There's been a mistake; I'm not a supervillain!
By
Dquestion,
Posted on: 2005-10-27 18:17 in Roleplaying
Whee, it rises from the beta lockdown to LIVE AGAIN!
Side note, we need a frazzled white hair cross-eyed scientist smiley.
Im a sucker for this sort of story. 
Nice work
Excellent writing! Here's to hoping Flora makes it back to Paragon.
To: Flora Fairchild
From: Overstrike
Mongoose couldn't stop laughing about someone who, apparently desires to prove and display their intelligence rather than powers through unusual solutions to the hurdles to more and better things, and I have followed up with minor research with other brokers. I can understand a desire to keep your long-term goals to yourself - though your continued and insistent reiteration of a return to Paragon and their 'blinders' on the status of the rule of law is admirable in its depth, if not my particular choice of deception. I may have use for a courier who proved so exceptional in another's rise, and was hoping to obtain a price sheet or, failing that, a recommendation for another similar to your level of expertise.
Erm... I can't quite understand what you're saying, Overstrike. I'm sorry. You want to hire me, or something..? I don't work for money. ...unless I'm broke and have no other choice. I'd rather avoid people who refer to law as 'blinders', too. Er, good luck in your efforts, though, and good day...
Global @Twoflower / MA Creator & Pro Indie Game Developer.
Mission Architect Works: DIY Laser Moonbase (Dev Choice!), An Internship in the Fine Art of Revenge (2009 MA Award Winner!) and many more! Plus Brand New Arcs for Issue 21!
It took some days to find it, but I've finally found a good organic grocer in Port Oakes! I didn't like the looks of the Mercy Mart, I distinctly saw cockroaches in the aisles... it's a shame that the poor have to buy their food there. The Oakes grocer is a bit more expensive, but I've been running good jobs lately (even if I split the money with Mikey the Ear) and can afford it. I did buy a bit of a surplus, so I could hand some out to the homeless on Mercy Island.
To celebrate my nutritional find, I decided I'd take a hike up the grassy hillside in Port Oakes near the arena instead of just walking along the dirty sidewalks. I always feel better when I'm walking on grass than asphalt... it's probably got something to do with my mutation. Kind of like how I need more sunlight than I did before to feel whole and well...
As I was crossing the parking lot behind the grocery store, I spotted a bunch of people dancing around a radio someone had left on the hood of a car. Odd. I turned to listen, and it didn't sound particularly compelling, just some generic pop station...
Then the DJ broke in.
"Radio, RADIOOOOOO -- Radio Free Opportunity! We interrupt our non-stop Clear-Channel-Authorized mainstream music marathon to bring a verrrry special message of good tidings to an up and coming supervillain... she's cute as a button and about as small, it's FLORA FAIRCHILD!"
--which caused me to freeze in my tracks. I nearly dropped my cantalopes.
"We know you're out there, Flora! And we're here to help you on your path towards the future Kalinda's hinted at. You're lucky number 13 and this is your siren song of destiny! There's a special offer, a deal, a job, a thing for you to do and we here at Radio Free Opportunity are gonna help you do it--"
I didn't hear the rest, because I ran for it after that.
But running didn't help. The next day, I was shopping for clothes, and the muzak in the elevator started talking to me. Same thing... cheerfully goading me into doing evil, saying he had big plans for me. Nobody else heard it; I was the only one. I left the building and I started hearing it playing on car stereos, fading in and out as cars drove by me on the street... then it was playing from someone's TV that was left on too loudly in the apartment one floor up...
When it finally invaded my clock radio, I gave up.
It seemed like a simple enough job. I had to get some cannister from the Lost, and then deliver it somewhere. The Radio promised to leave me alone afterwards if I just did this one thing for it.
I was getting better at fighting. It was a matter of keeping up a fast pace, running around, throwing out some vines here, touching them with my mind there. I was still good at disabling a group of people without killing them; at worst they'd wake up with some cuts and scrapes and a headache. So, getting the cannister wasn't hard.
Next step was delivery. I had to hike across the greens of Port Oakes -- which I didn't mind, I always felt safer, stronger when walking on grass. But on the other side of that grassy knoll..? A submarine. What the..?
"Almost there, Flora! The hits just keep coming!" the speaker system on the apparently unmanned submarine spoke, as the craft lurched to life, hatch sealing. "Don't worry, Radio -- RADIOOOOOO! -- Radio Free Opportunity is at the helm, and the captain WILL go down with the ship, 'cause it's a submarine! So sit back, relax, and enjoy your favorite music which we know you enjoy..."
I tried to push the weirdness back. I had been accosted by a voice only I could hear for days, I just wanted this over with. I wasn't going crazy. It was just a matter of getting this done and moving on with my life. ...and somehow it knew I loved Tori Amos and played a nice best-of selection while we were en route to.. wherever we were going.
