The Pain of Team Legacy: Origins

Foreword

On October 27, 2004, I came up with an idea for a Fanfiction loosely based on City of Heroes/City of Villains. When I first began the fanfic, I had originally intended for it to be a small work of fandom; however, as time went on, the story evolved and took on a life of it's own, and while it admittedly deviated from the CoH/CoV mythos much more than I originally intended, I found that I really enjoyed writing about a continually expanding world, even if the feedback for the fanfiction wasn't overwhelming

I continued to update the fanfiction frequently until late June of 2005, where I decided to take several months off of writing the fanfiction. I had originally intented to continue the story in November of 2005; however, due to some personal problems that occurred in October of last year, my hiatus was extended for far longer than I wanted. I didn't even post again on the Forums until January 2006, and as time went by I constantly wondered whether or not to continue the fanfic I had essentially "abandoned". In March 2006, with increasing demand for real-life affairs growing, I unofficially declared this fanfic "dead" in my mind

However, due to a turn of events that occurred in May of this year, I've finally decided to continue this story; not so much because I feel like it's an obligation, but because I've recently re-discovered the enjoyment that I get by writing stories like this, and by creating characters like the ones that appear in this story; it's one of the things that drew me to this game in the first place

So, one year after posting the latest chapter in this story, I'm re-telling it once again. For the few (and I'm assuming VERY FEW) people who have actually read the older version of this fanfic, and have probably given up waiting for new chapters by this time, I apologize; I'm re-writing the old chapters for the benefit of the Roleplaying forum-goers who are (in all likelihood) reading this story for the first time. I'm also updating each chapter as I post it, so there are some minor differences between the "newer" chapters that are being posted in this Thread and the "older" version that is probably still floating around at the back of the RP forums; mostly just spelling/grammar checks, but the names of several characters have been changed, and several scenes have also changed as well. I know (as a rule) people don't like retconning, but I can assure the forum-goers who remember the first run of this fanfic (all three of you) that the core storlyine has NOT been changed; personally, I think the few scenes that HAVE been changed were changed for the better. But that's just my biased opinion

Because the "re-done" Chapters are essentially complete already and just require a bit of re-touching, I can afford to Post several Chapters every week, at basically "random times" over the course of a week. The "re-done" Chapters are due to be finished at the end of July, but that's not a date set in stone; it might be a little before or after that. I'll let you know when the brand spanking new Chapters begin Once I begin the new Chapters, I'm planning on pacing myself (the lack of pacing myself actually caused me to take the vacation last year in the first place) and posting a Chapter once a week (probably Saturday)

Alright, now that I've gotten that off my chest, all that's left to say is:
ENJOY MY STORY!
And I swear to you, THIS TIME, I'm going to do everything in my power to finish it

Accessing Portal Corp. Main Computer...
Enter Passcode: *********
Passcode Accepted... Accessing Profiles...
Enter Universe ID Code: COH-743
Processing... Universe Found
Do you wish to view the current activity in Universe COH-743? Yes
Validating Access Level of User... Access Granted

The Pain of Team Legacy: Prologue

The Back Alley Brawler swung his mighty fist with all his might, knocking down the triple-reinforced steel door leading into Lord Recluse's hideout. Thousands of minion-level Villains greeted him.
"Everyone attack NOW!" The Back Alley Brawler yelled to the army of Heroes behind him. He and Sister Psyche led a Team of approximately 400 Heroes into the base, and the two extremely large groups of Heroes and Villains met head-on in a battle SO intense, the base itself shook from the epic struggle.

Lord Recluse watched the fight on a monitor as he sat in his private chamber, located deep inside the base. Behind his seat, the bodies of Baron Zoria and Requiem, the two infamous Arch-Villains of Paragon City, lay on the floor of his chamber, dead.
"They took the bait." Lord Recluse smiled wickedly. "They rush in with such vengeance in their eyes. If only they knew the truth..." He sighed and looked over his shoulder at the bodies of the two Villains. "But I must thank the both of you for supplying me with the tools necessary to secure my victory on this day." Lord Recluse ran his hand down the black metal armor he was wearing, the inscription of the 5th Column inscribed on it’s back. In his other hand, Recluse brandished a mystical sword that glowed with a dim red light, casting eerie shadows in the small chamber. Recluse then concentrated, adding his own power to the sword, resulting in the color of the blade’s aura to change from red to black.

