Murgatroid

Still reeling from the shock of what she had done to her friends, Pharma ducked and weaved through the battlefield of bloody bay. She was trying to conceal her panic, and was hiding behind the events going on around her. She could not help but to make the correlations of the decimated landscape around her, and the world she first visited as a young heroin at portal corp. just a few years ago. Sure, she had visited other worlds through the magic portal corp. offered, but she had always been plagued by this one in particular. This world had not been decimated by some villainous madman, but rather that world’s version of her.
She never told anyone of the truth she had discovered, and in her report she simply marked it as “inconclusive.” But the truth frightened her. From the moment she stepped through the portal, the spirits of that world feared her and attacked her. Then she stumbled upon the journal. It was lying in the remains of a female skeleton. The journal recounted how she as a young girl became a hero to her world, by joining with another team of heroes, and becoming a leader in the Empathy community. The next section of the journal was damaged, but the final pages lead Pharma to the conclusion that some strange event had unleashed this hero’s ability to reverse her healing powers into much more devastating and destructive powers.

With this new form of Anti-Healing, or as she referred to it “Pain Aura” she was able to gain power over the other heroes and was corrupted by power, rising to dictator, and eventually destroying her world out of greed, paranoia, and jealousy. The Journal was signed, “Pharma Hawk, ruler of the world”. PH regretted using that knowledge of the pain aura to subdue her friends. Had she not went after Tripp, the knowledge of how to reverse her powers would have never come to surface. She was ashamed at how quickly she had decided to use that ability on her friends, and now afraid to use any power in fear of where it might lead her. “Am I really that weak of mind?” She thought to her self as she dodged a laser blast from over head.

Not having realized that the whole time she was lost in thought, she had gotten farther and farther from her friends. The battle was still concentrated about 500 yards to the north of her position, which was dead center of the Pirates helicopter wreckage. She wasn’t sure who was on board, if anyone, but she had noticed at least that at least one of the pirate crew had joined the fight. It seemed that Blue, Slow, Neut, Headache Healer and Tar Heel were holding the villains at bay. It was only a matter of time until more EN joined the fight and found a way out of Bloody Bay.

Kooper ran to greet his friend, glancing at the unconscious Skink on the floor. “I’ve been worried about you murg.” Said Kooper. “I appreciate that pal; I’ve been worried about me too!” Murg replied. “In fact, I’m a little worried about all of us” Murg continued as he led kooper through the doorway to reveal the hundreds of Skinks in clone tanks that were housed in the lab. “I fought one of those things, it called it’s self a stalker and said it had taken care of you” Murg told Koop. “It actually did, but he wasn’t that thorough.” Said Kooper, as he nervously glanced at the Skink on the floor outside the door. “Don’t worry about him” said murg, “they seem to stay unconscious for a while” no sooner had Murg got the words out when the beast awoke, and continued to Split into two. Murgatroid extended his arms and let loose a powerful volley of energy that impacted the beast violently splitting the two halves before they were complete. Both beasts fell to the floor unconscious. “Now that’s just damned spooky!” Yelled Murg. “You were saying?” Replied Kooper. “Never mind, I am just a little too creeped out.” Said murg as he shuttered. “Yuk” “Just plain YUK!”
Bang Bang Bang! Came a noise from the back of the lab behind the clone tanks. Someone was banging on a door in the back of the lab. Both Kooper and Murg Looked at each other and started a fast pace towards the noise. “Come on you girl!” said Kooper to Murg. “I take that as a compliment Koop, I hope I’m half the girl PH is!” replied Murg. ‘yea, the ugly half” replied Kooper. As they approached the door, Kooper could see the face of a coralax peering out through the small square window. It spoke, “We were toldddd that you would be coming. We have the toxin that will stop the skinks!” “What?” said Murg. “I’ll explain later, lets just get the door open” replied Koop. The coralax then relayed the entire story to murg telepathically. “Huh” Said Murg, maybe they can help me find my helmet” “What” said Koop. “Never Mind, I’ll explain later”, replied Murg.

As Koop opened the door, he saw a group of eight coralax standing in the room. It was a science lab, just as the coralax on the dock explained. Three of the creatures had vials in their hands. “We must flood the ventilation system of this facility at once” said the first Coralax “Follow us, we know the way.” Kooper and Murgatroid followed the 8 coralax through the catacombs of the underground facility to a central control room, which housed the facility ventilation system. The Coralax began flooding the main air pump with the vials they were carrying. They activated the blower and the toxin dispersed into the air throughout the building. “This may not get them all, but it will stop the mutation that allows them to spontaneously reproduce” stated the first coralax. Then the eight creatures opened a hatch in the floor, and dove through. Murg looked through the hatch, “Its an underground river!” he said. “Guess we’re taking another way out” replied Koop.

The pair retraced Kooper’s path into the facility to find their way out. As soon as they were in the elevator shaft, Kooper’s EN communicator received a message. “All available EN, converge on Bloody Bay. My team is on its way. Engage at will. PH out.” “Guess we have our next gig” Quipped Murg. “So it seems” replied Koop. As they hopped out onto the roof of the building, they were greeted by the man Kooper recognized as Balke. “Good Evening Mr. Lafollette. It’s been a long time.” He was standing in the moonlight, his sword drawn and Murg’s helmet in the other hand he sat the helmet down, and raised his sword to battle stance and said.” I cannot have you making trouble here kooper. I thought certainly that the slayers had gotten to you before I disposed of Olaf.” Balke continued, “and I see that you have retained your abilities even without the masters control. What an unfortunate side affect. I must remedy that now!” Balke ran forward at the pair, Kooper met him half way with Swords clashing. Murg rolled forward and grabbed his helmet, and putting it back on his head blasted at Balke, who while still locked in sword play with kooper, managed to avoid the blast completely.

“Go on to PH! I’ll handle this!” Kooper yelled to Murg. “go!” Murg stood reluctant to go, and then in making eye contact with Kooper, he knew that this was something his friend needed to do. “Good luck my friend” Murg shouted to kooper as he leapt into the air to fly away.

Sparks flew from Kooper’s sword as the Skink’s Claws impacted its blade. The Skink had attacked relentlessly for 20 minutes, not really posing a threat to Kooper’s years of experience. “it must be limited in skill because its a clone” Koop thought to himself. “But it sure did talk a good game.” “Because he can’t read my mind, his main strategy is a failure. Now he just hopes to overpower me. How Sad for him” thought Koop.
While the fight continued, Kooper kept watch for any sign of others, and hoping to get a clue as to Murg’s location or to the location of the coaralx. The Skink appeared to be getting weary, and Kooper impatient, so with a change in tactic, Koop made a purposeful wrong move with his sword, allowing the skink to land a blow to his chest. As the Claws penetrated his chest, he could feel the blades pass through his ribs and pierce his left lung. It was a feeling not all that uncommon to Koop, sure, it still hurt, but he knew that by the time the claws exited, he’d already be back to normal. With the Skinks right hand Claws embedded in his chest, Koop countered the left hand with his sword, while Grabbing the Skinks right wrist trapping his hand from being removed. The Skink yelled out, “Mr. Lafollette, you are rather unorthodox!” As he lunged backwards throwing the entangled combatants bodies end over end down the hall. Seeing this as a stalemate, the Skinks feet left the floor and planted them on Kooper’s Legs, pressing to remove its right hand from Kooper’s chest. With the Skink no longer planted on the floor, kooper twirled his Sword, severing the Skinks right arm about mid forearm, and followed through with a punch to the head, sending the Skink tumbling backwards onto the floor, “sans” right arm.
The Skink Sprang to his feet, Shocked, looking at his arm, and back at Kooper rapidly. Kooper Grabbed the severed hand at the wrist and pulled the claws out of his chest, the wound sealing its self as the claws came out. Kooper noticed that the fight had brought them to a doorway with a small window. The Skink was now in front of it. Kooper tossed the hand at the monster and said, “Why Mr. Skink, You’re not all that handy!”

