"Bingo!"
An official-looking cop in a heavy mac punched the air.
"Lock down the area, triangulate the co-ordinates of whatever just tried to teleport those mooks out of there and..."
"Yes, boss?" A small group of PPD with a vanload of tech gear were busy pushing buttons and pulling levers.
"Tell the Psi Corps they can begin making contact. No attacks, not even the slightest attempt at mindreading. Just plain, old-fashioned telepathy. If any of those supers get a whiff that they're about to be shut down one neuron at a time, they'll no doubt have some kind of protection against it and we'll have no choice but to fire. How long until we get full detainment?"
"'bout five minutes, boss."
The police commander nodded.
A moment later another vanload, this time full to bursting with Psi Cops, began sending out the usual 'Stand down. We do not intend to harm you.' messages towards the group around the congressman.
"Where the Hell is 'Psyche when you need her? I thought dat broad hung around here all the time!"
"It is real early, boss."
The commander looked at his subordinate.
"I was thinkin' out loud. Get back to work."
"Yes boss."
***
Matron Knowles detected a shift in energy, something tugging at her hindbrain. It wasn't a magical talent that she had, more experience of life in Paragon City. In fact she possessed no magical abilities whatsoever: she got her 'power' from the arcana given to her by the Midnight Squad, wholesale.
She didn't shift from her position within the hospital. The inpatients and Doctor Carson seemed oblivious to the teleportation occurring outside too.
She didn't shift from her position within the hospital. The inpatients and Doctor Carson seemed oblivious to the teleportation occurring outside too.
***
The body of Widow Frost rolled as it hit the floor for the second time this morning. It was a lifeless husk, forced to suffer further degradation after the soul had been paired from the body.
The congressman jolted in Acid Zero's steely grip.
The congressman jolted in Acid Zero's steely grip.
OOC:
Hey, these are super heroes and villains. They knew the risks when they took the chance of teleporting. 
((Aiight. I guess I'd better get on with a description then, heh.))
The destination coordinates weren't hard to find. The ship hadn't even attempted to hide itself. Orbiting Terra in a highly eccentric elliptical path, it was presently a little under six million kilometers from the PPD's current position toward the northern sky. At least for now. Its course headed for a periapsis of roughly two million, where its orbital velocity would reach maximum. Where it would go after that was anybody's guess...
__________________
AGS-4 - Transmitter Bay
Acid dropped the congressman to the ground with a deep groan of relief, fleeing his arm slip free from the force field around the man and into the wonderful shipboard warmth. 427 degrees Celsius. Just the way he liked it.
He practically felt every square centimeter of his hide unclench, a deeply relaxing sensation overcoming the Khelari. He even closed his eyes. A long exhale followed, expelling the frigid, over-oxygenated terrestrial atmosphere from his lungs just before he filled them with the sulphurous, sweet-smelling fumes of his homeworld, the corrosive gases tickling all the way down his windpipe and beyond. Heavenly.
To Wolfe, of course, it must've appeared that he'd been dropped straight into hell. Outside the protective, now very visible bubble of pale-blue energy that kept the air he breathed inside safe from the nearly 300 atmospheres of pressure all about was not just a collection of gases more toxic than found within most of Earth's volcanoes (and could easily eat into quite a large number of materials humans considered very sturdy, including stainless steel), but a foggy, orange twilight that just barely illuminated wherever he'd been dragged to. It came from small, like-hued dots that formed a widely spaced line along the ceiling, and all in all provided just barely enough light for the congressman to make out the silhouettes of Acid, Joy, and the robots, and that the floor was made of some kind of metal.
Which suddenly gave a resounding, heavy, and strangely reverberating clang as the reptilian dropped the tiny little device he'd just taken out of his left ear. It had his the floor with over 3.7 times as much vigor as it would've on Earth. Things here were literally heavy. Very heavy.
"Ziffre." Acid's shrug in response, however, came just as casually as it would've before - even though his voice now sounded heavy and drowning to the human. The Khelari was used to this. It was home. He even took his jacket off. He didn't need it anymore. Not here. Not home.
Why couldn't global warming go faster already?
With another deep breath, he opened his eyes again - and he could see. No longer was his vision blurry at a distance thanks to that accursedly thin 'air' with its blasted nearly-100-times-normal 2% oxygen content. No, now he could truly see again.
What did he see...?
__________________
AGS-4 - Ventral Cargo Airlock
Quote:
Hmmm?|
Originally Posted by Arctic_Princess
A moment later another vanload, this time full to bursting with Psi Cops, began sending out the usual 'Stand down. We do not intend to harm you.' messages towards the group around the congressman.
|
The telepath's head rose in the darkness. Who the hell was calling at a time like this?!
No. Sleeping. Go way. Five more minutes.
The mental equivalent of a very broad yawn accompanied his response...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Quote:
She looked over at Dire and with a nod. "Yeah I'm dead my body is in the morgue. That fighting down there woke the dead." She smiled at her morbid joke.|
Originally Posted by Rock_Powerfist
Dire shrugged .."just stuff , mostly magic ..but its over now ..apart from the screams .."
Dire looked long and hard at Mystic .." are you dead or what ?" |
"I wasn't a good person. Not evil just not good if you take my meaning. To much drugs hanging out with the wrong people. I ended up being part of a bank robbery. My boyfriend got angry at a little girl that was crying and went to shoot her."
She rubbed her chest were a bullet hole formed and ghostly blood seeped. "I leaped in the way and got hit instead, I returned fire and we both died."
Shaking her head the bullet wound vanished.
OOC:
Well, since it looks like I'll be the only one using it, may as well go ahead and get it posted. :/
BIC:
Jase's fluury of knives passed through thin air-The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit had been teleported away! And as he left the area, the proximity alarms on all the toys he left behind activated. The three cotton candy stands erupted like web grenades, the balloons exploded into giant mists of poisonous neurotoxin, and the teddy-bears released a sleep-inducing gas.
***
Acid saw the Urban Fellow of Merry Wit, standing inside the ship, somehow unaffected both by the atmospheric pressure and the sulpherus fumes. An explanation provided itself in the form of a TV set reminiscent of a certain television found in Grandville, which was floating with the aid of miniature rocket thrusters. The scene portrayed within the screen was an animated version of the immediate locale and its contents. The ship sensors, given its sohpistication, would be able to detect a passive energy field roughly forty feet in diameter that was somehow negating the ship's immense internal pressure as well as containing an air supply.
"Hey!" The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit said, a big cheesy grin plastered on his face from ear to ear, exposing his pearly whites as he waved to Acid.
Dire watched the rapid incresse in PPD numbers ,
" can you move your body ..only often like ,ghosts are tied to the area of the body ..and what wiv those police about to hit the place ..you may get stuck answering questions .."
Dire foucsed her Psi defences to max ..as the Psi cops opened up with messages ..
" i 'spose i could lend you a hand if you need it ..? "
((OOC ..Dire could not TP to the space ship , she is a type of ghost , and as such is limited to a c.49 mile radius from where she died ie paragon city area ))
The police commander cursed. Acid, UFoMW and the congressman had vanished.
He looked up. He sighed.
"Send in the Peacebringers."
***
High above a group of twenty Peacebringers changed course and headed upwards and outwards towards Acid's ship. They were not intent on attacking something of that scale, in fact it was highly unlikely that they would succeed boarding the craft. The important thing was the congressman.
***
Inside the ship, Hell and hysteria combined in one last assault on the congressman's sanity.
For a moment he thought he had detected a shift in reality to that of some strange, cartoon Universe, but it passed. Now he was in the heart of a spaceship.
"W-where are you taking me?" was all he could manage.
For a moment he thought he had detected a shift in reality to that of some strange, cartoon Universe, but it passed. Now he was in the heart of a spaceship.
"W-where are you taking me?" was all he could manage.
Acid was both surprised and not. On one hand, coming after an instantaneous jaunt through hyperspace was an amazing feat. On the other, he was dealing with superheroes here, and supers tended to make the extraordinary a thing of routine. In hindsight, he probably should've expected any number of them to follow. Talk about experiencing a 'duh moment'.
For a moment, just a moment, he had to fight the instinct to ram a fist into a green contact plate on the nearest wall, before realizing the 'intruder' seemed protected enough. Technically, it didn't take much anyway. The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit already had a shield, so he likely could've walked around fine even thought his larger bubble. Well...maybe rolled around. The Khelari didn't know enough about the guy's equipment to determine where what effect came from. Regardless, it obviously had all the necessary elements to allow normal operation in hostile environments.
Hope shadow-boy doesn't as well. Wouldn't that just be a hoot?
Shadow-boy? Who? What? Is the Disciple of Umbralurgy back?
No. Everything's fine. Go back to sleep.
Okay.
The mental exchange had been brief, but still covert. The reptilian and his conversation partner had no desire to be 'overheard', and thus kept their thoughts under wraps - unlike the congressman, who blurted them out vocally and shone like a beacon right now. Not to Acid, of course. No, this was in regard to the ship. While it technically had sensors, the term applied to the vessel in roughly the same way as eyes were an example of the sensors of a human being. In this case, the ship felt him. And it didn't like the feeling. In fact, it didn't like people it didn't know coming aboard at all. Still, it didn't act yet. At least not directly. Several normenergetic fields came online and it readied the security stations in the transmitter bay, but that was about it. Mostly, it awaited orders.
"Alright, I'll bite." the Khelari answered the 'boy' after picking his translator back up, keeping a hand on the rifle now wrapped within his jacket, keeping his voice slow and steady so the words came through the atmospheric difference clearly enough to be understood, "I assume you want Slime-o over here? Why? What do you want to do with him?"
The reptilian was focused, 'all business', and (at least he hoped) ready for anything, carefully surveilling his opponent, trying to discern anything he could potentially use to his advantage in a fight - no matter how badly he wanted to quote Thor to Congressman Wolfe right now...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Quote:
"I haven't really tried much... I don't really know how long I been well dead."|
Originally Posted by Rock_Powerfist
Dire watched the rapid incresse in PPD numbers ,
" can you move your body ..only often like ,ghosts are tied to the area of the body ..and what wiv those police about to hit the place ..you may get stuck answering questions .." Dire foucsed her Psi defences to max ..as the Psi cops opened up with messages .. " i 'spose i could lend you a hand if you need it ..? " ((OOC ..Dire could not TP to the space ship , she is a type of ghost , and as such is limited to a c.49 mile radius from where she died ie paragon city area )) |
She looked up at the sky "I do know I'm bound here I felt a pull when I went to the other plane. So I guess I'm kind of stuck."
Looking in the direction of brickstown bank. "I died in Brickstown maybe I'm tied to the location of my death. Anyway what do you have in mind I'm kind of blundering my way through this being dead thing. Perhaps I can just become immaterial and fade even cops can't hold someone that has no mass to hold after all."
((Seems the are two ghosts haunting the thread lol.))
His blades passed helplessly through thin air just before the party favors that littered the area exploded, sending a mess of noxious gas and sticking liquid all over him. Jase hacked and coughed as he was left behind for the PPD to deal with. Woozy and faint, Jase collapsed into the arms of
himself. Jases shadow, for the most part, was a living entity; a trick and broken law of the shadow that he could only manage because he learned to sever the black strand of fate that linked him to his dark counterpart.
You okay master? the shadow asked with a sly smirk although only half of one; part of the shadows body was a clone of Jases slender frame but the other half was a melted mess of amorphous darkness.
Still in a fit of coughing, Jase looked up to his shadow. Damn him, he managed to spit out in anger. How do they always manage to get in the way?
Dont worry. Theyre not going to babysit that corporate scum for the rest of his life, right? the shadow asked smiling cheerfully. As Jase tried to remove the sticky goo from his skin, his shadow waved a hand to the scurrying spiders who instantly stopped. Almost resembling the half melted Jase, the spiders exoskeletons too began to melt to reveal metal mechanical spider frames that, for all intents and purposes, were non-functioning. In the same melting motion, they also sank into darkness and disappeared.
It doesnt matter now, just go seek one of those Circle Jerk diviners to scry the guys location. If not him then his amulet.
What will you do in the meantime? the shadow inquired.
Holding his wounded arm, Jase pushed himself to his feet. I need to heal so Ill be resting in the Shadow Place for a while. But we need to get out of here before the PPD are on our *****. Looking around before back at his shadow, Jase forced a smirk. Oh, and me? Pull yourself together, he said jokingly to his half-melted shadow. The shadow gave a laugh before they both disappeared into the dark reaches of the Shadow Place.
((Written with Dogma))
The little boy giggled like a kid in a school-yard. Which was a fairly apt description since he probably saw the ship AS a school yard.
"You're real smart mister." He said hapilly, still grinning. "My sis says he's an evil man, and I can see that because he's like a piggie! But she says that the "Artemis" thingie she works for wants to either lock him up or use him to undermine bad guy politicians everywhere! And then right before Shikimaru started acting like a meanie, she told me that you needed to join the forces of good!"
He gave Acid a thumbs-up and winked. "She says that he's better off with the Hands of Artemis or something. But she always says she wants to do right by you. She's willing to have the Artemis thingie become delegated to you or something with loadsa complicated words that I can't even read yet, since apparently you couldn't do it yourself even with all your nifty toys and friends! And then she said!"
And he giggled again.
"And then she said, that even if you said no, it was all ok! She said that even if you said no, we could still be friends, and I could stay up here with you and we could play games and have FUN forever!" He gave Acid another thumbs up, flashing him another pearly-white smile. "Are you prepared to have FUN, Mr. Zero?"
And he locked eyes with the reptillian. Perfect green eyes that were full of joy and fun-loving and the innocence of a mere child. And it was the most terrifying thing in the world, and a reminiscent line of nobody being able to hear your screams in space came to mind for apparently no reason at all.
V, help! His saccharine wholesomeness is making me sick!
Ohhh no. You got yourself into this situation, now you get yourself out. Besides: sleeping.
How can you be sleeping if you're talking to me?
Easy. One: I'm not talking to you. Two: sleeping.
Hmf. Fine. But just you wait and see if I stop at Sol this time.
Acid looked back at the 'boy'. He felt like his toenails had just curled up. Knives of Artemis. Great. Exactly how could...?
Wait a minute.
He looked to the congressman. Actually...he could see this working. He'd hired them before, and they were extremely reliable. Unfortunately, their missions tended to involve killing more than anything else. Still, if this guy was telling the truth, it could be a very acceptable deal.
Was he...?
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Having your gaze locked with another had several advantages, one of which being that unless your opposite was the smoothest of possible operators at lying, you could probably tell whether or not they were. As far as Acid Zero could tell, the Urban Fellow of Merry Wit was being entirely honest. The ship, if it had the proper sensors, would even detect a transmission signal coming from underground not far away from Bell Memorial Hospital and ending at the kid standing on deck. So presumably the Knives were listening-and possibly spectating-in on whatever was happening.
((OOC: And I'm pretty much done as far as influencing the plot directly goes. What happens now, OP?))
As the cops moved in she faded. Turning once more invisible. "Lets see if they can question me if they can't see me... Of course they can always put me in hand cuffs I can't resist thought I have no idea why they would arrest a dead body. If they want I'm in freezer number 7."
She laughed a little and then was completely hidden.
Artemis. Presumably the Knives of Artemis. If they were involved then, whoa, things were looking even more dire for Congressman Wolfe than being stuck inside an alien craft which was experiencing something akin to gastro enteritis.
And how come this little kid, insane and dangerous as he was, had a sister who was involved with one of the most dangerous and... ah, this was Paragon City: More coincidences per square mile than a Charles Dickens novel.
"Look, Mr Zero, heh-- I've tried being reasonable and I've tried to convince you that I'm not some regular schmuck but if these Knives of Artemis are involved, I... I need your protection. Have you heard of them? They're not too keen on the male of the species - I'm assuming you're male of course, I know I definitely am--" he glanced briefly at the slime covering his body. Despite the intense heat it was holding up.
"The PPD are involved. I need asylum. I know I've made some bad choices in the past, but I'm willing to start afresh, wipe the slate clean, scratch your back..."
Wolfe looked miserable, upset and beaten. He'd been humiliated in several ways since that first attack by the 'Thorns. He was powerless, at the complete mercy of his captors and so very tired. Whatever had saved him from a lifetime of paralysis was now wearing off and the twinges in his spine heralded their return.
The kid was a worry. He was a complete unknown entity. Even with Acid Zero's strange alien craft, the congressman had heard the story about how the reptilian had murdered the secretary of defence in cold blood. That was measurable.
***
Try and make contact with the pilot
We're trying
Well try harder Ghourdo
The thing about Kheldians was that they weren't all the same. Or to put it another way, despite being constructed of light or dark energy they all had different hosts which to a greater or lesser extent informed their knowledge and abilities.
The Kheldians who chose to serve in the PPD were trained, where possible, in a number of ways. Not all of them were capable of communicating effectively with other alien lifeforms, however. The ones that were, were doing their best to breach any communication blocks posed by the ship they had approached. The others, feeling a little redundant, were getting annoyed.
Ah, I think I've made contact! Hello? This is Officer Harkovian of the PPD. We understand that within your ship there is a gentleman by the name of Congressman Alistair Wolfe. We wish to escort him back down to terra firma.
The Kheldians waited.
We're trying
Well try harder Ghourdo
The thing about Kheldians was that they weren't all the same. Or to put it another way, despite being constructed of light or dark energy they all had different hosts which to a greater or lesser extent informed their knowledge and abilities.
The Kheldians who chose to serve in the PPD were trained, where possible, in a number of ways. Not all of them were capable of communicating effectively with other alien lifeforms, however. The ones that were, were doing their best to breach any communication blocks posed by the ship they had approached. The others, feeling a little redundant, were getting annoyed.
Ah, I think I've made contact! Hello? This is Officer Harkovian of the PPD. We understand that within your ship there is a gentleman by the name of Congressman Alistair Wolfe. We wish to escort him back down to terra firma.
The Kheldians waited.
"Yeah, I bet you do, dont'cha?" Acid regarded the congressman with a chuckle, "Doubt you'd want it, though. I'm going home. You wouldn't like it there. Assuming you didn't get eaten, of course. Nooo...I think I've got something different in mind for you."
The reptilian raised his hand in order to snap his fingers. Even as he did, a reply from the telepath came to the gathered Kheldians.
No, you want to get him somewhere you think he'll be safe. That'll be hard to do. The man messed with a whole lot of the wrong people, and now they all want a piece of him. I'm not sure there are enough to go around. But fine. You can try. Good luck. I believe you'll need it.
With the snap of Acid's claws, the fictive transmitter came to life again. In the haze behind the Khelari, a three-meter sphere that seemed composed of both metallic and at the same time crystalline material turned the now-iridescent glimmer of its 'pupil' at the man, like some bombastic eyeball that could literally glare someone to death. The next instant, the scene around him had vanished, replaced with an entirely different, yet at the same time very familiar setting.
The inside of a SWAT van - and a good dozen very surprised officers of the task force. Moreover, if the associates of the Urban Fellow of Merry Wit wanted to home in and follow this teleportation, they'd have to get a whole lot more clever than last time.
The transmitter didn't stop there either, and built up its energies once more before carefully aiming its 'lens' at the 'kid' and attempting to send him off as well, destination the front steps of the hospital...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((Phew, what a festive season! Right, some last posting from me! Thank you to all who have contributed to this story. Yes, Widow Frost will be back (she's a darned comic book-style character ain't she?!!) although not necessarily in any timeline/Universe/continuum that this thread inhabits! And thanks to a PM from Rotten_Luck, some other characters might also be making further appearances as time goes on... You have been warned.))
The Kheldians scattered like ducks during the hunting season. On the ground the PPD readied themselves for the forcible ejection of the congressman.
A slight wobble from one of the SWAT vans hailed the arrival of Alistair Wolfe, followed momentarily by said SWAT van doors opening and an armoured officer stepping out.
"Wolf's in the den, sir."
The police commander sighed, partly out of relief.
"So why'd they let him out?"
The SWAT officer shrugged.
"Something about him didn't agree with 'em, apparently."
"Go figure."
The SWAT van was secured, the convoy of cycles and cars escorted it back towards Brickstown. Up above the clouds the Kheldian PPD remained, keeping watch so that a repeat of the event that started all of this - the ambush by the Circle of Thorns - would meet with some old fashioned heroic resistance.
A few officers remained behind to take names for the sake of paperwork. They headed towards the hospital, not aware that Balgair and her men were still inside.
***
"It seems to have calmed down," Matron Knowles turned from the glass doors and looked at her colleague, Doctor Carson, firmly in the face, "The police are approaching. They'll want to question all of us."
Doctor Carson tutted.
"Under the circumstances, I think that perhaps you and your men should make a hasty retreat to my office. It's on the third floor." He addressed Balgair and nodded to the Matron, who collected her thoughts and waited to escort the mercs up in the lift.
Doctor Carson tutted.
"Under the circumstances, I think that perhaps you and your men should make a hasty retreat to my office. It's on the third floor." He addressed Balgair and nodded to the Matron, who collected her thoughts and waited to escort the mercs up in the lift.
***
Somewhere in the ether, between planes of existence, lights flickered. They might have been inhabiting Limbo or any other number of grey states but they were still moving, searching for a way back in.
The lights could see their former host - lying on the tarmac, so vulnerable - but they had no catalyst with which to exert their own force.
Instead they waited for an opportunity to move closer or to find another person who fitted their requirements. But, for now, they were content on gazing in their eyeless way at the girl who had become their way of escaping into the real World.
Something would happen. Maybe not soon, but it would happen.
The lights could see their former host - lying on the tarmac, so vulnerable - but they had no catalyst with which to exert their own force.
Instead they waited for an opportunity to move closer or to find another person who fitted their requirements. But, for now, they were content on gazing in their eyeless way at the girl who had become their way of escaping into the real World.
Something would happen. Maybe not soon, but it would happen.
Quote:
"And there he goes again. Lock."| Something would happen. Maybe not soon, but it would happen. |
"..."
"I said LOCK."
"...It's not working."
"Issue. They have our quarry. We have movement."
"Send in a Blackout. In and out, no more than a minute. Find out their eventual destination in case they fail, prepare a gauntlet. Where is our asset?"
"Blackout dispatched, asset is missing..."
***
Quote:
| The SWAT van was secured, the convoy of cycles and cars escorted it back towards Brickstown. Up above the clouds the Kheldian PPD remained, keeping watch so that a repeat of the event that started all of this - the ambush by the Circle of Thorns - would meet with some old fashioned heroic resistance. |
And even beyond that, the Knives had plans. Whether or not they succeeded at that juncture was, once more, entirely up to the PPD. As well as the attempt after that, and the attempt after that, and again, and again...
The Kheldians really should have paid a bit more attention to the message.
As the rather large number of influential and insanely powerful persons reared to take a shot at the Congressman, even more started to line up behind them. What the Kheldian's had heard was absolutely true: There was no place on Earth where they could keep the Congressman safe. He had made far too many enemies, and while they had been biding their time before, the sudden opprotunity to rid the world of him had set off a gigantic self-perpetuating cascade. Even if the Congressman got out of the entire ordeal with his health, job and reputation miraculously intact, they would keep on coming. The Congressman's life was over.
The Kheldians should have listened a bit more carefully. If they had truly listened, and truly understood the situation, devotion to the job or not, they may have backed out of it right then. The remainder of the night alone was going to be a trial for them - and the days, weeks, months, years ahead...Well, who can really say? And that was just the Kheldians. The Congressman, even unto his eventual death, would continue to burden others and bring misfortune to those around him. His would-be-protectors, whoever they were at any given time, would never find rest.
Then again.
It was Paragon City. And maybe he would somehow get out of all of it intact to go on and appear in this story again. As Acid Zero had been shown earlier: The impossible was regularly made routine, in Paragon City, a City of Heroes...
***
A lone figure in front of the hospital gazed up at the stars above with perfect green eyes.
"Well played, Mr. Zero."
The figure turned around and headed into the hospital.
AGS-4 - Bridge
A pair of door halves parted smoothly, freeing the way from the small ship's main transit corridor to its command deck. Technically, the presence of such a thing was obsolete, but the Khelari who now walked through the wafting mists and into the orange twilight of the many like-hued holograms that comprised both displays and interfaces was in some reagards simply old-fashioned like that.
You really think that was wise?
"Probably not." Acid shrugged in response to the soundless voice inside his head, stepping to the bridge's central holodisplay and letting his claws tap across keys that both did and did not exist, "But Emry's got enough pull to pick they guy up whenever he wants to now. If they still want to. They might just decide that he got what was coming to him and leave it at that. You know how they work. Besides..."
The cartographic planetary display became but one of several more, the copies placing themselves about the original before being altered into forms similar, yet different from the first. Along the front 'windshield' of the semicircular command deck, 2-D readouts appeared, projecting a course toward the galactic center.
"...we've got work to do." the reptilian finished as the vessel accelerated, "Not the least of which is figuring out why the Oblivion Gate suddenly seems to have a whole lot less Oblivion to it."
Roughly four minutes later, the ship had reached half the speed of light, deeming departure from the Einstein universe within acceptable stress tolerance. Not three seconds later, the AGS-4 vanished amongst the stars...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Paragon City News, 12:00
"The time is Twelve PM and our top story today is the disappearance of Congressman Alistair Wolfe the Second.
The attack occurred in the early hours of this morning in the vicinity of Bell Point Medical Centre, Independence Port. Eyewitness accounts, say the PPD, are sketchy at best. Some people claimed that there were lights in the sky, others that a little boy was responsible for the congressman's disappearance. One account even goes so far to suggest that the whole incident was masterminded by convicted felon Doctor Vazhilok, an account which has been vehemently rubbished by not only the Medical Centre board of directors but also Longbow and several other Hero organisations.
No one has claimed responsibility for the congressman's disappearance and PPD investigators are remaining tight-lipped about the whole affair. The FBI are rumoured to now be involved with the investigation and one website claims that Manticore has joined a team of Longbow operatives to track down the congressman and his captors.
We'll try and keep you up to date on this story but, for now, let's go to Steve for the weather..."
The attack occurred in the early hours of this morning in the vicinity of Bell Point Medical Centre, Independence Port. Eyewitness accounts, say the PPD, are sketchy at best. Some people claimed that there were lights in the sky, others that a little boy was responsible for the congressman's disappearance. One account even goes so far to suggest that the whole incident was masterminded by convicted felon Doctor Vazhilok, an account which has been vehemently rubbished by not only the Medical Centre board of directors but also Longbow and several other Hero organisations.
No one has claimed responsibility for the congressman's disappearance and PPD investigators are remaining tight-lipped about the whole affair. The FBI are rumoured to now be involved with the investigation and one website claims that Manticore has joined a team of Longbow operatives to track down the congressman and his captors.
We'll try and keep you up to date on this story but, for now, let's go to Steve for the weather..."
Internet message boards, forums, blogs, even some of the more respectable newspapers were running stories on the congressman. Whlst some touched briefly on snippets of truth - for instance rumours of his involvement with the Circle of Thorns - they were all couched in terms of conspiracy and wild drama.
The Knives had been successful. Longbow were, of course, trying to track the cell or cells involved in his kidnapping but were drawing large blanks.
The PPD were facing public criticism on their 'over-deployment' of officers - why had they sent in so many police officers to rescue one man? This only served to fuel the conspiracy rumours, of course.
The Knives had been successful. Longbow were, of course, trying to track the cell or cells involved in his kidnapping but were drawing large blanks.
The PPD were facing public criticism on their 'over-deployment' of officers - why had they sent in so many police officers to rescue one man? This only served to fuel the conspiracy rumours, of course.
***
Somewhere, Sometime
A figure, naked, was sat in a chair, its arms raised up above its head. Its legs were in chains. A tray of water and gruel sat on a small, wooden table to its left.
A door opened, light streamed in briefly. Long hair, military garb, face concealed by darkness - the new figure walked like a woman, smelled like a woman.
Silently the woman moved to a pulley at the back of the room.
A few turns here, a bloodcurdling scream followed.
This went on. And on. And on.
A door opened, light streamed in briefly. Long hair, military garb, face concealed by darkness - the new figure walked like a woman, smelled like a woman.
Silently the woman moved to a pulley at the back of the room.
A few turns here, a bloodcurdling scream followed.
This went on. And on. And on.
***
Lights flickered and danced. They watched as the body was carted away. Time passed. They heard a scream. They saw him, prone, in unbearable pain.
If lights could smile, they did.
If lights could smile, they did.
((Um, Dogma...are you sure you want to do this? I mean, nothing against it, the ship's shields are down right now so it's perfectly legit to jump aboard, buuut...this is an alien spacecraft. As in a very exotic environment in which things might operate any number of different ways than they to on Terra. There might not even be air. So yeah...you sure about this?
))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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