Very nice Quilty - just read parts 2 and 3 in succession, and it's looking great!
Now, onto the Ranger Origin? Or an intermediate bit?
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HEY! Watch where youre going! You heroes cant jump bump pedestrians out the way like that!
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Too right we can't, and not for want of trying!
�How do I like my MMOs? I like them the way Paragon Studios used to make them.� - a fitting tribute from kiasa.org
EU, Union mostly.
absalutely brilliant! 
its probably the first backstory that has made me want to come back and read the next part 
(no offense to anyone else 
)
[CENTER]Euro side: [B]@Orion Star[/B] & [B]@Orions Star[/B][/CENTER]
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Very nice Quilty - just read parts 2 and 3 in succession, and it's looking great!
Now, onto the Ranger Origin? Or an intermediate bit?
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planned progression is as follows
Origin, 5 parts
Main story, 6 parts
Special one offs, 1 so far, another written (backstory to another char) and at least 2, maybe 3 others, one of which includes the Ranger origin
Origins Part 3: Fanning the Flames
David looked out the window in his room. From his south facing window he could see the city hall and several large statues, one in particular catching his attention. Despite being more than 400 yards away, the large sphere on the back of the statue in front of the hall was still enormous. David had been here for 2 days now, his family had recently been by and had dropped off a few things for him; a few books, a couple of oranges which brought a grin to his face when he thought about them and a couple of cards from people saying Get well soon. That especially made David laugh, Get well soon, he didnt even know what was wrong with him, or even if there was something wrong with him. The hospital staff had been in now and again to check on him, so far nothing interesting had happened, it still felt like a standard hospital.
In what seemed like late afternoon a Longbow Commander entered Davids room with a knock, Mr Guthrie, my name is Commander Byriks, may I come in?
The question caught David by surprise, he had had medical staff coming in at their leisure for the past 4 days he had spent in bed and now a member of Longbow was asking him for permission to come in the room, Err, yeah, of course, come in David stuttered as he tried to reassert his focus.
Thank you. I assume you know why you are in Paragon City? David nodded silently. Good. Ive been talking with the doctors here and they say that they feel you are in a good enough condition to meet up with the staff at G.I.F.T. Do you feel yourself to be ok to move around?
David chuckled briefly in reply, Man, Ive been feeling ok for the past 21 years of my life! Only thing that has got to me recently is trying to understand what the hell is going on with me.
All in good time Mr. Guthrie. I- David cut him off.
David, please. I dont know anyone yet that calls me Mister, and currently I dont feel old enough for it.
Of course, my apologies. As I was saying, I am here to sign your discharge papers and give you directions to City Hall.
David looked back at Byriks, slightly confused, Isnt that City Hall over there? he pointed out the south facing window towards the small building surrounded by statues.
Ah, good, so it wont hard for you to find it. Byriks smiled in an almost gratifying grin.
Yeah, thats just what Im like David trailed off as he looked down to the floor.
What youre like? I dont think I understand.
I mean How to put this. I have always found certain things about my life to be weird by standard but just assumed I was looking into it too much
Weird, in what sense. Remember, this is Paragon City so it might not actually turn out to be that weird.
David grinned at that, True. Well, Ive always been able to find what I am looking for. Objects, people, routes to destinations. I just put it down to a good intuitive direction.
Byriks frowned as if in deep thought before replying, Hmm, possible, but I think Antonio Nash will be able to answer your questions about that better than myself.
Who?
Oh, right, I havent mentioned that yet. Antonio Nash, he is the liaison between G.I.F.T., the Freedom Corps and genetically based metahumans. He should be in one of the G.I.F.T. offices at City Hall, I can take you there now if you want.
Yeah, sounds cool. So what does he want to talk to me about?
Cant honestly say, and besides it isnt really my business. Now, lets get you to the hall.
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David hastily got ready and followed Byriks down to the main entrance of the hospital. As he approached the door a couple of individuals wearing coloured costumes ran past and out the door, but David could over hear one saying to the other, Look, next time you see a small robot, dont immediately go up and look at it! The two ran out the door and off into the City.
What was that about?
Probably some new heroes having their first encounter with the Clockwork Byriks headed to an armoured car that look similar to the one that David had seen back in Scotland being driven by the other Longbow member. Right, I can drop you off just outside the main plaza, then just head past the Atlas Statue into the hall, and you should find directions to the G.I.F.T. offices.