Finally, the ship docked at an underground tunnel. I was given a crude map with four locations marked off; drop off one cannister in each place. It would be a new part of the Rogue Isles, no doubt -- you can only get around by ferry or helicopter, but I figured a submarine made sense, too. Right?
...it was odd, how clean this section of the isles was. And how many Longbow were walking around. I tried not to pay attention to it, sneaking around, avoiding trouble... I've been getting good at being stealthy. I managed to drop off all four, and then get back on the submarine.
I should have paid more attention.
I've said that before. Pay more attention to what people want you to do. Maybe it was just the voice pounding at me for days. Maybe it was influencing me. I just wanted it over, was that so wrong? Get some normality back into my life. Try to get a handle on things by pushing away the strangeness...
My clock radio chirped to life the next morning. Radio Free Opportunity was singing my praises after known bioterrorist Flora Fairchild successfully planted a Rikti mutagenic plague in Paragon City, cementing her status as a nefarious super criminal.
She continued her reign of terror by screaming and hurling her clock radio out of a five story window, shattering on the street below.
I haven't heard the radio speak to me since then. I haven't heard much. I've been hiding in my apartment, wishing the world would stop doing things like this to me. Especially since now, there was little chance I could ever go home again.
Global @Twoflower / MA Creator & Pro Indie Game Developer.
Mission Architect Works: DIY Laser Moonbase (Dev Choice!), An Internship in the Fine Art of Revenge (2009 MA Award Winner!) and many more! Plus Brand New Arcs for Issue 21!
Oh god, Flora, I'm so sorry that happened to you! I mean, you're actually a nice person around here. You have no idea how refreshing it is to have someone like you around, you're like a breath of fresh air in this fetid hellhole. Eh, enough purple poetry...
Look, girl, you're going to have to take a long, hard look in the mirror, and realize you're in an environment where trying to be a good, upstanding person just makes you another mark. I hate to say it, but you may want to re-examine precisely what your lines are, and under what circumstances you'd be willing to cross them under.God willing, you won't have to cross them, but let's face it, hon: you're in a city full of 'villains' (I won't go go too much back into our conversation of the other day...), you may have to reconsider some of them for now. Worry about treading the path of the angels when you get back to Paragon (and yes, I know you'll get back there someday. After all, you were just being used in the last case. We'll just have to find you some proof..., and in the first place, you were railroaded into jail before the breakouts...).
In the meantime, my offer always stands: any time you need help, you know I've got your back. And anyone wants to screw with you, they get to answer to me.
Be well.
Three in the morning in the Department of Leverage.
There are few division of Arachnos with as much freedom to operate as the Department of Leverage. The Arbiters, of course, are above all -- but other divisions are strictly under one patron or another, be it Mako or Ghost Widow or Black Scorpion and such. The Department of Leverage, in contrast, is only under one person... Kalinda. ...granted, all the others spy on us to make sure we're not overstepping our bounds, but since we only care to serve her interests we tend not to cause problems.
The Department's job is to subtly guide potential Destined Ones towards their, well, destiny. Some go reluctantly; some embrace it with two arms. Some just want to cause mayhem and destruction, some want to take over the world (which is clearly Lord Recluse's job, thank you), some only care about revenge against a particular hero. In short, everybody needs a little nudge now and then.
In this case, I was going to have to make a very severe nudge. Severe, but surgical.
I'd been collating the field reports on Flora Fairchild for a few days now; she was a tough nut to crack. She was refusing to leave Mercy Island after a few 'bad' experiences being tricked into doing 'evil', and thus was wasting her potential, letting her abilities to control plant life stagnate. If she WAS to be a Destined One, this couldn't be allowed to continue. We could've leaned on her hard; "Do evil things or we kill you." But chances were running a good 34% that she'd fall into a depression and commit suicide if we did that. Not acceptable.
It was only when I got the footage from Operative Jenkins, who had helped break her out of the Zig, that I had my lever.
We'd classified Flora as a 'dominator', one who exerts control over others. In this case, control through plant control. Like many dominators with mutant genes such as hers, after she's unleashed enough power, she enters a hypermetabolic state that doubles her capabilities. Nothing odd there.
What was odd, and Jenkins somehow caught it using the parabolic microphone, was what we picked up when she burst into this state while fighting a bunch of low-level Hellions who were dumping oil on grass and lighting it on fire.
First, a scream. Then, "DEFILERS!". Nice and loud and angry, angrier than we'd ever heard Flora get before. Good news. But the word, I'd heard it before, somewhere in my past of studying heroes in attempts to leverage them to our cause...
