Union Roleplayers - Recaps, Plots and Banter.
By
Aethan_Romn,
Posted on: 2006-10-24 18:53 in Roleplaying
[ QUOTE ]
Hello to everyone on Union. I'm a new player to City of Heroes, but a long time MMO fan and roleplayer. Having quit WoW recently after playing since release I'm hoping to find some like minded people about on the server.
So far I have two characters, a hero named The Attestant and a villain called Perpetual Motion. I'm hoping to find either or both of them an RP based supergroup, so if anyone needs new members, you can count me in. Hope to see you in game.
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think you got the wrong thread, matey, this is for plot updates, not intros 
Heres the definative list of CoX's roleplayers
Its not all of them, but theres a lot of them. Chuck your name down there if you want.
The Incomplete RPGroup Listing
I can reccomend a majority of those on the heroes side, pretty much something for everyone.
As for villains:
Super Villains to your left (nice guys. Reasonably new SG. perfect for your "muhahahah!" types.)
Carreer criminals to your right (and amendum Here ) (although we can be a little picky on recruits these days)
And if your a Thugs MM theres The Gang
and welcome to CoX 
Curiousity Nearly Killed The Cat
When a series of earthquakes rocked Rolando Island, home of the leader of the Unity Vigil, Zortel, her partner, family and friends, Miss Ellie went to the Rolando Family villa, where she found Tessa Rolando in the lounge with her son and daughter, Kelly and Michael. After checking they were okay, she headed down the elevator into the lab where Zorielle spent time working on various projects. On the holodisplay was various readouts showing the epicenters of the quakes, and other things. Zorielle herself seemed a little harried as she worked, warning lights blazing, and she ensured Ellie that the island was safe and there was no risk of tsunami. She said that drones would check under the island, and that Ellie should go and make sure everyone was okay.
After a check around the Island, stopping in at the houses of her friends, she went to the north point and phase shifted to explore one of the thermal vents spewing steam bubbles into the ocean. Sinking under the lava, she found various drone orbs working away, and started to head down, exploring the underbelly of the island.
Surprise surprise, when she found a series of caverns and rooms having been built deep under the island in addition to what was already there... several elevator shafts lead up to the top of the island, and there were several heavily fortified rooms...
Going to explore the room, Ellie's life was put in grave danger when ZorTel Industries Security AI Overmind BODICIA detected her quantum matrix, and started to arm several quantum arrays, ready to obliterate the retired heroine. Luckily or not for Ellie, Zorielle was there herself, clad in the Zortel suit. Telling BODICIA to disarm, she lead Ellie out to one of the elevators, filled with deactivated construction droids. It was rather silent, and Ellie was feeling very, very ashamed of herself. As they got back to Zorielle's lab, she made them some tea, asked some questions, had some asked of her, and told Ellie a few things, including not to mention what she saw to her wife, Grav Mistress. Ellie headed back to the Tower her house was built around (The downside of living with a mage, they always want a tower.) to clean up what had fallen over.
The question remains though... just why is Zorielle excavating caverns under the island? What is BODICIA guarding, and why is it so heavily protected? Protected enough that it would even try and stop Ellie from entering with lethal force?
[ QUOTE ]
think you got the wrong thread, matey, this is for plot updates, not intros
[/ QUOTE ]
I like to think this thread to be more inclusive than exclusive. While there are other threads for some specific things they would not be in the wrong place in here, and introductions certainly fit in well. It can be classed as banter. (I'd use more smileys if I liked this stock, but I don't.)
And welcome, Aethan_Romn! I hope to bump into you in-game sometime!
The Attestant was spotted at Pocket-D last night, generally making conversation with it's patrons, inquiring about local supergroups and also asking about the club and it's origins.
He was later spotted talking with DJ-Zero, and remarked rather loudly "...but we tried that! We simply couldn't balance the z-axis coefficients without a negative 4th dimension waveform!".
Back to the Crey complex in Eden, Coile, Love Angel and Sword of Truth cloned copy investigated most of the place.
Using a marvelous technological device made on purpose by Star Crusader, the trio tracked the blood stains of Nadia Forester, held there.
The early discoveries of Coile, McNamara and Brady tales, allowed to get a blurry image of what happened on that fateful day of late 2006.
As an unsuspected team of heroes from Paragon City broke in the basement of the complex, the Crey enforcer Chris Brady finally applied the "red procedure" and shot at point blank at the Sword of Truth, kiling in the process one of his fellow guard named Corey.
The Sword of Truth allegedly evaded the machine pistol burst, but to be hit a couple of seconds later, when she was blocked by the closed exit door of the cell area.
Probably left dead or simply overlooked, Nadia Forester wasn't recovered.
The current hypothesis is she finally moved out of her quarter, bloody, to an internal phone.
It seems she attempted to use it. Has someone got the call ?
After Coile found a control room, he was able to point at a possible destination for the wounded Sword, who obviously tried to go outside.
The destination, maybe oddly enough, was a part of the complex identified as "TrP labs", something Coile linked to "Trojan Project" as well as another section identified as "XP Portal".
There, our heroes found again the bloody trail left.
All clues looked to show Nadia Forester was getting medical attention here.
Spotting bloody footprints, the trail finally ended again outside, to the central plaza of the Crey complex.
But this time, with no real direction to follow. For now.
There is still one mystery.
The letter found by Coile was left in the jacket Nadia Forester was wearing almost one year ago.
But this letter didn't have any blood stain on it, refuting the idea she might have left it deliberately after being wounded.
More, no blood stains at all were seen in the room where the jacket was found.
Two things to happen next:
1) Coile will go back to the defected Crey scientist McNamara and ask a few more questions. Was he, after all, maybe in the complex when it fell under attack? Did he help the original Sword of Truth? And where is she now? If he wasn't there, how come he never mentioned that Trojan project had labs in the complex? He only spoke about the detention center.
2) Tempest will go back to the deserted Crey HQ and check out the XP Portal. The original Sword of Truth was already once before detained in another world. She could be again.
Lately, the Silent Tempest made a third exploration trip into the old Crey headquarters by Eden.
Led by Coile, the pink Love Angel, the cigar equipped Mesoc and the alien Star Crusader broke in to suddenly face a horde of Rikti who had invaded the place !
Fights soon erupted as our heroes progressed into the complex.
The Tempest discovered Riktis reactived, powered again, this section of the complex, one supposedly harboring a device enigmatically labelled "XP portal" by Crey Ind.
Arriving in the main room of the said portal, to discover an old machine, and another round of fighting later, the heroes were told by a scared Crey employee that Riktis were given access here by the company. The employee, while shaken by the Rikti mental control process, confirmed Riktis were more or less invited. To what purpose ?
This question will stay unsolved as, turning on the computer station of the "XP portal", a curious mention appeared : "You have last logged as user : Truth and Justice".
The "XP Portal" was identified by the alien Xan as a device able to send people in other dimensions by modifying their quantum state. As opposed to regular, modern, and safer portals which are connecting two dimensions to each others.
Stunned by the revelation of the last user, the Tempest heroes soon realized that the missing, the original, Sword of Truth came here and accessed the station.
Studying the history logs showed the portal was used but the user, instead of being "moved" on the quantum level to another dimension, was kept into a loop and so in the portal buffer. The main reason being no destination parameters were entered.
The alien then underlined, by looking at the history, that someone else than the user had finalized the processs. So two people were present.
Now, to recover the last user (the mysterious "Truth and Justice") a password had to be entered.
Login : Truth and Justice
Password : ?
Coile instinctively typed "Andre" (his name) but, possibly to his disappointment, it was an invalid password.
The leader of the Silent Tempest then thought about a form of scanning device invented on purpose by the alien.
That device, made to reveal blood stains when tracking the injured Sword of Truth, was used over the keyboard, to possibly show what keys were hit by the last user.
Among the slightly stained keys, only "H", "E" and "U" were significantly marked.
And yes, it was letters from "Truth and Justice".
Still, after some thoughts, it was possible that those letters were common to both the login name and the password.
So Coile, finally, typed : "Thunderstruck" (his battlecry, like "Truth and Justice" is Sword's) and the hero accessed the user menu.
In the meantime, anticipating the recovery of an injured Sword of Truth from the machine, Xan was sent to get medical gear from a neighbouring lab, to fall in a Rikti ambush, or counter attack.
The critical intervention of Love Angel allowed the alien to come back quicker (and safer), the arrival of Mesoc sealed the fight in favor of the heroes.
Back at the experimental portal room, an anxious Coile managed to perform the various operations to reconfigure the machine, set the local place as a destination for the person in the buffer and finally activated the portal.
And a certain black woman fell on the ground from the portal, unconscious and wounded.
After almost a year, the original Sword of Truth was finally recovered.
Time will tell how she will react to the presence of the Trojan Queen clone living her life since she went missing, during a certain trip to Asia, during a certain Requiem War.
Note :
The buffer thing is a voluntary ripoff from a Next Generation episode. I don't claim originality there.
It's an intended homage to Coile.
Dangerous Friends Mercenaries Ball 27 May 2007-05-29
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Having been unduly delayed by a Longbow patrol disrupting a lucrative transaction with one of her contacts in the underworld, Scorpio Rose arrived late at the mercenaries ball. She had however had a chance to slip into something more suitable for the evening than her usual street clothes.
Upon being vetted for hidden weapons (not that it would have been possible to hide anything in that dress) she entered the ball to socialise with the remaining guests and perhaps to pursue mutual interests. She spent some time chatting with Feyth, the charming Kunoichi X and Big Game who she was warned of by the two women. Big Game claimed that he was just being hospitable. In fact if Scorpio received any attention it was from Echo Hammer who made several playful attempts to grab her tail. After brandishing the sting, Scorpio warned her to be careful and that one sting from the tail could lead to her waking up a changed person.
Scorpio met with her fellow Terra Liberation Front comrades, Hatesman and Neutrality, it taking a few moments for her to recognise the latter without his signature battle armour. They briefly chatted, confirming that an alliance had been formed between the TLF and EVIL. Rejoining the remaining guests, there was a brief disruption from the burly Axel who appeared to be making threats to anyone who annoyed him. After he left, Scorpio made light of his threats and enjoyed one last drink before departing with her colleagues for the TLF headquarters.
((Written this morning, three days after the event so apologies if Ive forgotten anything or used the wrong names etc. Please correct where appropriate.))
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
Since her recovery, Nadia Forester, aka the Sword of Truth, is facing a totally new situation.
Detained during almost one year, she saw a copy of herself living her life since.
Her blooming love to Andre Kraft, more known as Coile, the Silent Tempest leader, looks now greatly compromised as the man not only lived a story with the copy but also had left the said copy to marry the vigilante Nightsparrow, now defunct.
The copy of Nadia Forester, eager to give back her life to the original, was given the "Sword of Truth" hero identity, as it looks most in the city now know more Sword as the copy.
So, the current Sword of Truth is indeed the copy.
The original, however, choosed to register under a new name : the Light of Truth.
While Nadia Forester is going to keep, naturally, her own civil identity, the copy decided, as a pun, to get as a new one the name Nadia Troy, considering she is a product of the Trojan Project.
At Pocket D, the apparition of the original and the copy raised some eyebrows and a couple of explanations.
The situation also generates some confusion. On the Silent Tempest comm channels, their voices are similar. They have both the same speech quirks.
Side by side, they are identical.
And finally, when one calls "Nadia ?", two are likely to reply at the same time.
Love Angel already found her own way to call them when they are both present.
The copy is "miss Nadia" while the original is "miss Forester" (probably also displaying the fact Love Angel feels closer to the copy than the original she just met recently).
Coile looked to be caught in a crossfire between the two Nadias, the original love and the one he lived with, but now looks a bit more confident, even when they are both present, since he talked to the original (presumably about his choices since she disappeared).
Mesoc, while doubting during a time about his own feelings when the perspective to have the original freed surfaced, renewed his claimed affection for the copy.
Now, while Sword of Truth (the copy) is still refraining from hitting the streets and fighting crimes, sword in hand, due to her chest injury, Light of Truth (the original and her new hero ID), despite a strangely similar injury, looks more than ready to pursue her career as a crime fighter.
When Sword hinted the team could use a new training session, Love Angel was suggesting to the copy to use the katana offered by Mesoc as a weapon.
And the same Pink Menace was also suggesting to solve the legal civil void in which the copy is by marrying Mesoc.
All of this being not really surprising as Love Angel looks to have made her personal crusade to have Mesoc and Sword together.
New faces were seen in Paragon City the last weeks.
Led by the blonde and winged Brunnhilde, the doglike Knuto, the green armoured Ardent Dryad, the mysterious Lady Allure and, word on the street says, was it the returned Apache Longbow Evie ?, formed a band of heroes who struck the Oucasts and the Trolls in the Hollows.
Officer Wincott said "As long as Brunnhilde does the job, I don't really listen her talking about spoils of war, fighting giants and monsters. And no, I don't know those Norns".
In Faultline and Steel Canyon, the grim and paranoid Darksparrow is followed by a sort of... feminine ninja... if ninjas were wearing very girly (but black !) outfits and a pink mask over the face (plus the regular black one)
The wannabe ninja is said to have told her companion, with a muffled voice : "Two mafks ? I am wearing two mafks ?" then proceeded to jump and run from one hiding place (or believed to be) to the other, a feat to recognize when one is wearing high heels.
The Eldritch Trickster, a stage magician with real magic powers, was seen quite often since two weeks (some said "battling with a sword wielding woman").
"And now ladies and gentlemen... the Great Wheel of Fire !" was one of her statements the most heard by burnt and battered Outcasts recently.
The Great Wheel of Fire is generally used in her stage performances, alongside with her other magic tricks like the Dragon Breath, the Magic Hand or the spectacular Fiery Skies.
She promised a new trick for the next week. It is said Outcasts are anticipating its arrival with glee.
Positron patronized a new and young, if not a bit reckless, hero, Sable Lynx.
The mutant clawed hero was fortunate enough to meet Love Angel and Mesoc from the Silent Tempest... and not meeting his personnal doom instead.
Running after "big fishes", Sable Lynx would probably have been sent to hospital with body and pride damaged if our two veteran heroes didn't save the day more than once.
A witness reports that, discussing with Positron, Sable Lynx said about Love Angel "Yes, she's a nice girl. But she is trying to stuff me with vitamin bars"
Warshade Eleven! Its Dr Brian Roberts. Meet me at the medical facility in Steel Canyon immediately! Brigadier Tasker has been taken in injured from duty!
After spending several hours at the hospital, Dr Roberts and Warshade Eleven, took Leon Tasker back to The Dunelm Groups temporary office at the University campus in Steel Canyon. Warshade watched over Leon as he rested for a few hours, while Dr Roberts tried to carry on with his regular duties. Eventually, the three began an emergency briefing.
Dr Roberts: First things first Leon, what on earth happened to you?
Leon: Serious operation needed my attention here in Steel Canyon. Sky Raiders had taken 3 people hostage and planned to destroy vital equipment within the labs of one of the major companies here in the district.
Dr Roberts: Please tell me you did not attempt the operation alone!
Leon: Of course not. I was well aware of the dangers within that building. I was able to acquire the services of more of the heroes that operate in this city. They were good soldiers. They gave everything to save those hostages and protect the labs. We just were not aware how badly the Sky Raiders wanted to succeed.
WS Eleven: I take it you encountered more forces than you could have possibly anticipated my brother?
Leon: Correct. We managed to cut through regiments of them on each floor, bit by bit. I know we rescued 2 of the 3 hostages. But when we got to the lab equipment, they must have ordered every force they had within a 7 miles radius to converge on the labs to complete their mission. We did all we could to hold them off, but I know we failed, because the last thing I remember before waking up at the hospital was the blast of the equipment.
Leon winced in pain for a moment. What happened then? Did the other hostage get out? Did the rest of the team make it?
Warshade Eleven looked at Dr Roberts for a moment as if looking for approval to offering Leon an answer. But he knew Leon had to be told the truth. He turned back to Leon but lowered his head before answering. Even before Warshade gave his reply, Leon knew he was not going to like what he was about to be told.
WS Eleven: Unfortunately my brother, while the rest of your team were safely brought to the medical facility along with you for treatment, the other hostage did not make it. The Raiders executed the hostage shortly after the blast in retaliation to the attempt made to stop them.
Leon paused for a moment, before thumping the desk in the office with his right fist, then throwing the contents of the desk off the table top. His actions made him sit back down again in pain, realising that he was actually hurt.
Dr Roberts: Watch yourself Brigadier, your hurt! And remember that this is not my office ether! Ive already taken so many calls today from the University board, getting flack for us being here!
Leon sharply responded: This situation is getting out of hand now Dr Roberts! I understood the reasons for coming to this city, but not having a working base of operations is making day to day duties extremely difficult. And I think after whats happened today it just shows how much time we have wasted in getting back Eleven. And now more than ever do we need him back!
Dr Roberts: I am aware of that Brigadier! But you said yourself we would not begin any sort of operation with out suffeient numbers to undertake the Taskforce!
Leon: Well, it looks like that option is no longer feasible. Looks like were on our own!
Dr Roberts: Now come on Leon, you are in no fit state now to be undertaking any operation. Plus you still do not have the required security level to access Creys Folly.
Leon: Well Warshade there just acquired the necessary access right yesterday. He can
Dr Roberts abruptly stopped Leon: NO Leon! I will not risk another one of our agents being captured, injured or even killed performing the Taskforce solo!
Leon: We have no Taskforce, sir! There is no alternative strategy! If Warshade does not make a solo attempt to rescue Eleven, then we might just have lost him forever.
Warshade Eleven at this point receives a message on his mobile phone and turns his attention away from the briefing.
Dr Roberts: I want this whole episode to end just as much as you do Leon, but there must be another way to take on this operation. I can not allow a solo course of action to take place. If Warshade were to fall, it would effectively kill off this group. For all his power, he simply can not take on an army of Crey agents on his own. Im sure he agrees with me
Dr Roberts and Leon turn to Warshade Eleven, who is still looking at the message on his phone.
WS Eleven: Actually good brother Doctor
.Im going to agree with brother Tasker!
Dr Roberts and Leon looked perplexed at Warshades statement. Warshade raises his head from looking at his message, returning to face his team mates.
WS Eleven: I have just received a message comfirming new leads I came up with on my tour of duty yesterday.
Leon quickly responded: What have you got Warshade?
WS Eleven: Well, I was helping the Tailor over at Independence Port with a group that were threatening the business unless it was allowed to be bought out by the group concerned. Turned out it was Crey. In exchange for assisting the Tailor, the good sister owner offerend me a new set of clothing that allowed me to disguise my identity more
.AND REALLY BITCHIN COSTUME IT IS!
Warshade gave a cheesy grin and a thumbs up before continuing.
Anyway
..Becuase I was disguised I was able to engage a number of Crey agents on the Tailors behalf. The agents believed at first that they were being arrested by just another Warshade in the city. However when I was able to properly secure them, so that they could not contact their HQs, I was able to extract some very interesting information.
Dr Roberts: How on Earth were you able to do that?
Warshade gave another cheesy, albeit more sinister grin this time, as he relived the image in his mind of dangling one of the agents, panicing for his life, as he was being held upside down by Warshade Eleven, over the edge of a ship in Indy Port, that was not very far away from Lusca the Giant Squid.
WS Eleven: Oh
.I had my ways!
Leon: Get on with it Warshade! What did you find out?
WS Eleven: Well it seems one of your theories that Crey might have employed another group to assist with holding Eleven proved to be well thought of my good brother. You are aware that the Circle of Thorns are regularly present in Founders Fall?
Dr Roberts and Leon then nodded their heads, realising what was obvious.
Leon: So Crey made a deal with some of the Thorn Mystics in Founders to assist in holding Eleven in whatever holding cell they put him in?
WS Eleven: Precisely my good brother. And even more good fortune was to come later on that evening. I assisted a team that were asked to take down a large number of Thorns in the woods of Perez Park that were holding a number of people hostage. When escorting them all to the fleet of Police that greeted us, one of the mystics figured out who I was, and demanded to speak to me.
Dr Roberts: What did he tell you?
WS Eleven: He said that even though his is not fans of Eleven or the rest of us, he hates Crey more. He explained that he was not pleased to hear that his superiors decided to work with Crey, even if it meant subduing Eleven. He was quite happy to sell out his fellow Thorns in order to give us information that would lead to Eleven taking out a large chunk of Crey Industries. He explained that the Mystic power holding Eleven is not being maintained in the same building as his cell, but in one of the Thorns caves in Founders Fall. This message I just received from the Police interrogating the Mystic confirms his story and gives me the location of which Thorn base the power it being maintained.
