terrible before he opened his eyes. Whatever it was, it got his adrenaline pumping, and he didn’t know if he’d be able to sleep.

A small murmur at his shoulder caught his attention and he looked at Mindy. She had her head snuggled warmly into his neck and shoulder, and Nester once again found himself wondering at how he’d gotten so lucky. She’d been with Aaron and his girlfriend, and somehow it hadn’t turned into some deviant affair. Instead, she’d helped the two of them solidify their relationship…

“Mindy,” he mumbled into her ear, “Hey, wake up…”

“Mm?”

“Why won’t you marry me?”

“Mm. Didn’t we already talk about this?” she hugged him a little harder, “I love you, Nester. Isn’t that enough?”

“Well… Yeah… But…”

“Nester, you’ve been telling me about how you’ve always been apart from what society tells you to do, and now you’re telling me you want to do something as silly and ritualistic as a wedding, simply because you think society tells you that you have to?”

He pursed his lips and shrugged. This made her giggle and give him a quick kiss.

“Don’t purse your lips unless you expect me to kiss you,” she joked, but then her tone turned more serious, “Nester, I get it. I understand that you want to have a good, strong relationship that your parents didn’t have…”

This caused the young man to shift a little uncomfortably.

“But you have to face it, hun, you’ve got that relationship.”

“But… I feel like if we don’t do something, I’ll lose it… I don’t want to lose you…”

“Nester, in this day and age, a wedding ring is treated more like a shackle. I don’t want to stay with you because some contract or ruling body tells me I have to. Now, I get why a lot of other people get married, I do. But their love is no more held together by that flimsy sheet or that gold and nickel band than ours is right now. It’s a fluid, ephemeral thing, and nobody has a right to it.”

They sat in silence for a moment. Nester traced his finger along her bare arm, lost in wonder at her words.

“Do you think I deserve the privilege?” he finally asked.

“I don’t know if anybody does,” she replied, “It feels so good… To connect so deeply, so simply… It’s better than anything I’ve ever felt, but… I just don’t see the point in spending a bunch of money on something I already know!”

She pushed herself up a little so she could look in his eyes. The ambient light from the street lamps of Skyway City made this less a difficult prospect in the dark than would normally be the case. There, with each of their eyes glinting at each other, the barely perceptible lines of their faces curled into amused smirks, they drank in each other’s presence.

“I love you, Nester,” she finally whispered before she kissed him again, “And I know you love me. How many times do we have to snuggle before you figure that out?”

Durj had to bite back a laugh. The resulting choke of a giggle only made Mindy laugh, which made him finally laugh, too. Finally, Nester answered.

“One more time, at least.”

Fine, I'll take a crack at it...

Badass Normal - Roland Grey
Not Wearing Tights - Practically my whole roster.
C-List Fodder - Pretty much the plight my whole story is about. My characters ARE accomplished heroes, they're just always on the fringe of what's going on.
Luckily My Powers Will Protect Me - Kipland Durj, Randall and Cedric Grey
Strong As They Need To Be - Randall Grey, who has yet to lift and hurl a truck, but, hey, it could happen...
We Can Rebuild Him - Not the trope, but it's what happens with the Ryat Series of androids. There's only a hundred of them (well, one hundred one, counting the renegade Ryat84), but their numbers stay pretty much the same, regardless of what mishap befalls their group or what battle they fight. They get smashed apart at times (usually "off-camera") but their code usually survives, just fine.
Hammerspace - Roland's quiver actually connects to a rented pocket dimension that his friend, Sheldon Wallace, tosses all different kinds of trick arrows into. Despite the fact that Roland already has misgivings about "hero work," he doesn't sneeze at the "Neverending Quiver."
White Haired Pretty Girl - Sarah Grey-Durnan. Her hair's been white pretty much all her life. It's not what makes her psychic, though.
White Haired Pretty Boy - Cedric Grey. His hair is a very pale blonde, making it almost as white as his sister's. It's a genetic anomaly that runs in their mother's side of the family.
Ax Crazy - Ransack Rick (Coming soon!)
Elemental Powers - Ashen Roast (fire armor), Blizzard Front (water/ice attacks), Cory Simmons (fire and ice attacks; Thermodynamic Magic), Randall Grey and King Slater (rock armor), Ryat99 (ice armor and attacks)
Barrier Warrior - Kingdale Referee, Dale Simms, though he uses a sonic barrage to actually fight. He's also quite capable in a fight.
Energy Blasts - Ryat66, Nester Durj
Our powers Combined - Used only in a literary light, but also to highlight how truly awesome a Blaster/Tank duo team works, Ryat66 and Ryat99 often merge (with the smaller Ryat66 on his bigger brother's shoulders) like Malta Group Titans, providing a powerful walking war machine that hits like an M1 Abrahms.
The Beastmaster - Sarah Grey-Durnan, to a small extent. She communicates telepathically with the mascots of my series. Sheldon Wallace, his "Singularity" is actually his pet mutant gerbil (mutated into a living, breathing teddy bear), Felix, wearing a suit of the same gravity-control technology Sheldon uses.
Combat Tentacles - Solo Striker's "Assassin Strike" is his arms turning into dozens of tentacles, getting a firm grip on the enemy, and doing something BAD to them. This usually involves breaking limbs, but in the case of monsters and such, it's a twisting of the cranium until the face is looking back at him (and the head WILL turn).
Cybernetics - Most of my roster. It's how they explain how almost every other one of them who doesn't fly, teleport or superspeed hops about the city like rabbits on steroids. More specifically, Tyler Wild uses minor cybernetics to augment his combat training.
Eye Beams - The Durj Family, Kipland, Nester and Zeke, though all from different sources. Charlene Daring-Grey also has eye beams, and they're from a similar source as Zeke (as they're both hosts to Kheldians).
Flying Brick - Power Breaker and Raging James.
Healing hands - Nester Durj (though, technically, it's not his hands; but he usually has some form of his "medical tech" on hand)
Psychic Powers - Sarah Grey-Durnan, Angela Greene
Immortality(?) - Randall Grey looks younger than he is... Or at least, he did... He still looks somewhat younger than 51, but his body is starting to age in the wake of the second Rikti invasion.
Robotics - The Ryat Series androids. Though androids tend not to like being called robots, the Ryats could care less.
Magic - Cory Simmons (wizard), Mad Matt McGinty (Magic sword, also an Artifact Constructor), Blizzard Front (mystically altered to throw ice), Power Breaker (Malleus Mundi on the brain).
Sonic Scream - Kingdale Referee, mentioned earlier.
Super Intelligence - Sheldon Wallace
Super Mode - Randall Grey (Granite + Rage), Kipland Durj (Unstoppable), Cedric Grey (Unstoppable), Power Breaker (Overload),
Horse Of A Different Color/Mechanical Horse/Cool Horse Frankly, they should have "The Steed" and cite the Lone Ranger, but, oh well - Mad Matt McGinty and his magic motorcycle.
Healing Factor - Psycho13, though it's really regeneration.
Phlebotinum - In SPADES!
Cat Girl - Brackish (formerly Snuggle Purr), now named after the Kittie breakout song.