I pulled some database files, running a global search on 'defilers'. Searches go much faster now that we've implemented Microsoft's search technology. (They tend to crash a lot, but that's another story. We tried to get Google, but they have this corporate motto of 'doing no evil' which hampered our bid efforts, no matter how much leverage we sought.)
Found.
A hero from the 60's named 'The Green Lady' had a battle cry she used when attacking corporate polluters and destroyers of the earth: Defilers!. The notes on the file indicated that the Green Lady was reborn once per generation, genetic lineage passed down in the form of mutation. Although human in appearance, her heirs can, when pushed, tap that genetic memory and arguably lose themselves in the Green Lady persona.
Flora was slowly but surely getting in touch with a powerful, heroic entity lying dormant within her. Which would be disastrous; right now she was struggling to be a hero, if she was able to call upon Green Lady on demand, she'd feel confident and strong. Very, very hard to leverage.
For now, though, she wasn't in control. Green Lady wasn't in control. She was stuck somewhere between, blacking out now and then, afraid of what was happening to her. Perfect.
I pulled strings and had a friendly-faced doctor (Arachnos medical, of course) at Mercy hospital give her a routine examination. He told her, lying quite blatantly, that this 'change' she was going through was dangerous -- a beast trying to get out which could hurt innocent lives indiscriminantly.
The hook to reel her in? Without proper medication, Flora could be a danger to herself and others. Proper medication which, of course, would suppress Green Lady's consciousness whenever Flora's limits are pushed -- not enough to make her powers stagnate, mind you, just enough to keep her from finding her lineage's destiny. Since Flora greatly desires to do as little harm as possible, she'd leap at the chance to save the world from herself -- and to keep herself from becoming the wild beast that Paragon City thought she was.
Of course... the 'medication' would not be provided for free. No. Flora dear would have to work with us, much as she did with Kalinda when she first arrived. Nothing too bad... I had to promise her she wouldn't act against Paragon City, wouldn't go there and plant bombs or viruses or anything like that. She still entertained notions of going home, the poor child. Still, a small concession to make when there was plenty of work to be done around the islands.
In the end, the case file was closed with Kalinda's stamp of approval. Flora would take her pills to keep herself from becoming a 'monster,' while we pushed her towards acts of villainry. In time, her moral fiber would erode, and without Green Lady to anchor her we could move her into the fold of Arachnos and she'd complete the arc of the Destined Ones.
All in a day's work.
The only troubling part was the yellow tag on her file. We keep a 'degrees of seperation' web, tying known subjects to possible spies, traitors, and malefactors. And she seemed to be two to five degrees away from a potential spy in our midst. Just a small note, barely a sticky, but concerning. Interference from this spy, assuming he or she exists, could blow the entire deal. I'll insist on extra secrecy surrounding her medication; as few people as possible were to know its true nature. In fact, I'd have the doctor who helped me set up this scheme executed immediately. Better safe than sorry.
Global @Twoflower / MA Creator & Pro Indie Game Developer.
Mission Architect Works: DIY Laser Moonbase (Dev Choice!), An Internship in the Fine Art of Revenge (2009 MA Award Winner!) and many more! Plus Brand New Arcs for Issue 21!
[Flora Fairchild has deleted this e-mail]
(Reposting an edited compendium of all the Flora Fairchild posts that were made to the Beta Boards. Whee! I'll add to these as her wacky adventures continue. If anybody wants to 'email' her in this thread, feel free.)
How could this be happening..?!
Just two weeks ago I was perfectly happy with my boring little life. I had a boring little apartment in Steel Canyon, and a boring little job at a local flower shop which let me ride my boring little bike to work and take care of boring little plants all day long. I was perfectly happy living a life of unimportance, just being another citizen heroes see walking to and fro. This is all I really wanted out of life...
But I'd been ignoring the weird sickness for a few weeks now. It was easy to miss, since it always went away when I went outside in the sunshine -- or when I had a refreshing glass of water. I had a little green pallor to my skin but I assumed it wasn't anything big...
Then, Wednesday.
I noticed it happening. A flower arrangement I was working on started to bloom, and I thought, oh, that's very pretty. ...wait, why is that happening when they've already had their stems cut and are technically dead..?
I don't remember a whole lot after that, except I hear the newspapers had some great photos of the vines and plants that swamped Blyde Square. Positron himself was fighting them off to keep them from hurting people... and it could've been so much worse without him doing that!
But the problem was that the mayor's son was riding his SUV around Steel Canyon at the time... and the sudden flood of vines destroyed it. He got mad. Really mad. And I found myself arrested under some anti-bioterrorism law... just because my latent mutant control over plants had finally manifested and gone wild.
