sekmet

Truly awesome sooooo jealous

Thanks for the comments LeighB, across the 3 stories,the other 2 stories are in a sense shorter stories extracted from a much longer possible narrative. In a way I'm just trying to learn how to write again , well it is 30 years since I did any form of narrative writing

If you want to see some real talent look up SallyGrim over on fanfiction, my daughter almost scares me

Happy birthday

Oh dear this is almost starting to look like spamming..I blame Psy..she said she wanted more stories. Ok this is actually a sort of a continution of a previous story..this follows on from The Woman and the Lions, think of it as another chapter in a longer story. The idea behind these stories is to explain the rationale for the heros and some of the villains Silver Spirit and I have made for CoX, there are clues and hints to a whole series of characters spread across them,which will build towards the larger story, how did they get their powers, why are they doing what they are doing and what will happen to them in the future. I hope people enjoy this one to be honest it's almost a precis the story could be significantly expanded but the essentials are all there.

She sat bolt upright in her bed the horror of the dream thankfully fading, a seeming smell of blood, corruption and death lingering around her, bedclothes twisted around her, cold sweat on her skin drying quickly. She glanced at her bedside clock...06:30 and lay back not understanding where that seeming explosion of foulness had come from calm now and remembering she was on holiday a well earned break, sun sand and surf. She dozed off only to be again violently woken from her dreams by the insistent bleeping of her mobile. As soon as it broke through to her consciousness she was wide awake that was the Red Ball ring, an emergency of some kind, she fumbled the mobile to her ear and hit the answer button and a cold computer voice said "Red ball code alpha one immediate presence online needed".
She rolled from the bed, rushed downstairs into the small office space under the stairs, shut the door and logged into the computer that sat there. A series of ever increasingly complex passwords later and a mission briefing appeared


"FYEO Red Ball code Alpha 1"

At 06:24 this morning the Darkmoor High Energy Physics Laboratory (Mod) went dark all simultaneous data feeds ceased. Severe power fluctuations were experienced by the nuclear power plant at Sandhaven which supplies the facility, initially a huge power drain before a huge surge that blew out over half of the safety precautions almost causing a severe incident. At 06:28 we received a flash notification from satellites over Europe indicating a huge burst of high energy particles, triangulation revealed that Darkmoor was the source. An overflight was tasked to give us a quick overview, this showed little the facility was dark and apparently deserted.
My apologies number 2 but you're closest and I do feel time is of the essence here, take the equipment from the store and get over there as quickly as possible, I'm sending you the associated data we have on the facility, floorplans and the like, I'm also including synopses of the staff present and their current research projects.

Oh well there goes my holiday, that feeling this morning, that dream, [censored], the time can't be a coincidence but what could it mean.

A smell, so evocative, of animal musk, dust, a flinty soil cooking in a fierce sun....

"Helena my dear we need to talk before you rush off” and She was there, apparently walking out of the wall, her very presence a seeming impossibility, light streaming out of her, a goddess in the office come cupboard under the stairs. "Hmm I do feel a little more space might be more comfortable", with that we are sitting under a tree in the bush, the hot African sun beating down, outside the shade provided by the tree." Oh don't worry my dear you'll return with no time having seemed to have passed, we are between moments' I do feel you might need some explanation of what you might meet when you get to that place. Something terrible has happened there, which of course you felt even if you did not understand, that will come in time, the very fabric of our world, our dimension has been ripped, an abomination has occurred. You must ensure that the rip is sealed and after we'll have to talk again. Here take these my daughter..." and She held out three golden objects, an Ankh, a cat and some small swords all the size of charms as if from a charm bracelet.
"The Ankh is my symbol with this you shall be empowered it will protect you and heal the rift, I arm you with the claws of my lions and the swords of my warriors, take them, hold them, feel them"

She took them and felt the warmth flow through her “I can feel their power but how do I use them My Lady."
Sekmet issued a throaty chuckle almost like a rumbling purr "Ever the practical one …hmmm let me see...now what did Toth and Hephaestus say…ahh yes here let me", and with this She took them from Helena's hand, the Ankh she gently pressed to Helena's chest, with which it sank into her skin becoming like a small golden tattoo, the Cat she placed on the inside of her left wrist and the Swords to the inside of her right wrist, where both like the Ankh sank into her skin becoming small golden tattoos." Now my Dear, touch the Cat..."

Helena did as she was told and suddenly she had claws, part of her hands part of her arms, razor sharp but seeming slightly as if you could see through them. She touched the Cat again and they vanished, she touched the swords and they were there in her hands perfectly balanced as if again they were part of her, a touch and they were gone. "The weapons will help you deal with what you will meet in there, when you have dealt with them and when you face the rift, touch the Ankh, it has been empowered to close the rift permanently. My dear I trust you implicitly with this task. After you have done this and reported by to your superiors at your day job, I think you should talk to your father about your family and its place in the scheme of things". And with a smile she was gone, I was back in the flats small hall facing a rather unremarkable cupboard come office, only the smell lingered to tell what had just happened. The time was as she said only a second or so has passed, damn I don't think I'll ever get used to that.

Ok, on the bike with the HUD in helmet running the directions and also an overview of the security schematics, an incredibly useful way to get the info you need without slowing you down, it does take a bit of getting used to but it's definitely worth it. So 40 minutes of sweeping high speed travel through empty country side roads I approach the Darkmoor Facility. It's not in total darkness there are sputtering, flickering lights in the early winter morning darkness but there's a feeling hanging over the place, a feeling of wrongness, there's no early morning birdsong only a brooding silence. The gate is half open, in the opening is a dark smear trailing up towards the buildings. I park up the bike setting its defences, proximity sensors and a nasty surprise for anyone getting too close. I decide against keeping the helmet, too restrictive but I took the HUD visor, knowing where I was going was too useful.

Alright that doesn't look good, the dark smear is blood, a viscous trail leading up to a door swinging in the slight breeze, approach with caution is the watchword. The door is the entrance to the duty security office, there should be 4 guards, armed with tasers nothing more dangerous but even so I duck and roll to enter, a noise to my left, an impression of teeth and claws, a smell of decay and corruption, instinctively I dodge rolling away to come to my feet, touching my left wrist, claws appearing ripping through foul rotten decaying flesh. Oh bloody hell zombies, where the hell did they come from, now I suppose I should point out that in previous instances I have encountered a few things which are deemed fictional or supernatural, in my line of work we are sometimes called upon to deal with the unusual so that people continue to believe they don't exist. This previous experience almost certainly kept me alive, being well trained and able to ignore disbelief, moving and slashing death with what turned to be 4, what I can only describe as zombies, dead but not dead envious of anything which is still alive and wanting not to be still in that form. Having dealt with them a little investigation is in order, they are the former security guards, fairly obviously something has gone seriously awry here. The screens of the security system seem to be locked at a certain moment, surprise, surprise 6:42, the records showed that there were 12 other people in the building at that time with one experiment scheduled to run starting at 6:30. Lead researcher on that project one Dr. Schwartzhartzen, a project codenamed Doorway, now see to anyone with my experience that rings alarm bells, sirens, hooters etc. The inability of some scientists and administrators to recognise the out of place is at times staggering, I mean that name, the project's name, that's almost like something from James Bond!

The next 90 minutes was severely unpleasant, I take no pleasure in killing and even if what you're killing is technically already dead that honestly doesn’t really make all that much difference. I accounted for 11 of the researchers that were supposed to be on site, then there were the other things malformed creatures with too many teeth and limbs in the wrong places, I'm refraining from referring to them as demons but they did sort of fit the general description for that sort of thing. I worked to a sort of spiral and they all fell to my new claws, it was if I had always had them, they flowed with the forms I'd learned as a child, instinctive, beautiful in a deadly sort of way, eventually reaching the laboratory where Project Doorway had been running. The "demons" were thicker there but eventually the room was cleared revealing twisted scientific equipment, arcing electricity and what could only be described as a rip in space. Blackred light seeped from it along with a reek of death, decay and a foulness enough to make you gag, I did as I was told a opened my leathers to reveal the Ankh tattoo, I touched it and was bathed in a golden light, it pulsed out from me, finding the rip and enclosing it, englobing it, squeezing it and then with a flash it was gone and so was the rip. With that I heard the sound of equipment cycling, power returning and the lights came on revealing the twisted mess that had been made of the laboratory.

Literally 30 seconds later and the incoming call light was blinking in the lower right corner of my HUD, "Ah number 2 I presume with communications back up that you have, ahem, resolved the problem at Darkmoor". I almost laughed at that "Yes sir but I do feel that it's the special clean up crew to this one, oh and can I have access to all files on one Dr. Schwartzhartzen?" "I take it he's the one responsible for the incident?" "Yes sir it's looking that way, mind you if I at a glance can spot something fishy about him why the hell didn't the MoD?" "Number 2 I think you can expect a visit from a Mr Jenkins from the Ministry of Town Planning". "Pardon?" “Ah my dear that’s just the cover, your security clearance has just been raised to Ultraviolet…and yes you previously weren't cleared to even know that level even existed" I almost hear the smile in his voice, "oh and I suggest you talk to your father about what he did in the 60s and how he met your mother."

Ok as Psy asked for one, here's another story, tonally very different and with some references that will lead into other stories


Dearie me, do they really think that this is in any way security. Here I am slipping through one of their portals into the centre of the Portal Corporation and no-one is around, no guards at all, mind-boggling! Oh well that is pretty much as Helena said it would said it would be, of course I didn't actually believe her. I've now got about 75 minutes, until the power runs out in the stealth suit the Quartermaster provided, to get to where I've got to be.

Oh so easy to slip round the metal detectors, out into the main courtyard, just taking care not to bump into anyone. Following Helena's directions, I marvel at the number of super-powered beings, there's loads of them, chatting, eating, and just drinking coffee. If anything would have convinced me I was "over the rainbow" that certainly does. No time to gawp but it really is so strange when our world has no visible Supers at all.

So I quickly run through the streets, dodging what little traffic there is, again so different to my home, what a crazy world this is, I almost stop in sheer disbelief, there's Nemesis troopers openly harassing citizens on the streets. Huge mecha robots with what are obviously masked mercenaries clustered about them. Good grief there's even Rikti openly wandering the streets, this world is insane, why the hell haven't they cleaned this mess up! Oh well, no time to be tourist, quickly to the ferry, following the directions on my HUD.

To Talos Island, no less strange with mobsters, gangsters and Freaks all over the place. Ok this is the place and there's the building I was looking for. No need to use the front entrance, especially when you want to make an entrance, so up the side of the building I go.

The security on this building is good, there's pressure sensors, laser monitors, cameras, the works but I've been in much tighter places than this. So having got to the roof it's just a case of cracking the codes, I could of course use the ones I was given but where's the fun in that!

Now I'm inside the building, interesting the stairs are pressure sensitive, so I use the ceiling instead, slip into the lift shaft, obviating the codes and drop down three floors to the one I need to be on.

It's busier here, so I take care using the ceilings where I have to, the office I want is down the corridor and to the left, putting it at the corner of the building. The suit tells me I have 8 minutes of power left, more than enough to make my grand Entrance.

I wait for the secretary to enter the room and slip in behind her, I find myself in a very interesting room, part boardroom part laboratory. The most fascinating thing is in a sort of alcove, surrounded by computer screens showing scrolling figures. It is a sort of suit, like armour but hyper-modern, opened as if waiting for someone to climb inside. By it, studying the scrolling are two people, a young man in a lightweight futuristic wheelchair and an older man, who could easily be his father.

