( OOC: Hey guys I've been reading this thread and I think its awesome! I wanted to join in, but don't know how i could fit in the story. Any suggestions? My character is a young teenage mutant. )
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( OOC: Hey guys I've been reading this thread and I think its awesome! I wanted to join in, but don't know how i could fit in the story. Any suggestions? My character is a young teenage mutant. )
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(( Thanks, we're having fun here too. I've got some ideas and the vetern writer may have some too...here's a few:
You might know Mallory
You might have a beef with Crey, Legion, or Greed Inc.
You might just witness one of the many events like Mallory has
You might be doing an internship at Physiks and help out Soulll Trainnn
I hope this helps )) 
[url="http://celestialguardians.guildportal.com"]Celestial Guardians SG[/url]: Chris Mas Snow 50 Ice/Storm Ctl, Li Zhou 42 MA/Rgn Scrp, Dui Zhou 32 Ice/FF Ctl, TinyTaxi 35 Emp/Psi Def
[url="http://tinyurl.com/y66drr"]UnAlliance VG[/url]: Shar Chi 37 Nin/Drk MM, La Vida Loca 16 Pl/Psi Dom
Matamoros was anticipating a fight with whoever was on the rooftop, but a loud impact caught his attention. He quickly darted towards the edge of the rooftop and gazed over. Apparently it was just a car wreck. No, it wasn't. There was a mangled car and a girl that had been knocked back...but remained seemingly unscathed. The girl slowly got up, but quickly recovered. She dashed off into the distance.
Matamoros didn't have the time to deal with this. He would find out what happened later...he felt the presence of someone behind him. He turned, his assault rifle raised, only to see a blur of movement. His vision followed the insanely fast blur and it's haphazard movment, barely able to keep the assault rifle aimed at it, even with his speed enhancements he injected earlier. Finally, the blur stopped in one position, revealing itself to be a young man in a trenchcoat and beret.
"Was this the agent they spoke of?" Matamoros thought to himself.
"You're rather quick," the young man said rather mockingly, "but I wonder if you could keep up without that little injection of yours. Tell me, what is it? Superdyne, venom, 'super-soldier serum?'" The young man laughed to himself a bit. Immediately the man bursted forth with immense speed, almost instantly upon Matamoros. His arm drawn back, he thrusted his fist towards his enemy's helmed face.
Matamoros was ready. He swung his assault rifle, almost throwing the butt of the rifle forward with the force of his entire body. Too slow. Although he caught the young man square in the face with the gun, the punch still got through. The momentum knocked both combatants back, both fell flat on their backs.
Matamoros was the first to rise to his knees. He was a bit dazed and annoyed that this 'kid' managed to get to him. His helmet was slightly dented on the side and within his helm is visor was displaying a lot of static. After a few moments, the static was corrected and Matamoros stood, stumbling a bit. "This ends here. Kill him now, ask questions later." he thought to himself as he raised 'Torquemada'
The young man heard the 'click' of the gun and immediately flipped up to his feet. He managed to jump and roll to the side just as the gun let loose a burst of lead. Several rounds managed to slash the side of his leg. He stood after rolling to avoid the burst and pulled out a metal orb, which immediately began to glow. He hurled it at Matamoros with great force, but in this instance, luck wasn't on his side.
The glowing orb caught the eye of Matamoros and he managed to lean and turn his body to the side, barely avoiding the ball. It hit an air duct several yards away, exploding upon impact, annihilating the duct and nearly everything around it, and flinging bits of shrapnel everywhere. Knocked to the ground by the force of the explosion, Matamoros stood, feeling a sharp pain in his leg. He looked down and saw a large metal shard jutting out of the side of his thigh. He was beginning to bleed profusely.
The young man, by this time, had noticed the damage he had done. "This was easier than I thought it would be," he said to himself. He rose from the ground and dashed forward with his signature speed, knowing for sure that Matamoros was too stunned by the blast to react quickly enough. "Not this time," the young man thought to himself. "It's over!" he exclaimed, just as he was upon Matamoros...but he noticed Matamoros had leveled the gun at his chest...and was pulling the trigger.
Matamoros smirked under his helm just as he pulled the trigger. A loud, solid 'bang' echoed throughout the rooftops of Paragon as a large caliber depleted uranium slug exited the barrel. His smirk immediately turned to a frown as he noticed his foe was not knocked back.
The young man had managed to qucikly turn his body to the side as he rushed forward....but not quick enough. The slug tore through his shoulder and taking a lot of flesh with it. He was unable to stop his forward movement now, his consciousness fading. His body slammed into Matamoros, knocking the armor-clad man back into the pile of rubble created by the earlier explosion.