The monster replied with a loud roar, and then started to split, literally, down the middle, into two skinks. Kooper just stared in awe of what was happening, and prepared to charge the beast when the door the skink was standing by came off its hinges in a burst of energy, smashing the splitting beast into the wall. Murgatroid stepped out into the hall and said, “Hiya Koop! Come here, you have got to see this!”

Suddenly, Pharma Stood Back Up. This sudden change of stature caught Neuttrino by surprise. Tar Heel Laughed, “Well look at that!” Mr. Slowburn added, “Ph, you are always full of surprises. How could we possibly have underestimated you. You should shed society’s rules and join us” Neuttrino looked upset, and tried to ratchet the pain up a few levels. Ice Gost and Teen Tar heel still feeling the pain, became tenser with the increases effort from Neut. PH, just stood there, visibly resisting the pain, but doing so rather effectively.

“Sadly, I hoped it wouldn’t come to this,” PH stated. “You see my friends, I learned that trick too.” PH said in a sad tone. “and then some” “Please forgive me my friends.” PH said in a shaky voice. She then tilted her head forwards, and looked at her friends with a tear in her eye, and let loose a new Aura. Not the familiar green aura that had saved them so may times, but a more sinister shade of red. The waves pulsed from her body and engulfed her entire team, as well as Tar Heel Mr. Slowburn, and Neuttrino. Ice Gost and Trip immediately lost consciousness, and were swept away by the Em transport. As the waves crossed her old friends, they all too buckled in pain, weakened. Neuttrino, grabbed her head and fell to her knees yelling, “PH, what have you done to me!” Mr. Slowburn was struggling to maintain his stance, using all his concentration to achieve a meditation state. Tar Heel Simply stumbled, and then tried to step forward towards PH. PH and Tar locked in stare for several seconds, and Tar took another step, fighting the pain. PH Glared right into his eyes, and said, “not one more step!” Tar Snorted and stepped forward.

Pharma, took a wider stance, and closed her eyes for deeper concentration. The pain aura was increasing. Neut collapsed unconscious, Slowburn still struggling to maintain his trance, but was failing. Several seconds later, he too collapsed. Tar Heel was physically weakened by this new wave of pain, and stopped, to say “PH, it doesn’t have to be this way!” “ Then he mustered his strength and pushed forwards. Pharma was too focused to speak, yet visibly shaken at tar’s resistance. She stretched her hands forwards, and focused all her ability on tar. Not only had her capture by Sirocco taught her to reverse the effects of her healing aura, but had also taught her to reverse the effects of her ability to absorb pain. She knew it would be incredibly dangerous. His body began to Glow red, and his movement slowed. The drain on his life had finally weakened him, and he collapsed to the ground, followed by a completely drained Pharma hawk. The Em transport did not sweep her away. Tar Heel, Mr. Slowburn, Neuttrino, teen Tar Heel, Blue Electric, and Pharma Hawk lay motionless, lifeless on the battle field of Bloody bay; for the moment, a once again united team.

Jaster wasn’t lying, Pharma materialized in a holding cell with a full out video studio in view. No one was around, and her stealth field appeared to have kept her undetected. She walked out of the transport tube and towards the door. The room was full of lab tables and what appeared to be torture equipment. She thought to herself she was glad it was her who initiated the transport. Had Jaster sent her here there would have certainly been a party waiting for her. As she approached the door she could hear voices in the hall. There were two Arachnos guards passing by on patrol. They passed the lab door without looking. Pharma breathed a sigh of relief; she had finally caught a break.

She slipped into the hallway as the guards passed; looking right to left making sure the coast was clear. The hall connected two additional rooms, one with barred windows like a holding cell. The first room was just an office. Pharma entered and started looking for clues. Certificates were on the wall from Harvard and MIT; Doctorates of various sorts in Psychology, Literature, Law, Science, and Medicine. Not your typical villain resume she thought. The diplomas were for a Dr. Xandros Nemecheck. She would have to have him checked out. Someone of this vast educational background could be connected to the brainwashing of her friends.
In the center desk drawer, Pharma found a list of the EveryNighters. It was Tripps handwriting. Eightball was crossed off the list, as was Slowburn, Doc, Northern Wolf, Tar Heel, and Neuttrino. It seems Tripp was the first capture. Pharma’s heart sank as she seen Tar, Wolfy, and Neut’s names on the list crossed off. That must mean they are here somewhere. How was she going to be of any help? She thought. As she sank deeper into despair, she did take comfort in the names that were not crossed off. To her surprise, Kooper and Murgatroid were still not crossed off, and oddly, Murg has been missing from the start of this. She hoped that they were able to help, because with the list of names that were crossed off already, she shuddered to think about confronting them.
Pharma’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud speaker announcement, there were three high pitched tones, followed by a statement, “Dr. Nemecheck, report to the holding area ASAP, Project entropy is unraveling”. The door of the office opened and a large round man ran in and grabbed a book of the desk. PH just stood still trusting her stealth would leave her undetected. The man didn’t even take notice; he just sprinted out of the room with his book. PH Followed.

She was right about the room with bars on the windows, it was the holding cell. She followed Nemecheck closely so she could go through the door behind him. Once in side, she could see a woman in a lab coat, and a tall Persian man with a beard and long curved sword. She recognized him as Sirocco, one of recluse’s trusted associates. Nemecheck rushed up to the two. “There’s a problem with arbiter Entropy, her mind is fighting to come back” stated the woman in the lab coat. She continued,” Upon the news of the Capture of Tar Heel she broke down and Blasted Arbiter Palmer and Seer Devenrue through the wall at Ft. cerebus helo pad.” Nemecheck scribbled incessantly on his notepad. Sirocco spoke, “Dr., we need to understand why this happened with much haste. We cannot afford for the others to come unraveled in this fashion.”
“I understand lord Sirocco, I will get to the bottom of it.” replied Nemecheck. “Fortunately, Ghost Widow was there and put entropy into a state of fear so that we could subdue her for further study” said the woman. “Take me to her” said Nemecheck. The woman raised her arm and punched a few keys on her wrist device, and the back wall of the holding cell started to rise. Behind it was a 5 inch thick Plexiglas cell. The woman inside was Tripp. She was sitting on the floor arms wrapped around her knees. She was trembling, and muttering unintelligible words. Pharma could make out the words, jaster, tar, and PH. Her heart ached for her friend, she had to think, she had to get Tripp out of here. Suddenly, Sirocco turned and looked in her direction, staring. PH froze, she stood completely still, sirocco, looked away, and then turned to leave. He walked away without even looking back and simply stated as he walked away, “Fix this Mr. Nemecheck.”