A few mutant heroes were ready to testify in my behalf, saying it was just an accident -- but my own boss, who saw mutants as abominations before God, claimed I had been obviously planning to overthrow the city! I was a nobody, he was a local businessman with a perfect reputation who went to church every Sunday. Between that and the political strings pulled... I was suddenly facing ten to fifteen years in the Zig...
I was okay with that. Honestly, okay. I'd just keep my head down and wait for my lawyer to file the appeal. It was just a big mistake. Surely they'd understand in the long run, right? Everything was going to be alright...
Next Wednesday was worse than the previous one.
I woke up in my cell to hear sirens and rioting. I immediately hid under my bed and prayed that it'd all go away... and I found myself being hauled out by guys in strange helmets. They said they were from Arachnos and I had some sort of destiny. I tried to pull away, to get back to my cell, but they were too strong -- and I still couldn't summon my plants at will yet. I was too weak...
A young hero who frequented my flower shop, Haley Somerset, tried to save me. But they just clubbed her with those weird energy weapons, tossed me in their jet, and flew off...
...and now here I am. The Rogue Isles. Rumored to be full of evil and horror and human atrocity... and the rumors are right. What's worse, they want me to be just like them. The crazy lady from Arachnos laughed at me when I asked when I could go home -- now I'm not only a convicted bioterrorist, I'm a fugitive from justice with ties to an international criminal organization! I can't return to Paragon City ever again, she said. But I could work for them, and they'd house me, and feed me, and...
...and I ran.
Everybody here wants to kill me. There are gangsters and snake monsters and even the homeless people, sick from the water, attack me on sight. Even if I can somehow draw energy from the sun and from water, I'm still so hungry I can't stand it. I don't know how much longer I can hold out. Nobody gets by on this island without Arachnos's favor. One way or another... I know I'm going to have to go back to them and do what they want. It's either that or I'll die...
There's been a mistake. I'm not supposed to be here. I want to go home.
My name's Flora Fairchild. If you see my mother, please tell her I'm doing okay. I don't want her to worry.
--------------
Even when I try to make things better, they just get worse...
I decided there was no way around it... I'd have to deal with Arachnos eventually. I've made a few friends living in the shantytowns, but it's clear most of these people are not going to live long. It's a miracle they got this far. I just want to feel safe and comfortable... like I did back in my boring life. Is that such a bad thing? I don't have the strength to live like this anymore...
But first... I'd need to get a handle on how my powers work. Hopefully, without turning a whole city block into a jungle. I'd heard that sometimes, mutants have extreme episodes when they first manifest, then you slowly work your way back up there... I can do it. I'm a hard worker when I have to be.
The question was, who would I start with? I don't WANT to fight anyone. I don't want to hurt anyone. But... I DO see Hellions and Skulls around. They're criminals, right? I've been accosted by Hellions on my ride to work in Steel Canyon, now and then. So... I could start with them. It'd be like I was a hero.
At first they just laughed at me; I mean, my clothes were pretty ragged, I was so thin, I didn't look like much of a hero. When they started suggesting the various things they could do this 'stupid chick', well... that's when it happened. Vines errupting from the ground, entangling one of the two, making him helpless. Yeah! I did it! Except... well, there were TWO of them and I could only trap one...
I panicked. I shouted, GET AWAY! as loud as I could... and oddly, this.. it's hard to describe. This bolt of pink energy flew from my head and struck him, and he fell! It felt so strange, like I turned that thought into a weapon, or something...
I knew I was just starting out. I was going to run away after I could prove that I could do SOMETHING, not wanting to try a long battle just yet. Fortunately, some of the Rogue Isles police officers jogged onto the scene. I thanked them, and said what those two had been threatening to do to me, and... and the cops shot at me! They were laughing as they started firing at all of us, me and the Hellions!
What else could I do? I ran for it. They followed, of course, shouting "You have the right to get your butt kicked!" and other mockeries of the law...
...saved! Longbow agents! I'd heard of them, they were bringing the light of Paragon city to the Rogue Isles. Perfect! They'd save me, bring me home, let me see my mother again, let me settle back into my boring job...
I waved for their attention, begging for help.
"Halt, villain!" they shouted. And then THEY opened fire.
I barely got out alive. I got shot several times -- thankfully the cops, the Longbow agents, even the Hellions all got into one massive fray and I was able to sneak away, to hide under a shack, and wait for them to leave. I felt for sure I was going to die, bleeding from wounds, but... once I got back into the sunlight, and could take a few deep breaths... slowly, they healed. It still hurt a lot, but I was going to live.
...I wasn't going to live unless I worked for Arachnos. Nobody else on the island would help me, could help me. They just wanted me dead.
