Falin' Angels - On Bloodied Wings (RP)

[caios]

(( OOC prologue

This thread is for the 'official' RP story of what happened so that anyone might be able to add in their own characters thoughts and reactions or anything else they might want to add to the story.

Just starting off with some basic character introductions, hope you all enjoy!

))

[caios]

The Director sat in his office with a grim stare on his face. Codenamed Director Pearl, he was one of many directors in the secretive organization known as Malta Group. He wasn’t the most powerful man in the group, but he was high enough in the ranks that he could demand perfection. He usually got it.

Not today however.

Some heroes who have had run ins with the Malta Group eventually come to the assumption that after failing several times to capture a hero for their own purpose the group would eventually decide to stop dealing with said hero whatsoever. Usually those in charge of such operations choose instead to go after other more attainable subjects leaving the others for another time. Some super powered people are far too dangerous to allow to roam free.

Such was the case with a number of members of the rogue group known as the Guardian Angels. Not only were they powerful, but unpredictable as well, unwilling to bend to the same rules that other super heroes tend to fall into line. Clearly they had to be caged up, so their collective abilities could be used for a better purpose, Malta’s purpose. Or failing that the only other option was to remove the problem heroes entirely, and permanently.

But despite their best efforts neither option had proved possible, and now Director Pearl had the displeasure of debriefing the battered operative in front of him about those failures.

“Tell me about Operation Nightfall.” He ordered the operative, his tone heavy with disappointment.

“She walked right into the middle of the trap, sir.” The operative replied. He had a name, the Director knew but couldn’t care less what it was at the moment.

“If the trap was sprung then explain to me why she is not in our custody now?” The Director demanded.

“Sorry sir, I didn’t mean it like that.” The operative struggled to explain, “ I meant she walked into the middle of the trap on purpose, knowing we were waiting for her, and took out every single one of our forces along the way.”

“And the hostages?” The Director frowned.

“She took them with her.” The Operative sheepishly admitted.

“So a total loss. Again.” The Director let out a heavy sigh. “Very well, what about Operation Graviton?”

“We finally managed to find the last of the missing soldiers from that mission.” The operative said, “They are currently in orbit, passing over Australia by our last estimates.”

“Operation Storm Break.”

“We lost him in Europe somewhere. But not before losing two of our men to gun shot wounds to the head. One in each eye.”

“Operation Bright Dust?”

“Operative Daniels was turned into a goat during the initial engagement.” The operative seemed unnerved at the memory, “Everything went downhill after that.”

“Black Dust?”

“The men are still suffering waking nightmares, and we never managed to get past the front door.”

“Enough!” the Director finally cried out, “Obviously none of you have the capacity to deal with these threats. All of our methods to neutralize them have failed, it’s clear we will have to use alternate, more drastic methods.”

“What should we do sir?” the operative asked tentatively.

“We will do nothing.” The director shot back at him, “I will take care of this personally, this time we will attack these supposed guardians with an attack they will never be able to defend against.”

“What sort of attack?”

“The truth, of course.” The Director smiled, “Or more specifically, the perceived truth. We just need someone who can spread our truth effectively without leading back to us.”

---

Donald White, Esq., was in all ways a despicable man. Fortunately for him no one ever knew this. He was good at hiding his overweight body beneath a very expensive suit. And he knew how to smile for the cameras. He LOVED to smile for the cameras. But what he loved mot was money and power, always had. It was why he became a lawyer, and now a politician.

As a lawyer he made thousands every day defending the worst criminals, with the biggest bank accounts. As a politician he spun his successes in his favor, projecting the image of a defender of the common man. In truth he couldn’t care less about the common man. If you couldn’t write checks with a minimum of six figures in it he wasn’t interested. He certainly didn’t remote care about the state of Rhode Island. However becoming a senator for the stupid little state meant he would have a great deal more power at his disposal. And already he looked forward to all the bribes, or rather “campaign contributions”, he would get once he took office. It was unfortunate he still had to be voted in. But manipulating public opinion was always easy enough if you had the money for it, or so he believed.

“Mr. White?” A buxom pretty blonde called for his attention as she entered his office. He always hired secretaries based solely on their looks. “You’re on the news Mr. White.”

“Thanks honey.” White said as he waved the secretary away with a dismissive hand. Picking up the remote he turned on the TV in his office to see himself at a recent fundraiser giving one of his many speeches. He always did love to watch himself on television.

“I stand for the very purity and moral fiber of our people.” His own image called out from the screen. “Because it’s not enough to today just to be safe. We have to demand not just our security, but the quality of those who protect us. Some say it’s enough to just be out there trying to save lives. But I say letting any two-bit lunatic with a gun or a power stand over us is a recipe for disaster! Look at the so called heroes we have watching the very streets which you live in! Many of them are monster, in the very real sense. All manner of horrible beast and creature from the darkest pits of hell. Vampires and cat people of every imaginable shape, machines who are nothing more then sick facsimiles of real men, demons from the very depth of hell itself! Is this the sort of person you want watching over you? Over your children?! What horrible role model, what sick example do these so called heroes place upon our young minds and hearts? That it’s OK to drink another’s blood, or to swallow their very soul!’

“No I tell you!” His speech continued to the cheers of the hand selected, pre-paid crowd. “I will not have this town, this state, this country that I love be reduced to the playground of the forsaken. As you senator I would see all our heroes become people we can be proud of. People of integrity, people of higher standing, people who do not feel the need to dress like harlots and strippers! And those who refuse to live up to our higher standards shall be removed of their positions for the safety and security of not just our person, but our hearts and souls as well.” Donald White could only smile from his desk chair as he heard the crown cheer his name once more, he didn’t care that they were simply paid to do so. Abruptly the speech ended and the news anchor came back into view as they continued their coverage.

“And that was the scene at a campaign fundraiser for Senetorial hopeful Donald White.” The pretty anchorwoman said flatly into the camera, “After this speech White’s conservative stance on superheroes has come under heavy attack, with many here in Rhode Island calling his words disrespectful and an insult to the much beloved local superhero community. One reporter tried to get a response from one of the targeted superheroes who had this to say.”

The scene suddenly changed to a field reporter running down a street in Paragon City after a tall woman in a long back leather trenchcoat.

“Excuse me ma’am, just one question please.” The reporter begged as she continued to follow the woman who was clearly not interested in giving interview.

“Fine. What?” The woman finally answered harshly as she turned around to face the reporter. Her long jet black hair flew effortlessly around her shoulders to reveal a pale young looking face wearing a pair of rounded sunglasses. The glasses did nothing to diminish the intensity of her icy blue eyed stare.