PH felt like her luck was running out, she needed to think fast. How was she going to get Tripp out of there? Suddenly Tripp stood up, looking through the glass, and said, “PH!” Nemecheck and the woman started looking around to make sure they were alone. “Crap” thought PH, “she’s out of her mind and going to give me away” Just then, BAM, Ph felt the blow to the back of her head and her vision narrowed to a black tunnel and then faded.

“Are you OK?”Tripp asked in a shaky voice. “PH, please wake up. Please. Please” as PH’s vision started to return, it came as it had left, through a small black tunnel. Her pain was still intense, but she could see Tripp’s face at the end of the tunnel. “I tried to warn you” She said, Sirocco knew you were here.” “He came back to take you down.” Tripp continued. “The things they did to me have made me more ‘aware’ of others thoughts and actions. Sirocco was really impressed that you beat Jaster and used his equipment against us….I mean them.” “I am so confused and afraid” said Tripp. PH tried to sit up, but then realized she was restrained. Then the panic hit, she noticed they were back in the Lab room where she transported in, and a crew was setting up cameras. The woman in the lab coat from the interrogation room walked up to them. She was carrying a tray of syringes with a green cloudy fluid in them. PH Still couldn’t speak, instinctively she tried to heal herself, but nothing happened. “They have suppressed your powers PH” said Tripp. “Apparently ghost Widows mind control is only prolonged and not permanent on all people, and especially short on the ones with some psionic ability.” That’s why they were taking you and Headache Healer last” Tripp continued “that’s also why Dr. Nemecheck is here, to try and make the effects last.” “Stop the banter” barked the Lab coat Woman, as she jammed the first syringe into Tripp’s neck. “I’m sorry PH; I won’t remember you in a few minutes. They are going to have me kill you on TV” Cried Tripps as she passed out.
Pharma’s heart sank, she didn’t see any way out of this with most the EN captured or fighting capture. At least she thought that someday, Tar and Slow would regain control and be able to fight back. She hung her head down in defeat. “See you in 12 hours for your big screen finale’” said lab coat woman and walked out. PH didn’t get an injection; “I guess they want me to be me for my demise.”

There were 4 camera and equipment operators in the room with Tripp and PH. Cameraman 1 asked, “Is it cold in here to you guys?” The rest replied, “Yea, a little, seems like a draft from somewhere”. PH could feel it to. The room temp was dropping, and fast. “I’m going to check it out” said cameraman3. “We’re done here anyway; let’s let these two be in peace for a few minutes.” And the crew walked out of the lab. As the door closed behind them, it iced over, and froze solid. PH blinked to make sure she was seeing it right, then a figure materialized in front of Tripps, it was Ice Gost, her one time Sidekick, now protector of Atlas Park. He had his finger up to his mouth telling PH to be silent. He had a syringe in his hand and injected Tripp. PH’s Eyes welled with tears of hope. “I have given Tripp an antidote” Ice said to PH telepathically, he really didn’t speak much; the Crey didn’t design him for communications. They also didn’t Design him with a conscience, but he was good at heart before they created him from the boy he once was, and that carried over in the finished product. PH was so proud, her protégé’ having avoided capture and here for her rescue. The Ice Gost she remembered was the aggro magnet supreme; he could grab more aggro in a mission than Tar. He has grown into a fine person.
“I have been taking notes from Dr. Nemecheck now for about 3 months. I take them to my operatives inside Crey, and they have been making an antidote for me” Ice told PH. “I first tried it on Tripp 3 days ago, and the Doctors think Nemecheck’s work is failing. I am creating an internal wrinkle in their plan and turning them against each other so that we can free the rest.” Ice continued. “First, we need to get you two out of here.” Ice started undoing Tripps restraints and PH’s too. Ice placed a transport beacon on Tripps and activated it, she disappeared. ‘Let’s go PH, and he handed her a beacon as well. They activated and disappeared. They reappeared in a modern base in a submarine port. “Where are we” said PH? “We are in a longbow strike base off of Mercy Island” replied Ice Gost, vocally this time. ‘I spend so much time in Atlas Park, Ms. Liberty has made me an operative for Longbow.” Teen Tar Heel and Dr. Sheridan are waiting for us in the Med bay, they are anxious to “undo” Nemecheck’s work on Tripp and get the information she knows.” PH breathed a long sigh of relief, “it’s good to be here Ice, thank you.”

yeap, tried both used and both un used. yet my friend who did both trials with me, and is 35, gets his missions. Seems odd that he wouldn't talk to me until 35, but 36 outlvls him. I chalk it up to a bug.

Yea same issue with me. both respecs adn now lvl 36 adn he says I'm not proven.

The missile impacted with the helicopter without any semblance of a warning. It was completely undetected by neither equipment nor super powered being. The last thing she remembered was getting the transmission from Tar Heel. A peculiar message at that, it was just a single word, “jaster”. After that there was an explosion, and she remembered seeing the cargo section flying away from her, Blue, Teek, and Teen Tar Heel flying in separate directions. She didn’t recall seeing Fire Bat at all after the impact.

With her vision now clearing, and her head beginning to gain clarity, Pharma Hawk sat up, brushing the rubble off of her body. She had landed at the edge of a dense forest. A quick survey of the area didn’t yield the whereabouts of her crew. She was concerned, but knew that they could take care of themselves, after all, besides Blue Electric, she was the only passenger on board who was not super durable, and blue could self heal. If she made it, they must be ok. “Terrific” she thought, “I’m supposed to be the pillar of strength and my team never even makes it to the isles”. “No matter” she thought, “its how we react to the unexpected that makes us who we are.” With that thought, she stood, and immediately fell. She hadn’t even noticed the broken ankle until she tried to stand. “Guess I took more damage than I thought”, she said to herself as she sat back down to concentrate on healing the break. She felt the warm strong glow of her empathic powers surging through her leg, washing the pain away. “Let’s try this again” she said to her self as she stood once more.

Pharma moved quickly into the brush. She knew that whoever shot them down would be looking for confirmation of the kill. Her EN comm device was lost in the chaos, so she was on her own. Being alone was a rare occurrence since the formation of the EveryNighters, but she wasn’t the helpless sort. Very early in her career, she took a lot of heat from the paragon press because it was unpopular at the time for an empath of her ability to be able to fill an offensive position. It was rare for a defender to do solo work. However, she was never one for labels, and always believed that defenders, empaths especially should not be helpless, and focused on her electrical and mental powers as well as her healing. In fact, that’s how the EveryNighters were born. A chance happening of 7 individual heroes, who like the clockworks they were so famous for defeating, took to the streets and brought big named thugs to justice, literally every night. It was HHH3 aka “trip” that first coined the phase to the paragon press corps, from there it stuck. They began to use the name EveryNighter for Tar Heel, Cycloptic Chick, Trip, Msgt Black, Ice Gost, Headache Healer, and Pharma Hawk it was a chance meeting of the seven of us that proved to us all that we were exponentially better together than alone.
It was nice to remember the early days. It was a simpler time. In those days, it was just easier to be a hero, less politics, less burden of knowledge. However, it was the days preceding the official formation of the EN that troubled PH at the moment. Before she even learned to harness her powers to be able to fly, trip, ice gost and PH would run security details in Perez Park. During one of these patrols, they came across a particularly large group of clockworks. In the middle of them all were two other heroes, who were quickly getting in over their heads. PH, trip and Ice joined the battle, Trip and Ice blasting clocks at will, and PH healing the team so that they could stand against the superior numbers.

