Guyver-- adj. Chiefly British. A person of odd or grotesque appearance or dress. Japanese--a human monster or mutant, horribly misfigured that possesses super-human powers or intellect.
That's me. A grotesquerie of human emotion. Heh. I don't know about that intellect part, but hey... what do I know? I didn't pick the name. Or to be a hero. I do this because I can, and I suppose because I should. That and usually it's a lot of fun I'm Jay, more widely known as ICe Guyver .
But wait. I should probably start at the beginning.
I'm a mutant. I know... ewwwwwwwwwwwww a mutie!! I got that all the time when I was a teenager, and my skin first started to go blue. I grew up the only child of two apparently normal parents. I say apparently because I can't ask them now... they died during the Rikti Invasion. I was 15 at the time of the attack, and on my way home from my doctor when I saw the Red Disks opening in the sky. This was also the day my mutant gene had it's Catalyst .
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah... I'm a Mutant. Something, somehow some way, cause one of my DNA chains to produce a unique nucleotide sequence. It first made itself evident when I was nine, usually responding to great deals of stress or huge amounts of adrenaline dumping into the bloodstream, the day I got into a schoolyard fight with the class bully. This kid was a monster... in fourth grade and already needed to shave. Nevermind the fact that this was his third time in fourth grade; he wasn't too bright. He had incredible street smarts, and a kind of charisma. Better to be friends with this kid than get beat up, I suppose. He used to lull the weaker-minded kids over to him... wait, that sounds like mind control, right? I wonder.... anyway. He used to literally have an army of sub-bully's under his control, and they'd go on these raids in the gym locker room and shakedown the younger boys for anything they could get.
When I was the target, my skin started to put off this blue glow... and everything seemed to slow down. I could sidestep the punches and step over the kicks as they were coming, almost as if they were in slow motion. All I wanted was to get out of there, to be left alone. When I put my arm up to block an incoming punch to the face, my skin froze the bully's skin where it touched his. I grabbed my books and clothes and ran out of the locker room, scared out of my mind.
I didn't bother going to my classes for the rest of the day, I had to go home and find out what was wrong with me. Why did this happen? How? I wouldn't know any of that for a long time.
Go forward two years, and now I've got no friends. None, nada, zip. My skin is now permamently blue. I can't even see the irises or pupil in my eyes anymore... they put off this faint white glow and all my hair has turned white. I don't understand, but my parents have me being home-schooled, and I spend three days a week being poked and prodded by some scientists at Chiron Medical Center. My parents both took new jobs in Paragon City in order to move us closer to where they could get me some help. I'm not sure I like this town too much... it's too huge. That and there's no zoo. Well, some parts of the city are a zoo. Take the green line and you'll see what I mean.
Go ahead one more year. The scientists that work with me are actually pretty cool, I guess they work with all kinds of Heroes. I hadn't really thought about what my situation would mean for me; but they insist that I keep up on my school work. I guess being a Hero doesn't put food in the refrigerator, haha I always wanted to be a cartoonist anyway.
Working at the facility with the doctors is teaching me how to use my mutant abilites.... I can now shoot a bolt of ice from both hands, and extend an aura of freezing air around me that slows people down. I guess that's how I got away from the bullies in the locker room, and the doc's say that that's not all I can do. I've been having dreams where I can fly... but the doc's all say that's normal for a boy my age.
I still don't have any friends, but I've been sneaking out at night on the weekends. The last time was really scary... I was walking through an alley in King's Row, and saw some gang members beating up on an elderly woman. I was just about to turn and run to find a phone to call a cop and a huge gust of air and light knocked me down. Standing there in the middle of all the gang members was this huge giant of a guy, with sparks shooting off his hands as he punched and slapped these goons around. When they were all unconcious, he roped them all together, and then saw me staring at him.
"What's the matter kid, never saw no hero before?" he asked.
"No, I..." I couldn't say anything else. This guy was HUGE... at least seven feet tall, and just HUGE. "What's your name?" I asked.
"I'm the Back Alley Brawler, at least that's what the papers call me. Were you going to take these thugs yourself? How old are you kid? Do your parents know where you are?"
All these questions... all at once kind of unlocked whatever gag there was around my mouth. I explained I was gonna call the cops, but he laughed.
