Things were pretty clear cut in Paragon. At least to the adverage citizen. There was the heroes everywhere, all loosly affiliated with Freedom Corps, at least enough to get a card and do thier heroing. A few formed stronger ties to a division in that orginization and became Longbow Wardens. Then there was the police who worked with Longbow to keep the streets safer. Normal men and women who daily faced against invading metahumans from the Rouge Isles as well as the more mundan threats of Hellians, Skulls and the so called 'low threat level' groups that populated Atlas Park, Galaxy City and Kings Row.
There were, however, certain metas who didn't quite fit that mold. They had no interest in either brandishing a card and slipping into skin-tight outfits. The only thing they felt they needed was the golden shield assigned to every police officer. For a while, however, becoming licensed heroes was the closest they could get. That was until a pair of long time officers in Kings Row sited Blue Steel as an example that the police force could have heroes on the payroll and they would work withing the more confining strictures of police work.
Detective Theodore Greynn, a long time police officer and recent, accidental fusion with a young Peacebringer was placed in charge of the newly formed Cape and Cowl division of the Kings Row Police Department. Police Officer Jerrem Asterson, a beat cop who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and found his soul placed into a Circle Mage's experiment gone wild and now inhabited a regeneritive foxwoman fleash golem was asked to return from the pure heroing he had been forced into to be his second in command.
An ecclectic group of youngsters were gathered by the two. Each one not only a registered hero but also a badged police officer. One such was a young woman who had dreamed of being nothing except a police officer like her father in the Mid-West, a dream that, for her entire life, was apparently impossibe since she had been born blind.
Neither Peter Claxton, nor his daughter Califa let that stop them from planing for it. The young girl was a regular sight at her father's Denver preicent, and well liked amung the officers under Chief Claxton's command. When her powers manifasted during an attempted mugging, Cali suddenly found a new option opened to her. Utilizing hyper sonic waves, the girl was able to get an accurate picture of everything around her. Saddly, even this improvement was not enough to allow her to join the Academy. Then rumors of the C&CD came down to them.
Moving to Paragon and registering herself in the Freedom Corp database, Cali found and joined the KRPD C&C Division. It was while passing dispatch the Cali's sharp ears first caught wind of something odder then normal up in Boomtown. With nothing but paperwork, an action that was a literal headache in order to concentrate her sonics to a fine enough point to read the print, Cali dispatched herself to investigate.
A convenient group of Mages attempting to preform a ritual on a captured boy provided a much needed boost, after sending the unconcious mages to the Zig, Cali took the energy they obviously had too much of and ran for the gate. Arriving in the shattered remains of the city zone, Cali was thankful she was able to get exactly which building was torched.
Concentrating, she shifted the motion of her own energies and took to the sky.
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
"Aahhh... It's days like these that I really enjoy this job..." Solar Freeze, of course, couldn't hear his voice over the rush of air past his ears, but saying the words out loud gave them a sort of validity, a finality thoughts couldn't match. "That's odd... The thermal readings in Boomtown are off the charts..." Flying over Skyway City, he tapped the display on his wrist a few times to bring up the exact inforamtion he needed, then turned towards Boomtown and accelerated as much as the boosters on his back would allow, which translated to a fair clip, even as the heroes of Paragon City measured these things.
It took him a few minutes to reach Boomtown, even skipping the convoluted route that the land-bound heroes had to traverse. Upon reaching the site of the thermal disruption, he discovered that it was actually a burning building. Unusual in this district, because there was so little left to burn, and no reason to do it. But there was no time for idle musing.
"Activate negating wave!" He shouted. His voice-activated armor complied readily, and the red-glowing pits on the palm of his gauntlets turned blue. He placed his palms towards the blaze, and activated the energy emitters within them. A blue haze shot towards the building, and where it touched the flames diminished, their energy negated. Frost rimed the areas of the building the wave had touched, but this quickly melted away due to the heat of the flames nearby. He repeated the attack over and over again, to quench the flames. This is going to take a while...