This is how they met Jaster. He was a jovial spirit, a very eager and brash young blaster. He was a tech hero with a mean assault rifle and various gadgets who often reacted rather than thinking. Still he was a lucky sort, almost charmed at his ability to succeed. He was much more of a loner than a team player, his style never lent itself to being in a group. Trip and PH joined Jaster for several weeks after the Perez park meeting, and eventually joined his super group, the jester’s court. As the weeks progressed, and the press corps continued to herald the EveryNighters, the seven sounders agreed that they should form their own group.

The EN were a compliment to each other and together, a force to be reckoned with. A group vote sent Pharma to Atlas Park to officially register the group. The EN was tasked by the freedom phalanx to eliminate the clockwork threat from paragon city, and Jaster never got over his extreme fear and hatred of the clockworks. They had a natural resistance to his super abilities, and that always made his uneasy. More often than not when jaster would face clockworks, it would end with an emergency hospital transport. Although invited to join, jaster chose to take his own path, and eventually just disappeared. He claimed it was his fear of clockworks was his reason for not joining, though PH always felt like it was more personal, possibly a feeling of betrayal from PH and Trip for leaving the jesters court.

The En always talked about jaster, mostly in fun, making comments about his unorthodox style, some wondering what had become of him. By the time Neuttrino and Peepopo had joined the EN, the memory of jaster had became ancient history. The clockworks were contained, and the Freedom Phalanx had sent EN to handle larger threats.

It had been years since she heard Jaster’s name. Sure, it was always Tar that would crack wise about him, but somehow she didn’t think that Tar was making a joke over the radio, and the tone of his voice was unsettling. PH and Tar were close, closer than most. Many times they would be the last two in battle, tar holding the line, and PH supercharging Tar with buffs. She could tell when things got serious, they had been in to many rough situations together, they could practically read each others minds. For this reason, she believed Tar’s message was a warning, but what was the context?

PH scoured the surrounding area, looking for the other team members. Because of the altitude where the missile hit the chopper, they could be separated by miles. It was EN protocol to do an area search, and then proceed with the mission objectives if at all possible. Having found no trace of the others or even wreckage, Pharma decided to get her bearings and continue to try and rescue her friend. She was certain that Trip was brainwashed, there wasn’t an evil bone in her body. Trip surely liked the thrill of the fight, but always knew the limits. She was no villain.

Ph had come to the conclusion that she had landed on an uninhabited island, somewhere south of the rogues Isles. In the distance she could see the faint outline of Mount Diable, so she knew she must be close. She activated her stealth field and took to the air in the direction of Cap Au Diable, she could make Port Oakes from there. Suddenly, She was pulled from the air by the recognizable feel of a web grenade. As she fell back to the island, she activated her psionic armor as a precaution. “Hello PH,” said a voice coming from behind her, she recognized the voice, it was Jaster.

“what have you done with tar!” She replied sternly. “Now, now, not even a hello for your old Pal” jaster said cheerfully as he walked into view. “I’ve missed you so,” he continued. “Well it appears that you are playing for the wrong team now, and I do not chit chat with the bad guys” said Pharma. “Bad Guys!” laughed Jaster, “You and your Stinking EN are the bad guys!” “You are all brainwashed and I’m just helping you to see the truth” Jaster said in a clearly agitated tone. Pharma could tell that her statement rattled Jaster. His body language changed from the jovial kid he once knew, to a menacing opponent. He gripped his rifle with his right hand and had his left hand on his grenade belt. He stepped backwards suddenly and hit PH with another web grenade, and then trained his sights on her.
“Awe what’s the matter Jas, are you afraid I’m going to get loose” Pharma Taunted
“Shut UP” Jaster Shouted, “Your not going to talk like that to me! I am in charge here!” Jaster always did have control issue PH recalled. “I just want to know what you did with Tar,” she replied calmly. “He got what he deserved” barked Jaster. “I showed him, I taught him not to take my team from me!” “So you blame Tar for Trip and I leaving the jesters? Are you serious?” asked PH “that’s what this is all about?”
“The Revenge on the EN is only the icing on the cake my dear” replied Jaster “You were always so arrogant about the EN, flaunting your success.” “I knew it! I knew you weren’t mature enough to handle it. You were one of us Jaster, there was never a ‘you vs us’, you made that up on your own.” Retorted PH, “You are to blame for that, not EN.”

“ There you go again, PH, you drive me freaking crazy with En Bla bla bla… I’m just going to shoot you now” jaster said as he raised his rifle and fired. The slug hit PH mid chest knocking her back and free of the web grenade. The bullet went cleanly through, and her healing aura had the damage repaired before she hit the ground. Jaster had anticipated this move and had already started Spraying automatic gun fire in her direction, again, several bullets making their mark on PH’s Body. “I am sure you didn’t face Tar head on you coward”, PH yelled at Jaster as she leapt into the air “he could stomp you into corn flakes!” “Precisely why I only did the finishing work” replied jaster proudly. “without you there to make him invincible, I made sure my minions over powered your dog Neuttrino so Tar would run out of steam. Then me and a couple hundred of my closest friend proceeded to beat him down, until I could make my debut” “he was really shocked to see me too, you should have seen his face.” PH fired a volley of ball lightning at jaster momentarily paralyzing him; she followed with a short circuit attack to drain Jaster’s endurance. “Oh Poo PH, surely you don’t think you can beat me” he stated, quite sure of himself. The short circuit missed, and Jaster opened fire again, landing PH on her back, body riddled with bullets. “You” jaster shouted, “will not be as lucky as Tar Heel.” “You see, I only got to beat him, it was fun knocking him unconscious with this very gun.” He continued, “You see, the ghost widow wants him for some arcane reason. And the ghost gets what she wants.” “Lord Recluse gives her everything.”

PH Struggled to her feet, she was getting weaker, jaster never missed, at some point she would not be able to out heal the damage, so she knew she needed to think. “And what is it that recluse has given you jaster?” Pharma said calmly “What is in it for you, you snotty [censored]!” Jaster laughed out loud at Pharma’s outburst. “You’re an idiot PH, but I’ll indulge you.” “Lord Recluse helped me channel my fear of Clockworks into something useful. Something great! I am no longer afraid, and I am Stronger now, stronger than the EveryNighters ever were. He let me Kidnap Trip for revenge. I knew that she’d hate serving him, so that’s what she now does. And she can’t help it; the ghost has willed it to be, so it is. She will never be free of that curse.” Jaster Continued, “For each one of you I capture or Kill, Recluse gives me more power. Soon, I will be among his lieutenants, and everyone in paragon city will know my name.”