"Sister Psyche, come look at this!" A female Hero called to Sister Psyche. Sister Psyche ran into the room the female Hero was in, her blood chilling in her veins as she saw the body of Dr. Vahzilok on the ground, dead.
"The Clockwork King’s in that room." Back Alley Brawler sighed as walked into the room and stood next to Sister Psyche. “Geez, what the hell happened here?”
“Lord Recluse doesn't like competition, I guess.” Sister Psyche said, clenching her fists. “We can worry about this later; right now, we have to stop that [censored] NOW!” Sister Psyche clenched her teeth and turned to the Back Alley Brawler. “After all that Marcus did for this city, the LEAST we can do is bring his killer to justice!”
Back Alley Brawler nodded. “Alright, let’s go.”

Several hours later, after fighting through thousands of minions and discovering the bodies of almost all of the leaders of infamous Villain factions in Paragon City, the Team finally came upon the door that led into Lord Recluse’s chamber.
"THIS IS IT!" Back Alley Brawler yelled as he swung his fist, hitting the door with everything he had. Lord Recluse turned in his seat to smile at Back Alley Brawler and Sister Psyche as they charged toward Recluse, apparently amused at the rage in the eyes of the Heroes.
"Upset, are we?" Lord Recluse smirked, and then with inhuman speed he leapt toward the Heroes and punched the Back Alley Brawler in the face, knocking him back into the wall of the chamber. Turning to Sister Psyche, he fired a dark energy blast from his palm. Sister Psyche quickly raised her Personal Force Field, which absorbed most of Recluse’s attack. However, the blast was still powerful enough to send Sister Psyche flying backwards, causing her to slam into the hoard of Heroes that were desperately trying to pour into the room.
“Well, you’ve certainly assembled a large amount of Heroes for this operation, haven’t you?” Lord Recluse sneered, then quickly flew upwards, smashing through the roof of his chamber. But he didn’t stop his ascent at the next floor; he continued upward, smashing through all of the levels in the base until finally bursting through the roof of the entire base. With a smile, Recluse pulled out a small device from inside of his armor, and upon closer inspection one could easily determine that the device was a trigger of some kind.
“Let’s even the numbers a bit.” Recluse said, pressing the only button on the trigger. The device sent out a signal to a small, nuclear war head that Recluse had placed underneath the base. Sister Psyche was able to extract this information from Recluse’s mind at the last second, and immediately attempted to place a large force field around her fellow Heroes.
The warhead exploded, destroying the entire base and sending a wave of destruction for miles over the dense forest Recluse’s base was hidden in. As the dust began to settle, Lord Recluse hovered the ground, an evil smile creeping across his face.
“This armor is truly impressive,” Lord Recluse said as he examined himself. “Not only am I completely unharmed, but the armor itself is almost completely unscathed, as well.” Lord Recluse narrowed his eyes a bit. “For Requiem to be capable of constructing such a thing... I wonder what else-” A bolt of radioactive energy hit Recluse across the chest, interrupting his thoughts. The attack itself did little damage, but was more than enough to get Recluse’s attention.
"What was that?" Lord Recluse shouted, his eyes gazing downwards as he searched the remains of his base for his assailant. His eyes widened slightly as a large heap of rubble on the ground was overturned, revealing Sister Psyche, the Back Alley Brawler, Positron, Synapse, Citadel, and Numina; all of whom remained unharmed and protected by Sister Psyche's shielding.
“You’re persistent, aren’t you?” Recluse said, steadying his blade in front of him. “Oh well. If my trap wasn’t able to kill you...” Lord Recluse charged the Heroes. “I'll just have to do it myself!”
The six Heroes met Lord Recluse’s charge, but they had underestimated the power of Recluse’s stolen demonic blade; with one deft slash, Synapse was cut in two.
