Okay. Now that I have pulled myself together like a regen scrapper or some Namekian solider from that crazy Dragonball Z cartoon that we all love so well, things start to become clear to me. Unlike some of the heroes in Paragon City who were blessed with some sort of ability I use the backward method of my mission. While others work their way up from the front I just chose to work my way down from the back or top if you will. Now the hallway is clear and it is all too quiet, yeah way too quiet for one man to just crash through a window like the drunk person you see at a party who spoils all the fun for everyone else trying to have a good time. Its almost as if no one really cared. I mean come on, you would think that this would be the one time the party would stop and say What the hell? and everyone turns to look at the single outcast who has just made everyone sober by their unjust jesters. But not me, oh no, I dont even get welcome committee. Or even a, Who the F---k is that?! Just silence. And in a way, I like it.
Now that smell that burned my nose, and still is, is getting stronger and I can almost taste it now sweet but yet an after taste of revolting. I keep telling myself its just Victory that I smell and that bad after taste is the blood from Hopkins forehead that accidentally got splattered onto my tongue. Looking around I could tell my girl had set herself up nicely with all the blood money and lies she spread to make her company grow and lets not forget the fortune she had already married in to. And here this whole time I thought I was the one for her. I should have known better, an ex-agent on the run framed for murder for something she set me up for. Oh and then theres the part where she told me her plan to become the most powerful woman in the world and course my dumb a$$ just laughed at her. But still there was once a time when the Countess wasnt all that bad.
I remember those frequent walks on the beach we had and the dinners we planned for. Not to mention the nightly activities we found ourselves wrapped into and I got to tell you you, she was as freaky behind closed doors as she is now in person. Heh, they always did say the quiet ones were the ones you had to be careful of and there were plenty of times she made me wish I was her personal slave. Ahem
But getting back to the story at hand. So I find myself creeping through the hallway while most of the computers and machines are doing whatever the heck they are designed to do. I aint no puter specialist so I wont try to go into detail. Like trying to tell a bunch of art students how analyze the square root of the universe using 30 foot tape measurer. So here I am thinking of how stupid I am not to have some sort of backup and how bold I must be to wander in here all by myself. But I got this. I aint backed down from no man in my entire life and I sure as hell aint backing down from Hopkins. Coming to the corner I can hear footsteps and not the normal human footsteps, more like robot soldiers or some cybernetic freaks. Guess what? Freakshow. Now aint this a b!tc#. How did a couple a freaks end up in the Crey lab on the top floor? And for that matter what the hell are they doing here? Aww man this could be worse than I expected it to be. Freakshow and Crey, this aint good.
Snap out of it man, get head that overgrown head with the movie style imagination of yours back to where it needs to be! I yell to my mind, which now has over a hundred questions in it. But what the hell, I came here tonight to crash a party and thats exactly what plan to do.
Caltrops out and on the floor in front of them. A quick glance before the motion and I knew it would be an easy take down. Just a couple of slicers only 3 though. Now, I wait to hear the agonizing pain of the trio as they walk across my trap like a carpenter stepping onto a board with a nail in it because he was too stupid to look where he was going. I pull the land mine out. Oh I know what youre thinking but it aint happening like that. You see I use any means necessary to get the job done and when I say it I mean it. Suddenly I hear the OH! S#!T! and the What the f---k! and thats when I make my move. A quick corkscrew leap sideways and Im tossing the landmine and watching it fly like a Frisbee in a beach tournament carefully timing my plot to eliminate the competition. I land and roll again perfectly with guns drawn and start blazing with excellent accuracy. And, oops, they were swept away like a Hollywood true love in some erotic scene of passion.
Now to me it was funny and of course I did laugh to myself but I couldnt help but notice one of them was still alive. So I did what I do best, helped him out with his little problem of handicap, seeing as though he had no legs anyway. Approaching I started feeling a sense of pity for what I had done, but it was quickly overruled by the fact that I didnt come here to pity anyone. I came here to take care of business. And that business was to take down Crey. I point my gun at him and look into his cold eyes.
Wheres Hopkins!? I ask in a firm tone. He looked at me as if I were crazy. So I shoot him in the his human hand. Once again, Where is Hopkins?! No answer. A shot to the chest not so much as to damage any tissue to keep him from telling me what I need to know. He screams in pain and begins to sing the songs a bird would sing in the early morning hours. THE 5th FLOOR! H-H-HES ON THE 5th FLOOR! Ah now thats much better and I turn to see a set of elevators at the end of the hallway in front of me.
Wait! said the freak, Who the hell are you anyway, man!?
I turn and point my gun at him, but at this point I dont even care what happens to him.
Im the one they call Nage! I replied, And after Im done with the Countess you can bet youre a$$ I will be going after Drek, oh but dont worry you wont be around long enough to see it.
The shot rang out and for a few seconds it echoed and then all became silent except for those damn computers and machines. I make my way for the elevators and pause. Now I know where Hopkins is or at least I think I do, and the hunt gets deeper. I take a moment to get myself together because I know he will be well guarded. I check my guns and devices and take a deep breath. Its on! But for now I will relax and make sure my plan is in tact for the final assault.
Until then
..Peace!
So now here I am in the elevator listening to the sounds of W.P.G.B.S. Its an oldies station, with some good tunes if I may add, but right now I would rather have some Disturbed or Rob Zombie cause I feel just like some of those songs they sing. From a Disturbed point of view Im about to get down with the sickness on a real twisted in ya face N.Y.P.D. shoot a brother 41 times with some long tall sally she feel sweet she got everything that uncle john need gonna have me some fun tonight like Rock Chun Lee whoopin everybodys a$$ while smoking a cigarette at the same time like Bruce Lee in Fists of Fury straight kicking people in the forehead while eating potato chips. Let me stop right now, just thinking about it is getting me hyped up enough to blow the elevator door open and just get like Jet Li in Unleashed. But thats not my style. Not yet anyway.
Damn it seems like this elevator is taking forever to get to the 5th floor and honestly I didnt think about the fact that I came in from the 20th floor, or for that matter what it took for me to even get up to the roof, hell if I knew then what I know now I would have just walked in the front door like I worked at the place. Lil spare time, lil spare story for ya. Probably wondering what the hell could have pissed me off to want to go after Crey and her boys so badly. Well.
It started back to the time the Countess and I broke up. She told me she was going to run off with some rich dude who promised her the world. Wait you already know that part, fast forward. I was leading a task force of heroes for Manticore, rich boy snot nosed smart mouthed arrogant a$$ed wanna be old school proper speaking lion head costume wearn green bean eatin cornbread dippin Statesman a$$ kissin lil brat that he is. And if you didnt know, we dont get along, now you do. So anyway I was leading a Tsk Force for this punk in search of the real plot behind Crey Industries, and the only reason I took it was because I wanted to get closer to my ex. Yeah laugh it and may just be at your house one night with the assault rifle so watch it. Anyway, I figured this would be a good time as any to get closer to her to find out what she truly plans and what she needs. Honestly a lot of you dont know her like I do so on a real scale I think she just needs some old school lovin like the kind I used to give her. And I dont like to brag but when it came to the Countess I did just what Larry the mailman told me too GETER DONE! But now Im out here chasing her down like the girl who got away from her pimp and took his money as well. Damnit, all my dumb a$$ had to do was leave her alone but I couldnt. Break down moment for those sensitive men who understand. This ridiculous, I, pouring my heart out to you people I dont even know and I need to be ready for whatever happens outside this elevator so to make the long story short, Manticore sent us on a few missions but neglected to tell us about a small ambush of Paragon Protectors waiting for us from the last mission we did. I was the last one out of the building after search for some kid who apparently hacked into Crey systems and found the dirt on her.
Needless to say my team went down like a battleship in the fleet of the enemy circled around us with no way out and no one to help. With no defender to help us, and I told the dumb a$$es we would need one, the teleported to the hospital while I took on the ambush. So here I am in this elevator wondering what the freakshow have to do with this and wondering what the hell Im doing.