“You’re a Fool, Jaster, Recluse doesn’t owe you anything, and he’s using you.” Said PH. “Now your just begging to stall the inevitable” Replied Jaster, “recluse wanted me to bring you back, so we could dispose of you on live broadcast, You and trip, headliners in the arachnos show. A demonstration to paragon City that it’s mighty EveryNighters can help them no more. It will breed fear, and set the stage for Arachnos to take over the eastern seaboards crown jewel.” “So I guess it would be bad form to Kill me now” Replied Pharma Smugly. “HA” Jaster laughed, “I have missed your sense of humor PH” After I kill you here, you’ll be automatically transported to mercy Island where you’ll be revived and brainwashed for the show.”

Pharma Slumped onto the sand. Jaster moved closer. “Bye PH” he said, “Next time we meet you’ll be my Dog” he raised his rifle and fired, but Pharma wasn’t done. She dodged the slug and leapt back into the air above jaster, and quickly landed a swift kick to his face, knocking him backwards. Pharma knew that jaster, Like all blasters was weakest at close range, and she intended to take the fight to him. “But…….” Jaster Gasped, “You’re an empath!” He said in a surprised tone. PH did not say a word, She continued to land electrically charged Punches and kicks to Jaster’s body. He retaliated by swinging his gun at her and reaching for his grenade belt to try and put some distance between them. He was completely caught off guard that she could engage him in had to hand combat. “Empaths don’t fight” he yelled. Ph responded by separating his rifle from his hands with a lightning blast to his arm. The gun went flying into the surf. Ph stayed on him relentlessly, Kicking Punching, short range blasting, Jaster stumbling backwards still in shock over the whole chain of events. Jaster managed to get a grenade loose and lob it at Pharma, but this time it didn’t land, she caught it mid air and flung it back at him. Her rage was so high now that she was moving like a Broadway dancer, perfectly choreographed moves, all working on concert to the final goal; Kicking Jaster’s tail.
Jaster, now trapped with his own grenade, stood there in disbelief. “How?” he muttered. “Jaster, you dumb punk “ said Pharma, “theres just so much you don’t know” and with that statement she blasted him with a testla cage, and fired a point blank snipe at him. Jaster was down. “Stronger Indeed” Pharma said calmly.

Just then Pharma heard a noise in the brush behind her, it was Teen Tar Heel, “PH! Are you OK, I’m here to rescue you!” he said. “Well your timing is impeccable” PH replied. Teen Tar walked up to the unconscious Jaster and stared. “Wow, I guess I was right about him not standing a chance against you.” Teen tar said. Thanks for the vote of confidence lil’ feller. I wasn’t so sure there myself” Replied PH. “Ha” TTH Laughed, “You’re way to modest, Uncle Tar always says he’d rather have you in a fight than most scrappers. I guess you really are pretty tough.” Teen Tar continued, “That is SOOO Hawwwttt.” “Oh stop you big hormone!” Ph replied. “Have you heard from the others?”

“Well Blue electric reported from mercy Isle, it appears some junior thugs thought they captured him, he played along for the ride back to Mercy, and then kicked their collective Axx’s” said TTH, “So he is in position in Mercy.” “Super Teek took Bat back to Talos Island, I guess Bat seen the missile coming and used himself as a shield, so he needs a little patching up.” “I’m relieved, it’s good to hear everyone is fine” said Pharma as she knelt down to handcuff Jaster. “TTH, I need you to take Jaster to Dr. Sheridan in Bricks town. He will be able to study Jaster for the effects of any brainwashing. Dr. Sheridan works with Numia on cases like this. Hopefully he will hold the key to being able to reverse the effects on our fellow EN.”

“But what about you” TTH replied, “don’t you need…” TTH stopped before finishing the sentence; as he lifted Jaster’s Body over his shoulder. “I suppose you’ll be ok “He looked at PH and Smiled.

Ph patted TTH on the shoulder, and then took the emergency transport beacon off Jaster’s belt, and an access card out of his vest pocket. “I do have a plan” She said, and then she switched on her stealth field, and hit the activator for the emergency transport. “I have a dear friend to visit” She said to TTH as she disappeared to god knows where. “Good Luck” Teen tar said staring at the space where Pharma disappeared, “Good Luck”.

Kooper ran across the roof of the building that the coralax told him was where Murg was at. He pulled his sword and ripped through the roof exposing the ventilation ducts; it was exactly as the coralax had explained. He dropped through opening and cut a hole in the shaft. Once inside he began making his way through the shafts to the central elevator shaft. He dropped onto the top of the elevator platform, and began repelling downwards. The Coralax had explained that their people were on the 13th sublevel. “lucky 13” Koop thought.
The building was another fine work of deception. What looked like a two story warehouse from the outside was just a front for the weird secret lab buried below. “How in the world could all these secret buildings exist?” “What was the deal with real estate in the rogue isles? After all, the isles were a known safe haven for criminals and morally challenged types.” “Why do they have to hide? Its practically lawless here, even Arachnos builds forts in the open here.” “I will never fully understand the criminal Logic” he spoke aloud.
“And you never will” Hissed a Voice in close proximity.

Kooper was startled, but didn’t show it. He calmly continued to descend, yet cautiously.
“to Whom do I have the pleasure of Conversing?” Quipped Koop. “Your Slayer,” Hissed the voice confidently.
The response was so assured in its tone that Kooper started laughing out loud. He released the elevator cable and spun into a back flip doing a single summersault, and landed on the ledge labeled sub level 13, sword drawn mid air, and poised for attack on his landing, still laughing.
“Laugh now human”, the voice hissed “Your Time is come.” “Now,” Kooper replied, “that’s where your wrong, I am not ‘completely’ human” Looking up the elevator shaft he could see two stealthed figures closing in on him, with a third shadowed figure following two floors above. Kooper retained his keen vision from his days under the curse, and had a much higher perception to cloaked enemies than most heroes. The stealthed figures were somehow crawling on the walls. It was creepy, but he’d seen weirder things.
“No More Talk!” shouted a new voice, coming from the direction of the shadowed figure. It was deeper, not as reptilian sounding, and definitely bigger sounding.

Kooper watched as the two stealth figured closed, he was banking on the fact that they thought he couldn’t see them. He ducked into the sub level 13 hallway and backed down the corridor facing the door. The two creature’s lept through the door before it closed. They were surprisingly fast. The first proceeded towards him along the right wall, clinging near the ceiling. The other crawled on the opposite side near the floor.