"Kid, normal cops can't handle goons like these. Check this one guy out... see those horns on his head? He's a Damned. He'd roast you alive. The only reason I took him down so easy was because his powers take some time to charge up. Know your enemy. And from the looks of you, you have some power yourself. What can you do?"
And so I told him. Over the next couple of weeks, he stopped by the hospital where I was being tested. I'm there all the time now, they have tutors coming in for my schooling, and the second half of the day is almost like extended gym class. They have me lifting weights, giving me gymnastic workouts, and target practice. The Brawler probably has something to do with all the exercise, but I don't mind.
By the time I'm fifteen, everything I know changes.
I'm on the Yellow Line, taking the train home from the hospital and the sky has gone all weird... there's Hero's in the streets everywhere I look, and all of them are looking at the sky. By the time I get off the train, I know why. There's these red circles in the sky and people coming out of them. Not just people either, but these weird orb looking robots, shooting lasers and energy and killing people for no reason... I gotta get home! Looking down the street there's bands of these people... wait they're aliens! Just killing people left and right, and and... some of the heroes are dead too! Oh my God! One of them is looking right at me, so I figure it's now or never. I shoot an ice bolt at it, thinking I can probably blind it long enough to get away, but the bolt never hits. It stops dead about two feet in front of the invader. I have no doubt that this is what it is, an invasion.
In a blind panic, I turn and start to run. But something else happens... everything starts to slow down around me again. I'm thinking OK, at least my Chilling Embrace has kicked in... but that's always on now. This is something else. I see a bolt of green and purple energy come sizzling by me, but it's moving really slow. I can feel the heat of the blast, scorching the air around it, but I sidestep around it. I look to see where it's going to hit.... and there's a little girl standing there, eyes wide in terror. I grab the girl by the back of the shirt and yank her to me... just as time resumes it's normal flow and the bolt slams into the wall where the little girl was. The alien that shot at me utters something in a gutteral language that sounds like a swear word, and fires off three more shots. This time I don't hang around to see what happens... I'm outta here!
Still holding on to the little girl, I run as fast as I can down the street and time is slowed down again. This is too weird... and then I notice a burning around my legs. It doesn't hurt, but there's a blinding glow enveloping my feet as I run, and next thing I know I'm running across open water! This isn't possible! Possible or not, I keep going until I find a relatively safe place. I need to get this girl home or to a shelter.
She isn't screaming anymore, or kicking or crying or anything... Oh my God... the Chilling Embrace! Did I kill her? She's frozen solid... ohmygodohmygodohmygod what did I do? So I run back to the hospital, forget the Yellow Line, this is faster. The skylight in the ward where I'm being tested is never locked... I'll just bypass the ground floor and the doc's will know what to do... as I run up the fire escape to the roof it dawns on me: I just ran from Steel Canyon to Atlas Park in under a minute! I slide into the skylight and see a controlled chaos erupting around me. All the nurses are setting up cots and monitoring equipment in all the available emty space, probably getting ready to treat wounded.
"Jason! Where the hell did you come from?" the head nurse asks me, apparently just noticing that I'm standing there with a frozen girl in my arms.
"The skylight. This girl needs help!" I yell, and hand the girl off to an orderly. He puts the business end of a stethoscope on her chest and looks at me. "She's alive, but just barely. I need a tub of lukewarm water here, NOW!! We need to get her temperature up before she dies of Hypothermia. You did good kid, now get out of the way", he says to me with a wink.
I back away from the action, hoping the girl is going to be allright. Looking down at my feet, there's scorch marks around the soles and the tread is melted away. My parents are gonna kill me.
My parents! :shock:
I run out the way I came, and skip the fire escape. It's 8 stories straight down, and I take the jump like jumping off a chair. What is going on with me? Are there any other suprises? That'll have to wait... I start building up my ice bolts just in case. I run across Atlas Park like it's a figment of my imagination, next thing I know i'm in Steel Canyon, zipping up beside Silver Lake. I figure why not... and take the freeway into Baumtown. I got to get home to see if Mom and Dad are alright!
Crossing into Baumtown, the scene unfolds like an enormous blossoming flower. Made of fire.