Matamoros, dazed, tried to stand, but to no avail. He stumble back, falling near the edge of the roof. His consciousness was fading too, for the metal shard was still jammed in his leg and he was losing blood. He noticed the young man slowly reaching for something in his coat. Matamoros smirked, noticing how pale the man was and the amount of blood on the ground. "I got the [censored]," he said to himself.
The young man laughed maniacally as he pulled a small bag from his coat. A red glow suddenly illuminated the bag as he tossed it towards Matamoros. It hit the floor and dozens of small, glowing red metal balls rolled towards Matamoros.
An expletive was the only thing that popped into Matamoros' head. The small orbs rolled into him and immediately exploded. The entire rooftop was engulfed in flames and brick, mortar, steel, and glass flew into the air. Matamoros was hurled from the rooftop like a rag doll and fell towards the street below for what seemed to be ages. His body slammed into the ground, smashing the pavement with the force of his armored impact. His helm was blown apart in places, half of his face revealed and half remained covered. The signature red and gold armor was cracked, dented, and shattered all over, bits of steel lodged in many places. Luckily, it held, protecting his chest and vital organs. However, glass and metal bits tore through his unarmored legs and the blood was pooling around him. He slipped in and out of consciousness. He managed to press several, miraculously intact, buttons on his wrist...a distress signal to headquarters...before blacking out.
A later investigation failed to find the body of his adversary...
Soul exited the front door just in time to see the girl start to run. Wonderful. She rose into the air... but something was wrong.
She couldn't get any speed... it was as if she'd forgotten how to fly! All she could do was hover in place.
NO! She KNEW that her radiation dose inside the TV reactor would cause issues... and here was the proof!
The girl had made it to the corner, and turned left. She could go into any building, and disappear. NOW was not the time to have her abilities crap out!
But... she felt a twinge. And then a wrenching sensation.
And she wasn't where she had been a second ago.
Instead she was hovering two feet off the ground, in front of the girl.
Surprised, she dropped, and fell flat on her back. The girl skidded to a stop and just stared.
(Ouch! Gonna have to watch the re-entry... wait, did I just.. TELEPORT myself??)
She pushed herself to her feet, and stuck out a hand.
"Hi. You don't know me, but... my name's Kashaye Parker.. and ... I could really use your help with something."
((OOC: yeah she got respec'd. We'll see what else got changed/deleted/improved as we go. No more Flight, but she's got two of the teleport power pool now...))
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
( OOC Hey guys im a new rp-er in the game and to the boards. Hope you like my post! Critiscism is appreciated.)
A young looking man was strolling down the street. He had tall spikey brown hair and was wearing a small pair of sunglasses. He was wearing a red t-shirt and a pair of standard blue jeans. His name was Eddy Ramirez, he was a mutant. He had the power to manifest fire and ice in many different ways. As he continued to walk down the street, something caught his eye.
( What the... Is that a man?)
He looked over to see a red and gold armored figure on the floor. The sidewalk was shattered and there were fragments of his armor everywhere. The large looking man looked mortally injured. Eddy ran over to try and help the man and see if he could find out what happened.
" Sir? Sir?"
He tried to shake the man out of consioucness but to no avail. The armor-clad figure was not budging.
( I need to get this guy some help.. Looks like some kind of hero by the looks of his armor...)
He looked around to see if there was anybody who could call for help. There was no one. Eddy ran down a couple blocks and found a tall, quite futuristic looking building. The large sign read " Physiks Technologies". He quickly ran inside the lobby looking for help. In the lobby he found a small secretary behind a desk looking quite confused to who Eddy was.
" There's a man injured down a couple street blocks! He needs medical assistance! Looks like a hero of sorts!"
The timid looking secretary nodded and dialed for 911 on her desk phone.
( I hope that man is all right... )
Matamoros drifted in and out of consciousness for what seemed like hours, but in reality only minutes have passed. Sirens echoed within the confines of his cloudy mind. He could not tell if it was imagined or not.
Several police, fire, and medical units were on there way. A combination of panicked 911 calls and the sheer size of the explosions had gotten the attention of the local officials. The news media was probably on its way as well.
A loud rhythmic 'thud-thud thud-thud' of rotors rumbled the ground and the surrounding buildings. Several black helicopters rose over the buildings and settled to a hover over Matamoros. One helicopter dropped a line and a small ground of men, wearing similar armor to Matamoros, rapelled down. They immediately attended to Matamoros, waiting for the helicopter to lower a stretcher. Orders were being barked over the comm links in various latin-based languages. Some bystanders could distinctly remember hearing Spanish, French, and Italian being spoken.
Finally, the stretcher was lowered. and Matamoros was carefully and delicately placed onto the stretcher and raised to the helicopter. The police, fire, and medical units had finally arrived and were immediately thrown into confusion, seeing as some strange entities had arrived before them.
