Pious

Indeed another excellent piece. Great use of imagery, very effective. I am amazed - always some new improvement to your style Coile, (seemingly) effortlessly writing great literature.

Reading all five stories consecutively, I feel like I'm flicking through an albulm or reading a journal of this legendary man, and I'm becoming quite a fan.

Coile, you're good! In fact, you're ace! Thouroughly enjoyed Touch the Sky. A perfect piece of drama.

I agree with Dark Rose. I enjoyed this one, off to the next!

Many Hawaiian dancing conga rats, posted straight to your doorsteps!!

What is the current level cap. I'm hoping Thursday's mission wont be too awkward for levels.

With our latest higher level recruits, will there be two seperate teams or exemplaring?

Only just got around to reading Summertime Sonata. A great story Coile! And really good writing. Quite professional in its style and quality. I look forward to reading the remaining in the series of A for Android.

I'm curious to know how experienced you are at writing short stories.

I vote Carnies/Empathy.

((Party pooper. ... I'm kidding, no, you're right.))

((But perhaps at Warburg levels, Militia'll have active controllers enough to win))

You certainly sound busy Oguon. I'm still having to wait for BT to fix me up! Monday they say.

Oh what good fun Militia Accused has been. Now, to move on.

I propose we visit NRVS (Neural-Reality Virtual Simulation Room, aka the Arena) every fourth Thursdays to sharpen up our team tactics versus player and archetype builds.

Also, the Gang will likely be invading Sirens every other Friday evenings just so you know. Although this is yet to be finalised.

((Okay. Man, check out my new avatar!! its sooo insanely cute! way cool))

((Ahh, I missed this thread. Here we are again, home sweet home.))

((Lotus, regarding the events on Circe Island, what dyu make of that sub-plot?))

((It may be more fun to RP it out in-game. At GG (yes, Militia went to GG to hang out earlier tonight, and surprisingly, I enjoyed it. The buzz of other RP'ers about you) or at the new base or on mission-map, whatever. Got anything in mind or you'd rather flow?))

Pistol and the New Mafia were at their underground base. The woman was not happy, never had she been so humiliated.

"I want him found and I want him killed, killed!" Pistol exclaimed. The look in her eyes sent shards of terror through the members of the syndicate. "Never have I been so humiliated! Look at that! Just look at that!" she pointed at a projection screen displaying the ten o' clock news.

"The trial of the century unveiled a secret plot where the criminal organisation known as 'New Mafia' planned to take over Founders Falls, by first kidnapping the city's Head of Security, Sir Michael Wayne and framing his close friends at the Militia.

"Tonight, the hero organisation confronted the notorious Pistol, leader of the syndicate, at Pocket D before embarking on a dangerous mission to attack the New Mafia headquaters.

"Police, and our own camera crew were at the scene of what is being called the Battle of the Year! Despite the combined efforts of over eighteen gallant heroes, New Mafia stood undefeated in Sirens Call. The arch-villain Pistol, was virtually untouchable, but eventfully vanished into thin air. Her lieutenants consequently fled the scene leaving Sir Michael Wayne safe and sound. A fine rescue that has placed the Militia back in the public's favour."

Pistol turned the set off and slumped in her executive chair.

"Our unworthy adversaries grasped a very lucky victory this evening" Pistol whispered. "I was teleported away from the battle by an unknown hero, and ambushed. Next time, I will be prepared. Never will I let myself be teleported" She scanned the room, making eye contact with every present member of the syndicate. "If ever you run into the Militia... kill them all" She ordered. "Now, on to more pressing matters."

[The End]

[Or rather, the Beginning]

((Had a blast with this plot, I look forward to another! I also look forward to the new-found friendship between New Mafia and Militia, may the relationship bring plenty faceplants. Amen.))

((I dont know about you, but that's the most PvP fun I ever had. Militia soo got pwnz'd. ))

((Pocket D is on the Kings Row map IIRC))

Falcon Blitz was on the phone to her boyfriend who worked at the Pocket D nightclub.

"Let us know as soon as its open. Pistol's just dying to party in the Tiki lounge. Okay, bye. Love you too."

The room itself was a contemporary work of art, solid glass interior with a decorated brick wall to the far left. The sounds of heavy boots echoed from outside the parlour, followed by the gentle pneumatics of the sliding door as it opened.

