PERC Presents: Memory Lane

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Come on my fellow drunks, I know we can write something good!

Lets go!



Hawk


P.S. If a Pinnacle player wins, I'll throw in an extra 500mil to your prize!

It was a long day on Striga Isle. Selena never liked zombies much, let alone gun-toting zombies. But they weren't the real threat. The Warriors, specifically Heracles. In her mind, his name wasn't very fitting. He may be strong, but Heracles wouldn't show his strength by lifting a ring off an old woman.

Into the warehouse she went, arrows and ice flying fast and furious. Selena could only run so fast, so she could only rely on the cold she could create to keep the Warriors and their weapons away from her skull. Later, her friends would call her a fool to take on a mission like this alone, but the element of surprise was on her side. She brushed a stray hair away from her face. Her hair buns were usually held tight, but under the sweat and stress of battle they had come loose. It was only a matter of time before she got to the back of this warehouse and the one man she was truly looking for.

He was larger than she expected, and hit her fast like a ton of bricks. But instead of crumpling to the floor, she tucked into a roll and used her sturdy longbow to spring herself away a safe distance and immediately fire off a glue arrow. It didn't slow him much, but enough for her to stay a few steps ahead as she fired arrow after arrow, ice blast after ice bolt. She just needed to stay one step ahead... until... until... was he even slowing down? She was partly in awe of his pure strength, but then she noticed him stumble. It was only slight, and he recovered quickly. But she saw it. At that moment she knew the day would be hers.

And after what seemed like hours, all the blood and sweat, arrows and ice, Cerulean Archer proved victorious. She easily found the small ring, what seemed like just a trinket. A precious little circle that meant so much to one woman, but was just another paycheck to Heracles. But not anymore. He would remember that ring, his defeat. And so would Selina.

Excerpts from an Interview with Detective Selnum:

DESTROIKA’s never talked to me directly. But I overheard his voice, once. Once was enough. I’m glad he doesn’t talk to me now. I don’t even know for sure if he’s a he. But I’m afraid of him.

He knows we’re all afraid of him. Whenever something big goes over on the radio, he comes by the station. Lets himself in and just stares at me. Through that mask. That featureless, emotionless mask. It means stop whatever I’m doing and cough it up. I give him addresses, I give him leads. And he leaves whenever he wants to. He never talks to me. But I know he’s doing us a favor whenever he comes by. He’s mostly on our side, I think.

I mean, we’ve got crime on Peregrine Island, sure; but somewhere out there I hear the entire multi-verse is collapsing. If he doesn’t come around for a while, what can I do? He’s completely out of my jurisdiction. You can tell a rookie by how big their eyes get the first time they see him, but it’s only natural. Eight feet tall, some kinda huge fiery monster, and don’t get me started on those claws he calls legs. No one knows what he is. A demon? A dragon? Some kind of behemoth balrog? Not sure what that even means but Smith says it’s from Lord of the Rings.

All I know is he somehow controls fire. He can light you on fire with his hands, make a sword out of fire and cut you with it, I even heard he used to breathe fire. Can’t tell you how many pens and paperweights I’ve had to replace over the years, things just melt around him sometimes. But he also carries weapons. Nothing fancy, just sharp and painful. Shurikens that explode, caltrops to shred your tires, or your body; he even wraps his fists in barbed wire. I guess if he thinks the fire’s too painless for some reason he’ll just brawl you to death with those razor edges. I know he’s nasty. I know he’s violent. And I know he crosses a lot of lines that we don’t. But like I said, what am I gonna do? He’s outside my jurisdiction. I don't want him coming to punish me one day if I get on his bad side...

But the city loves him. He’s been awarded who knows how many medals of honor or badges of valor or whatever they give out these days. Rescued this, saved the world that… he never shows up for the ceremonies though, so who knows what happens to the hardware. Even got a tag in some fancy supergoup, maybe just to get off the radar. Now they take the publicity as a team. But whenever I see him he’s still going out alone. Johnson gave him a compliment once on earning some award and it really turned his head. He stood in the office door for an extra long time before he left and just stared. Then he stalked out, silent as always.

Last month we had a Carnival of Shadows problem. Debutantes, parties, kidnapping; all fairly basic as far as that scene goes. So I was surprised to see him when the call went out. You can’t really tell on account of the mask but I swear he seemed to smirk when I gave him the info. Something in his body language shifted, like he thinks the whole thing’s funny. Or he thinks they are. Or he just enjoys hurting people. Maybe even women. Those are people’s daughters out there, I said to him. DeVore’s the one you should be going after…these other girls don’t know what they’re doing. He didn’t say anything.

An hour later he showed back up at the station, and went straight to Johnson’s desk. He had a carnival mask with him. Half a mask. Covered in blood. He ripped down a police award for marksmanship and hung the mask on the wall in its place, the picture hook sticking out through one cracked eyehole.