Leon, despite his pain stood up and with confidence explained: Thats it! Thats the ultimate breakthrough we need to rescue Eleven. Dr Roberts sir, we may not need an extensive Taskforce at all.
Dr Roberts: Well I can see that obviously we no longer need a complex operation to get the final pieces of information that we were after, but I am not convinced that this still can be done by just Warshade all on his own.
Leon: All Warshade needs to do is take out the Mystical power the Thorns are using to hold Eleven.
WS Eleven: I agree with Brother Tasker once again. Regardless of the numbers of Thorns in the cave, I will have no problem using my natural stealthy goodness to get past all the forces in there! I will only have to deal with forces guarding and maintaining the Mystical energy.
Dr Roberts: And what happens when the rest of the Thorn cave is alerted of your attempt to bring down the power?
WS Eleven: When I disrupt the energy, I will be able to make a quick stealthy exit. The remaining Mystics there will not be able to re-establish the connection once I have broken it, as they will need one of there own to be in the presence of Eleven to be able to do that.
Dr Roberts: But what if there is one of their mystics IS there to make sure a connection is re-established if it were to be brought down.
Leon: I dont think we need to worry about that sir! Knowing the Thorns as I do, even though they would have entered this deal mutually, they still would not be able to bring themselves to hang around Crey agents and its buildings for an extended length of time.
Dr Roberts: And do you think Warshade would be able to find the location of building Eleven is being held in, and take on all agents in there alone, and successfully acquire Eleven?
Leon: I know we said that the Taskforce would end with us storming the building Eleven is being held in and assisting him with his escape, but I seriously believe that might not be totally necessary!
Dr Roberts: Your certain he can break himself out?
WS Eleven: Brother Doctor, Eleven on a normal, regular, rage fuelled day would taken on Crey Agents with no problem what so ever. After being locked in a cage for nearly a month by them
.well
.I shudder to think what he will do to them!
Leon: Thats the best plan we have right now sir.
Dr Roberts looked at his agents before looking to the ground, shaking his head.
Dr Roberts: The point
..The Point is conceded. He looks at Warshade. Go and prepare for your mission Warshade
Warshade Eleven bows to Dr Roberts request and turns to leave the room and the University.
Dr Roberts: Brigaider. You stay right here and rest up, but maintain communication with Warshade. If he suddenly needs backup, do not go yourself. Search the Hero Net urgently and find him allies!
Leon salutes, even though it hurts him to do so due to his injuries: Yes sir!
In a cave in Founders Fall
.
Random Defender: Master, are you sure this agreement with Crey is wise? I was to believe they were our enemies?
Agony Mage Alkmar: Oh that they are my student. However you must learn to bring your enemies close to you, if the opportunity arises that you can use them to take down one of your other greater enemies!
Random Fire Thorn Caster: So once we are in a position where we can continue to hold the warrior without Crey, we can remove them?
Agony Mage Alkmar: Exactly my student! With that meddling warrior in our total control, we can then begin to take down Crey and the rest of our pitiful enemies! And nothing will stop us!
The Mage gives out a cackling evil laughter, to the delight of his students. However they are soon disturbed by another sinister laugh that is not from one of their own. They frantically scan the cave they are in to see where the laughter is coming from, but it seems to be coming from everywhere and are therefore unable to aim their attacks on one point of the cave.
Warshade Eleven, finishing his laughter: I do give you pity my brothers, I really do. How can I not pity you when I have to say
.YOURE GONNA TO GET PWNED BY A SQUIDDY YOU nOObs!
Suddenly Warshade in his Nova form flies into the cave area, blasting the group with his Dark Detonation. It instantly subdues the mob, except for Mage Alkmar, who quickly manages to get back to his feet. Warshade returns to his human form, looking at the altar that had been setup to maintain the holding spell, keeping Eleven mystically chained in the Crey facility. He turns round though, realising he has not done enough to knock out Agony Mage Alkmar.
Alkmar: You are a fool Warshade to take on me alone!
Alkmar quickly performs one of his holding spells, looking to trap Warshade Eleven where he stood. But at the last moment, Warshade manages to avoid the spell, teleporting himself behind the Agony Mage, and then ironically, holds the Mage with his Gravity Well.
Alkmar: Argh! Un-hand me you vile creature!
The Mage quickly concentrates his power to unleash himself from the hold. Once free he gives an evil grin and begins to turn around, ready to inflict torture to his Kheldian attacker. However when he does turn round, he finds that Warshade Eleven has already turned into his Dwarf being.
WS Eleven: Its cosmic CLOBBERIN TIME!
The Mage tries to swiftly turn round to run away, screaming in fear, but is caught by a strike from the Dwarf. Warshade continues to punish the Mage with his Dwarf form, until Alkmar is completely unconscious.
With the Thorns around the altar out cold, he walks up to the altar, ready to finally release his colleague. He closes his eyes as he reaches out with his right hand to the altar.
In a holding cell, somewhere deep within a Crey facility, Eleven who for the best part of a month had been forced to kneel on a cell floor with a look of despair and anguish, slowly started to raise his head up with his usually scowling face of anger returning.
Warshade still with his eye closed concentrating on his task, gave a smile as he saw through the mystical energy Eleven slowly beginning to stand up off the cell floor.
Warshade then spoke to Elevens mind through the use of the mystical power in the Thorns cave: My dear brother! You have been held in that cell far too long. It is time for you to rise!..........I TAKE IT THOSE SAUSAGE ROLLS YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO BRING BACK FOR ME ARE NO GOOD NOW?
Eleven heard Warshades remark, but did not respond to it. He simply walked slowly up to the cell door and barked at the guard: OI! MARRA!
The guard, who was looking away from the cell at the time, slowly turned around to face the cell. He began physically shaking in fear when he turned and saw Eleven awake and staring at him.
Eleven: You might want to phone the Guinness book of Records there junior! Because Im about to hand OUT, THE BIGGEST *bleep*ING RECEIPT OF ALL TIME!
Credit goes to FrankyT49 for animated avatar
List of toons on Union Handbook
Leon Tasker: "Dunelm Group! What is your profession?"
Dunelm Group: "OOOOORRRAAAAH!"
(( The Hand of Andros contains adult themes
The events started in Hand of Andros If the first stories look confusing or dull, skip ahead to the email messages and discussions.
After Saffron had gone missing Search for Amber Banshee was launched.
The rescue effort was discussed in The Briefing Room - 15th June
This takes place in the late evening on 28.6.2007 ))
Coming Home
As the end is drawing near
Standing proud, I won't give in to fear
As I die a legend will be born
- Judas Priest
Around 8 PM Coile was informed by both Crimson Archer and Tygerboy that the Militia would be launching a rescue operation to get Amber Banshee back from the clutches of Hand of Andros. She had been gone for four weeks. Coile in turn called Love Angel to invite her along. Not because he thought such a high risk mission was the best place for the girl to be but because he had promised to her that when he went to hunt Andros people, she would be with him. Another person he had to keep informed was Kerry, a woman from his work over at HeroCorp. Just that afternoon all intel division people had been paired up for the duration of a local emergency with the Freakshow and Kerry had become Coile's ball and chain. Kerry elected to follow her work partner because he was known to do reckless things and she didn't want to explain to their boss why her partner had gone and died.
In Militia's base there were a few people with more coming as time went by. The ones to go after Amber were, aside of Crimson and Tyger, three others. Found who was a reconverted Lost healer, Dante Carver who was some kind of high class mystic and Redsight who was Crimson's cousin and also an Archer. The rest of Militia present (most notably Paragon Protector CR who was a long standing member and Hiyro and Silver.Eagle who were raw recruits) were told that they had to stay behind. This was a high risk operation against people who had no qualms about killing and used murder as a convenient tool at their leisure.
Crimson had obtained the information where Amber was imprisoned exactly through her Fey family and Dante had constructed a charm that would take the rescue party to where Amber was held. Such useful help from such fickle folk would carry a price that Crimson would later on pay. The details were not revealed to others. In the end of the briefing there were a few goodbyes uttered as it was quite possible that not all of those going would be coming back. The rescuers gathered and blinked out of existence, and back in reality completely elsewhere.
Upon arrival there was a rather surprised welcome party waiting. In seconds the guards were subdued and the cautios band of heroes pressed onwards. All that they had to go by was that Amber was in a cell someone in here. When the next contact with the enemy came it went all much by the book. Arrows delivered payloads and right after the close quarters combatants engaged the troops while others provided tactical support from range. Again the guards fell fast but put up a good fight delivering knocks around. This wasn't going to be exactly easy.
Third assembly of hostiles went out and down just as the previous ones. While each encounter proved to be an obstacle it started to look as if the heroes would manage the opposition rather cleanly. This misconception was blown apart as a guard exploded knocking Dante against the wall. It was not known if it was a self-triggered last resort, automatic after-death retribution or someone using remote signals but the effect was clear - no enemy soldier was harmless even when unconscious.
In an office room the group found two things. First was a laser array trap that Coile triggered and evaded only because of his new rocket boots. An EMP arrow later Crimson went back in and found a file whose cover said 'Amber Banshee'. Inside were details about the torture that she had gone through - with pictures. This propelled Crimson Archer to drive his team forward faster and harder. While a sound tactic it was reckless as Tyger proved a while later by walking through a doorway and triggering a nasty electric trap. Nothing would be safe. He pulled through however and the lifts took them one floor down.
On the floor below there were more and more guards. The lessons of the one fallen guy exploding had been forgotten and thus a downed guard suddenly releasing corrosive gas took the team by surprise. Kerry, Redsight, Love Angel and Tygerboy each took a dose. The rest dragged them quickly away which could have been the only thing that saved their lungs from turning into biological goo. After this the lesson stuck and later on a guard went up without inflicting any damage to the intended targets.
After a while a cell was located. Some people took their own time getting there due to no flight and locked doors in stairway which gave Coile enough time to note that the cell's air was being drained out. Tyger heard with his keen ears that someone was inside. While acid arrows and blasting through the wall instead of the sturdy steel door was contemplated Kerry went and got a beaten high ranking guard persuading him to help out with this. No one knows what kind of nightmares that guard would have for the rest of his life after Kerry had been inside his head. However with his handprint and a forcibly retrieved code the door was opened.
Inside was a man whose life had got to an end just mere seconds ago. This served as a reminder that it was possible to find what they were looking for and still be too late. Another reminder was not to stand still for too long. Redsight and Tyger both sensed a thermal source inside the man, building up fast. Everyone got out of the cell just in the nick of time before the bomb went off. Flames struck out of the door for meters.