Anyone who knew anything knew that there were a horde of reporters in Paragon City. It was a constant scoop. If you were anywhere at just about any time of the day, you were sure to see something amazing, be it a spandex clad super battle, a steam powered behemoth, or a squad of extra dimensional warriors. A good writer could make a fortune, but a good photographer could make an absolute killing.
Which was, of course, precisely why the Journey Man had just arrived in Steel Canyon via monorail from halfway across the country. He had a natural nose for great scoops, that photojournalists sense that put him in the exact right place at the exact right time to get the greatest and latest about the most amazing events. He ran his own magazine back in Indiana, filled with stories about attacks and captures, plagues and curses, mythical monsters and legends come to life, and it was his sole purpose to fill the pages of said magazine with interesting writing, but more importantly, photos of the story as the story was occurring!
Like so many times before, hed felt a calling as he had sat in his home just two nights before, a desperate urging from somewhere within him to travel. Hed learned to trust his instinct, it had never lead him wrong, not once. He would always follow his gut, and his gut would lead him to a story. Of course, his gut also got him into a lot of trouble, but thats where the heroes came in. By some twist of luck or fate, he always found himself with a hero or several during his many encounters, and his articles highlighted their escapades in detail, with action packed photographs and biographies. But of course, the Journey Man was never mentioned in such things. Only heroes really knew the Journey Man existed, in all truth.
And so it was that this most interesting man had arrived in Paragon City just as his photojournalists instinct came to the climax of excitement. He walked with purpose in his black and red patterns pants and tuxedo shirt as he strode through the crowds, smiling and waving at strangers who didnt even take the time to notice him as his camera bounced happily on the strap around his neck. He was aimed northward, and he knew he was close.
He slipped into a burger joint, ordered a meal, paid and promptly hand it to the man behind him before running to the restroom. He wasnt one to use a restroom in a restaurant without buying something first.
The man hardly had time to realize that he no longer need to buy his own meal before the bathroom door flew open again and one of the most nonconventional heroes the man had ever seen burst out.
He wore a red bandana on his head, pulled down to the bottom of his nose with large black goggles placed over his eyes, holding the cloth in place. One could only guess there were holes cut in the bandana for his eyes, because it seemed to be right over his face. His long blonde hair, which fell down his back in graceful waves, flowed from under the bandana, making a stark contrast with his shirt, which was simply a black tight t shirt. His pants were something to see, however, as he seemed to be wearing three pairs at once, each shorter than the layer previous to create a triple plaid combination that any stylist would absolutely detest. The longest layer, which looked like green and white striped pajama pants, were tucked into thick tan workboots. The second layer went just below his knees and displayed brown, blue, and dark green, while the top layer, looking like little more than boxers, was grey, black, and white. He wore a bracer on each arm of a metallic blue color, which clashed purposefully with his fringed red cape, the mantle of which wasnt cut circular like most heroes, but kept the whole cape in a rectangle shape, resting on his shoulders. A camera held by a black leather strap slapped against his chest as he ran, grabbing a few fries with an apologetic grin.
The Journey Man sprinted hard up the ramp the street followed, drawing odd looks and confused stares as he charged into Boomtown, taking a quick shot of the security guards before flipping over them and continuing on.
He scrambled over debris and fallen buildings, his heart thumping as he closed in on his goal. He could see smoke coming from not far away, just on the other side of the broken highway. He looked for a way there, but his only ways seemed either going around the highway, which would take longer than he guessed he had, or he could take the troll infested tunnel underneath. He opted for running forward and leaping, finding minuscule finger holds and scrambling up faster than any sane man would scramble up anything.
He managed to get a shot of several training Council soldiers before having to run from heavy gunfire, but they were quickly put behind him as his goal came into sight. He didnt know why, but his gut told him that it was important.
A burning building. In a destroyed part of the city.