Nobody said a word. Until HE broke the silence. I was halfway out of my desk chair when it hit me, that VOICE. It filled up the room; but it didn’t seem to come from him. It was like thirty different ventriloquists throwing their voices in from outside. From everywhere at once, from everywhere around him, without a source. Like the sound became a physical thing, thick, and slow, and crawling on me like I walked through a spider web. And I saw the sounds before I heard them. In my mind. I saw the voice. It was terrifying. Like a black and white filmstrip of an atom bomb test, and the shockwave pushing the dust clouds. Like watching a fault shift and turn into a mountain. It takes a billion years of violence to mangle the granite. But it never makes a sound. That was the voice. And he only said one thing.

“Just because I’m here, doesn’t make me a hero…”

The Wardrobe Malfunction That Saved the World

My team and I had just finished taking down Lord Recluse’s Lieutenants and sending yet another Arachnos Flyer down in flames. Recluse emerged from his tower and gloated. Man, they always monologue. The fate of the world rested in our hands now. We had to confront the eight-legged Archvillain of Anarchy and defeat him, despite Dr. Aeon’s WEB device at full power!

The only tanker in my team, I swallowed that taste of bile that welled up. Staring down Lord Recluse was going to take all the steel I could muster. The encouraging words from Statesman helped; but, the big palooka was sidelined. “Axes America,” I muttered to myself, “you can do this. He’s just a bully in a bad costume. You gotta distract him long enough for your buds to dismantle those towers.”

I signaled to my team that I was ready. They all knew they’d have a quick trip to the hospital ship if I failed. I gave the nod, thumbed the igniter on my jet pack, and gave Recluse a fly-by.

“Nice helmet there, Recluse. It’s gonna look great above my fireplace in a moment!"

That got his attention, all right! He leapt at me with inhuman speed, but I calculated for this and veered back to his colossal statue. With a lot of luck, he missed me with a blast from his backpack arms. He tried to leap up an antenna at the corner of his statue, but I countered by flying away from him again. We played cat and mouse for what seemed like an eternity, but then the most startling thing occurred - he got stuck! The mighty Master of Evil got his backpack arms stuck in the corner of his very own statue! I could hear his rage and curses at me, but I just kept letting loose all those insults I learned as a young man in the Marines.



Without Lord Recluse to protect it, the WEB device was destroyed in short order. Inside that ridiculous armor of his, he had to be glowing red hot with rage. Some mastermind of evil he was. Maybe he should have considered some teleportation doohickey or something. I landed back onto the ground with my teammates to my rear. Recluse’s spider arms were still firmly wedged into the impervium-laced statue foundation. He couldn’t even reach around to swipe at us with his fleshy arms because the backpack was in his way. I ran the blade of my axe against the side of his helmet.

"A little off the top, Stefan?"

Hard radiation, martial arts kicks, gouts of fire, and laser beams belted the Count of Cruel. My trusty axe helped cleave into that armor of his nicely too.

"I will not be defeated in my hour of triumph," bellowed Recluse! Freems and clanks and crashes were our replies.

"This... Is... Impossible," gasped the humiliated supervillain before lapsing into unconsciousness.

"Next time, head to a costume shop and choose something less clunky to wear before you try to take over the world," I told him as I yanked off his helmet. His master plan foiled, the day was ours!

To this day, I still have that memento to remind me of my proudest day. And true to my word, it rests on my mantle. It makes a great conversation piece on my weekly poker night.

Not to be directly included into my entry but just as a matter of fact, the event really did occur. Somehow, I managed to get Recluse stuck in the geometry on the STF my team and I were on. Funniest thing ever. The only thing fictional about it was my embellishment.

....Scrape....scrape.....*CRACK*. Great, that's what i get for carrying around a pencil instead of a pen. Ah well, that's the last of it. Finally got that last bit of flesh from the bottom of my boot. If i hadn't already killed that tailor in Cap Au Diable, i would have forced him to make me a pair of boots with a different tread pattern that is easier to clean. My how things can change in an instant. I thought it was going to be a laid-back kind of day, sunning myself on top of the globe here in Warburg eating cookies....until *they* showed up. Damn this blood better come out of my cape. I'll wait until the water clears before i wash it.

So close, he almost made it too, i think that's his head floating towards the shore now. They said more would be showing up, but after that fight, i doubt it. They were obviously unseasoned heroes, i led them right into the web and let the Arachnoids give them a little suprise. After that it was easy pickings. I can still hear the hollow sound that mastermind's head made when i hit him from behind. I remember his minions all falling to the ground at once when both of the tanks turned their attention towards me. I went for the big one first, once he dropped the smaller one tried to make a run for it. He didn't get far. He was on the beach when he took his final breath.

The glue arrow wasn't fun, my cybernetic arm will stay gummy for days. Poor guy, i think he got confused flying through the buildings. Dead before he even hit the ground. After dropping the two scrappers by the globe, luckily i caught a glimpse of the stalker uncloaking trying to assassinate me. Made short work of him until those blasters came out of nowhere. I ducked into the web and two of them flew right by me, leaving the third one to patrol the exit. He put up a little fight, then i scoured the web for the last two. I found one who was about to be killed by arachnoids. I let him be, might as well let those monsters have a decent lunch for once. The last one, he had just finished using one of the launch computers and was making a break for the rocket.

He had just fired up the launch computer when i attacked him. He looked for a minute like he was going to draw me away in order to launch the missle, but then he made a break for the boat. I kicked my jetpack into overdrive and got just in range to unleash the new fireball i've been working on. It just incinerated his torso, i remember the look on the face as it fell from the sky. Much different than the expression it has now washing up on shore. Five minutes ago he was doing a lot of talking, but now, just silence. The sun is starting to go down, and i'm sure those damn birds ran off with the rest of my cookies. All i have to show for the day is glue arrow residue on my arm and this nuclear missle. Should i go hurl it into space? nah, i think i'll head to the black market and drop it on those sorry price gougers....

Rushing in like molasses, I was , making my way to the Rikti war leader, Hro'Dtohz. Running with all stone armor and then having to fight some made me tired though. So I throw a few punches, but stop to catch my breath, and I ask him, "So how's the family doing?" He replied, "Family: Doing Well. Your Family: Doing Less Well." Realizing just how threatening this was, I cut down the small talk to a minimum. Wave after wave of seismic punches, boulders, and nemesis staff blasts were thrown at him, when it dawned on me. "Hey, Hro, do you want this donut," I asked him as I pulled out a donut from an extra dimensional pocket. "Donut: Good Tasting. Hro: Hungry," he replied. I gave him the donut, but as he later found out, it was made by a friendly plant controller and baker who enjoyed making donuts with strange plant extracts, especially sleeping donuts. After handing him the donut, I pulled off his armor, punched him a few times, "Wow! He is out like well, me!" After this, I sent him to the vanguard prison, but strangely he escaped. Another day, Hro, and you shall go back.

Today is the last day to enter, loving what I am seeing!

Nice job everyone!

Again, if any Pinnacle entry places, that extra 500mil is yours!


Good luck to everyone.




Hawk

Marcus ran his hand along the massive stone in front of him. It was one of many jagged rocks that formed the teeth of what was once the leviathan.

"So this is what you're after?" His friend, Danielle, shivered uncomfortably as she floated in the humid, heavy air. He got her to come along by being vague and telling her that he simply 'needed help with something'.

"That's right. The leviathan." Marcus responded as he took out the parchment with the Ritual of Z'kron on it. As he read the ancient incantations, the stone tooth in front of him began glowing red, and glyphs appeared on it. The power of the leviathan, a mythical being originally summoned to lay waste to an entire nation, would soon be his.

Just as the ritual was about to be completed, a hissing voice echoed through the chamber, "The power of the leviathan belongs to me! It will be mine!"

Marcus and Dani spun to see Captain Mako barreling towards them over the wet rocks. "You have got to be kiddin' me!" Dani groaned.

He slashed at Marcus, who spun out of the way and flicked a half-dozen pointed icicles at the fish-man. Mako easily darted between them and rushed forward. Dani reached out and tried to manipulate Mako's mind, but he had fought many psychics before, and could dodge even mental attacks.

They continued to wear each other down until Mako finally caught up to the tiring Marcus and his claws tore through him.

"Marc!" Dani shouted as Mako stood over his fallen opponent and prepared to give the final blow. Before he could strike, Dani took hold of his mind. He gripped at his head, yelling as he tried to claw her out with his bare hands. Dani threw knives made of ice at Mako as he struggled to regain control of his body. With Mako distracted, Marcus struggled to his feet and landed the final blow. Mako fell to the ground, unconscious.

Dani floated down and stood next to Marcus, "Y'know, I should know it's never simple with you. You're always deep into somethin'. Probably gonna get us both killed..." She frowned as she noticed
the wound in his chest that was slowly regenerating, "Ya'ight?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Marcus smiled under the scarf that covered his face. He took Dani's hand and led her out of the cavern.

---------------------

The above is what happened when I wanted to finish up my ice/cold corruptor, delta crush's patron arc. Soloing an EB didn't seem exciting enough so I set AVs on and invited one of my unsuspecting friends, who was a mind/ice dominator at the time. Thanks to defense inspirations, kiting, and benumb, I managed to tank Mako for a long time, but he took me down when he was just a sliver away from being defeated. I was sure that he would quickly turn on my friend and kill her, but instead his purple triangles dropped at that EXACT moment, giving me enough time to pop an awaken and take out that last sliver of HP with her. It was definitely the narrowest victory I've ever had in the game, so it's one of my best memories.

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.

Good luck to everyone who entered!




Hawk

Winners are in!

Look for a post late late (after 11pm EST) tonight for the winners.

The hamster is still double checking the numbers.




Hawkeyed

Congrats to two fellow drunks:

Dr Byron Poe and Garent!

Send a @Hawkeyed tell in game to each receive 250mil each, the 500mil spilt into two since two people won.


Congrats again you two!




Hawkeyed

2 winners, I know Garent.

They were both good stories.

Sorry you two didn't win judges favorite, that would have cooler.




Hawk