The next notable event was coming across mechanoid sentries. As things were robots were a dime in a dozen with superpowered lunatics and as such seemed to be nothing more than scrap metal in the making, walking junkyard fillings with their fates so far unrealized. Alas, it was not as clearcut. Love Angel recognized the biggest hulking warbots from her time at Coiles childhood home, around Christmas. Also Coile made a positive identification. The robots had been built by his father, Zirgei Kraft, who had originally founded the Hand of Andros. He had been killed by the women who were keeping Amber Banshee a prisoner, the same women who had killed Coiles wife Nightsparrow.
The tactic would be to knock the robots down and then rip open a maintenance hatch under the right arm frying the control circuitry inside. Found had definite difficulties with combating foes who gave out no life signs so the plan was him to stay a bit behind. No one was paying much attention what was happening with him. Finally the metallic menaces had fallen and Coile destroyed one of them permanently. Kerry was working with another when Crimson sounded a retreat. Everyone obeyed instantly. It was only a safe distance away that Kerry noted that her work had been left incomplete. This sent Coile flying to the one unattended big robot in a quest to knock it out before something bad would happen. He was too late.
He only had time to shout that everyone should take cover behind a corner and fly to an apparent safety himself before the massive robot went sky high and collapsed the corridor partially. Thats when two things went wrong. First was Coile choosing an unscouted direction and flying into the firezone of several enemies. His suit was quickly overwhelmed. Love Angel and Kerry noted his plight and rushed to help despite Crimsons orders to stay still. Everyone had to join the fray. In the end all the enemies lied still but so did Coile and his armour weighted considerably more than just a man. The problem of dragging him away from among the fallen was solved when one supermassive soldier exploded spraying acid. Tygerboy was hit badly by the acid as was Coiles armour. In the end the others had to dig the leader of the Silent Tempest out of his suit and abandon it as useless. Crimson Archer seemed to think the very same of Coile. He advocated for leaving the unconscious man who had just been stripped of offensive capabilities to his luck. Others opposed such a notion vehemently. This moral dilemma was rendered obsolete when Coile regained his senses and got up.
The second thing to go wrong came up soon after. Redsight picked up Founds current location which was not that much further away. Sure enough he sat leaning against the wall next to the elevators that would take them down one level. Only thing subtracting from the joy of a reunion was him missing his whole right arm that had probably been torn away when the robot had exploded. Love Angel rushed to perform emergency first aid to stop the bleeding. She was getting her moneys worth of field practice with washing the acid off of Tygerboy and now making sure Found wouldnt just bleed to death. After a brief discussion it was decided that Kerry would carry the unconscious Lost convert as leaving anyone behind was foolish and dangerous. With Found missing an arm and Coile stripped of his suit the combined firepower of the rescue team was declining.
Dante determined that three out of four lifts were primed to go upon usage. A safe descent later Crimson once again breathing through his inhaler started to attract attention. It was nothing major, just atomized Bloody Bay meteor which seemed to drive the on the edge Militia field commander over the said edge. However the discussion was cut short when a siren went off. If anyone had harbored hopes of advancing undetected it was time to lose such misconceptions.
The next encounter went by the book. People took distance from the fallen foes while Coile and Love Angel disabled the robots. However the universe abhors except a vacuum also cocky people. Redsight and Tygerboy noticed ultrasound and rising heat inside the corridor walls. A desperate dash backwards prevented people from being torn to shred with the small concrete chips flying around. The problem was not solved even after the bang because the dust proved to be a real handicap for Redsight and Love Angel who had not recovered from the corrosive gas messing with their lungs.
Coile stayed behind with still unconscious Found because Kerry couldnt fight properly with a heavy man on her shoulders. While the two useless members of the party remained put the rest sought out the last defenders of the subterranean fort among which were a few warbots. While others were moderately content Redsight noticed one robot still being active. Most didnt have a clear idea what to so it was good that Love Angel and Kerry had paid attention to Coiles instructions and were able to shut the metal behemoth down.
Then came the sour realization that the enemy base had been stripped off of its guards and there was no sign of Amber. Tempers started rising as desperation crept in when Dante sensed their quarry reasonably nearby. Amber was still one level below and even the necessary hatch was located, but it remained shut. Finally an unlocked computer terminal granted them access. Through the hatch the whole band descended into darkness.
Love Angel had at one point noted that this could be one huge trap. If that was indeed so the final leg could prove truly hazardous. Then again, heroes would not be heroes if they backed down in the face of the slightest danger. However heroes with a wish for a longer life expectancy should be both careful and also mindful when to assault headlong instead of using tactics. Luckily for the herokind these lessons are taught daily all around the world and the survivors start to learn at some point.
The first room was lightless until chemical arrows and magic provided illumination. It turned out to be barracks but unoccupied. Above the hatch closed with a loud clang. No way back now. The sole door opened with the knob and the corridor beyond was lighted softly. Tyger strolled carelessly around the next corner a few meters away and avoided the lethal barrage of high tech ammunition only with his superspeed. The welcoming committee was ready to receive the intruders. One again Coile stayed with Found as the rest gathered to do combat.
The devised tactic was no worse than any previous. A hail of distracting arrows to buy a second or two for the proximity combatants to close the gap and then just dealing the knuckle sandwich until all enemies were not asking for more. Thats how it went except one soldier getting a burst out just as Dante was charging at him. The shot ripped a sizeable chunk of his chest off spraying it around it a red mist. Dante collapsed immediately. Angel was by his side in seconds but there was nothing to be done. Try as she may Angel just got soaked in fresh blood without having any effect on how fast Dante was dying. The reality of it was that nothing at their disposal was going to prevent the inevitable. Only goodbyes remained and Dante asked the others to tell Saffron that he had come for her. Just as the life was losing its grip an otherwordly voice spoke COME AND SEE and Dante vanished without a trace.
The next three soldiers had no chance whatsoever to deal damage. They were taken out of the fight with all due efficiency despite their superior weapons and other gear compared to them compatriots in the upper levels. Nothing was standing in their way as the heroes led by Crimson Archer opened the door at the end of the corridor and found a room full of dead guards decomposing slowly. Among them were scattered a plethora of torture devices. The heroes backed away from the room slowly, and closed the door. Thats when Found regained his consciousness.
The only direction to go was a side corridor. It turned into a crossing shortly with the left fork leading to a red door, right one to a grey door and the door at the end of the forward corridor ending in a few stairs and a steel door with an opening at eye level with bars on it. Crimson Archer took a peek inside. Something made a popping sound and a heated projectile penetrated into Crimsons left eye. The eye boiled out instantly and the projectile exited the eye socket through the side of the skull near the eye corner. Angel tried to tend to it to the best of her abilities but by then Crimson was so high of his meteor dust that pain was only a mild distraction if even that.
Tygers senses had established that Amber was beyond the door. However the steel refused to yield. Crimson got an idea of pouring the contents of all of his acid arrows into the lock to weaken it and proceeded to do so despite the acid eating his gloves. Then it was only up to someone to rip the door open. Tyger tried but his physique had suffered some horrible damage due to the acid spillage from earlier. Kerry who had lugged Found around stepped in and managed to pry to door open. Time for a homerun. Except not for all.
Angel was patching Crimsons eye so that he could go and meet Amber. Coile was staying with Found who was mumbling gibberish in Rikti. Tyger and Redsight were standing by as Kerry cracked the lock. As the door came loose a guard who seemed not to mind all the flashes and smokes that had been shot in brought his terrible weapon to bear and squeezed out a shot. The first person to receive the ammo was Kerry whose side tore open sending her reeling back. An instant later Redsights head was vaporized. The time seemed to stand still for a small moment as the body stayed up, and then it collapsed spraying the red life liquid around.
Tyger launched a superspeed assault at the attacker while Crimson shot some arrows. That the man did not drop or even didnt seem to be fazed meant that either the suit was a spectacular engineering stunt to withstand that much punishment or the person inside was a metahuman. Such speculations were rendered academic when a flaming arrow from Crimsons bow hit the left side goggle that the soldier was wearing allowing an access straight into the brain matter. The guy literally dropped dead.
The corridor fell quiet. From the four cells present only one was occupied and a faint scratching could be heard. While Coile abandoned Found momentarily to go and check Angel who was just kneeling quietly Crimson and Tyger went to get Amber out of her detention. Kerry was cursing quietly but had managed to drain life force out of the supersoldier enough to not bleed slowly to death. They were finally at their goal but the price had been paid in blood.
Amber was in a bad condition. She had been missing for four weeks and starving for the most of it. All the wounds from the dedicated torture had become infected. The rib that Charisma had cracked upon capturing Amber was still broken. All in all what was rescued was a half dead woman who had no real presence of mind to appreciate her newfound freedom for more than a few seconds at a time. The remaining heroes convened and gathered together so that Tyger could reactivate the charm to take them back to their own world. Coile was holding Redsights lifeless body.
The charm did not work. Then, to make the bad situation worse, the lights gained a faintly red tint and a metallic voice from the walls noted that countdown, three minutes. Whatever they would need to do could not take more than three minutes. The grey door revealed only a kitchen. The red door was hiding a portal. There were remains of a few bodies, among them the lower half of what was left of Charisma after Ambers devastating scream tore her upper body completely apart. The weary heroes had only eyes for the portal.
The controls were lifeless as was the portal itself but there were marks and signs all over the controls. For the first time ever Coile was not at a complete loss with such technology but that would in the end probably bring just more trouble. The signs were of Nictus origin which meant that Hand of Andros did not only dabble with illegal Rikti tech, they also had other dangerous lines of research. However this was not the first time Coile had had to work with a Nictus portal and by intuition he found two orbs that were needed to fire the portal up. Not without a code, tho. Amber kept trying to say it but her voice was too frail. Near the teleport ring where also Redsight was lying Found lifted his head and recited the code having read it from Ambers mind. DC-12.
The portal kept open as long as the two red, runed orbs were pressed down and the code was typed in. Immediately if the orbs were released the portal closed down. In essence it meant that someone would have to stay behind keeping the orbs pressed as others escaped to safety. The voice called a half a minute mark.