“Um..” the reporter was momentarily stunned from the unexpectedly sudden response from the woman and tried to recover, “Have you heard the latest statements from Donald White currently running for Senate?”

“White?” The disgust in the tall woman’s response was palatable. “Good God that man is such a tool.”

“Ah… yes but I was referring specifically to what he said in his most recent-“

“Don’t care.” The woman interrupted the reporter. “He’s an idiot, and a slimy one at that. That’s all I need to know.” Apparently having decided the conversation was over the woman quickly turned and walked away. After a moment the camera turned back to the reporter who looked quite a bit flustered for a moment before talking.

“And there you have it,” the reporter said professionally, “No love for White from the heroes on the street. Back to you in the studio.”

“Thank you. It seems the sentiment is shared by a majority of people in Paragon City.” The anchorwoman continued once the scene cut to her once more, “White’s opponent in the Senate race was quick to respond to the situation, releasing a statement that says; ‘It is unfortunate that my esteemed opponent is so quick to judge those who work so hard every day and night to protect us all from the terrible dangers of the world. Certainly none of us is perfect, and it is unfair to demand such perfection in others, especially when they’ve done so much for us all.’”

The rest of the broadcast was quickly cutoff as the remote smashed itself against the screen. Ignoring the sparks now coming off the ruined television, White quickly checked his laptop for the latest poll results. His worst fears were confirmed. He was dropping in the polls, and fast.

[killswitch]

"No love for White from the heroes on the street."

The room was aglow in bluish light from dozens of monitors, news stations from the world over. The Malta listening post was smaller than optimal, but the basement of the call center was just large enough for the task at hand. A few feet straight above, dozens more Malta operatives busied themselves with dress shirts and ear pieces, monitoring thousands of conversations while a nice believable front for the operation.

A mono-tone robot voice chirped over labored breathing. "Remind this to the begining, Tango." The Gunslinger Siren Cobalt Domino's cold hand gently rested on the intelligence officers shoulder as he pulled the news report back to the pale hero. "Shall I begin compiling information on -"

Siren's eye twinged annoyingly, "Further, Tango. To the begining." The report started over, the camera angle switching as White slammed his fist down to get a reaction shot of the crowd. "Freeze." Siren leaned in, her eye going to each and every face in the crowd.

"I want to know who each and every one of these attendees are, Tango. Cross reference all of them with Anti-meta agenda's or ties to Malta. I want to know just who is giving this White his money." Her voiced droned as her breathing became more and more ragged.

She turned walked to her chair, almost collapsing as she sat down in the leather. She made eye contact with her medical officer, she needed to nothing more. By the time she had opened her laptop he was already adminstering the morphine. She tabbed through pages video, pictures, and reports plucked from the networks. Graviton, Storm Break, Bright Dust, Black Dust, vampires, personified computer AIs, meta-humans, they all had one thing in common. Failures, all. All of the operations had Director Pearls' fingerprints all over them, and they were all failures. Pearl must be frustrated at best now, running out of plays. He would slip up soon, and she would be there when he did.

She had arranged file photos of Pearl's targets on her screen. She clicked on an intercom and waited for a response from the server room, "I would like the files of the Guardian Angels, please." She had come across them before, just in passing. During Siren's campaigns against the Silver Guard, and later, the Children of Egypt her eye had watched them wearily. That seemed like such a long time ago now.

"Madam? Shall I assemble a kill-team?"

She blinked, "No, that will not be necessary. I think we may need their help."

"Why would they help us?"

Her eye drifted back to Senator White. "I'm sure we can find a reason."

[snowdog]

Meanwhile...

Paragon University, life sciences building.


Rachelle's feet barely touched the ground, not that she was flying, she was after all in the middle of the university, surrounded by other faculty and students. It wasn't really proper for someone at her position in the university to skip like a school girl through the halls..but dammit. They got the grant. With the recession funding for science research had been cut back drastically, despite what the political heroes in congress said about how they were so much better than the guys they replaced, please re elect me. Weasels all of them, but no, that was insulting to weasels. At least the CDC and the EPA liked the work she had done on the mutating wildlife in Eden, and agreed with her that it should be studied more.

Thirty three point seven million dollars in agreement. Hell that was more than the entire department budget! Part of her didn't like taking money from the government, but dammit, this was important. There had been ongoing talk about removing the war walls around Paragon City due to budget restraints, a horrible idea in her opinion unless they wanted green five feet tall raccoon mutants in Ohio before the end of the summer. She managed to stifle the grin as she arrived at the Biology department enough to cause a few worried faces on her assistants, staff and grad students, visions of no more grant money induced unemployment dancing through their heads...

“Well, what did they say Dr Kincaid?”


she did fly now, course everyone in the office knew of her other identity by now as Snowdog. “WE GOT THE GRANT!!!”




Portal Corp, Peregrine Island

“I really think I'm gonna like it here”

Justin smiled at the HR Manager has she gave him a tour of the offices. Working on his doctorate at MIT, he'd turned down a chance to work at some secret government lab out west at the Dark Mountain facility, doing theoretical teleportation research. After all, this was Portal Corp that offered him an internship. While unpaid, he'd be working with some of the best in the fledgling teleport industry.

“I'm glad to hear that “ she replied, “over here is the interns office, you'll be sharing it with three others.”

“Wow, we get a whole office? Last summer when I interned at Aperture, I didn't even have a cube. Well I did, but it was a literal cube. That place is weird...” he said, his voice trailing off as he noticed the office across the hall. Instead of futuristic styled office furniture, or the dark wood tones of management office...this one looked...different.”uh...is that a scratching post?” he asked, pointing at something that looked like one of those cat towers he bought for his girlfriends cat, only bigger. Much bigger. “and why does that coffeemaker have a lead carafe?”

The HR manager just smiled “oh we put our interns next to Dr Schroedinger's office. We figure that if they can survive that, they'll fit in just fine at Portal Corp”

“what, your kidding? My thesis is about some of Dr Schroedinger's quantum string theory!”

“Well I can introduce you then, you'll be meeting her eventually anyway” Oddly though she didn't go to knock on the door, instead to call out in a loud voice “Schrodi?”

Justin was really glad he skipped that large coffee on the way to his orientation-and that he was wearing dark pants as there was a bang, the surprise causing him to fall onto his rear. Looking up he saw the source of the noise, air displacement from a glowing circle that opened up in the ceiling, a green haired cat girl poking her head out “myah?”

the HR woman just smiled “Dr Schroedinger, this is Justin Whitam. He's interning with us this summer”


He just stared at her open mouthed from the floor. Great...one of the top physicists in the world...is ceiling cat. Maybe working fast food the rest of his life wasn't such a bad idea after all. There was another bang and she was standing on the floor next to him , helping him up “Nice to meet you Justin” she said “have they given you your crowbar yet?”