------------------
At least at Point Darwin, nobody's actively trying to kill me. No, instead, they're just helpfully trying to make me into a supervillain.
It's creepy, the way they act. At times the 'fortunata', as they call her, sees great things for me and wants to help me -- then she'll turn around and say if I die like a weakling she won't care one bit. She's been asking me to perform tasks lately, things to get into the good graces of Arachnos. I was afraid at first that they'd want me to murder innocent people or something, but... no, they just wanted help with the snakes.
The snakes are horrible. I don't know how they got the way they are but they're vicious monsters, attacking hero, villain, and helpless citizen alike. The homeless people I've been living with (temporarily) talk about them in hushed tones. So... I guess I don't mind fighting them. It's almost heroic, really, because the less snakes, the less people have to be afraid.
Not that it helps MY fear when I go into one of their 'holes' and fight them directly. Bones lying everywhere, probably from other villains who-- no, I'm not a villain. Probably from other PEOPLE who tried to fight them. But somehow, I manage. It's not easy. I've learned how to spread vines to other enemies, but only if they're close together, and it just holds them in place -- they can still throw knives. But it's a start.
I even helped out some Arachnos folks cleaning out snakes from a public square! I hate to think what would've happened if those monsters got loose like that. I know Arachnos are evil, I know they want to rule the world... but people also want to live in safety and peace. They wouldn't be fighting the snakes if they didn't care about that. Right..?
...but then, one day, Kalinda gave me a mission that didn't involve snakes. She wanted me to kill the blighted who had settled into a power station.
I know the blighted. Some of their sickest and weakest members stayed with the homeless people, clearly only a few days from death... others wandered around attacking anyone they saw. It's because of the water, people explained to me... it's so polluted that it infects people with a sickness that drives them mad. I wasn't affected, probably because of my mutation, but I had sympathy for them. Those poor people...
I wouldn't kill them. I wouldn't even beat them down to unconsciousness, like I usually do. I had a plan. All Arachnos wanted was for them to leave the power station, right..?
So... I walked into the building... and the first group I saw, I entangled in my strongest vines. But I didn't attack after that; I moved to the next group, and the next, locking them down... I ran as fast as I could, trying to get the attention of the whole building, trying to dodge thrown rocks and gunfire and worse. I had to have all of them angry at me...
...before I ran out the door, ducked around the corner, and hid under a pile of scrap I'd prepared just for this purpose.
The infected streamed out of the building, screaming mind-sick revenge, running around randomly trying to find me. Within a minute... the building was empty. Mission complete.
It's not going to be easy, trying to stick to my morals while living here. I won't always be able to find the best way out of a situation like I did here. I have a bad feeling that eventually, I'm really going to be the villain they want me to be, for lack of a better choice. But whenever I can, whenever I see a way, I'm going to do things right.
--------------------
...creepy. Absolutely creepy, that's what this fortunata from Arachnos is.
I managed to track down Syrus, leader of the snakes. Or at least, the snakes I was fighting -- they're not organized enough to have one leader, I bet. I actually felt a little excitement when fighting him, not just in a "oh no oh no I'm gonna die" way, but a rush since I was really working hard to use my new powers to take care of a big problem on this island. That evening when I returned to my makeshift shack on Mercy I got some thank yous from the local homeless, who had seen a few less snake attacks since.
But Arachnos, their joy at my victory was.. unsettling. She acknowledged how reluctant I was, but felt confident that in time I could be the destined one, that I'd come around to their way of thinking eventually. And then... she kissed the back of my hand. I felt an immediate need to take a shower, after that. Several. Unfortunately running water isn't something they have around here.
She did say, though, that if I work with this guy named Mongoose that they could find me somewhere to stay in Mercy itself, the city above the garbage dump where the homeless live. ...I don't know. I feel the need to stay and defend these poor souls, but... I just want a roof over my head. A REAL one. Maybe I grow in sunlight and rain like a plant now but I want a real bed, too, and real food...
I found Mongoose in the plaza I had previously cleaned out of Snakes with the Arachnos troops. He was really knee-slappingly amused to see me, having heard about my reputation as a 'reluctant villain'. So of course, he gave me a job that he knew I'd hate... robbing a bank. Robbing. A. BANK. The most standard nasty evil thing a bad guy can do. It felt... cliche. And it didn't feel like ME at all.
I told him I'd think about it -- he smirked, knowing I'd be back.
I talked it over with Old Joe, one of the homeless. He mentioned that the banks are run by the same consortium that funds the corrupt cops... basically nothing around here is pure, not the air, the water, the banks, the government, nothing. He was actually ENCOURAGING me to rob this bank... but I think I know why.