This isn't Baumtown anymore... it's Boomtown. All the buildings are either falling down, on fire, or huge smoking reminders of what they used to be. Or all of the above. As I'm standing there in shock, I see Statesman come running up the road, and does something wholly unbelievable. He jumps straight up into the sky.... but he's not flying. At least I don't think he is... but he just keeps going up. As he hits the apex of his jump, an alien ship comes out of the red hole in the sky, side cannons blazing. Statesman comes down on the ships bow, and rips a section of it's hull away and goes inside. The next thing I see is the ship listing to the side, like it can't stay aloft... and then it starts to fall. There's smoke streaming from it's vents, and it's coming down even faster. I look down to see where it's going to hit, and there's my apartment building... right in the line of it's trajectory.
Everything freezes.
Flames are caught in motion... there's arcs of energy ripping across the sky, and the alien ship that Statesman is taking out is just hanging there in space. Panic engulfs me as I run past the ship; it's looming over me like a death cloud. If I can just get into the apartment before that ship hits.. I run up the side of the building and into my bedroom window, calling for them. But no one's answering... in fact the only thing I can hear is my own breathing and a roar of wind in my ears. Looking around, tears start to stream from my eyes. Mom and Dad are dead, huge holes burned through their chests. The aliens must have teleported in here and killed them.
The next thing I know, I'm seeing two different places at the same time. I'm sitting in my living room, screaming and crying that it's not fair, hugging my parent's bodies. There's a flash of light, and I'm still hugging my parents, but I'm in the park ( or what used to be ) across the street. Time goes forward again and the alien ship slams into my apartment building, flattening it like a soda can. And then I pass out.
I wake up what feels like a minute later... but I'm bandaged almost from head to toe, and lying in what looks like a hospital ward. There's a woman taking notes on a clipboard and she starts to talk, but I can't hear her... then everything goes black again.
I wake up again, but this time I'm in my own room. I'm really thirsty... and I itch all over. I really want a shower. I get up and notice the bandages are gone, how long have I been out? What the hell's going on? Then I notice the scars. My body is covered in burn scars... I look like a burnt hot dog. I'm not in any pain, but damn this feels weird. I go into the bathroom and check the mirror... and almost pass out again. My face is barely recognizeable. There's long burn streaks running down the sides of my face, and my eyes are putting off a fierce glow now. As I come out of the bathroom, Back Alley Brawler is sitting in a chair next to my bed.
"'Bout time you woke up. You took one hell of a hit, you know that? You're lucky to be alive. What did you go running into that building for in the first place?" he asks, handing me a bottle of water.
I take the cap off, and chug most of it in one pull, wiping my mouth. "I ran into that building to try and save my parents, but they were already dead. I was too late. I was on my way home and saw the aliens coming out of thin air.... and did what I could to save a little girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"I know. She's been asking about you," Brawler says with a grin. "She's in a room down the hall. Wanna go see her?"
"Maybe later. I'm not feeling so good. How long was I unconcious?" I ask Brawler, looking around for something eat. Man I was hungry... like I just went a month without food. When you eat 5 meals a day and then something like this, well you know. A wave of dizziness passes over me as Brawler keeps talking, "Kid, you were sedated for the last three months. You missed the whole war. But you attracted some top-level attention. You've become a celebrity; you're what the local news calls a 'Super-Human Interest Piece'. Sister Psyche teleported you out of that building just before the ship crashed into it, and Stateman himself had your medical care taken care of. In fact, you're in the Freedom Phalanx Medical Ward right now. Unfortunately there isn't anything we can do for your parents, but they've been buried and a memorial service is waiting pretty much on you. Then you can start your healing."
As he said all this, it kind of dawned on me. What it is I'm supposed to do.... sorta like Batman in the comics. I'm not really into the whole revenge bit... but when I was helping that girl, I was on top of the world. Nevermind the running at super speed
Over the next two years I finished my tutoring in High School Education, and have completed the Advanced Super Hero Training course that Freedom Phalanx have provided for me. I've become a ward of FP, and with Brawler's mentorship, I've discovered some new abilites. I can pretty much shape my ice into whatever I can envision. I took some college classes at the local University, and got a job after graduation. It pays the bills, but it's secondary to what I really love to do: Help People. So now I have this pretty cool costume, and a communications rig in my helmet so that I can listen in on Police and local Military Band Radio. It's even got a cell phone built into it, so I can call contacts and such. I haven't seen anyone from FP in a while, but I've got a new group I'm running around with: Unified - X. We're kind of a small group but we're growing... this might turn into a full time job after all
Guyver-- adj. Chiefly British. A person of odd or grotesque appearance or dress. Japanese--a human monster or mutant, horribly misfigured that possesses super-human powers or intellect.