Falcon Blitz rose from her desk to meet the arrival of the giant, Skull Biker and his gang.

"Long time no see Biker. How are you?" she asked shyly.

"Cloud the room, we mustn't risk being seen in here"

"Oh, is the Boss here?"

"Yes, she is" Came the croaky voice of the humanoid iguana, Eddie, closely followed by his bodyguards. "I suggest you do as you've been told Falcon"

"I take orders from nobody but Alicia, thank you very much"

"Boss isn't very happy with you Falcon" came a fourth voice, deep as a lion's roar. A beastly ganglord known only as Tommy Furr. "The Militia caught on to you" he said.

"Put a sock in it furrball" Falcon spat.

At the heart of the room stood a circular glass table, where the arrivals now sat. A larger man, bounded in chains bobbed into the room, ushering in the Mafia boss herself, Pistol. Like pretty much everyone else in the room, she wore heavy leather, her long black hair held down under a simple baseball cap.

"Alicia, I --"

"Madril, we'll talk later. Shadow the room and sit." Pistol ordered. In an instant, the room turned pitch black, only the dim table lamp lit the room.

"Darkstrike failed us Pistol, his men were captured yesterday, at the courtroom and the Militia have a lead on our position" Skull Biker informed.

"Worse is, Paragon Police may have caught on too. Security in Founders Falls have doubled." Iguana Eddie informed.

"I know, I know" said Pistol. "There's never a reason to worry, we'll move to plan B"

"Whats plan B?" Tommy asked, but Pistol ignored the question.

"Madril, I'm starving. Hows reservations for tonight?" she asked, looking to Falcon.

"The Tiki lounge wont be open for another month aparantly, but we have our usual table."

"Good. I'm needed at St. Martial in... fifteen minutes, so unless the syndicate has any news for me, meeting adjourned." The woman rose out of her seat and made for the exit. "Don't forget, dinner at eight. I expect you all there nice and early"

"Pistol" Tommy called. "There are heroes about in Pocket D, what if the Militia turn up?"

"Tommy, I'm hoping they will"

((Written with Blade. Included Paj, Sanguinus and Kingwill))

((Thats all folks, the plot is now officially "To be Concluded" in-game. Pocket D, 8pm. Just be there.))

((So long as you know heroes aren't allowed to kill. In-game, defeated foes are teleported to Ziggursky Penitentiary))

"He'll be fine! Back off, all of you." Tran'e barked in the aggresive language of Journe. Unfortunately, it sounded more like this: "Tro te'kin! Jata hietek-to."

The giant stooped low and gazed as Haley Carpenter's body dissolved into soil and sink into the earth.

Tran'e bellowed a thunderous laugh before following Mer'de through the earth. Much to the confusion of the Jury.

The room soon emptied, with Paragon Police entering to collect the shooters.

"Meriam, I'll be fine." Dragonfly coughed.

The Judge approached Dragonfly as she climbed onto her feet, clutching a bulletwound through the shoulder.

"Dragonfly, the Jury has reached its verdict, the Militia are free heroes once again."

An officer in uniform arrived in time to add, "As we speak, the PPD are carrying out a full investigation into the New Mafia."

"Officer, we'd like to detain one of the shooters for" Dragonfly recoiled in pain. "For questioning, please"

"Dragonfly, I advice you port to the hospital. Enough said" the officer ordered.

With a final glance towards the Masked Angel, Dragonfly vanished to the Galaxy City Hospital.

((Good observation Ex. Heroes are indeed in the Jury, matter of fact, its an all-hero Jury. As Force Commander explained, Haley Carpenter agreed for Mer'de to take her form and stand at the Jury because Amber warned of a possible assassination. Mer'de (as Haley), Dragonfly, Derek and Angel got shot as agreed OOC.))

Wednesday 20th - 14:00 – Galaxy City Court

The trial was coming to its end, the nightmare that had sent the Militia into public humiliation and Dragonfly to the depths of prison was almost over. Almost.

“On the charges of first-degree murder, we find the defendant Derek Holden, not guilty.”

There was an outcry in the courtroom. The public was not happy.

“Order, order!” came the voice of Justice, and silence was restored.