[ QUOTE ]
hir

[/ QUOTE ]

That word vexes me somehow... It almost seems to be deliberately used.

Anyway, I rather like the Pocket D cap. The Envoy of Shadows shows up at a lot of times in City of Heroes/City of Villains. It shows up in the 35-40 Cadao Kestrel arc (in fact, it's the focus of that arc), and it simultaneous appears in the Numina Task Force, as your characters fight their way through a Circle of Thorns cavern and suddenly "Ope! That Death Mage is called the Envoy of Shadows! Look out!"

I could have sworn I also saw the guy once on the Redside. I'm not sure where, but I'm certain it wasn't in the Scirocco arc. Essentially, it's everywhere, and it's always in arcs that are somehow "world-shatteringly pivotal."

It would then only make sense that the forces of Light would have their own Envoy. It also makes sense that for this world, the game world, that Monica would wind up taking up the mantle, at least for a moment.

Try to use more pronouns. You don't need to remind us every other sentence that Cher'Tak is the one going through this. If there were more people involved, then it would be understandable.

If you don't feel like using "he" every other sentence, try using descriptions instead, like "the <color> armored alien" or "the <height adjective/physical marker (such as a scar or tattoo)> Rikti." These vastly improve the reading experience, since it helps get a mental image of the character.

Otherwise, it's looking great. I'm definitely feeling a sense of tension as the events unfold.

Keep it coming!

Hequat's not exactly C'Thulhu, Khell...

Her story involves the CoT and the Mu. Now, it's whomever's running the Coralax, then you've got the game's version of C'Thulhu.

EDIT: Oh... My bad... It turns out she DOES have something to do with the Coralax. However, it was that her people fought the "fish people" and the Leviathan, not that she was running them.

God no...

TV Tropes already encompasses too much of my life. I have burned out my brain!

I make many, MANY references to Dying Like Animals in my daily life. I can't afford to lose anymore time to it!

I finally added another chapter to the Air Guard.

Yay!

*kazoo!*

Anyway, I figured it's about damn time the Air Guard started utilizing something a little less UNSTOPPABLE than the Thunder Nimbus and am using this chapter to introduce their version of the dropship. It's essentially the size of a Rikti Dropship or an Arachnos Flier. I call it, simply, a Hover Ship. I'll probably have their lingo refer to it as a Destroyer (the Nimbus would be a "Cruiser") in the future.

In this chapter, the first Hover Ship, the Cyclone, does battle with a lone Rikti Dropship after a Peregrine Island bombing run. In the distance, Statesman and Citadel watch and wait to see if the U.N.-backed defenders will need support.

--Many Weeks Later ((Cripes, I need to keep at this one more...))--

Captain Richter sighed as the vessel came within sight of Peregrine Island. Keeping a wide berth of the "zone barrier" he had the helmsman hold the ship at a hover so as to observe the battle. The Rikti were bombing the city again, they seemed to do so every so often between the Rogue Isles and Paragon City. It was as if they were probing the world's greatest "meta powers" for their strengths and weaknesses.

Sure, they'd attacked other cities and dealt with the heavy artillery there, Europe's nations had proven quite capable at replenishing their military stockpiles and sent a few bombing runs hurtling into the ocean. However, heavy artillery wasn't allowed in most of the American cities, nor was it readily available or easily transported through the Etoiles.

Perhaps that was why the Air Guard was trying to build these ships. The Cyclone was one of the first prototypical "hover ships" designed by the Guard's engineers in conjunction with their other projects, such as the Exo Suits and the "Shields" system. This just happened to be one of the ones they actually got flying.

It utilized a largely aluminum hull, as well as ceramics and carbon fiber to reinforce the structure. The ship itself looked something like a bird's head, with a set of four thrusters arranged symmetrically around the ventral portion of the wider "base" of the ship. These helped keep the vessel aloft, and were some of the hardest things for the engineers to design.

However, the weaponry wasn't so difficult. For the Cyclone, most of the weaponry was based on the fusion core that kept the machine powered in the first place. With careful channeling, the weapons were able to utilize excess burnoff from the generator and direct powerful bursts of radiation into the crew's targets. However, the weapons often had to recharge, making them work surprisingly a lot like hero powers. Fortunately, there were a lot of weapons.

"It seems the attack is winding down, sir," the helmsman announced, pulling Captain Richter out of his reverie, "Shall we commence with an intercept course?"

"Do we have clearance?" the captain asked.

"Yes, sir," Lieutenant Reed replied while showing him the display on her communicator, "The U.N. just sent us the go ahead."

Captain Richter took a deep breath. He wasn't certain how this was going to go. It was different when the Nimbus went on these attacks. It was mostly a foregone conclusion that a Rikti ship was going to be destroyed. With this experimental vessel, however, anything could happen.