Found went through first. At that time the grim dilemma had dawned on the people. Crimson was holding Amber, the very reason they had all gone through hell here. It was his duty to see the rescue complete. They stepped through. Tyger took Redsights body and tried to grab Love Angel on his way through but she evaded being rather determined not to leave Coile behind. Kerry who had taken a position behind the control panel as well was arguing with Coile who would keep the last portal open. The argument was cut short as Kerry clobbered him hard and threw the semi-conscious man to Love Angel. Then she fired the portal up and through the last pair left the death trap.
The other side was a warehouse. Tygers keen sense of smell pinpointed the location to Independence Port. The casualties were heavy. Redsight was dead. Dante Carver was dead. Crimson Archer had lost an eye. Found was missing a whole arm Tygerboys body was starting to give in on the extreme punishment that he had sustained now that the adrenaline rush was past. Amber Banshee was a delirious mess. Kerry was lost into another dimension. Love Angel was barely responding to anything with the post traumatic stress disorder encompassing her. Among all the damage Coile was standing and looking anxiously around with just a bump on his head, albeit missing his suit.
Love Angel was counting the seconds to when all hope for Kerry would be lost forever. Three. Two. One. A portal appeared! It hovered in the air for a while like a phantasm while the rest looked at it with sinking hearts. No one was coming through. And then Kerry dived to the safe side noting to Coile that the next time there is a timer at play arguing is a bad idea. She had used the remains of a two weeks dead woman to hold the orbs. As irony would have it the carcass belonged to Charisma, the woman who had captured and tortured Amber Banshee resulting in this rescue operation.
Kerry called for HeroCorp rides for the weary heroes. They were home. It was time to start mending.
(( This leads to The End of Innocence thread.
The plot is not over and Silent Tempest will be tackling the rest of Hand of Andros for some time to come. Excitement and hardball approach is guaranteed.
For people who fancy being involved please read the following:
- Rules of Engagement
- Rescue attempt signup thread
- Plots for Dummies ))
More Then Meets The Eye (11.7.2007 - Coile)
"Say, we can act if we want to
If we don't nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile"
- Men Without Hats
One of the downsides with Coile's HeroCorp work was that it could easily stretch into twelve hour workdays. A plus side was a lenient time card when he needed some personal time and no emergencies were hanging in the horizon. Thus it was that in the middle of the day Andre walked in Atlas Park to pick up his friend Diana Bright, also known as Love Angel. They were going to see a movie, but not alone.
Thinking it was a good idea Andre had invited his temporally misplaced granddaughter Angelique (Darksparrow) to the movie as well. The girl who was only a few years younger than he was trying to learn all the tricks that went with living in the era before the second Rikti war, and before the Jondahl war. That is, in a world that is not in ruins, decimated and full of deadly hunters dedicated to exterminate the humanity. So far Darksparrow had been in this time for half a year and was already trying her hand at make-up.
Angelique had learned from Andre that Diana was suffering from a severe case of combat shock resulting from the mission where they rescued Amber Banshee from the Hand of Andros. One of the few things that Angie had brought from the future was a locket in which she had a picture of an older Diana, something she called "the smiling woman". A cheer-up attempt in the vein of "People die every day. It is important that you survived." didn't garner the desired results and Diana was gloomy for a while after that.
Inside the movie theater Angie proceeded to do what she did best and that was salvaging. A soda machine fell under immediate threat of dismantlement until the other two taught how to "barter with the vending machine" which to contemporary co-humans was known as inserting coins into the slot. Andre paid for the tickets and also for the refreshments. Angie didn't even know she was supposed to be paying for anything and Diana's pocket money was tight so neither argued the point. Angelique was mystified to learn that popcorn she could eat with her fingers unlike the ice cream which Andre had insisted required a spoon. Now her trusty tools included a metal spoon that she used to devour the popcorn. Also a straw was an alien concept.
Inside the actual cinema was the next incident waiting. Angie spotted a seat that she immediately declared as hers. Too bad somebody with a ticket for that seat got there first. Only Andre and Diana reacting fast saved the day as Angie tried to jump the guy with her rather sharp and eviscerating claws extended. The guy left in a hurry and Angie could take over "her" seat.
As the movie started two things happened. Diana grabbed Andre's hand and did not let go until the movie was over. Every time a shot was fired she jumped and started to shake slightly and when one robot was torn in two she moved on to occupy Andre's seat for a time. Angelique on the other hand made no sounds, nor moved. She stared at the silver screen with her mouth open until it was all over. Then she became very excited, agitated even, demanding to be taken to the Autobots and telling Andre that they needed to prepare because one of the bad robots escaped and would bring reinforcements! Then she dashed out to look for the cars that had been in the movie and soon vanished from the sight. It was pretty evident that Andre's explanation that a movie was just a make-believe story had not entirely been understood. Diana pointed out that Angie obviously was Andre's grandchild and that silliness ran in the family.
Afterwards Andre walked Diana back home. In an hour he got a message from her that she would be going to France on a vacation for a week or two. A month ago her father had intended Andre to go with her but things had changed since. Andre had moved away to find out what he felt for the girl who was his best friend. In her own corner Diana had done her own thinking and when it came a time to compare the notes Diana had "just friends" to offer which left Andre with an unrequited love and a heart that had received once more a shattering blow. Ever since the boy had not even registered on Diana's parents' radar and the invitation to go to Europe had been canceled. He was not surprised. The parents had tolerated him only because they saw him as a strong groom candidate. As a friend he was just a handy human shield in a mission to take a bullet for their daughter.
Back in work he raved about the movie to his co-worker Kerry. Diana was an avid giant robot fan and Andre had grown up among hundreds of robots with the ND-unit being his mother. Later revelations around last Christmas had exposed his now dead sister Andrea (Coila) having been a construct as well so mechanical monstrosities with an ability to shapeshift into cars tapped a certain vein of interest in him.
Later in the evening Andre headed to Pocket D to unwind. First he met Nick (Nightschild[/b]) and pretty soon after more of his friends and associates followed. Chiaroscuro, Nene (Number Nine), Nadia (Light of Truth, not to be confused with the other Nadia who is Sword of Truth), Samuel Blayne and Aria (Keening Banshee). Some movie trivia was exchanged which left Andre feeling pretty lost as he was not in a great habit of watching movies. Also present were Mark, a hero with a secret identity Sable Lynx, and Jack (Project Rebirth), a case of cybernetically extended life for a British guy who got injured in the Rikti war.
After a few people had wandered off Andre was left with Nick and Aria to discuss the abysses of love lives. Nick shared Andre's sentiment that when a girl says she's not interested and there is a long history behind the answer there's no point in relentlessly pursuing her any more. Aria on the other hand with her faery wisdom swore on the bittersweet aroma of rejection and continuous courting to finally win the fair maiden over. The guys were wondering just how many times the ladykind expected them to run their heads against a wall before they could with grace let it go. Aria seemed to think that the great pursuit could go on until the dying day.
Aria left, Nick moved on to talk with Rachel (Vigilante Storm), a young Militia middle rank girl who was introducing Lost Vahzilok around. Andre's attention was grabbed by first Shadowplay who was interested in joining the Silent Tempest and soon after that Dee Dee Diablo, a recent recruit of the Tempest. She remarked that Shadowplay could try joining Militia because she'd heard that they'd take anyone. This [censored] both the Vahzilok and Scorche off something major and several more words were exchanged between Tempest and Militia members before Rachel dragged Scorche off for a private talk.
Andre let it know very clearly what he thought of Militia not doing enough, in his opinion, for Nightsparrow and Lady Cobra or about Crimson Archer wanting to leave Coile behind when he had fallen unconscious on the Amber Banshee rescue mission. What little trust and will to co-operate had previously existed between the two supergroups was deteriorating fast. The situation defused after a while and Chiaroscuro who had come back some time before now saw a better time to approach his teammates.
The talk then took a turn towards weird and the size of Andre's head was a topic for far too long for his own taste. The choice of topics did not exactly improve as Diana and her importance to Andre floated back up. Dee and Chi were at the opposite corner compared to Aria as they believed that the best choice would be to just forget about the girl and move on. Once again Andre had to disagree as his intent was to let things proceed on their own and not try to force any solution.
Shadowplay went to meet an old friend of his and eventually brought her to meet the others. Fusebox asked for Dee Dee's autograph but got a saucy doodle instead.
Andre decided to formalize the current living arrangement. Chi had been staying over in the four bedroom apartment that Andre was renting one room out of for two weeks now. Originally Andre had wanted the apartment be kept empty except for himself but his need for solitude had been spent already, so he asked Chi if he would like to sign a lease contract with Jay and the city hall and get one of the rooms officially as his. Then he made the same offer to Dee Dee who was looking for a more peaceful place to conduct her writing and composing work and also to give some distance to the girl she was sort of living with, Des. Both accepted. The fourth room was occupied currently by Savannah (Mischevious) who was intending to get her own place.
Before leaving Andre overheard the Militia leader Mer'de assigning a task of spying the Tempest members on Scorche, because he did not trust them in general and Coile in particular.
Back home Chi beat Andre cleanly in Wii bowling, as well as in pool.
((Great Coile, just great, now I can't get Safety Dance stuck out of my head. 
))
Things have been quiet, but also not for the Unity Vigil. Kanane has been on a journey of self discovery, Ultimune finishing the school year, and Zortel has been clashing with the FBSA.
Several weeks ago, advanced nanohuman Jessica Kade visited reformed Warshade Tiger Dark, who had been having problems with a spiritual manifestation giving her bad luck. When she arrived, Jessica found that Eloise's apartment had been trashed by a mysterious force. And that force soon came back, manifesting as a tornado in the kitchen. Jessica, being somewhat idealistic, tried to reason with the tornado. When that didn't work, she tried scolding it, finger wagging and all. And when that didn't work, the former Zortel pilot got in a fight with it. The tornado understandably didn't like this much, and soon swelled in size. Eloise, desperate to protect her friend and angry at the spirit, jumped into it and attempted to drain the energy out of it, which she succeeded at doing, though was blasted out of the apartment.
Unfortunately again, the tornado's damage had been done, and the apartment block was starting to collapse. Jessica bravely leapt back into the building to recover what momentos she could, including the basket of produce she had brought over for Eloise before escaping just as it collapsed, and it was a good thing she did, for her pet bunny rabbit Minuh, unbeknownst to her, had snuck in to nibble at one of the carrots Jess had brought from her garden back on Rolando Island.
Quick to arrive on the scenes was the Unity Vigil's PPD liasion officer and boyfriend of Eloise: Storm Sapphire. There was worse news to come for the couple however.
Eloise's feeding crystal, which she used to sustain her human form, had been broken. Without this, she would be unable to stay in her current form and revert to her natural one of a Siberian Tiger. With the crystal taking some time to repair, and Eloise only having a few temporary crystals, the couple's relationship has been put to the test, though Eloise moved in with Mike, and apart from having a rather large cat around the apartment to deal with, things have been okay.
Meanwhile, Zorielle Rolando has been having some governmental trouble, the FBSA asking probing questions and wanting to not only have people examine the Unity Vigil base and her own home of Rolando Island, but that she turn over several high tech blueprints for various things she has created. Tension has begin to build, and after an encounter in the park where several federal agents intercepted Zori as she took her young twins, Kelly and Michael to feed the ducks, there may be trouble ahead.
A few days later, she went to see old friend Doctor Temporis at home, taking the twins to meet him. The two shared light banter, and some talk about more serious matters regarding governments. Zorielle was begining to see the disadvantage of the direction she took the Unity Vigil, and Sebastian was a bit concerned about the worries clearly laying heavy on her mind. The two talked about other matters, including getting a DNA scan done on some samples from a young couple under her protection, before Zori left to take the kids home for lunch.
Zorielle now plots, having already moved the Unity Vigil HQ from Unity Tower, Skyway City, the former home of ZorTel Industries, to under Rolando Island, and lately people have noticed men and women in black and white uniforms bearing the Unity Vigil logo patrolling Unity Tower and working inside there, as well as work crews heading in and out.
There was some more trouble for the Unity Vigil, when last night Storm Sapphire and Warrior Seraphim had to travel to Kings Row, due to an attack on fellow junior member Ultimune. Ambushed by a member of the Tsoo while out of costume, he lashed out in surprise trying to protect himself, and due to unfortuante circumstances, the Tsoo wasn't breathing when Mike and Kanae arrived. Checking, Mike found the man was dead, and took the panicing, scared and shaken Ryan back to one of the bases of a group friendly with the Unity Vigil. It was left for Mike to deal with, Kanae just watching as he had to help Ryan, and after some chatting he decided not to turn himself into the police, and went home to bed, hoping that 'tomorrow would just be another day'. Mike gave Kanae a hug and mentioned how good it was to see her again, before he departed home to worry about the young member of his group.
Fusebox herself has been busy with teenage life and the occasional hero actioning. As well as working on her main source of income, the multi-platform gaming website www.fusewire.com, she has also been working on the website for The Pits of Hell.
Which leads us nicely on to Non-Unity Vigil news.
Isaac Anderson, mutant and general nice-bad boy, has been doing his best for the club he's manager of. What with a new website, a name change to The Pits and aspirations of maybe one day owning a club in Steel Canyon's Bronze District, he's certainly keeping busy, whilst also preparing for the Business Studies course Doctor Temporis insisted he goes on. Plus he has his partners he needs to succeed for too.
Down at The Pits, Number Nine has been in attendance, along with fellow Guardian of Destiny Madame Midknight. Heck, Jane even took her rather older (and somewhat more living) boyfriend Dark Stone there for a drink.
Nene herself has taken to singing there, performing several times alongside the manager Isaac, Isaac's fiancee Sophie Reynalds and the clubs assistant manager (and Nene's 'good friend') and gendermorph Ashley Yves.
Several nights ago, upon being asked nicely by Nene, Doctor Temporis (in disguise) arrived with his girlfriend Chronopulse/Isobel and his adopted daughter Minako Nishzumi/Hikari-Hime to hear Nene perform. Though there was a surprise at first, as Isaac took to the stage to serenade Mina with song. 
Doc just rolled his eyes.
Nene took to the stage with her backing musicians and put on a set of several mixed genres, from rocking out to some rather nice piano pieces, but as you might expect from an alternative club, prefered the rocking out.
... This thing on? sweet! No way am I reading every little post i've missed for months! Anyway... i'm back, baby!
Mission Report by Anna
After being unmasked and exposed, Alicia Barzini better known as the notorious Pistol, chose to exploit the Rikti Invasion for her own gains. Trading valuable information from the Pocket D Council of War meetings for Rikti technology, Pistol has essentially broken several laws of treason.
The technology she purchased allowed her to build a dimensional portal from which she escaped our world and fled to another. Militia team leader Pious Hunter, who had been assigned to liaise with the FBI concerning the investigation into Pistol and the Gang, was quick to organise a raid into the Mafia mansion, Le Sisarose in Nerva Archipelago and learnt of her escape.
Just last week, Pious Hunter and former FBI agent Sabrina San (Dragonfly) were tasked to cross the dimensions in search of Alicia Barzini. This team was named Task Force Upsilon, accompanied by three high-ranking Longbow Officers and Sabrina's close friend, Altair Stevens (Barbwire).
Yesterday, August 1st, the task force returned with a full report and some extra information concerning their mission.
Professor Nittleman's Report (Read from page 661 and onwards. It was some very good forum roleplaying and I hope you enjoy)
What wonders has the fabled Nightsparrow's Scrapbook come to contain since the last plug in this thread. A lot! Prepare to be shocked and awed, a lot has been happening and the Paragon Inquirer has been about!
We have Diana's parents visiting Pocket D, Countess Crey being busted by Silent Tempest, Inquirer revealing shocking photos of Coile and Aria (presumably, the photos are not entirely accurate) practicing indecent things in public, a report about Coile fathering a whole ninja clan and the real Nadia's letter from her captivity from the time when the clone Nadia was living more or less happily with Coile. (entry 52)
Coile's granddaughter Darksparrow and her allies are on the rampage throughout Faultline. It's a bad day to be in Arachnos! Read also about Sable Lynx's fables escapades when he and Tempest members assist Freedom Phalanx. And what's with the increased Rikti activity? Are they up to something? (entry 53)
Coile investigates the past of his dead wife when he again goes after Clamor from Freakshow. Keening Banshee returns to front covers and Paragon Metro begins publication! (entry 54)
Love Angel writes her feelings about Militia on paper. It's not pretty. Unity Vigil is featured and there's the Angel Foundation charity ball that Silent Tempest organized. Inquirer picks on Coile's new hairdo and Mr. Marocco of Hand of Andros is arrested. (entry 55)
Love Angel in France! Hope your French is in a better shape than mine - I know two words in that language, both beginning with "mer" and the other being "merci". It looks like the Rikti really were up to something, like an invasion. That came as a total surprise! Diana's secret identity as **** Angel is revealed to all the world by Inquirer. We all knew it, so nothing new there. Inago is wanted for murder and that was a concert against the Rikti. The ivaders wisely withdrew a day before - such is the power of rock music! We got the "last word", so to say! (entry 56)
Oh, there's a lot more in those entries than that, but you havce to read them yourself. Now also indexed in Handbook of Union Universe.
Long time no recap. This is a longer one to give at least a little perspective on what is going on right now.
Praetorian detours (30.8.2007)
"They both had a hunger
For love and desire
And people around them
Was left broken hearted"
- Intrigue
Things come to those who wait, they say. Then again there's of course the time for waiting and the time when the waiting's done. For some while the Silent Tempest had been waiting for pieces to fall in place and there being a clear clue regarding Michel Sanders's whereabouts.
What was known already was that she had hooked up with two Praetorian villains when the Rikti invasion started and there was a breach in the Zig. The Praetorians Malaise and Bobcat escaped and by yet unknown means Michel contacted them and managed to cut somekind of a deal with them. The contents unknown. What looked solid was that right after Michel was spirited to the Praetorian Earth and was not seen again.
This much had been gleamed from Michel's top servant two weeks before. That fight had been a tough one as she had allied herself with the Carnival of Shadows. Be that as it may the sheer determination had won that battle and important information had been learned. Like, for example, that on Michel's orders several planes would be shot down which the Silent Tempest prevented from happening just in time. While the contracted goons had been Malta operatives the encounter had been a sore reminder what they all were up against - the robots employed by Malta had clearly been given to them by Hand of Andros and the design details revealed them to have been built by Coile's father, Zirgei. Tempest's leader was just as shocked as Love Angel to notice the origin. In short it meant that even if they were hunting for one woman now, it stood to reason that she might employ the vast array of technologies prepared and constructed by several members of Hand of Andros during the past two decades. And even just on her own her murderous insanity had time and again proven to be of lethal kind.
Now all the smaller obstacles had been cleared. Whatever powerbases Michel still had on this Earth had either abandoned her or had been neutralized by Tempest. She only had her Praetorian companions watching after her. The bad side was that she had her Praetorian allies. It would be dangerous and interesting times ahead as Silent Tempest would clash with their most powerful opponents yet.
The situation was deemed so grave that Coile and Love Angel discussed whether or not it was wise for them both to embark on the same mission. The reason was a simple one. In a matter of a week or two Coile's son would be born, or in this particular case taken out of the artificial womb. The brutal death that had claimed the boy's mother Nightsparrow had been cheated of the child's life and very soon Coile would become a father. His living companion, current girlfriend and a future wife-to-be Love Angel was ready to accept her upcoming mother's role with a full heart and dedication, so that little Andreas would have both parents raising him. That is, if they were both alive. Would it be responsible to risk both parents at the same time if it could be avoided? These were no ordinary thugs that they would be facing.
This was discussed but not resolved in the afternoon, on the day of the mission. What was resolved, however, was that heroes do what heroes think is right. Love Angel had never been happy with Coile signing up with Vanguard, or Octavo for that matter. Now that the large scale invasion was over Coile had left the warring but that did not mean that he would abandon the duty if it came calling. Big Lunk had been putting together a team of capable people with the intent of crippling the Rikti war effort and that mission was to be launched soon. Since it was a Vanguard sanctioned operation and more importantly because Coile thought it was the right thing to do Angel's response was to support the endeavour of her man, whether she liked the idea or not.
As the evening came the team gathered. Present were several people, including Coile and Tempest's field commander Sword of Truth. She had treated Angel with coldness and blatantly ignoring her presence ever since Angel and Coile had become an item. She herself offered as a reason the feeling that Angel had lied to her but most others assumed the reason to be jealousy. Sword had been romantically involved with the man last year and presumably did not take kindly losing him permanently to another woman. Or a girl, in this case, as Angel is still half a year shy of full age. Right before the meeting the combination of Nadia's resentment and the need to not risk both parents at the same time made Diana decide to stay behind.
Only other Tempest members present were the newest full members, Dee Dee and Chi. Both had proved to be hard working and reliable and now stood ready to go into the fray once more, no matter the apparent danger. Out of team reinforcements were provided by an old associate of Coile's, Powerstone, and Darksparrow who wanted to avenge the loss of her AI friend NIGHTSPARROW which had been wiped out from the timestream when current time's Nightsparrow had been killed.
The situation in itself was a simple one. Portal Corp had sent out scanners around Praetorian Earth in an attempt to locate Michel and at least her companions Malaise and Bobcat. Now one of the scanners had gone quiet and Tempest was asked to check in on it. Even without a confirmed presence of any of the big names the mission was classed as very dangerous and thus the reinforcements had been acquired. After the briefing the heroic sextet made their way to Portal Court where they were alerted to an emergency. One of the scanners had detected disturbing amount of activity in Infernal's domain and the Tempest was rerouted to investigate.
On the location a score of demons were waiting ready to defend their deranged master but group by group they fell before the relentless onslaught. Finally the demonic hordes lay vanquished and the heroes, now strengthened by Mesoc's presence, took the fight to Infernal himself. After he had fallen all that remained was to dismantle the portal that stood ready to spew even more demons from whatever nether realms the portal connected to. Too bad that during the hassle Infernal himself managed to slip away.
When the heroes returned from their unplanned detour they were again robbed of their chance to go out and find possible clues about Michel's location. Yet another Praetorian, Mother Mayhem, had taken over several city blocks and there was a definite threat of tens, perhaps hundreds of casualties if she was allowed a free reign. Barely out of their last battle the steadfast septet dashed to the rescue and in a cataclysmic confrontation subdued the evildoer. Several pictures were taken by press representatives and the major villain was carted away by Freedom Corps specialists. Perhaps this detour could in fact prove to be a shortcut as Mother Mayhem was Malaise's mentor and could perhaps point the Silent Tempest directly to him. Time will tell.
Weary but victorious the heroes departed whomever whichway only to rise to new challenges with the new day.
Coile headed home and found a bed already warmed up for him. Despite the dire challenges ahead for once life was good.
Counterstrike (1.9.2007)
"Set your hopes up way too high
living's in the way we die."
- A-Ha
There are times when the lines between heroes and villains blur, and one such time is when the fight comes down to be about the survival. Besides, the villainy is in the eye of the beholder. Is not a man who risks his life for the good of the whole planet a hero, even if after a fashion? What about the man who sacrifices his life for it?
What was known about the mission did not put it into the extreme hazard category but nevertheless Coile and his girlfriend Love Angel spent the two days before it mostly together. The Friday included a homemade dinner, watching Casablanca and going to the young parents group that gathered on Talos Island thrice a week. The Saturday went by with Andre taking Diana out to eat to a nice fish restaurant which Andre hoped would be something that Diana took for a romantic gesture. It had, after all, been his very own idea without anyone butting in with advice, especially Diana.
The young parents group had been less of an ordeal than Andre had feared. His foremost worry had been that most other couples in the meeting had been clearly expecting a child of their own quite soon. Diana on the other hand did not seem to be pregnant which was a good thing considering the fact that she was. Still somehow they had managed to wiggle out of explaining what their situation exactly was save that they wanted to learn how to care for a child. Perhaps the others assumed that this young couple was just a month or two into the waiting and were just keen on hopping onto the parenthood bandwagon as early as possible. In a week, two at maximum, they would of course bring their youngling into the meeting and be forced to offer some kind of an explanation but that challenge would be faced when needed.
The mission began with a briefing in the Vanguard base in Rikti War Zone. Doctor Helios was telling about MMB's but Coile missed some of that while pondering over bomb initiation sequence instructions. Albeit the fact of them being of the complexity of "push button, stand clear". Then Big Lunk, Ben to his friends, explained the mission structure. The idea was to breach four different locations in a bid to take over four separate Rikti portals and send retransmitters to the Rikti homeworld. After they were in place it was time to take over the main Rikti portal and through it send a psychic bomb. MMB - Monkey Mind Bomb. It employed the theory and practice of Rikti monkeys sending out psychic waves. The bomb worked on similar principle and the four retransmitters would deliver the blast throughout the Rikti homeworld. The big idea was to cripple their military structure on the other side and on this side knock out the dimensional anchors that kept the main portal working. With one strategic strike the Rikti would lose their ability of gaining reinforcements, or at the very least be forced to sacrifice a tremendous amount of resources into reconstruction.
After the briefing the assembled heroes, and heroes they were, stood ready to embark on this daring endeavour. At Big Lunk's invitation beside Doctor Helios present were Britanic from the now decommissioned Militia, Coile of Silent Tempest, Unity Vigil's Zortel, a man of cloth identifying only as the Priest, Nightschild and Powerstone of M.A.G.I. fame who had two nights before assisted Silent Tempest in their pursuit of a murderous lunatic hiding behind the backs of Praetorian guard.
The locations each were heavily defended and the opposition they ended up facing was at times rather surprising. Needless to say that the cataclysmic clashes of fierce forces at the best of times exceeded the epicness of the bombastic bouts as the Rikti poured in their elite troops the still the onslaught of the advancing hostiles. For naught, as it was. Nothing could stop the tide of war turning, just as it had five years ago when the Team Omega had brought the first Rikti War into an end.
And just as then, not without a price. The bomb went on its way! The anchors lay in ruins! The mission was a success but by then the situation in the direct heart of Rikti war effort had deteriorated into pure chaos as hundreds upon hundreds of Rikti poured at the cursed humans thirsting for vengeance. It was both skill and luck that brought them out alive amidst the hordes of lethal enemies.
Tragically, somewhere along the road things had gone wrong. The last, desperate battle that almost brought the whole team of heroes to their knees saw a man fall. A man valiantly taking a fatal blow at the moment of their triumph. When the rest emerged two were missing at first. Britanic and Doctor Helios. Eventually they returned as well but by that time Doctor Helios, carried by the brave Britanic, was already beyond the help of medical professionals of this world.
Doctor Alexander Helios, founder of Colossus Labs and an associate of many who belonged to EVIL - perhaps through deeds he was a villain. But let no one say that he did not die a hero.
Disharmonia (2.9.2007)
Seeking answers can lead to more questions. Disturbing questions. As Coile met the copy of his dead sister in Pocket D he was expecting a more detail recount about the two scientists who had made this Andrea. However the telepathic session with Savannah had turned up all sorts of hidden memories and it seemed as if the two scientists were nothing more than implanted ghosts who had never existed. Under the facade had emerged strange beings who constructed Andrea, and not only them.
Present in those memories had been also been their father Zirgei, and their mother ND. To cast more shadows over the whole affair Zirgei had in some memories been young, in some old. It was impossible to discern from Andrea's tale which memories had been recorded and when. The body could have been twenty one years old, constructed to full adulthood at the same time that the baby Andrea had been made to be Andre's sister. If the unit was that old, where did the shards of memories about Coila's life come from? When had they been put it, why, and by whom?
If the unit was newer, who had constructed it now? The same beings who had created the original Andrea and made a copy of their mother's memories into a massive data storage? Or perhaps their father Zirgei. Suddenly Andre was no longer so convinced that his father was dead. The reappearance of his mother after a year, and now this new poor man's copy of Coila were telltale marks that something was up. While it had become rather evident that Andrea was no spy of Michel Sanders, no insidious ploy of Hand of Andros, the new information only deepened the mystery of her origins. Perhaps Subaiku's dreamwalk could provide concrete answers.
The arrival of Zian and Sword of Truth propelled the Tempest assembly to seek a quieter corner as the bar downstairs had become rather crowded and noisy. Thus the quartet sought out a new locale to conduct their conversation at. A table at Monkey bar sufficed nicely. Just as they got there Coile got a call from Shadowplay and soon after the man became present as well. His matter at hand was a brief one. Setting a team com unit on the table in front of Coile he quit his trial to enter the ranks of Silent Tempest stating as a reason the differences in opinions. Then he left.
Sword explained that she had just had a discussion with Shadowplay about acceptable methods and the way she expressed the matters, quoting the man himself really sounded as if he was not compatible with how Tempest did things. By quitting the trial one day before a group meeting he had also declined to appear before all the members and explain his stance. Instead he chose to walk away. There was nothing to help with the situation.
Andrea expressed her interest to work with Tempest in the future to make a bigger impact and also to help her learn more of herself. There's been worse reasons.
Discordia (3.9.2007)
" The only choice you got, boys, is to be nasty
Hate everybody and everybody will hate you
You can bet on that!
You know, You can't fight the justice but
the justice can fight you, even if it wasn't you
it's you, Johnny."
- Hanoi Rocks
It is often with people that smaller things can and will be used to settle bigger issues. In the Monday night Tempest meeting Shadowplay quitting his trial after talking to Sword of Truth became a hot topic that propelled Dee Dee, Love Angel, Sword and Light of Truth into a shouting match. Dee blamed Sword for having some imaginary authority that could stop people from becoming members. What went disregarded completely was that Sword had asked Shadowplay to appear in the meeting to explain his stance and he had declined on his own accord. Such unreasonable outbursts are more or less that trademark response for Dee Dee and to a major extent also for Diana. It seems that standing up on chair and yelling is supposed to get the point across better than anything else.
Both Nadias also got told off for not talking to Shadowplay. When it turned out that they in fact had talked to the man at length they got blamed for not really listening to him. Observing from the outside it's easy to see that that bog of baseless accusations just can't be traveled without getting neck deep into the smudge. That's why Coile stayed for the most part out of the debate except for pointing out that as a chairperson of the meeting Dee should refrain from directly insulting people.
It is uncanny how just one guy who himself seemed to give not even a toss about Tempest could provoke an hour long argument but only if one did not take into account that the bad feelings stemmed from Diana becoming an item with Andre, both Nadias feeling resentful about it and Dee Dee supporting her friend nevermind if she was right or wrong. Another reason for Andre to keep his head down and mouth shut. For once there was useless shouting, talking beside the point and a meeting stretching to be three hours long and he was not to blame.
Even the beginning of the meeting was overshadowed by tension. Coile was recounting the success of their Vanguard task force that took a decisive action against the Rikti just a few days ago. Visiting attendant Powerstone volunteered to explain the workings of the MMB, the psychic bomb that had been used. His words painted a different picture from what had previously been told to Coile. The bomb did not in fact just incapacitate the enemy forces - if sentient beings were clustered together close enough with big numbers, as was the case with the staging areas that had been targeted, the damage would be quite lethal. These revelations left at least Coile and Angel quite shocked.
On Hand of Andros front there had been scarce developments. The only news was that Mother Mayhem knew that Malaise had parted ways with Michel Sanders and that made Bobcat their next best lead. The missing scanner also needed to be found but Portal Corps had to lock in onto the target dimension again after losing it.
One last item to discuss, or preach about, was the changed structure of Tempest base. The meeting room had been expanded and contained now also machinery which made noises that got especially on Diana's nerves. Coile was used to such ruckus after having grown up on a farm full of robots. Diana got tasked with finding Bart and Mesoc who were responsible for the changes through their construction company BAMM.
Andrea was accepted into Tempest as a trial member. Light asked a few questions, perhaps out of courtesy, and otherwise Andrea was waved in without a fuzz. No one was particularly worried that she had been constructed by parties yet unknown. Maybe she was seen as a continuation of their fallen co-leader, or just another lost soul seeking her place in the grand scheme of things.
After the meeting Sword wanted a private word with Coile. She was concerned that Tempest had changed and was changing more from the roots that it had had a year ago. That talk ended up taking quite long and during it Andre started to refine his vision for his group. He had been trying to interview each member to find out their opinions and hopes regarding the teamwork and then try to piece together from that a common ground that everyone could work on. However this talk rendered that need obsolete.
The trick would be to pin it down on words, and offer it to the others.
For the grand finale, after Sword had left, Diana told Andre that Andreas would be born in two days' time. The big event that they had been waiting for was upon them.
Malta Meltdown (4.9.2007)
"I'm gonna break the cycle
I'm gonna shake up the system"
- Madonna
The first part of the day had been consumed by the last minute preparations for Andreas's imminent arrival. That could have been the schedule of the whole day if there had been an intervention of a serious kind. Michel's captured confidant had, for reasons unknown to Coile, revealed that according to a preset schedule a team of Malta operatives was targeting a guy and his parents. After calling for Sword of Truth and Andrea Coile paced around the meeting spot, probably rehearsing for tomorrow's big wait.
Near a flea market he ran into Powerstone and the talking drifted towards responsibilities encompassing even whether or not it was alright to alter events through timetravel. That was, in short, what Angelique had set out to do. The girl was in dire need of new goals and once again Andreas would be involved. Once they took their exchange outside the earshot of chance passersby the point became moot as Crimson Archer saw familiar faces and stopped to shoot the breeze. With Sword and Andrea arriving the location became the momentary hotspot of hero activity and it drew in also Kara (Sister Kinetic) and eventually Mesoc. Who was in a foul mood.
This foul mood lasted for the entire mission resulting in several broken bones for the opposition. That was indeed a bad day to be a Malta agent which Powerstone and Crimson Archer later noted aloud, Crimson pointing out that he had had to deal with that kind of stuff in Militia but did not expect to encounter it in Tempest ranks. That was one more reason for Coile to hasten the schedule of drafting up the principles of Tempest, and then seeing that everyone followed them.
The mission itself was successful as the guy and his folks were saved. It turned out that he had been Michel's record keeper and had kept copies of all sort of nasty projects that she had been entangled with. Those files were stored away in a presumably abandoned office building and that is where they headed next, sans Kara and Mesoc, although they gained additional reinforcements from Light of Truth. Throughout the night they also faced robots that sported alarmingly familiar features, so much that memory impaired Andrea and Sword who had visited the robot farm only twice both recognized the designs. They were Zirgei's handiwork. The legacy of the man who supposedly lied dead kept creeping up on Tempest members with importunate abandon.
The last task was to invade a Malta stronghold and confiscate their main frame system that supposedly held files and orders regarding Michel and her end of Hand of Andros. With the team being already familiar with tactics regarding this particular group of opponents the strike went right along the Tempest slogan - Silence before the storm. Time will tell what all can be datamined from the files and what evil plans still lurk prepared and unsquashed.
Miracle of life (5.9.1007)
"We have all the time in the world
Time enough for life
To unfold
All the precious things
Love has in store"
- Louis Armstrong
The day was a blur but hey, at least it was keeping in line with the evening.
Xan had entered the hospital well in advance of the operation to discuss the details with the medical personnel. He was, after all, going to be opened up like a melon. When he had done the operation himself the first time and prepared a safe living environment inside his chest cavity the boy he had taken in had been very much smaller. Now, thanks to the nanobots keeping the kid nourished and securing his rather perfect health he had grown faster than normal and was ready to be taken out. That Xan could not do alone and professional help was needed.
While the day when this was happening was known to Andre and Diana the exact time was not and thus it happened that when Andre got the word a little before 8 PM Xan was already headed for the surgery. He only had the presence of mind to let Diana know with a text message that the time was now, and rushed to Atlas Park Chiron Medical Center. He could not later recall exactly how he got there but there were no news reports of serious traffic accidents in Atlas from that evening. Diana arrived a little after him being even more frantic and simply demanded to know what was happening.
A few people were notified of the grand event but as the life is with superheroes there are various needs that tug people into opposite directions. Nene happened to have free time and Angelique made the time, quite regardless what other things possibly were in the way. Also Andrea got there, perhaps looking for that family feeling. One person not on the initial guest list who was still told about the event and came by was Tygerboy. His expression was rather priceless when he realized that his sister Juni would be dragging him by his tail to shop for baby clothes.
The waiting was a grueling two hours that felt even longer than the two weeks stuck in the robot dimension. The pacing that Andre did cost the carpet at least three years of useful lifespan and Diana was running an extreme bladder stress test by emptying water dispenser. A few challenges, that did pale in comparison to what Xan was undergoing, of the night were when others tried to piece together what was happening after they got there. Because even if Andre and Diana did offer all the right fact the order and manner in which they were given left a lot to be desired by any sane person using the normal flavour of logic.
Andre and Diana were having a baby and that is why they were in maternity ward. In the waiting room, not a delivery room or surgery. Andre was father and Melanie was mother but so was Diana, and none of the three were delivering the baby, because Xan was. And despite four people being intimately involved with the process the child only had genetic material from two of them, out of which one was going to be his guardian because the biological mother was dead. This was told to Nene and Andrea who herself could have been said to be dead and thus not possibly present. The equation did not get simpler when Angelique arrived representing the latest generation of this twisted family setup because the boy who was yet to be born was also her father. I dare the makers of Happy Families card game to include Family Kraft in their next update.
Just after two hours of almost literal wall climbing Angelique's scanner detected a new anomaly from the surgery. Separate, independent mobile lifesigns. In a minute the surgery doors opened and Jane Bright appeared holding a little bundle with a wrinkly face and terribly small fingers. The life had changed for Andre and Diana forever. The baby they had been waiting for was finally here.
Little Andreas had been born.
Since everyone was looking at the new wonder no one noticed the very brief smile on Angelique's face. Despite stating that she was not emotionally vested there were things underneath that in extreme situations pushed through. All the gentle marveling was brought to an end when Andreas spoke his mind about the situation. The noise was a loud one but due to a lack of speech capability lacked the actual work which in no way detracted from the intended message. Hungry. Now. Jane took him back to feed and Angie set to stand guard for as long as she was needed.
The day had been long and eventful, and still not over yet. Propelled onward by both preplanning and the moment's euphoria Andre put his hand into a trouser pocket and took out something that fit inside the fist. Then he attracted Diana's attention and got to one knee. As an avid reader of Susan X's fluffy romance books she was well aware of what was going to happen.
It had been the intent that there would be no rushing with anything if they became an item. The first breach of that had been moving in together very quickly because they knew that in a few weeks there would be three of them. They had to live in the same apartment, rushing or not.
Now there was another occasion. The proposal and impregnation with Melanie had come to be from needs for stability and security. However the driving forces were now very different. Ever since they were just friends (no matter how Sword saw it) it had been evident that Diana would not go out and date just a guy. She was looking for a life long commitment even before the first kiss. That was what Andre had been prepared for, life long commitment. Now they were now parents to a small boy and while people did divorce, having a child to care for was a strong bond. All facts observed detachedly they were going to stay together all their lives.
Andre proposed to Diana, asking her to stay with him forever as his wife.
Diana said yes.
When at some point in future a retrospective look is taken this Wednesday is likely to rate high on the happiest-day-of-their-lives'o'meter.
(Now the recaps are in an easily browsable form in Union wiki. Check 'em out.)
One of our scanners is missing (6.9.2007)
"I'm runnin' through the forest with the wolf at my heels
My king is lost at midnight when the tower bells peal,
when the tower bells peal"
- Bruce Springsteen
Finally Portal Corp techs managed to establish a connection to the world where their scanner had gone dead. Coile gathered a team to go and investigate. Those scanners were a crucial part in finding Michel. Answering to his call were Chi, Dee Dee, Light of Truth and Sword of Truth from Tempest, as well as Andrea, the faulty copy of his sister. Outside help was provided by Powerstone and Shadowplay.
The results were bleak. The war wolf carrying the scanner had been brutally massacred and the scanner was by the bones inoperative. The whole situation turned into a trap with silent, hooded warriors trying to bring the heroes down. The hostility culminated in a clash with Chimera who could not withstand the combined onslaught of eight determined fighters.
While victorious the team returned with scarce results. One scanner found but destroyed. Not one step closer to their ultimate target. Upon arrival they learned that there had been several steps backwards. All other deployed scanners had fallen silent simultaneously. That sounded ominous to say the least and the premeditation of the action was evident. They were being played but there was no telling just how much.
The next task was to go the Shadowhunter's realm to try find out what had become of the rest of the scanners. A fair few wolves disagreed with this intent but pack by pack the savage beasts were sent packing. After Shadowhunter had yielded before combined might of the assembled heroes he revealed that the scanners had been found and removed, no longer of any use to our guys. Then again his so called allies, and we use that term here loosely, we worried over what the scanners maybe had found out and thus the newly acquired tech material had been delivered to Siege and Nightstar to examine. That spells bad hoodoo.
One by one the good guys drifted away, who wherever.
Hello to everyone on Union. I'm a new player to City of Heroes, but a long time MMO fan and roleplayer. Having quit WoW recently after playing since release I'm hoping to find some like minded people about on the server.
So far I have two characters, a hero named The Attestant and a villain called Perpetual Motion. I'm hoping to find either or both of them an RP based supergroup, so if anyone needs new members, you can count me in. Hope to see you in game.