Near the end of Choices, Ebony Rose finally managed to find the body of her dear friend Shattered Ice9. She was dismayed to find with his body evidence proving that Shattered was not the fallen hero Ice9 brought back to life, but was in fact a common street thug who had been treated with genetic information recovered from the fallen hero in a Crey experiment.
Rose credited Shattered with her surviving her first few months in the Rogue Isles before she found her way, and with the information she found, she realized that she could both safeguard Shattereds name and reputation and try to bring him back. She brought Shattereds body to the scientist, Dr. Meuller, who had been in charge of the project that originally created Shattered Ice9 into being with the instructions to fix him.
Meuller was terrified of his own creation, and once the resurrected Shattered Ice9" had progressed enough that he could survive out of the lab, Meuller sent him away with Rose. However, the new villain never gained Shattereds ice powers, and eventually took on the name Razor 6 and became an Arachnos soldier.
To preserve Shattereds secret, Rose destroyed the Crey facility and everyone who worked there, with the exception of Dr. Meuller himself. Rose made the doctor a prisoner in the Shades base so that he would be available to repeat the process should it ever become necessary again.
Rose continued hoping Razor would eventually become Shattered, but he never did. He did step into the role of leader of the Shades that Rose had held for him. In Razor 6, Rose has a friend and partner in leadership, but he is not Shattered Ice9, and she still mourns the loss.
This story begins shortly before the end of Choices, and helps answer a few of the questions of why Razor never became Shattered Ice9.
It was origanally posted on the Protector forum as a birthday present for MY dear friend, Ice9
Dr. Meuller worked alone in his lab in the silence of the hours after midnight. It would not do for anyone to learn what he intended here. It would not do at all for word of what he was doing to get back to Ebony Rose. He stood over the bodies of two men, two men who would have looked remarkably alike if not for the brutal beating one of them had suffered. That one was dead, and only preserved by his own lingering powers of cold. The other was held nearly comatose by the potent anesthetics being pumped into his veins. Dr. Meuller cared not at all for the subjects pain or comfort, but the writhing and screaming that accompanied this procedure made monitoring and treating the subject exceedingly difficult.
Dr. Meuller held in his hands a bulky prototype of a particular piece of Crey equipment that he was not supposed to know existed. It bore a resemblance to a quantum array rifle, but was attached by cables and tubes to a glass jar the size of a small suitcase. The jar was also covered with wires and tubes and fitted with an enormous battery. Dr. Meuller took a deep bracing breath and activated the device. A bright blue beam of light shot out with a low, evil buzz and enveloped the body of the dead man. Dr. Meuller held it firmly on target for a slow count of sixty, then just to be certain, he activated it a second time, this time trained on the body of the living man.
He laughed a shaky and relieved laugh. The room was already noticeably warmer. He turned to the jar and smiled as he noticed the frost starting to form on the glass. Never again, he whispered. Never.
---
Dr. Meuller locked up his files as he prepared to go to the mysterious mandatory emergency meeting that the entire staff was required to attend. He smiled at the tiny urn on his desk which held a scant handful of Shattered Ice9's ashes. Hed kept them after incinerating the body as a reminder that hed never have to worry about that particular lunatic again. He glanced at the lovely pastoral painting on the wall that hid the vault where hed placed the glass container along with a few of the files hed promised Ebony Rose hed destroyed. It was always useful to have a little information as insurance, hed discovered.
He turned and let out a not entirely masculine squeal to see Ebony Rose herself standing there, her slim body encased in sleek black leather, her prosthetic arm curved to rest her slender metal fingers on her hip. She watched him with her head cocked to the side and her blue eyes hidden behind wire frame glasses. Dr. Meuller? Are you alright?
I... I... you startled me, is all. What do you want? I did what you asked!
I need you to come with me, Dr. Meuller.
I think not! he protested. I am far far behind in my own research because of your demands, and there is a meeting that I must attend.
Oh, my good Dr. Meuller. Believe me when I tell you... You do not want to be at that meeting. Its likely to be most unpleasant.
Enough of this! Meuller said defiantly. I have wasted quite enough of my valuable time... what... what are you doing?
Rose had let out a sigh and reached into the bag slung over her shoulder. She extracted a delicate globe filled with a swirling green liquid. Im afraid you dont understand, Dr. Meuller, she said quietly. He raised one hand in protest as she let the globe roll off her fingertips. It tumbled gracefully through the air as if in slow motion, then hit the floor and shattered. The green liquid vaporized instantly and Meuller found himself completely unable to breathe. Or move. He wretched helplessly as Rose stood by, watching him as if he were a bug dying on a collectors pin. I was not making a request, Meuller, she said. She took one long graceful stride towards him and glanced at her watch, Oh... We really should leave before that meeting starts, she murmured.
Meuller tried and failed to utter a protest as Ebony Rose teleported back to her base, taking him with her. He finally managed to draw air into his lungs as they arrived, but it was expelled uselessly when she shoved him down to the floor of a tiny room and stepped back. Welcome to your new home, Dr. Meuller, she said, and slammed the door shut. Meuller uttered one wail of protest before he heard the electronic locks on his cell engage.
---
In Dr. Meullers office, behind the lovely painting, inside a dark vault, the glass jar sat, emitting a faint blue-white glow. The walls of the jar were finely rimed, and the temperature in the vault would have frozen water. It was quiet and timeless in the vault until the tremendous roar of the charges Ebony Rose had set around all the major structural components of the facility disrupted the silence. There was a long moment of stillness - in the vault the terrified screams of the staff attending the meeting could not be heard - then the slow rumble of the buildings collapse began.
Dr. Meullers office was deep inside the facility and the vault was strong, but tons of ruined building collapsed upon it. The vault warped and bent, and finally placed enough pressure on the thick glass that it shattered. The energy contained within roared out, and the small space remaining open was instantly covered with a fine layer of ice. The energy coalesced into a small cloud of vapor and hovered over the papers that had been scattered by the blast.
Minutes passed, then hours. The wreckage of the building settled. Eventually rescue crews arrived and began trying to find survivors, an effort that would ultimately fail utterly. The cloud of vapor began to rise up through the ruined building. There was no opening too small for a cloud of energy and cold. It was not a fast escape, but escape it did.
It floated over the rescue crews and began to wonder why those people were there and behaving so upset? The explosion had freed it. They should be happy. If not for that explosion, it would still be trapped and locked away.
It drifted away. It was confused and unsure. It floated higher into the sky and let instinct guide its path. It floated through the sky trying to understand what it was and why it was. And why it was so angry.
Days passed. The cloud of energy drifted high above the Rogue Isles until it felt the power of great magic. It drifted downward, drawn toward the magic at the heart of Nerva Archipelago when it noticed something familiar. An entrance along the coast, with a pair of human men standing in front. It felt like home. It felt safe.
The men guarding the door shivered as it passed and drifted inside the Shades of Vengeance base. The sterile steel base was familiar and for the first time since it broke free, the cloud of energy felt safe, but still... something drove it to continue. It explored the massive base, drifting high along the ceiling where it escaped notice as the Shades passed below, unnoticed expect for a sudden chill.
It found its way to the living quarters of the base and drifted past the smaller simpler rooms the lesser members occupied to the more opulent quarters of the groups leaders. One of the doors was cracked open, and it floated in. Something was not right. The cloud began to expand and contract with agitation. This room should be.... it wasnt right. And there had been a woman... There should be a woman here - beautiful and strong, but she was gone. She was gone, and that made it even more angry. A man lay in the bed, a tall muscular man with white hair, pale as if he had been ill. The man began to turn restlessly in the bed and one arm reached out toward the cloud. Filled with more confusion, the cloud fled.
It flowed under the door into the next room and paused. This room was soft and feminine, with vases of flowers, yet somber and sad. It drifted closer to the bed where a woman slept. The cloud considered her as she lay there. She was familiar with her black hair and metal arm. She was safe. It knew it could trust her. It knew that she cared about it. And that was the first moment it realized that it didnt care about anything... but its own anger. She cared about it, but it didnt care about her.
The woman began to moan softly in her sleep. Like the man in the other room she reached out an arm - her flesh arm - toward it, then abruptly she sat up. She glanced around the room, but she didnt see it. Shattered? she called quietly. The cloud didnt answer and the room was quiet. She put her face in her hands and lay back down, curled into a tight ball.
The cloud lost interest in the woman and escaped under the door again. It found its way to a staircase leading down into a large open space filled with equipment. Once again, the cloud felt at home, at peace in this area. It drifted across the room to the series of reinforced doors on the other side. It peered into them one after another. The first two were empty. The third was filled with an evil red light and a skinny brown haired woman huddled within. The next was empty as well, but the one after that..... the cloud was suddenly filled with fury and remembered pain. The room held a middle aged pudgy man and the cloud knew that its pain and fear and anger were all because of this man.
It darted under the doorframe and hovered over the man. It studied him. And with great and profound concentration it began to take human form. It modeled itself after the human it beheld until it stood in the tiny room with the sleeping man.
Wake up, it said. Wake up now.
The man startled awake and cowered, blubbering with fear until he actually saw his visitor. What... what is this?
Who are you?
I... I.... Im Franc Meuller. Please, can you help me? Youve got to get me out of here!
Why did you hurt me?
What? I never...
I remember you hurting me. You tied me down. You stabbed me with needles. You did something to my head. It hurt. It hurt so bad I wanted to die. Then... the cloud cocked its human shaped head in a familiar gesture, You took me out of the man... the white haired man. Its control gone with its agitation, its human form dissipated and it surrounded Meuller leeching the warmth from him, stealing his life. What did you do to me?
Meuller screamed and batted futilely at the cloud. No no! he wailed, Its not possible! Get away!
The cloud drew back. What is it? it asked, What did you do?
Youre.... his spirit? Youre his power!
What am I, Meuller? Tell me now or Ill kill you where you sit.
You are the power of Shattered Ice9, his spirit.
That name meant something to the cloud. And why arent I with Shattered Ice9?
Hes dead. Shattered Ice9 is dead.
And you took me from him?
Meuller began to cry, I did, I did. Im sorry... please dont hurt me! You were too dangerous. I couldnt allow you to get free again! I thought if I took his power from him.... Meuller stopped as if he just remembered who - or what - he was talking to.
But Shattered Ice9 is dead. I live because you took me from him.
Yeessssss, Meuller said as if unsure if there was a trap in that question.
Then I wont kill you today, Meuller.
Thank you! Thank you! Meuller said.
Do not tell your captors about me. I am not ready to reveal myself to them just yet.
With that, the cloud drifted back under the door. It made its way back to the room where the dark haired woman still slept fitfully; it felt especially safe there. It considered the memories that were slowly returning to it. It considered how best to make use of that knowledge. How best to use the raw power of Shattered Ice9 unconfined by the limits of a human body.
Near the end of Choices, Ebony Rose finally managed to find the body of her dear friend Shattered Ice9. She was dismayed to find with his body evidence proving that Shattered was not the fallen hero Ice9 brought back to life, but was in fact a common street thug who had been treated with genetic information recovered from the fallen hero in a Crey experiment.
Rose credited Shattered with her surviving her first few months in the Rogue Isles before she found her way, and with the information she found, she realized that she could both safeguard Shattereds name and reputation and try to bring him back. She brought Shattereds body to the scientist, Dr. Meuller, who had been in charge of the project that originally created Shattered Ice9 into being with the instructions to fix him.
Meuller was terrified of his own creation, and once the resurrected Shattered Ice9" had progressed enough that he could survive out of the lab, Meuller sent him away with Rose. However, the new villain never gained Shattereds ice powers, and eventually took on the name Razor 6 and became an Arachnos soldier.
To preserve Shattereds secret, Rose destroyed the Crey facility and everyone who worked there, with the exception of Dr. Meuller himself. Rose made the doctor a prisoner in the Shades base so that he would be available to repeat the process should it ever become necessary again.
Rose continued hoping Razor would eventually become Shattered, but he never did. He did step into the role of leader of the Shades that Rose had held for him. In Razor 6, Rose has a friend and partner in leadership, but he is not Shattered Ice9, and she still mourns the loss.
This story begins shortly before the end of Choices, and helps answer a few of the questions of why Razor never became Shattered Ice9.
It was origanally posted on the Protector forum as a birthday present for MY dear friend, Ice9
Dr. Meuller worked alone in his lab in the silence of the hours after midnight. It would not do for anyone to learn what he intended here. It would not do at all for word of what he was doing to get back to Ebony Rose. He stood over the bodies of two men, two men who would have looked remarkably alike if not for the brutal beating one of them had suffered. That one was dead, and only preserved by his own lingering powers of cold. The other was held nearly comatose by the potent anesthetics being pumped into his veins. Dr. Meuller cared not at all for the subjects pain or comfort, but the writhing and screaming that accompanied this procedure made monitoring and treating the subject exceedingly difficult.
Dr. Meuller held in his hands a bulky prototype of a particular piece of Crey equipment that he was not supposed to know existed. It bore a resemblance to a quantum array rifle, but was attached by cables and tubes to a glass jar the size of a small suitcase. The jar was also covered with wires and tubes and fitted with an enormous battery. Dr. Meuller took a deep bracing breath and activated the device. A bright blue beam of light shot out with a low, evil buzz and enveloped the body of the dead man. Dr. Meuller held it firmly on target for a slow count of sixty, then just to be certain, he activated it a second time, this time trained on the body of the living man.
He laughed a shaky and relieved laugh. The room was already noticeably warmer. He turned to the jar and smiled as he noticed the frost starting to form on the glass. Never again, he whispered. Never.
---
Dr. Meuller locked up his files as he prepared to go to the mysterious mandatory emergency meeting that the entire staff was required to attend. He smiled at the tiny urn on his desk which held a scant handful of Shattered Ice9's ashes. Hed kept them after incinerating the body as a reminder that hed never have to worry about that particular lunatic again. He glanced at the lovely pastoral painting on the wall that hid the vault where hed placed the glass container along with a few of the files hed promised Ebony Rose hed destroyed. It was always useful to have a little information as insurance, hed discovered.
He turned and let out a not entirely masculine squeal to see Ebony Rose herself standing there, her slim body encased in sleek black leather, her prosthetic arm curved to rest her slender metal fingers on her hip. She watched him with her head cocked to the side and her blue eyes hidden behind wire frame glasses. Dr. Meuller? Are you alright?
I... I... you startled me, is all. What do you want? I did what you asked!
I need you to come with me, Dr. Meuller.
I think not! he protested. I am far far behind in my own research because of your demands, and there is a meeting that I must attend.
Oh, my good Dr. Meuller. Believe me when I tell you... You do not want to be at that meeting. Its likely to be most unpleasant.
Enough of this! Meuller said defiantly. I have wasted quite enough of my valuable time... what... what are you doing?
Rose had let out a sigh and reached into the bag slung over her shoulder. She extracted a delicate globe filled with a swirling green liquid. Im afraid you dont understand, Dr. Meuller, she said quietly. He raised one hand in protest as she let the globe roll off her fingertips. It tumbled gracefully through the air as if in slow motion, then hit the floor and shattered. The green liquid vaporized instantly and Meuller found himself completely unable to breathe. Or move. He wretched helplessly as Rose stood by, watching him as if he were a bug dying on a collectors pin. I was not making a request, Meuller, she said. She took one long graceful stride towards him and glanced at her watch, Oh... We really should leave before that meeting starts, she murmured.
Meuller tried and failed to utter a protest as Ebony Rose teleported back to her base, taking him with her. He finally managed to draw air into his lungs as they arrived, but it was expelled uselessly when she shoved him down to the floor of a tiny room and stepped back. Welcome to your new home, Dr. Meuller, she said, and slammed the door shut. Meuller uttered one wail of protest before he heard the electronic locks on his cell engage.
---
In Dr. Meullers office, behind the lovely painting, inside a dark vault, the glass jar sat, emitting a faint blue-white glow. The walls of the jar were finely rimed, and the temperature in the vault would have frozen water. It was quiet and timeless in the vault until the tremendous roar of the charges Ebony Rose had set around all the major structural components of the facility disrupted the silence. There was a long moment of stillness - in the vault the terrified screams of the staff attending the meeting could not be heard - then the slow rumble of the buildings collapse began.
Dr. Meullers office was deep inside the facility and the vault was strong, but tons of ruined building collapsed upon it. The vault warped and bent, and finally placed enough pressure on the thick glass that it shattered. The energy contained within roared out, and the small space remaining open was instantly covered with a fine layer of ice. The energy coalesced into a small cloud of vapor and hovered over the papers that had been scattered by the blast.
Minutes passed, then hours. The wreckage of the building settled. Eventually rescue crews arrived and began trying to find survivors, an effort that would ultimately fail utterly. The cloud of vapor began to rise up through the ruined building. There was no opening too small for a cloud of energy and cold. It was not a fast escape, but escape it did.
It floated over the rescue crews and began to wonder why those people were there and behaving so upset? The explosion had freed it. They should be happy. If not for that explosion, it would still be trapped and locked away.
It drifted away. It was confused and unsure. It floated higher into the sky and let instinct guide its path. It floated through the sky trying to understand what it was and why it was. And why it was so angry.
Days passed. The cloud of energy drifted high above the Rogue Isles until it felt the power of great magic. It drifted downward, drawn toward the magic at the heart of Nerva Archipelago when it noticed something familiar. An entrance along the coast, with a pair of human men standing in front. It felt like home. It felt safe.
The men guarding the door shivered as it passed and drifted inside the Shades of Vengeance base. The sterile steel base was familiar and for the first time since it broke free, the cloud of energy felt safe, but still... something drove it to continue. It explored the massive base, drifting high along the ceiling where it escaped notice as the Shades passed below, unnoticed expect for a sudden chill.
It found its way to the living quarters of the base and drifted past the smaller simpler rooms the lesser members occupied to the more opulent quarters of the groups leaders. One of the doors was cracked open, and it floated in. Something was not right. The cloud began to expand and contract with agitation. This room should be.... it wasnt right. And there had been a woman... There should be a woman here - beautiful and strong, but she was gone. She was gone, and that made it even more angry. A man lay in the bed, a tall muscular man with white hair, pale as if he had been ill. The man began to turn restlessly in the bed and one arm reached out toward the cloud. Filled with more confusion, the cloud fled.
It flowed under the door into the next room and paused. This room was soft and feminine, with vases of flowers, yet somber and sad. It drifted closer to the bed where a woman slept. The cloud considered her as she lay there. She was familiar with her black hair and metal arm. She was safe. It knew it could trust her. It knew that she cared about it. And that was the first moment it realized that it didnt care about anything... but its own anger. She cared about it, but it didnt care about her.
The woman began to moan softly in her sleep. Like the man in the other room she reached out an arm - her flesh arm - toward it, then abruptly she sat up. She glanced around the room, but she didnt see it. Shattered? she called quietly. The cloud didnt answer and the room was quiet. She put her face in her hands and lay back down, curled into a tight ball.
The cloud lost interest in the woman and escaped under the door again. It found its way to a staircase leading down into a large open space filled with equipment. Once again, the cloud felt at home, at peace in this area. It drifted across the room to the series of reinforced doors on the other side. It peered into them one after another. The first two were empty. The third was filled with an evil red light and a skinny brown haired woman huddled within. The next was empty as well, but the one after that..... the cloud was suddenly filled with fury and remembered pain. The room held a middle aged pudgy man and the cloud knew that its pain and fear and anger were all because of this man.
It darted under the doorframe and hovered over the man. It studied him. And with great and profound concentration it began to take human form. It modeled itself after the human it beheld until it stood in the tiny room with the sleeping man.
Wake up, it said. Wake up now.
The man startled awake and cowered, blubbering with fear until he actually saw his visitor. What... what is this?
Who are you?
I... I.... Im Franc Meuller. Please, can you help me? Youve got to get me out of here!
Why did you hurt me?
What? I never...
I remember you hurting me. You tied me down. You stabbed me with needles. You did something to my head. It hurt. It hurt so bad I wanted to die. Then... the cloud cocked its human shaped head in a familiar gesture, You took me out of the man... the white haired man. Its control gone with its agitation, its human form dissipated and it surrounded Meuller leeching the warmth from him, stealing his life. What did you do to me?
Meuller screamed and batted futilely at the cloud. No no! he wailed, Its not possible! Get away!
The cloud drew back. What is it? it asked, What did you do?
Youre.... his spirit? Youre his power!
What am I, Meuller? Tell me now or Ill kill you where you sit.
You are the power of Shattered Ice9, his spirit.
That name meant something to the cloud. And why arent I with Shattered Ice9?
Hes dead. Shattered Ice9 is dead.
And you took me from him?
Meuller began to cry, I did, I did. Im sorry... please dont hurt me! You were too dangerous. I couldnt allow you to get free again! I thought if I took his power from him.... Meuller stopped as if he just remembered who - or what - he was talking to.
But Shattered Ice9 is dead. I live because you took me from him.
Yeessssss, Meuller said as if unsure if there was a trap in that question.
Then I wont kill you today, Meuller.
Thank you! Thank you! Meuller said.
Do not tell your captors about me. I am not ready to reveal myself to them just yet.
With that, the cloud drifted back under the door. It made its way back to the room where the dark haired woman still slept fitfully; it felt especially safe there. It considered the memories that were slowly returning to it. It considered how best to make use of that knowledge. How best to use the raw power of Shattered Ice9 unconfined by the limits of a human body.
And it took a name: Shattered Spirit.
The end