"Try to cut off just one of their ships," Richter finally ordered, "You know, like the heroes did to us when we were Sky Raiders..."

Reed arched an eyebrow at him. She was never a Sky Raider, having joined the Air Guard after its inception after she'd completed her contract with the British Army, and it always gave her a little shock when a former Raider mentioned his prior affiliation. Still, it didn't change her behavior when they happened to be her superiors; she was still a professional.

The helmsman brought the ship around as the portals started appearing in the sky. In the distance, they could see the Rikti ships being harried by Statesman, Citadel, and they seemed to be getting assisted by a number of other flying heroes. While the two Phalanxers weren't suffering too much for their troubles (what with Statesman almost beating the ship he was following into the ocean and Citadel decimating his ship's weapons systems), the other heroes were definitely struggling to stay in the fight.

Fortunately, the heroes did manage to separate one of the ships from the rest of the group. Richter had his helmsman maneuver the Cyclone to the errant vessel's exit portal.

"Main gun, prepare to fire on my mark," Richter ordered to the gunner, "Target the portal."

As the Rikti ship drew closer to its exit, the heroes fell back. They couldn't possibly stop the vessel from escaping and they were getting tired of getting shot at. They maintained the vain hope that this would be the last time they would have to face the Rikti bombers, but they knew that just wasn't the case. The Lineage of War maintained a strong grip on their world, and Hro'Dtohz would keep sending his forces to Earth to batter the two cities that held the greatest threat to the next incursion.

Suddenly, there was a flash of bright yellow-green light, and the portal was gone. The Rikti ship slowed momentarily as its crew tried to determine what had just happened, and the Air Guard Hover Ship struck.

Four pods on the sides of the ship suddenly fired. Four thin beams of condensed radioactive energy streaked across the sky and laced into the Rikti ship's hull. They scored a few lines into the armor, but did little actual damage. This prompted the Rikti ship to start advancing on the Air Guard ship, its weapons already charging up for the first shot.

Citadel and Statesman ushered the other heroes back to Peregrine Island, but stayed hovering in the air to watch the battle. They hated to admit it, but it was often entertaining to watch these ships do battle.

"Statesman," Citadel pointed, "That's not the Thunder Nimbus."

"I know, Citadel," Paragon's champion replied, "If it were, I would have gone back with the others... I've seen that vessel in action enough times to know it would be able to handle this. I want to see how this new one fares."

"I really wish they'd give us a heads-up," the android continued, "We could be doing so much more for the world if we were all working together. Heroes, the military, Freedom Corps, Hero Corps, the police..."

"The whole world could be doing more if it worked together," Statesman sighed, "But we only seem to unite if there's a common enemy. We all have to be willing to fight something else, not build something new."

"Perhaps that's the true curse of Babel."

Statesman looked askance at the android, but didn't say anything. It was eerie getting into philosophical debates with an android.

The Rikti ship closed with the Cyclone, and the Air Guard ship fired upon it with more radiation attacks. Green orbs hurtled through the sky from launch tubes, crashing into the hull of the attacking vessel. The armor glowed visibly for a moment, but the ship pressed on.

When the Rikti came close enough to attack, they did. Twin beams fired from the prongs on the sides of the ship and crashed into a field surrounding the Cyclone.

On the deck of the Air Guard vessel, after the rocking and shaking subsided, there was a great cheer. The shield had held. Captain Richter ordered the gunner to fire the starboard missile array and the lieutenant complied rapidly.

A burst of Rikti Steel-laminated explosives launched out at the dropship. They slammed into the marauder vessel and exploding, leaving a number of gaping holes when the smoke cleared. Having made their pass, the ships started coming back around for another round.

"They're built to wage war with the ground," Richter smirked, "We're built to-"

Another twin-beam blast rocked the Cyclone and the captain cursed. He asked for a status report, and winced at the news.

Their aft force field generator had overloaded and detonated. It hadn't caused irreparable damage but they weren't protected back there anymore.

"Ensign, get this ship turned around!" Richter shouted at the helmsman, "Move us before they blast us out of the sky!"

The crew suddenly suffered a lurching sensation as the helmsman pushed the throttle. Most of the rest of the crew throughout the ship was suffering much the same thing, but the engineers were accommodating the deck crew as best they could because they knew their lives depended on it. As a result, the Cyclone spun about like its namesake and took another blast across its port, bow and starboard shields. Fortunately, none of them overloaded like the aft ones.

After the last blast, the helmsman swung the ship back around until the two vessels were squaring off again. The Rikti Ship seemed angled with its port section facing them more and it was trying to make another pass so it could get at their rear again. Knowing they wouldn't survive a hit, Captain Richter wracked his brain for options.

"Main gun's recharged, sir," the gunner announced.

"Fire!" the captain had gotten half out before the gunner pressed the button.

The underside of the Cyclone's nose started to glow brightly. Before the Rikti bomber could get out of the way, a volley of condensed protons were launched, three bursts in quick succession. The large spheres tore into the ship's hull and ripped its irradiated and weakened armor apart. A moment later, the ship exploded, scattering its pieces into the ocean surface.

The crew cheered, despite Rachek pointing to the gunner with a silent reprimand about acting before being ordered. Still, the importance of the battle wasn't lost. They could contend with Rikti technology.

"Now we just need to figure out how to make it cost effective," Reed breathed a sigh of relief, "Shall we start reporting back to A.G. Zero Three?"

"Yeah... Yeah..." Richter was just as breathless as his lieutenant as he sat down, "Just let me-AUGH!"

The enlarged face of Statesman was on the viewscreen. He was tapping the camera that enabled the crew to know what they were doing without actually being exposed to the world. While they did have a "wind screen" it was currently shielded behind a thick aluminum and carbon fiber shield.

"Permission to come aboard?" the hero asked.

"Uh..." the captain looked to the rest of the crew, but they were just as shocked as he was, "Okay... Um..."

