((WARNING. Truth Mountainbreeze comes from a story I am writing, a story that is completely bonkers. This is not going to make ANY sense. Well, okay, overstatement, but it's gonna be weird. . .))
"You can't keep me in here, man!" yelled Truth Mountainbreeze, shaking the bars. "The truth will be revealed, baby!"
"Shut up," said the guard, leaving, and feeling relieved he didn't have to talk to the hippie anymore.
Truth sighed, toying with his long. blonde hair. Why hadn't Adam and Eve come and got him out of this mess? Sure they were in some other dimension or something. But they were supposed to be the Devil's greatest servants!
He wished no one had brought him back to life at all, although it had been kinda unpleasant being in Purgatory. Still.
Truth made a few flowers grow out of the prison floor; it was all he could manage thanks to the stupid procedures they had put him through. He chewed them up in his mouth and drew more swirls with them on his bright yellow shirt and orange pants.
Hmmm. He sensed the presence of evil. Not a prisoner, no, this was evil the way it was supposed to be, just as you found it in the wild! Someone evil from this dimension was coming. . . maybe he could join them! After all, evil was probably discriminated against, no matter where you went! He had to stand up for the little guy!
There were several loud explosions, and his cell door opened.
"You are Truth Mountainbreeze, correct?" said the Wolf Spider in front of him.
"Damn right, baby!" Truth yelled happily. The Wolf Spider frowned.
"Our Fortunatas believe you to be one of Arachnos's Destined Ones, and. . ."
"Oh, no, sorry, can't right now, spider dude!" Truth said, running off. "I've gotta oppose the discrimination against evil! FIGHT THE POWER! By the way, is the Devil in this dimension?"
The Wolf Spider would have responded, but honestly he had no idea what to say.
The helicopter took Truth to Mercy Island, amid many objections about how machines were corrupting the world. Truth stepped out and ran down the stairs, ignoring all the people telling him to speak with Kalinda.
"My name is Matthew Burke. What the hell are you doing, hippie?"
"Oh, groovy!" said Truth, stopping and turning. "There must be a Hell here! Tell me, mercenary dude. . ."
"Do you know the Devil?"
((Aiight, I'll bite. 
))
"Mail call!"
The prisoner raised his head. He smiled a most fiendish smile, exposing a mouth full of predatory teeth.
Today was the day.
The plan was simple, smooth, and foolproof. After all, Commander Firenze had thought of it.
And as the contruct looked at his watch, he knew Phase 1 would soon turn into Phase 2. The infiltration of Arachnos would begin.
It was truly amazing - how did Firenze know all this? He almost seemed like the puppetmaster, carefully pulling the strings on everyone and everything.
The operative didn't much care. He'd been created for a purpose, and was going to carry out that purpose.
A contact had been secured on the outside. Why said contact would EVER work with them was beyond him, but a hidden starship with teleport capability was nothing to be sneezed at.
Maybe he could even boost some tech on the way.
No, Firenze wouldn't like that. Those were the kinds of things that made 'business relationships' go sour.
He'd just keep it strictly business then. Yeah, that was a good idea. Strictly business.
Find your fellow operative. Mix into the crowd. Our contact has given us valuable information with which you should have no problem getting the trust of Arachnos. Start Phase 2 as you and your partner see fit.
Oh, Phase 2 would be starting VERY soon indeed.
Then the first explosion echoed down the hallway. It was time.
He lashed at a section of his call wall, pulling out a compact MG, and slapped a clip into it. He then proceeded to peel back the skin from the back of his hands - the engineers had done an excellent job making the fake skin look just like the real thing - to reveal the micro-circuitry implanted in his hide.
Artificially contructed or not, he was an operative, and that made him equal. He would not betray that trust!
"For Malta." he wispered...
And the door exploded...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
The cell door was seperated from the common thugs of Paragon City. It was in the far back, a blue glow emanating from the cell. An armoured guard with an assault rifle peeked in on the device inside.
EMP constructed chains were holding a robot. It was red and black, with a plasma rifle strapped to its back. It also had a few devices strapped to a built-in belt. The eyes were dead.
The guard, satisfied, started walking away.
However, an explosion rocked the building, and the energy supply was destroyed. The power dampeners and EMP holders were disabled.
Slowly, the guard crept back over to the door. He peeked in, only to have his head ripped away, his body slumping to the floor, dead.
The door flew to the other side of the room because of a kick from the robot.