He looked down and poked himself in the stomach, wondering if his guts were playing tricks on him.
The Journey Man shrugged. Hed once gone to a Christian camp on his own urgings to discover that the camp legend, Lights-Out Magee, was more than just a myth. Sometimes things just werent as they seemed.
Getting off the highway was easier, as a broken pipe led almost the whole way down to the ground. He grabbed hold of it and slid down, spinning in the air before landing in a crouch and rolling to absorb the impact. He was up again in a second, arriving at the scene just in time to snap several shots of Solar Freeze using his negating wave.
Well, hed arrived in time, he was sure, but he certainly hoped there was more than just a hero putting out a fire here. It was great and all, but nothing his readers would be interested in!
((OOC: Well, the costume is explained in the intro, but as it may be more confusing than anything, I'll show you a shot of my attempt at recreating him in CoH. There are a lot of things I had to leave out, namely his cape and three layers of pants, but I'd rather have you thinking of this as the Journey Man than something totally wrong.))
Coasting to a stop, Cali sensed a figure over the infurno. The return image didn't match any known profiles she had of the typical gangs that infested the derilict neiborhood. Assuming the floating figure was a hero of some sort, and was, if her sonics and kinetic sense were correct, fighting the fires.
He'll need to move faster than that to cover the whole building before it falls. She thought with an amused smile. Reaching a hand to Solar Freeze, Obsidian Song increased his energy potential up nearly three fold.
"Good evening." The jean and jacket clad woman called as she drifted closer. "This make any sense to you?" Even as she began her subtle interrogation, she make a yanking gesture to the fires and pulled energy from it, imparting some to her and the other hero.
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
Something strange is going on.
"What makes you say that?" Hallucinogen said. He was sitting in a long, white hallway, brightly lit despite the fact that there were no visible lights, and spotless to an unnatural extent. All around, on the walls, sat pictures of a hero clouded in green smoky haze, only yellow, wild hair and a gas mask clearly visible through the cloud. It was obvious who the pictures depicted, for the subject was the one sitting in the hallway, a being formed of light floating beside him. At the end of the hallway, though, a large picture of what appeared to be a little girl in pink clothes and armor rested in an ornate frame. There was certainly no one like that here.
Haha. I know you sense something.
"You would," Hallucinogen said. He got to his feet, standing only three and a half feet tall. "I have been trying to locate the source. I think I have."
The source of what? You don't even know what you sense, do you?
"I never do," Hal replied, walking to the end of the hall. "You could call it a hunch."
"Increase power to negating wave by 50%. Increase area dispersal by 75%," Solar Freeze ordered his battlesuit. This new hero's powers were boosting his abilities greatly; he had to remember to thank her afterwards! Firing off a few more waves, Solar Freeze judged that the effects were still not enough.
"Activate negation shield." I'm going to have to go in, he thought. "Expand shield to 5 meters." He turned to the hero beside him, "Are you going to come in, too? I could use your help in there."
Hermod rushed up in his normal fashion, with all the grace of a carnival clown. He screeced to a halt and looked at the other heroes. He decided not to ask what had drawn them out here. He figured they'd all have the same story as him, something had happened, they just didn't know what. He hated when that happened. "Good day Comrades in Arms." Hermod called out, "I'm glad I'm not the only one crazy enough to come out here." He said with a smile and opened his hand and unleashed a frozen gust of air to try and put the flames out. He quickly relieved he wasn't going to make a dent in it like that. "Anyone know if there's anything ali-" A Moltav Cocktail flew out of the third floor and exploded on the sheild. "Check that! Okay, we got someone in there. Who wants to rush blindly into the burning building first to arrest them?" He asked pulling out his Custom Fraken Gun.
((Yay! I'm glad you guys want to join. Hope it lives up to your standards.))
Solar Freeze looked down at the other hero, on the ground in front of the building. He also saw the Molotov cocktail that almost caught the man straight in the face.