He shrugged to Lieutenant Reed. He had no idea how to go about this, and neither did she. They'd never expected to meet a hero of any renown, much less Statesman, himself. Despite the honor involved, there was no protocol.

"I guess... I guess I'm giving you the bridge for the... the... 'time being?'," Richter finally decided, shrugging to Lieutenant Reed in confusion, "I'll go and let him in through the port hatch..."

"I think that works, sir," Reed replied, "Good luck."

----------

The port hatch opened and Citadel called Statesman over. The two heroes hovered next to the opening and looked perplexedly at the Guardsmen staring starstruck at them. To think, just a year ago, most of these men would have shot them on sight.

"Permission to come aboard?" Statesman asked again.

"Granted," said a Guardsman with captain's bars on, "Captain Michael Richter, at your service."

Statesman looked oddly at the young man, but said nothing. There was no way the captain of the vessel could be related to his foe, nor could he even know what Lord Recluse's real name was. It was just one of those odd coincidences of naming conventions, and it just so happened to take him by surprise this time.

((And no, Captain Richter is not named after Recluse. He's not intended to be related in any way, either. Again, he's named after somebody I knew in the Marines.))

See, it's because of what happened in your thread I tried not to ask that here.

I see it, Blue, but I'm giving it some more space between it and Kat Scratched.

I added another chapter to Grey's Army. Kip and Roland visit Nester and his girlfriend, Mindy, at Icon in Steel Canyon. Serge's gearing up for a show, unfortunately, there are problems.

And I'm not talking about Nester's "ExoRoman Enforcer" outfit.

“So, Amy’s alright with it?” Roland asked as they drove through Steel Canyon.

“Yeah,” Kip muttered as he gazed out the window, “Honestly, she was already over me a year ago… There was just… Just…”

“Out with it, man?”

“You know, I think that Lost Curing Wand could cure a Rikti, too?” Kip turned to Roland, despite his desperate theory, his face was ambivalent, “I just think you’d need, like, three or six or something… All firing at once… and hitting at the exact same time.”

“I bet the Ryats could pull that off…”

“Or we could build some sort of wand shotgun…” the scrapper stopped to sigh and looked back out the window, “But Amy told me to just stop. She’s a Rikti now, she said, and there’s no use trying to rebuild what we had. She’s a different person now, I’m a different person now… It’s sad, but that’s what happened.”

“Ouch,” Roland grunted, “She finally dumped ya, huh?”

“Life dumped both of us,” Kip growled, “Nothing to do but pick ourselves up and move on.”

They pulled up to the parking lot near the Icon store and started walking to the building. A few Outcasts gave them sneers and some Tsoo did some kata poses, but the two heroes were left alone for the most part. Aside from the security differences, the two groups didn’t really have any beef with the two heroes.

Instead of going through the front door, they wound their way to the back. Roland knocked on the door and they waited until a young woman answered them.

“Yes?”

“We’re looking for Nester and Mindy,” Kip replied, “Nester looks kinda like me, only taller and skinnier…”

“Oh yeah, he wears those weird green sunglasses,” the girl replied, “Is it true he’s a hero?”

“Well, we’re, none of us, famous,” Roland grunted with a chuckle, “but, yeah, we work in the heroics industry. Nester’s actually kind of lucky, he’s a field medic, so a lot of heroes all across the board really like him.”

“Can we come in?” Kip asked, his impatience barely in check.

“Sure,” the girl ushered them in and they were treated with a rare glimpse…

The design room of the chain costume store. True to form, the two young men were severely underwhelmed.

“You know why comic book artists put all of their heroes in spandex?” Roland asked as they looked at some of the hanging outfits that would have all looked the same, if not for their different colors, “It’s easier to draw a naked human being than a clothed one.”

“Nester never had trouble drawing clothed people,” Kip replied.

“Your brother was always bashful in school. He was mortified somebody would find his sketchbook full of ‘naked’ people, so he would just draw parts of things or clothes or his weird little aggravation-inspired demon rants.”

“I always loved those pictures…”

“Yeah, and so do psychologists. I guess we’re lucky he and Snap wound up settling their feud that year and he actually got a girlfriend…”

Kip got really quiet. Nester got his girlfriend because of their mother. She was working as a traveling secretary for a record label, and she had gotten them some concert tickets in an attempt to reconcile with him. Kip, who had been holding a grudge against Catherine (and the fact that her name was so similar to Cathryn’s was still grating him) since she abandoned the family when he was five, didn’t accept what he saw as a bribe, so Nester wound up with an extra ticket. After that, his brother’s luck seemed to skyrocket as he got a girlfriend and a new look at the pecking order of their school.

Kip had reconciled with their mother a different way, however. He couldn’t just accept her because of a mere trinket. After a brief conversation with their father, he reconciled with her over a glass of milk and a long, tense conversation. It seemed that their family, if it wasn’t whole, was at least on good terms again.

Kip had hoped things would remain that way. A few months ago, he got another reminder as to how life has a tendency to happen to people.

After she attacked Zeke, he and Nester were geared up to find and “apprehend” (beat the ever-living snot out of) her when their father stopped them and told them to leave it alone. Kip was still about to go charging ahead on a rampage anyway, but Nester and Mindy were able to calm him down. Plus, Aaron had proven completely fruitless when it came to providing information on the whereabouts of his wayward mother. After failing to kill their father, it seemed she had fallen off the map.

Kip couldn’t figure out why this seemed to worry Nester so much. If the Knives had finished her off, they’d only saved Kip the trouble.

Of course, when Kip actually gave it a second thought, he figured he wouldn’t really go that far. Besides, after what Cedric said about how he dealt with Arbiter Taylor, Kip did have to admit that Zeke really did have the first say on this issue, and he seemed ready to “let girls be girls.” Still, that didn’t mean Kip had to feel bad if the Knives had killed the treacherous woman.

“Hey guys,” Mindy called out as she carried rolls of material into the room, “Nester’s getting ready to give my boss a heart attack.”

“Huh?” Roland asked perplexedly as he pulled some rolls off her hands, “Where do these go?”

“Just follow me,” she replied and kept moving to a side room, “Yeah, Serge had us experimenting with outfits, and Nester’s been helping model for me in our apartment… We came up with this design… You’ve seen all that Roman stuff that’s been out and about, right?”

“Yeah,” Kip muttered, remembering the last time he activated his armor and it had been changed from a devil-like exosuit to a Roman-themed suit.

His soul had said something about an imprint being left over from Romulus. It didn’t explain the wings though.

“Well, Nester helped me blend themes from the Exo-Proto theme with the Enforcer and Roman armor… It… It was hideous, to say the least…”

“What the Hell!?” they heard from the main floor, “No… No. No. No. No. No! Jakobsen!”

“Well, here goes,” she smirked as she balanced the rolls of fabric on one arm and opened a door with her freed hand, “Just stack the colors with their colors in here, Roll.”

“Mindy!” Serge shouted as he marched into the back room with Nester and a number of models in tow.

Kip’s face went red as he tried to stifle a bark of laughter. It was futile, however, and he wound up staggering to the side as he coughed, hacked and chuckled at the bizarre outfit his brother was wearing. Judging by the looks on the faces of a lot of the models, he wasn’t the first to have this sort of reaction.

“Is this your idea of a joke, Ms. Jakobsen?” Serge intoned as he folded his arms over his chest, “Why, the last time I felt so… So aggravated by an outfit was the last time Mr. Subtle came in here for an adjustment!”

This memory seemed to visibly shake the tailor, and Serge shuddered uncontrollably for a moment before continuing. Mindy, however, stood her ground.

“Sir, I will admit, this is by no means an ideal outfit for a hero or heroine…”

“You wouldn’t catch me dead in an outfit like that,” one of the models agreed.

“Which is precisely why Nester and I made this,” Mindy continued, “Heroes need to know that while the customer may always know what they want, they aren’t exactly right. This is a monstrous outfit, and no hero or heroine in their right mind would willingly go and fight crime in something like this.”

“I would,” Nester suddenly announced with a goofy grin, “I look damn sexy in this thing!”

Serge winced and started checking the pulse of his neck. Without warning, he pulled a thermometer from a case in his pocket and popped it into his mouth. It was a habit he’d learned since the Circle of Thorns had abducted one of his models while two members of the Freedom Phalanx were around (so that was a lot of wizards at the time), and it helped him determine how much stress he was going through.

“I can stand a little more,” he finally said with a smile, “Alright, look, you are not a model. I don’t want you on the floor in this… Hm… Josiah! You’re of a comparable size to Mr. Durj. You’re wearing it.”

“What?” the male model shouted in disbelief, “Serge? What?”

“Mindy’s right,” he replied, “Besides… There are heroes out there in the market for things like this, so it’ll help sell to even that market. Besides, if anybody’s wondering what we’re thinking, I can come up with some kind of claptrap about how we’re emphasizing the Roman pieces…”

“Oh…” Josiah’s eyes rolled around in disbelief, “…Kay…”

Nester walked over to a fitting room and started changing his outfit. Kip and Roland continued chatting with Mindy, this time about their dinner plans, but they weren’t past the second sentence when there was a commotion on the main floor. Kip walked over to the door and cursed when he saw what it was.

Heroes were strewn all over the place. There had been a series of massive explosions, all of which had Circle of Thorns wizards as their focal points. Some of the tougher heroes were picking themselves back up, but the second wave of wizards was on its way in and they weren’t at all prepared.

“Serge,” Kip muttered, “Better find yourself and the girls a safe place to stay, it looks like they’re back for round two.”

“What?” the designer shook his head and held his temples, “But… the Lebeaux sisters haven’t been in Paragon for months… I don’t know where Candy is, but Mandy’s in Miami this month… They’re due back in December.”

He turned to the models and pointed.

“None of you have any weird birthmarks, strange family history or anything like that, do you?”

Five or six raised their hands and a couple others murmured something about cybernetic enhancements. What precisely they had enhanced they left up to the imagination of the listener, because they certainly didn’t look any stronger for it.

“God help me,” Serge muttered, “My models keep thinking they’re heroes…”

One of the wizards ran into the back and found his head kicked into the door frame by Kip. An arrow whizzed over the scrapper’s head as he landed on the ground and there was a bright flash.

“Any of you heroes who’re on your feet, try to get back here!” Roland shouted, “We’ll get a bottleneck going!”

“You fools!” one of the wizards rasped, “The Lebeaux girl will be ours!”

“Hey, Serge!” Kip called back, “You were right the first time! How about that?”

“I’ve been living in this city too long,” the man muttered as he ushered the models into the panic room, “Things get so repetitive lately…”

A few Thorn Wielders tore after Kip, followed by a large Spectral Demon with wings and a dark aura. Roland hit the demon with an explosive arrow, sending it falling back. Kip braced for the force of the explosion and was still standing once the blast dissipated. However, now the two Thorn Wielders were behind Roland and making their way for him.

“Watch out, man!” Kip shouted as he squinted and twin streams of energy issued from his eyes and scored into one of the Wielders.

The other turned and grabbed Mindy, but she caught his sword arm, twisted it around, and forced the wizard to stab himself in the belly. As his vacating eyes stared at her with a mix of wonder and hate, she pursed her lips at him.

“Former Carnie in training,” she explained, “So I know how to handle myself in a fight.”

The body slumped to the ground and she pointed to the Death Wizard that had stormed through the door. He was draining some of the life out of Kip, but getting a hard kick to the belly for his trouble.

“Augh!” he spat as he stumbled back, “You cur! You cannot hope to stop us! We will find the Lebeaux girl and use her blood to-“

Kip punched the wizard in the throat. As he leaned against the door frame and struggled to breathe, Kip leaned in close so he could be sure the withered man was hearing properly.