"Hi there Red we've been expecting you", the young man says, without even turning round from his study of the screens scrolling data. "Oh by the way the corridor leading to my lab...has sensors in the ceiling" a small smile playing across lips.

The older man turned round "we were most impressed with how you got here, Sekmet said that we would be surprised by how good you are, she wasn't wrong" he smiled, "and by way I'm William Legard and this is my son Joe".

I have to admit my jaw had dropped, there I was all prepared to surprise them and here it was me being the surprised one. I actually laughed out loud as my cloak's power finally drained away and I finally became visible.

"My dear we would be delighted to welcome you to SpiritTech™ and also to The Family of the Ankh, we would like you to feel that this could be your new home away from home".

Yes Psy tbh the main problem is that the stories get written in my notebook and transferring them to my lappie is a real grind especially as they are sometimes quite long
So there a couple of other stories which I may transfer to here...but that cuts into playing time

Ok with i13 on it's way Silver Spirit came up with a new character'
, which he wanted to use the new link facility on,so I had to decide whether I wanted to restart an old character use one of the names I already have waiting or maybe come up with something new.So I had a think but nothing really jumped out at me, yes a shield scrapper would be nice but I had one planned already.However it obviously got my subconscious going and anyway I had a dream, you know one of those ones you have as you're just waking and this is what came out of it.
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We'd heard a rumour, a rumour of food, a cache of food from the times before the dead times, tins of real food. It'd supposedly been found over on the east side, amongst the warehouses near the danger zone. The lure pulled at us and our gang's boss told us to spread out and find out who had it and where.

Further rumours filtered through from the sewer rats and the street rags, we heard if you went there" He would help you", who we asked "The Boy" was the reply "The Moon Boy". We reported back, Taurie was angry "who was this effin' boy, FIND OUT!"

We went out again and found the people who'd we questioned had vanished, disappeared. The Rattie got lucky, he saw a group packing up their meagre belongings and heading east, across the wrecked city. So we followed them through the ruins and sewers heading eastwards. We were careful not to be seen, by them or any swarm flyers. The world, what’s left of it after the invasion, the wars and the arrival of The Swarm, is a wretched and dangerous place where the strong and careful survive. Even these sewer dregs would be tooled up with sharpened metal stakes, knives, hammers and clubs.

We tracked them over two nights of stealthy movement, avoiding the robot patrols and the Swarm spotters. We even heard a battle raging near the 63rd street station, clanking steam robots, gun-fire and the hideous chirring of Swarm. How long it would go on we didn't wait to find out, slipping quietly past through the sewers, silent as the rats who were avoiding the Hydra monsters which occasionally turned up and had to be burnt out to prevent them spreading.

Eventually we found where they were going and confirmed it by seeing the small groups of ragged, tattered sewer rats and 'burbs slipping into a central warehouse. There was a large open space in front of the main building where the rusted rail tracks passed through, which makes it difficult to approach stealthily. The warehouse was too close to the Swarm redzone for comfort, couldn't see why they'd stay here, it must be something pretty special. Jakey, who was on the far side of the warehouse, claimed that he'd seen something take out a swarm boss, we all thought he'd been at the rotgut again, ‘cos he was pretty spooked. He kept saying "The shield was burning, man, burning"...Loser.

Taurie came with some of the big boys, all tooled up, we were gonna take that food, we ain't eat that good in months, rats and dogs taste like [censored] and don't really fill a belly and we ain't sunk so low as to eat others, not like that group we burnt out near the old 2nd street precinct building. We hadn't sunk that low yet.

So we started to make our move slipping along the sides of the nearby buildings, that's when it started to go wrong. Jakey was spotted by a flier, first we knew was the screams, he was half eat, then Billy did the stupid thing, he tried to help him, the flier immediately sensed it and found the rest of us and it called out. A terrible bloodcurdling sound, a screech, metallic hideously amplified, a scream in digital made of starts and stops too fast to truly make out. Within seconds we could all hear the chirring, whirring sound of wings.

Panic, we ran, ran as fast as we could heading for some sort of safety, we ran for the warehouse, get under cover, find a hole and disappear down it. We smashed down a door and broke into the warehouse.

It was huge in there, hadn't realised it was that big from outside, a huge open space with barrels and stuff scattered about. At the other end of the space I could see a figure, seeming as if crouched with something on its back glinting in the light that made into the space from the dirty broken skylights.

The size made us stop, the sound behind us set us running again, that metallic whirring chirring sound was getting louder and louder. Then the screams started as those alien bastards started to overtake the lads and they were disassembled while they were still alive.

The figure ahead stood up, I could see even through my desperation, he was a kid, a ragged kid but he had something strapped across his chest, holding something round on his back. He reached up and appeared to pull on a rope and I felt rain, droplets falling from the roof above me as I ran towards him but the smell wasn't water it was gasoline. It was falling all around us, the smell cloying the air making it difficult to breathe.

"Help us" I shouted hearing the sounds of death behind me...

I heard him clearly even though he didn't appear to raise his voice,

"I'm sorry but you made your choice when you came here to steal, the wrong choice I'm afraid"

With that he turned his back, I could see now I was getting closer, it was a shield strapped across his back, a slightly battered, scorch marked, golden metal shield with a strange shape in it's centre. I started to think I might catch him, drenched though I was, gasping for breath though I was, I snatched a glance over my shoulder to see that huge space full of alien madness, they'd all been drawn into the warehouse. All those weird shaped monstrosities, teeth, claws, scything limbs a mass of death and terror. I almost stumbled then ahead I saw the boy look back towards me, he flicked out a hand and fire blossomed. He dropped through the floor and the fire expanded, the heat hit he me and that was all I felt.