"Okay, we got someone in there. Who wants to rush blindly into the burning building first to arrest them?" The man shouted, barely making himself heard over the roar of the flames in the building. Solar Freeze quickly descended to land in front of the man.
"If we're going to go in there, we should have a plan. Obviously, at least one of our enemies is on the third floor. There may be others scattered around the building. I suggest three different entrance points. You in the front, myself from above, and you," he pointed to the woman still hovering above them, "from the rear, if you're coming. I have a pair of communicators with me if we need to get in contact. They use a high-frequency energy band and an encrypted channel, so there's almost no chance of the enemy overhearing us." He offered the communicators to the two others. "Shall we head in?"
"A valiant trio of heroes arrives on the unexpected tragedy, only to discover that there may be more to this unfortunate incident than meets the eye!" the Journey Man said as he began snapping pictures of the three, moving around them. "Keep talking, just ignore the camera, nobody likes a hero who looks at the camera unless they're striking a flashy pose. I want to see how the events play out here. I'll follow whoever goes in first, I've got to see all of this."
Hermod blinked and looked at the camera man. Hermod was the PR face of a psuedo two man team up of him and Ziu. Ziu had no real interest in explaining why he fought Crey. Hermod wasn't interested in explaining either, but he owed it to his friend to put a face on his cursade, someone to take the blows from Crey's lawyers. So this was nothing new to him, sorta. This was a very odd reporter indeed. "Alright, buddy, put the camera away." Hermod said as he took the comm device. "Anyway, good plan, I like it." The flash went off again and Hermod sighed. "Not the time buddy." The flash went off again. He gave up and went into the building through the front, "I should warn you Shutter Bug, I'm the Baffling Hermod, not Statesman, I don't move newspaper stories, if you want that look for little Z, he moves newspapers. Just don't get in his face, he thinks all Reporters are in Crey's pocket."
Hermod turned the actual heroes. "Alright, flush them out, arrest them, and put out the fires. Then it's back home for tea and metals. Sounds good?" He asked and without waiting summoned an ice sword. He stabbed it through the door and ducked. Fire rushed throught the gap, but the ice sword kept regenerating itself until he killed the back draft. he adjust his lucky cowboy hat. "And I doubt we'll find anyone that's not a hostile, but keep an eye out anyway." Hermod said as he opened the door.
((You get three quesses as to who our mystery arsonists are, but the first two don't count. You know it yet? Yep, Hellions. Enjoy your Hero Fodder. 
))
While the strange reporter circled them with a camera, Solar Freeze did his level best to ignore the man and concentrate on the situation at hand. The hero who had just introduced himself as Hermod had entered the building. Which means Solar Freeze should be making his own entrance. Activating his energy thrusters with a short voice command, he flew to the top of the building and over to the roof access door, stopping only briefly to toss a comm unit to the still-hovering woman who had assisted him before. He quickly tried the door handle, only to discover the door locked. "Activate energizing wave. Reduce area dispersion to 10%," came the voice command, and the small indentations on the palms of his gauntlets changed color from blue to red. He blasted the locking mechanism with a quick, ultra-focused burst of heat-energizing energy, melting the lock and opening the door. Through the doorway he went, and entered the burning building. The flames tapered and died about 15 feet from Solar Freeze, due to the negation-wave "shield" that was being emitted from his battlesuit. This was not nearly as powerful or focused as his negation wave attack, but still brought the area around him to about room temperature.
