World Forged by Powers London IC

[the Forge]

The World Forged by powers explores what the world would be like if super powers were real.

• It takes place in the modern day and uses sci-fi rather than magic.
• You can play as practically anyone you like.
• It is always open to new players no matter how far along it is.

A brief history of Earth:

Spoiler

In an alternate universe far from here lies an Earth much like our own. In this universe the existence of super powers is a fact of life. On this Earth the myths and legends of ancient times such as the Greco-Roman and Norse gods are based on true stories of Humans with special abilities and skills. Historical events in this world have gone more or less the same path as they have in our world with a few alterations. Up until the First World War supernormals were few and far between.

After the First World War a variety of programs were started by several of the world's nations to try to cultivate those with extraordinary gifts. You can just imagine the propaganda posters encouraging those with abilities to make babies with others who had compatible abilities. They created super soldiers of many types. Often times the offspring of known supernormals were trained from a young age. Transgenic hybrids were created by mixing genetic material for the positive aspects of animals into the Human genome. Even straight up clones were made of certain individuals. By the time the Second World War rolled around these super soldiers were of fighting age.

Because of this intentional interbreeding and genetic manipulation the number of supernormals in modern times is quite high. 25% of the Human population of Earth have some aspect that could be considered extraordinary compared to Human beings in the real world. Most of the time these aspects are negligible or fairly mundane but around 5% of the population are significantly more powerful.

In addition to this there have also been significant advances in technology relative to our world. The ability to create Transgenic Hybrids by modifying Human genes to create new beings. (From birth, of course, since it's impossible to do it with existing beings). Sentient machines created by copying the Human mind into quantum computers or gel-circuitry (see collective). True Artificial intelligences created by replicating the Human mind's functions within fully cybernetic mediums. LASER weapons, Force-fields, Holograms, Cybernetics, Nanites, Robotics, Anti-gravity and Artificial Wormholes are all possible. There is also a small amount of over-technology (Technology that is more advanced than should be possible to create for its time but that was not shared with the rest of society,) due to super geniuses.

Humans are not the only sentient beings in this world. There exists a minority of self aware artificial intelligences as well as a variety of altered Humans. The most common types of altered Humans are the animal transgenic hybrids and cybernetic Humans. There are also afflicted Humans; doppelgangers, vampires, werewolves and mindless zombies which have been around for centuries.

In 2004 a young British genius going by the name of HardeWare formed a new company named HardeWare Systems with his old colleague Peter Vanderheijden. This company created robots, weapons and other advanced technologies. For the short amount of time the company has been active it has made a fairly quick ascent up the economic ladder. This is mainly due to Peter’s influence, as he is known to be notoriously ruthless in his business transactions. The company is well known for its chain of HardeWare Stores; a franchise of retail outlets that supply their customers with weapons, powered armour, various other gadgets and range dietary supplements.

One of the most significant contributions of HardeWare has made is the Portal Network. A collection of wormholes is kept permanently open by large rings, between major destinations on the planet in a sort of airport-like system allowing fast affordable (A ticket usually costs about £75 (about $125) for a single jump.) transportation through portals between most major countries. The system originally only traveled between the ten most popular destinations but over time more and more countries have been added to the portal network.

Men and woman of every race fighting side by side in the largest war ever known did a lot for equality among the allied countries, Unfortunately it had the unintended side-effect of making the new prejudice de-jour; supernormal superiority. After World War II the earth was left with a multitude of supernormals with no more war to fight. So they began to turn their abilities to other areas. Business, crime, or law enforcement. Once the super-villain and super-hero trend got started battles in public became common-place. With all these extraordinary people causing untold collateral damage to people and property the common folk wanted a solution. They demanded the relaxation of the restrictions on guns and other weapons so that they could defend themselves. The governments of the US and UK were far too caught up in the Cold War by this time to refuse their demands.

At the end of the Cold War in 1991 the Department of Supernormal Enforcement (AKA the DSE) went public and became an official government agency. The DSE was put in charge of the confidential registry of individuals with supernormal abilities. (The names in the registry are what is secret not the existence of the registry.) Those with dangerous abilities are legally obligated to register. Anyone committing a crime with supernormal abilities is registered in the same way that fingerprints are taken. You can also register voluntarily if you so desire. The DSE makes a point of hiring supernormal agents to deal with supernormal criminals.