Ding!
5th floor.
The doors open and Im ready. Guns in hand Im waiting for the first smart a$$ loud mouthed ignorant uneducated non-drivers license non-scary a$$ busta to run up on me and get this 98 degrees. Oh yeah Im ready, Im ready.
Are you?
To Be Continued!
Its Saturday night and I just finished herding some Freakshow while searching for Dreck. It was kinda cool too, me leading the mission, just rushing in without a care in the world closely resembling a platoon leader carrying a squad of soldiers into battle with the enemy. Only this time I had few new heroes want to get the experience on how to do it right, so I took a few and let them get a little mentoring from a few would-be vet heroes while I took on the mobs by myself. The Mentors did a good job too, showing the new blues how to watch and learn and how to develop their own powers. Although they thought I was crazy for taking them into a zone of full armed crazies and I do mean crazies. These werent the ordinary Freaks they were high level and high class, skilled in everyway possible to deal with heroes like myself, but they couldnt handle me. And whats bad is that almost 200 freak soldiers were beat down tonight, worse yet, they were beat by a woman. A woman with the power to burn anything she comes in contact with and Im not talking burn in a bad way, Im talking straight up set youre a$$ on fire and cook hamburgers off youre a$$ while you burn type burn. Yes I am what they call a fire tank.
And I am a female.
Most guys know me as the hot tempered b!-tch, the ones who try and stay as far away from me as possible. Others know me as Honey Roast, my heroine name. Anyway, so here I am at my apartment taking a shower and letting the water cool me down some, wishing my boyfriend were here to help my as well, when I realize I was supposed to meet him at the dance club. Uh oh, hes going to be pissed. But wait, he didnt call me or try to leave a message? Hmm. Thats not like him to do something like that. I begin to think maybe he got tied up at work and couldnt call or maybe hes still working or maybe, just maybe hes out with another girl. I feel my skin start to flame up just thinking about him being with another woman but I soon calm down. I know my boyfriend and I know hes not like that.
A couple of minutes soaking myself and Im out on my balcony in my panties and silk robe. I can see the night lights of Steel Canyon in front of me and the small headlights of cars passing by below like ants with flashlights hard at work. Then in an instant my mind traces back to the day I realized I had these super natural powers. I was only 18, beautiful, smart and kind of shy. I remember my first boyfriend set up a romantic date for us on our anniversary, our 4th anniversary. I was coming home from PCU and it was late, I was studying late for an exam technical sciences and almost forgot what time it was. So after hurrying home and showering and changing with the make-up etc. etc. I finally made it over to his house. It was to my surprise that he had everything set up. He was working as a legal assistant at the time a was well paid for his hard work, nice house in Founders Falls, fancy car and a wardrobe of suits that made the sexiest GQ model look like a low budget has been. I remember the only lights in his house that were on were the front porch lights.
Odd.
I didnt think much of it, but it did seem strange that he was not there to great me when I came in. Maybe he was waiting for me somewhere in the house were naughty things happen when a man and woman are alone. Hey it was all good to me, until something else caught my attention. Even though the lights were off I could see what looked like purse sitting on his fireplace. There were flowers around but no candles lit, no dinner awaiting and no music except for the music coming from upstairs. Slowly I crept to the second level thinking to myself how to handle the situation and then as silly as it sounds I thought maybe I was jumping the gun. There was no situation at that point and there may be a good explanation as to why there is a purse, that is not mine, sitting on his fireplace. Maybe Im just jumping to conclusions, and I kept telling myself.
And then again, maybe not!
Sure enough my conclusion was correct. My heart dropped and I got that feeling in my stomach, the kind you get on your first talent show when youre up on the stage by yourself and the curtain raises and you hear your music come on for you to sing but all you can think about is the fact that there are almost one hundred people watching and the butterflies kick in. Yup, there was my boyfriend in bed with another woman. Now I could tell you what I saw but honestly because this is a story for all age groups I really wouldnt to offend anyone, but I can tell you that he was doing more things to her than he ever did to me and that just added more fuel to my fire. So he jumps out of bed after he hears me scream YOU SICK, EVIL, NO GOOD, CHEATING [censored]!