“Okay, buddy, I know you guys are all full of yourselves, so I want you to listen up and listen well when I say this. And I don’t want any of your ego distorting the truth.”

He pointed to the heroes in the other room that had recovered and gestured that they should cover the door in case any other wizards were on their way in. Roland gestured for some more to help him cover the back, and a pair of fliers promptly bowled the Death Wizard aside as they followed the archer. With the leader of the raid sprawled against the wall, Kip knelt in front of him and snapped his fingers in the man’s face.

“Khaghck!” he sputtered, “Graghck!”

“I must’ve broken your trachea,” the scrapper smirked at that, “That’s too bad. I don’t get to hear your pompous, witty banter. Woe is me.”

The wizard stopped struggling to breathe and stared into Kip’s eyes. There was a mixture of a lot of different emotions, but it was mostly rage and hate. Kip could have sworn he saw some confusion, too, and it was probably at how deadpan he was being about the situation.

“Alright, look. The girl you want isn’t here. She hasn’t been here for a while. You just wasted your energy and these bodies for a prize that never existed. I want you to think about that on your trip back to Hell.”

Kip’s eyes glowed violently before he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Synapse standing there. The hero pulled him back before helping the wizard up.

“Glad I caught you in time,” he said as he dusted off the perpetrator's robes in mock civility, “There are lines you’re not supposed to cross, you know?”

“Yeah, I know that, but how do they apply here?” Kip almost laughed, “These guys aren’t alive! They’re just using other people’s bodies as vessels! There’s no redemption, we just send them to the Revolving Door in Hell and he’ll be back tomorrow in a new skin! There are still plenty of idiots out there willingly selling their souls to these jerks…”

“Good point,” the Phalanx hero replied as he placed his hand on the wizard’s chest.

There was an electric sound and the nearest lights dimmed a little from the altered electrical current. The Death Wizard, who had been preparing to explode, widened his eyes and clutched at his heart before dropping to the ground and crumbling to dust.

“Woah, he’s been around a while!” Synapse chortled, “Dang… I almost feel bad about doing that, now, but…”

“He was about to go ‘pop’ on us,” Kip chuckled, “What’re you doing here?”

“Weirder and weirder, man,” the hero smiled, “Posi and Valkyrie were having trouble with their communicators, some sort of weird static interference, so when I dropped by to tell them about our afternoon meeting, I see these guys crawling out of their little hidey-hole next to the park gate…”

“Wait… That’s not on the way to Positron’s post,” Kip’s eyes darted back and forth as he tried to recall the map.

“Oh, I do a quick survey every time I pop into another city,” the super-speed hero shrugged and smiled, “You know, just to see if anybody needs any help.”

“I never see you do that.”

Synapse grinned.

“Smart[butt]…”

“Anyway, I told Posi about the meeting and made my way here. I’m kind of bummed I missed the initial blast, but I was busy taking care of the reinforcements.”

Kip nodded and pointed his thumb toward Serge’s safe room.

“Well, the rest of us were able to take care of everything else in here. Those guys wiped out the ones in the main floor. Serge and the models are in there. My brother’s half-dressed in that fitting room and there’s a gaggle of heroes at the back making sure nobody comes in there.”

“Sounds like a job well done, then!” the Phalanxer clapped Kip on the shoulder, “I guess States was right entrusting the safety of the city to the newbies! You guys are really shaping up!"

Maybe you'll get to make her for I-14.

Finally forced my brain to write again.

I figured it's time I addressed Kip's relationship with his roommate somewhat and how he's doing emotionally. So, he and Fire-Shield go to a sub shop near their apartment and discuss their relationship and Kip asks the mystically "stained" controller why she's in Paragon City to begin with.

Now, there are somewhat racy themes in this, but they're played for humor, mostly. I just figure I should throw up some fair warning before anybody goes reading it.

At least, it's racier than the stuff I normally write.

Kipland walked into his apartment and waved “hello” to Cathryn “Fire-Shield” Dobson. She waved back and turned to watch the movie with which she was engrossed. It was a science fiction picture, and Kip remembered seeing it in theaters. It amazed him how people could be more taken with a depiction of a hero in a metal suit than the real thing.

He walked over to the kitchen area and started looking through the refrigerator and cupboards. He found various packages of noodles, condensed soups and cereal, but not what he was looking for. There was nothing proper to eat and he was starving.

That last Council cell had taken a lot out of him.

“Hey, Cath,” Kip called to his roommate, “You want to go down to that sub shop on the corner? Maybe get a couple subs?”

The movie paused as he started walking to get his jacket and he noticed she was fixing a glare on him. He looked around in confusion for a moment, but eventually nodded with understanding.

“No, not for me,” he grinned, “With me. There’s nothing hearty here and I don’t feel like going to the store for a steak right now.”

She blinked at him, but finally nodded.

“Just let me get my jacket,” she said as she shut off the television and the DVD player.

Kip tossed it to her, checked to make sure he had his keys and his wallet, and they were off.

The sub shop was a small “Mom-and-Pop” establishment. Normally, large chains pushed businesses like this out in short order. However, since Paragon, even almost six years since the end of the Rikti War, was still a hot spot for all sorts of terrorism, crime and other assorted violence, a lot of chains didn’t put as much effort into the “Jewel of Rhode Island” as they normally would. Certainly, their establishments were there, but their product suffered considerably due to the lack of attention.

The “Mom-and-Pop” duo for this sub shop, called “Cait and Murray’s,” couldn’t have been much older than Cedric Grey. In fact, they could have been younger, but Kip was quick to note the creases on their faces that indicated what had to be at least thirty years of age. Still, their eyes revealed that they were full of life, and their exuberance behind the counter was decidedly refreshing.

“I don’t know why I never dropped by here before,” he muttered to Cathryn as the people ahead of them ordered, “This place is alive!”

“I know! How’d we miss this place?”