That's me. A grotesquerie of human emotion. Heh. I don't know about that intellect part, but hey... what do I know? I didn't pick the name. Or to be a hero. I do this because I can, and I suppose because I should. That and usually it's a lot of fun I'm Jay, more widely known as ICe Guyver .
But wait. I should probably start at the beginning.
I'm a mutant. I know... ewwwwwwwwwwwww a mutie!! I got that all the time when I was a teenager, and my skin first started to go blue. I grew up the only child of two apparently normal parents. I say apparently because I can't ask them now... they died during the Rikti Invasion. I was 15 at the time of the attack, and on my way home from my doctor when I saw the Red Disks opening in the sky. This was also the day my mutant gene had it's Catalyst .
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah... I'm a Mutant. Something, somehow some way, cause one of my DNA chains to produce a unique nucleotide sequence. It first made itself evident when I was nine, usually responding to great deals of stress or huge amounts of adrenaline dumping into the bloodstream, the day I got into a schoolyard fight with the class bully. This kid was a monster... in fourth grade and already needed to shave. Nevermind the fact that this was his third time in fourth grade; he wasn't too bright. He had incredible street smarts, and a kind of charisma. Better to be friends with this kid than get beat up, I suppose. He used to lull the weaker-minded kids over to him... wait, that sounds like mind control, right? I wonder.... anyway. He used to literally have an army of sub-bully's under his control, and they'd go on these raids in the gym locker room and shakedown the younger boys for anything they could get.
When I was the target, my skin started to put off this blue glow... and everything seemed to slow down. I could sidestep the punches and step over the kicks as they were coming, almost as if they were in slow motion. All I wanted was to get out of there, to be left alone. When I put my arm up to block an incoming punch to the face, my skin froze the bully's skin where it touched his. I grabbed my books and clothes and ran out of the locker room, scared out of my mind.
I didn't bother going to my classes for the rest of the day, I had to go home and find out what was wrong with me. Why did this happen? How? I wouldn't know any of that for a long time.
Go forward two years, and now I've got no friends. None, nada, zip. My skin is now permamently blue. I can't even see the irises or pupil in my eyes anymore... they put off this faint white glow and all my hair has turned white. I don't understand, but my parents have me being home-schooled, and I spend three days a week being poked and prodded by some scientists at Chiron Medical Center. My parents both took new jobs in Paragon City in order to move us closer to where they could get me some help. I'm not sure I like this town too much... it's too huge. That and there's no zoo. Well, some parts of the city are a zoo. Take the green line and you'll see what I mean.
Go ahead one more year. The scientists that work with me are actually pretty cool, I guess they work with all kinds of Heroes. I hadn't really thought about what my situation would mean for me; but they insist that I keep up on my school work. I guess being a Hero doesn't put food in the refrigerator, haha I always wanted to be a cartoonist anyway.
Working at the facility with the doctors is teaching me how to use my mutant abilites.... I can now shoot a bolt of ice from both hands, and extend an aura of freezing air around me that slows people down. I guess that's how I got away from the bullies in the locker room, and the doc's say that that's not all I can do. I've been having dreams where I can fly... but the doc's all say that's normal for a boy my age.
I still don't have any friends, but I've been sneaking out at night on the weekends. The last time was really scary... I was walking through an alley in King's Row, and saw some gang members beating up on an elderly woman. I was just about to turn and run to find a phone to call a cop and a huge gust of air and light knocked me down. Standing there in the middle of all the gang members was this huge giant of a guy, with sparks shooting off his hands as he punched and slapped these goons around. When they were all unconcious, he roped them all together, and then saw me staring at him.
"What's the matter kid, never saw no hero before?" he asked.
"No, I..." I couldn't say anything else. This guy was HUGE... at least seven feet tall, and just HUGE. "What's your name?" I asked.
"I'm the Back Alley Brawler, at least that's what the papers call me. Were you going to take these thugs yourself? How old are you kid? Do your parents know where you are?"
All these questions... all at once kind of unlocked whatever gag there was around my mouth. I explained I was gonna call the cops, but he laughed.