"Synapse!" Sister Psyche cried out. Numina immediately tried to intervene, but unfortunately got in the was of Lord Recluse’s follow-up attack, blast of dark energy that reduced Numina and what was left of Synapse to dust. Smiling, he charged Positron. Positron stood his ground and fired volleys of radioactive energy beams at Recluse. Recluse dodged the beams and swung his sword at Positron, but Positron jumped over Recluse’s attack and fired a massive atomic blast into Recluse’s chest at point-blank range. Positron looked on in shock as Lord Recluse shrugged off the attack, and Recluse took advantage of Positron’s hesitation, grabbing Positron’s neck in hand and holding him in place, where he dangled helplessly.
“You’re not a quick learner; if an atomic explosion didn’t phase my armor the first time, what made you think it would be effective the second time?” Recluse impaled his sword into Positron’s chest, easily breaking through his armor and body, the end of the sword coming out of Positron’s back. “It looks like you’re armor isn’t nearly as impenetrable.” Recluse laughed. His laughter subsided, however, when Positron used the last of his strength to quickly remove the sword from his body and fling it far away from Recluse’s grasp before falling dead from Recluse’s arms.
Citadel, Sister Psyche, and the Back Alley Brawler did not miss this opportunity. Citadel charged the now-disarmed Lord Recluse, his punch nailing him across the side of his helmet and knocking him back into Sister Psyche. Sister Psyche used her Force Bolt to knock him into the air, and Back Alley Brawler leapt up and grabbed Lord Recluse while he was in mid-air, pile-driving Lord-Recluse’s upside-down body straight into the ground. Lord Recluse recovered quickly, kicking Back Alley Brawler away angrily and leaping to his feet, facing the senior Hero. Citadel decided to charge Recluse from behind while his attention was on the Back Alley Brawler. It was at that moment that Sister Psyche noticed a black flash pass her, heading straight for Citadel, and traveling to fast for the normal eye to see.
"Watch out!" Sister Psyche yelled, trying to warn Citadel, but it was too late. Baron Zoria’s sword had the mystical ability to return to the hands of evil, and would destroy any object in it’s path to do so. Citadel had made the mistake of getting in it’s path.
"NOOOO!" The Back Alley Brawler cried out as the blade sliced through Citadel’s chest, causing the android to collapse to the ground, still functioning but severely crippled. The blade continued on it’s path until it was back in Lord Recluse's grasp. Smiling, Lord Recluse swung the blade at the Back Alley Brawler's neck while his attention was still on his fallen comrade, trying to decapitate him. Luckily, Back Alley Brawler noticed the attack just in time and managed to raise his arm to deflect the attack. He had saved his life for the moment, but at the cost of one of his limbs.
"You MONSTER!" Sister Psyche yelled as she saw the Back Alley Brawler’s arm fall to the ground, firing an intense Telekinetic Blast at Lord Recluse. Lord Recluse’s armor offered no protection to Sister Psyche’s attack, but he was nonetheless able to withstand the attack, and slowly but surely inched his way towards Sister Psyche. Sister Psyche foresaw the incoming attack and raised her Personal Force Field to protect herself. However, the Heroes had once again underestimated the power of their opponent, and with one swing the mystical sword broke through Sister Psyche’s shield, and the legendary psychic’s life ended.
Barely able to contain the excitement from his victory, Lord Recluse turned to the Back Alley Brawler, kneeling on the ground and holding his wound with his arm, doing his best just to remain conscious. Lord Recluse smiled as he stood before the Back Alley Brawler, savoring the moment as he slowly raised his sword over his head. The Back Alley Brawler managed to raise his head and look into the eyes of his opponent one last time.
"It... won't end... with me..." Back Alley Brawler said, his tone soft, but filled with defiance. Lord Recluse looked down on him, chuckling to himself.
"You know, those were HIS last words, too." Lord Recluse said, and swung his sword one last time.
A young Female Hero named Chance regained consciousness just in time to see Lord Recluse fly overhead; she had survived the blast by putting up her own Personal Force Field, and as she watched Recluse disappear into the horizon the horrible truth dawned on her: The Freedom Phalanx would never let Lord Recluse escape. If Recluse was leaving, it meant...
"Statesman..." Chance remembered the face of the fallen Hero just before she passed out once more.

Three Years later...

"We don't have the money to pay this month... please give us some more time!" The man said as he held his daughter close to him. His bathroom-sized apartment was now in shambles after one of the Revenue Collectors of Lord Recluse’s Empire had torn it apart in search of hidden stashes of money. Though, such occurrences were not uncommon among families that lived in Recluse City.
Recluse City had once been called Paragon City, was only a shadow of what it once was; the sun never seemed to shine in the city, and the cloudy sky cast a never-ending darkness on the filthy streets, the ramshackle apartments, and the down-trodden populace. And the streets, which had once been filled with thousands of Heroes, were now barren except for several muggers and homeless citizens.
"This is the second time you have failed to pay the required taxes ordered by Lord Recluse." The Revenue Collector said, pulling out a small pistol from his belt. "Under Article 1, Section 13 of the Recluse Revenue Agenda, I hereby sentence you to death." The Revenue Collector placed the muzzle of the gun onto the man’s forehead.
However, just before he pulled the trigger, the gun was knocked from the Revenue Collector’s hand by an energy blast.
"What is-" The Revenue Collector turned just int time to see a fist pummel him in the face, knocking him across the apartment and onto the wall where he fell to the ground, unconscious. The bewildered man stared at the unconscious Collector for several moments, then turned in opposite direction, causing him to gasp in shock at the sight in front of him.
"It can't be..." He said, observing a group of 2 teenage boys and 2 teenage girls in brightly colored costumes that now stood in his doorway. "I thought... I thought Recluse had killed all of you Heroes..."
The boy who had knocked out the Revenue Collector walked over and extended his hand to the man, a sad look on his face.
"Not ALL of us..." The Hero said.

A gray, cloudy sky created a dim overcast over the small playground where Hope watched her friends play. Hope was 18, reasonably older than most of the other children at the orphanage where she lived; however, in a place like Recluse City, even the smallest amount of companionship was a good thing to find.

The Pain of Team Legacy: The New Recruit

Hope had been in this orphanage for the last two years; before that, however, she had led a very normal life. She had grown up in Paragon City, and often heard about all of the amazing feats of Heroes such as Statesman and the Freedom Phalanx. Unfortunately, that all ended just before the War, when all of the Heroes mobilized to fight the forces of Lord Recluse. Lord Recluse had conquered or formed alliances with the all of the other Villain Organizations in Paragon City, and his forces had successfully become the only Villain Organization left in Paragon City before the War began. Hope's life became a nightmare; her family would move into one city, only to have it fall to Recluse’s forces weeks later, forcing her family to flee to another city. Hope’s family continued this trend for one year; and at the end of that awful year, Hope’s parents were killed during the siege of a city. Luckily, Hope was captured alive by Recluse’s forces, and she became a ward of Recluse’s New Empire. Hope was then shifted from orphanage to orphanage, and eventually she wound up back in Paragon City, which had just fallen several weeks prior to her arrival. Paragon City, which had been re-named "Recluse City", was considered something a national landmark; Lord Recluse himself considered it his greatest conquest of the War. Currently, Lord Recluse was overseeing his army on the front lines; having conquered the United States (now renamed “The Empire of Recluse”), he had his sights set on the rest of the world, and was currently working on his conquest of Europe. Hope wasn’t aware of, nor did she care for what was Recluse had planned. She had reluctantly learned to adapt to her new life, and the only thing that saved her sanity were the friendships that she made with the other orphans she met. Most of them were like her, children who had lost her parents in the War, and that was enough of a similarity for them to bond, despite all other differences they may have had.
Hope sighed, observing the sad state of her new home. The "playground" that the orphanage had was no more than a sandlot filled with broken glass and a single rusty swing that was incapable of being used. The orphanage itself was no luxury, either; vermin and disease were commonplace. As much as Recluse City was "historical", Lord Recluse held a special hatred for it at the same time, so the city received by far the lowest funding in the entire Empire.
"Owwww!" Hope was torn from her thoughts as one of the children cried out in pain, grabbing his foot. One of his shoes had ripped open, and his foot had been cut on a piece of broken glass.
"Nurse Hope! Come quickly!" The other children cried, running over to Hope. Hope smiled as the children shouted her nickname. Being the oldest child at the orphanage, the other children looked up to her. This wasn't the first time one of the children at the orphanage had been injured in some way, and Hope had taken it upon herself during her stay at this orphanage to learn what little she could about medicine and first-aid, helping whatever children she could. The "real" Nurse at this Orphanage knew even less about medical treatment than Hope did; and even though the Nurse was aware of this fact, she decided to let Hope continue to do her job for her while still getting paid. She even let Hope keep the orphanage's First-Aid Kit with her.
Hope looked at the wound. "It'll be alright." She smiled, taking out her Kit. "Let me see the wound."
"Ow! It hurts!" The boy cried in pain, but did as Hope asked. Hope looked at the wound and took out some antiseptic spray from her Kit.
“This is going to sting for just a second, OK?" Hope said gently, looking into the boy’s eyes while she aimed the spray at his wound.
At that moment, Hope was overcome with a feeling she had never felt before. Closing her eyes, she grabbed dropped the antiseptic spray and grabbed the boy’s foot with both hands, concentrating on the wound. As she held the boy’s foot, the wound began to heal itself, a green glow coming from Hope’s hands as the wound closed itself up, the flesh repairing itself instantly. Hope opened her eyes and looked at the now-perfect foot.
What just happened? Hope thought as the children cheered, the boy thanking Hope and joining in the cheers of the other orphans.
The owner of the Orphanage, who had watched the entire event unfold from his office window, immediately dialed a number into his phone.
“Recluse Internal Security?” The owner asked once the line picked up, staring at Hope through his window. “I have some information you might be interested in...”

"We've got one!" Luck yelled happily as she pointed at the radar affixed to Team Legacy’s Power Detector.
Luck was wearing a red tank top with red leather pants and blue leather boots. She had on blue satin gloves and had a slightly torn blue cape. Her long black hair danced about her face as she jumped with joy, her eyes beaming with happiness behind her small, blue mask. Like all of the members of Team Legacy, she was 18 years old.
"We don't have a lot of time, Luck! Where is it?" Gabriel asked, looking over the monitor.
Gabriel wore a skin-tight blue shirt with long blue pants and red metal boots, his outfit complete with red metal gloves. He had short, curly brown hair, and his mask-less face was locked into an expression of urgency at the moment.
"It looks like the city orphanage! We have to hurry!" Faith yelled.
Faith was wearing a blue, flowing satin top, as well as satin blue pants. She also wore red stiletto boots and long, red leather gloves. She had long blonde hair and wore a blue mask as she turned to face her teammates.
"If Recluse finds out about this, that Hero’s as good as dead. Let’s hurry." Michael said, grabbing his blue and red battle helmet and rushing out of the room.
Michael wore a blue and red super suit that covered his entire body, from his neck down to his toes. His short, straight black hair and sharp eyes disappeared underneath his battle helmet as prepared himself for battle.

For the next few hours, Hope went thought her usual daily routine as if in a daze. She kept on thinking about what had happened earlier, and tried to understand just HOW she could have healed her friend. She was still thinking this as the owner of the orphanage announced that everyone would be going to bed earlier that night; he gave no reason. The orphanage had a single, enormous bedroom filled with bunkbeds, and this was the room where all of the orphans slept.
During her time in the orphanage, Hope had become accustomed to meeting the needs of the other children, and (like most children), the night caused many of them to seek Hope out for comfort. Sometimes it was only a matter of being thirsty and wanting Hope to accompany them to the bathroom; the younger children sometimes thought they saw a “Recluse monster” and wanted Hope to stay by their side until they fell asleep; whatever the reason, Hope would always make sure the other children were okay before falling asleep. Hope had no reason to believe that this night would be any different.
Hope had just helped one of the children to sleep when she heard the front door of the orphanage open. Peeking out of the door to the bedroom, she looked down the long hallway that led to the front door... and her blood ran cold. Five of Recluse’s lowest-ranked soldiers, known as Exterminators, were talking with the owner of the orphanage.
"Is the child here?" One of the Exterminators asked, his sword glistening in the small moonlight.
"Yes, I had the children put to bed early. She’s a Hero, I’m sure of it. Knowing how much Recluse despises them so..." The owner smiled. "I assume there is a reward for finding one?"
All four Exterminators stared at the owner for a moment. They were all armed with swords, which meant that their official title was Recluse Exterminator Swords (there are several different types of Exterminators, all identifiable by whatever weapon they wield).
"A reward?" One of the Exterminators said coldly, and Hope watched as the Exterminator swung his sword with impressive speed, a gurgling sound barely escaping the owners throat. "For harboring a Hero in your own establishment, there is only one punishment: death." Even in the dim light, Hope could see the owner's head fall off his shoulders and onto the floor.
"Oh my God..." Hope whispered, quickly clamping her hand over her mouth. It was too late; one of the Exterminators had heard her.
"Who's there?" The Exterminator demanded, walking down the hall. Hope quickly ran back into the bedroom.