And now the hell breaks loose!
He hoped out of bed with the other woman just seconds behind him and they both stare at me knowing I have that look in my eyes. For both of them it was only a question of what I was going to do and then I had the pleasure of hearing what a lot of people say when they get caught doing things they shouldnt,
Honey? Sweetie, its not what you think.
Its not what I think. Yeah right! My boyfriend in bed with another woman and both of them unclothed and its not what I think. All the time we spent together of me telling him I loved him and him telling me the same thing. All the time we spent together planning on building a new life together. All the hard work and effort I put into showing him the hes the only one for me and its not what I think.
Oh hell no!
That was right around the time my body temperature went up and I mean it went way up.
I know most people can feel the heat from their anger rise, but this was out of control. I knew when they both started to back away from that something was wrong. I started breathing heavily, sweat started pouring from my forehead and before I knew it the dresser that was next to me caught on fire. They both jumped back and held each other. Honey. he said in a very frightened tone, Whats happening to you?
I look down at my hands and notice that they are on fire now, but it doesnt hurt. I started to get scared and my anger consumes my entire body as one huge flame. I scream, but not in pain, in anger.
Then it became dark and silent to me.
I woke up in the hospital with a few cops and a legendary hero everyone new and loved, it was Positron. They had come to my aid to help me with my little problem and to also tell me that my boyfriend and his secret love had died from the explosion of my powers. I felt so bad afterward knowing that even though my boyfriend destroyed my life by sleeping with another woman, I destroyed his life with my anger and that I would never wish on anyone. I stood trial and was let go due the fact that the deaths were caused by uncontrollable actions but still I felt guilty. A few months passed by and Positron ran some test on me while Sister Psyche, another heroic legend thought me how to control my powers. They let me take on a few bad guys with them and put my in the Freedom Phalanx reserves. I went on with my life trying to bury my past, but everyone in a while it comes back and I think of what would have happened if I didnt have these powers. Maybe he would still be alive and maybe I could have moved on in a different direction. Then again the all those citizens I saved would be hurt or dead right now if I didnt have these powers.
Three people die, two are buried, one is reborn and millions of lives are saved. Sounds like something you would only read about in comic books, but then again you never know what could happen. Now here I am worrying about my new boyfriend and wondering if I will have to be put into the same situation again, but this time Im not angry. Whatever happens, happens. And even though I can say I know hes not that type of guy, I know it doesnt matter who you are or what type of person you are. Given the opportune time and the right seduction and youll give in. It happens.
I feel the wind starting to blow faster and my hair starts to dance around my face. My robe now open I get this feeling something bad is about to happen and I dont even notice that my top is exposed. Then I see it. An explosion far away but just enough fire to know that it is not a good one. Then another explosion right after it. I prepare to check it out and power myself up full Fire Aura. With two leaps Im there in the middle of the action looking for the danger.
I see people running away and cars are overturned. Parts of buildings blown away and fire everywhere. Who could have done this much damage? I hear stomping and clanking noises behind me, very loud, very proud. Slowly I turn to see what Im up against.
oh sht!
Babbage!
To be Continued!
Now Im standing face to face with the Clockwork Kings most valued invention. Babbage. But what the hell is he doing in Steel Canyon? Well there was that and the fact that he had almost one hundred clocks with him. It didnt take long for them to notice me before they started attacking and I made sure that their attention was on me by taunting the hell out of them too. Clocks. They think they are so great and above man because they are just machines but little do they know, to the human eye the may be superior but to the well trained heroes they are nothing more than scrap metal. All I can see before me is a bunch of electricity bolts coming from their hands and a few of them even try to run up on me like I owed them money or something.
Yeah, right!
I lure them next to me behind one of the destroyed cars and wait for my opportunity to strike. An old method I use, and most tankers like myself do the same thing, call herding. And of course like some dumb a$$ sheep they come running to me not knowing what they are in for. Once I get about 20-30 around me I begin to burn the ground using the channeling method that sister psyche taught me. Something told me not to take them all on at one time but in my heart I knew they couldnt touch me. Babbage is not too far behind and I can see him powering up for a shot at me. I pick up a few clocks and swing them his way to avoid the blast and leap over him tucked into a flaming ball landing in the center of the rest of the clocks. By this time my fire sword is ready and waiting to do some major damage to these overgrown garbage disposals. So I give them a taste of fire sword circle, one of my sweet spin around and slice everything around me move. Its a lil cheesy but I love it. Now granted by this time Babbage has turned around and managed to pick up car and throw it in my direction. I should have known better, I shouldve been on my guard but oh no I let this one slip, and I mean big time. The car slams into me like a subway railcar falling of track and slamming into a building. Speaking of which, the car did just that, pinning me against a nearby building. It didnt hurt, much, just caught my legs underneath and my right arm stuck in the building.
He moves in closer and I begin to think, where the hell are the other heroes this city loves so much. All the hot dog, primetime supermen and super babes must be taking the night off. Or. They may just be at the Paragon City dance club, which is where my a$$ should be right now but oh no I had to stop and reminisce, I had to see what was going on in the downtown area of Steel Canyon. But you know what? It really doesnt matter because this is what I do and I do it well too. So let the others have their fun while Im pinned into a damn building about to get my a$$ handed to me by a giant walking dump truck.
this is what I do. And I do it well too. I could see the remain clocks behind him and they were all moving slow, then slower, then the slowest I have ever seen them move. I mean they had me right where they wanted me but were hesitant about it. Why? A bright flash filled the air and all the clocks stopped, dead motion. Then they begin to hover as if something powerful were lifting them into the air. And I saw it. A singularity. The only place singularities could come from was a controller. I had only seen a few in town but not close up, and if a controller trained themselves hard enough to summon a singularity then they had truly mastered the power of gravity. Not many gravity controllers could do that but the ones who could were nothing to be messed with.
The singularity hovered above me and lifted the car so I could move again and at that same instant I looked around for its master. Sure enough, right above the singularity on top of a small building, it was one of my good friends. Her name is DarkMantis, and she unlike other heroes must be the strangest heroine I know. She didnt have any specific powers just a bunch of full body armors that granted her the ability to use different powers. Normally you could catch her in her stealth armor, which granted her negative energy powers to beat the hell out of villains, but tonight she was using the Xero Gravity armor or what she likes to call XG. As I stand to my feet I notice that she is already on the street with a second singularity behind her. I dont ask or say a word, I just simply nod. Mantis wasnt exactly known for her socialization she just wanted to get the job done. I take a look at her armor which is a little more sleek than the stealth but still in the form of some sort of human bug, a mantis maybe? Who knows with her, anyway the clocks a still ticking and its time to shut them down and send Babbage back to his boss with a big FU note attached. I realized how power full Mantis had made the armor when focused her positive energy to manipulate the air and create a tornado to blow the clocks around. It was funny to watch and at one point I became concerned about the buildings around us and the people watching the set. As the clocks were swept away neither of us noticed that Babbage was free and stomping toward us. Thats when the singularities kicked in and went to work holding him in place. Mantis was able to lift him off the ground but it took most of power to do so. Then I had this bright idea to start burning him while he was entrapped. To my surprise it was taking all that I had to even hurt him and then to my surprise at that same time I felt a surge in my fire as if something had given me an extra boost to burn him down. It was Mantis again, this time she shot me with and O2 boost from her gloves. I got to tell ya this girl had almost everything in her arsenal of weaponry. And just when we thought it was going well I hear another explosion. This one came from behind me and for a second I thought it was Mantis finishing off some clocks that had run off and regrouped to fight. That is until I saw her fly past me like someone or something had knocked into her yesterday. It was enough for me to stop and turn to see what could have caused it. Now the singularities were fading and I was shocked that Mantis had been taken out so easily that I didnt notice Babbage had once again escaped the gravity holds. I paused for a second amazed at what I was looking at, but once again I was caught off guard with Babbage blasting me in the back.