“my what?”

“Crowbar, sheesh, you're from MIT, you can't be a physicist without a crowbar!” she said, pulling one from somewhere...where she was carrying it he wasn't sure he could figure out. “they give them out now when you get your PhD.”

“i, uh, haven't gotten mine yet”

“oh thats OK, you'll earn your crowbar eventually! I just confused you with one of your quantum doubles is all, happens all the time”

He was wondering if he could stay sane and ask her to explain, when an alarm klaxon started sounding, rotating lights on the ceiling giving off an amber glow “WARNING! PORTAL BREACH BAY 12! DR SCHRODINGER TO BAY 12!”

Justin did wet his pants now, sure that the end of the world had come. Schrodi just smiled reassuringly “it's yellow alert, not dangerous just annoying.” she said as she reached her hands in front of her, and pulled open a hole in space time, and stuck her head through “whats the problem Phil?”

From the other side there could be heard a cacophony of screeching, with one voice shouting to be heard over it “we've got an infinite number of monkeys down here that want to talk to you about a script for Hamlet!”

“Again? Fine, be right there” She smiled at Justin “gotta go take care of this, nice to meet you!” she said before diving through the portal which disappeared with a quiet poof.

He just stood there gasping like a gold fish, looking at the now solid wall where she had disappeared through. The HR manager just smiled “now then, we've got a few liability waivers we need you to fill out, and we're all set!”

[ZombieSareini]

Steel Canyon. Morning.

“Bingly-bongly-beep,” said the computer.

On the other side of the room, a shape buried under bedcovers started moving, and then a few moments later a pillow flew at the computer. “Screw you, Alheron,” said a muffled voice from under the bedcovers.

“Hey!” said the computer. “I’m just trying to be helpful here!”

“Did I ask for you to wake me?” replied the shape. “I have enough problems sleeping as it is without... without being woken at whatever-the-hell time it is-”

“8:15 am,” the computer supplied helpfully.

“Whatever.” The shape under the bedcovers moved some more, and then a messy-haired James Walker slowly sat up in bed, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. “So, what do you want?”

The computer’s monitor turned itself on and, after a moment, a green, digitized face of a man in his early 20s appeared on it. “Want?” the digitized face asked, “I didn’t want anything. Except to check up on you. You’ve been at serious risk of turning emo again since Cherish lef-”

“She didn’t leave me, we agreed that we needed time for ourselves,” James snapped a little too quickly. “She wanted to travel and explore the world, I wanted to stay here and finish college and stuff. We didn’t break up,” he finished archly, glaring at the computer screen.

“Of course, of course,” Fenix said, his tone indicating that he didn’t believe a word of it, “the two of you are just “on a break”. Just like Ross and Rachel. But seriously,” he continued, “she left town and you decided to move back here?”

“It’s my home,” James muttered.

“Your father was killed in the kitchen! Most people would have burned the place down and thrown salt all over the smoldering remains!”

“Yeah, well, I’m not most people.” James got out of bed, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of tracksuit pants that seemed too big for him, as did most things he wore. “And... It just feels like home to me, okay? Even after everything.”

Fenix was quiet for a moment. “Fine,” he said eventually. “But let me tell you, if you start styling your hair like Justin Bieber, we’re staging an intervention.”

James actually laughed at this. “If that ever happens, I’ll expect you to hand me the gun so I can end it all myself,” he told Fenix, before padding over to the computer and sitting down. “So, what’s been happening?”

“Not much,” Fenix replied, as the computer screen split into two images, one of Fenix’s face and the other of a web browser. “Few fires in Steel, Devouring Earth made a go of invading from Eden again and got pushed back, Caios was on the news... Oh, and I rickrolled Glenn Beck’s followers again.”

“You’re not going to get bored of that any time soon, are you?” James asked. “Wait... Caios was on the news? What happened this time?”

“No, no, we’re in the clear on this one. Some news reporter tried to interview her about the ‘hero on the street’s’ opinion on that senator who thinks we’re all demons from hell itself.”

“Oh, him. He’s a tool,” James agreed. “So we’re not having to pay for another new camera?”

“Nope. Although let’s face it, it would be worth the cost if we got her and that guy in a room together.” Fenix’s image flickered suddenly. “That’s strange...”

James shrugged. “Hey, you’re the computer expert - literally. I’m the psych major. So we’ve got nothing major to worry about?”

“Nah, don’t think so.”

“Good.” James leaned back in his chair, stretching. “I’d like a day where nothing explodes in our faces and no-one is trying to kill us.”

“Yeah, but what are the odds of that happening? Oh, and you should get some breakfast. Most important meal of the day, you know.”

“...Fenix, if you’re going to act like my mother, you should at least try looking like one.”

[caios]

“Sir, you have –”, The secretary barely began to speak.

“Not NOW Ann!” White interrupted her loudly. He was clearly very angry still. Aside from the yelling, he never referred to the women in his office by their real names if he could get away with it unless he was truly annoyed. Typically he liked to use pet names like ‘honey’ and ‘sweetheart’.

At the time Annie Walker was trying to decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Donald White simply ignored her as he stormed into his office, closing the door behind him forcefully. He didn’t even notice the man standing by the window until he spoke.

“Come now Mr. White, you should be able to better handle such situations on a personal level if you expect to succeed in Washington.” The tall middle aged man said.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” White barked at the man suddenly confused. He was very well dressed, had a strong build about him. His face was weathered and his hair was a mix of black and grey, but there was no doubt that this was a hard man. He was in many ways nothing like White whatsoever.

“You may call me Mr. Pearl.” The man smiled devilishly. “As for my presence here, it’s quite simple. You have a problem; I mean to help you with it.”

“I don’t need you help, thank you.” White began, immediately taking on his business negotiation tone, “If you’d like to contribute to our campaign you can speak with my secretary and she will give you the details. If however you are interested in more … significant donations then you can leave your number with me and I will make arrangements of my choosing.”

“Always ready to make a deal aren’t you.” Mr. Pearl observed. “Unsurprising. I suspect you are becoming rather desperate for donations given your latest standing in this Senate race.”

“A minor setback, nothing more.” White said as he walked over to sit at his desk. He was trying to take control of the situation but knew he had little to work with. Despite his words he was bound to lose the election at this rate, he needed all the help he could get. “My speech writers are working on a way to reword my earlier statements to regain the hearts and minds of the public.”

“And you believe backpedaling like this will help you?” Mr. Pearl’s tone was bordering on insulting, “That will only make you appear even weaker then you already are. What you need is vindication. Show the people that your words were true. If the proof is compelling enough then you will gain all the votes you will ever need, while your opponent’s continued support of such dangerous heroes will become a liability. In one fell swoop you will be able to completely turn this election around.”

“Interesting.” White tried not to sound too eager or desperate for what the other man was suggesting, though he clearly was, “But how exactly do you propose to do just that?”

“You make an example.” Mr. Pearl said seriously, “You take those who are thought of as heroes and show the world their evil deeds. Not just one hero either, but an entire group of heroes to be your own scapegoats. Not just any heroes however, those too perfect and too loved by the public will have too many followers, too many skeptics of their fall. No what you need are those heroes already close to the edge, heroes exactly like those you talked about in your speeches. That way when they fall their actions will be that much more believable. And your words will ring true in the ears of your voters.”

“I admit, this would be extremely helpful to me right now.” White said eagerly, “But there’s one problem, I can hardly wait around for one of these fringe heroes to fall like you said. The election is in a few months after all.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. White.” Director Pearl’s smile was downright evil, “I already have the perfect group of heroes in mind for your little comeback. I will make sure they fall, or at least appear to. All you have to do is make sure to capitalize on that moment when they do.”

“If there’s one thing I do well, Mr. Pearl, it’s capitalizing on the moment.” White said before adding suspiciously, “However this is all a bit too convenient to be true. Tell me what are you really after? What do you want from me?”

“All you need to know is that I have a vested interest in seeing these particular heroes fall.” Pearl explained, “All I want from you in return at that point is do what is already in your best interest. Go after them will all your political might. I want you to leave them with no where else to turn. Do that and you will have done me all the service I need in exchange for giving you this election.”

“Alright, I’ll do that.” White smiled, “And since you’re here already, you sure I can’t interest you in a campaign donation? I’m sure I can provide you with even more services once I’m elected after all.”

“When that time comes, Mr. White, we will contact you.” Pearl said already walking out of the office.


A few days later…

“Terrible news today as new security footage is brought to light of the Steel Canyon Bank Robbery yesterday.” The anchorwoman spoke into the camera remaining professional, however there was a clear hint of shock in her eyes over this particular bit of news, “The footage clearly shows several members of superhero group ‘the Guardian Angels’ as the perpetrators of this crime. In the wake of this shocking turn of events, more videos of other Guardian Angels members commit other crimes throughout the city have been brought forward. Video evidence of drug trafficking, extortion, arson, even murder, have all been making their way into the public.”

“In the aftermath of these events,” The anchorwoman turned to a new camera as the image of Donald White appeared over her shoulder, “Senatorial hopeful Donald White was quick to comment on what he calls an inevitability. Here’s what he had to say.”

“It is a sad day that things had to come to such tragic and violent occurrences for others to head my warnings.” The video of Donald White at a special press conference came into full view, behind him were an assortment of other suits, police officials, and even Longbow operatives. “But this are the consequences of our own failed vigilance. These are criminals and monsters that we invited into our city, our streets, our very homes. It had always been merely a matter of time before some of them would take advantage of our hospitality. But I don’t blame the people of this great state. Oh no, for they came at a time of our desperation, when we needed anyone who was willing to take up the title of hero. Even if we knew we were inviting the wolves into the flock. But now the wolves have grown hungry, and the look to the sheep among them to kill for their own hungry desires.”

“But I will not fail you, citizens of Rhode Island.” White smiled to the cameras, all in perfect timing to his script, “I have taken up this cause, to rid ourselves of those horrors that pass themselves as heroes, as our protectors, to root out such evil and bring our true guardian angels to a higher standard then those who would dare sully the concept by taking that name.” As he continued he motion back to the lead Longbow officer standing behind him. “It is for this reason that I have called in many personal favors and called upon my dear friends in the law enforcement communities to take action against those who have betrayed us. I present to you with Longbow Senior Captain Spangler who has graciously volunteer to lead up a special task force of Longbow operatives to seek out and arrest the entire group of villainous Guardian Angels. He has already issued arrest warrants on behalf of Longbow, the first step in making these criminals pay.” Captain Spangler merely nodded in agreement as Donald White continued, “We will make things right for the citizens of Paragon City, and as your future Senator I will continue to make things right for all of the people of this state and indeed this country. Thank you, and God Bless America.”

[caios]

(( and so the fun begins

A few OOC notes for everyone. I tried to leave things wide open for whatever you want to do however there are a few things to deal with.

All the videos are, obviously, completely fake. However for now assume there is no way to prove any of that, this is the time when everyone can write out their reactions to what is happening. As well as any confrontations with Longbow or the PPD they might want to write. I’ll add more ideas of what’s going on in the OOC thread.

Also I tried to leave the opponent in the Senate race as wide open as I could as well. Really I had nothing in mind here, not even gender, other then the fact that this opponent is an obvious supporter of all of Paragon’s heroes. If anyone wants to write him or her up in any way feel free. The only ideas I had is whoever the opponent is they will stick to their guns in support of heroes despite these events. For one they have more integrity, and another they know backpedaling now would only make them look weak.

Another character idea that I’m leaving out there for anyone to pick up if they want to is the secretary of Donald White. She could very well be an undercover agent for the FBI investigating White’s many illegal backroom dealings. Or she could just be a dumb blond. Anyone who wants to run with this feel free. ))

[Hollowpoint Heroism]

The Red Mane Armory, Talos Island 1820hrs


The white-blue light of a television screen was all that lit the relatively small firearms store at this point in the evening, its owner, a tower of a man limped from place to place, locking up windows and safes, checking inventory all the while the TV continued to warble on in the form of cold comfort.

Laying beside the counter was a hefty German Shepard, 'Kaiser' by his tag, awaiting the moment when he and his master would walk home and see about something to eat.

For Adrian De'Havaland, life had slowed to a crawl ever since returning from Europe and a brutal manhunt to end his Father. He had been a Vigilante that had turned Arachnos agent a good twenty years ago, slaughtering the store-owner's family in cold blood when he was but a boy.

However, life at this juncture lacked the same direction it used to have. He'd given up so much for the sake of the safety of others, and now it seemed that life saw it fit to rub salt into the wound. With cane in hand he checked the locks on the front door, hobbling over to them with a grimace of discomfort, clicking them home one by one.

He had been a Hero once. People had branded him a vigilante, but that was just a title for someone who got things done around here. Still, none could forget the name. Shadowstormm had carved a bloody path through Paragon's underworld, often times leaving section of it in such disarray that members of criminal factions were left horribly traumatized, unwilling to so much as jay walk for fear of retribution.

Though, that was then.

Thanks to a ruined left knee, Adrian had resolved himself to the quiet life, running his little firearms store and gunsmithy in lower Talos Island. It wasn't much, but it kept his mind busy, gave him a reason to continue living...or at least existing as he sharply reminded himself. He'd done his best to keep fit, keep himself in shape over the months that had passed since his return and it had helped a lot. However, he also had a lot more time for watching TV.

Senator White's appearance on the campaign trail had caught his interest early on. His immediate spat against the Heroic community had made him chuckle. Seeing one of his former team mates, Caios and her one-sentence dressing-down had added all the more amusement to it. So when he switched on the news this evening, he had expected to see the man yet again shooting himself in the foot, or at least on a massive backpedal from his previous statement.

Not so.

He watched in shock, then anger, then fury as the name of his brothers and sisters in arms, the Guardian Angels had been made the scapegoat of a publicity campaign. The footage was bogus, it had to be.

"Fuck me, this is a goddamn joke..." He growled. Grey eyes narrowing sharply as a mechanical prosthetic arm clenched around the remote, threatening to crush it in his palm. This disgusting, fat-fingered, congress-hungry pig of a human being had just crossed a line....

But what the hell can I do about it?

His gaze shifted to his knee, that had never healed quite right and was painful enough just to walk on. It seemed as though as much as he wanted to stand up, arm himself and lay bare the truth in a path of blood and bullets, life had a way of reminding him that his time was up.

He sighed, slumping down on a stool behind the counter, watching the speech as it continued. Longbow, this bastard had pulled strings and gotten Longbow into the picture. This Captain Spangler looked like an honest-to-God, upstanding soldier: Honorable, loyal...and all too willing to accept his orders on face value. The kind of man who would gladly pull the trigger on a man if told it was for the best. Sure, he probably meant well, but best intentions do have a habit of paving the path to Hell.

"..Thankyou and God Bless Ameri-"

The TV blinked off, Adrian turning his gaze to his dog who looked up at him as if to ask "Is it time to go?" With a reluctant nod, he struggled to his feet, the Shepard at his flank as he hobbled out the back door, locking it behind him "As much as I want to Kaiser, I'm not sure I can. I know they need help, but what good is a cripple gonna be in a firefight?"

With a folorn gaze skyward, he shifted his gaze back to his faithful companion, smiling somewhat and jerking his head toward home,

"C'mon, Lets see about some dinner. They'll be alright without ol' Stormmy." His gaze shifted to stare into space and thought, brow furrowing "They HAVE to be, for all our sakes..."

[shadewing]

King's Row, Paragon City.

"Your money or your life, lady!" Yelled a member of the street gang known as The Skulls as he tried to wrestle away the purse of one of Paragon's citizens.

"Just leave me alone!" Screamed the lady, who looked no more than 25 years of age, she was desperately trying to hold onto her purse.

----

Shadewing was patrolling the neighborhoods of King's Row as she normally did when she heard a faint cry for help. "Well, guess it was too much to hope for that today would be quiet..." She mumbled as she dashed off towards the direction the cry was coming from. She arrived just in time to see a member of the Skulls shoving a girl to the ground, the straps of her purse in his hand. Acting quickly, Shade flew in front of Skull, blocking his path, "Drop the purse, and I might let you off the hook..." she threatened.

"Hah! Yeah right! Why would I do something as stupid as tha----Aahh----AHH! GET AWAY FROM ME!" The gang member yelled out as he gripped his head with his hands, dropping the lady's purse in the process. He was experiencing his worst fears, and quickly dashed off. Shadewing had no intention of harming him if she could avoid it.

Shade picked the purse up off the ground and offered it to the shaken civilian, "Here you go!" She said in a cheerful tone, smiling.

"Thank you! Wait...You were on the TV earlier! No! Stay away from me! You can keep my money, just stay away!" The girl yelled out in a terrified voice as she ran in the opposite direction, leaving her purse behind.

"Wait...What...?" The lady's purse dropped to the ground. Shade just stood there for a second, stunned at what just happened, "But...I was just...huh?" She turned her head in the direction of a nearby TV store, where all the televisions on display seemed to be broadcasting a breaking news announcement. Curious, Shadewing made her way over just in time to see a bank being robbed. Normally this wouldn't surprise her, however, this time she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw who the robbers were: Members of the Guardian Angels!

"Wha....No. No way! This can't be happening! No!" Shade yelled out as a blast of dark energy crashed through the window of the TV store, destroying the TVs on display, "This can't be for real! None of us would do such a thing! Something's wrong, I just know!" Noticing a crowd of people gathering, Shade decided it would be in her best interest not to stick around, so she flew up high into the sky and rushed off away from King's Row,

[fenix]

Fenix stopped the video of the Senator’s latest speech. “Son of a bitch. Anyone with half a brain could see those vids are faked...” Well, half a brain who is also a computer program who was a member of the group in said videos, but that though wasn't in Fenix's head at the time.

Playback resumed. “I mean, who could believe that James, of all people, stealing some weed off the back of a tru-”

Stop. Fenix looked at the still image plucked from the data. That... That one wasn’t faked.


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

A week earlier....

“Life Story of Fenix Alheron? That’s a load of bull. I’ve never even been NEAR Topeka. Let alone creating an internet cafe in Kansas City.”

Fenix read through his latest email with a note of amusement. Some fan had apparently written a story on his life, such as it was right now, but it was grossly inaccurate in some parts. Too inaccurate for anyone with half a brain to write down.

About then, he spotted it. The errors and inconsistencies... They were too deliberately placed. So much so, that it quickly became very obvious that there was a coded message in the email sent.

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

“No! She’s ours! The traitor can’t live!”

“I don’t really care. The woman’s coming with me.”

The Knives of Artemis. One of the great niggling annoyances that came with being a high-profile hero, let alone one who doesn’t even hide behind a Hero Name. Fenix had to get to the top level of the abandoned laboratory, before they finished sharpening their blades and finished off the so-called “traitor” once and for all.

An ex-Artemis would do wonders in police investigations of hundreds of murders, and Fenix wasn’t about to let this one go down that easily.

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

“Thanks for the help in there.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ann. Just make sure that you contact the police.”

“Oh, I fully intend to. Some of what those bitches in there were doing...”

“I know, I know. If you need anything, run into any problems with our mutual friends...”

“I’ll get a hold of you. Thanks for all of your help.”

At that point, the blond woman leaned over, and pecked Fenix on the cheek. At which point, they both disappeared, Fenix going back through the wireless signal, the Ex-Artemis agent evading patrols that might report her back to her ex-colleges.

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

Of course, the video only showed the last part, then the lab exploding (Hey, there was a loose canister of some explosive material, and the Knives weren't watching their fire...) but still, it would be a bit hard to explain that image...

Fenix sighed as best a stream of data on the internet could. It was time to look into Senator White, see who was backing him. If there were any juicy bits, he’d leak them to the usual places. Wikileaks.... 4chan... Whoever could get the information out as explosively and noticeably as possible. And he’d better work fast, the Longbow data hounds were already on their way...

[evilbenfranklin]

University of Paragon, Steel Canyon Campus
Faculty Offices
08:23 hours

Moira Stern yawned as she stepped into her office, slinging her sweater over the coatrack in the corner. "Percival, wake up." Her computer beeped back an affirmative as its voice-recognition program shook its circuits to life. "Load file range: Term Papers 2010, all files inclusive in folder." *Beep-de-bleep!* "Mark anything fewer than 1,500 words with an F and a note regarding the nature of diligence as a virtue." *beep-bloop* "Load news stream, corner window. *Bloop-bleep!*

“The footage clearly shows several members of superhero group ‘the Guardian Angels’ as the perpetrators of this crime. In the wake of this shocking turn of events, more videos of other Guardian Angels members commit other crimes throughout the city have been brought forward. Video evidence of drug trafficking, extortion, arson, even murder, have all been making their way into the public.”


Her coffee mug slipping from nerveless fingers as she sat heavily in her chair, Stern Impact stared at the monitor. A hand reached out to maximize the video window, only to see herself shaking down a shop owner for protection money while Siberian Inferno casually blowtorched her way into the shop's safe with a finger.

Tapping her right earring, she murmured, "Comms: Contact Siberian Inferno, scramble channel, priority Red-Alpha." A few clicks and squeaks, and then the harsh buzz of an inactive channel. "End call. Contact Schrodi, same parameters." Again, a harsh buzz. "End call. Contact anyone in the Guardian Angels' leadership, and keep trying."

This time, there wasn't a harsh buzz, but the distinctive squeal of active jamming, mere seconds before a pounding on her office door. "Moira Elayne Stern, this is Paragon PD. Open the door and come out with your hands up."

"Bloody cliches," she muttered as she mustered her will, every molecule in her body suddenly quivering with potential energy as she directed them to jump to the nearby street corner -- and wound up slamming straight into the nearest wall in that general direction as her kinetic shift collapsed.

"Fuck me," she swore, glancing out the window as she rubbed her nose and put her glasses back in place. Police, a fair number of them at that, along with several heavy combat units. She could out run them, but she'd need a source of motion to draw upon, first.

Unfortunately, she was the only person in the room. Panic started to rise until her eyes fell on her coffee machine... and the "special" coffee that Schrodi had made her. The one that took a gravitic compression field to keep the neutronized coffee from energetically evaporating in a loud burst of SKOOM.

Bloody good thing I sprung for the top-end model, she thought as she got a pot going of "the good stuff," then poured a cup. She'd likely set off radiological alarms, but if it got her out of this...

One cup. Not so bad, skin feels a little tingly.
Two cups. The pounding was getting louder, and rhythmic. The police were trying to break the door down. ...I think I can feel my teeth vibrating.
Three cups. Her heart skipped the pounding stage and went straight into high-speed palpitations, as the door frame started to crack. Bloody hell. I think I can see through time.

Still, it wasn't quite enough to let her break through a reinforced wall, avoid major injury while doing so, and still have enough juice to escape. What the fookin' 'ell 'ave I got t'lose? she thought, and downed as much of the pot as she could.

...It's indescribable, it is. My god, it's full of---*

---

"...Authorities are still on the lookout for Dr. Moira Stern, aka Stern Impact of the Guardian Angels, after she apparently escaped being arrested this morning, causing her office to implode inward around her as she did so. While police initially thought she had committed suicide, scans show that there is not enough biological residue to account for Ms. Stern's body."

The scene cuts away from the anchorwoman to footage of the Steel Canyon campus. The walls of an office building start to shimmy, shake, and go faintly translucent as a Cherenkov-blue glow builds inside one of the offices, then violently implode as a cerulean streak shoots out of one wall and down the street, pulverizing sidewalk tiles, asphalt, and any unlucky trees in its wake. "Slow motion analysis of this footage shows Dr. Stern in this blue field. Some scientific experts are concerned that she may have gone to what they call 'near-relativistic speeds' within Earth's atmosphere, but one thing continues to puzzle them."

The scene cuts to a rather confused looking scientist. "What we can't figure out is why she would shred her clothing and leave it behind as she left. We found a sweater, a long skirt, shoes, undergarments, all of them partly embedded in the inside wall and totally destroyed, in the arrangement she was wearing them in."

Cutting back to the news desk, the anchorman quips, "Well, I suppose police will have to add streaking to the charges of extortion, grand larceny, and racketeering already arrayed against Stern Impact. The BSA has already authorized INS to revoke her status as a resident extra-dimensional alien in preparation for deportation procedures back to her home reality. And now, the weather..."

---
Somewhere in Perez Park, a tall woman, raven haired and blue-eyed, cowers in the trees naked and shivering from the cool air, and from the aftereffects of boosting herself so hard. Somewhere along the way, she's acquired a PDA from someone - hardly a crime worth mentioning compared to those she's already been charged with, and has shakily typed out the following message:

<< NOT DEAD YET. FIND ME AT HERA'S VACATION SPOT. BRING CLOTHES. WTF IS GOING ON? -MES. >>

Specifying a private network known only to a few, she taps SEND, and collapses into a dreamless, restless sleep.

[gothicshark]

((ohh geez, now I have a project to do while in a boring class...or this weekend, write the story for both the Irken and Malkavian, ... only thing is Mariel turned in her badge...but should I do one for her as well?...)

[ZombieSareini]

His first class of the day was Abnormal Psychology, which James found particularly easy because it seemed that he had suffered though, or thought to have had, most of the disorders they were covering in the class. So he was just settling down to two hours of paying just enough attention to make the occasional note when he felt... something on the edges of his mind. Thoughts focused on him, and not in a good way. He looked around the lecture hall, trying to work out what the problem was, but he couldn’t see anyone who looked like they were angry at him. Most of his fellow students seemed to be fighting to stay awake if nothing else.

Then the doors opened, and the group of Longbow and police walked in. This woke a lot of the students up, and the professor stopped his talk on the symptoms of drug-induced schitzophrenia and glared at the newcomers. The warden obviously in charge of the group went up to him before he could start demanding to know what was going on, and the two exchanged a few quiet words. At one point the professor nodded and looked up at James, even pointing for emphasis.

James didn’t need to know what they were saying. He didn’t even need to hear when the Warden stood back and announced, “James Walker, otherwise known as the Guardian Angel Psychist, please come with us. We don’t want there to be any trouble here,” He could see it in their minds.

Armed robbery... drug trafficking... extortion...

Everyone was looking at him now, thinking at him. Every cell in his body was screaming at him to just run, but James knew he couldn’t do that. If he ran while surrounded by people, the Longbow would most likely just open fire and blame the collateral damage on him. His best bet was to just get outside and then get the hell out of there. Or maybe try to find out what was going on... no, that was never going to work...

He stood up slowly, and started to gather his notebook and pen to take with him. “Please keep your hands where we can see them, Mr Walker,” the Warden ordered him brusquely, “and don’t make any sudden moves.” James thought that was a pretty stupid thing to say to a psi. Didn’t they realise that he didn’t need his hands?

Then he felt something else. A pressure on the edges of his mind, trying to force its way in. James concentrated for a moment, and heard what was almost a whisper easing its way into his head: Just come with us. You don’t want to fight. You’re calm and subdued.

For a second, he almost listened to the whisper.Then something snapped back in his mind, and he pulled his shields up, hard.

“Stay out of my head,” he told the Longbow, glaring.

Surprisingly enough, it was the police officers who reacted to this. A couple of them immediately pulled their weapons, pointing them at James and causing more than a few startled cries and shouts from the students. James suddenly found himself in a growing space, as people quickly moved to get the hell away from him. The Longbow Warden turned to the police, about to tell them to lower their weapons - and James took the opportunity. He leapt the two rows of seats in front of him, adrenaline pumping now, and hit the aisle at a sprint, meaning to dodge around the Longbow and get out of the lecture hall. Running down the long corridor after that would be a danger, but he hoped that he would have enough of a headstart on them that they wouldn’t react in time to get to the large window at the ed of the corridor. Hop through that, and he was out in the open where he could just fly away and hopefully they hadn’t planned on that by having an Eagle squad or something waiting for him...

Now people were shouting, screaming and swearing, and quite a lot of it was aimed at him James just kept his head down, focusing on getting out of the lecture hall and nothing else-

There was a loud pop from somewhere to his left, and suddenly James felt like he’d been punched hard in the upper arm. He lost his footing and tumbled to the floor, even as his upper arm stung terribly for a moment and then started to feel both numb and... wet. Confused, he looked at it... and saw the neat hole in his sleeve, with the surrounding area starting to turn a dark red colour.

“Cease fire!” the Warden yelled. “We have civilians here!” Not that they were going to be there for much longer at that point, as now people were running screaming for the exits. James grabbed his arm, which was now starting to hurt again, and pretty sharply at that, and squeezed hard in an attempt to slow the bleeding. At the same time, he felt the pressure on the edges of his mind again, trying to just brute force its way through his shields now to shut his mind down. He could pick up images of white walls from it, which were obviously supposed to be calming as well as a way to ‘contain’ his conscious mind so they could take him in with no more trouble.

They were trying to lock him up again.

James acted on instinct. He spun around to face the Longbow and police who were starting to approach, and his eyes fixed on one officer near the back - a dark-haired woman in a trenchcoat who seemed somewhat... distant. Psi-cop. James focused everything on her, and sent a massive psionic push at her. “Stay. Out. Of. My. Head!” he growled, sending the words to her telepathically at the same time for emphasis.

The woman flew backwards as though she had been hit by a car. Her eyes widened in shock for a brief moment, before she hit the wall behind her with a crack and slumped to the ground, unconscious. Blood trickled from her nose and her ears.

Everyone stopped for a moment in shock. James realised what he had done, and his first instinct was to try to check on the woman to see if she was okay. He hadn’t meant to hit her that hard! But the moment he tried to pick himself up and take a step towards her, weapons were charged up and levelled at him,and he realised that he didn’t have any options left any more.

“Guess we’re adding assault of a police officer to the charges,” one of the Longbow officers said grimly, pointing his rifle at James’ head. James closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to clear his head.

“For what it’s worth, guys,” he muttered, “I’m sorry about this.”

The psionic tornado erupted outwards from James, tossing everything in its path into the air. Chairs were ripped from the ground, books and bags went flying, and so did the Longbow and police officers, who were flipped into the air and each other like leaves in a strong wind. James was up and running before anyone had even hit the ground again, still clutching his injured arm. He didn’t look back as he heard the shouts and thuds, and he definitely didn’t look back when he heard the gunshots starting. He just ran straight for the window at the end of that corridor, telekinetically pushing anyone and anything out of his way and punching out the window with a telekinetic bolt just as as he came to it. He took a literal flying leap through the window, not even bothering to hit the ground on the other side. He flew up and away as fast as he could, thinking silent thanks that there were no flying units waiting for him as he did so.

James had no idea where he was going. With his free hand he tried opening a channel to any of the others on his communicator, but all he got was static. Not even Fenix was replying - had they managed to lock down his mainframe before he could get out of there and hide on the web? He couldn’t even sense any of them in the area, but that was at least more sensible. Either they weren’t in Steel to begin with, or they had already run, just like he was doing.

His arm still stung, and he was starting to feel a little lightheaded now. James shook his head, trying to clear it, and set off. He needed to go to ground, get his arm fixed up, and try to meet up with some of the other Angels, not necessarily in that order. And then try to work out just what the fuck was going on.

[snowdog]

Peregrine Island

The Longbow Warden cursed to himself as he walked towards the main door to Portal Corp. The first few take down attempts had gone badly. Very badly, not a single prisoner to show for it, and this one...well it was rumored that Dr Michelle Schrodinger , AKA Schrodi, dabbled with reality the way others may dabble with finger paints. In the field of exotic physics , she was right up there with Positron and some dude named Gordon out west according to their database. He had wanted to go in with just a small team, himself and a PPD officer, being that legally Longbow wasn't allowed to make arrests in the United States-the fewer people, the less risk. But he'd been overruled, a full company shipped back from the rogue isles. The air was heavy with the sound of the rotors as they fast roped down , the courtyard at portal corp not big enough for more than one or two to land.

