Prof. Entropy saw the grenade land at the creature's feet and explode. As the smoke drifted, he took advantage of it, running into the smoke and blending his black fog with it. He noted the penguin looking hero entering the cloud at the same time, and worked his way toward the monstrosity. It was trying to find its' way out of the smoke, but Prof. Entropy caught up to it. He threw a flurry of punches at the creature, the dark energy from his fists blending in quickly with the surrounding smoke. The creature turned and blindly swiped at the apparent source of the attack, and connected. The blow knocked Entropy out of the smoke cloud, and sprawled him on the ground several feet away.
Still in his fog form, Prof. Entropy stood himself up, and concentrated. Suddenly the thin black fog which made up his form thickened to the point where his glowing eyes were barely visible, and he ran into the cloud of smoke again.
((OOC=Out of Character, btw.))
Bubble Gump was tired. The effects of a good shrimp dinner were starting to make him yawn. He looked up at the commotion outside the window of the restaurant and saw a giant monstrosity pick up a police car and hurl it down the street.
Forrest always said people should help each other he thought to himself.
He stood up and moved out of the restaurant keeping an eye on the beast. His control had improved since Nam. The training making his powers more responsive and more fluid. Now if he didn't always need someone helping him by telling him what to do with them.
"Oh my God someone stop it!" a woman screamed from nearby as the thing bore down upon her.
The thought snapped in his head as soon as she had said it. His hands glowed as he locked the creature in a detention field, holding it immobile. The woman immediately got up and ran away as fast as she could.
Bubble stood there for a long time just holding the field around the unmoving monster.
He stood there some more.
"Are you going to take it to jail, mister?" a little girl had crept up to him and tugged on his fatigues.
"Oh, I knew there was something I forgot," Bubba replied. The girl ran quickly back to her parents as Bubble used the transmitter to contact his higher ups.
A second beast had arrived unseen. It picked up a mailbox and with little effort hurled it towards Bubble. The impact broke Bubble's concentration, freeing the first monster, and knocking him into unconsciousness. His last thought before the hospital teleporters whisked him away, was that he had forgotten to activate his person bubble again.
Fox Soilder knew his knives were no good on the behmoth things, or his kicks. But the one with tenticals growing out of it's body seemed like a good bet. Not nearly as mucular, but down right frightening. He had a nagging urge to go into deep trance, but he couldn't assure he wouldn't kill them. As it approched he got in front of it, he was scaried out of his mind, but that wasn't going to stop him. He delivered a hard kick into the things cheast and three tenticals proptly grabbed him. Fox's free hand stbbed the one holding his other hand and he was soon upside-down. "CRAP!" H efelt a funny feeling, like he was getting weaker, he paniced and punched the thing square in the face. His punch caused it to stop sapping his life, as it stumbled back. He grinned and then the tenticals gribbing his waist and leg tightened to crushing pressure and Fox screamed in pain.
(OOC Note: I'm not sure what dark powers they have, but I'm assuming they have dark armor. Anything else they can do?)
The thick, black smoke made seeing anything more than a few inches away a difficult task at best. Fighting in the stuff was near impossible. All Rock-Hopper could do was to swing hard at the occasional glimpse of an arm, or at the odd growling noise that the creature made. Thankfully, more often than not, his blows connected. However, the erstwhile paramedic did not seem as angered by his blows as might be expected, as if it were distracted by something else.
A leering, distorted face poked through the haze, bruised and a little scorched. Rock-Hopper could only assume that that meant other heroes were in the cloud with him. Winding up, Rock-Hopper took careful aim and launched a brutal stone uppercut to the almost-human face. The creature reeled back, dazed, and swung a meaty fist in retaliation. The fist caromed into Rock-Hopper's chest, leaving a spiderweb of cracks in the armour of ice, but leaving the hero mostly undamaged. Pressing the attack, Rock-Hopper lifted one foot and slammed it to the ground, sending a massive shockwave through the earth and upending the creature. His opponent dazed and vulnerable, the hero swung his mallet straight at the beast's head. The hammer came down with a loud crack, leaving a series of cuts and punctures across the paramedic's forehead.
The blow that should have killed the creature only seemed to anger it, and it grabbed Rock-Hopper by the leg. From its supine position, the creature swung its arm and sent the hero to the ground. Recovering its footing, it grabbed the prone hero, lifted him over its head and threw him with all of its might. Crashes of metal, glass and ice came from outside of the smoke cloud as Rock-Hopper smashed into the cab of the ambulance, coming to rest on the front seat. Shaking his head to clear it, Rock-hopper, now bruised and battered, stepped out of the Ambulance.