"EVERYONE GET UP!!! RUN, RECLUSE IS HERE!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, turning on the lights in the room. Immediately, every child leapt from his or her bed and began to run around and scream wildly. Doing her best to organize the chaos, Hope made her way to the fire exit of the orphanage, located at the back of the bedroom. Kicking the door open, Hope looked back into the room... and saw a horrible, unforgettable sight.
The Exterminators, unsure of which child was the Hero they were looking for, had decided not to let a single child escape alive; they swung their swords at every child they came across. The children began shout and cry as they realized their friends were being killed right before their eyes. Hope herself saw a head fly off in one direction, and another orphan screamed in pain as her left arm was cut off. With another swipe of the sword, the girl ceased screaming.
"EVERYONE, FOLLOW ME!!!" Hope yelled desperately, tears in her eyes, as she grabbed the 6 orphans closest to her and led them out of the orphanage. The Exterminators, now finished with every other child in the orphanage, set their sights on the escaping children..
"Don’t let any of them escape!" One of the Exterminators yelled, pointing his blood-drenched sword at the escaping orphans. Hope and the others ran quickly, but the Exterminators were much faster than children, and were soon upon Hope and her friends. Hoped watched in horror as the children fell to the Exterminators one by one, and soon only Hope and one other orphan was still alive and running from their heartless attackers. Her mind racing, her heart pounding, Hope tripped and fell to the dirt ground. Trying to recover, she looked over her shoulder... and saw that the five Exterminators had caught up to her, the one in front raising his sword...
"Don't hurt Nurse Hope!" A voice rang out, and Hope turned to see the boy whose foot she had healed earlier that day jump on top of her body, shielding her.
"No... DON'T!" Hope yelled in utter terror, but it was too late...
The Exterminator in front of the others grabbed the boy by the neck and raised him in the air; a moment later, he was dead.
“There is no room for Heroes...” The Exterminator yelled, tossing the boy’s body aside and raising his sword to Hope. “...in Recluse’s Empire!” Hope closed her eyes, waiting for the end... but instead, the Exterminator’s body was engulfed in an Energy Blast.
"What’s this?!" The other four Exterminators looked in the direction of the blast, and the one closest to the dead Exterminator was greeted with a blue and red metal fist that hit him so hard his skull was crushed instantly, killing him.
"HAAAA!" Gabriel yelled in anger, kicking another Exterminator in the stomach, felling him. Gabriel followed up the attack by grabbing the sword of one of the dead Exterminators and using it slice his head off.
"You MONSTERS!" Luck yelled, concentrating her psychic power on one of the two remaining Exterminators. The Exterminator held his head and screamed in pain; soon, his brain functions ceased altogether, and he fell dead.
"YOU DAMN HE-" The last Exterminator began, but Luck fired another blast of energy at the Exterminator, vaporizing him instantly.
Hope looked at the Heroes, becoming light-headed as all of the events that had just occurred began to sink into her mind. "I... I thought..." Her mind floated back to the picture of Statesman she saw in her local newspaper all those years ago. "...you were dead..." She then fainted.

"Hey, Hope!" One of the orphans called out to her. Finding herself back on the playground, Hope watched the children play happily together. Then...
"Hope! Nurse Hope!" The children screamed, and Hope found herself in the bedroom of the orphanage, the Exterminators killing all of the children. Upon killing the rest of the children, the Exterminators turned to Hope, but were then killed by the strangers in bright clothes.
"Hope! Nurse Hope!" Hope heard the voices of the children above her, and she lifted her head to see them flying above as angels. "Live on, Hope! We died so that you could live! Please, live on!" She watched the orphans fly up above her. "Live on, Hope! Hope..."

