(( Very good. You do realize of course, that if all these 'dispossessed' Defenders team up... the results would be formidable, no? 
))
"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."
((Amazing work! Sat and read through the whole thing(not something I do often)!))
Excellent story! Head and shoulders above most roleplaying posts. 
Bah, I wanted to edit some spelling and grammar mistakes I apparently made, but the time window for editing it is apparently closed. I guess that will teach me to hammer one of these things out in the middle of the night without using spell checker.
And in response, since 'Dactyl and Gvnega Asoyv are both my characters, on the same server no less(Triumph, big warm hello to all my friends on there!), they can't actually team up with each other. They are both also extremely effective solo or in teams.
However, I find myself feeling some resentment when pushed to team with another who is intended to fill the same role I'm attempting.
Don't get me wrong, I love teaming with some one who compilments my abilities, but some one who overshadows them? Particularly if that overshadowing is only in the eyes of my peers and not in actual game statistics?
Here, take another example: Visti Tawodi (translates to Snow Hawk) is my Ice/Energy blaster. Recently while working on the Frostfire mission I was told "This team needs a damage dealer". Now wouldn't that hurt your feelings if you were the blaster or scrapper of that team? If the team leader had said "This team could use ANOTHER damage dealer" I would be fine, you can always use more damage output and I'd be perfectly happy having another blaster or scrapper teammate. But to imply that my contribution to the team is non-existant really chafes. The same with being a defender.
It's not so much about how formiddable or powerful our heroes are. If anything I think my force field defender is STILL over powered even after I5(and believe me the I5 changes were felt, the new Enhancement changes will be felt even more), it's about how respected we are by our peers.
((Oh no no no. Not to push you into a role where you're overshadowed. Not at all. To the contrary, Defenders synergize REALLY WELL with each other, especially ones with the same primary. Those effects stack... and as a result, a team of as few as three or four can steamroll over something that one of them, plus two other archetypes, might have difficulty with. Think of it. Not much melee, but a lot of status protection/healing/debuff/buff abilities, AND multiple ranged-fire platforms. It is a thing of beauty. And as far as respect from one's peers is concerned... no one will respect your abilities more than someone who is intimately familiar with them.))
"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."
All Defender teams are serious fun. An all bubbler team may be too much of a good thing, but 2 or 3 bubblers on a team works out to turning that glass cannon of a blaster into Statesman's worst nightmare, the Tank-Mage. Which is not a bad thing, imo.
I've always appreciated being bubbled. FF is the defender's defender powerset.
((Great story. I think my Defenders can relate.))
Issue 23: All your base are belong to us?
((Just a note, this is somewhat in response to the newest update that seems to have everyone in an uproar. I'm not here to talk about that however, as while this was posted in response to it, it really has NOTHING to do with it.))
Few heroes actually saw rooftop level in Steel Canyon. Even those who could reach it's dizzying heights found it was more trouble than it was worth. In a city of heroes, even some sanity remains.
Sanity being a general concept. Something the greenish brown scaled heroine had left behind long ago. Her official hero designation was 'Dactyl. Her suit did look somewhat reptilian, with a long crest extending back from her helmet and a rebreather almost like a beak extending forward. The suit was technorganic, a technology that had yet to be developed. She was still practicing it's abilities, but flight seemed one of it's primary powers. If the woman who used the suit still felt pride, she would probably take pride in being the fastest, most stable and energy efficent flier at her level.
She didn't feel pride anymore however. She didn't feel much of anything. The trauma that caused her to don this strange suit she found in some debris of the Baumton section of Paragon City had quite snapped her mind. She was more robotic in many respects that most of the androids that 'lived' in the city. She didn't eat, she didn't sleep, she merely patrolled. Hunting for a new way to protect the innocent, trying to somehow take revenge against evil itself.
Despite the wind whistling as she flew, despite the faint hum of the kinetic field that surrounded her and kept her hover generators moving at high speeds, her suit's sensor array was still easily able to pick up exterior sounds. What she heard was sobbing.
Perhaps most emotions were burried in her scarred psyche, but curiousity was not. She turned, locking onto the sound easily, and glided over to a building top. There, sitting against a blinking warning light on the top of one of the highrises in Blyde Square, she found a young girl.
A quick scan showed the girl to posess a hero id badge. Registered as Gvnega Asoyv, a fellow Defender, though of Natural origin rather than technological. She wore a costum of dark blue with black designs. A sort of hooded sweatshirt mixed cloak being the prominate features, with matching boots and gloves. Bright gold studs on her leather belt made it so she wasn't completely monochromatic. A little grey kitten, probably stuffed, possibly just asleep, lay curled up on her shoulder hidden by the cloak/sweatshirt.
She was just sitting there crying when 'Dactyl floated up and touched down. A crackle on the helmets onboard com link interupted.
A hero by the name of Lizard Tail had just invited 'Dactyl to join his team. Ever helpful, 'Dactyl accepted this blind invite.
It was a big team, to large to be stealthy. 'Dactyl stood there on the building, sinking into an at ease posture and studying her situation. 'Dactyl seldom if ever teamed up with other heroes. She strongly disliked the attitude of most of them, prefering precise amounts of force to be applied rather than overpowering force. While she refused to hide her ID signature from other heroes, but she had tagged herself as not wishing to be invited to a team. With a special descriptive note added that "Won't team with you". It was almost true. She would accept any invites given, and gladly help those in true need.
"Hey, healer! Get over here now!" Lizard Tail demanded. "We need help!"
"Hang on, let's all fall back, give the Tsoo enough time to double their numbers so it's a fair fight with this bigger team." Came another voice from the team.
"That's what I'm doing, and I've got another healer here." Lizard Tail responded.
'Dactyl did a quick scan of Lizard Tail. He was a scrapper. A well established hero. Rumor had it he was invincible rather than merely heroic. Aside from that one voice, the rest of his team appeared to be in the hospital. They were apparently not as invincible. A few of them gave some weak hellos to 'Dactyl.
"Mission Objective?" 'Dactyl said over the team chat, glancing back at Gvnega Asoyv who was still lost in her tears she hadn't seemed to notice that the roof top wasn't empty anymore.
"We're killing a bunch of Tsoo!" Lizard Tail said. "Get over here now healbot!"
"Negative." 'Dactyl responded calmly, and sat down next to Gvnega Asoyv. 'Dactyl's own radiation blasts were non-lethal. They caused sickness, overloaded equipment and could definetly put somebody out of commission if they took a direct blast from it, but ultimately the bolts of greenish energy subdued rather than causing lasting damage. Besides, if Lizard Tail was truely invincible, he could proove it by 'killing' his foes without assistance.
"I'm sorry." A soft voice sniffled at 'Dactyl. "I didn't mean to take your spot." Gvnega Asoyv had noticed she wasn't alone.
'Dactyl switched off the com and allowed her speach to be projected from the suits speaker system. A channel jokingly refered to as the "local" channel, since only those within hearing range could listen to it, rather than having it heard to anyone with the communications gear.
"Negative. Stay." 'Dactyl said. The young heroine looked at 'Dactyl again, studying the saurian armor of the heroine. After several moments 'Dactyl spoke to her again. "Why?"
The younger of the two was used to silent heroes. It was surprising how few heroes and heroines talked to one another. Those that did were often monosyllabic, or spoke in their own short hand. One seldom had breath to speak while fighting a horde of self replicating robots. But this kind of single word statements was something new.
"Why?" Gvnega Asoyv repeated, wondering what the question was regaurding.
"Affirmative. Why?" 'Dactyl confirmed and then repeated her inquery.
"Why what?" Gvnega Asoyv asked confused. "Why am I up here? Why am I sorry? Why did I pick this name?" 'Dactyl's bioarmored gauntlet reached out, gently touching the younger girls cheek where the tears still were fresh. "Why..." She tried to continue, possibly understanding now but having her voice faulter as remembering the reason made her fall back into tears. "why was I crying?"
'Dactyl wasn't going to repeat herself again. She simply looked at Gvnega Asoyv, who looked away at the moonlit skyline. The cycloptic visor often made 'dactyl appear to be glaring, even though the glowing slit was straight across.
"I'm a terrible Defender." Gvnega Asoyv finally said. She expected an immediate denial from 'Dactyl, as everyone else had given her. At least at first. Instead she got that silent staring that was somewhat unnerving but encouraged her to go on anyway.
*******
Gvnega Asoyv was from the newly formed Ressurected Tsalagi Nation. When the Rikti attacked, attacking major military and then population centers, the rural areas were mostly untouched. The reservations set aside for the tribal nations of the US had, for the most part, survived. As all nations are, they were not above grabbing power when they could. The United States of America now, quietly, had several new nations within itls boarders as these tribes of native americans ressurected their nation, supplying Vangaurd and other super powered organizations with man power that helped tip the Rikti War back in favor of the human race, and more dramatically, helped clean up afterwards.