Atlas Statue? How will I know what one that is?
Byriks smirked, Trust me kid, youll know.
David closed the car door and within several minutes was again in a stationary vehicle. Ok, that wasnt really necessary to drive me now was it?
Well, that really depends on how many Hellions you wanted to try and mug you, or how many Clockwork you want to come after any metal you have on you David could detect the sarcasm easily.
Fair point
Now, just head to the offices and Nash should be able to help you out.
Cool, thanks for helping me, I hope I can one day repay the favour
Dont worry about it, something tells me this wont be the last time we meet, and the next time I feel will be much different. Now, Ive got to get back to one of the hazard zones. Farewell for now
David closed the door and watched the car speed off. Turning north he saw the plaza. It was littered with heroes. Then he noticed the two large feet at two of the sides of the raised plaza. Following them up, he slowly tilted his head back til he was looking straight up and a bowed head and shoulders on top of which was a huge sphere representing the planet.
Bloody hell! That, must be Atlas I assume. So that means that Quickly looking past the plaza he saw the Hall, that is where Im meant to be going. Walking around the plaza he heard several of the heroes chatting away.
Hey, does anyone know where I can meet Ms. Liberty? I was told I could find her here?
GUYS! GUYS!!! WATCH THIS! shortly followed by a localised explosion.
Whats that glow around you?
David ignored the conversations, although in passing he glanced a look at some of the heroes and noticed that a few were also ignoring the questions. Heading up the stairs to the hall, several heroes ran, flew and leaped their way past him in all directions, some of which bumped into him. Turning he shouted at one as they leaped away, HEY! Watch where youre going! You heroes cant jump bump pedestrians out the way like that!
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Entering the hall, he spotted the posted signs directing him to the G.I.F.T. offices and made his way down the corridor. Descending some stairs he notices 5 large departments situated on this floor, each with large lettering above the door. On the right the signs read M.A.G.I. and D.A.T.A. with the left reading E.L.I.T.E. and S.E.R.A.P.H. At the far end of the hall was the sign with G.I.F.T. above it. Heading down the hall, David noticed the heroes running to and from the departments, each only heading to and from one though. As he entered the G.I.F.T. office, he noticed the large bookcases to the left, several books had a faint glow surrounding them. Stepping slowly into the open room, a man with short scruffy hair, wearing glasses stood up from behind one of the bookcases.
AH! You must be David! Our newest acquaintance! The man brushed himself off, sorting out his hair and tie.
Yes, that would be me. Im not bothering you am I?
Oh of course not, I was just finding a reference text I needed for something, besides, you are the matter at hand it seems.
Ok, I could help you find the text if you want, unless you just want to move onto whatever it is that has people so interested in me all of a sudden.
Would you? That would be perfect, its a text called Crowleys Theorems of Multi-spatial Travel it was borrowed from M.A.G.I. and I need to return it.
David frowned slightly at the bookcases, So Im looking for a book about teleportation through magical means?
The man smiled back, Yes! How did you know that!
Its sort of covered in the title, Crowley was a well renowned magic user, and multi-spatial travel is movement across one plane through travel others.
Interesting. How did you know that about Crowley, and for that matter, dimensional travels?
David hesitated, I have strange siblings
Aah, fair enough, say no more. Now, to find that book the man trailed off as he disappeared behind another bookshelf. David walked over to a large collection of books and glanced at the spines. Most were new and shined slightly in the light.
Not them then he thought to himself, Magic tombs are more likely to be worn in appearance Browsing over the books in view he noticed one in particular that again glowed slightly. Picking it up he turned it over to read the front. The majority of the text was illegible but the name at the bottom, or rather signatory mark was one that David had seen before: Crowleys Crest. Looking about for the man, David called, Hello? Excuse me, I think Ive found the book you wanted
Wonderful came the reply from somewhere in the room, Now, just put it on the desk and I will be right with you.
David walked over to the table and placed the text down near some open books and notes. Glancing over them he recognised some of the diagrams and equations in the notes and books.
Are you researching Mandelbrot diagrams by any chance?
The man came round to the table, Youve heard of Benoit Mandelbrot?
Sort of, he designed the chaos fractals that repeat order inside a chaotic event, thereby removing any true chaos.