The armored men drew their weapons to keep the local units at bay, causing the police to respond with their own weapons. Suddenly, the armored men fired their grenade launchers, panicking the police. They were merely smoke grenades, but they stunned the police momentarily and created a smokescreen to cover their escape. The rotors of the helicopters blew the smoke directly into the surrounding police ranks as the armored men grabbed onto the line and were drawn back into the helicopter. They then flew off into the distance.
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( I hope that man is all right... )
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(( Indeed it is ok...Welcome to the thread! I will write some along your story))
Clarisa decided not to follow Kashaye, instead she was alerted to some more suspcious activity on the other side of the building. She threw open the hall window which nearly shattered and ran at top speed toward the fire escape. With her super reflexes, she swiftly made it to the bottom in time to see a teenage boy standing over the Legion agent. The boy then ran inside the office no doubt to call the authorities. Clarisa paused a moment to see if Legion would come for this man. And they did. Out of the corner of her eye, she also saw the mangled car.
She ducked inside the office via the revolving door, which incidently was left spinning at a dizzying speed from the force of her push. She approached the boy.
"Good work young man. Are you alright?" As any good company woman, she was worried about potential lawsuits and realized being nice to witnesses made them more pliable if a cover-up was needed. Now where was the driver of that car...she needed to make ammends with him as well. This was going to be a long day at the office!
[url="http://celestialguardians.guildportal.com"]Celestial Guardians SG[/url]: Chris Mas Snow 50 Ice/Storm Ctl, Li Zhou 42 MA/Rgn Scrp, Dui Zhou 32 Ice/FF Ctl, TinyTaxi 35 Emp/Psi Def
[url="http://tinyurl.com/y66drr"]UnAlliance VG[/url]: Shar Chi 37 Nin/Drk MM, La Vida Loca 16 Pl/Psi Dom
( OOC: Forgot to mention when i write in parentheses, thats Makavell's thoughts.)
Eddy looked over and was a bit awestruck. He had seen business women but none as pretty as this woman.
" Uh...Yeah, Im fine. But this guy outside, he doesn't look too good."
He then pointed outside and looked over but, to his suprise, the armor-clad figure was gone.
" What the...He was there a second ago..."
He was more than a bit confused. And a bit curious as to who the man was in the first place.
Mallory was now afraid for her life. She had just begun running away from the car when she was rocked by an enormous explosion just yards behind her, the blast wave of air pushing her forward and almost causing her to lose her balance. She risked a glance backward, but the scene of destruction that met her eyes forced her to focus forward again and pour on every ounce of speed that she had.
When she got to the end of the block, she looked around briefly and turned left. When she could no longer see or hear the fireball behind her, she slowed down a little bit, but did not stop. She didn't plan on stopping until she was back home and in her bed. Then came a surprise.
There was a fairly bright flash, only 10 feet in front of her. She almost tripped over her own legs as she tried to stop soon enough to avoid hitting the woman who appeared at the core of the light, hovering a couple of feet off of the ground. When the aura had faded, and Mallory had come to a stop, in awe of what had appeared before her, the woman looked around and unceremoniously dropped to the ground. Mallory was speechless... so she just stared.
Soon enough, the woman stood up, extending a hand.
"Hi. You don't know me, but... my name's Kashaye Parker.. and ... I could really use your help with something."
Mallory had never been so close to a hero, much less expected one to ever take an interest in her. She was lost in admiration and failed to answer the statement or take the hand. It was then that she became aware of the uncomfortable silence that was building. Finally, she replied.
"Um... hi... I'm er... ah... Mal- Mallory." She finally stammered. She hated herself for stuttering in front of a Hero like that, but given the current sitution and what she had just been through, it was understandable. "Did you say... you need... my help?" When she said it, it sort of hit her that a real, live, actual hero had just asked her for help with something... probably something official!
Ms. Parker was looking rather expectantly at Mallory, and replied "Yes... will you come with me? It's only right over there." and pointed back the way they had come.
Mallory was a little skeptical that a hero could possibly benefit from anything she could do, but she decided to come along anyway. They walked slowly back to the building, mainly due to the fact that there were already helicopters and a few policemen at the scene of the explosion. Mallory had never seen helicopters like them, and they certainly didn't look like news helicopters, but people were rapelling down from them. There was a small crowd gathering in the street, and the more police sirens were audible in the distance.
A hundred feet from the building, Mallory finally got up the courage to ask the question that burned in her mind. She tried not to let fear or concern trace into her speech as she asked,
"So... what is it that you want me to do?"
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A hundred feet from the building, Mallory finally got up the courage to ask the question that burned in her mind. She tried not to let fear or concern trace into her speech as she asked,
"So... what is it that you want me to do?"
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Soul regarded the girl. Yes, she was afraid. Well, not like anyone could blame her. She'd been clobbered by a car, chased by what she assumed to be a goon squad, nearly blown up... and now had someone teleport right in front of her. Tread lightly, Kashaye.
"Mallory... I am a scientist. A physicist. And I've been trying to figure out... well, something, that could mean a much better life for everyone in Paragon. In the world, really. But I need data. Data that, well, I don't have. See that building? That's the company I work for. They've set aside a lot of money and time and manpower to unlock this big secret... but someone else has a head start. Crey Industries. You've heard of them, yes?"
Mallory nodded.
"Well... I wasn't always like... well, this." Kashaye indicated her costume. "I was normal. Then something happened, a reactor at the science lab I was working in... well, it broke or something. I don't know exactly what. But I got saturated with energies no one understood. And I changed."
She paused, looking at the girl.
"My first power was almost exactly like what I saw you just do. And if I'm right... you will be able to help me figure out what exactly it is WE can do."
Mallory looked confused. "But.. I didn't do anything! Honest! I just... "
Kashaye saw the expression change on the young girl's face. "I... I just... I got hit by a car..."
"Mallory, look at me. Look at me!!"
"Yes'm?"
"You're fine. There's nothing wrong with you. You just ... well, you flared."
"F...f..f..flared?"
"Yes, flared. You have superpowers, dear. Or at least one. And I think that car just caused it to trigger. Come on inside, sit down, relax a second. I'm sure this is a lot to think about."
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
(OOC Just bumping it to keep this great story from dying out..)
(( It won't. I have a new post notify set on it. Just waiting for our young lady to respond. ))
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
"You're getting sloppy, Mr. Wrath." Mr. Greed sighed as he watched Mr. Wrath emerge from the Regeneration Tank on his monitor.
Mr. Greed had (amongst MANY other facilities at his disposal) several special Medical Facilities in place at various undisclosed locations all around the world. These top-of-the-line clinics were located underneath stores, banks, libraries, and other such buildings, and only Mr. Greed's highest-ranked subordinates knew of their existence.
Mr. Wrath took a towel from one of the young nurses on staff and wiped himself clean, turning towards the Mobile Camera Mr. Greed was using to communicate with him.
"Shut the hell up." Mr. Wrath hissed, throwing the towel at the camera and knocking it about in the air.
"Your temper is as lovely as ever, I see." Mr. Greed chuckled to himself as he took a sip of wine. "At least you've regained your strength; I have a feeling you'll need it for what's to come." Mr. Greed ended the transmission.
I can't believe that Hero made me hesitate, even for a moment... Mr. Wrath thought as he began to dress himself. I've killed Heroes more powerful than him before... I was just too overconfident... Mr. Wrath flung his trenchcaot around his shoulders, his anger rising. NO! He should be DEAD! Mr. Wrath slammed his fist into the wall, causing several pieces of it to fall to floor and explode, causing the nurses on staff to cry out and duck in cover. I will NOT make the same mistake the next time we battle. Mr. Wrath clenched his right fist tightly, causing it to glow with red energy. He WILL die by my hands!
"Such an unexpected turn of events. But oh well." Mr. Greed sighed, rising from his office chair and walking silently through the marble halls of his island retreat. Still, Mr. Gluttony and Ms. Lust might not be able to keep me up-to-date by themselves... Mr. Greed thought to himself as he walked into one of the larger rooms of his mansion. The room itself was simply a large, luxiorious bedroom, but Mr. Greed's bedroom was on the other side of the mansion. No, THIS bedroom was for the express use of Mr. Sloth who, as Mr. Greed entered the room, was fast asleep on the bed.
Mr. Sloth was actually quite old, presumably in his late 50's or early 60's. He was a tall, lanky man, and his appearance at the moment was horribly disheveled. He had no footwear to speak of, and was only covered in tatterred black shorts and a red T-shirt. A long, gray beard ran across the bottom of his face and continued to the center of his chest, and was the ONLY hair on his otherwise bald head. Since Mr. Sloth spent approximately 20 hours a day sleeping, he was by far the least-informed of ALL of Mr. Greed's subordinates.
"Time to earn your keep." Mr. Greed said flipped a switch on the wall of the bedroom. Immediately, a long, loud alarm rang out through the room. This would cause most people to bolt upright from their sleep, but Mr. Sloth (who had been subjected to it many times in the past) only mildly stirred awake.
"Mmm... what is it this time?" Mr. Sloth murmured as he rose to a sitting position.
"Surveillance." Mr. Greed said, folding his arms across his chest. "I need you to keep an eye on a certain laboratory in Paragon City."
"Jeez..." Mr. Sloth sighed heavily. "That sound like an awful lot of work. FIRST I have to FIND this place... then I have to stay there for DAYS on end... THEN I have to report back to you... and THEN-"
"I always find your complaints so amusing." Mr. Greed chuckled to himself, taking another sip of wine (he had brought the glass with him). "Just remember that surveillance is much easier for you than most people in this world, Mr. Sloth." Mr. Greed turned and opened the door to the bedroom once more. "Wait for my signal, but inform me of ANYTHING unexpected that occurs. That is all." Mr. Greed walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
When Mr. Greed arrived back in his office, a transmission from Mr. Gluttony and Ms. Lust was awaiting him.
"Another Hero has appeared in front of the Physiks Lab... she appears to be a young girl." Ms. Lust began, Mr. Gluttony wolfing down several bags of snacks in the background. "Also, members of Legion retrieved the injured Hero who fought Mr. Wrath."
"Good, good... keep me updated of any other events that occur." Mr. Greed said.
"Of course." Ms. Lust smiled, ending the transmission.
Mr. Greed leaned back in his office chair and turned his attention to his specialized chess board, moving several pieces across it. At that moment, he received a transmission from his "business partner".
"You've been doing surprisingly well." Mr. Greed's "business partner" said, his tone stern. "I'm impressed."
"Not EVERYTHING requires a direct assault, you know." Mr. Greed smiled inwardly, rotating his wine glass in his hand. "But I guess that's something YOU learned from experience, isn't it?"
"Don't grow overconfident." Mr. Greed's "partner" snarled. "Or would you rather not learn about what I'm TRULY planning?"
"Oh, very well." Mr. Greed sat his wine glass down on his desk. "I don't like being kept in the dark, as you know. But after all you've asked of me, I'm afraid my expectations are quite high. I sincerely hope it's worth it."
"Oh, don't worry." Mr. Greed's "business partner" smiled. "If all goes as planned, you and your subordinates will be the LAST people on every Hero's mind..."
Supplemental Galactic Protectorate Fanfic
Mallory was just about in tears by the time she had arrived back at the door to Physiks. The woman who had introduced herself as Kashaye Parker had been speaking softly and reassuringly, but Mallory was still a little jumpy. She was pretty sure that whatever had happened with the car earlier, it hadn't been her fault, even though Ms. Parker said that she probably had powers. She reasoned that since she couldn't feel herself doing anything, how could she possibly have stopped a car?
Once inside, Mallory did as she was instructed and sat down in the small room, probably an office, that she had been shown by Ms. Parker. After asking if she needed anything, Kashaye excused herself, promising that she'd be back shortly. At first it had been nice to get off the street and away from the chaos that was happening outside on the sidewalk, but now, she'd been sitting alone in the room for several minutes, and she was starting to worry a little bit. The old saying, "Don't take a ride from a stranger" was starting to echo through her mind.
But a hero isn't a stranger, right?
But what if Ms. Parker wasn't actually a hero? Then again, why would anyone go to such elaborate measures just to catch her?
Lots of horrible images were starting to run through Mallory's head. Every time she tried to figure out how her situation was going to end, she always came up with the same conclusion... that she was probably in danger. She resolved to get out of the building safely, so for the second time in 10 minutes, she started to tense up again.
She took in her surroundings briefly. There was no window and one door. Nothing in the room that she could use to defend herself in case she ran into trouble. She stood up and looked at the chair, which had wheels so it could roll. After a minute or two of prying, she was able to pull one of the casters off of one of the legs. Clutching it in her left hand, ready to swing it at anyone who tried to keep her from leaving, shw started walking resolutely toward the door.
It was locked.
She briefly considered trying to ram it down with her shoulder, but she was pretty small, and the door looked like it was made of solid oak. She tried to think of something to do when she heard someone on the other side try to turn the handle. She jumped to the side of the door, ready to hit whoever came through it.
She heard the lock mechanism turn and the doorknob twisted.
(( Sorry for the delay, I didn't know that the forums were working again. I couldn't log in for the longest time. 
))
Kashaye returned to the small office that she's settled Mallory into, bearing a pitcher of water, a couple of granola bars, and a small clipboard and a pen. She rattled the knob. Odd. She hadn't thought the door would lock.
Then she saw the card scanner to the right of the doorknob. Of course.
Leaning to the right, she got close enough to the reader plate so that the ID card pinned to her hip would register.
The pad made a cheery -bleep- noise, and the door unlatched and swung open on its own. Hands full, Kashaye bumped the door open further, prepared to step through...
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
As the door opened, Mallory lost her nerve. She knew the whole time that she wouldn't be able to actually hit anyone, and telling herself constantly that she would do it wasn't enough to change that. As the door opened, she kind of froze. She was still holding the wheel when Ms. Parker walked through the newly opened door.
"Oh, Hello" She said as she walked through the door, back in her civillian clothing. Mallory quickly hid her "weapon" and tried not to let the redness show up in her cheeks. Judging by the things that Ms. Parker was carrying, Mallory had been mistaken.
"Um... Hi." She responded. She moved back to the chair, which was now sitting lopsided.
"Here, I thought you might be thirsty." Kashaye said as she put the water down on the desk. Next to it, she placed the granola. "And if you're hungry..."
Mallory took the water and drank a glass. Then she unwrapped a granola bar. She hadn't realized that she was hungry, but the food was delicious.
"Er... sorry about... you know, the whole castor thing. I just got... a little worried." Mallory said between bites. Then she realized that she still wasn't quite sure that she wasn't in danger or anything. Her facial expression changed from embarrassment to concern again and she asked, "What are you going to do to me?"
Kashaye blinked.
"Do to you? Uhm... nothing, at last that I'd planned on doing anything. We're not like Crey, experimenting on people trying to change them or mutate them or whatnot." She paused to let Mallory think about that.
"All I need from you right now is your permission to monitor your energy readings, for awhile. Say, the next couple of days, maybe a week. You'd not feel anything strange, it'd be completely unobtrusive, and you could do whatever it is you usually do. In exchange... well, normally I'd like to hire a lab assistant on a more permanent basis, but because you kind of got knocked into my lap out there, I'm willing to just pay you per weekly monitor run. Say, $500 each? That is, if you want to do this freelance. Personally, I'd go fo the job, at your age the opportunity to get a gig at Physiks is a big step up from folding pitas at City o Gyros."
She turned the clipboard around. On it were two forms. One was a small short and to the point contract stipulating the terms for which Mallory would be paid 'freelance'... and the other was a Physiks Tech job application form. She set a nice metallic fine-point pen with the Physiks logo on it down next to the two forms.
"Take your pick. Or walk, if this all bugs you. I'd be disappointed if you did, but I can't impose anything on you."
(( OOC: If you're not working with established characters, Soullll Trainnn is on the Victory server. We can very easily arrange times to get in game and take screenshots, maybe do a mission or two, or whatever else needed to get more 'flavor'. So, consider creating an alt there if you'd like to do this. ))
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Matamoros, still unconscious, was laid onto a flat, solid table. The room around him seemed to be completely dark, with the exception of an extremely bright light directly above him. Surrounding the table he was laid on were several trays with a myriad of medical tools. Matamoros was hooked up to an endless number of monitors and other machines, barely alive.
White-cloaked figures gathered around him and operated on Matamoros for what seemed like an eternity. Several voices spoke in the darkness.
"Will he live?"
"It is uncertain. He lost copious amounts of blood. It's a miracle he isn't dead already."
"We cannot afford to lose another elite. We are vulnerable enough as it is."
"We are doing what we can, but you know our resources are no longer limitless."
"Those heretical pigs will pay. Our vengeance will be so terrible that they will beg to be sent to hell."
"You are normally a very logical and organized. Do not let recent events allow your emotions to rule you, lest we transform into the very things we combat."
A man sighs. "Do what you can with him. See that he lives."
A bright light suddenly pierces the darkness as a door opens and the silhouette of a cloaked figure walks out. The door closes, restoring the darkness.
Down the street from Physiks lab, a loud rumbling stirs the curiosity of the population. A convoy of black, armed humvees and troop transports, all bearing the logo of Legion, rolls down the street towards Physiks. As the convoy stops in front of the building, armed soldiers jump out and take up defensive positions all around the area. From one of the humvees, a rather fair skinned man steps out. He is dressed in a military combat uniform with a jungle color scheme, a bulletproof vest, tall black jackboots, shiny short leather gloves, and a crimson beret. Strangely, but hardly noticeable, all had a small set of rosary beads tied to their wrists.
The man in the beret, accompanied by an entourage of soldiers, walked into Physiks and approached a desk in the main hall. He adjusted his beret before speaking, making the patch on it highly visible. It bore a red cross, the insignia of a Templar Knight. "Legion, in the interests of safety for all of it's employess, partners, and investments, has deemed it necessary to place this building under armed guard, in light of the recent explosions and catastrophes that have occured nearby. If you have any questions, you contact me. I am Agent Martel of Legion's Security Operations Force." He had a noticeable French accent.
Martel signalled to his entourage and they entered further into the building, taking up positions throughout.
Ms. Parker seemed like such a nice person. Mallory was starting to feel really bad about almost hitting her. When she had explained the situation and the options, Mallory realized that maybe this place was not so bad after all.
So she had a decision to make. She felt less skeptical now that she had been offered a way out, and at the mention of a job, she had started to get excited. Then when the number $500 came out, she had to struggle to keep her composure. Five hundred dollars per week was... $26,000 a year! She hadn't even made that much up to this point in her whole life! But that is what she'd be paid as a freelancer. Who knew what a full job could earn her! She glanced at both forms, and put the freelance contract to the side. After all, Ms. Parker had not been wrong when she'd said that this job would be a step up from fast food.
"I think that I'd like to take the assistant's job. But I'm a little worried. I have school to keep up with and stuff." She said as she started filling out the application, answering demographic questions. "And I'm still a little uncomfortable with these 'powers' you say I've got. Are you sure that what you want to do won't hurt or anything?"
Kashaye replied quickly and confidently. "No, it won't hurt at all. Like I said, I only want to monitor some things."
Mallory, who was already excited about the job offer (Working with scientists and heroes every day!) was, at this point, hooked. She quickly finished filling out all of the fields and handed the slip of paper back to Ms. Parker.
"And you say that you think that I might be a hero too?"
Mallory was practically overcome with excitement.
(EDITED to reflect Mallory's response, didn't see it on first pass)
Kashaye had gotten up to shake her new assistant's hand, and to reassure her that, if her suspicious were correct, she very well COULD become a heroine as well... when a commotion was heard thru the thick wooden door.
Kashaye poked her head out of the office door, only to find what appeared to be a small army silently and efficiently taking over the building.
"Mallory, come with me, I need to check something."
Leaving the room carrying the clipboard, she pulled out her cellphone.
"Clarisa, this is Kashaye. We're being invaded."
"LEGION??"
"And this was... discussed with you?"
"Oh."
"Well, I.... I don't know. It caught me by surprise, is all."
"Right. She's agreed to an internship position as a lab assistant. Effective... well, now." She smiled at Mallory as she said this.
"Well, I don't think she's dangerous, and our remote telemetry gear should be small enough to monitor her while she's off premises, at school or whatnot. Yes, she's a student, so we'll have to schedule around that. But I think we lucked out, and so did she. If she'd have popped in front of one of Crey's buildings they'd have her in some sort of freaky bizarre torture rack by now."
"Right. Listen, I need to talk to the head honcho for these Legion troops. Otherwise we'll have extra guests at our meetings and in our experimental runs."
"Right. I'll call you if we need you on site."
"Bye."
Kashaye hung up the phone and strode down the hallway, Mallory in tow, flashing her badge to any soldier she ran across. When she reached the lobby, she singled out the soldier in the beret who seemed to be doing the most 'traffic control'.
"Are you the one in charge of ... all these men?"
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Martel stood in the main lobby, directing the newly arrived squads to the various parts of the building. He had spent hours analyzing diagrams of the building and new generally where everything was.
He had noticed Kashaye coming down the hall flashing a badge to everyone that asked. "Yes, ma'am," he addressed her question, "I am the presiding officer. I'm sure you're upset about the noise and commotion that we're causing, but I assure you we will be finished moving about soon enough." He signalled and directed a fresh squad that entered. Martel was busying himself with controlling the fresh troops and generally wished to avoid the prying of the Physiks employees. As far as he was concerned, he was given orders to secure the building and that's what he was going to do, regardless of the complaints of a few businessmen and scientists.
"Well, i'm sure we can deal with the noise and commotion for.. a short time. My concerns are more long-term..." she strained to read the nametag, "Martel, is it?"
Stepping behind the reception desk, Kashaye motioned the receptionist aside and called up several PDF documents from the company fileservers. She verified they were the correct versions, and then sent them to a nearby printer.
Mallory, for her part, stood to one side.
Taking the printouts, Kashaye quickly circled several areas, then handed them to Martel. "These are the laboratory, particle accelerator, shielding, and reactor core arrays. Now, I understand you need to secure the building, BUT, if your men remain in these areas while the systems are online, they will need to wear special shield suits. You have probably been briefed on what it is we do here. However, I must warn you, that work is experimental, and as such, I cannot guarantee safety of ANY personnel in unshielded areas."
She turned, and then said one more thing. "And if you park a guard by my office, I'd prefer him to be outside my door, not assigned a desk alongside mine. I have an assistant. I don't need a babysitter."
There. Let him chew on that.
"Mallory... the very first thing I need you to do for me is to pose for an ID picture. Do you have time to do this now, or should we work out a schedule for you? I understand today has been a bit... hectic... but I can do it from my workstation, and it will take about two minutes."
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Mallory had been standing against one wall of the lobby to the building as Ms. Parker had what seemed like an argument with a man in a combat uniform with a red beret. After showing the man something on a piece of paper she had printed out, Ms. Parker came back over to where Mallory was standing and asked, " Mallory... the first thing I need you to do for me is to pose for an ID picture. Do you have time to do this now, or should we work out a schedule for you? I understand that today has been a bit... hectic... but I can do it at my workstation, and it will take about two minutes."
Mallory was feeling a little uncomfortable due to the men running around everywhere, and she barely managed a shy nod in answer. She figured that with all of the soldiers around, constantly asking for identification, she'd be better off if she had an official ID that said she could be here. She shuddered at the thought of what these people would do to anyone the found with unauthorized access.
"Alright, lets go up to my office and we'll get you set up." Ms. Parker said. She started to walk down a hallway and Mallory hurried to keep up. The two ventured deeper into the building, taking a winding path that Mallory felt she'd never be able to remember. Throughout the walk, Ms. Parker was pointing out some of the things that they were passing and giving a general explanation of what exactly she did.
When they finally arrived, Mallory asked, "What are all of these military men doing here? No one seems to be happy to see them."
"They say that they are here to protect us and this building from whatever caused those explosions outside." Ms. Parker replied, "I was kind of surprised that Ms. Feynman allowed it, but... you know."
Mallory didn't really know, but she didn't like the situation. "Who is Ms. Feynman?" She continued.
"She's the boss. She runs Physiks Technologies. I think she's related to Richard Feynman, but I haven't asked." She looked down. "Here, I've got the camera set up. If you'll just stand against that wall, we'll get your picture and then we're almost done."
Mallory did as she was instructed and stood against the wall. Ms. Parker looked down at her screen and said, "Okay, one... two..." Mallory smiled, "three" There was a flash and a click. Ms. Parker turned her screen a little bit and said, "Here it is. Do you like it or do you want me to take another one?" Mallory looked at the picture and decided that it could be better.
"Can we take another one? And do you have a mirror I could use for a minute?"
"Sure, just a second." Ms. Parker looked through her drawers and found a small hand mirror, which she passed to Mallory. After a minute of fixing her hair and checking her teeth, Mallory said that she was ready for the picture. She moved back to where she'd been standing before, waited for the count, and smiled.
After a minute or two of work, Ms. Parker put on some gloves and produced a credit-card sized piece of plastic which had Mallory's picure on it, some numbers, and a magnetic strip. "When you touch this, it becomes yours," Ms. Parker began. "It reads your..." she paused. "Well, after you touch it, no one else can use it."
Mallory took it, and swiped it through a little electronic reader that Ms. Parker produced.
"Okay, you're ready. Now you can open rooms that you have access to and you should be able to get by the new armed guard." Mallory looked down at her new ID. Now, she was official.
"That's it. Clip that to your clothing, so that people can see it, hold it near the white pad to the side of any locked doorway, and slide it through any gate access or personnel workstation when requested. When we get you a desk and a computer, the card becomes your computer and network access - you have to be within 2 feet of the white pad next to the CPU, or this happens." Kashaye stepped away from her desk, and instantly the screensaver activated with the words "WORKSTATION LOCKED". She sat down again, and the lock cleared itself.
"Currently it'll let you into the administrative sections of the building; we'll get you lab access once we get done with the first week of telemetry, OK? I want to make sure your energy signature won't interfere with any of the stuff we have going on now. "
((no she didn't give Mallory a lab tour... yet... so far it's been nothing but offices.))
"Whew! I don't know about you... but it's time for my lunch! Care to join me? I know of a lovely little deli right around the corner."
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Jim was very angry. His car, while by no means new, was still a nice car worth a lot of money. He had insurance, sure, but he definately not going to be paying for this. As soon as his car stopped moving and the airbag deflated, he saw the girl lying on the street in front of him. His first thought was "Oh, no! I've killed her!" But since his car was damaged, had practically bounced off her, and she was still in one piece, he quickly figured out that she must have powers. He was now determined to have that hero pay for the damage she'd caused. Practically in a rage, he tried to open his door, but it was jammed, so he started climbing out his side window, which had shattered away.
Mallory was only out for a few seconds. She opened her eyes and saw only a large, blue smear that was the sky. Her vision was quite blurry, but it cleared up when she wiped away the tears. She stood up slowly, testing her muscles to see if they still worked, but finding her rear to be a little sore. Then she noticed the car that had 'hit' her. Thoughts of heroism were farthest from her mind when she saw a very angry man climbing out of the mangled wreck. As she turned to walk away from the scene, hoping that no one had seen her, the front door to the lab opened, prompting her to take off as fast as she could run with her badly bruised muscles. She thought she heard someone chasing her, but most of her sensations were lost to the confusion raging through her brain.