The explosion was immense, it takes time and skill to construct what in essence was a fuel-air bomb but it is worth it. The fire expanded, the vapour caught, it propagated, it blossomed, it burned, it exploded. The warehouse vaporised taking everything in it as fuel to the flame, a firestorm that first burst outwards, consuming all in its path, then as the oxygen was consumed a hurricane was pulled inwards preventing anything escaping the all consuming fire. The gang, what was left of it, burned so quickly that they didn’t even know it had happened. The Swarm creatures being much stronger, made to survive the depths of space, lasted longer but still were just fuel for the fire, melting, dying in that inferno.

The boy stood later surveying his handiwork, seemingly unimpressed. He had walked away from the inferno through the sewerline underneath the building, the shield protecting him from the hell behind him. He had come to a conclusion, it was too slow, too piecemeal, the world would still be ruined, his mother was right. This was something that could only be stopped, corrected at its source, he had to go back to before this horrific present started and stop it ever happening.

He trudged off to find his mother and tell her of his decision, the Gods were right...again…it had to be done, he had to find his family in the past and help them stop what had already happened. He started to try to rub some of the scorch marks off his shield with the sleeve of his shirt, it gave him something to do as he walked.

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Any comments suggestions gratefully recieved,oh and he does tie into the other stories I've posted before.
And the little avatar I'm now sporting is a version of this new character as drawn by Lil Girl.He will be seen in i13 as he said he's coming back tosave the world!

Grats to Sapphic on getting to 50 on the defiant version of Sapphic Neko

Big Con-super-mega-grat-u-hyper-lations go to Captain Brute aka Killer Queen on getting to 50...its was loadsa fun if little late ...that is at night with work tomoro and everything

Well Botta finally got Pirade to 50,sufferer from altitis that he is and of course what does it mean ....yes even more altitis all those lovely VEATs to try

Yes.
Recluse doesn't stand a chance given the amount of infiltrators he's now allowed into his organisation and that doesn't even allow for the villains who only pretend to show him some allegiance.

Ok inspired by Psygon and in honour of his imminant lvl50ness here's Mathematician

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r...h/scan0001.jpg

and also here's Elucidator
http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r...h/scan0002.jpg

They've just been done as pen sketches,scanned then inked and coloured, as at the moment I don't have a decent version of an art program to use.

Ok lets try and get this thread back on track and maybe introduce a little variety into the musical choices...

Sekmet,well she just loves to dance as any old school PocketD dance party attenders would know,ah the olden days' mass lag in Steel canyon,bouncers on the door,bartenders with a proper drinks list,Evo providing the music.Well she loves tracks that allow a good old let the hair down dance and she leaning towards Surface to Air by the chemical Brothers at the moment.

Compton Fire well that's an obvious choice Compton's N the House by NWA though he has been known to walk through RV to the Theme from Shaft by that badass Isaac Hayes. As an aside take a little look at this http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ooarT3cn8_o

Ok BombGirl well she's Bang Bang You're Dead By The Pretty Young Things..pretty obvious that one

Now Mathematician he's picked an album and I'm not gonna argue with him Thief by tangerine Dream.

How about something more than a little different Saitada wants Only Skin by Joanna Newsome,who knows I'd always thought she was a goth.

Rodeo Rose as asked for some Dolly Parton and being the grandmother she is has plumped for Islands in the Stream.

Cap'n Katy LaBelle was distinctly unnerved by this modern music captured in little boxes but she does like Captain Dread by Dreadzone suitably Piratey.

Crazy Fistwell he is THE Streetfighting Man The Rolling Stones were singing about.

Corazon Intoxicante's feeling a bit hungover and cynical this morning and has gone for No More Heroes (he's hoping)by The Stranglers maybe if he was a bit more mellow it might have been Heaven is a Halfpipe OPM.

Oh and there's one hero who doesn't even properly exist yet who wants Sexual Healing the Marvin Gaye classic as his theme song.
There you go thread back on track and some musical variation. Maybe take a listen and ENJOY!!

Hey as it says he got there...finally ...eventually...well altholism does tend to slow you up you know
Anyway big Grats...Con-Super-Mega-Grat-U-Hyper-Lations from Sek and Silver

Congrats to Gonk on getting Boston Lab Monkey to 50...
and isn't the new Imperious TF fun even if you're fighting lag as much as the Roman/5th Column/Nictus

Thanks to the Iron Monkeys for helping to do that final push in getting us to ding 50...while saving the world no less, though in Da Big Boss' case he's still waiting to get the proper recompense for doing it.

What another one =D grats Maxi

ok maybe a little bit of explanation will help with this story its sort of a dual origin of both one of my heroes and one of my villains with cameo appearances from other associated characters.This story involves characters who are much more from the CoX universe than previous offerings howeer they will all interlink I can assure you


The most dangerous job in the world

You want to know how the Hell I got here, standing on top of the head of the statue of lord Recluse in Grandeville. How did I, a small town boy, who always wanted to be a hero end up here feared as a notorious villain.

Well it's a bit of a convoluted story and it begins at my grandma's knee, listening to her tales of how she fought the 5th Column, during and just after World War II, with her partner The Sound O' Freedom and other heroes including Paragon City's Statesman.

I dreamt, literally, day and night of how I would be a hero, like my Grandma, how I would fight the villains I read about and saw on the television news. I and my friends made masks and cloaks and ran around the neighbourhood playing at being heroes, of course no one wanted to be the villains. Then to my surprise and delight when I hit puberty I started to gain powers, weak at first but as I got older they grew stronger. I could control the earth and the winds themselves creating tremors and dust devils, small whirlwinds of dust, I was overjoyed.

I decided that if I was going to be a hero I would do it properly, I would learn not only how to use my powers but I would also learn how to detect, I would learn Forensics, Law, how the Police work. I would be a true law enforcer.

So I diligently applied myself to school and later college as well as developing and learning how to use my powers, so I could go to Phoenix University to study for a degree in Law Enforcement. On graduation I got a job as a Sheriff's Deputy in New Mexico not far from my home, I was serving a community that encompassed some of the Navaho lands, some small towns and some strange government and corporate zones out in the desert. It was fairly quiet with the usual robberies, domestics and drunken violence but that suited me as it allowed me time to go out into the desert to practice my powers. I wanted to have a solid grounding before I applied for a job in a big city like Los Angeles or out on the East Coast.

For six months or so it was perfect then everything changed with a strange case, a body was found by a Navaho shepherd, it was at the edge of his land where it came up a against one of the corporate zones. The body had become uncovered by scavengers and the wind from where it had been buried and as it was in my area it was me who got the call from the very unhappy shepherd. Navaho's have a real problem with dead bodies and the call was all about witches and skinwalkers and at first it was difficult to take seriously but I know the man so I went to see what he had found. That’s where it started to get weird, the body had obviously been there for at least a week, it was desiccated and had lost parts to coyotes and the like but I recognised him and to make it really Outer Limits territory I had seen him in a local diner that very morning eating pancakes and drinking coffee.

I called it in to the dispatcher to get the forensic team out and the local Medical Examiner, I told the Sheriff what I'd found and how it looked like a Security guard from SpiritTech™ I had seen that very morning, he not surprisingly was dismissive saying I was have made a mistake but he told me to follow it up by going to see the SpiritTech™ security chief as soon as the forensic team arrived. So as soon as they arrived I set off for the SpiritTech™ facility. Before I left I took some pictures of the body so i could show them who and what I'd found. On arrival I was directed into the facility, apparently my Sheriff had taken me seriously and had rung ahead, it was huge, acres of land with a small towns worth of buildings gleaming in the desert sun, ranks of solar collectors and windmills, I followed the directions I had been given and drove to the central security office in a large hanger like building in the centre. I parked up and went into the building where amidst a hive of activity I was shown to the office of the facility’s security chief.

He was of course disbelieving up until the point where I showed him the photos, whereupon he went pale and started barking out orders, his team then started pulling up information on the screens that were all over the office and started to try to track down where the impostor was in the facility. It was only a matter of moments before they had his position pinpointed and that’s when all hell broke loose. On calling him on his communicator, he drew his gun and shot the rest of the detail he was with and that wasn't all, all over the facility alarms started blaring as other security guards drew their weapons and slew the men they were with. Within a few minutes it became obvious that at least eight guards were not who they were thought to be, the facility had become a series of running gun battles but the advantages were all with the impostors, they had surprise on their side and they were obviously working to some previously determined plan.

On the screens in the office it quickly became obvious that they were all working their way to some central point, they were converging shooting as they went suppressing any attempt to stop them. The security chief became very worried when he discovered that the blast doors that should cut off their advance would not obey their commands. He turned to me and told me to get my gun out if I was staying. I could hear him saying under his breath" They're going for The Vault, Goddamit! "
He then put in a call to SpiritTech™'s head office and said to me “Ok well we only need to hold them off for about eight minutes and help will arrive.” He then led those of us that were in the security centre out into the facility, heading towards an elevator just down the corridor from the security centre. "Ok this is my special lift it will take us straight down to the vault level", he said as he unlocked the doors, "it's there that we'll hold them off till the big guy arrives".

The lift plunged downwards, seemingly endlessly, into the bowels of the earth, there was no level counter so I had no idea how far down we were going down, I was left wondering how deep it could go. Eventually the lift slowed and stopped, the doors opening on a scene of death, shrouded in smoke, punctuated by gunshots, we were too late the impostors were already here ahead of us. I followed the security chief out of the lift, "Do you want this smoke cleared?" I asked. "What the hell do you mean?" he barked back and with that I summoned up my powers, centred myself and drew on the winds to blow the smoke away, clearing our view down the corridor. Down the corridor we could see two men who turned towards us raising their guns. Reflexively I gestured and the floor exploded upwards to envelop them, crushing the breath out of them, making them drop their weapons. "Goddamit a power that'll help" the security chief said.

So we moved down the corridor, I held the impostors until the security chief and his men could get to them and disarm them and bind them hand to foot to restrain them. It was eerie the way they just glared at us they didn't say a thing even when they were in obvious pain. In this way we advanced towards the end of the corridor, it was wearing I hadn't used my powers at this level and under this pressure before, one slip and we could die in a hail of bullets. We moved slowly, picking them off one here a couple there but it was becoming apparent that at least one of them had made it into the restricted vault area. The emergency lights were starting to flicker and a strange vibration could be felt in the air rather than through the floor.

"Oh Goddamit, those idiots they have no idea what they've done. I hope your strong kid 'cos help is still a few minutes away" the security chief shouted at me over the growing noise. I have to say I was completely nonplussed as to what this "help" could be. We came to a corner and as we went round it we were greeted by a truly horrific sight, the intruders had broken in, a huge bank vault like door was hanging off it's hinges, the men who had opened it had been smashed into a bloody mangled pulp, where it had been thrown open to crash against the wall.

In the open doorway was a figure, a seeming metal man, shrouded in a darkness that seemed to cling about it and a strange moaning, keening wail seemed to emanate from it. The sound seemed to claw at you and the air shimmered, I could feel my very life being sucked away from me, reflexively I called on the wind to push it back away from me. Within moments I had generated a gale that swept everything before it except the hideous figure and even in the teeth of hat gale it took a step forward, I could feel a hatred of life pouring out of it and I knew I had to do everything I could to stop it.

Even through my efforts, the howling gale the horrible keening wail I became aware of a sound coming from behind me, a swishing metallic sound, a pounding thump of footfalls, footfalls with enough force to shake the ground beneath my feet. I could feel my strength beginning to fail me but I knew I had to draw more out of myself, I had to keep going, I couldn't let this thing escape. I reached down into myself and summoned the earth to rise up and crush this monstrosity. then out of the corner of my eye I became aware of a glow, which got brighter in the pervading gloom, until I had to squint against it and then a huge glowing metallic figure, as much a figure of light as the one in front of me was dark, strode past me. A voice thunderous over the grinding of the earth, the howling gale and that terrible mournful keening said, "You're doing great there can you keep it up for a while longer while I batter some sense into that evil thing". With that he walked into the encroaching dark, his footsteps shaking the ground beneath my feet, "Brace yourself now" the voice again thundered.

The sound was like an express train, a hammer on an anvil, it was almost overwhelming as he launched himself against the dark twin. The blows rained in, slabs of concrete crashed against the dark figure. I did my best to stop the dark twin from moving, to slow him down to allow the glowing man to batter it into submission. The level of noise was horrendous, my ears were ringing and I was beginning to feel sick as well as tired beyond imagining. It took an eternity or at least it felt like it and when eventually the dark twin fell unmoving to the floor, the relief was so immense that I collapsed, so drained my legs could no longer support me. I seemed to remember as I slipped into unconsciousness,

"Wow you did great there I honestly didn't think that monster could be slowed by one person......."

I awoke in bed between crisp white sheets, a distinctly medical smell stinging my nostrils, within moments of waking a nurse was at my bedside offering me a drink from a spill-proof cup.
"Well you certainly made an impression on Silver Deputy and he told me to tell you that he really wants to speak to you again but he's had to head back to paragon City to deal with a rampaging robot"

To be honest I was having problems taking it all in, I was working out that "Silver" must be the metal man who had arrived to finish the monster, a well known hero called The Silver Spirit from the East Coast, a long way from home here in New Mexico. This brief quiet interlude in the facility's hospital was to be the last quiet interlude I would have for several weeks.

First there was the debrief from the Federal Authorities, both people from D.A.T.A. and M.A.G.I., they were more interested in who the attackers might have been than the monster in the Vault, I got the impression they knew about that. Then I had a very unpleasant interview with my Sheriff, it turned out he was a prejudiced son of a [censored], who hated all heroes but especially mutants. It became very obvious that my life would be made a living hell if I stayed with the department, so I quit.

I was left wondering what I could do know, there was no way I would get a reference that I could use from my former job, it seemed my plans were in ruins. That was until I received a surprise visit from The Silver Spirit, apparently he knew the boss of SpiritTech™ and had told him about my circumstances and that I should expect a call about a job. Boy what a job offer it was too, a place in the SpiritTech™ security team in Paragon City, quadrupling my salary, a company apartment, a medical plan and on top of that I would receive training in my powers. Surprise, surprise I jumped at it.

So I arrived in Paragon City in the period after the first Rikti invasion had been fought off, of course we didn't know then it was the first invasion, everyone thought we had won and yes the heroes who had been lost were mourned but there was a sense of anticipation and excitement, that now the world was a safer place, yes the War Walls were still up but that soon they could be taken down and normality would resume. The one marked thing was that heroes were welcomed in Paragon City and even encouraged with facilities being made available to help them learn how to use their powers responsibly.

I had just over a year of an almost joyous life, a great interesting job and also the sheer fun and exhilaration of my hero life. I had become the costumed superhero Dust Diablo, feared by the gangs and secret societies that seemed to infest the city. Among my jobs for SpiritTech™ was to do a regular check on the security of the new Vault, which was now based in The Zig, that was the nickname for the huge specialised prison in the Brickstown area of the city. After the trouble in New Mexico the Federal authorities had insisted that the Vault was moved to where hero support could be called on quicker. In The Vault were kept some of the most dangerous things that SpiritTech™ had developed for the Government and some of the most dangerous villains that Silver Spirit had captured. It was visiting here that I finally found out what I had fought back in New Mexico. It seems that a team lead by Silver Spirit had fought a group of Circle of Thorns mystics who had been trying to summon some sort of monstrous extra dimensional entity, they had been defeated but the entity had actually broken through into our world and the only way to contain it, once it had been beaten had been to imprison it it in Silver Spirit's armour. In The Vault it was held quiescent in a form of technomagic containment. Among the other things I was detailed to check in The Vault was a rogue A.I. that was held there in a powered down state. Under normal circumstances it would be a fairly boring couple of hours, checking that routines hadn't become slipshod and that power sources were being maintained properly.

Now on this particular day I was partnered with a relatively new guy, someone like me, he had powers and had been given the name Guard Dog for when he was in costume, Jeff was a cool guy an old head on young shoulders having been recruited out of the military. I was showing him all the things he needed to check, running through the assorted paperwork when all hell broke loose. Everyone now knows what happened but at the time it was chaos, Lord Recluse had decided to show his hand by attacking The Zig and freeing all the prisoners held there.

The first we knew about it was when the building shook and all the lights went out, even the emergency lights, we can only presume that Recluse must have had people in place amongst the staff, as the emergency power being cut was a disaster for us. It meant that all the fail-safes wouldn't exactly failsafe. Under normal circumstances the power to the containment would have been maintained but with the power being completely severed that containment would fail. We ran but we were too late, in that period of darkness before the power was restored, the Chaos Spirit had woken and had slaughtered the guards smashing its way out of the core of The Vault before being shepherded away by Arachnos' troopers.
We had to fight our way through corridors full of super powered villains and Arachnos troopers, thankfully they hadn't fully recovered from the drainers that were used to contain their powers in their cells.

By the time we reached the core of the Vault all that was left was ruin and the dead bodies of the guards. The Chaos Spirit and the rogue A.I. had gone rushed away by Recluses' forces to waiting flyers that had breached the city's security. It was then that I made a fateful decision, with all the heroes occupied trying to contain the mayhem, there was no one really available to chase the escapees down. I'd have to do it myself, I'd have to follow, infiltrate, get close enough and bring them back. Obviously I couldn't go as myself, I would be recognised by those I had put in the Zig as Dust Diablo, I'd need a new identity and I knew where to find them.