Interesting, and yes, I was doing some light reading
David thought to himself, Light? This looks like the whole workings on the chaos theory here
Now, onto talking about yourself. Firstly, I should introduce myself, I am Antonio Nash, Liaison for the Freedom Corps and Gift with mutagenic metahumans.
Doesnt mutagenic metahumans give the idea that they themselves cause mutations?
Well spotted, I see now that you are a man of science.
Shouldnt you have already known that when you asked me to come here?
Again, well spotted. Its just a small test that I like to conduct when we meet new potential heroes.
David stopped before he started speaking, New whats? Heroes? As in me? Nash nodded. How is that possible though.
Well, Nash started speaking as he turned to a door in the office, if you follow me, I can start to explain it a bit better to you. Gesturing to follow Nash walked up to a keypad and entered a combination. The door hissed and a pressure valve released. In here. David followed in after Nash and immediately saw the lift.
Are we going underground?
Yes, there wasnt sufficient space on ground level for the Freedom Corps needs so they had several underground levels built to help.
How many levels
Officially, 6.
And unofficially?
Im not at liberty to say. But, how many would you think there are?
Well, you said 6, so that would stand at one for general use by the City Hall itself, then one for each department I saw earlier, making 6. Other than those, I would guess you would install a local generator for emergencies, so 1 or 2 more floors. Another one for acting as a medical and personnel floor, for whatever guards you have, and maybe one more complete defence.
Good, its interesting to see that you evaluated every reason for your answers.
So, how many are there?
Like I said, Im not at liberty to say, Nash grinned as he pressed the button on the lift.
A short few seconds later the doors opened onto a series of labs.
Here, is where G.I.F.T. carries out the majority of its work. There is a similar facility in Galaxy City, and a backup one under Freedom Corps HQ in Kings Row. Now, if you would follow me, I shall start to answer the questions you most likely have. Heading towards one of the labs, Nash nodded to several of the staff members that passed him. Firstly, you will probably want to have the reason for you being here explained. Well, like the sign reads, this is G.I.F.T., the Genetic Investigation and Facilitation Team. We deal with genetics anomalies daily and help heroes that have gained their abilities through genetic mutation to understand how their abilities can be used. Now, if you come over here, we can get a more thorough scan done of you so we can accurately analyse your genetic structure. Nash gestured at a device that had a flatbed built into it. Hesitantly moving to the device, David lay down on the flatbed. Lights came on around him and the bed slid into the device. Several arcs of light appeared and ran over David. For several minutes he lay in the device as the arcs ran over his entire body. Now, we just need a single genetic sample for physical data purposes, if you could reach over to that hand device on your right, it will take a blood sample through transfusion.
David placed his hand in the device and felt a tingling sensation in his hand as a quiet hum pulsed from the machine.
Ok, all done, now just let us get you out and we can start to give you the details. The flatbed slid back out of the scanner and David sat up. Over on this screen will show you what those tests have found. Nash had turned to a large screen and a lab technician was working on the console beside him.
David walked over to the screen and saw several images, one of his face, and several with double helices labelled in several places.
As you can see, this is a genetic profile created from the scans and tests we just conducted. On the left we have the standard human DNA sequence, on the right is your genetic sequence. Now, what we have been able to notice is this, Nash pointed to several locations in the sequence. These areas relate to several different systems in the body; brain development, immune system, metabolism and others. In your case they are vastly different from what is normally found.
Different? That doesnt sound good
On the contrary, it seems that the mutations in your genetic structure are on a whole beneficial. The scans we conducted confirm this. Your metabolism is much more active that most, your brain development is spiked in places weve never seen before, and your immune system is in a word Phenomenal.
How, what does that mean, and how does it relate to the fire?
Right, the fire, of course. Firstly, the increase in you metabolism allows you to run your body at a much higher temperature that anyone else. The development in your brain has created kinetic nodes, which appear to be able to control something, in all probability this will turn our to be the fire you know of. Also your increased metabolism means your immune system is virtually perfect. When was the last time you can remember being ill?
To be honest, I cant remember ever being ill. Its something that Ive noticed about my life the past few years. David shrugged carefully as he continued to look over the screen.
That wouldnt surprise me. If this data is reading correctly, then I dont think its possible for you to get ill, at least, not from any naturally occurring source in this dimension. Also your increased metabolism could potentially mean that you could move and act a lot faster than you think. I take it you saw some of the heroes outside running very fast and jumping very high?
David nodded, Yes, some seemed to be casting spells or utilising gadgets in order to do so.