Heading down the stairs, he entered a small room with a few Hellions in it. One of their number, a Damned, cut loose with a powerful fire blast upon noticing Solar Freeze, which was rendered useless by his shield. When the others heard their leader attack, they all turned and drew guns on Solar Freeze. Ironically, the thugs are more dangerous in this instance than their boss, he thought. "Activate negating wave. Set dispersion to normal." The next blast froze one of the thugs, who was brandishing a shotgun. His weapon useless and the rubber in his shoes frozen to the floor, the thug had been essentially negated in one swift blow. However, the remaining thugs had time to fire their weapons, and the Damned tried another fire blast. Fortunately, one thug missed, the other shot bounced off his armor, and the Damned still could not summon enough power to overcome the negation field. However, this convinced Solar Freeze that he needed to shore up his defenses. "Increase negation wave power by 130%. Set area dispersion to 300%." The next blast formed a wall of ice - created by instantly freezing the water vapor in the air - directly in front of Solar Freeze, and anchored to the ground. The Hellions' next three gunshots merely ricocheted off the wall. With a start, Solar Freeze realized the Damned must have drawn his own gun, which was fortunately only a low-caliber pistol and lacked the penetrating power to punch through the wall. He reset the power and dispersal on his negation wave back to normal. Poking his head around the wall, he fired off another negation wave, anchoring another Hellion and, this time, knocking him unconscious. Quickly withdrawing behind the wall as the next volley came, Solar Freeze repeated the process on the next thug, with similar results. Then it was just him and the Damned. Then the Hellion got smart. He fired his gun, at the same time creating a small wall of flame at the exit to the gun's barrel. As the bullet passed through, the gunpowder contained within exploded, momentum carrying it to the wall of ice, which shattered. The surprised Solar Freeze was showered with cold water and ice shards, several of which nicked his unprotected face. I really have to get a helmet... he thought idly, then steeled himself for battle with the Damned. Firing a few blasts to stall the Hellion for a few seconds, he quickly realized that the Hellion had employed a similar strategy to his own; he had raised the temperature of the area around him; thus creating a zone in which Solar Freeze's own blasts were less effective. Quickly an idea formed in his head, and he activated his flight thrusters... straight at the Hellion. Slamming into the Damned shoulder-first, Solar Freeze rammed the Hellion into the door at the other end of the room. Keeping his flight thrusters activated, he went through the door and into the hall, splinters flying all around him. When he landed on the other side of the doorway, the Hellion flopped to the ground, unconscious. Now, I need to move quickly and hope nobody heard that. I think this is just the beginning...
"Solar Freeze to Hermod. Seems like it's the Hellions; I got four up here. What's going on down there?"
"Rassam frassam Clockwork."
*pam!*
"Stupid wanna-be robots."
*ratatatatatatat*
"Give real robots a bad name."
*BAM!*
"So getting revenge for that time you bastards stole my arm."
*BOOM!*
Solid Shot kicked at the scrap metal that had bounced up to his flat grey metal boots irritably and twirled his rifle around his hands before slipping it back under his cape. By no means of the imagination did Solid Shot show off the fact that he was a hero. Every part of him was painted a flat grey; from his rounded shoulder pauldrons to the massive bulk of his forearms to his cape. His only concession to style was adding black lightning stripes to his cape and leg armor. Now, of course, he probably should have picked blue because of the distinctive blue electricity that always crackled over his arms, but he thought that would be a bit much. As it was though, Solid was annoyed that the Clockwork had scratched up his armor, yet again, and was searching for the next group to break into little bits when his targeting eye locked onto an odd sight in the distance.
A building in Boomtown was on fire.
Now, technically that shouldn't cause any worry, but in Solid's five years of working the city, he'd only seen those skycrapers smoke or explode. They weren't pretty when they exploded.
"Five gets you one it's Hellions or Trolls," Solid bet himself as he activated his boot jets, soaring up into the air with all the grace of a flying brick.
The blaster unslung his assault rifle as he approached the building and gave the south face of it a hard scan. Aside from the raging thermal signatures all over the place, there was quite a bit of movement going on in the lower floors. Silently doing an eeny-meeny-miny-moe in his head, Solid swooped down and dove into a fourth floor window.
Since there was no glass, his entrance lacked the normal dramatic flair that he usually tried to evoke and the roar of the flames even drowned out the sound of his jets.