"This ain't workin'. I'm gonna need some kind of plan. And soon."
Looking around for some kind of makeshift weapon, Rock-Hopper spotted a car which had overturned. Most of the chassis had ripped open, and there was gasoline pouring out onto the street. Remembering the scorch marks on the creature's body, the hero came up with an idea. Prying the mostly full gas tank off of the car, he re-entered the dissipating cloud of smoke with it.
With the smoke nearly gone, Rock-Hopper could now see the two heroes inside fighting the creature. One of them was on fire, the other seemed to be maintaining his own pocket of smoke. With his best baseball pitch, Rock-Hopper threw the gas tank at the creature. The tank collapsed on impact, dousing the beast with gasoline. The heat from the other hero ignited the gas, and the creature began screaming, his petrol-soaked paramedic's uniform acting like a wick, drawing the gasoline up from the puddle which had formed on the ground. The shadow covered hero launched a final punch, and the creature collapsed.
[edit]- Stupid spelling....
My story arcs: #2370- Noah Reborn, #18672- The Clockwork War, #31490- Easy Money
Sartre once said, "Hell is other people." What does that make an MMO?
Fox's wide, inverted eyes saw footprints appearing on the dirt coming towards them, but with nobody making them.
Shrike had gotten his cloaking device functional again. He wanted the thing looking at him, so as he kicked off the ground and into the air, he de-activated the device.
Night Shrike became visible to the creature just as he left the ground. Flipping upside down and straightening his slowly rotating body, Shrike pointed his rifle down at the thing's head just as his eyes made contact with that of the creature's.
'It has no soul," Davis thought as his finger put full pressure on the trigger, "guess there'll be room inside there for this."
The creature's body exploded across the rubble and dirt, and Davis stepped over to his new friend and offered his hand.
"You gotta show me how to use knives like that." Shrike said through his helmet. "Night Shrike".
Embher had been fighting along side the other heroes, though wether anyone knew it or not, he couldn't tell, the smoke was to thick for him to see, luckily, he didn't have to. One of the things he had noticed after his accident with Crey was that he could tell a persons location by there heat signature. He never realized how usel this little side effect was until now.
Out of the corner of his eye he spotted something metal flying at the creature, and was forced to leap back. Sometimes he wished he could focus the fire in his hands better, then he could attack from a further distance. When Michael looked again, he realized what had happened, the penguin hero, who could apparently manipulate ice and eart as easily as he did flames, had thrown a gas tank at the creature. Good plan, now I can set the gas on fire and burn this critter like toast. Wanting to stay back away from the creature, not sure how much damag his fire shield could take, he forced a wave of flames out from his feet. It had the intended results, setting the creature on fire, but it also ruined his shoes. As Michael looked up he noticed that the knife fighter and the invisible gunman, who was now visible, were shaking hands.
As Michael walked away, he decided to introduce himself properly to the other heroes, he had been a hot head inside earlier, and felt bad about it,having only been in this lifestyle a week or so, he understood now that he may need help one day.
"Nice to meet you, my names Embher," Michael proclaimed as he extended his hand to the man dressed as a penguin>
Willpower has more passive regen than Regen does. Who thought that was a good idea?
Can we get a fix for Energy Melee instead of more new sets?
-"...and that's all I know so far. I'm gonna hang out here at City Hall to see what I can learn. Luck in battle Wolfe Gunner! ". Bloodfang ended the call and headed back towards the M.A.G.I. offices. People were panicked, eyeing everyone except the heroes, distrust on every face. "Funny change of events...even I am more trustworthy now than thier friends..." he mused to himself. There was a large comotion going on inside the M.A.G.I. office, with most of the other office's top reps present, plus a number of aides. 'Fang quickly scanned the faces, checking the air for strange scents. No one seemed out of place or unfamiliar. Even the two Field Trainers were on edge, checking the ID of everyone that tried to enter the hall. But they weren't paying any attention to those leaving. A furtive figure dressed in a lab coat caught his attention. "That's an unfamiliar face" he thought, even as he sprinted to intercept the figure.