Old Joe's heard me talking of Paragon, and of how I wish I had a normal life again. He knows I don't really want to be homeless. Bless his soul, he's encouraging me to do evil, and to leave him and his people... because he wants what's best for me. He'd rather I be happy than suffering out of some noble cause on his behalf.
That's why I decided to do it. But I'd do it my way.
First, I picked a late hour when I was sure there'd be nobody there but the guards. Second, I tried to sneak in as much as I could... that flopped. But I was able to disable the guards in a tense showdown, with waves of reinforcements dropping in constantly while my weak vines pulled at the bank vault door. It was difficult... I almost got clobbered. But I managed.
Mongoose told me how much he wanted. So I stole about 20% more than that, pocketing it quickly. My first stop was to Old Joe, on the way to Mongoose... where I quietly slipped the extra money into his shopping bags, while he was asleep. I delivered the rest to Mongoose.
I think he knew I had kept some of it; he winked at me when he accepted his cut. But he doesn't know WHERE it went. I'd never keep that money. No matter how badly off I am, I don't need it as much as the homeless do.
I'm going to be moved to a shelter in Mercy tomorrow. I'll sleep in a real bed. And with any luck, some day soon, Old Joe will find his way up here as well. Even if I have to do evil, I'm going to find some way to sneak in the good. It's the only way I can live with myself.
--------------------
I finally have a little apartment of my own. And I do mean little. It's barely a closet, the walls are rotting away, and there are roaches... but. I used my powers to add a little creeper kudzu outside, and I have a windowsill flowerbox. As for how I got some color, some true blooming floral color in this grey and miserable place... well, that's a story onto itself.
I saw a citizen being harassed by some Skulls. Since I was out and about that day trying to practice my powers, to get used to them... I jumped to the rescue. Afterwards the lady they were hassling assumed I was going to shake her down for money instead, or that I wanted praise for my power, and so on... I actually had to work for a few minutes to convince her I honestly didn't want anything from her, I just felt I had to do something. I don't think people here are used to heroes, aside from the red and white wearing machine gun toting shoot anything that moves kind. ...how could Longbow call themselves heroes when they're just here to hunt anything that looks at them funny?!
Anyway, it turns out the woman I saved? She had a tip on a shipment of horticulture supplies that were coming into Port Oakes. ...maybe this is kind of villany of me, but... well... I stole some. Not much! Just some seedlings, and a spade, and a watering can and... things like that. I didn't take any of the food crops that were going to be planted. I'd never steal food. I just.. I really wanted some COLOR around. Is that so wrong..?
Anyway, I now had a genuine flowerbox, with all sorts of color, and it was one happy little spot in my otherwise dreary life. It was enough to keep me going. I even plucked a flower to bring to Mikey the Ear, a contact that Mongoose had recommended I visit while he lined up more work for me.
I explained to Mikey the Ear what sorts of jobs I wanted -- I wanted to practice being a hero. He looked at me like I was out of my mind, of course... I think maybe bringing him a flower as a gesture of goodwill just creeped him out even more. But eventually he laughed it off and explained the code system he would use in the newspaper to tell me about work being offered. The more jobs I pulled, he explained, the more respect I'd get and the more I'd move up in this world. ...not that I really needed to climb some social ladder. I just wanted to be safe. Secure. That's not bad, right? It's okay to want to be safe. Right. ...even if it meant beating up a lot of people to do it.
But it's okay! Because they were ALL bad. I tracked down gangsters, and thugs, and villains and snakes and more. I tried to focus on the missions against some of the more wicked groups in the area -- I ignored the hero groups like the Legacy Chain. ...I doubt they would have wanted to see me, anyway. I'm just a villain to them, like the Longbow agents. But I figured, if I steer clear, they won't mess with me and I won't have to stand in the way of their good works.
...and then yesterday, I saw a mission that just made me see red. I mean. Not literally. I don't like getting angry. But... well...
It was a hero. A hero I remembered reading about in the news back in Paragon. He'd come to the islands to be a bad guy! He gave up his cape, enlisted with the Mooks, and was ready to contribute to the problem instead of contributing to the solution. I couldn't understand it, how could someone who once spread so much relief and joy turn on us all..? Turn on society. Turn on those who believed in him...
I left my apartment and went straight for the hideout Drea the Hook had pointed me to. And then it was... no. I won't say it was a slaughter, I don't kill anyone. My vines knock them out with toxins, that's all. But when I got to the 'hero' at last, I really... I kind of wanted to. I had to resist, especially when he laughed at me, accusing me of wanting to knock him off so I could take his spot in the island's chain of respect. Earning respect by hurting people. Moving up the ladder.
I dropped him and ran away.