Kooper played along, “where are you at? What do you want with me?” He pretended not to see them advancing. They did not respond. Just as they sprung from the walls to attack, Kooper lept into the air and spun, sword 90 degrees perpendicular to his spinning body, like a rotating fan. The blade struck both figures simultaneously, and they fell to the floor, and rematerialized from their hidden state. Shocked at what he was seeing, Kooper kept sight of the door waiting for the third assailant to enter. The beasts were large Lizard looking aliens. “These must be the skinks.” He thought. “If the rest are as stupid as these two I will not need the poison”

Just then, the door opened and the third attacker walked calmly into the hallway. He was not stealthed; rather he walked in plain sight. It was another Skink, but different. Larger; Smarter looking. “Why thank you Mr. Lafollette, that’s what I was hoping to find out.” Kooper struggled frantically to clear his mind. He knew he had had his mind probed. It had been so long since he encountered anyone capable of doing it. “ah ah ah” said the large skink, “Its to late, You have already betrayed the coralax. Now I know where they are and I know what they plan.” Certainly you didn’t think we had them captive for their physical traits?” “We wanted them to bestow our army with their telepathy, so they can all be like me, and not these two rejects” he kicked the two skink bodies on the floor as he walked towards kooper.

Koop concentrated hard to get into a state of Zen. He needed to get his mind fixated in the now, so that his thoughts didn’t betray him in battle. “its of no use Mr. Lafollette, you cannot hide your mind from…” the voice stopped and then resumed. “Why Mr. Lafollette, you are more talented than Mr. Balke has led me to believe. I think I will enjoy this challenge.” The Skink crouched towards the floor, and extended his hands, claws fully extended. “lets see if your body is as strong as your mind”

Murg moved silently down the dark corridor. His stealth field was activated, but he was still uneasy after his encounter with the skink. The monster had incredible strength and agility for his size. Murg’s grandmother always told by him that he was indestructible, that she had used a gypsy spell to make sure he did not fall victim to his family’s curse that the men wouldn’t live past 30. he always thought she was a little loopy, but then again, he was 32, and could take a beating like no other hero and always bounce back. He hoped she was right, but was not content to test the theory on this day.

“Dang” Murg thought, “This corridor goes for miles!” “I don’t see a door or a turn,” he did get the sensation that he was slightly descending. “Figures” he muttered to himself, “Without the nav sensors in my helmet, I’m worse than a boy scout washout with directions.”

He continued to follow the dark hallway for what seemed like an eternity, though in reality 35 minutes had passed since his encounter with the skink. Murg’s strength was returning. Finally, a dim light shined into the corridor about 300yds ahead. Murg decided that airborne travel would be best as he would be silent, and he lept into the air, activating his flight servos in his suit. He closed the 300 yards in seconds. The light was coming from a small lab door window. “Maybe this is my way out!” he thought.

As Murg approached the window, his face went stone straight; his usually jovial outlook became stoic. As he peered through the window in stunned silence, in plain view, were giant bio tanks. The ones like the crey used to clone the protectors. Floating in the tanks were Clones of the Skink. The room was roughly the size of a football field; at least as far as he could see with the dim lighting. Murg just stared into the room with the look in his eyes degrading from hope to panic as he muttered a single word to himself. “Crap”….

“Yes team, I am aware that we are the last team to deploy.” Pharma Hawk stated. “We already know that Team 2 has successfully engaged, and the Tar’s team has located Doc.” “The Pirates have not reported yet, and Headache Healer is still radio silent.” “I fear that EN is a target for strategic reasons, Tar thinks it’s more personal.” She continued, “Somehow I am afraid we are both right.” Pharma Paused and looked at her team, she paced and stared at the floor, then spoke directly to the group. “By now most of you know that there are more of us missing than not.” “Furthermore, Trojan King has been called to aid the Kheldian alliance, it seems that Bynari and Auroris have found a Quantum smuggling ring and need aid of their protector. This leaves us Light as an assault force, but then, that’s why you were all chosen for this team.” Pharma Leaned back on the pilot seat and swiveled back towards the team. “I selected each of you because of you record of solo combat. We are going in recon and stealth to extract Trips.” Blue, You and Super Teek have Tactical. FireBat is pilot, Teen Tar and I will be goin over the intelligence.” “Lets get this bird in the air.” She concluded, “Are there any Questions?”

“No Ma’am” said Teek as he turned to wish Troajn king good luck. Firebat looked concerned, but sat silently as he fired up the helicopter. Blue and Teen Tar Heel looked Giddy with excitement she thought. “Those two and their head busting fetish” She laughed to herself as she snapped her seatbelt.

Just then, Teen Tar heal shouted, “Hey PH, what’s the in flight movie?” She glanced back at him through the cockpit door and said in an ornery voice, “the notebook.”
“Oh Man” Cried Teen tar Heel, “isn’t there anything I can do to talk you out of that? PH Just Smiled.

The Chopper ascended into the afternoon sky as Trojan King watched his friends leave, he wondered if he would see them all again.

Kooper listened carefully as the coralax recounted the story. Some new villain had gained the ear of Captain Mako, who was a genetic combination of sorts. The coralax themselves were genetic hybrids, but apparently only a stepping stone on the way to a genetic super villain army. Arachnos was in the process of breeding, growing rather; super soldiers in from technology stolen from Aeon Labs. In the latest round of testing several coralax were taken prisoner as test subjects. Apparently high ranking officials in the coralax underground. “It appears that in this situation, my enemy’s enemy, was my opportunistic friend.” thought Koop as he listened.

The latest “product” of the genetic soldier making process was a Reptile, Coralax hybrid, which produced some startling results. The Reptilian DNA was tainted with some strand of Alien DNA that the researchers were not familiar enough with, causing some less than desirable results. All of the clones from this batch all refer to themselves as Skink and all of them think they are the only one. To complicate the matter, they seem to be able to replicate automatically when defeated. This would be a good result, but because of the “individuality” anomaly, they all want to work alone, thus fighting amongst themselves, and anyone around them, as enemies, Arachnos included.

So with the entire group of Skinks auto spawning, Arachnos has lost control of their Aeon cloning facility to this infestation of monsters. “our people are in that facility”, and we lured your friend there thinking he could defeat at least enough Skinks to allow us to get our friends out.” stated the coralax. “We have however, lost track of him as well.”

Kooper’s anger swelled with the comments about Murg, he could only think of the trouble he must be in. “So you want me to be the next bait” Snorted Kooper to the coralax. “The Skinks are to powerful for you, so you need me as bait to rescue your friends, while you feed mine to the monsters!” Kooper slung his sword from its sheath and pinned the Coralax to a shipping crate behind him, “I am not amused by your story!” He barked, “Tell me where this facility is, and I ‘Might’ release your friends if mine is not hurt.” “Otherwise the whole place goes up.”

By now, a group of 8 more coralax had encircled Kooper and were closing in. “Stand Back my brothers.” hissed the coralax. “The situation is unfortunate yes, but we have more information that will help you.”

Kooper drew his Sword back, yet kept it unsheathed. “Continue, but quickly” replied Kooper. “I need to tend to my friend.”

“Like most genetic clones, the scientists build in a fail safe of sorts, a poison in this case, that can stop the spawning, and weaken the current clones.” “however,” Kooper rolled his eyes, “why is there always a however” he thought.

“Because of the rapidly mutating strain of the Skinks, “ the coralax continued, “this poison must be introduced before the next generation evolves.” “We already know of stalker and brute strains of the lizard men, another generation will likely mutate away the effectiveness of the poison.”

“How do you know this, and why should I believe you” asked kooper.

“First,” replied the coralax, “our people in captive are telepathic” “Second, they have replicated the poison on the inside of the lab, once the staff were ran off by the skinks, our people had free reign of the lab.” You will have to rescue them to get the poison to defeat the skinks.”