-He caught up with the man at the top of the stairs. "Excuse me sir, but what's the hurry? Got to get those scrolls to someone important?" he said, noticing the tubular cases tucked into the coat. How had he gotten past Azuria? He looked at the coat again, un-sheathing his claws as he did so...D.A.T.A. was stenciled across the pocket. He looked back at the man's face in time to see it change....
-Psych Nurse had been waiting in the hall, not knowing what to do. No one had taken her seriously at first, now she was ignored again, forgoten in all the hub-ub. She saw Quinn come back down the stairs and was about to hail him again when she noticed his posture. he was hunting something. She gently tapped his mind, following his thoughts. "He will be so ticked at me later when he finds out" she chuckled, then stopped. He had found something. She could read it in his posture, with out the confirmation from his mind. He pursued his prey up the stairs. She flew up to kep them both in sight, keeping her focus on Bloodfang. She saw the dark cloud envelop the 'prey' ("might as well use his terms...I'm in his mind"), before it lashed out at Quinn. He dodged it, but barely. It was alot more experianced than either of them, and the second blow landed hard. 'Fang lurched back, the dark energy wrapping him in a cloud of pain. He struck back, but was slow. "Time to do my thing..." she concentrated for a few seconds, then launched a lance of psionic energy at the assailant. Not even waiting to see if it had any effect, she sent two more less potent mind-blasts at the foe before sending healing energy into Quinn. When she looked back, the 'man' was doublee over, holding its head, and screaming.
-That was all the opening Bloodfang needed. Rejuvinated by the energy from Kendra, he launched a series of slashes and cuts at the figure, keeping up the barrage until he removed the man's head. Grabbing it by the hair, he also retrieved the scroll cases, and headed back towards where Azuria nad the rest were waiting. "Thanks Kendra, I owe ya one again" he thought, knowing she was riding his thoughts.
-He walked up to Azuria and handed her the cases. "What's so interesting in these that this guy"...holding up the severed head..." would risk stealing them?" he asked the shocked crowd.
Rock-Hopper accepted the proferred hand, and shook it quickly, still alert for potential ambushes.
"Name's Rock-Hopper. Good onya, mate, for givin' that beastie the flick. Remind me to buy you a pint once we're done." He stopped, hearing more sirens go off in the distance.
"Well, it's London to a brick that we're not done 'ere, not by a long shot. What say we head off, see if we c'n take care of a few more 'o these mongrels. Maybe we c'n find who's behind it, too."
My story arcs: #2370- Noah Reborn, #18672- The Clockwork War, #31490- Easy Money
Sartre once said, "Hell is other people." What does that make an MMO?
Davis nodded to Fox, and made his way over to the two other heroes in the vicinity.
"Night Shrike", Davis said to the larger hero who resembled a Penguin, offering his hand, then nodded to the man still on fire. "You boys put up a pretty good fight. This thing seems bigger than any of us can handle solo...What say we form up and haul [censored] over to those sirens"
"Names Embher, pleased to meet you guys. Sounds like a good plan. Apparently there's alot of trouble going on, I'd definitely rather face it as a group instead of solo.
With that Embher leaped off into the direction of the sirens, glad to have made an alliance of some kind here in this strange city.
Willpower has more passive regen than Regen does. Who thought that was a good idea?
Can we get a fix for Energy Melee instead of more new sets?
Fox Soilder checked his bandana was atill on tight and went to thank the hero who had saved him. "Thanks for back there," his leg was very sore, but that should pass and no broken bones. "I'm Fox Soilder, long story," he said before he could ask about his name. "You have eny better idea of whats going on that I do?" He said looking around for more of...he didn't want to know what they were called. Fox had caught the knife comment, but right now he wanted to know what was going on. He also wanted to get his spare knives out of the bar.
(OOC Note: Uh did I miss read Blood Wolffe's last post, he said something about an over turned bus and the monsters inside of it. Sorry, but it looks like we forgot.)
(OOC: er, the bus myseriously disappears. guess the police drones got to it? :P)
((To answer your question, Hermod, Demonic Sleeper Agents have access to Dark Melee, Dark Armor, Dark Miasma and Dark Blast Powers. Just so you know 
))
Statesman's eyes stayed glued to the T.V. as the largest amount of Task Forces that had ever been assembled since the Ritki War were briefed. Then, the Insignia of the Council disappeared from the screen, being replaced by the image of Requiem, standing on a pedastal that had the Council's symbol embroidered on it. To his left was Nosferatu, and to his right was Vandal.
"Greetings citizens of Paragon!" Requiem yelled out in a dramatic voice. "And a special greeting to Statesman, since I KNOW you're watching." Requiem chuckled a bit, then continued. "As ALL of you are aware by now, your city is being attacked. But NOT by my Galaxy Troops, nor my Vortex Agents, not even by my Warwolves or Vampyri. No, your city is being attacked by your own employees, your own families, those who you Heroes swore to protect but ultimately... have failed!" Requiem, Nosferatu, and Vandal laughed maniacally for several minutes, then Requiem continued. "Now, unless you want to see your city be reduced to ashes by the end of the week, you will listen to my demands! First-"
Suddenly, Requiem's transmission was interrupted, and the image of Adamastor now appeared on the T.V. screen.
"I think not, Requiem!" Adamastor declared. "For you see, I've finally attained what I needed to make the Circle of Thorns the NEW rulers of Paragon, and soon, the World!" Adamastor laughed, then raised his right hand. On one of his fingers was a gold ring. "As anyone in M.A.G.I. could tell you, THIS is the Cursed Ring of the Center Universe! By combining it's dark magic with that of several ORDINARY rings, my minions are capable of INCREDIBLE power! Watch!"
The screen showed a Ruin Mage, surrounded by Heroes. On his hand was a black ring, quite ordinary looking, save for the fact that it was glowing with green mysticism. The Ruin Mage leapt into the air for the familiar Earth Shaker attack, but when it crashed down...
The entire screen went white for a minuted as the explosion engulfed the Heroes surrounding the Mage, and when the smoke cleared one could see the Ruin Mage standing in the center of a large crater, the street and surrounding buildings completely destroyed.
"Ha ha ha!" Adamastor laughed. "You see? The Circle of Thorns is now-"
The screen changed again, this time showing Mr. Ting, Dancing Lion and Swirling Crane of the Tsoo.
"Obsolete!" Dancing Lion finished Adamastor's sentence. "For we of the Tsoo now have in our possession THESE!"
The three Tsoo held up their hands, revealing that they were clutching some green, glowing jewels of some sort.
"THESE are the Sacred Emerals Fragments of the Jewel of Power!" The Tsoo generals laughed. "With THESE, our minions can attain powers far greater than the Circle! Observe!"
The screen showed a Tsoo Dragon Warrior, his sword unsheated, staring down almost a dozen Heroes.
"This minion has strategically placed four of the Sacred Fragments in his arms and legs." Dancing Lion voiced-over as the Tsoo attacked. His movements were so fast normal humans couldn't even see it. In the next instant, the Tsoo Dragon Warrior stood alone over the Heroes, who had all been sliced to pieces.
"Ha!" Dancing Lion laughed. "You see? We can't be beaten! We-"
The screen changed again, this time showing the Clockwork King.
"Negative." The Clockwork King declared. "For we of the Clockwork have developed our OWN plan!" Several hundred Clockwork cheered behind the King. "You see, we have implanted EXACTLY 376 of you humans with our MIND CONTROL CHIP!" The Clockwork King laughed, and the Clockwork applauded behind him. "Look at ONE of our subjects!"
The screen changed to show a man who stood with a blank expression on his face, his voice monotone as he spoke. "We are the Clockwork. Resistance is futile."
"Ahem!" The Clockwork King pulled out what looked like a remote control and pressed some buttons.
The man spoke again. "All hail the Clockwork! Do not oppose us!"
"Now, this plan, which I did NOT steal from any sci-fi television shows..." The Clockwork King hesitated for a moment, then continued. "Is already in action! But don't be fooled!" The Clockwork King moved his brain around in his jar, possibly from excitement. "These minions have the COMPLETELY unique and also-not-stolen ability to ADAPT to ALL Hero attacks, rendering your attacks useless!" The Clockwork King laughed, and the Clockwork behind him applauded once more. "The time for-"
The screen changed once more, this time showing the face of Dr. Vahzilok.
"My ulitmate creations are ready!" Dr. Vahzilok declared bodly. "You see, even as we speak, my After-Life ray is radiating through your city, bringing everyone who's dead back to life!" Dr. Vahzilok seemed pleased at himself. "Rejoice, fellow citizens! I've finally found a way to conquer death! Sure, they're a bit mindless and hunger for brains..." Dr. Vahzilok coughed slightly, then continued. "But they ARE your recently lost loved ones! And this is a good first step in-"
The screen changed once more, this time showing Clamor's smiling face.
"The FREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAKKSHOOOOOOOOOWW!" Clamor yelled out, heavy metal music playing in the background. "Our time has come!"
"That's right, n00bs!" Teh Pwnxzzorr shouted, butting his face in front of the camera. "W3 wi11 PWNZ JOO!"
Clamor knocked Teh Pwnxzzorr out of the way and focused the camera back on himself. "We have flooded the streets with our highly potent SUPER SUPERADINE!" Clamor laughed uproarously. "This is some good [censored]! Not only does it give people a euphoria, but it's SO good that the euphoria NEVER goes away! You're city will be filled with drug addicts for all eternity and-"
"Get a job!" Countess Crey's face appeared on the T.V. screen. She then breathed deeply and smiled wickedly. "Yes, fair citizens, it is I, Countess Crey! And I have a bit of a confession to make..." Her smile widened. "I've been supplying many of Paragon's Villain Organizations all along!"
"Really?" Statesman asked sarcastically.
"But now I stand to make quite a bit of money in the chaos! You see, I've just signed a deal with some of this nation's more... active enemies. It turns out that I stand to make quite a bit of money if I provide them with some of our Villains right here in Paragon!" Countess Crey laughed. "Soon, the whole world will-"
"Bow down to Vanessa Devore and the Carnival of Shadows!" Vanessa declared as her masked face appeared on T.V. "You see, we have released mind-control serum in the most cosmetic of cosmetics that Paragon has to offer!" Vanessa laughed haughtily. "Soon, all your women will belong to us!"
"<Not quite, humans!>" A Ritki transmission now appeared on the screen. Unfortunately, the Ritki were not aware that only a few humans understood their language. "<We of the Ritki have found a Universe in which the Ritki Army is still strong! Once we open the Portal, the Ritki War will begin anew!>"
"Wrong!" Frostfire's face appeared on the screen. "The Outcasts are going to rule this world with our WEATHER-MASTER MACHINE!" The camera panned to a large contraption. "This machine will bring an eternal forecast of thunderstorms, hail, tornadoes, a whole lot of rain, and basically anything else we can think up of until-"
"Me think not!" Grendel's face appeared on the screen. "For we Trolls also have master plan!" Grendel brought up a crayon drawing of stick-figure Trolls picking up what looked like circles. "First, we Trolls get big rocks!" Grendel then showed another crude, crayon-drawn picture of stick figure Trolls throwing the "rocks" at stick-figure humans, some of them already on the ground with X's for eyes. "Then, we Trolls chuck rocks at Heroes! Ha ha ha!"
"Idiots!" Requiem appeared back on the screen. "This is OUR time, the Council's! NOT yours! Stay out of this!"
The screen split into 10 parts, each of the groups' leader's faces appearing in the 10 parts, each one arguing with one another. This lasted for about 15 minutes.
"Wait!" Grendel said at last. "We all hate Heroes? Why not we crush Heroes first?"
All the Villains were quiet for a moment.
"Yeah! Let's PWN those n00blets!" Teh Pwnxzzorr yelled.
"Right!" Adamastor agrred.
"Death to Heroes! Death to Heroes! Death to Heroes!" All the Villains began shouting.
Statesman watched the screen. "Our problems just got 10 times worse..."
Supplemental Galactic Protectorate Fanfic
(OOC: O_O)
(OOC Post: This might not be such a good idea. RPs thrive on having few storys going on at once and doing this will divide the group so many way that we will never realy do anything. I speak for my self, as I could be wrong, but I think we should just stick with the Council plan for now. We will eventually defeat the Council plan and then would be a good time to bring in new stories that anyone cooks up. Thats just me, if anyone doesn't agree tell me so and I'll shut up.)
(( ooc I agree, having every villain group attacking at once would be bad. I do love the trolls plan though.lol Maybe have states or someone wake up and that be a nightmare?? just a suggestion 
))
Willpower has more passive regen than Regen does. Who thought that was a good idea?
Can we get a fix for Energy Melee instead of more new sets?
((OOC: I have to agree. I feel that a move like this merely unfocuses the story from its original intent, which seemed to me to be a situation in which the heroes are placed into a dilemma where their morals and values are placed into question. I realize that as yet, Rock-Hopper has not had any such dilemma, but the true realization of what is happening simply has not yet occured to him. Having all the villain groups simply team up by deus ex machina seems... cheap. 
))
My story arcs: #2370- Noah Reborn, #18672- The Clockwork War, #31490- Easy Money
Sartre once said, "Hell is other people." What does that make an MMO?
Jordan heard a scuffle, a few muffled echoes in a darker part of Kings Row. Shadows told the tale that hearing prefaced, a woman being mugged by three large men.
Hellions...She seethed with bloodlust and a thirst for revenge. She may never have satisfaction for the death of her friend, her dear friend, but she would visit vengeance upon all violent criminals. Jordan was thoroughly unhinged by Paragon's criminal element.
The men, now aware of her imminent attack, turned to receive her, all but one. He was not quite the thug the other two were. He was sinister. He kept his back to her, knowing that his colleagues would provide time enough for him to thrust the stock of his firearm upon his victim's skull. Doing so split the woman's skull and she began frothing and convulsing from the trauma. Jordan's blood curdled, her voice became savage and her words completely incoherent.
The two thugs began firing, but Jordan was gracile and completely centered. The advantage of their range to her was closed so rapidly they had not time to draw their close quarters weapons. She gave them the second or two to realize they were going to die...she relished this moment.
Suddenly, the two thugs were smote, but not by Jordan. She was setting for the strike when the blast from the murderer's weapon came. The mask wearing murderer was slightly nonplused to discover that he succeeded in killing his accomplices without harming Shi Noire at all. She was even a little startled at the brutality. Determined to keep her edge she rasped, "You will not regret your behavior...you will regret mine" in a tone so dangerous and chilling that he halted. Before he could reset his weapon, she severed his trigger hand from its proper place on his arm. She then hobbled his legs.
He lay, broken, sobbing but not cowed. She was displeased. He did not give her the expression she wanted, she could not read his true desires. He gasped for breath, and pain twisted his expression, but he was not afraid. Instead of arresting him and instead of killing him she watched him. She patiently waited for him to ask for life so she could take it, or for death so she could savor his suffering. He did neither. The intensity of anger she felt was washed away in a crimson tide almost as quickly as it set in.
There was satisfaction to be had in revenge, but the payoff was small. It simply required the enumeration of her punishments to derive the same satisfaction and peace as this "forgiveness" or "justice" that people so often extol.
(OOC Note: The only reason Fox Soilder has yet to have problems killing them is he doesn't know thier civilains. He doesn't look past the Council symbol on thier head and he belives people who 'play' soilder deserve to die. If he knew that they were innocent people he would have serious problems. I kinda expected that to be in Requirm's demands, Fox has already help <sorta> kill one and that alone will tear him up inside, he is just ignorant at the moment.)
((OK, sorry about that. 
I DID kind of get carried away, and I didn't expect many people to run with it. That being said, I will now come up with a good old-fashioned RP cop-out ))
"Sir?"
"Damn you all! This is my plan!" Requiem mumbled, asleep on the control panel.
"Sir, we're ready to go on the air!" Vandal yelled in Requiem's ear. Requiem woke up, a bit dazed. "Huh? Oh, right! Is everything ready?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good!" Requiem chuckled. "Soon Paragon City will be under the rule of the Council!"
Supplemental Galactic Protectorate Fanfic
All the T.V. sets in Paragon now showed the insignia of the Council on their screens. As Statesman and thousands of others watched, the screen changed to show Requiem, Nosferatu, and Vandal on a podium, their hands raised in their air.
"Greetings, citizens of Pargon!" Requiem delcared in a loud, bold voice. "And a SPECIAL greetings towards Statesman." Requiem chuckled. "Since I know you're watching." Requiem stopped for a moment, savoring the sweet air of victory. "As all of you are now aware, your city has been overrun by creatures of the Council's creation." Requiem stopped for a moment, smiling wickedly. "But who are these new soldiers? Yes, Heroes, who is it that you are so violently opposing? As it just so happens, I have one such 'soldier' right here." Requiem motioned to Vandal, who shoved a young man in front of the camera. The young man, though neither bound nor gagged, was still so scared that his shaking was visible, even on screen. "That's right, THIS is one of the faces of the oh-so-HORRIBLE Sleeper Agents you've all been fighting!" Requiem, Nosferatu, and Vandal laughed maniacally, then Requiem pushed the man in front of the screen. "Tell them your name and history. NOW!" Requiem demanded.
The man stood, the camera panning on his tear-soaked face, his voice quivering as he spoke. "I-I'm John Brown..." He began, looking back occassionally at the Council Leaders behind him. "I... heh..." The man laughed in spite of himself, his tears redoubling as he did so. "I GUESS I'm one of the reasons you Heroes are in this mess..." The man broke down crying, but a threat from Vandal caused him to regain his composure quickly. "I never... MEANT to do what I did... I..." He broke down. "Look, don't listen to what they have to say! I've killed so many people I DESERVE what they'll do to me, but don't turn your city over to them! Clarissa, if you're watching just remember daddy loves you and-" Vandal grabbed the man by the throat and dragged him out of view of the camera.
"So you see..." Requiem said after several minutes of silence. "These 'new soldiers' that all you Heroes are battling are really perfectly, completely, innocent civilians." Requiem chuckled under his breath, and soon the chuckle became maniacal laughter. "And I warn you, any attempt to knock these Sleeper Agents out or try to reverse the process that has caused them to become Sleeper Agents WILL result in IMMEDIATE termination." Requiem chuckled once more. "Why do I tell you this? Simple. Now you can't claim innocence through ignorance." Requiem laughed again, then continued. "So, unless you 'Heroes' have the balls to kill the same citizens you SWORE to protect, you will do the following:
1) You will persuade the U.S. government to hand over ALL power to the Council.
2) All Heroes will IMMEDIATELY report WITHOUT any resistance to City Hall for termination.
3) You will bring me the heads of Statesman and the Freedom Phalanx on a platter.
"And, if my Sleeper Agent incentive wasn't enough..." Requiem panned the camera back, revealing a blood-chilling image; hundreds of Paragon's citizens, bound and gagged, were tied down on their knees, several Council minions hovering their weapons from head to head. The volume of the broadcast was increased so one could hear the cries of the hostages.
"I will kill one hostage every 10 minutes until compliance with my demands have been met." Requiem chuckled. "It's your choice, Heroes. And for those of you who think I'm bluffing..."
The man from earlier was brought out, crying. Requiem lashed out with an unearthly tentacle, snapping the man's neck. "I don't bluff." Requiem said. "The countdown begins now." A clock appeared on the screen, counting down from 10 minutes. "Surrender or watch another innocent victim die."
The broadcast ended, but the clock on the screen continued to count down...
Supplemental Galactic Protectorate Fanfic
Tick-Tok managed to see the transmission from Requiem in a nearby window.
~
Tick-Tok was flying over Atlas now, he was horrified at what he saw. Heroes were begining to head towards city hall, it seems they couldn't let those civilians die. He had to do something, but what?
Fox noticed the TVs in the electronics store change from the Council symbol, he ran over and watched, it sank in, that tentical man, the beast. He had tryed to kill civilians, Civilian. He stared at the stunned Statesman on the screen. I tryed to kill them, I did. It had to be done...stop...your thinking like a soilder again, no even worse than that. I'm rationalizing, but how could I have know, they were wearing regular clothes, but they were monsters, monsters. But they had families, lives, families. They can't control themselve, they have to be stopped, they have to...I can't do that, they don't have control over what thier doing, they never asked for this. Thier was one solution, I could stop this if I go into deep trance, I could...NEVER, I'm a hero now, I have to do whats best for the people...What is best for the people?
He stared at Statesman on the screen, he was recovering, Fox hoped to get some encourgement for Statesman. The cities first hero would know what was best. He thought about it and walked away. He wasn't going to listen to Stateman, or anyone else, he was going to make this choice for himself...whatever it may be.
(OOC Note: Melodramatic maybe, is it what would happen, for him, probly. Also, I have no problems with soilders, Fox Soilder has many issuse from being one, so it's all in character.)
Watching the same television as Fox, Rock-Hopper could only stare in shock at the Council symbol staring back at him. He looked back the smouldering corpse of the paramedic, which was returning to its original size. Weak-kneed from disbelief, the hero collapsed heavily onto a nearby pile of rubble.
I killed him. He was a paramedic and I killed him. I'm supposed to be helping these people, not killing them!
Composing himself, Rock-Hopper got back to his feet, and looked back at the television in the window. The Council symbol was still there, almost mocking him by its presence. With a savage cry and one swing of a fist, he put his hand through the window and smashed into the TV. Sparks flew as the screen exploded under the stone-covered fist. Covering himself once more in ice, he began leaping in giant bounds down the street, looking for Council and not caring if anyone followed.
Ignoring the panic and mayhem in the street, Rock-Hopper found a small group of Council soldiers standing on a street corner, looking on in obvious satisfaction at their handywork. Without hesitation, the hero leapt in with a swing of his mallet and smashed it down on the nearest soldier. Normally, Rock-Hopper would restrain his attacks, to prevent casualties to his opponents however, today he couldn't be bothered. The hammer hit the first of the three soldiers and felled him with a sick thud as the hammer collapsed his rib cage and smashed his organs.
By the time either of the other two soldiers had realized what was going on, Rock-Hopper had formed a massive Icicle protruding from his armor. He snapped it off and impaled it into the chest of the second soldier, who collapsed immediately. All that remained was one soldier dressed in khaki-coloured armour. The man fumbled with his gun, but before he could fire a round, Rock hopper had ripped it from his hands and threw it onto the rooftop of a distant building. He grabbed the soldier by the throat.
"How do you stop it?" Rock-Hopper's voice was deadly calm. The soldier didn't answer.
"HOW DO YOU BLOODY-[censored]-WELL STOP IT?" The soldier started and mumbled something unintelligible from behind the mask. Quickly running out of patience, Rock-Hopper lifted a foot, and smashed it down on the soldier's leg. The leg spurted blood as his tibia fractured and tore out the back of the soldier's leg. The soldier cried out in pain.
"Vandal... Requiem... Nosferatu... Only ones..."
"Then you're gonna tell me how to bloody-well get there, now aren't you?"
"Can't... They'll kill.."
"I'll kill you too, mate. Why not save yourself some suffering?"
The soldier looked as though he was going to keep quiet, but Rock-hopper pushed meaningfully on the other leg.
"Striga... Warehouse..." He recited an address in Striga.
"Good onya, mate. Oh... one last thing..."
Rock-Hopper pulled his arm back, ready to swing, but paused and pulled off the soldier's mask instead. He immediately wished that he hadn't. Underneath the mask was a young man, no older than thirty, with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. The eyes held so much terror. He could see his reflection in those eyes. He coughed in disgust, unsure of whether it was at the soldier or at himself. Rock-Hopper found that he could not throw the punch to end the man's life, so he merely knocked him out and tagged him with the prison transponder. A few seconds later the body disappeared. Rock-Hopper jumped up and returned to the group.
My story arcs: #2370- Noah Reborn, #18672- The Clockwork War, #31490- Easy Money
Sartre once said, "Hell is other people." What does that make an MMO?
The raised voices outside caused Candace and Antonio to look up, then quickly at each other. Something was wrong in the M.A.G.I. offices nearby. Candi faded out of sight then crept towards the office.
The panicked voices inside were talking, excitedly about the Council. Candi listened for a minute then, suddenly, Azuria lifted her head from what looked like a charred note and looked directly at Candi.
"I see you there," she called, "Come, get Antonio, this concerns all of us in a bad way.
Candi, chastened, let her stealth field drop and turned to go retrieve Antonio. As she did she ran headlong into both Patchworks and Jonathan who had come into the hall to meet with the other branches.
"Ooops, I soree," Patch said picking Candi up and setting her back on her feet.
"It's okay, it was my fault," she replied stepping around the giant.
"Jonathan!" Azuria called, spotting him in the hall. She waved him in as Candi ran to Antonio's office and quickly related what Azuria had said. They both hurried to the M.A.G.I. office where Jonathan and Patchworks now stood with the leaders of the other branches, Susan and Rick Davies.
"Okay, Patch tell them what happend," Jonathan prompted.
"Hi Dere!" Patchworks replied, "I try to save dis ladee but den she git de glowing eyes and dis glowie ting on her hed, den she beet up som Hellyons and den she jump up and com to beet me up and so I kinda hit her on de hed and den she blow up so I com heer to see if dats normal"
"That corresponds with the reports we've been getting from all parts of the city," a junior officer offered to Azuria.
"Patch can you describe this symbol for me?" Azuria asked quickly.
Patch screwed up his face in concentration and thought for a moment, "Well it kinda twisty and make circles and den dere's a glowie part and den it go like dat," he answered making a slash in the air with one finger.
Azuria smiled and said, "Okay Patch, let's try this. I want you to imagine the symbol in your mind like the lady is standing in front of you with it on her head." Patch closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he pictured the scene. Azuria touched him lightly on the temples and the glowing symbol appeared floating between them for all to see. Azuria blanched.
"This is extremely bad...." she trailed off.