Everything is starting to fade, I feel like passing out but I know I have to hold on even as exhausted as I am I have to hold. I struggle to get up holding my left arm and barely able to stand. Mantis is out cold and Im not sure how bad it is but I know she wont be back in the fight anytime soon. This is bad, really bad, for behind me stood the monster Babbage ready to strike again but badly damaged as well and in front of me stood something I never thought I would see in my days of being a heroine.
The Paladin.
I had to think of something and quick. Two monsters in the same town, on the same street, this would definiately become a battle too much for even me to handle. I hear the movment of Babbage behind me and I know that he is preparing to strike again. I look up and see his mechanical arm coming down on me. Then all is dark.
To Be Continued!
I didnt realize how late it was, perched on top of a Crey lab high rise. All I could hear from that distance was the sound of sirens, a subway train and an occasional bark from the back alleys. The smell was like nothing I had ever smelled before, almost burning my nose as if it were some sort of pollution or toxin in the air and it made me feel bad because I knew exactly were it was coming from.
Just a few hours had passed and I was thinking of the Paragon Protectors that I had taken down for some information on the location of some creep named Hopkins. From what I had gathered he was the right hand man of Countess Crey, x-girl that I could have called a girlfriend but she was too much wrapped into the twisted glory she called fame and power, too corrupted in her own mind to see just how much damage she had done to the city. She called herself the citys salvation trying to make everyone believe that her company was the best of the best when it came to solving certain situations involving the welfare of the citizens. I didnt believe that bull$#!t for one minute but as good of a P.R. team that she put together the sad and pitiful citizens of Paragon believed her.
I light up a smoke wondering how bad could she actually be to do what she dose to the city? Rumors of her company doing all kind of scientific experiments on animals and people and the occasional rumor of her using the bodies of fallen heroes to power her protectors. Hmmph! Some protectors they are. It didnt take me too long to crush a few of their skulls in and get access codes to one of her labs, which in fact is the lab that I am currently perched on like hawk waiting to swoop down and strike my prey.
3 minutes. I toss the cigarette out into the open and watch it fade away like a tainted movie star exposed for drug trafficking in the worlds biggest D.E.A. bust. So whats waiting for me inside this building? Its been a few hours since I fought those Protectors so I know by now they must have warned the guards that I was on my way. Doesnt matter now anyway cause Im locked and loaded like a gung ho marine in a helicopter ready to land in the middle of the enemy and start capping b!tc#es.
With one deep breath I dont hesitate. The grapple goes out and clings snuggly into the rooftop as I leap out and swing around feet first into one of the window panes like clockwork in an action film playing to role of the stuntman, its damn near perfect. As the glass shatters I release the rope and follow my dive in mid air in to a tuck and roll maneuver and land quickly standing up with my back against the wall and guns drawn on each side. I look both ways cautiously like child trying to cross the street in rush hour traffic thinking, What the hell am I thinking? Here I am inside a Crey lab all by myself no backup and no plans what-so-ever as to how to get around this place. The building is tight with electro interference and not even my GPS guiding system is working. Oh yeah this is going to be one heck of a night.
All I know is that Hopkins is here somewhere in this building probably waiting to bash my head in like the #1 contender hungry for that heavyweight boxing title. And here I am preparing to take him on like I mean to defend my title. So it all boils down to this. I came here tonight prepared to die but that aint likely to happen see, one of us is not going home tonight. And I dont know about Hopkins but I have been out far too long tracking his a$$ down and tonight he will have 2 options.
Option A. I crush his skull and go home
or
Option B. I crush his skull and go home
either way I plan on crushing his skull and going home. But for now Im going to take a second and rest while I think of a way to do that. So stay tuned and find out what happens when a lone vigilante who has nothing to loose decides to take on Paragon Citys biggest crime organization.
Till then Peace.