“We don’t advertise much,” the scruffy-yet-friendly-looking Murray replied as he wiped a table off, “I’ve seen you two about. You live around here?”

“We’re in the building next door,” Kip replied.

“Ah. Heroes?”

“Uh…” Cathryn rubbed her collar uneasily, “Well…”

“It’s kind of hard to hide the fact,” Kip tapped his sunglasses, “But yeah. We’re nobody major, we just do the jobs the police are too outmatched for.”

“How’s that going?” Murray’s face seemed genuinely concerned, “I mean, the military’s back on the buildup, the police are almost replenished…”

“As long as there are bad guys, there’ll be a need for people like us,” Kip replied with a shrug, “Besides, I’ll be happy if there isn’t a need for us tomorrow. It would mean I could focus on a real job… Or maybe I’d explore the world. I haven’t really thought that far, yet.”

“I never thought about it, either,” Cathryn was looking more worried, “It’s kind of scary… What will there be for people like us once this is all over?”

Kip looked askance at her, but not with surprise or contempt like most people tended to when they looked askance at someone. He was concerned about her, and that surprised him. Just last week, he’d barely remembered she even lived with him.

“Well, I hope everything turns out alright,” Murray replied, “I’m Max. Max Murray. Caitlin’s my wife, and she’s the chef of this delicatessen. Trust me, man, she makes the best subs. The best!”

Once they’d ordered and received their subs, they took a seat near the door. It was a cozy place and it reminded Kip of a small chain in northern New York. Of course, this was better. These guys made their subs with choice ingredients, and not with shipped materials. What they lacked in efficiency, they more than made up for with quality.

“So, Cathryn,” Kip muttered after a sip of his soda, “I’m wondering… What’s the deal between you and Snug?”

“It’s Brackish now,” she corrected him, “Remember? I just wish we knew what her real name was…”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I don’t know what to say, Kip. She’s my friend, end of story. We started our careers together. Sure, I get annoyed with her, sometimes, but she’s still a sweetie.”

“And why is she trying to push you to talk to me about how you feel?”

Fire-Shield gulped loudly and her face reddened. She looked around to determine if anybody could see, then lowered her head to the table so she could whisper without anybody hearing. She still kept her eyes level with Kip, though.

“How did you know that?”

“Well, a couple things… One, Nester’s girlfriend saw you glancing at me and she kind of let it slip when she found out we were living together…”

----------

”I was wondering when you two were going to hook up!” she shouts with a bright smile as he walks through the door, “Nester was telling me about your new roommate!”

“What are you talking about?” he asks as he looks to his brother.

“Uh… Mindy, I said they were just living together,” Nester scratches the back of his neck while grimacing sheepishly, “I didn’t say they were dating…”

“Huh!?”

----------

“Then, there were Snug’s advances…”

Kip’s brow furrowed as his eyes narrowed. Much of the past year had been quite aggravating for him, largely due to what he was about to describe next.

----------

He wakes in the middle of the night. There’s a weight on top of him and a pair of arms snaked lightly around his neck. He reaches up to remove the limbs, but stops when he finds there’s a light layer of fur on them.

“Snug…” he whispers, “What are you doing?”

“I’m snuggling, silly,” she whispers back, “What do you think I’m doing?”

“Tell me you’re wearing clothes.”

“Um…” her voice almost squeaks with the playful tone she uses.

“That’s it,” Kip starts pushing her off the bed through his blanket, “Get out. Get out. Get out. You don’t have to leave, you can sleep on the couch, but I expect you either gone or in clothes by the time I get up!”

“Aw, you’re no fun.”

“This isn’t a game, Purr. I don’t play this seduction crap.”

“I’m not trying to seduce you.”

She pulls free of his grasp and turns to face him. He can see from the street lights filtering through his windows that she is indeed wearing underwear at least. He still holds up the blanket in case she’s cold, which she waves off.

“Fur, remember? Anyway… I’m not trying to seduce you. I’m trying to make Cathy get up the gumption…”

----------

“Kip,” Fire-Shield was mortified, “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” he replied, “I’ve known how you've felt for a while, now, and I was so mired in my own troubles… You deserve better than that.”

“Why now?”

“Because I’m not good at this.”

Kip shrugged and took another bite of his submarine sandwich. Once he was finished swallowing the food, he continued.

“Does this look like the sort of setting to discuss relationship issues?”

“Not really…”

Kip shrugged as if to say “Okay then,” and went back to eating. Cathryn went back to finishing her sub and they ate in silence for a moment. Eventually, the quiet had to end, however.

“Kipland, are you ready to move on yet?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, “I haven’t been hearing my second voice as much. The energy armor I’ve got still works fine, but my soul isn’t vocal anymore, it seems. I’m guessing that means I’m getting better… But that’s largely because I don’t want to consider the alternative.”

“Alternative?”

“That the Obsidian Blight is taking hold again, and that I’m about to die because my soul is getting too weak to hold the stuff back.”

“Oh my… Wait, what?”

“You’ve seen Shadow Cyst Crystals, right?”

Cathryn nodded.

“Well, imagine one that can walk, is about the size of a Nemesis Warhulk, and, well, whatever the Nictus can do, it can do. Oh, and in the course of warping the human body to support it, the mind dies from shock. So far, I’m one of two cases. The other I helped kill.”

“That sounds awful!” Cathryn was shocked, and she reached out to take Kip’s hand, “But… How do you feel?”

“Oddly enough, I feel fine,” he shrugged and ate the last bit of his submarine, “And I’ve checked with the docs who checked me out two years ago, and it seems I’m fine, still. I just don’t want to count my chickens before they’ve hatched, you know?”

Cathryn nodded.

“Enough about me,” Kip suddenly barked, “What about you? Why are you so worried about your job suddenly going up in smoke? I mean, isn’t that the goal of most heroes and heroines? To see an end to all this weirdness?”

“Yeah,” she muttered, “Except… I come from a small town…”

“So do I. That’s not…”

Kip looked at her and noticed her exceptionally orange skin.