"Kid, normal cops can't handle goons like these. Check this one guy out... see those horns on his head? He's a Damned. He'd roast you alive. The only reason I took him down so easy was because his powers take some time to charge up. Know your enemy. And from the looks of you, you have some power yourself. What can you do?"
And so I told him. Over the next couple of weeks, he stopped by the hospital where I was being tested. I'm there all the time now, they have tutors coming in for my schooling, and the second half of the day is almost like extended gym class. They have me lifting weights, giving me gymnastic workouts, and target practice. The Brawler probably has something to do with all the exercise, but I don't mind.
By the time I'm fifteen, everything I know changes.
I'm on the Yellow Line, taking the train home from the hospital and the sky has gone all weird... there's Hero's in the streets everywhere I look, and all of them are looking at the sky. By the time I get off the train, I know why. There's these red circles in the sky and people coming out of them. Not just people either, but these weird orb looking robots, shooting lasers and energy and killing people for no reason... I gotta get home! Looking down the street there's bands of these people... wait they're aliens! Just killing people left and right, and and... some of the heroes are dead too! Oh my God! One of them is looking right at me, so I figure it's now or never. I shoot an ice bolt at it, thinking I can probably blind it long enough to get away, but the bolt never hits. It stops dead about two feet in front of the invader. I have no doubt that this is what it is, an invasion.
In a blind panic, I turn and start to run. But something else happens... everything starts to slow down around me again. I'm thinking OK, at least my Chilling Embrace has kicked in... but that's always on now. This is something else. I see a bolt of green and purple energy come sizzling by me, but it's moving really slow. I can feel the heat of the blast, scorching the air around it, but I sidestep around it. I look to see where it's going to hit.... and there's a little girl standing there, eyes wide in terror. I grab the girl by the back of the shirt and yank her to me... just as time resumes it's normal flow and the bolt slams into the wall where the little girl was. The alien that shot at me utters something in a gutteral language that sounds like a swear word, and fires off three more shots. This time I don't hang around to see what happens... I'm outta here!
Still holding on to the little girl, I run as fast as I can down the street and time is slowed down again. This is too weird... and then I notice a burning around my legs. It doesn't hurt, but there's a blinding glow enveloping my feet as I run, and next thing I know I'm running across open water! This isn't possible! Possible or not, I keep going until I find a relatively safe place. I need to get this girl home or to a shelter.
She isn't screaming anymore, or kicking or crying or anything... Oh my God... the Chilling Embrace! Did I kill her? She's frozen solid... ohmygodohmygodohmygod what did I do? So I run back to the hospital, forget the Yellow Line, this is faster. The skylight in the ward where I'm being tested is never locked... I'll just bypass the ground floor and the doc's will know what to do... as I run up the fire escape to the roof it dawns on me: I just ran from Steel Canyon to Atlas Park in under a minute! I slide into the skylight and see a controlled chaos erupting around me. All the nurses are setting up cots and monitoring equipment in all the available emty space, probably getting ready to treat wounded.
"Jason! Where the hell did you come from?" the head nurse asks me, apparently just noticing that I'm standing there with a frozen girl in my arms.
"The skylight. This girl needs help!" I yell, and hand the girl off to an orderly. He puts the business end of a stethoscope on her chest and looks at me. "She's alive, but just barely. I need a tub of lukewarm water here, NOW!! We need to get her temperature up before she dies of Hypothermia. You did good kid, now get out of the way", he says to me with a wink.
I back away from the action, hoping the girl is going to be allright. Looking down at my feet, there's scorch marks around the soles and the tread is melted away. My parents are gonna kill me.
My parents! :shock:
I run out the way I came, and skip the fire escape. It's 8 stories straight down, and I take the jump like jumping off a chair. What is going on with me? Are there any other suprises? That'll have to wait... I start building up my ice bolts just in case. I run across Atlas Park like it's a figment of my imagination, next thing I know i'm in Steel Canyon, zipping up beside Silver Lake. I figure why not... and take the freeway into Baumtown. I got to get home to see if Mom and Dad are alright!
Crossing into Baumtown, the scene unfolds like an enormous blossoming flower. Made of fire.
