"The city hasn't seen anything this horrible since Baumtown, and this is what you're focused on?!" The hallways of TMBH's base were filled with the sound of arguing. The louder, more irritated of the two was the a voice with a resonant metallic echo; the voice of the robot Rusted Woot. Rusty was a collection of odds and ends of the robotics world; a mishmash of spare parts and clunky gears barely held together by oil, grease, and the hard work of his mother. That same mother he was currently yelling at. "What's wrong with you? I thought we were past all of this!"
"We are past it!" Penny shouted back, her raven hair whipping around her head as she did so. The bright blue goggles she wore over her eyes hid the angry behind her voice, though her frustration was very evident. Frazzled hair, hunched shoulders, a slight twitch in her cheek. The disaster at Galaxy City had an impact on her, but it wasn't quite the impact that one would expect. "This isn't science for science's sake! Not anymore. I'm doing this -for- Paragon!"
With a grunt Penny turned back to her worktable, the mechanical right arm giving a pneumatic hiss as she returned to her work. Stretched out on the table were odds and ends of various 'mad' machinations; tools, robotic pieces, and most disturbingly, chunks of Shivans. Some in jars, some in stasis fields suspended above glowing tubes, and some just plain old wrapped in tinfoil. Hey, stasis fields were expensive.
Ever since the disaster, she had been hard at work. Though the Woot family hadn't lost anyone in the attack on Galaxy, the ramifications for the entire city were widespread. Lives were lost, homes were destroyed, and the world was now clued in to a very real and very dangerous fact: Paragon City was vulnerable. It was only a matter of time before outside forces would try to take advantage of that. Penny, Square Woot, was determined not to let that happen.
"You're going down the same path." Rusty warned, his concerned, mechanical voice echoing from behind his mother. "You remember the Hydra? The Lost? What about that Clockwork gear? That thing's still probably running around the air vents somewhere!"
"This isn't like any of those." Penny grumbled, and started to unwrap one of the tinfoil bundles. She pulled it open to reveal a disgusting, charred piece of flesh...only to realize a moment later that it was a piece of fish. A note was packed in with it, reading only "Meepy moop!"
"...tell Pengi to stop packing me lunches." Penny swept the fish into the garbage, and pulled another tinfoil-wrapped chunk to her. Once she determined it was indeed a piece of a Shivan this time, she took her tools and started to explore. "Rusty, I understand your concern. But my head's on straight this time. No crazy schemes. No evil plans for world conquest. That's all behind me."
"...I hope you're right." Rusty murmured, and stepped up behind his mother. A hand fell on her shoulder; the one with the mechanical arm hanging from it. He squeezed lightly, reassuringly, but also to reaffirm his stance. "Because the city doesn't need another villain right now. We're seeing a genesis of new heroes we haven't seen since the Rikti Invasion. People care again; they want to help, to make a difference."
"So do I." Penny responded, and the room echoed with the sickening crack of breaking apart cindered Shivan flesh. "I haven't done hero work in years. Not real work, at least. I need to do something now."
"Then do something." Rusty responded firmly, and his hand left his mother's shoulder. "Do something that isn't going to tempt you. Hit the streets again. Take the gun, dust it off, and shoot some bad guys. But please, Mom, I'm begging you." At that, Penny finally turned back to look into her son's eyes.
"...I don't want to lose you to yourself again." He finally spoke, and turned away. Without another word, the little robot walked from the room, leaving his mother alone.
Surrounding her were the marks of a genius in turmoil. For every brilliant mind, there was the capacity for great good...or great evil. It was a line she had crossed far too often. It was a boundry she had a natural inclination towards violating. For every news article that started with "Square Woot Saves Day," there was one that began with "Square Woot Threatens Paragon." The young woman sat alone for several moments, looking at the bits and pieces on her table. The experiments were already hinging on the mad; possibly even the inhumane.
She knew it, that Rusty was right. She was walking that path again.
((This is an on-going RP thread for potential new RPers coming in based off of the events of Galaxy City or an alternate character you've created based off of it. Or even a second wind of an old character, coming back due to freedom. Either way, feel free to post it up here and add what you wish!))
Miranda Knox never asked for any of this.
She was suppose to enjoy dinner with her parents after returning home from college. She planned to meet up with old friends and brag about graduating and her plans to get a small apartment somewhere in the Faultline. She was suppose to be partying, enjoying her last minutes of her youth before finding a job and becoming one of the latest people saved daily by Paragon's heroes.
Instead, she witnessed meteors striking Galaxy City and the apartment complex where her parents had lived all their lives. They never even knew what hit them... and then everything went down hill from there. With only a book her mother gave her as a simple graduation present, Miranda had managed to somehow fight past the Shivan creatures and to Longbow.
None of it ever made sense. Even as she had fought to survive, Miranda never knew how to throw a punch that hard in her life... right up until witnessing the carnage around her. She was even able to rescue a civilian or three along her way to safety.
"You could be one of them!" one of the civilians thanked her.
'One of them.'
A Hero.
Now...
Now all Miranda can do is sit in the hotel room, with the book wide open in her lap. It had been cut open from the inside with the real present inside. It was a check with more then enough money to help her get started, a letter with well wishes from her family and a startling revelation; She was adopted.
They weren't even her birth parents.
Miranda tightened her hands into fists, staring down at them in awe. Her very hands gave a strange, light blue glow as if it were something she had done all her life. How long did she have this? Was she born with it? Was she even human?
None of it made any sense.
Quietly, Miranda closed the book and stood up to her feet. She strolled to the dresser and set it down. She opened up the drawer with whatever clothing she could find in there. She gave a tiny grin.
"... Not the career I wanted, but..." Miranda grinned, "... guess I'll have to get used to it."
Thus, the Cosmic Glory took the streets the very next day.
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