“Oh… Right.”

“I was born like this…” she held herself as she recalled her history, “At first, the doctors thought it was some kind of disease, but their tests didn’t show anything wrong with me. Fortunately, the fires didn’t start until I was a teenager.”

Kip didn’t react at all like she expected him to. Of course, she was hoping he’d be like this, paying attention, but he was so relaxed about it, it actually got her to loosen up.

“Well, I was in high school, and some guys on the football team thought they would, um… Yeah…”

“I hate guys like that,” Kip shook his head, “Once they prove that they’re nothing but brain-dead jocks, I say it’s time to neuter ‘em.”

Cathryn chuckled at that, and Kip reinforced that he believed people needed to get a license to have kids.

“Seriously. Look at how things are going, but people keep spawning at random,” he sighed, “I know that speculative fiction always depicts it as a terrible thing, but people seriously need to prove that they can raise a kid, you know!”

“Well, I don’t think licensing is necessary,” Cathryn chuckled, “But these guys? Yeah… I think neutering would’ve been just right for them. I wound up sealing them inside a series of bubbles pressed against the ceiling. They were in stasis, and I couldn’t remember how to get them out. Thankfully, the magic wore off, but from that point on, I was a monster. Everybody looked at me with suspicion because I did something to their good ol’ boys.”

“That happened to me a lot, except I usually just kicked them in the crotch,” Kip blinked, “I figured I’d let real life show them something they weren’t ready for… Then the Rikti attacked and… Well…”

“Oh yeah… I sheltered a lot of people during the war, too. They were all grateful for me, then. But once the war was over and everything was rebuilt, a lot of people were quick to suggest that I move here to Paragon City, where my kind was welcome. Like I wasn’t welcome in my own home town!”

Kip didn’t say anything.

“My parents… They tried to support me, but I knew how badly they were suffering because of me. My dad’s buddies were worried he’d let his ‘crazy pyromaniac daughter’ flambé their work if he got ticked and mom had trouble getting work as a gardener… We all had our own problems, but it was quickly getting to the point where I was the scapegoat again.”

“So you just moved out here?”

“And met Snuggler right after her rehabilitation and basic training. Her peppy attitude kept me in high spirits, so…”

Cathryn shrugged.

“Here I am, and I’ve never been happier.”

Kip nodded and looked up to see she was gazing rather pointedly at him. If Kip remembered how to blush, he probably would have.

----------

“Well,” she said as she started the movie back up, “This is certainly interesting.”

Snuggle Purr was sleeping on the couch when they got back. Curled up into a tight ball, they could see her armored bikini brassiere lying on the coffee table. Agent Wild had ordered her to wear something more than just the thin string-thing she’d been horsing around in, but she didn’t like the armor. It was “too restricting of her movement” was her complaint, and it hurt her a little when her spikes poked through it.

Kip’s argument, however, was that if she would just wear more clothes, she’d be fine. She had a few outfits that she turned to, but she kept on turning to the bikini.

“Guys salivate when they see me,” she chuckled the last time he mentioned the subject of her outfit, “Yet they keep saying they don’t like catgirls.”

She made a derogatory snort before continuing her argument, which was largely circular logic. Kip and Cathryn both knew the reason she wore the bikini outfit was because she liked to, and that was as far as she was really thinking.

“It wouldn’t be such an issue if her chest wasn’t so large,” Cathryn muttered half-disgusted, half-amused, “I wonder if that’s why she went to Crey… I remember seeing something about, ah… Well…”

Kip shook his head and started heading for his room.

“Whatever. I’m just going to hit the hay.”

Cathryn watched him go into his room and sighed once he finally closed the door. After making some chocolate milk for herself and pouring a glass of normal milk for her friend, she settled in on the couch to finish watching the movie. Snuggle Purr, or “Brackish” as she preferred to be called lately, stirred at the weight shift and perked up to see her friend.

“Where’d you go?” she asked in her high-pitched tone.

“Kip and I got subs just down the street.”

“Oh. You finally went on a date?”

“Something like that,” Fire-Shield smirked at her friend, “You can stop trying to make me jump him before you get him, Snug.”

The brown-furred girl smirked back and stuck her tongue out a little. Despite childish display, it was meant to be playful.

“Well, I’m glad you two are getting together, finally.”

“It’s something like that,” Cathryn sighed, “But I think he’s finally feeling good enough to give another relationship a try.”

The two heroines finished watching the movie. Cathryn couldn’t help but chuckle a little every time Brackish purred at the actor playing the metal-clad hero.

Besides, he might go all Doctor Doom on us, see the name on the tombstone the Ghost of Christmas Future shows him, and kill everybody anyway.

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[ QUOTE ]
Also, they may have plans of their own for CK and Penny ...

[/ QUOTE ]

If it's to be evidenced by the end of the mission where you rescue her from the Rikti and Clockwork in the LGTF, then their story borders more on the psychotic stalker side.

Most of them deserve more. Heck, Serafina is featured in the Scirocco arc and numerous times throughout the game (the Shards and Crystal of Serafina, the Serafina's Veil Band Mission, Maros sends you to steal her bottle, etc.). I wonder why the others didn't get as much treatment.

Heh.

Maybe the Devs just like looking at Serafina.

Finally got a chance to read this.

I don't know what to say about the subject material (but I better damn well figure that out soon), but I'm liking the work, Slick.

Bloody Hell...

EDIT

Or it could be that Jupiter/Zeus (the real one, not the current avatar we know as Statesman), for her audacity, siphoned most of her power away (he was known for doing stuff like that).

Realizing that an adventure may be precisely what she needs, however, he doesn't take all of it away, giving her the abilities that most heroes/rogues have access to within her realms of influence. As she travels and learns more, he makes more available to her (begrudgingly, of course, but professionally; Hera/Juno would have repeatedly elicited the dreaded "Stygian Oath" from him to honor some kind of "power lease" agreement).