Punishing the nearest Hellion for his inattentiveness with an electrically charged fist to the temple, Solid dropped a tele-bug on the thug and moved on as the Blood Brother was teleported directly to the Zig.
*************************************************
Thus it was when Solar Freeze finished clearing the third floor, there was a loud crunch and a bit of plaster fell on his head. Looking up, Solar would see a crackling blue, grey colored gauntlet stuck in the ceiling.
"Stand still so I can hit you!" Solar thought he heard from where the hand was.
This was followed by a loud bang and a further comment.
"See? Your friend know's how to listen. Learn from his example!"
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.
"Hellions?" Hermod asked. Odd, they were obvious suspects, but why here? "I got nothing so far... uh, I actually I could use a roster. Sorry guys, can't keep track of all the papers. I'm Hermod, I'm a magic ori-" Hermod was cut off as a Hellion tried to break a bottle over his head. It hit and Hermod stumbled and then he turned around and whipped him with his ice sword. The blade broke as it hit the Hellions chest and forced him against the wall. The blade reformed and Hermod made a down ward strike meant to knock out the Hellion as it struck his head. Hermod readjusted his hat, no one messes with the lucky hat. "Sorry about that. I'm Hermod, and I'm a magic origin blaster, pay no attention to the rifle on my back, it's magical, somehow, I swear." Hermod said.
Upon hearing the commotion above him, Solar Freeze said into the comm unit, "Hold that thought a sec, Hermod... I think that something's happening above me. I'm heading up to investigate." Solar Freeze headed back up the stairs that he had recently descended. Heading towards the source of the sounds, he discovered another hero fighting a group of Hellions that he had somehow bypassed on the way down. I thought I had checked the whole floor, but I must have missed a room...
"Uh, greetings," he said to the other hero. "I'm Solar Freeze. I think I can guess why you're here. We should work together if we want to do this right. What do you say?" He extended a hand, holding a communicator in it. "This device will allow us to communicate. It's safe; none of the Hellions have the knowledge to crack it."
Solid Shot spared Solar a glance before pulling his hand out of the floor. He held one finger out toward the hero in a gesture for quiet while he held his assault rifle in one hand pointed at a pillar.
"BAM!" Solid shouted, sounding almost exactly like a gunshot.
And off the hiding Hellion ran, trying to get to the door that Solar had come through before Solid could reload. However, all his plans were for naught as a spray of rubber buckshot caught him in the legs, sending him tumbling to the ground where a swift kick to the jaw put him out like a light.
"I'm Solid Shot," Solid said as he accepted the communicator and attatched it in a slot designed for such a purpose behind one of the two radio antannae on either side of his helmet. "And do you always give people stuff on your first date?"
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.
Cali lowered herself to the ground as Solar Freeze and Hermod spoke. She sensed the odd camra man and, at frist was about to ask him to leave the crime scene, to say nothing of the area itself, which was still very much a danger. However, she also realized no single reporter would even be able to get to the building, let alone through the gate unless they had a Freedom Corp card and some form of advanced motive means. As odd as he was acting, the man was apparently able to take care of himself.
Unfortunately, by the time she thought this through, the other two had already moved into the building. Sighing, she cliped the comm device to her headband and flew up to the fifth floor. Inhaling slightly, she opened her mouth and a wave of kinetic energy howled out and shattered the window of a room that had yet to catch the rest of the way ablaze.
Skimming into the building, the blind woman bounced echoes everywhere, giving her a more accurate and omni-directional view of her surroundings. A tug sent the energy from a nearby fire into her own system, sputtering the flame out while kicking her into overdrive. Zipping into the hall, Cali reconed the floor and found one patch of Hellians working their way down, excited talk about catching a hero off guard on the third floor. The police officer smirked and sent an untrasonic wave that scrambled and benumbed the gangers thoughts, leaving them standing still in a daze. Calmly positioning herself above them, she shifted the entirety of their energy into herself and howled at them from above, knocking them out for several hours and ensuring them a nasty headache when they did wake up, in the Zig processing cells.