#“I see him, by the windows. I repeat, ‘Scopeyes’ at nine o’ clock. All units stand by”# the Amber Banshee whispered into the Militia communications microchip.

#“Roger that Banshee, target located”# came the synthesized voice that was Unit 29.

#“I see him”# said Dragonfly.

#“Yep, me too”# Lady Cobra confirmed.

#“Wait... err... oh okay, the one in the grey suit?”# the Masked Angel stuttered.

#“Yes Meriam, that’s our assassin”# The Portent confirmed.

#“Guys, we’ll need this assassin alive or knocked out. Boss of New Mafia goes by the codename Pistol. ‘Scopeyes’ here will take us to her.”# Dragonfly informed.

#"He ain’t no threat”# Derek muttered. #”What's he gonna do? Shoot us all? He'll give himself away at the first shot."#

#“You know, they tried buying out the first judge and killed him when he refused. This one may be corrupt too but there is only one way to find out.”# The Amber Banshee reported.

#“Mer’de said the jury were bought out too to make sure we all get imprisoned”# Dragonfly added.

#“Wait, where is Mer’de?”# Icicles asked.

#“Ah, Justin!”# Force Commander exclaimed. #“I think you should bask in the rather impressive cunning and guile of our companion, Mer'de! He’s undergone morphometric realignment into a Ms. Haley Carpenter; head jury. The entire jury seems to be on our side now, I can only assume he’s told them the gameplan.”#

#“This Pistol fella’s gonna eat a fistful of bones when I see him”# Derek added.

#“So who’s this other Journe pretending to be Mer’de? His twin brother?”# Icicles asked.

#“Everyone pipe down and keep an eye on ‘Scopeyes’ will ya?”# Lady Cobra whispered.

#“Roger that Cobra”# said Unit 29.

“On the charges of genocide, the Jury finds Sabrina San, guilty as charged”

The public erupted with glee, some booed.

“What! What’s he doing?” Dragonfly fumed out loud.

The Amber Banshee spoke through the group communications chip. #“Relax Dragon, listen”#

“However, in light of new evidence which proves the death of Sabrina San, we find the defendant, Dragonfly not guilty.”

The public erupted in anger, and ‘Scopeyes’ made a sudden move.

#“Something’s up”# Derek announced.

#“Patience, is a virtue...”# Force Commander advised. “…As Marcus Aurelius once said… although he was pretty handy with a sword too. When we move, we move together... okay, I'll give the signal."

”On charges of the murder of Micheal Moore, Judge Esther Charlie, Rein Daniels, Steven Ronalds, Penelope Fraiser and Keith Shaun we find the defendant, Dragonfly, not guilty”

The noise was deafening. The public audience started to leave in protest.

“Your Honour, the Jury wished to make a suggestion”

#”Oh my god, there’s more than one! ‘Scopeyes’ just signalled to a man in a white T-shirt”#

#“I see him, too. In the public stand!”#

#”White T-shirt just signalled to woman in a grey dress, I repeat, grey dress”#

“Permission granted, head Jury”

#”Force Commander, what do we do? Looks like they’ve got an assassin assigned for each one of us!”#

“The Jury suggests the Militia be released without charges of court absences…”

#“They’re moving commander, what do we do?”#

#”Pick any target. Attack on my word.” With that, the Militia met a subtle blurring and shifting within themselves. Force Commander had again shifted and augmented them, allowing them to move, think, and react at superhuman speeds.

#”Roger that”#

“This morning, the Jury was presented with new evidence which proves this whole case is IN FACT, PART OF A LARGER CONSPIRA - -“

The head Jury was shot down, blood gushing from his forehead.

#”Now!” screamed the Commander, in an uncharacteristically blunt yet effective manner.

The Portent chased after a gunman, “HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” he hollered, withdrawing a taser.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Derek snarled, knocking out the gunman who had shot a gaping hole through his chest.

“MILITIA, YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!” Icicles hollered, hovering high enough in the courtroom, to pick out individual gunmen. He pelted liquid nitrogen at several armed targets. “Always wanted to say that”

The last gunman, startled at the frightening speed of the response from the Militia, turned to run. He suddenly slowed to a crawl, his limbs flailing as though swimming through mud. He gazed into the face of the Force Commander, who had moved beside him in a blink of an eye.

"Hmmm… speed, is, as they say, of the essence."

A quick nod to Derek and the young pugilist zipped over to the Commander, delivering a deadly clothes-line onto the released gunman.

"Much obliged", commented the Commander. "Id rather not crack my knuckles on folks such as this when I have some mutant tarsal that would do the job with far more resilience."

The Masked Angel gasped and staggered. She had been shot in the arm but the limp body of Dragonfly caught her eye. “Oh my god! Sabrina!”

((Written with Lotus X, Derek Holden, Cognito, Dante, Blade and Wolfram))

((Over to you guys))

Sunday 17th : Ziggursky

23:32

Dragonfly and her cellmate Serena had made their peace. They laid in their bunk, throwing the odd questions at each other in an attempt to get better acquainted.

“What you in for?” asked Serena.

Dragonfly remained silent for several seconds before responding. “Framed”

“Really, me too”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah” Serena paused. “Pistol set me up to cover up for one of her casino heists. That woman is the devil incarnate”

“Who is she?”

“Where have you been girl? You don’t know Pistol?”

“Never heard the name”

“Well, she runs all the big time gangs on the Isle. Boss of the New Mafia; biggest criminal syndicate in all of America. And she's quite literally untouchable. Most powerful crimelady there is. Wherever she goes, people die.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Last I heard, she was trying the impossible; starting a casino here in Paragon City, of all places.”

“Is that so?”

“Yup, she was once in here you know, at the Zig. Real dramatic jailbreak and everything.”

“Serena?”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out”

“Can we talk about this later? I’m dying for some sleep”

“Sure thing sugar. Goodnight”

Sunday 17th - Ziggursky Penitentiary. 16:03.

Dragonfly had spent the afternoon in a dark, dingy Ziggursky prison cell accompanied only but a sleeping inmate. She had been drugged on her way in and soon realised her ability to summon the legendary Golden Dragonfly had somehow been nullified.

“Who’s there?!” came a female voice from the bunk bellow. Her inmate had woken. Dragonfly panicked. She was cornered and powerless with a real criminal who may even recognize her. She remained speechless. “Who’s there?” the inmate asked again. She shot up out of her bed so fast she only managed a glimpse of Dragonfly’s fist before blacking out.

* * *
Almost an hour later, Dragonfly’s inmate came to. She was now sporting a black eye and a bump behind the head. She ran her fingers gentle over the bump and yelped.

“Ow” she whimpered, a shade of orange in her peripheral vision. “Why did you hit me? Afraid I’d bite you?”

Dragonfly remained in the shadows at the far corner of the room. She felt like a mouse caged in with a vicious cat.

“I’m not gonna bite you.” She said flatly. “Serena Jones. A pleasure meeting you” she added, with a sarcastic tone. Dragonfly remained silent. “Quite a punch you got there” Serena teased, getting onto her feet. “Karate?” Serena began a slow and steady advance towards Dragonfly, within seconds; she was back in her face. The two girls simply stared at each other.

Dragonfly noticed the girl could only be about eighteen maybe nineteen years old, with long blonde hair, wild as a lion’s mane.

“How does a black girl get such tiny eyes? And the bridge of your nose, you look like you’re Chinese” Serena whispered.

“That’s because I am,” Dragonfly spat. “How does a blondie get such big lips?”

“Voluptuous aren’t they?”

“Not at --" A sharp pain in her pelvis, as Serena kneed her hard and followed with a strike to the face, Dragonfly was cut below the eye.

“Now we’re even”

* * *

[ QUOTE ]
“Then we have to warn them now!” cried Saffron, stepping backwards, “Whatever happens, Sabrina must not go back into that courtroom!”

[/ QUOTE ]

((Exciting! You got a plot? Will Amber and Derek be calling a meeting? PM me, fill me in so I can work with it planning a lead-up to our finale.))

Highguard, if you want survivability, this [u]link[u] takes you to a thread where I've discussed why Forcefields are awesome for that, and more.

And by the way, no-one but masterminds make 'doing little' while 'doing everything' look cool. It's what makes us supreme. I for one enjoy playing like a god.

See ya in-game. P.S, lemme know what you think of Pistol's build.

Yeah, thats what I said to my mum, but she aint having a bar of it. Silly woman. Anyway man, Michael, you and Jay don't really need to do nothing man.