((A couple of very good questions were brought up in a PM. I thought I should post my answers here...
I suppose I should clarify the state of the city. It's one city in an ongoing global war, so while the world governments are present here, their forces are dispersed to several places at once. For background's sake, you can have any place be a battlefield, a dystopia, or be unaffected by the war. That part is up to you.
As my no leader rules, I just don't want anyone claiming leadership of one side or the other in this war. People, say, within the ranks of Arachnos from masterminds commanding a few to generals in charge of battalions are fine. But you can't sweep across the country with a massive army of millions. This may change, but for now I am trying to keep the scale a little more confined.
I tried to make my what-if able to accept as many characters as possible, so you can pluck them out of the current timeline and put them in this one, or have them aged since the present.
Plenty of places for survivor/scroungers, mercenaries, revisionaries, most any way you can see your character in this world, they will fit.))
A cloaked figure hid in the shadows,watching things go,he was surely a villan just by his looks,but he moved quickly,attracting some attention from Arachnos troops,they fired but the man was too quick as sped off. Under the hood you could see a grin.
This man was ShadowWings and he was one hell of a hero, some call him stupid for speeding through Villan areas. He currently was working his way through the new war zone for heroes and villans, Steel Canyon. He stopped and hid in the shadows,almost to be seen by a couple higher ranked Arachnos.
He grumbled to himself,"Great gallinas, im never going to make it safely to my base...ah well...nothing like a suicide run!" And with that,out from the shadows,he blasted out at a supersonic speed. Villans tried to get him but he was fast, not even the Banes could get him with their sneak attacks.
Shadow then saw his chance,a long tunnel on the Hero side of Steel and shot into it, down going and through a series of tunnels and finnaly reached the underground small base of his. He closed the doors and locked them and said,"Hmmn, what to do,what to do...oh, Computer, Locate Zienka!"
A voice rang through the room, "Doing so now, sir...Zienka is currently in Arachnos grasps in a builidng...in Steel Canyon." Shadow cursed, his daughter was captured,he then said,"Computer...this is the last time we'll be speaking,activate self destruct when i leave...and make sure the whole tunnel gets caved off...."
The voice spoke again,"Alright sir...acknowledged." Shadow gathered his guns,and his katana and his bigger cloak,along with his armor and exited,and rushed off,as the tunnels exploded,collapsing.
He sighed and said,"Dont worry...Zienka, ill be there soon."
He then jumped over a edge and landed on a building, taking out a Wolf Spider Enforcer
A red shadow passed overhead, the only sound it made the beating of leathery wings. With it, it brought a feeling of heat, like there was some intense fire smoldering above them. Actually, the girl flying above WAS on fire -- it was the only defensive power she had. By her nature, she was an offender. She rained fiery death from above, occasionally moving in to fight with claw and fang.
She was Dragonistic, and she had just found out where the base was. She reached over with one claw and tapped a button on her Vanguard armor, activating an invisibility device. To ensure that she couldn't be spotted by heat sensors, she cooled herself down and elevated the temperature about 200 feet around to her normal body temperature.
It wasn't exactly easy. She was a powerful pyrokinetic, to be sure, but doing something that large was very tiring. But that would help her get into the hero base undetected.
Quickly, she dropped to all fours. Her arms lengthened, the hands turning into talons entirely, her bones rearranging themselves to fit a quadrupedal creature. Her face lengthened into a snout, hair sucked back into her head like spaghetti, frilly ears and long spines growing in its place. Her tail got longer, and more muscular, more dangerous.
She was a dragon.
Quietly, the reptilian creature sniffed the air, then slithered into the shell of the building, as if searching for a survivor to eat, looking for prey.
Instead, down it went, into the tunnels that led to the hero base. The massive pocket of heat vanished very suddenly, and the dragon stood up on its hind legs. From underneath one of its larger scales, it pulled a hero license, showed it, and waited to be let in.
Overall, the dragon looked grubby and tattered. It was obvious it had no shelter, and had been living on the streets for a while, scrounging for food and...Was that blood on its teeth?
@Dragonistic
Unless I'm quoting someone, EVERY SINGLE post above is QR.
<----Female
Dragonistic, Kheldragon, Ink Dyne, KheIdragon, Squiddy Attack
Total level is about 149.
EVILCAT
SEZ YOUR COMPU-TAR TASTE LIKE CHIKIN
((Hmm, this is looking interesting. You should speak with Burning Brawler some, he's put up a dystopian future RP before and had some great ideas you might like. 
))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((Thanks for the tip DeviousMe, I will do that.))
A speakeasy type slat in a thick metal door slid open. A set of eyes visibly grew wide before slamming the metal back shut.
"Its bigger than the cameras made it look," a soldier said.
"It's got a hero ID," said another.
"So? That hasn't meant anything in a long time!"
Flagstone was the doormaster, one of the most important jobs there. He stood with a stoic, military presence and almost scowling face.
He ordered them, "Ready your weapons. Jenkins, you seal the rest of the base off until I say it is safe or it is dead."
He nodded and sealed them in.
The heavy door slid open revealing several men with guns pointed at the dragon.
Flagstone held a more diplomatic stance, "Easy," he said to both his men and this strange visitor. He showed empty hands as he moved slowly forward, "Can you talk?"
((Flagstone will be the first NPC for anyone to take control of. He is older, with harsh features like an old frowning general, and a paranoid militaristic personality.))
"Yes," it said in a clearly female voice, "I can talk. And I'm not going to eat you or anything, don't worry. Human tastes really bitter." It seemed to make a face, and kept the hero ID up.
It glanced first at Flagstone, then at each gun in turn, and suddenly the dragon shrank. Its head shaped into a ball, its face flattened, and hair grew from its scalp very suddenly like a wild growth of weeds. Meanwhile, its body was reforming itself into a more human shape, its front claws becoming hands.