“Peachy” kooper thought. “Give me the location, and lets get this over with” said kooper to the coralax. “Most excellent, we knew you’d see it our way.” It replied.

Pharma headed out to the helo pad with Tar Heels words echoing in her mind, what were they going to do when we get our lost comrades back? If headache healer can’t reverse the mind control, perhaps some time with Sister Psyche would be in order.

“I can certainly put them to sleep indefinitely, but that’s only a short term fix.” She whispered to herself as she walked. Pharma frequently would get lost in her own conversations while in deep thought. It was her nature to have all loose ends tied; she was the consummate strategist, a role that defined her spot in EN history. In the early days, the En would fight as a well tuned machine, never missing a beat. It was the EN strategy that seen many villains fall, more powerful than the collective teams power. No matter, raw strength was no match for great strategy and sheer determination.

At that point she realized why they were the target, “Of Course! How could we be so blind! She screamed and picked up the pace towards the helo pad. “I’ve got to get a message to the teams before the rescue teams go in!”

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Simultaneously, at the helo pad, team 3 was awaiting Pharma’s arrival so they could head out. FireBat was going over system checks while Trojan King and Super Teek finalized the landing and subsequent recon plans. FireBat laughed as he watched the twin tanks working. ‘It’s like Clones on parade” he thought. Still, their results were unquestionable. They both ran as Lieutenants with Teen Tar Heels off world excursions at portal corp., with thousands of otherworldly Villans falling at their sheer power. It was hard to believe that TK was once just a fire fighting android. Had the kheldians not shown up, he still would be, “Then where would I be?” thought FireBat. TK and Teek had been his mentors, and for that he was grateful. Still, he wondered if there was any reason he was included on this mission, “My skills are nothing compared to the rest of the teams, so I suppose it’s because I know how to fly a chopper” he chuckled.

Just then, he heard someone shouting. He looked up to see Pharma running at them in the distance. She was shouting something, but he couldn’t make it out. TK and Teek stopped what they were doing and stepped out of the cargo hold. TK initiated his surveillance protocols and went into acute listening mode. He paused for a second, and then abruptly stated. “Send a priority signal to the other teams, EN secure code Xray tango, Suspend operation, repeat do not engage. We are being played. Set EN com to Emergency Channel and Await briefing From PH before proceeding. End transmission” and he snapped back into combat mode.

Firebat immediately started transmitting the message, but it only transmitted to Team two. Teams one, four and the pirates had already went into silent mode.

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Alright Positron!

I was going to run over your HeroClix with my Corolla but now I will spare it.

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Best post all day. I'm still laughing.

Kooper walked through the streets of Port Oakes practically unnoticed. Of course, he wasn’t always mistaken for a hero after all, his somewhat villainous past, and the Skull face mask he wore had many people question his allegiance anyway. Maybe he was being watched, or maybe no one cared that he was here. Quite possibly no one considered him a threat.

In any case, not sneaking around was an advantage. It was much easier following Murg’s trail without having to lurk in the shadows. Maybe it was a bold stance to take, but Koop knew he was dealing with the unconventional. No one here seemed to have any allegiance to anyone but themselves. Alliances were shaky at best; everyone seemed to be out for themselves. The only interaction he had with the locals was when they tried to con him. Koop was a menacing looking hero, and yet, no one here seemed to be afraid. Here he was just another fool to be taken advantage of.

As he walked by the pier to the Cap Au Diable Island ferry, he heard something trying to get his attention from behind a shipping container, “Psssst, Over here skull man.” Koop turned and walked calmly towards the voice. Silently with his hand on the hilt of his sword, He peered around the corner to see a dripping wet creature. He recognized it from one of the EN security briefs as a new threat, it was a coralax warrior.

“What do you want with me Creature” Kooper Sternly stated. The Coralax just stared at him, swaying right to left, and then finally replied, “I know where they took your friend.”
Although Koop was enlightened by this confession, he was leery of anyone in this city. “And what do you want for this information” replied Kooper.

“We have watched you since your arrival, and though we are supposed to report to Captain Mako any activity from outsiders, we noticed your skill, and believe that we may be able to help each other.” “We have not reported you to Captain Mako’s people, but your friend has stumbled into a ‘situation’” Muttered the Coralax. “We witnessed your resilience against the stalker, and we need you to do a job for us.” The creature continued, “Time is of essence because your friend has alerted Mako of his presence.”

Kooper thought to himself that the ‘stalker” must have been what attacked him at the boathouse. Every statement the creature made spawned more questions. Koop resisted the urge to Draw his sword and cut the info out of him, but he simply replied, “tell me what you need of me, and tell me where my friend is. I will help”…

Ph left the conference room confident that the “rat” was indeed the Eightball replacement. It had been nearly a year since the original team was pulled off assignment, maybe it was that action that made us a target. Without the group being together on a frequent basis, we would be an easy target for replacement.

The question remained, How long has the real 8 been gone, when was the tape made. What was Arachnos after?
As she walked into the corridor she seen green trails like grass stain trailing into the transporter room.

As she followed the trail, she heard a faint voice say “little help” She cautiously entered to see Teen Tar Heel on
the receiving end of what looked like a man eating plant. She immediately blasted TTH with a clear mind buff, Adrenaline boost and a dose of full health healing.
There wasn’t a villain alive that could stand against a Scrapper Turbocharged with an Empath defender TTH Immediately Sprang into action. The Green clad villainesse was clearly startled by the speed of the events that had unfolded before her.
As TTH prepared to retaliate, PH turned to the villain and said, “ Lady, I don’t know who you are, but you’re going to need more help. A lot more.” Then she hit her EN Communicator and on Emergency broadcast exclaimed” EveryNighters, Code 1 Security Breech on My location, Report!”...

Murg Stood Silently, eyes closed, Listening. The thumping in his head had receded; he was concentrating on finding his invisible assailant. No footsteps, no breathing, no movement, the big lizard is trying to find me as well.

Murg moved towards the corner of the hallway, surveying the tactical landscape for things to use to his advantage. “How does one flush out an invisible lizard?” He thought to himself. “Invisible Lizard Bait, its risky, but effective.” Murg turned off his stealth field for a brief moment, and then re-engaged. He paused to listen, crouching to the ground. Sfff.sff.sfff.sfff, he heard ever so faintly coming his direction, the cad had taken his bait. “Timing is Crucial” he thought, remembering the pain of the last strike. Suddenly the sound stopped, which meant the beast had lost him, or was ready to strike. Murg did not waste time, he immediately let loose the full arsenal of his energy attacks in all directions outward from the wall, and finally set off his nova attack. BLAM, the blast was loud and strong, even in Murg’s weakened state, the blast was impressive.

Much to Murgs dismay, there was no lizard laying in the blast rubble, just a lot of wallboard and ceiling tile exposing pipes and wires from above. Exhausted from his failed attempt to connect wit the beast, he started to limp towards the exit, when the beast materialized before his eyes and landed a double overhead blow that knocked Murg back into the pile of rubble. Murg rolled as he landed, he was stunned, but not beyond reaction. “Now your going to get it you big Gucci bag” Murg snorted at the villain. Murg stumbled to his feet, and mustered his energy for a couple rapid shots, the first missed, but the second one landed mid chest to the beast, knocking him about 20 feet down the hall.

The beast snapped back to his feet, obviously angry for the turn of events and started to disappear into stealth mode again, yet this time, not silently. As he walked towards murg he said, “My name is Skink. I am an assassin Stalker for Lord Recluse. I have been following you and your friend since your arrival, and I find you both annoying.”” It is time you stopped, you see when I am invisible, I am 3 times as powerful, and when my assassins strike lands, I promise you will not feel a thing.”

“Impressive as that sounds” quipped Murg, “I think I’m going to have to pass on the offer.” “Die Imbecile” Skink screamed, and murg heard the pace of his step increased to a run. Murg fired a volley in the direction of the sound as a distraction, and then sprang into a back flip down to the corner where his nova blast detonated, and falling flat on his back into the rubble. Peering down the hall in the direction of the noise, he watched. Reptilian feet impressions were now pressing into the dust on the floor, murg could see skink descending upon him rapidly. Murg pointed his hands up and let a power burst rip into the overhead wires and water pipes. The Spray of sparks and water showered to the floor in a glimmer of electric light outlining the hulking lizards form, Skink was exposed. Murg rolled to his right and sprang to his feet just in time to avoid Skinks assassin strike, turning 180 degrees to deliver a bone smasher to skinks head, driving him to the floor unconscious. Murg breathed a sigh of relief as he looked down at the unconscious villain and said, “Good lord I am glad you’re not a tanker.”

Thump, thump, thump, thump, was the sound that pounded through Murgs head. He could not concentrate over the throbbing pain from the hit he had taken. “It’s a good thing my armor absorbed the blow.” He thought to himself. “I can’t think! I can’t concentrate with all that thumping in my head” he remembered stealthing into the arachnos base to eavesdrop on a conversation between what looked like a petty thug, and some shark man. The Shark man seemed to be some kind of human hybrid, which clearly didn’t need water to survive. That made Murg uneasy. All of the Crey experiments trying to build heroes from genetic experiments often lead to more failure than success. Sure, Synapse and Ice Gost were good examples, but it was their morality that separated them from the evil intention of Crey. There are dozens of other examples to the contrary. The animal Hybrids were rarely successful without driving the subject deeply into a dangerous mental state. Bad mental state and super powered ability was not something Murg wanted to deal with at the moment.
In fact, Murg was pretty sure that the hit from Behind was most definitely super powered. He had barely gotten into a position where he could hear the conversation, even though he had difficulty understanding the shark man. The words kidnap, and Firebase Zulu were all he could make out before the crippling Blow sent him flying.

With the armor taking the brunt of the attack, Murg spun in midair to get a look at his assailant. It was a Lizard looking monster that seemed to be disappearing back into his surroundings, and moving again in Murgs direction. Murg noticed that the blast had knocked off his helmet, so he realized his retaliation would be dangerous. He took a cue from this invisible stalker, and stealthed himself. Murg knew that the invisible game of cat and mouse would be dangerous for him without his full armor. He seen that the ruckus had alerted the shark man and the thug, and the thug had his helmet. “CrapSickles!” Murg thought, “now what am I going to do.” I’m inside enemy lines. Without my armor, my blasting ability is diminished, and I’m playing a game of invisible hide and seek with a chameleon the size of Tar Heel, who can likely kill me one shot without my helmet.” "and I can't hear myself think over the thumping in my head." “I like the odds!” he laughed, “lets see what your made of here in the petting zoo. Now that I'm a gimp, you "Might" have a shot”…..

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Cuppa, we understand that you can only tell us what they tell you, but can we at least get some clarification and a reason WHY the taskforce badges will not be datamined?

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Sarcasm will be in this response with a little bit of irony, so if you don't want either stop reading now.

They can't do the data mine now because that would take away from the time they spend on nerfing everything and avoiding new content. Think of all the new content and things we would like to see in game if everyone quit worrying about a blanace goal that is constantly changing and can't be achieved?

Heck, I haven't been here for 14 months because I'm bored.

I’ve been testing this now for 3 days, and in those 3 days, I have noticed only 2 times when I was lucky enough for defiance to make a difference.

First test tune. lvl 8 sonic energy

Second test tune lvl 44 energy/energy

On the lvl 8 hero, I have been defeated 14 times, and the defiance bar barely moves, or moves at varying degrees. Even with a sliver of health it has not moved above 30% for me, so either the toon isn't very defiant, or something is amiss.
out of these 14 defeats, Defiance has made a difference twice, and always at the last minute, so it’s a timing issue more than anything.

On the lvl 44, I have not been defeated but one time and defiance still never moved above 30%. Clearly more room for testing on the 44.

Here is a suggestion that may make defiance a little more useful. A blaster starts with 100% health and zero defiance.
Why not increase defiance one for one as blasters lose their health points? that way 50% health is 50% defiance. If you think that’s to high, maybe add half a defiance point and half an endurance point.

I make the endurance recommendation because the only times Defiance really seems to kick in, I'm out of end. Food for thought.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's enough to make me pull out the old flintlock and start heading north!

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I'm with you brother! And Michael Jordan and Andy Griffith are right behind me!

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there is no Carolina, there is only Zool!

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What Mr. Emmert should realize is that for HIM rising to a challenge is fun, for others having lead weights added to our feat until rising becomes a challenge is not fun.

The 30s game may not be balanced in his view. But in mine, it is fun.

If the standard truely was "if invincible offers no challenge prepare yourself for the nerf bat", that wouldn't be so bad. The problem is that the standard really is "if anyone with your powerset has less challenge than we want you to have, prepare for the nerfbat." If you're not min/maxing the build, learn now, the nerfs are going to be designed so that the min-maxers are brought to "normal" so anyone less optimized will be subnormal.

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Another fine point. you can't "nerf" the player, and there will always be players that can use any build better than otheres.

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Uh... no that would be an exaggeration.

But personally I think being able to take on 50 mobs at the same time is a whole lot of fun, it's what really makes a hero feel super. If anything I think they should have NEW mobs which makes that much more difficult and have their own zone for it.

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I am one of those "new" MMO players and I totally agree with this POV. Feeling super makes me stay. Feeling average makes me go. I am all for challenge, but not at the sacrifice of what I can already do. Remember the original cape mission? the original respec? that was challenge that didn't need a nerf of powersets. yea it was hard, but that got the "yes" factor when you won. Much like the sewer trial. Change those things, don't weaken heroes.

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Blasters: First off, blasters are going to get a new inherent ability (much like the scrapper critical is inherent to that AT) called desperation. The lower the blasters hit points the more damage they will do. As I write this I wish I had asked for more details IE ratio of damage to health but I didn’t <sigh>.

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To be honest, I really hope that he means "Along with some form of protection/defense/aggro reduction/ect".

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Lol, excellent point. not much room for desperation when your getting "one Shotted"

Although I respect your Point of View, I can't agree. I like the fact that they are laying new ground work. And Frankly, Manticore is my new favorite hero.