"Hello Hermod," Cali said after the other heroes, slightly more formal greating. "I'm Patrol Officer Califa Claxton, Kings Row PD, Cape and Cowl Division. Registered at Freedom Corp as a mutation originated defender under the call sign Obsidian Song. I utilize kinetic manipulations and focused sonic emissions."
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
[ QUOTE ]
"I'm Solid Shot. And do you always give people stuff on your first date?"
[/ QUOTE ]
Solar Freeze looked a bit flustered for a moment, until he realized that Solid Shot was only joking. He had kept his communicator activated, so the others could hear his interaction with the other hero, and come to his aid, if necessary.
"I'm Solar Freeze. Technology-based blaster, if you hadn't guessed already. Let's get going; I'm sure we don't have much time left." He ran towards the staircase and down it. Back on the third floor, he raced towards the room that the Molotov cocktail had been thrown from. Opening the door, he saw a group of Hellions in the largest room yet; there were quite a few, including a few Damned. Fortunately, they seemed to be muttering about what to do when the heroes got here, and not paying attention enough to know that there was a hero here.
Withdrawing a ways, Solar Freeze said quietly into the comm unit, "Found what seems to be the main group. Too big for me alone. Let's regroup up here before we go in."
Green smoke burst into being next to Solar Freeze. Hallucinogen was standing there, having just become visible. He was breathing heavily, obviously tired.
"Dangit!" he said. "I'm always late. Is anything still going on?"
"Yo," Solid greeted Hal with a small wave from his position next to the door. "I'd suggest not stepping through door number one and keep quiet. We're hunting Hellions."
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.
"Gotcha," Hal said softly. Radiation poured from his body, erasing all trace of their presence from the minds of anything else nearby.
Put the camera away? The Journey Man asked, scratching his red bandana. Why would I want to do that when the heroes are about to charge in?
As the heroes set off in their different directions, the eager photojournalist raced after the only one he could actually follow: Hermod. As the only hero who was hoofing it, he became the primary target for land bound camera work. The Journey Man bounced behind him excitedly, keeping himself as far out of the action as possible while still managing to get great shots of Hermods work. The flashes had ceased, and the dull clicking of the camera couldnt even be heard over the sound of burning building and combat.
Of course, one couldnt get the best shots when they were all taken from behind. While the hero was busy fighting off one of the unlucky gangers, the Journey Man zipped around them and ran ahead, running backwards as he took pictures. He was sweating badly. It was one of those times he gave himself a mental pat on the head for buying the expensive lens.
He felt his back hit a wall, so he turned and ran on ahead through a side passage, leading himself through a corridor and a staircase. He shouldered open the door and rushed up as quickly as he could, following the sounds of intense combat. It sounded like the other heroes may not have gone too far up in the building, a big plus for him!
He ran up to the fourth floor, hoping he was right, and burst through once again, only to find himself facing a Hellion that seemed to be fleeing from something. They both stopped in their tracks and stared at one another for a brief period of silence.
Are you one they missed? The Journey Man asked, breaking the awkwardness.
The Hellion came forward, a crowbar in his hand ready to come down and take the photojournalist out.
Say cheese, then! the reporter smiled as he lifted his camera, snapping a picture. Except, unlike the other shots, this time the camera let out a blinding flash that assaulted the sight of the Hellion, robbing him of his sight momentarily, which was long enough for the Journey Man to duck out of the way and kick out behind himself, sending the ganger on a long tumble down the stairs.
Its so good to meet interesting new people. The photojournalist smiled to himself as he ran farther onto the floor, finally reaching the group of heroes.
Hold your fire, Im with the independent press! he explained loudly as he ran into the room, lifted his camera, and began taking pictures like a madman. Just pretend Im not here!
After tagging the last of her little band of playmates, Cali scouted the fourth floor without incident. Draining a few fires of energy and keeping her own topped off and boosted, she joined Solar Freeze and his 'date' down on the third floor.
