The Path Less Trodden (RP Adventure)
By
Captain_Cliche,
Posted on: 2005-10-28 19:42 in Multi-Media Fan Creations
((Sorry...had some days off for tax reasons 
))
Saphire stepped from the smoke, teeth bared as a volley of shots slammed into some of the remaining Mechmen; disassociating them into shreds of rusted metal.
The Zeus shook the cavern as it seemed to run in slow motion towards the Portal.
From deep within the Cavern, a solitary voice rang out...
"By the way, Arbiter Needham, I was aware of your treachery some time ago, so I included a small incendiary device in the construction of this base to remove the Portal Technology for good. I hope you won't think it churlish of me."
Grav's musings and Saphire's scowls were soon to be matched by Requiem's hand-washing as far off in the sewers, a explosion sounded and a rushing of heated air filled the cavern.
Grav shouted to Saphire:
"Do what you have to do, but do it fast!"
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
Saphire looked around desperately "What CAN I do?" she said "We NEED that portal, to get back... we need to go trhough it... perhaps we can destroy it at the other end!"
And with that, she made her way closer to the portal, unsure of what Grav was going to do.
The Zeus swung it's horribly beweaponed arm around at Saphire.
"OPEN THAT DAMN PORTAL BEFORE I NUKE THE HELL OUT OF YOU, KHELDIAN SCUM! I'M NOT DYING HERE IN THE PAST!"
A smaller whir followed and a missile battery locked onto Grav.
"AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT YOUR GRAV POWERS [censored]! ONE INCREASE IN G FORCE AND I'LL CREATE A PARADOX SO LARGE THAT LUSCA WILL BE YOUR PARENTS!"
The heat in the chamber was increasing rapidly.
Saphire quickly pressed in the neccesary buttons, as fast as she could, but being careful not to make mistakes.
There was a shimmering around the portal and then with a huge anti-climax, King's Row appeared.
Then it shifted to Peregrine, then to Atlas, then to Brickstown and kept shifting...
This was unbeknownst to the Zeus who stepped forward towards it, weapons still trained on Grav and Saphire.
He stepped into the portal and was gone.
The screams didn't stop for some time....
The Cavern was starting to fill with smoke now, and Grav's eyes started to water heavily.
Saphire played with the controls until the shifts were kept static for a few seconds; but would they suffer the same fate?
Saphire looked desperately for a button that would stabalise the portal, but started to think she might have to gamble and go in the ever changing portal if she couldn't find the button soon...
A small ping told Saphire to look away as the top panel of the console exploded in her face.
Smoke poured from it, smelling faintly of ammonia, whilst the portal seemed to rock on it's hinges.
Saphire raised her voice over the various noises around her, and spoke to Grav "Can your powers do anything to stabalise the portal?"
With a short nod to her double, they began to work their magic in unicen to stabelize the portal.
Could magic help a tech portal? Techno-mages aren't that popular, but not unheard off...
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
The two Grav's focussed sensing magic on the portal and realised simultaneously that it was the movement that was causing the shifts; possibly even what had caused the rust on the Mechmen.
Slowly concentrating, they shifted Gravity around the Portal to hold it perfectly in place; and the revolving views slowly started to stabilise...each frame flicking past slower and slower....
The strain on each of their faces was intense though; every microsecond the Portal wanted to leak through their Gravitational effect. They would have to move soon.
Especially as Grav's hair caught light from the torrent of flame rushing down towards them...
"Go, go, go!" Shouted Saphire, diving into the portal...
This being as good as it gets, Grav jumped a fraction of a second later than Saphire into the portal.
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
There was a moment of light, then total darkness.
A feeling of movement assaulted your faces, almost like a hurricane pulling and pushing every inch of flesh on your body.
Even through open eyes you saw nothing.
A song wanders into your heads. For Grav it was "The Sound of Silence", for Saphire "I Want to Break Free". You're not sure if you ever heard those songs before today, but they're right there in your memory.
Memories of the past jump back and forth with memories from the future. You remember your first kiss, your first time being ill, your first use of your powers.
Then it's gone...
A roaring sound comes from in front of you and a thin white light streams in towards you. Your feet touch some metal rails; and the knowledge of where you are returns.
Leaping from the track, you land on the floor of the Kings Row railway line.
A Hero dressed almost entirely in white looks down at you, rolls his eyes and steps onto the train.
"Bloody Train Missions scaring the drek out of me!", he says as the train whistles off again.
You are alone now, the everpresent humming of the drones seeming strange and weird to you....
Grav looked around for a bit, as if checking she was actually 'somewhere'
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
Everything seemed to be how she remembered it; but a wave of anxiety struck her as she stepped forward; fearful of what may have changed. Her mind imagining seeing Arachnos posters hanging off the sides of buildings.
Saphire stood slowly and walked out of the station, ready to take in whatever sights awaited her...
Saphire saw a sight, but not really one of heart-stopping terror; rather just a leather satchel held up to her face.
"Ms. Saphire and Ms. Mistress?", the postman said,"I wonder if you'd sign this for me."
He holds up a small sheet of paper attached to a clipboard, with dotted lines at the bottom for your signatures. It's plainly obvious that there's a small piece of carbon paper underneath so he can get your autographs, but that's not really important now.
In the brief moment of embarassment whilst the two of you search your costumes for a pen; he pulls one out and hands the battered pen to Saphire first.
"Paragon Express Delivery. Actually a bunch of us guys at the office were kinda hoping maybe you could shed some light on the subject. You see, we've had that envelope in our possession for the past 10 years."
A look flashes between Grav and Spahire at this.
"It was given to us with the explicit instructions that it be delivered to two capes with your descriptions...."
Looking at Grav's rather battered clothes, he gets a little flustered and turns away.
"...answering to your names, at this exact location, at this exact minute, January 9th 2006. We had a little bet as to whether you would actually be here - looks like I lost!"
He smiles at his own little joke.
"Here, sign on line 6 please."
After you sign your names (Heroic Alter-Ego's of course because surprisingly that's what it asks for), he passes you the envelope and walks off towards the train line, pushing a waiting heroine out of the way, who snarls and pops her claws.
The Note reads...
To the one this world calls Agent Saphire and The Grav Mistress:
I had planned for this for a long time, but it was fortune itself that delivered me into your hands. The Carnival told me that Agent Saphire had been pursuing her own agenda that night and was tired; and that the Grav Mistress was equally weary from the defence of your pathetic city.
Whilst you may have thought you had destroyed "Die Zeitspielraumexperimente" during your clashes with that fool Ubellman, I had my remaining men spirit the broken pieces away. To repair such a thing was childsplay.
My recent incursions into Time Travel, through my loving host the Nictus, taught me that the arrival of one person at a critical point in history could spin the world into a state of flux in which only the true leaders of the world would be able to save it from it's decadent anarchy that it now lingers in.
A suitable point, the start to the Rikti War, had already been made available to me, strewn; as it was; with multiple dimensional holes; but I was far too valuable to risk, so I needed a guinea pig.
Approached by the Carnival, I believed they could help me; and the additonal forces of my own dear Fifth Column could always help. My first efforts were thwarted by time itself though as, as I had rightly predicted, the stress of passing through time would be far too great for mere Mechanical Men to withstand. Their recording cameras though, that I dug up in the midsts of the War, provided me with some valuable information on you.
I digress, with a hired Malta Zeus and some of the prancing fools of the Carnival, I set a trap. Transporting the two of you back in time I set you challenges.
Saphire, your battle with the Crey, that I, of course, organised, was to help the Crey understand the power of their Protectors and the need for them to use Nictus to fight your Kheldian might. For that I thank you. It helped mould my control over the Ziggurat.
Grav Mistress, your use of wormholes help conceal my trail and lead to my ultimate coup, but more of that later.
Because I am a student of such things, I also left you with the conundrum of whether to warn that fool Statesman of the impending attack.
If he had known, history would have been altered and your own selves would have changed your own futures; thus creating a paradox which I would have been most interested in.
This you failed to do.
You, however, did not pay attention to the thousands of Fifth Column agents that attacked the Liberty League in the middle of Atlas though. You see, I already knew of the Council's attempts to take over the Column, and had all my best men attack Statesman on that day. Thousands were arrested and shipped to the Ziggurat, as I'd intended.
Why am I telling you this now? Well, unlike some of the third rate villans you are used to dealing with, my plan is already underway.
With thousands of the Fifth Column safely shacked away in the Ziggurat, the Council were free to take over; just in time to be met by the Rikti and slaughtered like the contemptuous dogs they were. Meanwhile, in the Ziggurat, my greatest councillors and agitators were turning the finest Super Villain minds to the thought of a new Reich. A Reich to encompass the entire Globe.
And then, my dear friend Lord Arachnos made it happen for me. He broke into the Ziggurat and called all of my troops his Destined Ones. How right he was on that. Like so many leaders, he fails to see the trouble in his own ranks. By my estimates, eighty percent of his new "Destined Ones" believe not in the manic blatherings of that Octupoid fool, or the Deadly Beauty of Ghost Widow; but in the True Blood rule of the Reichsmann.
I cannot say that you have done everything I ask, but I will acknowledge that you fought well. Drink deeply of your success. Bask in the adulation of your peers. Savor this victory. Know that you have saved your world and this moment from the shadow of history. But you have only saved it for now. Do not think that you have saved this world for your future. Know that you have saved this world for my coming Dominion.
Until then, watch the Shadows, for I will see Paragon City burn, and in the flames, I will be the one laughing.
- Requiem
You have received the Souvenier - Requiem's Coin.
You have received a new Badge - Timewalker.
There is also a strange watermark to the paper, Lambda Rho - 57/20 , perhaps Unai Kemen could help....
[[ My apologies for the late ending of this, but I thought it would be worth waiting for
My adventure ends here; but I hope to do a new one sometime soon after I've finished off the calendar. Can I just give thank to all those who've helped and provided comments. All taken onboard and I hoped you enjoyed it ]]
Grav took a moment to look around.
To take in the situation from the other side of the room.
To examin the portel.
To waiting for the smoke to clear around Saphire.
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.