tales of farside city: the awakening.

it was a regular day in farside city, and a few of the regular gangs were going crazy as usual. The breakers, a gang of rock and roll enthusiasts, had just broken into one of the many City Banks, to fund their new band equipment. A young looking man in a black suit with blond hair looked down from inside a large skyscraper. In fact, from this point he could see a few miles past the city limits. "That, man is late." He said. He looked toward the sun which was now almost at its zenith. "I hate the wretched thing." he said, pulling a pair of shades out of his suit to cover his eyes. He turned, listening to the echoing sound of the elevator ding. he had admitted to himself that when he first had this..re-hack brought to his attention by his informants, he was skeptical. he had doubted the abilities of that pudgy looking man. however, continued surveillance yielded..intriguing results. and thus, he had called him in for a meeting to discuss a possibility of employment.

Angelica was in the library, organizing the shelves again. it was soothing, and distracted her from what happened outside the doors. she was thinking about what she would have for dinner when the front doors busted in and people started yelling. *so much for soothing.* she thought, as she walked calmly to the front. she pressed a button under her desk at the front and steel shutters slammed down on every opening and shutting off the power, blocking the light. she quickly leaped at the nearest thug, seeing his movements easily with her enhanced sight, and disarmed him before slamming his head into the desk. she didn't even need to remove her limiters for these kids, her normal strength was almost equal to an average construction worker's. she made quick work of the remaining thugs, seeing as they were only armed with knives. when the power came back on, the thugs were leaned up against the wall and she was peeking over from behind the desk, acting scared. when the police came, she told them she didn't know what happened after the lights went out, and had to make a cleaver excuse to get out of a med exam. when she was alone, she sighed, getting weary of the recent gang activity.

Pan was in her shop when the rioting happened, not far from the library. Curiously she peeked out a window and saw people running around, shouting and acting wildly in their raid. She found the chaos of it all somewhat amusing, minus that one worry nagging at her that it may affect her shop. Being this close to such activity and remaining unharmed would be a rarity. If one of them, any one of them made one move on her shop she did not like, she would not hesitate to smite them. Of course she did not have to kill them in order to make them pay. Mindwashing them into paying for any damages they have caused was one way of doing that, but it would mean capturing one of them, bringing them away from the others, and casting a couple of spells on them. How was she supposed to do that when they were all together in this huge cluster?

But then, she flinched. None of the shards actually cut her, but she was close enough to the one who smashed the rock through her window. "Oh that's it..." she uttered her annoyance at the rogue. Fortunately the man was relatively separate from the others, so there was a good chance they would be unable to support him. Even better, he was close enough for her to cast magic on him. Given that he was right there, laughing maniacally just two feet away from Pan's face, she decided to try the spell she named her shop after. Borrowing a bit of black magic from her personal reserve, Pan unleashed the spell then and there.

His vision blurred, his mind blank, the rogue just stood there in an empty trance. The helpless, sleeplike state made him vulnerable to Pan's next spell. Borrowing another droplet of her magical energies, Pan gave a mental command that ordered the man to give her all of the money he had.

And that the man did. But it was not enough. Pan decided to take a peek into his memories. Four seconds of mindskimming was all it took for her to learn the man's credit card number and any other information she needed to charge him for some expensive services he did not even pay for. Into his mind she planted false memories of himself walking into her shop, then asking for his fortune read among many other things, and, of course, paying for it all. She took his card to her desk and swiped it, draining the man dry of the vast majority of his savings, then erasing his memory of smashing through her window and being put to sleep.

Once she did that, Pan gave the rogue one last order. She ordered him to approach behind a figure that she guessed may have been the leader of his little gang, raise the rock he still held, and smash him on the head with all his might. After the motion was made and the gang leader was whacked, the man awoke from his trance with no memory of what he had just done. A disoriented look suddenly took over his face, and he looked around in confusion.

Back in her shop, a smiling Pan sat back and watched what would happen to her puppet next all the while watching out for any more threats to her or her shop.