Exactly, but some can do it naturally, through training or mutation like yourself. But, these readings give an indication of how fast you could possibly go.
And how fast does it say?
Fast, very fast. To my knowledge, I dont think even Synapse can run as fast as this is predicting you can go.
Synapse?
Oh, one of the surviving 8 from the Rikti War and a member of the Freedom Phalanx. Hes well known for being able to run very fast.
And you are saying that I could possibly run faster than him, how?
With the proper training, currently you have a massive untapped potential, and the Freedom Corps can help you achieve that potential if you so desire. I will say now though that most individuals that dont accept outside assistance end up working for Arachnos as they can control their powers that well and become corrupted through wanting more power. This isnt a threat, just friendly advice.
So youre saying I could become a hero?
Yes, thats exactly what Im saying.
What if I dont want to be a hero, or use my powers?
Well, thats up to you. I could arrange it so that your powers are even completely suppressed and so you will never develop them, but its your life and your decision to make. David stood quietly, staring at the screen. His life was reaching a crossroad, possibly the next decision he made could be the largest in his life.
Can I think about it?
Sure, take all the time you need. Ill be in the office upstairs when youre ready to talk. Nash gestured to show David the way back to the office and afterwards David left the City Hall. Standing on the steps he looked around, there were heroes everywhere, So many , he thought to himself, Would I even make a difference? He watched them come and go to the plaza, some flying in, some running, others leaping and a few teleporting. I could be doing that one day, but what about my plans I already have? What about all Ive worked for, what happened to that? David sat down near one of the dishes outside the hall, flames danced inside it, sparks occasionally escaping to disappear into nothingness. What if that becomes me, what if I burn out? He stretched out his hand to the fire, focusing on the flames. As he did so, the direction of the dance shifted, first of all in a random shunt, then towards him before leaping out of the dish and into his hand. No pain I can feel the fire, but it doesnt hurt me. Its almost like its part of me Turning his hand the flames moved from being held in his palm to surrounding his entire fist.
Wow, are you a hero?, came a voice from behind him. Turning, David saw a young girl, looked no older than 15.
Sorry, what was that?
I said, are you a hero?
David looked back to the flames, No, Im not well, not yet. One day maybe, Im just not sure about it yet
Really, how come?
I have a life already, I dont know if this is one that I would want to trade it in for.
What about all the things you would get to do though, get to see? What about the good that you could do?
Im only one man, I wouldnt make that much of a difference. Id probably not even get that much done.
Wouldnt what you did be enough though? My fathers friend told me once that Even the smallest wave wears away the beach, although Im not really sure what that means yet.
David smiled, Thats good advice, you should remember that.
So what are you going to do?
I think I know, David grinned and he closed his fist, snuffing out the flames. Thank you for your words. he turned to the girl and gave her a slight nod.
The girl had a confused look on her face, Ok, Im not completely sure what it was a said, but uncle Justin keeps telling me that and that one day I might understand it.
You will one day, Im sure of it. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some people to talk to about my future. Opening his hand again, he focused on where the fire had been, drawing deep from himself to create that which he could already destroy. Several sparks flickered in his hand, and then a flash and once again in the palm of his hand was a ball of dancing fire.
The girl cheered when he brought the fire back, and he cast it back into the dish, replacing the fire he had taken, Yay, does that mean youre gonna be a hero like Manticore, hes my favourite, he talks to me when he sees me the girls expressed deep happiness at mentioning the heroes name.
Well see David turned to the hall front door and entered them. Heading over to the reception desk he look to the clerk behind the desk, Hi, I was wondering if you could help me with something
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In the G.I.F.T. offices, Antonio Nash was balancing several books as he carried them from shelf to desk. He might be able to work out any written calculation almost instantly, but he hadnt noticed that his shoe lace wasnt tied. As he tried to turn with yet more books in his arms, he stepped on the loose lace and lost his balance, falling forward with the books crashing to the floor. As he got up he noticed David standing in the office doorway.
Aha, back again I see, so, come to a conclusion then?
David remained silent, instead he threw a small data pad onto the table. Nash picked it up and looked at the information displayed on it:
Paragon City Hero
Mutation Blaster
Security Level: 1
I see you havent decided on a name yet, but all in good time. Welcome to Paragon City
Thank you, David exhaled heavily as if a huge burden had just been lifted from him, Now to sort out some of the fine details "