Its thermal scanners beeped across the visual receptors, as a shadow-covered scientist controlled its movements. He sent voice commands through a microphone; "Leech off of Arachnos, and get back to the Rogue Isles. Time for your second test run."
The robot's scanner turned green, showing auto-pilot, as he followed the crowd out of the Ziggursky prison.
Back in the base, Dr. Shimmer placed his hands together. "Hmm... I think I will find some allies... Destroying Paragon City alone with only an assault bot prototype and a few slaves is much more difficult than it appears..."
Crush the opposition, let nothing stand in your way.
Those words were her driving force. She didn't know where they came from, or who had spoken them, but they rang through her mind with the authority of a holy writ. She had tried to follow it earlier, but was stopped by several figures in garishly colored outfits. They broke her outer frame, leaving her with just her basic shell and core drive.
She was not worried though, time was on her side. With a half-life of several thousand years, she would be around for a long time to come. Even these walls of steel and stone would not contain her forever, or even long. If the letter she had found was correct, it was only a few hours until she would be free to crush those who stood before her.
Small hands clenched, a pulse of electricity surging across her knuckles. Micro-Surge was eager to get started.
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
"Sir, could I see some identification?"
"Uh, yess- yes, officer."
"........."
"Isss-is there a problem?"
"Yes, there is. This card says your name is Radioactive Lizard, Security Level 15. However, when I run your profile through my scanner, I get a 'Wanted' marker."
"Uh...There mussst be sssome sssort of missstake then."
"I'm afraid not, sir. Now, then, if you refuse to cooperate I'm afraid my friends here will have to open fire. We can't allow villains free access to the Rogue Isles, after all."
"But...Ssscrew thisss! Eat this you damn Longbow [censored]!"
***********************************************
"I [censored] hate Longbow," Charlie Murray, aka Radioactive Lizard, muttered to himself as he looked down at the orange Zig uniform that barely fit over his malformed legs.
"Don't we all, kid," grunted his cellmate. "But at least you weren't taken down by one of those goody-goody heroes. Some of those [censored] would be better off in here instead of me."
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked.
The man grunted and rubbed his nose, covering up his solid purple eyes.
"Because it's your first day, kid, I'll humor you. Some of those 'heroes', they've got major issues. I used to work for the Family, see? I was the guy they went too when they had a problem they couldn't fix themselves. This generally involved magic, which I was good at.
So I was hired to help some goons clear out this warehouse of these zombies. Things were doing fine, my protective wards were holding and the zombies were doing their half-[censored] shuffle walk thing when all of a sudden this hero busted in, called himself the Wrath of Durant or something."
The guy sighed and stood up. He walked over to the front of the cell, basically the only clear area, and started pacing as he kept talking. Apparently he had been waiting for someone to talk to so he could get this off his chest.
"So there I was, see? I was killing the zombies that the hero had been sent after, so I was doing good. But I was working with the Family, which made me bad. And even worse than that, the moment this joker saw my boys, he flew into this rage. Fire and lightning and crap started flying from his finger, more than I could do with my most powerful spell any day of the week. First volley killed John and Vinny. Ice and the others tried to fight back, but bullets don't do very well against heroes.
So the next thing I know, its me with some anti-undead crap against Mr. Angst Man himself. He was standing over the bodies of my boys, just pumping them full of lightning and fire and crap. And I couldn't take that, so I grabbed Vinny's pistol, shoved it up to his head, and fired."
The man grinned and crossed his arms in satisfaction.
"There was one less jerkwad in the world that day. But that wasn't the end of it, no. His buddies showed up just as I shot him and they jumped me, all three of em. I tried to surrender, I tried to explain what had gone on, but they didn't care. They beat me up so bad I almost wish they had killed me. Then they sent me here."
Charlie's ears twitched for a second. He thought he heard something going on out in the hallway, but the man's tale was too interesting to pay it any heed.
"It's just so messed up. Some hero kills six guys, gets killed in retaliation, gets ressurected by one of his buddies, and then doesn't get more than a slap on the wrist. I kill one man, ONE MURDERER, and I get sent here for life. Tell me, where is the justice in that?"
The man opened up his arms and looked at Charlie as though expecting a response. Charlie opened up his mouth to say something when suddenly there was a flash of light and the door, along with the man and a chunk of the wall around the door, was gone like they never existed.
"Holy ssshit," came out of Charlie's mouth.
"Sorry about that," came a British accented voice as a bald man wearing glasses stuck his head in through the door. "I guess I got a little carried away. Are you quite alright?"
Charlie managed to nod and the other villain gave him a cheery wave and ran off. Now the mutant could hear the sounds of intense combat, recognizing the sounds of gunfire and the discharge of powers that was such a common sound in the Outcasts. Standing up, Charlie walked out of his cell and took a look around.
"I am ssso badly getting out of here and killing the hell out of sssome Longbow," Charlie said to himself as he cracked his knuckles and fired a burst of radiation into an unconscious guard. "And maybe I'll get sssome of thossse goody-goody heroesss while I'm at it."
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
"Ready, compardres?"
"Sí commandante."
Samuel Reikoff checked his energy gloves one more time.
"El jefe aceptable, recuerda, nosotros está viniendo adentro de varias localizaciones. Lopez, palillo con él. Y recuerde, nuestro contrato expira solamente si el dinero para el fluir, heheh."
"Understood."
(("Okay boss, remember, we're coming in from various locations. Lopez, stick with him. And remember, our contract expires only if the money stops flowing, heheh."))
((Ok, this is just a place for us to write our character's backgrounds, leading up to when they escape the Zig. If we wanna make another thread after that, we could wait til after we start an SG and title it that or something.))
A man lay strapped to a table.
"You can't do this!" he shouted. "I have a wife and kids!"
"Nonsense, you're hallucinating, now be quiet and take the serum like a good test subject," said a man wearing a large helmet and lab coat.
"You can't... do... this..." The man on the table drifted asleep.
He was standing alone, a spotlight on him in the darkness.
Suddenly, a small creature ran to him. He recognized it! It was one of those 'Wailers' from the Rogue Isles!
It reached out a small arm, and the man grasped it.
It led him to a group of its fellows, when he noticed his clothes had disappeared. But it was alright. There were... plants... they were all over him!
He tried to pull of one of the leaves growing from his arm, and hissed at the sudden pain.
The Wailer patted his arm comfortingly, singing, "Everything is ah-alright. I'll be the one to tuck you in at night, and if you, follow me, I can guarantee you won't, find nobody, else, like, me. "
The strange song comforted him as he walked among the small demons. They were frightening but... reassuring at the same time.
Suddenly one spoke out in a garbled voice. The others laughed and pointed at him, mocking him.
The man looked around in confusion, and anger. One threw a rock at him, and the others joined in. Pelting him, hurting him.
He cried out, "STOP!"
But that wasn't what he heard.
He heard the same noise the one demon had made. Without knowing it, he had spoken in their language.
The Wailer guiding him quickly pulled the man away from the others. "Just stop your crying, it will be alright. Just take my hand. Hold it tight. I will protect you from, all around you. I will be here, don't you cry. "
He nodded, following the demon.
A large palace came into view, and before the man knew it, he was standing before the largest Wailer he had ever seen.
It spoke in the same garbled language... but he understood.
"You are a special one. One truly fit to be like us, one of us."
The man's eyes widened. One of them? A Wailer?
"I- I'd do anything to be like you!"
"What do you mean? You are already one of us."
The man felt a melodic tune in the back of his mind. It told him it was true. He was a Wailer.
He awoke in a smoke-filled lab, and looked down at his leafy arms and legs. He touched a hand to his hair, feeling the leaves.
Sharp, red spikes had grown onto his shoulders. He looked at a pair of sunglasses lying on a table, and leapt off of the chair to put them on. He grinned and turned as heroes ran towards him.
"Are you alright?" said one.
"Oh my God... look what that freak did to him," said a woman.
The man looked around in confusion.
There was a loud crash as a mech crashed through the walls.
The scientist from before sat in the pilot's seat, and let loose a barrage of missiles.
They struck the woman, sending her flying back. "Darla!" yelled the other hero, rushing back to help her.
The man felt a sudden rage... hatred even... for the scientist.
Thorns erupted from his body, and he quickly threw them at the mech, hitting a joint on its leg that sent it stumbling to the side.
It toppled over into a pile of barrels with a flame on them. For some reason, the man couldn't look away.
Suddenly, fire leapt from his hands, and the barrels caught fire.
There was a brilliant explosion before everything went black.
***
"Hello? Wake up.. come on. Up!"
The man shook his head as things came back into view. He saw he was in a hospital, and the hero from before was standing over him.
The woman was there to... but something was wrong. Tears were streaming down her face... then he realized what it was.
She was missing an arm.