With a start Hope woke up and raised herself to a sitting position. She was surprised to find herself in a bed, and looked around at her unfamiliar surroundings. She recognized the four Heroes who had saved her; they were all sitting around her bed, their gazes fixed on her as her eyes continued to shift about the room. The room was pretty empty, save for the bed she was in, an empty desk and bookshelf in the corner, and a single light fixture illuminating the window-less room. A door leading out of the room was open, and through the door Hope could see a larger room, one that had a large monitor that seemed to be showing a layout of Recluse City. After some time, one of the Heroes addressed Hope.
"Are you OK?" Gabriel asked.
"Who... are you?" Hope asked, her gaze shifting to the faces of each of the young Heroes.
"Probably the last Heroes left in the world." Michael sighed, shaking his head. "You're lucky, Recluse's goons would've-"
"How can you say that!" Hope lashed out, the memories of the incident flooding back into her head, tears forming in her eyes. "I lost... EVERYONE! They DIED because of me!" She yelled, then began to sob. Luck began to step forward, but Gabriel stopped her with a wave of his hand.
"Look..." Faith said, putting her hand on Hope's shoulder. "I know how you feel..."
"No you don't!" Hope yelled, knocking away Faith's hand. "You have NO IDEA how much those kids looked up to me! I did EVERYTHING I could to save them, and they STILL died! They were the ONLY PEOPLE in the WORLD I had LEFT since my parents died! You DON'T know how I feel!" Hope continued to cry.
"Yes, I do..." Faith said softly, stepping back. "We ALL do." Hope looked up, and the others nodded.
"I KNOW what it feels like to lose everyone who meant something to you in your life." Faith said, looking into Hope’s eyes. “It’s OK to mourn; we all did, too. But know this; all of the Heroes that were able to stand against Lord Recluse are dead, and there are VERY few of us left. What Recluse’s minions did to you was HORRIBLE and EVIL. But you’re a Hero too, like it or not. Which is why we have to ask you to help us.” Faith placed her hands on Hope’s shoulders. “Help us prevent Recluse from doing what he did to YOU to someone else; help us give people their lives back." Faith continued to look into Hope’s bloodshot eyes and tear-soaked face as tears formed in her own eyes. "The lives he took from ALL of us." There was a silence in the room for several minutes.
"We’re sorry to rush you into something like this so soon after your loss; we’re not looking for an answer immediately." Gabriel finally said, gesturing the other Heroes towards the door. He turned back to Hope. “You’re going to need awhile to grieve; we all understand that. But while you’re doing so, please... think about our offer.”
Hope looked up with her tear-streaked face at Gabriel, the image of the boy’s foot that she healed flashing in her face. "What happened at the orphanage...” She said slowly, despair in her voice. “It was because of me that..." She began, her voice trailing off.
"It’s not your fault. If you’re going to blame someone, blame Recluse." Gabriel said. He walked over to Hope and looked in her eyes. “The pain you’re feeling right now... as long as Recluse is in power, thousands of others will continue to live in similar pain. We can’t bring your friends back, but we can make their sacrifices mean something.” Gabriel stepped back away from Hope and headed for the door. “Think about it.” Gabriel said as he left the room, followed by Luck and Michael. After some time, Faith took one last look at Hope and left the room as well, closing the door behind her.
For what seemed like an eternity, Hope reflected on what happened and considered Gabriel’s offer. She thought of the other orphans, her friends, her power...
"Live on, Hope." She remembered her dream.
"Nurse Hope! Nurse Hope!" She remembered her nickname and smiled through her tears.
"Nurse Hope..." Hope said quietly, and laughed softly. Slowly, she rose up off the bed. "I can never repay what you did for me." Hope wiped her tear-soaked face with her arm. "But... I can make sure what happened to you DOESN’T happen to ANYONE else. Ever."
The door to the room Hope was in opened, and the other Heroes turn to see Hope emerge. They were sitting around a large, round table in the center of the room, a hologram projector exhibiting a section of Recluse City.
The four Heroes stared at Hope. Hope returned their stares in silence. Finally, she smiled and nodded.
"Alright!" Luck said with glee, jumping up and down. "It's so great to have you on the team, Hope!" She leapt out of her seat and hugged Hope. Hope blushed slightly.
"I... uh..." Faith sheepishly said as she rose to her, a box in her hands. She handed it to Hope. "I design costumes in my spare time; you’re the first new Hero we’ve been able to save since the War ended. I never thought I’d be able to give this to anyone, but..." She blushed as Hope opened the box. "I hope you like it!"
Hope opened the box and looked at the outfit inside. Smiling, she walked back into the other room and changed into the costume.
Emerging from the room again, Hope blushed slightly as the others saw her in her outfit:
Her top was a blue fleece jacket over a red tank top, and her bottom was a short red skirt, the outfit complete with blue boots and small, blue mask that barely covered her eyes, and allowed her long brown hair to flow freely about her face. She smiled slightly as she stood in front of her new teammates.
Gabriel rose to his feet, returning her smile as he extended his hand towards Hope. "Welcome to Team Legacy, Hope."

I read all of The Pain of Team Legacy. I liked the story so much it is the only one I have EVER put in my favorites. In fact, I played the Necromancer and rose the thread from the dead a week ago. I think it is about halfway down number 2 currently.