In the core of The Vault were kept certain artefacts and devices I could use, I went to get a special pair of gloves, Silver Spirit called them the Godkiller gloves, he didn't say where they had come from but he had said they were kept there because they were extremely powerful and could be used to take down the Chaos Spirit if necessary. Searching through the assorted safes I came across the perfect thing, a sort of mask, a gruesome metal skull that could hide my face from the people I needed not to recognise me. To my shock when I put the mask to my face to try to see if it would fit, it bonded itself to my face. I could feel thousands of pinpricks across my face, burrowing into my flesh, the pain was excruciating. Then even more scaring was the voice, the mask was talking to me, I was terrified, it was alien and initially my head was filled with bizarre sounds and sensations, before it settled down into a comprehensible voice. It seems that luck was on my side, it was compatible and thank god not evil, it also came with powers of its own, the ability to project energy fields around me to protect and even hide me.

So equipped with the Godkiller gloves and the mask I became someone else, a super-powered villain someone who Arachnos would want to take back to the Rogue Isles. I worked out some ways for Guard Dog and other members of SpiritTech™ to get in touch with me then headed out to join the breakout. Using my knowledge of the prison it was easy to insert myself into the flow of prisoners escaping, I even actually had to help one of their low level operatives, an idiot named Jenkins, to get my ride out to the Rogue Isles.

So I went from having a job I loved, to having one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. I am placed within Lord Recluse's organisation, allied to a villain group called The Union of The Eye that allows me to keep an eye on and report on A.I. 101v2, as he calls himself now and to help Chaos Spirit in check. Of course at any moment I could let my concentration slip, make a mistake and be recognised by someone I caught as a hero. Yes I really do think I have the most dangerous job in the world, but I wouldn't change it for anything because by god does it make me feel alive!

That is gorgeous Mother and made me smile.We bow down in awe at your talent.

Congratulations Sweetie now you'll be able to look at those VEATs =D

Grats there Illum

She pushed up her Oakley's so she could use the binoculars to scan the way ahead. She had been following the trail for three days now, it had been faint at first but it was much clearer now

It was three days since she had been pulled out of the Afghan cold and dumped into what felt like an oven at what seemed like only a few minutes notice. It had been Macauley who had briefed her on the flight down to Nairobi before immediately putting her onto a Hercules to be dropped into the far north of Kenya near to the border with Sudan. Apparently the Secretary of Work and Pensions daughter had gone missing while on a safari in Northern Kenya. Ordinarily this would have been dealt with locally by the Embassy staff and their protection squad but having set out to find her they had also disappeared. Their GPS signal had stopped over the border in Southern Sudan, a good 150 miles from where they were supposed to be.

As soon as it became apparent that something had gone wrong with the rescue Six had been called and asked to provide people with the requisite experience in tracking and problem resolution. Her name had obviously popped out along with 5 or 6 others including her sister and they had been gathered, seemingly from the four corners of the world to see if they could solve the problem. They were always referred to as problems or situations never what they really were, a point that always caused amusement among the "Resolvers", as they had taken to calling themselves. She had been a little worried that her sister had been called in but slightly reassured that she would be in field nearly a day before her sister got here from the west coast of America.

Macauley had explained that the initial rescue team had reported in that there were signs that the safari had come across poachers who had then taken them as hostages. However there were some inconsistencies that had rung bells within the Foreign Office, signal traffic picked up by GCHQ that seemed to originate from the same area, who had called in Six. Macauley had told her that it was now believed that the poachers were aligned with Al Qaeda, poaching to generate income for their cause. This had obviously changed how the incident was seen within the government and that was when they had been called in and tasked to resolve the problem.
So as each "Resolver" arrived in Kenya they were being equipped and sent out to search one of the areas where the poachers might be. As one of the first in she had been rushed straight off the plane and onto a Hercules to take her north to the area she had been tasked to search.

She had quickly found where the safari had been met the poachers, two badly damaged Landrovers, the remains of their camp, the signs of a struggle and the bodies of the Ranger guides who had been accompanying them. From there she had followed their trail, found where the rescue team had been ambushed and killed and now she felt she was getting closer. She had got out of her Panther off-roader to check the trail; it looked like something else had seemed to have joined it, making it more difficult to read. By now she was deep in Southern Sudan, disputed territory, ruled over by warlords and criminal gangs and through her binoculars she could see vultures circling ahead, not usually a good sign.

She pulled down her Oakleys and headed back to the Panther, looking at it she was amazed all over again, who would have thought it, an electric/solar powered skeletonised offroader, stealthy and environmentally friendly. Given this level of kit Six must be really serious about Al Qaeda being involved somehow. She set off towards the vultures; the only sound that of the tyres crunching on the sandy soil, whipping through the sparse desiccated clumps of grass. She came to a halt, behind the rise over which the vultures could be seen circling. She got out and started up the rise, crawling the final portion so as not to break the skyline.
Looking down she could see the remnants of a camp, a scuffed out fire, discarded containers and what looked like two bodies sprawled in the sand. So using the cover offered by the scrub, she crept forward, moving slowly, without rhythm, as her instructors had taught her so long ago in the Brecon Beacons that it had become second nature.

It became apparent that there was nothing living here, on inspecting the bodies she came to the conclusion that something strange had happened here. The bodies had been mauled, clawed and bitten by what could only have been lions but then they had been left. They had been killed but there were no signs of feeding, by the lions or even after by scavengers. The vultures which were still circling had not descended to feed, which given that the bodies were cooling was very strange, there were also signs that other animals, hyenas, jackals had been near but left the bodies. She started to spiral outwards and quickly found where the others had fled, there were signs of people, bleeding, running, dragging others.
The signs were distinctive, some of the runners were stumbling being pulled along and alongside these tracks were lion prints. It was almost as if the lions were herding the people. Then amongst the lion tracks she found something that made her stop and check very closely. In amongst the lion tracks were some strange tracks, almost like bare footprints but they seemed to change mid-stride into lion prints but of course that was impossible.

Anyway she now definitely had her quarry, so she quickly returned to the Panther, fired up the satellite phone and reported in with what she had found. After the three second or so delay, Macauley was there telling her that the nearest other operative was over 70 miles away. She told him not to worry and that she would deal with it and to task the pickup to get ready. She signed off and then went to weapon locker at the back of the Panther and several knives, a pair of Glocks and her hunting bow later she set out to hunt down her quarry. They were on foot injured and with the amount of blood present they would not be able to get very far.

As she started back she noticed that the vultures had moved, they were now circling further up along the trail where the people had run. Her only thought was that would make it easier to find them. Very soon the trail split but the drag marks were still apparent so she elected to follow those first. It soon became obvious that the trail was heading towards a narrow valley in the rising ground ahead. She was very aware as she dogtrotted of the smell of the disturbed earth, flinty slightly acrid, with an underlying smell of blood, a metallic smell which she could almost taste at the back of her throat. The sun was starting to set now and she knew at this latitude it was sudden so she sped up. She would prefer to catch them while daylight still remained, even though she had a set of night vision goggles in her pack.

Another body in the track, again apparently brought down by a lion, neck broken but now she notices a clean slash as with a blade across the back of the left knee, a classic ham-stringing cut. Without pause she returns to the chase thinking "Well now this is getting interesting, someone else is hunting them too. If I didn't know she was over a hundred miles away I'd almost think that it was my little sister"

She enters a clearing and she is suddenly brought up short by the spectacle, three men with machete like knives holding two girls and a young man backed up against some rocks, facing a tall woman holding some strange curved blades flanked by four lionesses.
"Aah I was wondering how long it would take you to get here my dear. As you can see we seem to have met somewhat of an impasse here Helena and I feel I may need your help if these young people are not to be hurt"
"How does she know my name and why does she look so familiar" she thought and then "What the hell she's standing with those lions as if they are hers...."
"I think that those young girls and that nice young man don't have to see what follows" and with that the woman waved her hand, almost dismissively and they slumped as if asleep, dragging themselves out of the arms of their capturers and falling to the ground.

One of the hostage takers decides to try to make a break for it and without even thinking about it she is on him as he runs, a swift kick to the back of the knee bringing him down, then the butt of one her knives crashing into the back of his skull rendering him unconscious. The others try to take advantage of the distraction, one running, the other raising his machete as if to strike down on the girl he held. As if by magic a knife blooms in his chest, thrown without thinking, disabling and disarming him. The other finds himself, within seconds, pinned to the ground by two snarling lionesses.
"Aha yes good, good, yes you are up to expectations"

She came out of her combat trance, the state she enters where the body does what is necessary without conscious thought. For the first time she gets to look properly at the woman and the familiarity clicks "She looks like Nferetiti", she thinks "but there is something else, around her head, an aura, a lionesses’ head!"
"Yes you're eyes do not deceive you, you have the true sight my dear. I think my dear Helena that we need to talk"

Helena returned out of the scrubland a different person, Macauley noticed it, her family could feel it. A certain assurance, a calmness, a certainty of purpose.

Here is another sort of origin,or is that pre-origin, story
it is more suited to the version of Sekmet on Union and does tie into the previous story about Saitada's origin.

Thankyou for the comments I know there's some typos...typing it into the little posting box directly seems to make it more difficult to check the flow as it were.
Given that it's a VERY long time since I actually wrote something fictional....I sorta expect to make some mistakes and any criticism is appreciated,hopefully I can learn
To a certain extent it is meant to be slightly elliptical,a piece that will make more sense as the fuller story unfolds

The girl sat sobbing by the pool of water,her wracking sobs drowning out the soft burbling of the water as it runs down the rocks into the spring.Each fit of sobs ending in a little hiccup of of indrawn breath before the next started.She couldn't have more than 7 or 8 years old and her misery and despair was so complete.Interspersed amongst the sobbing could be heard,if there had been anyone to hear "Mummy why did you have t go".Such a sad sight in such a beautiful setting.

The girl so wrapped up in her despair doesn't notice a shimmering in the air between the trees.Subtle at first but then becoming more obvious,a distortion,a blurring starting to obscure the trees.Then out of the distortion appears a figure,at first an outline at first indistinct but becoming clearer, a woman but shrouded in a darkness that seems to cling to her form.To anyone looking on it would seem that the woman walks towards the child without seeming to touch the ground.Her movements kept to an elegant minimum.
The girl doesn't seem to see or hear the woman until she hears a soft gentle voice say "What brings you up here to my spring my child?"She looks up to see a beautiful woman bending down towards her,reaching out to take her small heart-shaped face in her hands.

Before she can reply the woman says "Aah your mother has been taken from you and you grieve her passing"
The child stops sobbing,entranced by this woman who holds her face in her hands,her reddend eyes and tearstained face turned upwards to try to see who this woman is.

Later,when trying to remember all she can recall is a sense of unutterable sadness contained within the woman's eyes and a face that was both beautiful and maybe a little cruel but ageless.Her hair seemed to move of it's own accord as if caught in a gentle breeze."Well my little one what shall we do with you?"The voice seemed to encompass and hold her." I can help you Caro, I can help you with your grief,I can help you find and punish the ones who hurt your mother"

How the woman knew her name,her personal private family name she didn't know but all that did was to bring her closer,she seemed to be swimming in the woman's sea-green,gold-flecked eyes.
She spoke in a tiny cracked whisper "please"

"Aah my darling little Caro of course I shall but now your family is missing you and are worried.You must run along home but when you can,return and we will speak again.This shall be our little secret,our special place,where noone else will come,now go and remember tell noone of our meeting"

And with that the little girl got to her feet and ran home,to her worried father and sister and told noone of the woman she had met at the spring.

This forms an introduction,a flashback,that tells how Saitada met her mentor the goddess of grief,her namesake.

Congratulations form all of us in the Family