He looked around and found the PPD officers send to do the actual arrest. Technically, Captain Spangler had them on a bit of thin ice here-if for some reason, the charges against the Guardian Angels turned out to be false, well it was against Longbow's charter to make arrests or perform law enforcement duties in the United States. They could assist..but not take the lead. Right now they had the political backing, but that could evaporate quickly if things went pear shaped. He had been along on a previous raid against one of this groups members, one that had blown up in Longbow's face, though honestly, that was more the former Lt Kadish's not following the rules and jumping to conclusions. Now he was in charge of this mission, and was NOT going to make the same mistakes. If they were wrong, the court would sort it out, but his troops would follow the law, and if the Captain didn't like it, tough.

Nodding to the Detective, he had his people fall in behind them, as they entered the entrance to the building, other troops and PPD sealing the area. The receptionist didn't' even look surprised, though the names of the wanted renegade heroes had been all over the news “Welcome to Portal Corp, gateway to the Future! Can I help you?”

“Detective Blake, PPD, We have a warrant for the arrest of Michelle Schrodinger.”

Portal Bay 17

It was louder than she'd thought it would be, the very sub atomic particles of the universe being pulled apart by the colossal machine as Dr Michelle Schrodinger stepped through. Still, the apparatus looked the same as the one she had left under Neuropolis. The Resistance had sent her to Primal Earth to both help them, and help themselves in the fight against Tyrant. Supposedly he was here too, but more benign. She wasn't sure to think about that, but odds are, there were a lot of duplicates here of folks she knew. And one of herself. She'd actually talked with her counterpart before crossing over, this universes Michelle Schrodinger going by the nickname schrodi, was able to port through dimensions as she could herself. Still there were differences, the Heisenberg principle pretty much guaranteed that, but she was looking forward to finally working with the equipment her other self had, and with herself as well.

Strangely the bay was empty, except for one man. Tall, dark short hair with a widows peak, and a gaunt almost skull like face, wearing a cheap suit and carrying a briefcase for some reason .

“Good afTERnoon Dr schroDINger. We have been exPecting you. “

“Uh thanks, where's Schrodi? I thought she would meet me.”, wondering about this guys weird accent. But then most of the resistance she'd found were harder to comprehend.

“Dr schroDINger had a late meeting, if you take the elevator there, you will be taken, to where you are needed in the lobby.”

She was wary-but then this was primal earth. No Praetors here, and she had been invited. “thanks “ she said as she boarded the elevator.


As the doors closed the strange man smiled “The right cat in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world...”

“what the heck does that mean? “she muttered as the elevator went up, grimacing at the muzak in the elevator. It may be another universe...but they still had Burt Bacharach.



The detectives were still arguing with the receptionist about the validty of their warrants and security clearances when the elevator dinged. Everyone automatically glanced towards it, then there was the sound of dozens of weapons being drawn It was her the Warden though-though wait, something wasn't right. She didn't have a cyborg arm...the hair was different...he started to open his mouth when someone , even before he could say 'you're under arrest' opened fire.

She blinked, she'd seen the Longbow uniforms before, but not this version of the PPD. As the shot rang out over her head she growled, tail thrashing behind her“you wanna chomp badgers? Fine, if you wanna get it polar-bear style without the syrup, it's fight'o clock!”




several hours later

he had prepared. He'd outfitted his team with goggles that would see through Shrodi's quantum illusions. But there was nothing about gravity going haywire, about her pulling objects out of a hole in space-time, and hurling them at his people. He watched the PPD get bowled over by a flying forklift, watched energy blasts blow holes in the wall, followed by panic and firing from outside. An entire company-and she got away. Two helicopters were lost, one knocked out of the air by a statue, another crushed as if gravity reached out and squeezed it like a beer can. The worst injuries were the burns from the helicopter crew-crew that she had paused to rip out of the burning aircraft, before vanishing, teleported to who knows where. Other than that, minor injuries was it, he himself had a broken arm, but he'd had wore. The press was going to have a field day with this, they were 0 for three with apprehending the Guardian Angels. Odder still was the phone call he received ten minutes after arriving at the hospital., odd enough for him head back as soon as he could break free, catching a cab from the hospital back to Portal Corp.

The man who met him was still in college, an intern. He stood in the hallway in the lower levels of Portal corp, frowning as he looked into the office. Not two hours ago he'd seen her ripping through combat ready troops-yet... “she's been here how long?”

“She's been out cold for about 20 hours now. She tends to work ridiculously long hours when she's got a project going, then crash for a day or three afterwards.” He looked sheepish “I was supposed to wake her when all this blew up, she was supposed to meet her analog from Praetorian earth...”

He peered closer at the sleeping physicist, curled up on the back of the couch in her office like a larger version of his daughters cat. It was the same face he saw earlier this afternoon-but longer hair, and two arms instead of one. “I think I met her...let me guess she worked with the Resistance there? Well this does explain a few things.”

“so what now, are you still going to arrest her?”

“no...if this is one of Tyrant's plots to destabilize things on this side, better to keep her here. You say she probably won't wake up for a while?”

“probably not.”

the Warden nodded “keep her here if you can, I've got to go check on a few things. Thanks” Once back outside and able to get a signal, he could inform Captain Spangler.




Malta listening post, somewhere in Talos island

“intresting theory, you say security at portal corp verified she hasn't left her office in almost 24 hours? Well then, come by headquarters, we'll go over it in my office. Yes, I know these are supposed to be encrypted, but I prefer face to face. Right, see you soon.”

The Gunslinger nodded to the analyst as the tape cut off “your right. This could be a problem...”





((Will Malta take out the Longbow Warden before he gets to report in? Is Captain Spangler just an overzealous good guy, or is he in on the plot? (dunno myself, that's up to Caios I think ^.^ ) Will they send a hit team after Primal Schrodi while she's in the midst of a nap attack? What will Praetorian Schrodi do trapped in a world she never made? Tune in next episdode!))

[caios]

(( all these questions and more will be answered ....

Right now.

Captain Spangler is just an overzealous good guy. Or at least that was my idea, if anyone would like to do anything different feel free to make suggestions. Otherwise, Spangler is a good guy but a bit of an idiot. He will go to the ends of the earth to capture everyone if he has to just because he doesn't know any better. While he's not in on the pot he is being manipulated, White made sure he would report to people who would pass all the information to Pearl in Malta. This means he could also be taking orders from Malta, albeit indirectly, as far as he's concerned any orders he gets are from the US government. ))