This isn't Baumtown anymore... it's Boomtown. All the buildings are either falling down, on fire, or huge smoking reminders of what they used to be. Or all of the above. As I'm standing there in shock, I see Statesman come running up the road, and does something wholly unbelievable. He jumps straight up into the sky.... but he's not flying. At least I don't think he is... but he just keeps going up. As he hits the apex of his jump, an alien ship comes out of the red hole in the sky, side cannons blazing. Statesman comes down on the ships bow, and rips a section of it's hull away and goes inside. The next thing I see is the ship listing to the side, like it can't stay aloft... and then it starts to fall. There's smoke streaming from it's vents, and it's coming down even faster. I look down to see where it's going to hit, and there's my apartment building... right in the line of it's trajectory.
Everything freezes.
Flames are caught in motion... there's arcs of energy ripping across the sky, and the alien ship that Statesman is taking out is just hanging there in space. Panic engulfs me as I run past the ship; it's looming over me like a death cloud. If I can just get into the apartment before that ship hits.. I run up the side of the building and into my bedroom window, calling for them. But no one's answering... in fact the only thing I can hear is my own breathing and a roar of wind in my ears. Looking around, tears start to stream from my eyes. Mom and Dad are dead, huge holes burned through their chests. The aliens must have teleported in here and killed them.
The next thing I know, I'm seeing two different places at the same time. I'm sitting in my living room, screaming and crying that it's not fair, hugging my parent's bodies. There's a flash of light, and I'm still hugging my parents, but I'm in the park ( or what used to be ) across the street. Time goes forward again and the alien ship slams into my apartment building, flattening it like a soda can. And then I pass out.
I wake up what feels like a minute later... but I'm bandaged almost from head to toe, and lying in what looks like a hospital ward. There's a woman taking notes on a clipboard and she starts to talk, but I can't hear her... then everything goes black again.
I wake up again, but this time I'm in my own room. I'm really thirsty... and I itch all over. I really want a shower. I get up and notice the bandages are gone, how long have I been out? What the hell's going on? Then I notice the scars. My body is covered in burn scars... I look like a burnt hot dog. I'm not in any pain, but damn this feels weird. I go into the bathroom and check the mirror... and almost pass out again. My face is barely recognizeable. There's long burn streaks running down the sides of my face, and my eyes are putting off a fierce glow now. As I come out of the bathroom, Back Alley Brawler is sitting in a chair next to my bed.
"'Bout time you woke up. You took one hell of a hit, you know that? You're lucky to be alive. What did you go running into that building for in the first place?" he asks, handing me a bottle of water.
I take the cap off, and chug most of it in one pull, wiping my mouth. "I ran into that building to try and save my parents, but they were already dead. I was too late. I was on my way home and saw the aliens coming out of thin air.... and did what I could to save a little girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"I know. She's been asking about you," Brawler says with a grin. "She's in a room down the hall. Wanna go see her?"
"Maybe later. I'm not feeling so good. How long was I unconcious?" I ask Brawler, looking around for something eat. Man I was hungry... like I just went a month without food. When you eat 5 meals a day and then something like this, well you know. A wave of dizziness passes over me as Brawler keeps talking, "Kid, you were sedated for the last three months. You missed the whole war. But you attracted some top-level attention. You've become a celebrity; you're what the local news calls a 'Super-Human Interest Piece'. Sister Psyche teleported you out of that building just before the ship crashed into it, and Stateman himself had your medical care taken care of. In fact, you're in the Freedom Phalanx Medical Ward right now. Unfortunately there isn't anything we can do for your parents, but they've been buried and a memorial service is waiting pretty much on you. Then you can start your healing."
As he said all this, it kind of dawned on me. What it is I'm supposed to do.... sorta like Batman in the comics. I'm not really into the whole revenge bit... but when I was helping that girl, I was on top of the world. Nevermind the running at super speed
Over the next two years I finished my tutoring in High School Education, and have completed the Advanced Super Hero Training course that Freedom Phalanx have provided for me. I've become a ward of FP, and with Brawler's mentorship, I've discovered some new abilites. I can pretty much shape my ice into whatever I can envision. I took some college classes at the local University, and got a job after graduation. It pays the bills, but it's secondary to what I really love to do: Help People. So now I have this pretty cool costume, and a communications rig in my helmet so that I can listen in on Police and local Military Band Radio. It's even got a cell phone built into it, so I can call contacts and such. I haven't seen anyone from FP in a while, but I've got a new group I'm running around with: Unified - X. We're kind of a small group but we're growing... this might turn into a full time job after all