In Tsalagi(Or Cherokee to those who spoke english. A word form a different tribe, the Creek, that litterally meant "They that live far away and speak strangely" whereas Tsalagi meant "Us"), Gvnega Asoyv's name translated to Black Wall. She was proud of her abilities when she first came to Paragon City. She could tap her inner will and create and shape a solid wall of force, as well as unleash a powerful bolt of darkness that seemed to drain the very life from whatever it touched.
Very quickly little Black Wall found her powers were nothing to be proud of. She was labeled a Force Field Defender, a very apt label in truth, one she accepted happily. Unfortunately the heroes who were Defenders were under a bit of a stigma. They were seen as nothing but healers. Doctors in spandex and on call. Gvnega Asoyv had nothing but the most minimal first aid training, something all heroes already knews.
Gvnega Asoyv seemed doomed to forever be a healer who could not heal. Such was the unfortunate fate of many Defenders actually, as the classification was far broader than the steriotype.
Bright eyed and eager, Gvnega Asoyv would remember her first foray into the newly Hollowed Eastgate. She had joined a team, and promptly surrounded them with protective walls of force in preparation for dealing with Outcast hooligans.
Only to be confronted with objections. The team had been slowed down as she had to demonstrate to the riflemen blaster that his bullets could indeed permeate the protective bubble, she had set it up to be one way and he could still perform while encapsulated. She never could convince the broadsword carrying scrapper that the bubble was letting enough air in for him to properly breath and not slowing him down any as he ran around the alleyways, out of sight of the rest of the team and into trouble.
After the third time the swordsman had returned to Davin Wincott to hear long inspirational stories that would remind him to awaken him after he had fallen in battle, they cry rose up. "We need a real defender! We need a healer!"
The Lead Brick who was wheezing as he tried to battle the bubble that protected the riflemen blaster agreed. The riflemen blaster, who's shots were bouncing off of the Lead Brick(whoes threat rating to that hero was purple) before him also agreed.
Gvnega Asoyv was kicked from the team and told to go elsewhere. They would find a somebody who could actually be a defender.
"We're better off without her." the swordsman said. The riflemen agreed as the force bubbles faded and Gvnega Asoyv walked away heart broken. The Outcasts who were still standing after the first volley of dark blasts also agreed, as they cracked their knuckles and summoned massive stone hammers or arching electrical bolts, also agreed.
"It's alright little one." An elderly hero had told Gvnega Asoyv one day as they and a team of other heroes had slogged through the sewers. "Most newbie heroes don't notice what you're doing for them. When somebody gets hit with one of those meat cleavers those followers of Dr Vahzilok use they really feel it. When I use my empathy powers, they really feel it too. But if they don't get hit in the first place, they don't feel anything, and you're keeping them from being hit. The reason I have enough power to cast my lightning bolt spells is because I'm not using my empathy abilities. You're keeping me from needing to."
Gvnega Asoyv felt a little better about those kind words, but she slowly started to doubt them. She always used her dark blasts. The force bubbles didn't drain much if any of her strength, and only then for a brief time when she had to refresh them for a full team.
For a time she considered focusing her force fields into a tighter focus, to use them as blasts, but the one Force Bolt stunt she learned, though proud of it she was, was next to harmless. There was little impact against the bubble as she launched it, even though it transfered a massived amount of kinetic energy and threw the target a great distance. In the end, after being told several times not to spoil others tactics by throwing bad guys across the room, she gave up on trying to focus her force fields offensively. She just couldn't get them into a tight enough focus. Besides, her dark bolts were just as effective, and she could certainly focus them into tighter and more powerful attacks.
Gvnega Asoyv passed security clearance level after security clearance level. Everyone wanted a Defender on the team. A Defender who could focus her destructive energies into a sniper class attack and one who was a walking node for the teleportation grid? Even better. Gvnega Asoyv could get there first by teleporting, then pull the rest of the team to the mission location as well. Once inside, she could also start off the battle, protecting herself from almost any harm that such a first strike usually brought by doubling her force field after making that alpha blast.
But then the teams always found out she couldn't do anything else to help them. She could blunt most of the incomming attacks, keeping the team safe, but most was not all. Always a teammate would charge out of where she could reach them, or the villains attack would simply be to precise to block completely. Heroes would call to Gvnega Asoyv for healing, and she would look at them helplessly.
The cry would rise up "You're not a healer! You suck!" and Gvnega Asoyv would be left alone on the streets again, to find her own missions to persue.
Growing ever more depressed, she also grew ever more determined. She would agument her abilities. She wouldn't stop at "most" attacks being stopped, she would stop ALL attacks! Delving into magical and mechanical aid at first, she eventually focused purely on technique. Her walls would be impregneble. She could do nothing else with them.
And yet perfection was forever out of her reach. The villains grew stronger, where she reached her apex. Even as she blunted their precision with blackness, still some would slip through her walls. Heroes would be hurt, and they would cry for some one to tend their wounds. And Gvnega Asoyv would be replaced by "A real Defender".
Walking out of the last mission, the team leader called out encouragingly. "Way to swing that sword Cruellock! Nice tanking Primal Prime, nobody keeps the damage off us you big ape! You kept those Freakshow locked down tight Stone Serpent! And that was some nice healing too."
"Thanks!" The illusion/radiation controller, sidekicked up, his security clearance being only level three, beamed back at the team leader. "That was some great blasting too! They didn't stand a chance against your ice shards."
"I just do what I can." The blaster shrugged humbly. "But we couldn't have made it through without that healing. You were almost as good as having a real defender along."
"Thanks for having me! I'll add your hero signature to my friends list, okay. All of you, if you'll accept me."
A round of "Accepted" came from all the heroes, who when offered the lock on accepted it.
Gvnega Asoyv stood there waiting for the friendship request to appear on her communications pad... and waiting... and waiting. The team broke up for a moment to return equipment they had captured from the Freakshow back to the proper owners.
"Did we lose some one?" Primal Prime asked as his super leap landed him at the next mission.
"Yeah Guney or something like that quit." The team leader said. "Ashame. I really like those funny hamsterballs she kept putting around us. They looked cool. To bad they didn't do any thing."
"Oh, okay, whatever. We shouldn't miss h..." Primal Prime started to say, before the Freak Tank knocked him out cold.
********
Gvnega Asoyv was crying again as she hugged 'Dactyl. Surprisingly the woman who felt no remorse, no anger, and seemingly no pity, held her gently and tried to comfort her. Even 'Dactyl could relate to some problems.
"And... just little while ago today..." Gvnega Asoyv babbled on, sobbing. "This guy named Lizard Tail, he's got regenerating powers... he wanted me on his team. I said okay... he was three security clearance levels higher than me... but the whole team had to mediport out of the warehouse... the Tsoo... they were just to powerful, I couldn't block everything..."
'Dactyl listened half to Gvnega Asoyv, half to the team communication fequency. Lizard Tail was swearing a blue streak from the hospital. It seemed that with those re-enforcements he had allowed the Tsoo to gather, the team of mostly Tankers couldn't charge through the warehouse one at a time without being assaulted and defeated. It was like a conveyer belt of heroes heading to the mission, being defeated, mediporting to the hospital, and then repeating the dance.
"Damn it healer, get your mask down here!" Lizard Tail shouted. "We can't do this without an even half decent healer!"
'Dactyl herself had only minimal ability to regenerate damage. She used it mostly on herself, transfusing energy from her foes. She wasn't a healer, she was a manipulator of energy, speed, force, and time. Officially a Kinetics/Radiation Defender, she longed to focus more on the offensive than the defensive. Perhaps a Corruptor?
"Not a healer" 'Dactyl said.
"You're not a healer?!" Lizard Tail shouted. "Why did you waste our time then!? You suck!" The burst of static and then silence told 'Dactyl she had been kicked from the team.
"... so Lizard Tail kicked me from his team. That's why I'm a terrible Defender." Gvnega Asoyv managed to say, feeling somewhat better that she had been able to confide in some one, even if it was this impassive, inhuman heroine.
"Same here." 'Dactyl said, giving Gvnega Asoyv a pat on the head.
"Thanks." Gvnega Asoyv said. "I guess... I guess I needed that."
'Dactyl gave the younger heroine a nod and a speed boost before diving off the building to continue toward her contact in Independance Port. Looking back through a truely effective force field she had just been granted, 'Dactyl saw Gvnega Asoyv teleport off the rooftop to her own business.
****************Fin**************
((All character names are my own characters to keep from offending the other players who have booted my FF Defender from their team and given her that inferiority complex I now roleplay her as having.
And as for the upcomming "nerf", I'll let you figure out what my stance is on it from reading the story.))