An eyebrow arched as she felt the presence of the photographer from outside. Tapping the energy of a nearby fire, Cali boosted each of the heroes with increased recovery and movement.
"Fifth and fourth floors are clear." She reported simply. Her own eyes closed as they always were.
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
"You punks sicken me." Coldfire said as he slammed the last Hellion into the ground, cracking the floor. Looking around the room, he heard the sounds of shouts from below him. Heroes had came and were in the building. Coldfire wasn't sure how they'd react to him, he wasn't exactly a popular person with the heroes of Paragon. Walking into the hall he looked over at the sign on the stairs.
"Sixth floor..." Memorizing the location and the level he was on in his mind, he walked in the opposite direction. He had already beat the hell out of most of the Hellions on this floor. He had flown into the sixth floor after being sidetracked from his route home. Moving to the other end of the building, he came across a blaze blocking the stairs to the seventh floor. Activating his fire shielding he walked through the flames as if they were nothing, putting a barracade between him and the heroes and giving the Hellions no where to run.
Hallucinogen had come to the wall of fire.
"Hmmm. . ." the hero said. "I don't really have anything that can put that out. . ."
What a wonderful thing a game is. It can start with anything and go anywhere. There no need to worry about anything while playing a game, after all, all games are safe to play, aren't they? Of course they are. And if anyone could use a lighthearted break it's the Heroes of Paragon City. So over worked and taxed to their lmits everyday. It really is a shame.
And then there was a smile.
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Hermod rode his motorcycle through the streets of Paragon City feeling the wind whip his face. God did it feel good. Or should that be Gods? Sometimes he really wished he didn't know everything he knew. But if he didn't there wouldn't be anyone to make the difference only he could with his knowledge. It wasa heavy burden, but he hadn't given up on carrying it yet.
Dressed in a tee shirt and jeans with a bandalier across his chest. Other than that and his cowboy hat he looked like a civilain. Paragon City slang for Heroes like Hermod is a Denim Avenger.
His paranatural senses went off. Well, to be more precise, a runic spell he had had placed on the top of his hand went off. He pulled his bike over and stared at it. Something had happened, but he didn't know what. The rune faded as the disturbance passed. "Damn." He tapped his left hand trying to resummon the spell. He sighed and gave up. It had been pointing north. He could use his super speed to check every zone as he traveled north, but that would take too long. If something had happened and faded that quickly the threat could already be over.
"Shortcuts it is then." He took off into an alley way and utilised the shortcuts only he knew about, the kinds that only an Asgardian could access, or atleast an honorary substitue. Hermod blowed into a brick wall of the alley way and disappeared as if he had never been. Six second later Hermod reappeared in Steel Canyon from another alleyway. He drove around for a moment until he was content Steel Canyon wasn't floating away from the Earth and turned into a parking lot and and drove towards one of the parking spots. Hermod kicked his bike like you would a horse and the headlight flickered on. He suddenly dropped downwards into the blacktop without anyone noticing. Hermod reappeared ten seconds later driving through a window in Boomtown. The bike seemed to hover for a moment as Hermod held out his hand and cast a spell making an ice ramp to plow down that promptly melted behind him.
The bike screached to a halt. Boomtown was no place for a motorcycle. He got off and concluded that it was also no place for a super speeder. He held down his brown cowboy hat as he ran through the zone and paused. A building was burning. Hermod stared. "Who the hell lights a building on fire in a destroyed city?" He asked and then shook his head as he charged in to save the day. Again.
((The story of A Simple Game is well, simple. Someone is messing with the Heroes of Paragon City. No one knows who or why and his first act is to light a building in Boomtown on fire. A word of caution. This isn't "ZOMG I can pick my nose and destory the world!" in anyway. Infact, Heroes who think of striking first and asking questions never are at a sever disadvantage. Most threats are intangible at best. So hopefully this will be a fun game.))