Thomas had be enjoying his day, He'd done a little practicing with his powers, and now had just recently taken out a loan from the bank using the face and name of a person who doesn't officially exist and would vanish from existence after this encounter. With that he'd headed towards the bathroom, only to have a number of rowdy gang-bangers suddenly storm into the bank, urging him to quickly duck into the bath-room, at which point he very quickly hacked up several plates of stone on the inside of the door just as one of them tried to bash his way in to get the 'guy that ran and hid'. "My Apologies boys, I'd love to stay and 'play' but I'm a bit late for a very important meeting." He chuckled a little and with that started up a more advanced sort of 'spacial' Hacking.


The Elevator in Neo's Officer, or perhaps 'Darkness's' Office, had dinged and begun to slide open, When the doors opened however there was an odd sight on the other side. A Tall thin man in a business suit stepped out and slowly began walking towards the desk near which Neo stood, the scene behind him through the doors depicted what appeared to be a beautifully sculpted Marble bathroom, sinks and mirrors stood there, depicting reflections of the office into which he now stood. There was also a distance sound of alarms and shouting taking place on the other side, though soon the doors dinged once more and closed up, returning to normal.

A few moments later a small ball of yellowish light appeared in-front of the tall man, which quickly formed into a flat Rectangular shape on which he tapped at a few times, then the yellow light dispersed and circled rapidly around his body for a moment. Shortly there-after the light faded and the 'Real' Thomas stood there in the middle of the room, a playful smile on his face and a pair of goggled wrapped around his eyes. "Ahhh, That's more like it, It's always a bit stiffling in those disguises... I thought it might seem a suspicious if someone like myself was seen entering your building, So I opted for a more covert method of Entry, I hope that's not a problem."

He reached into the satchel that hung from his side, Pulling out a wrapped sandwhich, packed with Steak and Cheese, and plopped into a chair as he began eating, taking a moment to speak again "So then, I hear you want to 'talk business'. My apologies for being late of course, I made a little stop at the bank, it took a bit longer than I'd anticipated, and then some noisy twits decided to bust in and wreck the place."

darkness, or rather neo pheonix, as he was known in the public eye, turned to the man "it is no trouble at all. please, take a seat." he told thomas, sitting in his own chair.

his office was a rather opulent affair, really.

cherrywood furnishings dotted the spacious room, contrasting nicely against the polished marble floors.

a fully bullet and concussion proof window of glass was behind neo's desk, alloting him an unbridled view of the city below.

the greatest, and least noticable feature however, was a series of stun turrents hidden in all of the walls.

a covert, and prized security measure of neo's own devising.

"it is intriguing that you mention the gangs. for they are part of the reason i have called upon you. as you have been informed, i am involved in some..less than scrupulous enterprises. however, i find that one of the gangs wish to have nothing to do with my dealings. i have tried negotiations, but they continuiosly refuse to join me. what makes this infuriating is that this particular gang is the largest in the city. the Breakers."

he said, pausing for a moment to let that sink in

. "what i would ask of you, is to infiltrate the breakers and assassinate their leader. then assume his identity long enough to issue a decree of loyalty to my cause."
he stated, passing a file on the target.
"of course, you will be paid hansomely for this task. 800 thousand dollars. half shall be paid upon acceptance of the job, and the other will be granted upon completion. in addition, should you complete the objective, i will extend to you executive level authorization to my company's digital entertainment division. as i understand it, you are a man who enjoys such things." he added. using the last part of the statement to "sweeten" the deal.

Thomas Listened quite closely to the details of this offer, he secretly always got a bit of a 'high' offered jobs by such High priority Executives, the offer in itself sometimes could be taken as an acknowledgement of his skills, though this job in particular would require some unique Finesse.

"Ahhh, I believe that's the same twits that busted the bank I was in earlier, That's an interesting job that, A challenge as well. Admitedly, It would be easier to orchestrate a 'terrible catastrophe' that wipes the gang out, perhaps their hide-out collapsing into a mysterious sinkhole, though it'd still take a bit of time... Infiltrating and impersonating the leader however will take some unique Finesse, and the way I see it, there's 2 ways to set it up.


1. I need to infiltrate and 'become' a new member of the breakers, probably as a made up persona of course, Then Observe and study their Leader so that I can effectively emulate him, his behaviour, his voice tone, his mannerisms, and so on. I Imagine, gangbangers idiots that they are, they aren't stupid enough to fall for a mere 'visual' copy of their leader, so however short-term the impersonation may be, Best to make it as convincing as possible. Of course I'd have to orchestrate something of a 'public death' set up to cover the real one vanishing when I move on.

If you have a lot of information on him already available, such as recordings and the like, That should help to fast-track that process and I may be able to skip the observation stage all together.


2. Infiltrate to 'literal' way, unseen and unheard, I have a few viable methods of pulling that off. Wait for them to be asleep, and then 'hack' some 'suggestions' into the leader... Essentially Hacked possession, which will result in the original giving this decree, before an 'accident' befalls him after a while, the process is actually more time-consuming than difficult, I don't actually 'hack his mind' so to speak, so much as creating something that will 'affect' his mind during the vulnerable state of sleep.

Of course that's a very complex process, I can pull it off for sure, But I shall need a 'big meal' beforehand to store up extra energy. Though it seems a bit neater than killing and impersonating him. It may take a while for the Suggestions to bear fruit, but it will also leave no potential evidence of either of us having a part in his demise."

Some might wonder about his lack of morals about killing someone, though to him, life and the entire universe was just one enormous game, though he 'did' have strokes of concsience from time to time, they were generally reserved for much less 'troublesome' people than a gang leader that makes life a noisy hell.

Of course the offer of getting his hands on fresh stuff from the Entertainment division made him grin quite excitedly "Ooohh, Quite a payday this could be, If I were stupid I might ask what's so important about bringing the gang 'under control' but obviously that's none of my business... I may be able to help do something 'for' your entertainment division as well, heheh."

Pan sat back and watched the gang's reaction to that one member's act of treason, which she was essentially responsible for. Stupid gang, she mused. Untamed street rats. If only they knew what I was capable of, they would be either complete idiots or have a death wish to break my window. But no, she reminded herself. Perhaps it's better that they don't know. Not yet, at least. Not until I master all of these spells. And to think, despite all that I can do now, that I just started reading this. Just how many black magic spells does this book have?

Turning a page, she read on. She tried not to think about the vandals, yet all the while kept an eye out for another one of them who would repeat that last one's mistake. Would she have that person suffer the same fate? No, she thought. Worse. She could simply kiss the person and drain the essence straight from their body. No, she thought. That would require getting too close. Better yet, she could cast an enfeeblement spell that would turn them old and weak, leaving them just as shriveled up, frail, and helpless as a raisin. Or she could shrink them down to a more meager size, then throw them back into the crowd where they would be trampled by their own 'fellow' gang members.
However that would not stop all of them. She would have to cast such a spell on each, individual lowlife. Hundreds of people, she would have to shrink, and, or poison them. But no, spewing out a toxic cloud would not do either. Surely somebody would see the vapors being exhaled from her mouth, and would know she was the one who had killed all of them. Not that it was really wrong, but many others would see it so.

But then she had an idea. Another spell, she cast. A single spell that would stop all of them at once without having to murder them, but would still allow her to do so anyway if she changed her mind. From within her little shoppe, Pan had discreetly cast a large dome of black energy over the entire crowd. Or at least most of them. The surface had a very strong barrier that would require an immense amount of force to be able to break through. The death bomb would prevent the gang people from harming her shop, but unfortunately the barrier was unable to block out any noise, so she would still have to tolerate their screams for a while.
It was then that Pan wished she had simply cast the barrier around her shop instead. There were gang members who were not captured by the dome, and they could still harm her and her shop if they saw her. And casting a dome at just the right size to protect her shop would not have had to be so big. Casting a smaller dome would have saved her some magic. But it was too late now. Besides, anyone seeing a barrier around that one shop would give away the fact that she was capable of casting such arts. Then what would happen? Would people mistake her for a witch and burn her at a stake or something? She may have been callous, but she was not evil. Not entirely.