I'm not trying to do that. I don't want people to be afraid of me, I don't want people gunning for me because I'm supposedly tough and strong. I just... all I want is to be safe. I was told the best way to do that was to show them you weren't weak, that's what all the Arachnos people said... what ARACHNOS said. I believed a supervillain. I'm doing what they wanted me to do all along...
This can't be happening to me. I don't know what I should do. If I don't fight, they'll hurt me. If I fight, they'll hurt me. How can anyone live like this? What did I ever do to deserve this..?
I sat down on my bed, near my stolen flowers, and cried until I fell asleep.
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Friday. Sunny. I had a good day today.
Mikey the Ear dropped me a line about Jake Emmet was in town, the designer of that great PC game, 'Freedom Phalanx'. I played that game a lot back in Steel Canyon! It was great fun, and I made a lot of friends online. I got a little tired of all the whining on the forums about 'nerfing', but really, the game is more important than some silly bulletin boards, right? Right.
Problem was, the Mooks were targeting him because he made them look bad in the game. Mikey noted that a couple other villains in the city knew about this... and planned to get to Jake first, and kidnap him. If I wanted to save him, I'd have to act fast.
I ran as quickly as I could to Port Oakes, to the software company where Jake was working. I couldn't afford to just tangle everybody up in vines, grab Jake, and run -- if I tried that I'd have to fight them on the way OUT as well! So it was a slow haul through the building, sneaking around corners, ambushing Mooks with vines and browbeating them into submission with my mental powers.
When I finally got to Jake I had about half a second to explain that I was a really big fan and no, I wasn't about to sell him to Arachnos or anything. Then it was a fight back to the door, with Jake staying out of sight while I tiptoed through unconscious Mooks I fought on the way in -- as well as dealing with the reinforcements.
Finally, we got to the door, and snuck out of there. Jake asked me why I helped, now that we had time to talk... I explained who I was, who I wanted to be. I even asked him if he could try to put in a good word for me when he got back to Paragon... but then Jake told me that the news had been playing me up as the 'escaped bioterrorist with ties to Arachnos'. There was no way even a famous game designer could put a dent in THAT bad press.
I don't know how I'm going to overcome that label. I've had Mikey putting his ear on the street, seeing if there's anything I can do, some task, some trial that will redeem me in the eyes of Paragon city... but he said it could be awhile before an opportunity arose. There were 'issues' involved.
Hopefully, one day, I can leave this place where I have to struggle every day to do the right thing... until then... at least I have a few shining moments where I can feel like this skinny little boring girl actually made a difference.
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I have to learn to pay more attention. I HAVE to learn to pay more attention.
I was working with a man whose family had been wronged by the Council in the past. That sentence alone is very tragic, but I didn't notice at first he was talking about his CRIME family -- as in mafia, organized crime. Once again, I was helping a bad guy fight other bad guys...
But that was okay, right? The Council are definitely, absolutely bad guys, and taking them down a peg is a heroic thing. Heroes do it in Paragon all the time; I would read about how hidden Council bases underneath my hometown would be flushed out by teams of heroes routinely. They were foreign combatants, and under the Patriot Act, legitimately taken down. ...of course, that was back when they were Nazis. You know where you stand with Nazis. I mean, they were at least German, right? Although I'd also heard most of their recruits nowadays were americans... and after they became the Council, well, it just got more confusing, but... anyway! Evil. Yeah. They're evil. So using my powers against them is good.
Right?
I fought a number of missions, even taking out one of their 'vampyrs' which is really just another name for a scary genetic freak thing that has sharp teeth. I don't think they really drink blood. At least, not mine, but that's because I was holding him still in tangle vines so he wouldn't touch me. ...I'm sidetracking.
Finally he said he'd found the traitor who wronged his family, so, go here, beat up everybody in the Council base. It's a really standard mission, I barely paid attention when he gave it to me. All these bases look alike and they're all full of Council folks, so it's almost like sleepwalking, you just... give in and let the vines do their work.
Last room in the base, I saw my target; some Archon, a high ranking Councilfolk. ...but he wasn't wearing a uniform. He was just in plain clothes. Strange.
I started to fight, and he shouted some things, and I did my usual thing. He had a shotgun, but I'd been getting better at tangling up people before they can shoot at me. He'd struggle against the vines and yell at me, but it was, I hate to say it, a foregone conclusion...
...and right before he fell unconscious, he apologized. Not to me, but to some other person. A woman's name.
My contact was thrilled. Apparently, I'd just taken out his archrival -- and while I was doing that, he'd kidnapped the man's daughter, with intent to remake her into an instrument of vengance and then dispose of her. I'd just put him back on top of his game and turned over an innocent girl to his clutches while I was out playing hero.
I had no idea what to say. I was just... staring at him, speechless, while he gloated and laughed and complimented me on my great work. I guess I eventually walked away. Next thing I remembered was crying into my pillow in my little apartment on Mercy Island.