In a few seconds, it was done, and she was just a dragon-girl with flame-red hair. She pulled a band off from around her wrist and fixed her hair up into a high ponytail, chewing on her lip. However, she still looked pretty dangerous -- she still had the fangs, the claws, and the eyes, her tail was sweeping dangerously from side to side, wings slightly open. And her feet were still large, deadly-looking talons.
On the other hand, there was no place anywhere on her body she could have hidden a weapon. Not that she really needed to.
The ID showed a picture of her head, but she was smiling. It classified her as a mutant fireblaster -- security level 50. The ID was pretty old -- it was from way back in 2006.
@Dragonistic
Unless I'm quoting someone, EVERY SINGLE post above is QR.
<----Female
Dragonistic, Kheldragon, Ink Dyne, KheIdragon, Squiddy Attack
Total level is about 149.
EVILCAT
SEZ YOUR COMPU-TAR TASTE LIKE CHIKIN
His jet black hair was glistening in the light, and his pale skin reflected the light almost as well as his white suit. As he stood on a perch high atop a derelict building, Monarch thought to himself about is journey thus far. He had gone through pretty much hell, and even more to get where he was. Just as the thought passed through his head he jumped from his perch onto the ground, about 300 feet below. His ability to control gravity allowed him to jump to extreme heights as well as run at amazing speeds. As he hit the ground he ran towards a most inconspicuous bombed-out building. Moving to the back of the building he entered a hole invisible to the human eye. His hero badge readied, pinned to his suit, he made his way down to the base.
"Flag, If she wanted to hit us she woulda already done it. Let her in," Said a gave voice from behind the doorman's back.
The door man did a quick double take. "Justice? You sure about this?"
"What's the worse that could happen? Just let her in, I'll take responsibility," The grave voice said as the doorman and his guards relaxed a little and stepped to the side.
Dragonistic couldn't miss the owner of the voice, he was standing ten feet inside the entryway. His blue Cy-Tech suit gleamed. The white tribal symbols that flowed up the arms and legs stood out, radiating faint energy. The only thing that was discernable about his face were the dark blue mask, white-opaque lenses that covered his eyes, and a jaw line in desperate need of a shave.
"Welcome to Bastion," He said as he gave a crooked smile.
((OOC: His Cy-Tech suit is like a second skin or spandex. It's made of interlocking threads of self aware nannites))
I do not know my reasons for posting, but post I must. ~~Build
"We can't stop here, this is bat country."
--Johnny Depp
"I ain't bi-curious, I'm a man. Why do you think I'm wearing this tight spandex and got all these muscles?" Meatwad
As Dr. Monarch hit the floor on which the base was so cleverly built upon, he scanned his identification to let the internal computer know it was him. But, even though the computer scanned his ID, he kept it pinned to his jacket, knowing that the doorman needed to check it himself. "A good policy,' he muttered under his breath, a smirk on his face.
thier rumor about a hero being hunted down by the taso. they say he has a broken sword and fight like animale connered.
pointblank ask nathan what this heros name he look at point blank and siad a lengend has no true name. they call him Swords'man of Kent. point blank it cant be he died in 2025. nathan look at him he is a phatom who walk with broken sword them or a decendent seek him thier is only one.
after point blank leave a taso come and question nathan about thier prey a broken sword apperse in a flash the sound of air pass theblade as it cut air the taso fall and here the swords'man quetion where is the Smith.
A very familiar face stood alone on a grand pillar within one of Arachnos's many surface bases, his face as solid and stoic as granite itself. His now black hair whipped into his eyes, his cape through the air, as a sudden gust of wind blew, carrying with it the scent of ruin, dispair, and death. His arms crossed over his chest, obscuring a tiny Arachnos emblem on the upper torso of his Arbiter uniform. White metallic boots magnetized themselves to the pillar, ensuring that his otherwise precarious perch was safer than any he could find on the ground.
He gazed out toward the now ruined city, the section formerly known as Steel Canyon being his current base of operations. The sky was a stereotypical, albeit, beautiful, red, which was ironically complimented by a building burning on the horizon.
Despite what was clearly being seen before him, Jake did not grieve. No, he hardly even batted an eyelash. What once stood must be torn down in order to induce change. In order to create something better. To create, something must be destroyed. He had come to terms with this long ago, since before Arachnos's conquest of Paragon, and yes, even the US, had begun.
How long had it been since he'd come to the Isles, driven there by some unknown force, and so hypnotically drawn to serve Arachnos? How long had it been since his innocence and ignorance had been lost?
"Almost twenty years..." He replied to no one in particular, another building deciding to combust shortly afterward.
Twenty years was a long time. At least long enough for a cocky teen to revolutionize an enormous organization's technology program and rise to a very high position as both a scientist and a tactical commander, and at most long enough for a small island nation to combat and occupy one of the world's biggest super powers.
And it was surely enough time for said cocky teen to grow-up, in more ways than one.
Jake sighed as a loud beeping suddenly sounded in his helmet; the time for recollection had passed. Pressing a button on the interior of his left boot with one of his toes, the magnetic nature of his boots suddenly wore off, giving way to three rather power streams of flame exhausting from both of his boots. Lifting off into the air, he went into a hawk dive, taking off toward the ground at a nearly ninety degree angle. He had just received a mission, and was now on his way to the interior of the base to receive it.
The figure seated himself on the 'top,' so to speak, of a completely destroyed building. It was filled with smoke, remnants of a flame long extinguished. The 'top' he sat on was previously the mid-section, before the destruction of this part of Steel Canyon.
After snacking on some rations he had brought with him into this war zone of a city, Mender Ballard stood. The short translucent cape on his back fluttered peacefully against his rugged, serious demeanor. The shining red and black exoskeleton he wore pulsated with barely noticeable energies, allowing him to avoid tiring out under extreme duress.
He had been attempting to stop this ordeal before it occurred, but after his failure to warn everyone he could, the major power of his Ouroboros Transporter to take him back through time was depleted. The device had run out of energy in the extreme areas of power, and only the minor abilities were now available- Slowing down, speeding up, and halting time for very short periods.
He approached the half-destroyed stairway into the lower part of the building, and was met with shouts and banging. "Open up," a gruff voice called in, causing Ballard to twitch slightly, "We have orders to destroy you!"
Yes, he thought, That's going to get me to open up.
"Open up I said!"
"Yes," John replied, shifting a few components on his device, "Yes, you did say that, didn't you?"
------------------------------------
The door blew off its hinges, sending three mercenaries back. Two others, near the back of the five-man group, were stunned. A blur of speed flew by them, sending them careening into the walls. The other three leaped up, firing their assault rifles into the blur. It avoided every bullet, closing in on them with extreme speed.
The first, the leader of the group, was sent flying into the air with a strong uppercut, the next kicked so hard in the stomach, he keeled over and vomited, and the next punched directly in the sex organs.
The blur halted, dusting himself off- A habit he'd had for as long as he could remember. "Useless." he muttered darkly, disappearing entirely.
He reappeared on the next rooftop, actually with a top, placing a slip of paper in his device. It disappeared in a golden flash. "One left," he muttered, sitting down again. "I need more paper."
Crossing to the other side of the rooftop after a few minutes, he leaned over the edge. He remembered, long ago in his mind, this city full of life. Vibrant and bright, street lights would flash on the odd occasion, causing Experiment 2.0 to grin.
I am not Experiment 2.0 any more, Mender Ballard reminded himself, sadly, I am Mender Ballard of Ouroboros, sent here to procure a safe future for Paragon City. Nothing more.
Nothing more at all.
((I'm gonna introduce a new character.))
"Great time to run into some Clockwork," the giant figure muttered, as he swung down hard with his stone mallet, just in time to level a human-sized bucket of bolts. The wolf-like figure threw down another blow onto the machine, which completely destroyed it. "As fun as that was," he thought aloud, " I'd rather not do it again. Any Clockwork left thus scampered away, afraid of being crushed. "Well now that that's over I can relax a bit."
And almost as some ironic move of fate, just as he sat down he heard a rumbling. "What now," he thought, as a gargantuan metal being arose form a scrapheap about 50 feet away. As it began to charge, Fenrir readied his fists, encased in stone, and began to emit a strong electrical current. "Get some," he yelled as he sped towards the giant. When they collided an explosion with enough force to level a city block occurred. Staggering backwards, Fenrir generated a stone mallet and jumped high into the air. He swung down hard, but to no avail, the thing had moved out of his way. It then began unleashing a flurry of electrically charged punches, which, even though countered by his armor, still hurt quite immensely. As he lay on the ground, seemingly doomed to perish, he made a split second decision. As the beast pounded the ground with a blow that would've surely flattened him, Fenrir, with lightning speed, and stomped the ground, sending the monster backwards, as well as sending a stone upward. Fenrir soared up and quickly grabbed the sharp sheet of stone, using what energies he had left to electrically charge it. He then sent it soaring towards the beast, instantly severing it's mechanical cranium. "Another typical day in the City", he said, sitting on the ground where he had landed.
A small ship broke the atmosphere of Earth, zooming down toward the large continent of North America. It was a bulky, worn looking craft which didn't at all live up to the sleek, stylish spaceship stereotype. As it approached the ground its speed decreased until it was hovering in the air above a city.
"What the slor? That ain't Paragon. Zoot, ya made a mistake with the coordinates." A deep, gravely voice bellowed within the confines of the ship. Lou glared at the monitor displaying the semi-ruined city, his nose-less face wrinkling in irritation.
"I did not," an idignant voice replied. "This is exactly where we're supposed to be. Someone musta just blown the holy heck outta the place. I mean, we WERE gone for quite awhile."
"Geez, why is it everytime a take a trip, somethin' like this happens," Lou groaned, running a hand through the spiky, unkept shock of hair on the top of his head. "Can ya pinpoint Bu at least?"
"Sorry," Zoot answered after a second. "The locater musta been damaged. Or just stopped working. It was a second hand model to begin with."
Lou only gave a rumbling growl in response. Flicking a few switches on the console he sent out his usual landing request. Usually it was received by City Hall, but with the state of Paragon at the moment, he'd just have to see who would answer.
A massive force blew Fenrir backwards as if he were a piece of paper. A huge battle-scarred monolith poked it's nose through the dark clouds enveloping the city. "What the hell," Fenrir said to no one in particular, but he wanted to know what was descending upon the City, City Hall in particular. He then started to make his way to what may soon well be a crash site.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Dr. Monarch was getting annoyed. There had been some confusion dealing with the identity of one dragon/human hybrid. As the heavy door opened, he was greeted by a familiar face. Flagstone was standing in front of him, a bit fazed, but for the most part ok. His voice was rough, but Monarch felt welcomed. "Well I'll be damned!" "If it isn't Jason Monarch," Flagstone spat. "Nice to see you too Flagstone," said Monarch, surprised he had been called Jason. They had served under the Freedom Phalanx during the Second Ritki Invasion. Being one of the best radiologists, and one of the finest physicians and surgeons in Paragon, Monarch was a great assets to the hero resistance. But he didn't let that go to his head
Justice looked from the dragon to the good doctor. "Evenin Doc, been awhile since you've been back. How are things topside," Justice Reborn said extending his hand in greeting.
Flagstone looked at Justices outstretched hand, "You sure you wanna go shakin a Doc's hand like that Caleb. For all you know he could be one of them whatcha callits. . .germaphobes."
Caleb lauged a little, "He fights. Never met anyone who gets there hands dirty a germaphobe Flagstone. Comeon you two. Lets go make your introductions to Wolffe."
Caleb Boxer, the son of a former hero and hero himself, motioned for the two to follow him as he started to go deeper into the base.
I do not know my reasons for posting, but post I must. ~~Build
"We can't stop here, this is bat country."
--Johnny Depp
"I ain't bi-curious, I'm a man. Why do you think I'm wearing this tight spandex and got all these muscles?" Meatwad
Acanous was bent over a desk, reassembling the latest salvage he had pulled out of a Freak Tank.
The U.L.T.R.A. outpost was pretty much the only place he could go in this reality where he was sure he wouldn't be disturbed. He mentally patted himself on the back for his foresight.
Back in 2004, when he contated the dimension he liked to term "Cold War Earth" and offered them the chance to study new technologies from this reality in exchange for support and supplies, it haddn't gone over well with certain other groups.
Good thing Acanous wasn't origionally FROM this dimension, or he was pretty sure Malta or Longbow would have gone after his family to convince him to stop.
Setting up the TARDIS for the base in Warburg was his idea, too. That one haddn't sat well with U.L.T.R.A. command, but the freedom from most laws, as well as easy access to the latest cyphers had swung the vote in his favour.
Now Warburg was practially the only place that HADDN'T gone to hell.
He started as someone walked up behind him, and turned with saber drawn only to find a rather normal looking young man in a T-shirt and Jeans.
"Oh, hey Angus. What'cha got for me?"
The infiltration robot that served as an interdimensional liason cocked his head, trying to get a better view of the new salvage Acanous was tinkering with.
"Well, command wants a report on the current state of affairs in Paragon City. The tech from this place isn't the only thing they're interested in. The similarity between this world and mine makes for a great 'end of the world' simulation, and they want you to gather all the data you can."
"Great." Acanous' dissappointment was palable. "Anything to avoid sending me supplies, eh?"
The Law of Conservation of Reality stated firmly that anything moved into one dimension must be counterbalanced by something of equal value moving back. Energy for Energy, matter for matter.
It actually helped with the trade system Acanous had cooked up with U.L.T.R.A. command, as anything they wanted from Paragon Earth had to be counterbalanced by an equal ammount of matter. Usually the Crey tech, Circle tomes, and assorted Rikti bits were swapped for spare parts, weapons, food, and fuel. Acanous also had a large collection of foam beans.
U.L.T.R.A. had always been a little on the cheap side, but recently they had been getting around the equal mass rule by having Doctor Von Auger study whatever Acanous brought in, then sending a report back. Acanous was lucky to swap for a cookie.
"Fine. I've been hearing things about a resistance movement in Steel Canyon. I'll see if I can check it out. But I want something for my efforts, even if I have to stick my report on the back of a boulder."
"I'll talk to the fat man" Angus said, nodding as he walked out "But we're almost done here. This dimension has gone to the wolves, and the growing sentiment back home is that we should pull out and leave no evidence of whence we came to be traced back."
Great Acanous thought, looks like I might end up on my own again
He put down the Freakshow bits, jotted a note to himself about where he had left off, then sealed the worktable with an energy barrier.
Walking into the Teleporter bay, he donned his cape and checked his supplies.
can't be too careful, never know when I won't be able to port back...
Satisfied, he walked up to one of the glowing, Gazeebo-like teleporters he had built personally over 20 years ago. Steel Canyon was one of the 4 city areas that he had actually bothered to chart for a perminant beacon back in '05, as it was right next to Siren's Call.
only thing is, do I wanna go out there as a Hero, or a villain?...ah, screw it, I'm in a fighting mood.
palming his Hero ID, he keyed the rune, and vanished in a black-on-black sphere, appearing near a burning building in Steel Canyon.
You can't spell Slaughter without laughter
All your gonna do is just farm behemoths anyways.
My thoughts on November 30.
One Week Ago, Pantheon Studios, Paragon City, Location Unknown
It was a dark room. One thing that struck was just HOW dark it was. There were many light fixtures that were obviously capable of functioning, which meant they were kept off.
The room was a perfect cube around 20 by 20 yards and 20 tall. The floor was made of fine white marble, with a flawless surface. The walls appeared to be made of some black panneled material, with each panel overlapping the one directly below it, giving the impression that the entire wall was made of dark scales. Only the occasional silvery bolt or weld here and there interupted the pattern. The lights previously mentioned were all stage lights. These were in the corners of the floor and ceiling, obviously meant to illuminate the entire room perfectly when on.
The entire room was bare of any furnishing, except for one piece. A fifteen foot tall statue made of plain grey stone stood in the middle of the room. It was of Minerva, the Greek Goddess of crafts, poetry and wisdom. She held both her hands aloft, clutching an orb within them. The orb, unlike the rest of the statue, was made of gold. There was a single spotlight which shone down on the statue, providing the only illumination for the entire room.
There were two entrances and exits to the room. The first looked like a rather ordinary warehouse door. It could have been a door for any given warehouse in Paragon city.
The second was a corridor which ended in complete darkness. There was not enough light to see down it. There was, however, just enough light that trickled in to make out a white sign with golden lettering which hung from the ceiling of the passage. It read,
Welcome to Pantheon Studios.
This room was full of memories. Most of them fit into two catagories. Hope and Saddness. This place had once thrived. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people had used to frequent this place. And now...It was just...Dead. Only ghosts bothered to come here any more.
Well, that was just a metaphore. Currently, there was really only one thing in the room that could be classified as a ghost. And even then, it was iffy.
-----
The warehouse-esque doors opened. A pair of eyes peered in cautiously. The place fit the description.
Not even pausing to question why the inside of the building was several times larger than the outside, the two Tsoo Green Ink men stepped onto the marble floor of the room. After giving the room a quick look-over with their eyes, they advanced towards the base of the statue, stopping short a few feet.
"Welcome." Said an incredibly dry voice devoid of any emotion from directly behind them.
The Ink Men spun around. They had very fine senses, being trained in many arts and receiving boosts from their magical tatoos, but somehow, someone had managed to sneak up on them absolutely undetected. It would have had to be in the corner of the room to do so, but they had already view the corners as they came in.
The figure stood just beyond the ring of light that lit up the statue, close enough for only his general outline to be visible. He was an extremely tall man, who was possibly wearing a coat. It was somewhat hard to tell, because he was also wearing a cape. He appeared to have long hair. Beyond that, there were no obvious discernable features.
"Who are you?" The Ink man on the right asked.
"Your new Business partner. Or rather, Tub Ci's new Business partner. I take it you are here on his behalf?"
The Ink men blinked.
"Yes." The one on the right managed. "We were given instructions to come to this location and handle negotiations with the property owners concerning certain...Contraband."
"The owners either died or went insane long ago." The figure said in his dry voice, as still as a statue in the darkness. "You may consider me a representative of them if you wish. Regardless, I am the one you need to talk to if you wish to negotiate matters regarding..." There was a short pause, almost as if the figure was tasting the word on his lips, as though it were unfamilier to him. "...Contraband."
The Ink man on the left nodded slightly. The one on the right spoke. "We have been informed that you have something...New." He said. "Tub Ci says we should trust you. Or at least we should trust whoever it is who we'd be meeting. What exactly do you have for us?"
"What I have, gentlemen..." Said the figure, who had begun to move. He appeared to be reaching with an arm into thin air. "...Is the replacement for Rage. More potent then formula 13. More empowering than the Freakshow's Excelsior. I present to you..."
The figure clenched his fist in the darkness. With a blur, he suddenly thrust something into the faces' of the Ink men that hadn't been there before. The silvery and rectangular shape of a briefcase, and the clicking noise that signified it was being opened.
And indeed, that was what it was, and it was being opened.
Within were three items of interest. The first was a clear Nalgene bottle filled with dark grey pills. A sticker was attached to the front, which resembled an empowerment symbol. Beneath this symbol was a small Tomb Stone.
The second was a transparent inhaler filled with a dark purplish/grey tinted air. Another Empowerment Symbol Sticker, only this one had a picture of streaming purple mist spewing out of a mausoleum door.
The final item was another nalgene bottle, only this was filled with a black almost oilly liquid. A Black Enpowerment Symbol Sticker adorned this one, and the picture beneath was that of Will o' Wisp style ghost that appeared to be bleeding black ooze from several cuts and gashes.
"Tomb Stone, Grave Mist, and Ghost Essence." Said the figure holding the case before the Ink men. "And no, those are not onomatopoeias."
The Ink men gave the three items a good eyeball. They were not impressed.
"What does it do?" Asked the one of the left, keeping his voice calm.
"All of them do the exact same thing." The figure said. "The only difference is in delivery. But to answer the question...They all grant super powers, increase strength, speed, reaction time, and senses."
"This is ridiculous." The one of the right spat. "You drag us here to show us some ridiculous [censored] crap in jars and tell us they grant super powers. For all we know, those pills could just be arsenic and baby powder with food coloring."
"I thought this might happen." Said the figure, his voice still dry. "And you'll be happy to know that the first batch is free. You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain by accepting these from Pantheon Studios. It will put the Tsoo on the top of the foodchain."
The Ink men glanced at each other. Absolutely free? The whole thing sounded like complete crap. But why bother going to this length? Still, the dark figure had a point. There would be no real harm in taking it. And if it really was crap, well...Now they knew where the figure liked to hang out.
"Fine." The Ink man on the right said. "We'll take it."
"What are the side effects?" The one of the left asked as he took the briefcase from the dark figure's hands.
"Now now. That would be telling." The figure in the darkness said. "You'll see. I'll be waiting right here once you're done with that."
The Ink men left.
-----
Two days later.
"Look what the cat dragged in." The dark figured said. If it wern't for his dry emotionless voice, it was almost possible to imagine it as a mocking one.
The two Ink men were back. With three Death's Heads Tsoo enforcers.
"I take it you are satisfied?" The dark figure asked.
"Surprisingly...Against all expectations...Yes." The Ink man on the right replied. "We want more. LOTS more."
"Ask and you shall receive." The dark figure said. It reached out with a hand, and clenched his fist.
Three plain, unmarked nalgene mold crates faded into view.
"That there is free, as promised." The dark figure said. "Take it and go. Come back when you need more. Be aware...Next time there will be more available. But it will also have a price attached."
"Why even bother with a middleman?" The Ink man on the left asked with a small laugh. "You could make a killing with this."
"That's not the intention." The dark figure snapped. There was almost a hint of anger in the voice, although it still remained insanely dry.
"You do realize that all we need to do is analyze what you're giving us now and replicate it for ourselves, and then you get screwed over?" The Ink man on the right asked in a smug voice as the Death's Heads moved for the crates.
"Good luck with that." The figure said, voice as dry as ever again. "Tell your next of kin to inform his next of kin to inform me you have made some progress."
That odd remark ended the conversation. There must have been more Tsoo outside, because the Death's Heads all carried one box out a time. Once all were gone, they did not reenter.
"One last question..." The Ink man on the left asked in a somewhat musing voice. "What are the side effects SUPPOSED to be?"
"Oh dear me." The dry voice said. "Am I correct in assuming Tub Ci sampled all of what I gave you last time?"
"Yes. He's been somewhat...Withdrawn...Since then. He's tripled his personal guard and he always insists of being as close to the corner of any room he's in at all times." The Ink man on the left replied.
"And a bit more jumpy." The right one added. "He looks nervous. Always glancing over the entire place with his eyes. Like he's watching for something."
"Ah." The dark figure uttered. "Well, Tub Ci is a very clear-headed fellow. Be warned that the normal reaction is much much more...Drastic than what he is currently experiencing."
There was an akward pause.
"A pleasure." The Ink man on the right said, and then the two Tsoo left.
-----
Current Times
"Hey Cape!" Shouted a voice behind Experiment 2.0, A.K.A. Mender Ballard.
It appeared to be a small group of Family. The criminal organization had flourishing with the downfall of Paragon as more and more young twenty-something men desperately looked for a way to stay suave. The Family was often the answer to all their problems.
This appeared to be a standard group of them. Five button men, a hitman, and an Underboss.
"Want some o' tha newest goods? We got cheap Grave Stone."
But the Family were not expecting the next move out of no where,a blazing bullet of a person shot before them before coming to a stop,and the person gave them a blank stare then the figure spoke," What the hell!" He turned and it turned out to be a not so friendly person to the Family,ShadowWings.
He spoke,"Oooh,you guys chose a bad day to have me find you..." And then he slowly walked twords them, and they all were looking a bit scared as he got closer,and then they opened fire of their guns onto his armor,but it had one hell of a hide. He then,with a staticly charged fist hit one in the stomach,causing the button man to fall over. The others just began to back up...
Shadow smirked and then said,"Leave...now." Then the Underboss said,"We know where your daughter is!"
Shadow's eyes went wide and he grabbed the Underboss by the neck and said,"TELL ME!"
Underboss then spilled the beans. Shadow through the Underboss to the ground and sped off...
((Heh heh, Diov just got countered. 
))
Jake gently touched down on the metallic panelling of the floor, his hair and cape finally ceasing to move. As he walked, his boots clanged against the floor, echoing throughout the bustling outpost. Following a marked location on his GPS, he briskly walked into the Arachnos base, taking the shortest path possible to the office of his partner, Arbiter Tamesis.
The interior of the Arachnos Outpost was just as visually dark and devoid of color as the exterior, not really allowing much for the imagination to use as inspiration. Jake's boots clanged with the same echoing quality as before, this time echoing for at least a hundred yards before becoming unable to be heard. A few hurried TacOps rushed past him, their boots too echoing throughout the quarters before dying off in a fade.
He finally arrived at Tamesis's office, which was surprisingly upbeat for an Arachnos Arbiter. For one, there was proper lighting, meaning that the room was very well illuminated. One might also note that there was carpeting and painted walls, which made it look much more like an actual office rather than some hijacked broom closet. Lastly, there was a desk with recliners on either side, clearly meaning to coax whoever met with him into a sense of security, false or not. It was in one of these easy chairs that our Arbiter sat, sighing as his modified Arachnos gloves rested his head.
"So what is it this time, Tamesis?" Jake asked, with boredom clear in his voice.
"Oh, don't sound so dull." Tamesis replied, turning his chair around to face Jake, which happened to be fairly young. Tamesis at twenty-one, was one of the youngest Arachnos officers to be promoted to Arbiter, next to Jake's nineteen. It hadn't been long since then, either, as he was only twenty-three as of now. His young face was framed by a head of golden-brown hair, which Jake suspected to be dyed, and his gloves seemed to be modified in a similar manner to Jake's as they bulged outward more-so than one would think practical. His eyes still sparkled with youthful optimism, despite his already hefty service with Arachnos.
"It's not my fault." Jake replied. "Mondays always make me like this. What's the mission?"
Tamesis simply sighed. "How can you be so young and so bitter at the same time?"
"Two decades in the Isles will do that. Get. To. The. Mission." Jake's face remained the same, but his tone clearly indicated himself losing patience.
"Fine, geez. Seems we've gotten some readings of activity in the southern section of Steel." Tamesis pulled out several sheets of paper, some with charts and graphs, some with text, and others oddly blank. "Specifically, we've spotted several heroes going to and from that location. We've monitored their actions, and it seems that at one point or another, they always seems to return. It could be a false alarm, it could be that damn base we've been looking for, but in any case it looks like the higher-ups are wanting us to lead a group down there." He sighed, his unenthusiasm about the current task finally being revealed.
Jake simply grabbed the papers from Tamesis's side of the desk, taking a look over them himself. "The higher-ups are paranoid..." He muttered to himself, flipping a page over as he checked for print on the back. "There may be a supply cache down there, but it's in a terrible place for a base of operations." He let the papers drop back down to the desk, looking up at Tamesis. "It's poorly defended, not to mention right out in the open."
"Maybe that's just what they want us to think?"
"No, this is all-out global war. They wouldn't take chances like that." Jake sighed. "But orders are orders. Gather up some Bane Spiders and Wolf Spiders and meet me at the front entrance in half an hour.
Tamesis gave a short salute and walked out the door, Jake following shortly behind.
-----
"Sir!" A TacOps shouted, entering what seemed to be a control room. "We've just received what appears to be a message. We've determined the source to be just above the city, but we couldn't pinpoint it from our current location. We have sattelites and other Arachnos Outposts searching for it as we speak." The soldier handed what looked to be the commander-in-chief of the room a single CD Rom, which, when entered into a computer, would reveal a... request to land?
-----
Jake would receive a message in his comm requesting instructions on how to respond to a request to land. He would simply order to give it coordinates to land, however, keep hidden weapons trained on it at all times.
"Yes sir." A voice replied over the other end, a short burst of static signifying the link being cut.
-----
Lou would soon find coordinates to a landing location as well as a visual aid appear on his monitor, with instructions to land there, unarmed.
News spread quickly through the base that there was a strange dragon woman, and got to Blood Wolffe quickly. He dismissed his students and headed for where they would have her.
She looked like she had spent a lot of time out in No Man's Land. Surviving how she could.
He approached her without fear. Wolffe was animalistic too. Though it wasn't as obvious in his physiology as hers, it was quickly made apparent when interacting with him.
"It's been a long time since I saw one of those," he said referring to her hero ID, "Are you hungry?"
----
Brett Mason and Hell Song saw a ship heading for the ruins of City Hall.
"Screw recruiting. I'm sure they would rather have that," he said pointing.
"Father would be most pleased," Hell Song agreed in a siren-like voice.
"See you when you get there," Mason smirked, then rocketed off, running at tremendous speed.
Hell Song stretched her wings, and launched herself powerfully into the air, heading toward the ship.
----
The noise Point Blank heard was coming from somewhere in the building. He heard shouts and gunfire. He switched scan modes, and saw one man take down about five in thermal vision. It was Experiment 2.0's fight.
Small disks with blades spun in the air. His attack drones waited for the command to launch at someone and detonate.
He got his rifle at the ready and rounded the corner, aiming at the strange man.
He demanded, "Who are you!? What are you doing here!?"
"Well hello there Caleb," said Monarch with a pleasant tone. After he took the man's outstretched hand, he quickly followed him to meet with Wolffe, whom he had heard so much about. "Well things have been going fine topside for a good week now," Monarch said, with an air of relief. He was glad there was no bad news, he hated having to tell people about it. He turned suddenly to Flagstone and said,"All of your squads are accounted for, and they should be arriving within the next couple of hours." "Good to hear," said Flagstone gruffly,"Ahh, here we are, the base of operations, so to speak." Monarch waited for the two men to lead him into the room.
__________________________________________________ ____
Fenrir had made made his way to the monolith before it had touched down. He was strangely excited and ready to see who was inside. As he sat down ready to watch the show, he smelt something strange. It was a bad smell, that of the sewers down below, but he thought nothing of it. He was, after all, near the ruins of an old sewage plant. Suddenly he felt pain surge his back as he was sent flying by a member of the Lost. He was outnumbered 3 to 1, but he was never out gunned. "So you boys wanna' play?" he asked, forming a stone mallet in his hands. "Then it's game time!" he yelled, fury in his eyes. He was bruised from his last fight, but was still able to make quick work of a scrawny blaster with one fatal swipe. He then proceeded to lay down the hurt on another terrified blaster. "Now it's just me and you, big guy," he said looking toward the Headman. "Just what I wanted," the Headman replied. Fenrir then charged at him and quickly threw away his his sword that he was holding. They grappled for a minute, but the Headman's sheer strength overpowered Fenrir in his weakened state. "Aww crap," Fenrir shouted just barely dodging a strong uppercut. He jumped out of the way of two more equally devastating blows, and quickly smashed the ground, knocking the Headman backwards. He got up, but it was too late. "Nighty night," Fenrir said, bashing the Headman's face in with a sheer seismic smash. "Well, time to watch the show." He then sat back down, winded, but for the most part ok.
((.....What just happened?
No matter, I have plenty more NPCs to burn through.))
The Family lay moaning on the ground. The Underboss had the vague feeling he had just been shanghaied.
"Boss..." One of the buttonmen managed to mutter. "You're a real putz..."
Silence reigned.
-----
Of course, that group of Family hadn't been the only group with the new drugs. The Tsoo had been trading with the shadowy figure for quite some time now, and been distributing it amongst the masses.
Most of the villain groups were too smart to buy the stuff off of anyone. Even the Hellions backed down. They prefered to stick with their own brand of suicide. The Family, normally the enemy of the Tsoo, was eager enough to buy.
So were the Freakshow...
-----
"Come again." The Tsoo Sorcer said, tipping his straw hat slightly before going back down the alley.
The Freakshow Enforcer stared at the Nalgene bottle he now held in his good hand.
"Tomb Stone, eh?" He said. "Catchy. Alright n00b, juice up on this." He said, thrusting the bottle into the hands of his companion, a Freak Chopper.
"Aw man, no way. What does that [censored] even do?" The Chopper whined. He was almost brand new to the group, he hadn't even earned his 'metal' yet.
The Enforcer grinned a nasty grin.
"We'll be findin out won't we? Come on ya [censored]. Nothing Ventured." He waved the bottle in front of the Chopper's face, the pills inside clinking softly against the nalgene.
"What's that symbol anyway?" The Chopper asked, stalling for time.
"Enpowerment Symbol dummy. Duh. TAKE IT."
The Chopper, figuring the Enforcer would never get over it if he outright refused, reached for the bottle. After all, he did have one point. Nothing ventured...
He swallowed three pills.
"Tastes like blood." He said.
"Feel anythin?" The Enforcer asked anxiously.
The Chopper squinted both eyes.
"Eh. Vision is a little fuzzy."
"That's it?"
"Yea." The Chopper looked slightly uncomfortable now. "Funny. The sun is moving really fast."
"What?" The Enforcer said, looking at the sky. The sun hung there, partially obscured by clouds. It was moving at its regular pace.
"Yea. It's like, gone up and down...Five times now...And the shadows be moving funny..." The Chopper said all of this is a dreamy voice.
The Enforcer raised an eyebrow.
"Say...Where've ya gone?" The Chopper asked suddenly.
"What do ya mean? I'm right here n00b." The Enforcer snarled.
"Yo! Where'd ya go!" The Chopper asked.
Then his eyes widened. The Chopper took several steps back until he hit the wall. His lips trembled.
"You ok man?" The Enforcer asked, taking a step forward.
GET AWAY FROM MEEEEEEEEEEEEE! The Chopper screamed. MONSTERS! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! GET AWAY! GET AWAY! I'LL KILL YA! The man had slumped down, an he had curled into a trembling ball.
The Enforcer had indeed backed away a few steps. "Dude, rela-"
"NONONONONO I'D RATHER DIE! I'LL KILL YOU FIRST! I'LL KILL YOU FIRST! The Chopper had suddenly sprung into an upright position, and he was glaring at the enforcer. His eyes had turned black.
The Enforcer, who was two seconds away from bolting, meeped a single question.
"..........Dude?"
There was an explosion. The entire alleyway filled with fire which rolled out and incinerated everything in its path. In the middle of the storm, the Chopper screamed with rage.
The storm of fire faded, and the Chopper leapt over the charred remains of a dumpster, screaming all the while. He ran down the street in a straight line, and all the while, his hands and arms were alight with fire. He swung them wildly, throwing streams of burning liquid in every direction.
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE! He screamed at the air. There was nobody around to listen.
Back in what was left of the alley, the Enforcer was little more than a sack of crispy fat.
Caleb nodded at the doctor, "Good to hear doc. Haven't heard anything outa Marty, have ya? He's been gone for over a month. If I thought there was anything out there strong enough to kill him I'd be worried. I just want to know what he's been doing for all this time."
Justice nodded to Wolffe before he propped himself against the wall. Feels like something bad is brewing.
I do not know my reasons for posting, but post I must. ~~Build
"We can't stop here, this is bat country."
--Johnny Depp
"I ain't bi-curious, I'm a man. Why do you think I'm wearing this tight spandex and got all these muscles?" Meatwad
((I have had this concept for an open RP in my head for a while, and have finally decided to do it. The premise is that in the future, Paragon City has been either reduced to rubble, or turned into a corporate or military dystopia. The organizations that protected the city are all but destroyed. The fascists, the corrupt, the mad, all our enemies are there. The heroes are hunted night and day. The villains are in power.
The last hope lies in the Bastion, the heroes secret base of operations in Paragon City. It is where all heroes live. If you seek it out, it can be found through contacts.
Villains reside in the formidable Fortress. It offers many tempting benefits with representatives from each organization. It recruits openly on the streets.
Aside from the standard fare of no overpowered characters and courtesy rules the following applies:
Neither base can be attacked. The hero base is hidden, even if you switch sides; the villain base is too well defended
No leading either side, or any huge armies
Just because your character is a hero or a villain, doesnt necessarily mean they are required to pick a side. I will let your imagination come up with reasons for that.
Lets have some fun with this.))
Paragon City was a ghost. Most sections were burning wastelands of twisted wreckage. It had joined Boomtown in its fate. A few parts had come to be dominated by Corporate juggernauts such as Crey, or were ruled with the iron fist of a military like the Council or Arachnos. One could live relatively safely in these sections, as long as they submitted to their new leaders. In the ruins of Steel Canyon, the Bastion was disguised mostly as a bombed out building, but it went deep underground as well. Inside, the base was dingy, dirty, and slapped together. Light bulbs hung flickering from the ceiling. But it fulfilled all the needs it could. Places to eat, sleep, get healed, and train.
Point Blank walked past various heroes toward the exit as he put on his technologically superior armor. It was green and blue metal, seemingly made out of honeycomb with wires running down him like veins. As it activated it took colors closer to its surroundings. He covered his square jaw with a skintight mask, his short, black hair with a helmet. Not an inch of skin was visible through his armor, his calculating, hard eyes disappearing behind a mirrored visor.
To get to the exit, he had to walk through the training center. Blood Wolffe was there instructing some kids on how to use their powers.
He wore red leather armor with a black stripe down the sides. His eyes were a strange, iridescent blue.
Keep practicing, Wolffe instructed them, Hold on a second.
Great, Point Blank thought as he rolled his eyes.
Where are you going? We have enough patrols out and no missions.
I dont need or like to be told what to do. Besides, I could use some fresh air.
Wolffe eyed him judgingly, You need fresh air a lot, and where do you get all your gadgets from?
What are you saying?
Im watching you.
Point Blank turned and left as Wolffe watched.
Okay, Wolffe said eyeing the students with predatory gaze, Who is willing to spar with me?
----
New recruit numbers were low, so Brett Mason and Hell Song were sent out to see if they could find some people in the blackened battlefield of Paragon City. They happened to work for Arachnos, but plenty other organizations were working together in the fortress. All secretly backstabbing each other according to Mason.
Brett straightened his leather jacket as he approached a building with heat signatures. He didnt like meeting new people on the account of his face. Long ago, a hero raked it with her claws. The tangle of scars reminded him constantly how much he hated heroes.
Over this way, Brett pointed at the heat he sensed.
Hell Song bothered him almost as much as heroes. She was a pale beautiful woman, and wore little more than tactically placed red leather straps. Her black wings were exotic. But she was extremely religious. She was not filled with hope and light either. She saw herself as an angel sent to vanquish all the sinners. She disturbed Brett.
Father commands us to bring as many back as possible, she said.
Yeah, I know. Please only say something if you have to. Even when you whisper its like feedback in my brain.
They approached carefully. Peering into the doorway of a dilapidated building in Creys section of Talos Island.
Hello? Weve come unarmed. Were here to offer a place to stay and food to eat.
----
Point Blank watched a Council patrol march by from high above in an abandoned skyscraper. A few fires burned in the distance of the charred wasteland as hover jets stalked through gray skies above. His suit bent the light around him, rendering him almost completely invisible. He thought he heard a noise behind him, but continued to look out the window.
Nobody sneaks up on me, especially with my drones!
Attack drones spun to life in the air, ready to strike. In one fluid motion he pulled his rifle off his back and spun around.