Brushing that thought aside, she sat beside the window and watched to see if the people could break through. Not once had she seen a person break her death bomb, or even crack it. But then again she had never seen anyone try shooting it. It was a rather large barrier, so it was weak for a death bomb spell. Smaller barriers were more durable. A powerful enough gun may do the trick with one large enough to contain a big portion of a crowd. Like a shotgun, perhaps. Or several weaker guns fired both inside and out at the same spot.

"those are indeed good ideas. the file i handed you has intel on his habits, images of him in various attire for reference, and if need be, incrimating evidence of crimes to force him into a situation where he faces you alone. as i'm sure you understand, stealth is key. there must be no indication of your employment to me." darkness said. turning to the window. "i must now leave. i've got another matter to attend to." he stated. a sickly black and purple aura surrounded him. "then again..i suppose i'll leave you the honor of witnessing my true form!" he declared. his shades flew off of his face, as his red eyes began to glow brightly, like hellfire. an absolutely predatory grin erupted over his face, ear to ear. the aura condensed upon his body, seemingly eating away at the flesh and clothing, leaving only the eyes and that horrible grin. finally, the mostly shapeless mass took a decidingly demonic form, tendrils of..whatever it was made of wriggling as the head finished it's formation. "ah..muuch better! that human shell is just so very constrictive! well..i'm off to visit a witch.." and with that, he turned into a cloud of smoke, blazing a path towards pan's shop. to anything in his path, it was like being rammed by a freight train. cars were thrown into the air, people were tossed aside, and the road was torn to shreds.

Angelica heard the cloud before she saw it. she looked around and ran down the nearest alley, undoing her hair and skin patch. as she came out the other end toward the sounds of destruction, she took off her glasses and sling, tossing them to the side. when she emerged, she stopped dead in her tracks. she had expected some kind of large vehicle, but instead saw some kind of smoke roaring down the road. she knew some people had abilities like that, but she never expected anyone to use them in the open like this. she tried to remain unnoticed while it passed, then quickly made her way to the rooftops using a fire escape. then she followed it from above, knowing that ground pursuit was inadvisable until she knew what she was dealing with.

Seeing the thick, dark fog, Pan became a little worried. But when she noticed it was heading right toward her shop, she began to fear for her safety. Having no idea what it was meant having no idea how to deal with it. It was not a person that she could simply shrink or intoxicate. But given its direct course of travel, it was being guided by a person. But who? Pan quickly scanned the area of mobsters for any mages of sorts, but saw none.

However there was that one girl. Hopping from one rooftop to another, to another and another, she appeared to be following the fog. Could this spell be of her casting? Could she be the one guiding that black tempest of doom? Into her shop? No, Pan mused bitterly. I don't think so.
Having to abandon one spell in order to cast another, Pan released her mental grasp on the large barrier around the crowd and it vanished. Just like that, the people were free again. She may not have needed to inhale so deeply in order to cast her next spell, but she did anyway. From soft, faded pink lips, Pan exhaled surprisingly gently considering how much air she had taken in. But what left her body was far from gentle. And it was more than just air. A mist of vile green hues billowed from the surprisingly thin stream that expelled from her lips. The green mist expanded very quickly as it travelled from her shoppe, rising in defense toward the approaching black mist.

I don't know who you are or what you're planning, Pan thought maliciously, closing her mouth at last. But I won't have it in my shop. Of all the places in this little village, infested with fully-grown misfits, you just had to pick this one. Of all places. Somehow you found out my secret, and for that alone you will pay. Slowly. But I could always swallow your little soul later, for now let's see how well this goes.
Pan allowed herself a discrete, playful smile as she watched her cloud approach. The poisonous fog quickly gained form and momentum, growing, almost breathing as it approached to counter if not outright consume the black mist. Poison versus darkness.
Your spell, Pan mused predatorily, versus mine.