This isn't how it was supposed to be. If I have to have these powers, if I have to be in this place, can't I use them for good? Why is it whenever I try to do something right, to make the world a better place, things actually end up getting worse? I started getting excited about having powers, that maybe even though I never asked for them, I could do something with them that would... I don't know. I just... it doesn't make any sense...
I should have paid more attention. I should've realized I wasn't doing the right thing, I was helping someone who didn't deserve that help. In the end, all I really helped was myself... improving my powers. So next time, I can go out and beat up evil to help evil more effectively, I guess.
I want to go home. I don't like what this place is doing to me. And I don't like who I'm becoming in order to let this place do things to me.
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Pay attention to your work. Be more choosy when accepting assignments. Be mindful...
I've never been a very disciplined person, but I don't think that's because I'm innately lazy. I just think I never had a reason to be disciplined before. I mean, think about it -- before my life was turned upside down, the biggest concern in my day would be if I wore those cute sandals I bought the other day or if I stuck to trainers before heading off to work. There just wasn't much to worry about. Life could be taken care of with minimal effort... go grocery shopping. Pay the bills. Make dinner. Get enough sleep. Easy, easy.
In the Rogue Isles, it's not that easy. Every day you have to deal with some new challenge, even if it's not a mission. You have to watch out for your own interests even more than in Paragon -- it's not just a matter of people not watching out for you, it's a matter of people actively working against you, even total strangers, if they think they could benefit from hurting you...
Where am I going with this? I get sidetracked so easily. I have to focus. I have to have some discipline. I know I have it, it's just a muscle I haven't had to exercise lately... watching out for your interests. Right.
Case example.
I stopped talking to Mr. Bocon when I realized he was setting me up to do things... things like the incident with the Council recently, where I started hating myself for unwittingly making the world a worse place. Mikey the Ear, though, he understands me and knows what missions I want. I've been working for him ever since... focusing on stealing powerful items away from people who would abuse them. Superadyne formulas, magical artifacts, blueprints for weapons... I'd like to think I'm making a difference by keeping these things off the streets.
The problem was, I had to put all this junk I was getting somewhere. I tried to leave a cache of it where I knew a Longbow squad would run over it... hoping the heroes would confiscate it without spotting me and attacking me on sight. Unfortunately, they got jumped by some Arachnos troops, and I had to sneak around the edge of the battle to retrieve my plastic bag of contraband before it got spotted. After that, well... what else can I do? I've been taking to burying it in a grassy patch behind my apartment building.
...which hasn't gone unnoticed. I have this neighbor by the name of the Sinister Icy Black Hand of Death. Seriously. Although he's not all that bad, despite the bad complexion and outfit made of leather straps "Call me Floyd," he suggested to me the day we met, before offering a cup of tea and conversation. We've been, well, not friends exactly but... chummy. And that's why, chummy-like, he asked me today about my gardening.
I tried to pretend I was planting a tree back there, but he wasn't buying it. As much as I value honesty, I knew telling him about the cache was a bad idea -- the guy was a villain, even if he wasn't really mean or cruel about it, and hearing him cheerfully brag about his latest schemes was an uncomfortable thing to smile and nod my head through. What could Floyd do with my personal stash of powerful items..? I shuddered to think.
So, that night, after I thought Floyd had gone to sleep... I snuck downstairs with my garden spade and started to dig it up. I'd just have to find a new hiding place...
...except the cache was gone. And so was Floyd; I noticed his door was ajar when I got back upstairs. He'd cleaned out and left.
In the newspaper the next day, when I was flipping through to find the coded jobs from Mikey the Ear, I read about how an up and coming supervillain named the Sinister Icy Black Hand of Death had just taken out a Longbow squadron... using a never before seen weapon, a magical amulet, and while hopped up on a new variant of Superadyne. All the loot I had stowed away.
You can't trust anybody but yourself. That's the lesson these islands are trying to teaching me, that's Lord Recluses motto. I don't want to learn that lesson, I'd like to think that there's SOMEONE I can trust on this island... Mikey, for example. But Mikey deals with villains every day. What if, one day, he got sick of the little girl who wants to play hero, and sells me out..?
All I want is one friend. Someone I can trust. But if things like this keep happening, I'm worried I'll lose the ability to trust. It'll be replaced by discipline, instead. The discipline to look out for yourself and yourself alone.
Global @Twoflower / MA Creator & Pro Indie Game Developer.
Mission Architect Works: DIY Laser Moonbase (Dev Choice!), An Internship in the Fine Art of Revenge (2009 MA Award Winner!) and many more! Plus Brand New Arcs for Issue 21!