"I-I saw what you did back there," said the man. "How... how you tried to help. I've had a talk with The Silver Str-"
"Madison," she said, her voice nearly a whisper.
The man nodded uncomfortably. "Madison... She... won't be able to do hero work for... for a long time. This may seem... sudden but... you have a gift. You could use your powers to help people. I could help train you. Would you be interested?"
The man's mouth opened wide. Him? A hero? It was too good to be true! This was fantastic!
Well, true the lady lost her arm, but what did he care? She didn't matter anymore, he was the one who would be fighting crime!
He grinned and nodded, shaking the hero's offered hand, when he felt something odd.
He looked behind him to see a tail swaying lightly. HIS tail!
"I need a name to call you, though," said the hero. "Weird plant dude won't work."
"Wailer!" he enthusiastically said.
"Er... no. Not your hero name. I mean you're real name."
"Wailer!" he insisted. "It's so much who I am, it's part of my naaaaaaame!"
"Errr... right. Well, the doctor's say you're free to go, so let's get you to the hero registration office."
A few hours later, he was finishing signing papers. The hero, who Wailer found out was called 'Fire-Born', decided to choose his hero name for him.
"That fire, and the thorns... how about... 'The Flaming Thorn'?"
Wailer nodded excitedly, and the woman at the registration desk raised an eyebrow before sighing and entering in the last bit of information.
"Alright, you're all set." She handed him a hero license.
Fire-Born smiled and led Wailer out. "Alright, let's start on the basics." He pointed at a Hellion who was leaning against a wall, whistling at girls as they passed by. "That one's crime is being an annoying jack-[censored]. We're taking him out."
Wailer nodded and ran up to the Hellion. The gangster took one look at him and said, "Newb," before turning to another passing woman and barking.
Wailer placed his hands on the man's face. "Hey, what the [censored] do you think you-"
He was silenced as thorns erupted from Wailer's hand into his skull.
The Hellion slumped to the ground, and he enthusiastically set the corpse on fire.
"NO! Nononononononono!" shouted Fire-Born, running across the street. "What were you thinking?! You were supposed to arrest him!"
Wailer ignored him, seeing a woman struggling to keep her purse. He had to help her!
He quickly threw a long burst of fire that wrapped around the Hellions, before covering their entire bodies, consuming them in a flash of flame.
He grinned and clapped maliciously as the woman ran up to him.
"Thank you! I know I shouldn't be... but I'm worried about those two... they were just teleported to prison, right?"
Wailer laughed and patted her on the back, each pat sending several thorns into her spine.
Her mouth was open in shock as she slumped to the ground.
"Oops..."
Fire-Born was on him in an instant. He was struck with a flaming fist, then everything went black.
He awoke in a cell. He glared childishly at the door barring his freedom, and tried to set it on fire, but nothing happened.
He sat on the bed, head in his hands. All he wanted was to be a hero...
"I'm limited... Just look at me. I'm liiiimited." He reached out his arms to an invisible Wailer. "And just look at you, you can do all I, couldn't do..."
He bowed his head as he stood, pacing about the room. "No, good, deed, goes unpunished. No act of charity goes uuuunresented. No, good, deed, goes unpunished. That's my new creeeeeed! My road of good intentions led where such roads awaiting. No good deeeeeed, goes unpunished!!!"
By now the inmates were booing and hissing, and yelling for the man to shut up. He ran to the door and gripped the bars.
"One question haunts and hurts, too much, too much to mention. Was I really seeking good? Or just seeking attention... Is that all good deeds are when looked at with an ice cold eye? If that's all good deeds are, maybe that's, the reason whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, no good deed goes unpunished! All helpful urges should be circumvented! No good deed goes unpunished, sure I meant well, well look at what well meant did! All right enough! So be it! So be it then... Let all be agreed... I'm wicked through and through since-"
Gas filled the room.
And he was out like a light.
When he awoke, the door was broken down, his freedom outside the walls.
He would destroy everyone! If they wanted to stop him from being a hero, then they'll have to take him down as a villain!
A half hour later, he was singing 'A Whole New World' in a helicopter bound for Mercy Island.
Another half hour after that, he was thrown out and forced to swim the rest of the way.
((Okay, the first song is by Uncle Cracker, called 'Follow Me.' The next is from Disney's Tarzan, called 'You'll Be In My Heart.' The third is a small piece of the song 'Wonderful' from Wicked. The last song, 'No Good Deed', is also from the musical Wicked.))
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell