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My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Meh, I whipped it out in 20 minutes and am still finding things I should have added. 
But it does I hope go a long way to "why Rita fawns over that Akarist traitor everywhere else she goes". Her two kids (split up on my other accounts lol) with one world's version prove that yes, the Oranbegans CAN be nice people... But that things are always a little different everywhere you go.
.... I can't count the number of times she's had to hand Statesman his beating heart - as she's already healing his body to keep him aware of his pwntness. I wish we had combat teleportation. I really, really do. I'd switch it out from dark any day.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
Hi all. I finally got some words down about my main, my first 50, Retail Retali8r. I may add more, but this is probably as close to her 'origin' as I'll get.
***
Exchanges Only, No Refunds
It was the longest day Paragon City ever saw.
I hunkered in a crouch, terrified to stand really, on the edge of what was left of Valor Bridge. I looked around, and could hardly see past the edge of the docks, it was all smoke and debris. The air too was clogged with muck, burning buildings I think the water was on fire below me, too. Tankers had been blasted open and ignited easily with all the powers and gunfire going on. I could see to the south, Terra Volta had gone down. All the walls were dead, all power to the city was stopped.
The sound above literally made my blood turn cold. It was another ship, another Mother-ship, the Rikti had come in force, finally, their scouts having blasted away almost the entire fighting force that Earth could throw at them.
It was over.
How had I come to this miserable point? It was hardly a few years ago, really. My heart broke when I realized down there, the third attack ship which had been ploughed into the side of Paragons fragile hollowed-out coastline and burned brightly still My husband was under that ship, in the ruins of his city, Oranbega.
I drew in a long, shaking breath, and stood. Suddenly it didnt matter whether I was terrified of heights or the winds. The winds were tainted with blood, vaporized life I could feel it. I could feel death everywhere. There were people still out there, but they soon would fall to disease, hunger, or a Rikti blade.
***
I had come to Paragon like many, when the first scout ships had arrived. Hero One and so many others fell to the first wave of attacks, and plenty of young, stupid heroes and heroines just like me came to the calling. I was from the West Coast, my powers had just really started coming on. I didnt use magic spells, I had no nanites coursing through my bloodstream, I didnt even tinker with computers or assemble machinery I was just me. I listened, well. And if you got on my bad side, well that was something you didnt really want to do, unless you decided you liked coming away with a depressing, sorrowful mood.
My empathy had grown strong over years of working a crappy job in a moderately successful comic book shop. Running interference between a callous boss and the demanding customers was hard work, but I pulled it off I think admirably well. Listening to the woes of shoppers, but regulars came and chatted. They needed advice, they got it honestly from me. It got so that I could seemingly heal wounds just by giving a smile and a hug.
Turned out I really was healing wounds, and it turned out I could concentrate on that effect at a distance soon enough. The coming of the Rikti scout ships changed everything. The world was thrown into chaos momentarily, and then unity. Every countrys heroes knew, we had to fight back, because this threat was not going to just go away and ignore all our petty bickering. Id always voted for the powered candidates in office, always made sure to read up on legislation several of my friends, even a co-worker, had turned up with some kind of abilities.
Of course, Drew wound up becoming a zombie-hunter, and Zam went to Paragon at least half a year before I did. So I quit my job abruptly, it was hardly worth attending to any more, no one was making product. Everyone had all but mobilized, there was literally no time for pleasantries and entertainment. That, we all thought, would come back later when we had the luxury of time and safety.
The only way to assure safety, I reasoned, was to head to Paragon where the attacks had centered, and do my best to help heal injured people. I was quite good at that. I had no idea then that my abilities would need to be honed far sharper before I could mess with the Rikti.
But I arrived, hardly fresh-faced and bright-eyed, the flight was hellish crying children and a pall of silence otherwise, on a plane which held more than just one would-be hero. The airport was reasonably placed near Skyway but was connected by two tram lines. I hated trains. Oh how I hated trains. But this was the East Coast, they had pretty good rail systems, and within days I had gotten used to the sound of the tram above the streets. I still had nightmares about being cornered by them but that was being replaced by dreams of this city: Paragon.
Atlas Park impressed me, a lot. I was hardly the first in line that day, getting my registration finalized and going in for my first assignments. It seemed like another life.
I went through all the proper channels, all the motions of becoming a stock in trade heroine. When Eastgate had its little Incident I decided Id remain there my apartment wasnt damaged, and there was still readily available power and supplies. Besides, I was able to teleport to safety rather quickly.
Dont even ask me how I learned to do that. Probably my day-dreaming self remembering pleasant nooks and rooftops and then suddenly boom there I am.
Healing people wasnt enough. I had to learn to control those mood swings and gloomy darkity-dark emotions that I could cause. That wasnt too hard, plenty of people to practice on here too. I spent several weeks just learning where to go around this huge city, but many more learning its ins and outs. There were plenty of threats from all sides, mostly small-time gangsters and wannabe hero-lets. At the street level here in Paragon, it was oddly secure. It was strangely calm.
We had to be calm, because the world was relying upon us to train up and become strong. As though all was in preparation for the final battles wed have with the Rikti.
Along the way I tried so hard to convince people they didnt have to fight us. The Outcasts they had powers! They thought of themselves not really as a gang, but more misunderstood heroes in training. That was fine: but they still got a teleport to the Zigs legal department when they crossed the line. And those idiot Mobsters They squandered their valuable psionic abilities on drugs and control over the docks. Freakshow were probably the most entertaining of my enemy-friends, at least for a while. They knew how to party, they knew how to let loose. Plus, a lot of them were much smarter than they looked. But even so, most of them didnt take my advice, most of them wound up back in jail.
The Tsoo gang, they were almost subsumed by the Circle of Thorns. The Warriors too, both gangs once rivals, had been swallowed up for use by the ancient mages below the city. They now served as go-betweens, like many heroes also did, between Paragons administration, and the much older hidden city. It gave both groups different ways of gaining power, and honing their abilities in the process. Warriors had good, strong arms and bodies, and became the knights. The Tsoo, always much more wily and using mental abilities, were of more use defending and body-guarding.
Id met Akarist once I started working the Founders Falls beat he and his library were open to the magic-wielding heroes and when the Rikti invaded even the Mu priests and Oranbegan leadership realized we were all in plenty of danger, there would be no more bodies to take if we didnt stop our common threat.
He had on a body that must have been rather young, though like almost all the top mages, whatever shell they were using would age quickly enough. I had the effect on him of being able to preserve it, and while I was only running messages for my contacts and borrowing books on anatomy and art for myself, we both seemed to relish the hours Id spend there.
It blossomed reasonably fast my last relationship had gone sour, but here in a new city, with an absolutely amazing new partner? I felt more alive than ever, and frankly so did he. It was visible: I practiced on him, and eventually Akarist didnt need to go looking for a new host shell. This one wasnt aging any more, though he kept the white hair, it looked wonderful on him.
We were married by the opening to Oranbega that was farthest east, in the bay, a lovely little island with a beautiful waterfall and a sheltered cove. Of course, we could see the city in the distance, but that was good. That was safety.
That was two years ago. We both had our own distinct roles, of course. Neither he nor I would be trading spaces, and in fact, aside from nice long weekends that we afforded ourselves, we hardly had time to talk before one of us was called off.
My powers continued to grow. My grasp over darkness was strong, but my ability with teleportation had come into its own so fully that people wondered why I didnt just do the job myself: go into the heart of the ship, kill their leaders.
I didnt think it would help. Rikti were now everywhere, posing as humans. Were they shapeshifters? Or were they, like the Lost, converted physically to somewhere between Rikti and Human? Little did I know, and honestly never found out then, what they really were.
When the second ship arrived, it spelled disaster for many places around Paragon. It had hovered low and menacingly over the city, even hitting one of the tallest sky-scrapers in Steel Canyon. It took a month before the ship fell.
And it fell. Not like the little one, that little scout ship that wound up on the hillside far West of the city. This was a massive ship, probably fifty times that size. This was the war ship. Wed been putting up so much resistance that they finally felt it was time to pull out the big guns.
It was about that time when I realized that my contacts with Freaks and Outcasts had to pay off. We werent at war with one another. This was about saving the world. I had gathered with a couple of them at a time, here and there, and while Akarist was busy trying to work up shields with magic and all the pains that demon-contracts might entail, I was on the docks of Independence Port, talking sense into a Freak Tank.
So youll get them? I asked, and he nodded, the bulk of his shoulders moving along with his head, since his neck had long since been buried in metal. Good and remember, if it looks Human, its Human until I say otherwise. If it looks like one of them, I pointed at the hastily applied billboard reminding people of the Rikti threat, shoot them, cut them, stomp them, no questions asked.
He gave off a terrifying giggle, pushed his metallic hands together in a huge thudding taunt. Oh, we will.
I was about to head to Eastgate, to talk to Flux again about the guys hed recruited off the Outcasts. Having stood up and looked around for clear spots in the sky over the Harbor to teleport into, I just kept looking up. The mother ship was wobbling.
Wobbling. In the air. Theyd gotten in? I clenched my fists, bit my lip, and prayed. Do that job. Do it. They were heroes stronger than I could ever be, I had gotten used to teleporting injured people around, healing them, and heading back to a fire zone. My fighting skills would have been useless up there, though I considered applying for the backups because I was a really good empath.
The ship shuddered, almost from the inside out. The blue-white field around it sputtered, blinked, and went out abruptly. And the sound it made while it powered down, was almost as terrifying as the thing that happened next.
This ship, almost a mile wide, was no longer powered. I could hear the cheering which rapidly, all too rapidly turned to screaming from the city below. The Freak Tank near me gave a grunt.
Well that doesnt look good, he said. He thundered toward it, it would be an hour before hed make it on foot (especially lumbering like that with half a ton of metal attached to him).
No, I said, it doesnt look good at all.
It was hardly aerodynamic, if it had been in motion perhaps it might have glided a bit over the ocean. But it wasnt. It had merely been hovering there for almost five weeks, as it sent down landing parties and invasion forces in fits and starts. They were still playing with their food, I realized. This was just a game to them. They could easily wipe us all out. Thats not what they wanted, though. They didnt want full destruction.
Id spoken to one, a captive that had died before I could get them to our destination. He claimed that our world was needed. Whatever that meant. If they needed it, they could have just asked. Instead, they chose violence, and this was the result.
Hundreds of heroes aboard that ship, now. Hundreds had died before them. But what I was hearing now, the quick words of a newscaster blurting things out on a half-abandoned electronics shop television, was that a dozen groups of heroes had entered the ship, having discovered one single portal that could be kept on long enough for them all.
They swarmed it, she was saying, shed been there and been removed as her teams leader was injured. I hadnt known they were embedding reporters in this battlefield. But she had a fierce expression, we will take it down, she said, and she was right.
They did take it down. Onto Paragon City.
***
It had landed fully flat, directly over Eastgate. It covered that whole area, in addition to half Paragon Bay, most of Talos Island, and onto the East edges of Atlas Park and Skyway.
My home was gone. Half the city was in ruins, and the other half quickly gave way.
The first impact was huge, it had shaken me off my feet even standing on the docks sturdy pavement. A cloud of debris rose, and then, once we all thought it was over, there was a second, far worse shudder.
The sound of Oranbega giving way after thousands of years. Millions of tons of rubble above it, a starship carrying hundreds of thousands of people Just landed on a hollow city. My throat twisted, and I couldnt help myself, I cried long and hard, even as I jumped back into the air.
I teleported back and forth, I knew that here in Independence Port at least, there would be survivors to tend. Wed all seen the damage, and then Then the other ship came into view. Where had it been? Possibly cloaked, we were all concentrating too heavily on the first. It was on the West side, where its companion had been hovering over the East. Wed been trapped.
A set of sleek, arrowhead shaped ships carried bombs down, and I saw them head directly over Terra Volta. But I was concentrating my efforts on those who still tried running, attempted to gather them at Bell Medical. But it was quickly futile. The dust and smoke from the crashed ship overtook even the war walls, I couldnt imagine what it must have been like near one of them, as a storm of black and burning metal and glass came over them. Like a wave. The ground shuddered again.
My home was gone. Akarists home was gone.
He was gone. I felt it, I knew it, but I didnt want to admit it. Some of the Family took up spots to aid in the rescues, but it was hardly worth the effort now. I saw troop ships now, to the south.
I teleported up onto Valor Bridge, a place where Id been only once before. It had taken everything out of me to get there, fear always tripped me up. But there was a platform. The light on it, servicing for low flying planes and the like, had gone out. It wasnt blinking any more. The city below was dark, illuminated only by fires.
My hands shook, I pounded the rusted red surface of the bridge tower and screamed. The Rikti had won.
I teleported to the edge of my ability, eighteen times. That brought me to the edge of what would have been Atlas Park. But Atlas was gone. The statue was toppled, onto the park beside it fortunately. But three sky-scrapers had also fallen, and with the tunnels below riddling Paragon City, soon enough, there would be no solid ground to walk upon. The city itself couldnt hold on much longer, physically. It was gone.
If the heroes inside the ship had survived, I suddenly didnt even care. I wondered though, absently, while teleporting into the oddly fresh blown air that came over the place now, had they caused this by destroying the ships engines? Did they even realize for one minute what theyd done?
The ship sank, deeper and deeper. Oranbega after all was huge, bigger than Paragon City was but all sprawled out under ground. Long, twisting tunnels led from libraries and grottos to war rooms and summoning chambers. Akarist had shown me many of those sights when we were trying to get more to the cause of fighting above.
The whole place was going to collapse. I stood on the ruined war wall near where the edge of Skyway met Talos. The airport, since closed because of air restrictions since Id been here, was the only bit of flat ground anywhere for a mile, and it had a cavernous hole under it that was quickly caving down toward the Rikti ship.
Water was covering everything below. Like a huge wound, being flushed. Thousands of people, dead, were swept out to sea already, and thousands more probably would be. The second ship continued its barrage.
It had to be morning, but even though the breeze felt fresh, it was still dark overhead. As dark as night, only without the safety of the stars visible beyond the glow of the once-comforting blue force field walls. I trembled. I cried again, knowing that this was it. Everything was lost.
I stood up, healed myself of wounds Id gotten just by the travel to this point. My clothes were shredded. Id have to get new ones somehow.
I concentrated hard. This was the only way, I couldnt live here and I wasnt going to die here. Everything had gone. But I was still alive. And since Id been out there, I knew that there were other places. Portal Corp had shut down their portal services, but I knew. I just knew.
I opened my eyes and it was a sunny, warm day, a blimp overhead buzzing eternally promoting a sports game in a nearby town. Atlas huge statue stood with a line of fresh-faced kids in their uniforms and outfits being addressed happily by someone who wanted to select the best of them as a team mate.
I closed my eyes, opened them again, I really was here.
In a new, still-living Paragon City.
I walked toward City Hall, and hoped that I didnt have to present identification, to get a new card
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed