P.E.R.C. Presents Memory Lane

This is the last thing many Council soldiers see before they die, Erich Heidenreich, a Nazi with more issues than Reader's Digest and a serious obsession with destroying the Council.

Now then, my entry! Sure, it's heavily dramatized and compounded into one mission, but I DID solo that EB. Not too happy with the end, so it'll probably be edited quite a bit before the deadline.


___



Vampyrism sucked.

No, no, Vamyprism didn’t suck. Heidenreich sucked. But Heidenreich’s suckage was hardly his own fault. The Fifth Column had been strong and glorious, then the Center had come along and here he was; midway through his transformation, imprisoned by Arachnos as a Destined One, surrounded by superpowered loonies and forced to scratch out a miserable existence doing mercenary work.

Still better than sharing a prison cell with that Greater Devoured, though.

Heidenreich leapt onto the deck of the cargo ship. This was definitely where the Council soldier had directed him after his ‘interrogation’. Something seemed amiss... nevertheless, he slipped inside. The stench of blood and gore justified his suspicions. Flaring his nostrils quickly pinpointed the source and he crept towards the concealed corpse. Intriguing. Perhaps a disagreement within the ranks? Oh. Merely a very messily murdered sailor.

Leaving the amateurish artwork and his disappointment at the entrance, Heidenreich snuck deeper inside the understaffed ship. At last, he spotted living people aboard - two Council soldiers. The Nazi pricked his pointy ears and hid out of sight. Perhaps they knew what was being smuggled into Port Oakes.

“I don‘t care how high the betting pool is! That Vampyr will rip me to shreds if I make a sparkle joke!

A Vampyr. The Council had smuggled a Vampyr into the Rogue Isles. Were they insane? The only Vampyr that Arachnos allowed on this festering hellhole was Erich Inglebert Heidenreich, and that was because they’d kidnapped him!

“Blechley can't, you’re not on the list.”

“What list?”

“The assassination list, idiot! Didn't you pay attention at the briefing? He's here to kill everyone who interferes with our operations! The Vendettis, that Fifth Column loyalist--”

“Flockenstuffen?”

“No, the ugly one.”

“Flockenstuffen?”

“The one with the Reichsman obsession.”

“Still sounds like Flockenstuffen….”

“The Vampyr!”

“Flockenstuffen's a Vampyr?”

“Will you shut up about Flockenstuffen?!”

Claws ripped across Heidenreich’s back, hurling him to the cold steel floor and ending his eavesdropping. How had he not heard the Vampyr approach?! “I thought you were smarter.” The raspy voice’s owner tore into his victim‘s flesh furiously. Heidenreich smashed his elbow into his attacker’s face and Blechley staggered backwards, giving Erich time to upright himself. Quickly regaining his footing, Blechley flashed a sadistic grin. “Recognize this?” Wait, what was he holding? The German’s eyes widened with realization behind his goggles. Blechley's fist clenched, crushing the Destined One's mediporter into fine powder. Oh, crap!

Heidenreich knew what he had to do at that instant.

Run.

The Nazi bolted to the exit, but hadn't escaped his imminent death. He was locked inside the ship with the monster and the monster had caught up. Having no other choices, Heidenreich attacked. Although his claws weren’t as sharp as his opponent’s and his life-draining abilities were laughable, he still had one ace up his sleeve. Yes, he was physically inferior, but Blechley was unfocused and obsessed with tearing Heidenreich to shreds. In doing so, he neglected his other powers. Heidenreich, however, did not. The half-Vampyr ripped into the full Vampyr, mesmerizing his opponent, directly attacking Blechley’s psyche while staying just out of reaching distance.

“Stand still and DIE!” Blechley snarled and lunged for him.

“Verpiss dich!” Heidenreich retorted rudely in his native tongue. A well placed psychic blast knocked Blechley off balance and he smashed face first into a crate.

Several hours later the battle was finally over. Erich Heidenreich emerged from the ship, triumphant. He was battered and bloody, but alive.

Which was more than could be said of Blechley.

They loved her. It was all that was talked about. How great she was, how helpful she was…pfft. Yes, I was still young, still learning about my powers, but I could be of help too! I mean really…I’m a brute. Granted she could take more damage than me, but she sure couldn’t dish out as much as I could! I tried befriending them… earning their trust, but no. In the end, they always wanted her. Bright Girl. Ugh! That name haunted me so! Why?

“Bright Girl, come be our tanker for our taskforce!” “Wow Bright Girl, you’re awesome… and so pretty!” It was enough to gag a maggot! Then came the day she wouldn’t let me join their team, she “didn’t want me to get hurt.” The fire within me reached heights I never thought possible! So it was decided. She had to go. After all, I am the keeper of balance, and that hero was getting too big for her britches. It was time to knock her down a few thousand pegs. So I was off, I worked hard… sometimes all night. For months I devoted all my time to getting stronger, and there was a time that I thought I wasn’t going to make it. But thanks to a friend, he helped me…trained me. Taught me about how to use my fire to make me stronger and finally it came… 50!

I spent hours at that Black Market trying to haggle with Shady Mia; jeez that girl just won’t budge on prices. I didn’t let her stop me. I was ready now. I took a glance in the mirror and grinned. Oh yea, I’m way hotter than that spandexer. I went looking for everyone’s favorite lil’ tank. When I found her I challenged her, she laughed and avoided me. Fear? Maybe, but after insulting her hideous outfits enough she accepted and off to the arena we went.

It was a long fight, tiring. The both of us stood directly in front of each other mercilessly wailing on each other. My fists were already starting to bruise. Her pink pomp-pomp punches were gonna leave welts, that I was sure of, but we never faltered. We had each other on the ropes quite a few times but I knew I had her when she went ‘Unstoppable’ All I had to do was survive the onslaught of attacks and wait for her to tire out. She did and she ran, and grinned wickedly all to myself when I tore a chuck of pavement from the ground and viciously hummed it at the back of her head.

I watched her fall to her knees, then collapse on the ground. It was done. I, Pharia… beat Bright Girl! I made sure they all knew it. Nothing gave me more pleasure than dimming her out.

[MS Word says this is 599 words; please let me know if this is correct. Pics may be forthcoming...]

Ok I'll bite but I'm not posting a PvE story because heh PvE.

Global: @Neuronia
Character: Kara Caducaea 50 Emp/Psy Defender

The locale: Atlas Park
The teams:

The Good Guys:

Integrity, featuring yours truly on Emp, Stryker on Emp, El Projinator on Blaster (or was he on Rad?) Syphonics on Sonic, Yosef Vanya on Blaster, Siphonics on Blaster, think we had Psyrene for that match and a Kin. We probably had a fourth Blaster, I think Panthro was still around then but come on that was five years ago, cut me some slack.

The Bad Guys:

PCJL (Pingu City Justice League) from Champion server.
Iltat, Jester, Jester's Wife and a bunch of other malcontents and ne'er-do-wells. Kat might have been on the team too at that time.



The Stakes:
If we win we leapfrog PCJL and move into a tie for 5th (or was it fourth) with dUmb...or behind dUmb. Anyway...

We went Jump and they went Storm cos they ALWAYS went Storm. ALWAYS.

(Cutaway to Integrity Vent, it's 9:00 pm Eastern, Sunday.)
(Paraphrasing, it's been five years, srsly)

Proj: "Ok guys, they are going to turtle so so will we."
Yosef: "We can attack them. From where we are on city hall we can hit them with snipes."
Syph: "I'm just gonna sonic nuke them. Kara or Stryker will AB me and I'll phase."
Proj: "You aren't Nuke-rushing"
Stryker: "I'm not ABing you."
Kara: "*crickets*"

So we had a Mexican Standoff...neither team moving. You could cut the tension with a knife. We did a /whoall and everyone from Ajax to RoboBug to Hank to like everyone that was on Test were observing. It was crazy tense. It was even more tense since the Devs hadn't randomly taken down Test for a costume fix patch. Craziness.

So at the 1:45 mark Proj gives the "GO!" and Yosef and Siph attack. They get a kill! Ping gets a kill on us too. Tied 1-1 with 1:30 left. Yosef gets another kill! 2-1 with :40 seconds left! I'm in AP (I'm ALWAYS in AP, and I pop greens anyway cos I'm TERRIBLE. Phase is down! Except at the time I carried like two rows of Oranges too. Guess why?) so I start hightailing it.

Proj: "KARA! PHASE! OMG! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Me in team chat: "Phase down!!!"
*POP ORANGE* *POP ORANGE* RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN!

I make it around the stairs, Blaze hits me, Fire Blast hits me, Will Dom from Jester hits me, health goes down, down, down, AP WEARS OFF! Pop greens, MORE greens, I DIE. Or do I? It's been five years, who the hell knows?

Timer reads:
0:00

WE WIN!


There is an audible sigh of relief on Vent, we all cheer like crazy, Ping is laughing his *** off, we all are.

Syph, of course, was afk to watch Heroes cos he ALWAYS AFKs.
ALWAYS.
"Hey guys, what did I miss?"

We just keep laughing.


Most fun I've had in this game, no doubt.

<---- Click pic please.

Hi Ya’ll, I’m Trailer Park Barbie. I want to tell you about the big even that made me the woman I am today, but first let me tell you who I am and where I came from.

Now I grew up in a lil trailer park in Texas, it wasn’t much but it was home. Midge, Ken, and I had a lil pink dream trailer, it was in the prime location, we shared our back yard with the town dump, so late at night we could go rummaging round and find all kinds of treasure people would throw out. I found the best couch in there, you just had to make sure not to sit right in the middle, and you didn’t notice the blood stains since I covered it in a pink blanket that I got at the Goodwill store.

Anyways… I am getting way off track… oh yeah, I was tellin ya’ll what brought me to the Rogue Isles. Oops, I do tend to ramble, well anyways one day I was getting all fancies up to head out to the Piggly Wiggly, cause I was fixen to make some of my famous taco casserole, and that’s when I heard a big boom, and looked out to see a big green cloud above the nuclear power plant, and in just a couple minutes there were these guys in ugly spaceman lookin suits and they were throwin a bubble round my lil trailer. I yelled at them askin what in the dickens they thought they was doin, and they said I had some sort of radiation poisoning, and they had to keep me for observation. I sulked around the house for a couple days, cause I didn’t even get to the store to get my goodies for dinner, and that’s when I notice it, I felt a shiver throughout my whole body, and then all of a sudden I raised my hands to the sky and it started to snow, in the middle of July, and the angrier I got the more intense the storm was, and finally the lil bubble surrounding my trailer popped, and before those men could show back up I hopped into my Barbie pickup truck, and headed for the Rogue Isles.

When I got there, I moved to Sharkhead. I had no money, and knew I had to take care of myself, and to heck with anyone else, I started small robbin the local people, but I had heard stories of local groups that also had special powers like my own, but I didn’t know where to find them. Now, my own super powers were gettin hard to hide, and I had local girls askin me for help with them thugs the hellions, and all I could think was why ain’t they strong enough to take care of themselves, and that’s when…



<---click pic please.

As you can see I can take care of myself, but it made me think of all the poor girls that don’t have super powers, and it made me realize my purpose here, I was brought here to do more then just petty crimes, I've been brought here to take these hellions down, so they would stop hasslin the women of Sharkhead, and the rest of the Rogue Isles.

This is the story of Crystal Chime's latest encounter with Marauder (and also the first time i soloed an AV )

A bitter cold spread throughout the warehouse. Despite this, a bead of sweat ran down Marauder's neck. "So", he thought, "she is here." Peering down the hallway, he could see a dense fog, eminating from where the entrance to the warehouse was. Then, he saw her!!! Crystal Chime!! This was his chance to take her by surprise! He would kill this traitor to Praetoria!
Marauder ripped a large chunk of the floor up from beneath him, and hurled it directly at her. Crystal noticed, and side-stepped, as the chunk of metal crashed into the wall behind her.
"Hahahaha", she chuckled. "Michael, is that really the best you can do? Why, I bet you could be beaten by a rock!"
Suddenly, a stone golem burst out of the ground in front of Marauder. The golem was covered in thick layers of ice, and shined even in the dim warehouse. The golem commenced its attack upon him.
Marauder started to swing his powerful arms at the rock, but try as he might, he couldn't hit it. To make matters worse, a storm seemed to have broken out in the warehouse. Clearly, the traitor was behind this.
"This is it, I'm going to have to use my most powerful attack to get this stupid stone, then she won't pose any threat I'm sure", Marauder schemed.
He pulled back his arm and began to swing, when out of nowhere, a bright star seemed to shoot at him. It hit him square in the chest, and froze him to his very core. He fell onto one knee, and started to hallucinate.

Michael, you really should wear something more substantial than a tank top when you fight other poweful super beings. What if one of them could use the power of cold?
Please, Cleo, who could possibly freeze the raging bull that is Marauder?

Marauder regained consciousness, just in time to dodge another blow from the golem. "Grrrrr", he growled under his breath. "There is no way I am letting her say I told you so!" With a massive crash, the golem was smashed aside by Marauder, who was now pulsing with rage. Seeing this, Crystal Chime summmoned another, which was promptly crushed into tiny bits.
"I'm impressed Marauder", said the ex-Praetorian,"but I'm afraid without your precious Emporer Cole here to empower you, there is no victory against me!"
She raised her hand, and push it forward slightly. Marauder laughed. "Is that all you can do?" Then, peering down, he saw his body was completely encased in a crystal. Looking up, he saw a fireball heading directly for him.
"Holy . . ."
Crash! Marauder fell unconscious from the searing heat of the fireball.
"You're lucky you're not worth the effort, Praetor" Crystal Chime spat, as Marauder's medical teleporter activated. "Or I would finish you right now."
Marauder forced one eye open to see Crystal Chime walking down the corridor, before being whisked back to Praetoria.
"Well, that's the easy part over!" thought Crystal Chime, as she strolled through the IDF infested warehouse. "Now to find that damned elusive glowing portal . . ."

"Victory"

The daytime hours had lengthened to night by the time Ellie Weissman had found The Grey Pilgrim, sitting on a wall in Perez Park in the dark. His usual fiery glow—resplendent and brilliant even in daytime—had softened to almost nothing, and his cloak and form blended in with the wall until he almost seemed a monument—to what, she was not sure.

She clambered up next to him and sat down, looking at his aged features. He looked an old man, but fought like one of twenty years. She didn’t know if that or his actually being a man of twenty was the strangest part of him. She tried not to think about it.

He said nothing, so she finally asked. “Did you find him? Did you find The Keeper?”

He nodded.

“What happened, did you beat him? Did you find out why he—well, did you find out why?”

He picked a stone off the surface of the wall and tossed it into Everett Lake. He had a small pile next to him that she hadn’t noticed before. The rock splashed loudly in the silence, and he finally spoke. “Why he killed Harvey and my sister, you mean? Why he and the Circle of Thorns are so interested in me? Why I am the way I am?”

Ellie hated to ask, but it had to be said. “Yes.”

He laughed, short and bitter. “You could say that.”

He said nothing more, and she respected that. He would tell her when he wanted to—or not. “Did you defeat him?”

He nodded. “I burned with the vengeance of a thousand worlds and immolated him with my purifying fire.” Ellie swallowed, a sickening and a gladness in her heart. The Grey Pilgrim continued. “And as he died, he told me everything, just as we wished he would: he even let the original soul of his body speak to me, at the end.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” He shook his head, forcing Ellie to find other words. “Well—people should at least know, Pilgrim. That they’re safe. I’ll write up a little article about how people can sleep safely again, for The Keeper is gone.”

He shook his head. “Don’t write anything.”

“Don’t publish anything?” Ellie asked. “But people should know, Pilgrim. People should know about your victory over the Circle of Thorns.”

He stood and gave a rough laugh, speaking before leaping into the twilight. The words hung in the air even after he left: “There was no victory here. The Keeper was my father.”

I have no picture. For you see me all around. There is no place where I do not walk. They gave me a name, a simple name. It was part joke, part forebearance. They called me 1984. When I woke to the world with my new name, I was set apart from my comrades in arms. I was granted with that thing you call "a history". It was pulled from a Primal called "Hewmaster".

It was most amusing, to have all of this creatures knowledge granted unto its digital circuitry. All of that creatures friends, foes, accomplishments, they were all mine now. It was a source of power with which I could build my life out of.

The task bequeathed to me was simple; prepare the Primals for the coming of Cole. There was nothing complicated. All that needed to be done was to speak the truth. The chaotic memories of the Primal caught during a raid of the B.A.F told me everything that was needed. There was no order in this universe. There was no understanding of consequence, or of crime or punishment. The idea of a simple peace was alien. All of these Primals struggled _every day_ just to eat and drink. Freedom was the shackles with which they bound themselves. For me, this would be easy.

As I walk amongst the worlds denizens, speaking with a tongue stolen from one of their own, I reach out my subtle influence. A little here, a little there, seeking always to be felt not seen. My circle of influence grows daily. Soon, soon, these stolen memories of mine will lead to a peaceful, and orderly period where the calm that Praetorian society is will wash over the Primal Earth...

But never, ever, do they question my oh so obvious mission. It is even written in my name, taken from their own society. Thus is the will of Cole. "Act not where acting can be done for you."

The Cursed Heal (Victory Server – Khaelon)
Vincent was the most unlikely of heroes. A short and overweight scientist who, like so many others, was working on various Rikti energy sources used to power their ships and battle gear. His experiments led to a major breakthrough where the Rikti energy source bonded to human DNA and genetically altered the human. He called the new source of power Khaelon (kay-lon) Energy and it imbued him with new superhuman powers. Able to project both healing and damaging energies from his body Vincent had a suit of armor made for his short stocky frame. Once outfitted in his new armor and having learned the basics of using his empathy and energy powers Vincent was ready to hit the streets of Paragon City. He chose the name KHAELON as his hero name.
In the early days of Paragon City’s rebirth of supers there were many city zones that challenged even the toughest of heroes. Perez Park’s Hells Highway was one such corridor of chaos and mayhem. Khaelon joined his super friends to clean up the streets of Hells Highway. The mob sizes in this city zone were much larger than those found in Atlas Park and Khaelon realized he had to take advantage of a powerful healing ability where he could greatly boost his ability to heal others by absorbing their pain. Unfortunately the power was very risky to use and Khaelon found himself questioning whether the risk was worth the rewards.
His team attacked all mobs they ran across looking to arrest the entire zone if needed to bring peace back to Perez Park. Greatly outnumbered in all the battles Khaelon found his ability to keep his team healthy very difficult between his powerful knockback energy blasts and targeted healing. He knew better than to simply cast his healing aura all the time because this drained him of his endurance which he needed for any of his powers to work. Time and time again Khaelon would reserve the absorb pain heal for the most dire of moments when his team truly needed the healing energy. Each time the great healing power was used Khaelon was dumbfounded by the fact that the pain would be delivered onto himself before the healing energies would reach the gravely wounded hero. Hells Highway is where he learned of the curse of the dreaded absorb pain power; the healing curse that would sap Khaelon of his health and ability to regenerate or heal himself while being too slow to reach his wounded friends before they fell in combat.
Khaelon never gave up and continued to use the deathly absorb pain for it’s ability to greatly renew health was unmatched by any other power he had seen. He found himself drained of endurance at the end of each mob battle but he knew he could use the cursed heal, for it did not tax his endurance, it took from his health instead. It was a very long day but very rewarding. Khaelon learned that the power was dangerous but was truly amazing. It would take time for him to master the power but master it he did.
It is a rare occasion where his massive heal hits its intended target too late to keep the hero up in battle. On his journey to discover the powers of the Well of the Furies Khaelon has found great use for absorb pain. And this has reminded him of those early days so many years ago on Hells Highway, where experience taught him how to use the cursed heal.

This story was prompted by the Rogue Morality Mission “Easy Job, Easy Money!” which was absolutely perfect for my character, Jakob Frost. This decision was his defining moment.

**********************

Arbiter Becklo watched the white-haired man carefully. Jakob Frost was one to be cautious around. The mutant had survived Captain Mako's tutelage, defeated both Mako and Lord Recluse in turn, and held the respect of both afterward. He was a power within Arachnos even as he tended to operate outside the confines of the organization. These things all made Frost difficult to predict and made the arbiter uncertain of his control over the situation. Perhaps Daos was unwise to choose this particular man for this mission? Becklo was not used to doubting his superior, and quickly put the thought out of his mind.

The arbiter continued with his offer, "... so yes, I suppose that many of the slum-dwellers will be killed, but we need to insure that those rogue bane spiders are crushed before the taint spreads. It is really just an illegal shantytown, and this problem is an existential threat to Arachnos. Your payment, of course, will be quite substantial…"

Jakob turned and stared into the distance. He remembered running through the ruins of Mercy Island as a child, his shock-white hair setting him apart from his siblings. The family struggled to survive in the devastation, and the children spent their days searching ruined buildings for anything of value to salvage. His older sisters paid the ultimate price, both dying before reaching twelve. Katharina had not heard the Snakes approach as she dug through rubble trying to find something to sell for food. Greta had sickened after a nasty cut from a jagged metal window frame. Jakob himself had suffered fevers and exhaustion related to hunger for much of his childhood, and his mother died of pneumonia on his tenth birthday. Ashamed to think of it now, Jakob recalled his joy at finding the corpse of a recently-killed Snake a few hundred yards from his family's shack. "Meat!" he excitedly told his father as he dragged the body through the door.

The world changed just a few weeks after finding the Snake. The fourteen-year-old woke from sleep to find crystals of ice coating the walls of the room. Jakob's control over ice and cold manifested and became his ticket out of poverty, misery, and powerlessness. In the years since then he had not looked back, had tried to forget the pain of his youth. He had become one of the most powerful beings in the world, ruthless and devoted to insuring that he lived well. He made sure that anyone who tried to harm him would not get another chance. He never showed weakness.

But this?

Jakob Frost turned back to the arbiter, who finished, "...so I'm sure you can see that this is perfectly reasonable, what are the lives of those rabble compared to the safety of Arachnos itself?"

The temperature in the air suddenly dropped. Arbiter Becklo felt a shiver of panic seize him.

"No. I won't do it. And neither will you," Jakob said, gathering the cold in his hands.

And the world changed again.

This is a shared story for 4 of my toons and how the Psychic Phoenix came to be.

Jain - Age 20 - The Psychic Eagle
Baharr - Age 18 - The Psychic Hawk
Athera - Age 15 - The Psychic Phoenix
Sothiel - Age 42 - The Psychic Darkness

The Psychic’s

Jain and Athera were on their way home from their studies like any other day in Paragon city.
The police scanner caught Jains attention; there was a fire somewhere up town.
Moments later they arrived at the burning building; it seemed the hellions were to blame once again.
Eagle coordinated with the fire chief and called upon the spirit of the winds with her mental powers to bring forth rain that quickly dulled the flames.
Athera watched as her Sister gracefully flew around and called forth the rain. She wished she knew how to do the same things, even though she had been told that mental bonds to the spirits were a rare gift she was sure she would find hers, for now though she could read minds and even to some extend tell others what to do.
She felt a dark presence at the back of her mind, DEMANDING her to fly closer.
Jain turned to nudge her away, as she did a section of the building exploded, sending flames hurtling reached out towards Jain. The flames suddenly bended and circled Athera until they died off harmlessly.
She had saved her sister, the flames had obeyed her commands, though she was not exactly sure how.

Afterwards in the evening Jain and Athera had a long talk about her new found power and the dark presence that had told her to go near the flames. Jain had her suspicions, but kept them to herself for now, blocking out her sisters probes on the subject.

“Could it be Sothiel that had returned after so many years…?”

Jain awoke in the night as she was hit by a psychic scream that tore through mind like a jackhammer.
She immediate knew it was her sister that was called and rushed to her room, but she was gone through the open window, Jain noticed claw marks on the window frame, they looked like they had been burned into it.
Jain contacted Baharr their brother to come and help her locate their sister.
They met up over Blyde Square and started homing in on their mental link with Athera.

They seemed to fly for hours, where could she have gone in so short a time?

Early in the morning they reached the Coast of Peregrine Island, for some reason it seemed hot here.
At Portal Court they found Infernal and Numina who were struggling to subdue searing flames that surrounded the buildings.

They had been unable to breach a psychic field there and seemed to be fighting a losing battle.
Eagle and Hawk had seen this before and knew how to breach this though this was much stronger than they had ever seen and only with the aid on Numina bolstering their power and Infernal holding the flames at bay did they make it inside.

To their horror they found Athera possessed by an entity that called itself the Phoenix and was trying to open a portal so it could enter our world.

With immense effort and help from Athera’s trapped mind they managed to subdue the entity, with the aid of Sister Psyche mental blocks were placed until Athera could learn to protect herself from this power.

For the damages to Portal Corp Athera was incarcerated in the Zigg to undergo treatment, and keep the city safe.

During their sessions they revealed that Sothiel, better known as the Psychic Darkness. Their older brother had somehow jump started Athera’s fire powers and as a result nearly destroyed her, to what end however was unknown…

A few weeks later Arachnos broke Athera out of the prison along with other super beings.
She is now free in the rogue isles and seem to have cut off her mental bond so that she can’t be tracked.

Eagle and her Brother swore to find and help Athera and if at all possible bring Sothiel to Justice.

“Hold them! HOLD THEM!” Sputnik shouted, firing a blast of blue bolts past the pirate’s ear.
Mister Squinty held them, though he knew not how.

The smell of burning oil lingered in the air, streaming in thick columns of smoke from the broken shells of the 5th Column’s new army of Mek Men. Bastion hadn’t been kidding when he warned Task Force Steel of the threat these new machines presented. Squinty grabbed another robot, holding it up by the neck as bullets from Sergeant Silver’s rifle shredded its carapace, sending sparks and shards into the line of 5th Column soldiers crowded into the narrow gap.

The gap that Squinty held.

Nearly blinded by the flashes of gunfire, deafened by the explosions of rockets, Squinty could only scream challenges at his foes, punching and grabbing anything that came within arm’s reach, softening up another target for his friends to dispatch. His job wasn’t to dispatch, it wasn’t to arrest, it was only to hold.

Squinty held.

The setup was seemingly too perfect. A narrow passage separated a small foyer from a large assembly area. The hordes of red and black clad fascists massed at the far end of the passage, firing their rockets and tossing grenades as they could. But so long as this end was held, they could not bring their full might to bear, could not return fire on Silver and Sputnik, could not see Shadowmynx casting her mystic spells of darkness that slowed and chilled them, could not determine where the slightly metallic cursing was coming from as Khaelon’s power supplies threatened to overload his armor’s circuits, depriving Task Force Steel of the energy and healing they needed to fight on. So long as this end was held, they were safe.

Squinty held.

Suddenly, from the smoke, a giant emerged, firing great bolts of scarlet energy from an arm cannon as it charged. Vandal, the 5th Column’s metallic mad scientist crashed into Squinty, sliding the pirate backwards to the edge of the passage. Squinty’s fingers scrabbled at the walls, his feet shifted, looking for purchase.

And held.

With a roar of rage, Squinty uncoiled, lifting Vandal from the floor and halting the monster’s charge. A fusillade of fire poured into Vandal’s metallic carcass as Squinty’s friends redoubled their efforts, finally seeing the final target and the source of the 5th Column’s dire threat. Vandal’s eye slit glowed nearly as brightly as his cannon as he focused on Sergeant Silver, who had maneuvered for a clear shot. The cannon rose, targeting one of PPD’s finest, only to meet a meaty fist. Servos screamed in protest as Squinty grabbed Vandal’s arm, pulling it to the side to throw the shot wide. In the distraction, Sputnik’s well aimed bolt blasted through a gap in the crazed cyborg’s armor to explode within.

Vandal fell.

Squinty cracked his knuckles, shaking loose the tension from hands clenched too long into fists, and turned. Khaelon slumped against a wall, the air hazy around his armor as it finally began to cool. Sputnik and Shadowmynx held each other in relief and exhaustion while Sergeant Silver, always on duty, began to count prisoners and mentally fill out forms to account for her ammunition expended. For while fights eventually ended, paperwork never did.

“Better her than me.” thought the pirate.

And grinned.

(600 words on the dot: if it had a title it'd be "A Modest Proposal")

‘The Greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return.’ He hated that song. He hated that phrase. As he set the blanket down on the island north of the Ouroboros tower, he hated the very concept of love. Of course, the beautiful girl making his palms sweat as he laid the blanket out in front of the waterfall disproved that. The fact of the matter was, from the moment he first laid eyes on her in Mercy, he was smitten. Today would be the day—he was about to undertake the greatest challenge he had ever faced in his life. It wasn’t staring down Manticore’s drawn bow, or telling Mr. Holier-than-Thou where to stick it, or backstabbing his patron (been there, done that, none were pleasant). He was about to ask the woman of his dreams to marry him. If this didn’t seem like it required great courage and determination, Brent dared anyone to try it.


Dinner was excellent. The blonde with winter blue eyes was enjoying herself. This did little to ease the anxiety Brent, known in the R.I. as Seteh Siphon, felt. At that moment, he’d rather have been fisticuffing with Marauder. The meal ended, silence fell. Knowing it was time, Brent moved to the rock’s edge trying to let the sound of water sooth his nerves.


“Brent, is everything okay?”


“Yeah, I uh…” Brent coughed. Way to start that speech moron, he thought. “Cecilia, I—did you like dinner?” Strike one.


“It was great,” the blonde chuckled.


“I thought it might be nice to come here…” Brent hesitated.


“You have a knack for picking location.”


“Yeah… I… wanted it to be special.”


“Oh?”


“Yeah,” Brent drew a deep breath. “I… Celia, we’ve been together some time now…”


“We have.” She nodded.


“And…”


“And?” She offered. Strike two. Brent took a deep breath. Here went nothing.


“When I came here, I was alone in the world. I didn’t think I needed any one—I didn’t want to depend on anyone because I thought attachment made you weak… then you came into my life.—And—well, I won’t deny that you are my weakness and any opponent of mine could easily use you against me… Of course, then they’d die a long, /slow/ painful death,” Brent rambled. Cecilia smiled. He coughed, continuing, “But I’ve learned that sometimes, a weakness really isn’t a weakness.” Idiot… He tried again. “Sometimes, what is /considered/ a weakness is really a strength—it makes you better, it gives you something worth fighting for—a reason to live… And… I see that now. You’ve become that strength, that reason and… and…”


“And…” Cecilia encouraged him, her heart pounding. He turned to face her.


“I don’t care what I have to do to protect you, I just want you with me. You’ve become my reason to live, to fight—to keep going, no matter what the odds. I love you and—it would be an honor if—what I mean to say is…“ Brent took a deep breath. This was it. He took her hand, dropping to one knee. “Will you marry me?”


“Oh Brent,” Cecilia was tearing up. Brent panicked inwardly. “Of course!”


“Really?” Brent blinked. She nodded. He grinned like an idiot. “Great!”


“Oh Brent!” Cecilia laughed. Brent pulled out the ring, slipping it on her finger. He stood, taking a step back—forgetting just how close to the edge he was. He wasn’t sure of the physics, but he ended up in the Ouroboros Tower pool, sputtering. But she had said yes. That’s all he cared about.

@Wartron
Warton Humble Pie

Lance Williams lost his arms serving his country in Iraq. He turned to science as his new way to serve his county. Working late one night the 5th Column broke into his lab stealing much of his life's work. It was at that point he created his battle suit which use cybernetic to control his robotic arms (robotic legs were not avialable when he was created). No one would steal my property again. Thus began the career of Wartron.

Wartron took pride is being a good tank. Facing off with the likes of Lord Reculse, Lusca, Hamidon and many, many more. When the call came down for a tank to lead the way he answered the call.

When teaming, everyone referred to him as Wart. That was fine. He was a tough old tank routing out evil like a Wart hog. Many villains were banished, Maurader, Bob Cat, Anti-Matter, it didn't matter Wartron was up for the task.

Then the defining moment of this tank of tank's career happened. After romping and stomping around the Pagagon City for three years a friend named PerilX asked why my Global was Warton. I don't remember my first character's name was, but we had been granted a one time Global Name Change token and I misspelled my own name. That is when I knew the taste of humble pie. If you ever encounter me in-game acting foolish, just call me Warton and I will straighten up.

So this is it. I have finally reached the world of those who invaded mine, and took everything from me. Well fine, not everything just my only companion: Nugget.

I remember it all like it was yesterday..
Day in and day out I was constantly forging my realm – The Plains of D’Arachi so it was called. It was to be beautiful in all regards, and only I was to enjoy it. It is not that I am selfish, it is that I do not trust anything but for myself.

Portal Corporation accidentally reached my world one fateful evening. I was relaxing, sleeping in between the trees I had just fashioned. Nugget was running around like he usually did, always up to no good. Then, Portal Corp. brought out their tools and were performing tests on MY work.

Luckily for me, they also found it beautiful. I could sense that they wanted it all, and would come back later.

I silently told Nugget to repel these invaders, and he did his best. Sadly, when he ran through their portal it closed behind him.

Enraged, I destroyed everything. I was alone, again.

I attempted to re-create their portal, through images Nugget sent me. Apparently in the time he was gone, he had become well respected in their world. With his help, I built my own portal.

I left my realm, and swarmed into there’s hoping that I could do what they did to me.
Then He contacted me.

His power and strength commanded me. I thought I was the strongest being, but it was He.

Under His guidance, I too gained His strength. My abilities improved and I too would one day be like Him, although now that I think about it I was.

Sadly, the “Heroes” – super powered freaks, not knowing what they were really doing, constantly threatened my savior. When He was brought down, I was alone yet again.

Then one kind soul of the bunch found me. They thought I was just one of His monsters, but using their magic they found out so much more. Finally, they kindly asked me to forgive them.

And I did.

Perhaps one day I will return to my world, I do miss the ability to forge. But honestly, I am not sure that I could survive on my own. I think I have become weak, maybe He will return and make me strong…

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wavicle CoH players are stupid and incompetent compared to WoW players.

The Player Event Resource Committee would like to thank all those who participated in "Memory Lane." We will do our best to get the winners announced in a timely fashion, and we thank you in advance for your patience as there are many entries to read and score! We had a wonderful time designing this contest and watching so many different styles of entries pop up. We hope you enjoyed this contest!

If you have any ideas for future contests, events, etc. please do not hesitate to contact a PERC Representative.

Woot, tks MP. If possible you should try to get all the winning entries in one spot, or something. Sounds... hard, I guess, but it'd be fun to know where they all are at, since we could post them so many places.

Player Events (Ineffable Bob- Victory Player)
Freedom (Turgenev)
Guardian
Infinity
Justice
Liberty (Justaris)
Pinnacle (Dr Byron Poe, Garent)
Protector (Archiviste, Mr Grey, Riverdancer, Sooner, Stalemate, Ura Hero)
Triumph
Victory (Fiery Hellraiser, galadiman, Grey Pilgrim, Menrva Channel, Mister Squinty, Pattern Walker, PhoenixPhrenzy)
Virtue (Damianamae, jchinds, Morvani, OHakubi, Pheonyx, Sardonic Paladin, SultrySiren)

Ah, nifty. Thanks, MP!

Gratz to all the winners, some good stuff out there.

I would like to pint out that Victory had 8 winners. More that any other Server.