In the year 1846 an eclectic group of investigators were put together by the crown to officially pursue extraordinary matters. This Ministry of the Extraordinary was populated by a wide variety of extraordinary individuals from all around the empire and later the United Kingdom. In times of war the Ministry was charged with supplying the royal military with extraordinary soldiers. In 1993 the Ministry of the Extraordinary decided to adopt the same policy in the United Kingdom as was being used in the United States. The Primary differences being that those licensed with the Ministry do not pay for their damage and medical insurance but it is instead paid for by taxes as good faith for the work done on behalf of the nation.

There are of course many who resent the registry and choose to keep their identity a secret in order to perform vigilante actions without being entered into a registry. This is considered illegal vigilantism but the DSE and the Ministry of the Extraordinary are prone to ignore these offenders unless they become a problem. There is an organization known as the League of Masks who help provide a support network for these illegal vigilantes. They also provide lawyers if they get caught. Masks who are not members of the League rarely last long.

Timeline:

Spoiler

No code has to be inserted here.

Powers and Technology:

Spoiler

This is my combined list of documented Super aspects in the RP world including super-powers, afflictions, species and super-technology. New powers will be added to the list as they are discovered. If you have any questions about powers, tech and the super-physics that they are based on or a new power you'd like me to add to the list post it. If- you're planning on submitting a new power we strongly suggest you submit the power first before making a whole sheets.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE
The more primary powers you have the weaker each one will be. For example a superspeedster telekinetic will not be as fast as a straight up super-speedster. Some powers however make each other stronger. for example a metamorphic shapeshifter with regeneration would have the regeneration cause the metamorphic changes to function better and the metamorphic changes would cause the regeneration to function better. However the Metamorphic changes would not be as good as those of a pure metamorph. Some powers make each other weaker. For example superdurable skin and cloaking. Trying to make the skin do two opposite things greatly hampers both. If you are not sure whether two powers are Sympathetic, neutral or conflicting then please ask me, I will be happy to tell you. Additionally Psychokinetic powers are strictly one per character. Telepathic and Psychokinetic powers may not be used in AIs or non-sapient organisms. Other than that the only limit on organic powers is how many food calories you eat. In order to do something you have to have the energy. That means you get tired and hungry after fighting.

No code has to be inserted here.

.
.
.

No code has to be inserted here.

.
.
.

No code has to be inserted here.

.
.
.

No code has to be inserted here.

.
.
.

No code has to be inserted here.

.
.
.

No code has to be inserted here.

.
.
.

No code has to be inserted here.

.
.
.

No code has to be inserted here.

RULES

1. Do not post on this thread except to make in character or descriptive world posts (Such as announcements on a television.) Go to the OOC thread to get your character sheet approved before you begin playing.
2. This is the London IC. If you are in London this is the place to post. If you are in New York please post in the New York IC Thread. Otherwise post in whichever is geographically closest. (North America, South America, Asia, the Arctic and the Pacific Islands go in the New York IC. Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and the Antarctic go in the London IC. If you are in space or on the moon you post based on what country owns the space station, space ship or moon colony.)
3. No stealing from other media. All material must be kept at least a little bit original. Or, in other words, don't put stuff we could get sued for if we put it in our comic. Change the names and don't directly copy things. By entering this RP you allow for us to use your character in our webcomic if we so choose. (The webcomic is currently shelved but we still hope to make one some day.)
4. No magic. This includes runes, curses, chants, etc or unrealistic powers. All things must be explainable by what I like to call "superhuman physics" if you have questions about what this means feel free to ask me on the OOC thread.
5. When your character is interacting with someone else's character please indicate who and what you are replying to. You don't have to quote their entire post just make it clear. The current date is normally the same as the current date in real life, however, since RP actions take many real life days the match is never exact.
6. I expect reasonable sized posts but not too big. We don't want to gum up the works. Just make sure they're not too long and not too short.
7. You can declare an attack but you can't decide whether or not it succeeds. Only the GMs or the person being attacked can decide whether attacks succeed . But don't make yourself invincible. This is a game, take some damage, have some fun. (current GMs are Forge, Icee, Kiji and Mega)

[Megafire7]

Frank Morington was feeling rather smug. That could be considered somewhat odd, what with the person he had sitting in front of him. After all, there weren't many people who could claim to have the upper hand when confronted with the elusive entity known as 'Shift'. Exactly how any moron that gave himself a nickname could last for that long was a mystery to him, but somehow the man had managed.

The best part was that Shift was on Francik's turf, surrounded by Frank's men. He had picked his four most trusted guards to be at this meeting, because while he might be feeling smug, he was not feeling particularly stupid.

Damien had been by his side ever since Frank started the business, and by now they were practically brothers. He had fought a man with super strength and won, although Frank had never learned exactly how he'd done it.

Jake had one of the fastest response times in human history. He'd fended off multiple gangs by the sheer power of his trigger finger and Frank had come to trust him with his life.

Eric was the youngest of the bunch, and he certainly looked the least imposing, which was exactly what had allowed him to save Frank's life on numerous occassions. He had taken several bullets and they had barely even stopped him.

Finally, there was Cameron, who was far more of an offensive than a defensive bodyguard, which did have its uses. Cameron wasn't one to let any assailants get away and there was very little one could do to persuade him to change his mind.

Frank knew every single person in this room very well. All but one. Shift was not showing his face and Frank hadn't been able to discern anything from him otherwise. He wore all black and had, so far, refused to take off his mask. As such, their negotiations had been proceeding slowly.

"You see, mister 'Shift'," Frank said, adding extra emphasis to the nickname, "I still have no idea what you think you're doing here."
"There are several reasons," the man in black replied. "My first priority here is to warn you."
Frank laughed. "Of what? Are you going to kill me? That'd leave me with a nice story to tell."
"I have no such intentions, mister Morington," Shift told him calmly. "One of the men in this room, however, does."
"Oh?" Frank said, raising an eyebrow to go with his mocking smile. "So you think you own one of my men?"
"He isn't mine," Shift told him. "The other three are."

And with that, Damien, Cameron and Eric shot Jake who, despite his impressive reflexes, was caught as much by surprise as Frank was. He jumped up and pulled his own gun on Shift, an action which was met with three guns now pointed at his head.
"What the hell is going on?" he yelled in an attempt to regain control of the situation.
"I just saved your life," Shift said. He hadn't even moved when the shots were fired. "Do sit down, mister Morington. We have business to discuss."

[CalPal]

It would be odd to think that a place like Belmullet, Ireland, tucked away from most of the world in their own pristine paradise, would have much significance from a strategic point of view. That kind of thinking, however, is exactly why such a large-scale project such as Project Dragon could function in relative peace. Not many British and Irish higher-ups were privileged to what exactly was going on in the facility, although the few who've heard of the project knows the associated costs with maintaining the place.

Which was why today was all the more important for everyone in this facility. Military and Political officials, even including members of the Ministry of the Extraordinary, had requested to see the progress being made within this project facility, having found the financial costs of the project being highly ludicrous. It was Project Dragon's chance to prove to the Irish and British that it was worthy of not just being maintained but to receive even more funding to begin mass-production of its highly valued products.

The day began as any other day would. Clouds hung low over the bay while the wind blew gently across the meadows. To the North-East of Belmullet, two military transport helicopters flew low and far from the settlements as they made their approach towards the facility, tucked away into the hills and hidden from prying eyes. Today, however, they would be greeted by head scientists, including the administrator of the entire facility herself. When the helicopters finally touched down, the side doors swung open to allow the visitors off the shuttles. Holding his beret steady, one of the military officers was first to walk up towards the administrator.

"Fine weather we're having, isn't it?" He asked.
"Splendid, indeed" the administrator responded, brushing the hair off her face as she kept a straight face, "But I understand you're not here to wait for stormy weather to come. Please, come inside, I wouldn't want to delay this any further."

Nodding to her, he followed the scientists as the other guests were quick to make their way off the helicopters and enter the facility. The transports waited until everyone was inside, then quickly took off and left before anyone could spot anything unusual in the area.

---

The underground facility was quite pristine, more so than the military officer had anticipated. In the lobby area, a massive enclosure could be seen, with the inside mimicking the surrounding area around Belmullet, save for a high-rising hill that had what appeared to be a caved carved into the side.

"Really, I don't see the reason why you need to have this" The military officer stated as he strained his eyes. "I don't see any animals inside."
"Yes, this seems absured" A politician from Dublin spoke out. "This is what Ireland and Britain are investing their money into? An exhibit that no one will get to see?"
"I understand your concerns, gentlemen, but we need proper housing for Project Dragon's favourite inhabitant" the administrator said, smiling as she nodded towards a maintenance staffer nearby.
"Inhabitant? What are you -"
"You're just in time for lunch."

Perplexed, the visitors stood and watched as a door nearby opened, with a sheep being led into the enclosure. Looking around, it began to graze on the grass in front of it, completely oblivious to its surroundings. Just as most people began to lose interest in the sheep, a deep growling could be heard inside the cavern up on the hill. With renewed interest, they watched as the sheep walked a little ways from the hill.

"There's something else inside?" The officer asked.
"Seems like it - my god, do you men see that?!"

Just then, it appeared. At first its features were hidden from the shadows, but unmistakably, it was a massive reptillian-like creature crawling from the cave. It seemed massive, larger than even a human on just its four legs. The bony horns jutting from the back of its head, as well as its odd-looking face and protruding teeth, gave it a horrifying appearance. Looking down towards the sheep, it raised its front legs - raising them to the sky and revealing excess skin hanging from them to be massive wings - before it gave a massive roar and dove down towards the sheep, pinning it with its lower legs before tearing into it with its mouth. The visitors stood and watched, completely speechless by what they just witnessed.

"My god, what IS that thing?!" The military officer asked, unable to turn away from the exposure as the massive creature began to eat.
"Gentlemen, what you are seeing is the crown jewel of Project Dragon: Drake, our first genuinely-bred and living 'dragon'."
"How - you made him?" A member from the Ministry asked.
"Starting from recovered DNA from a Utahraptor, we made a few alterations to the specimen's DNA and began breeding each subject in a tank. Drake was the first dragon we've bred to successfully live without any organ failures."
"You can breed an entire army of these things?"
"I wish that was the case, but given Drake's high costs of maintenance and initial starting fees, we've kept him as our pride and joy. However, Project Dragon is committed to -"
"Hey, seems like it's noticed us now."

Upon seeing the new faces staring at him, Drake stopped eating the sheep and slowly walked towards them, moving his head to examine each one. Noticing one that was pointing at him and smiling, Drake leaned his head back and unleashed a massive burst of fire. While the glass was created to resist such high temperatures and massive forces that could break it, the message he delivered was all the same. Disgrunted at the lack of results, Drake walked away and continued to eat his sheep, leaving the visitors to stare in amazement.

"It... breathes fire" the politician from Dublin remarked.
"Well, what kind of a dragon would Drake be if he couldn't breathe fire?" The administrator responded with a grin on her face. "Let me show you the other parts of our facility. You'll be pleased to know that we've developed raptor drones that can easily fit adapt to any situations required by military and police forces."

With that, the group walked away, leaving Drake to finish his meal. Once it was done, it flapped its wings and rose back to the mouth of the cave, walking inside to sleep off its meal.

"... Foul human" could be heard from inside the enclosure if anyone were to listen hard enough.

[Radian]

In a café located along one of the many busy side streets in central London sat a dark-haired man of medium height and build with skin tinged with melatonin, giving it a slightly yellowed appearance. His dark eyes seem to scrutinise everything, as if breaking down anything caught in their gaze to its constituent parts. He sat alone at a table adjacent to the window, staring out at the world with a strange interest. A short, blue-eyed waitress approached his table with the usual offer of a hot beverage that these dwellings provided. The man swung to face her jerkily, raising the eyebrow of the waitress slightly. He spoke slowly, as if he had never really spoken before; and declined her offer before returning his gaze to the street outside.

Saviour was reflecting upon the events of the last five days: he had decided to leave his creator, with the promise of returning for him later, in his cell at the nearby prison. To start with, he had ‘recruited’ many more foglets in order to improve upon his existing traits which he obtained from several different sources, along with some nanites for future use. He then spent the rest of his time using the internet and his own experiences to gain much knowledge about the world. Information about this city, human society, science, technology, art, geography, and politics: it all flowed into him as a constant stream and he spent much of his time processing it. During this time he discovered what he was and what he was capable of, that’s how he came to be as he was now.

The time now was 11:43. He had been sitting in this café for 4 hours now, thinking about his next move. Several possible scenarios unfolded, all were very different and all had there flaws, some he rejected outright, such as the possibility of a forceful coup. Others he marked as last resorts, like consorting with likeminded humans. The one he had chosen to look at in more detail, however, was the possibility of using his skills to start chipping away at this government, one department at a time. He had already decided to start with this Ministry of the Extraordinary, as he considered them the most threatening. Saviour had already decided the means to that end: he could impersonate an employee and then publicly commit despicable acts that would generate substantial bad press for the Ministry, who knows, he might even uncover a scandal or two. The people needed to know, after all, just how evil their leaders were. Now he just had to find a suitable agent and also gather intel on the security of their main headquarters.

The dark-haired man rose shakily from his seat and walked slowly out of the café into the street beyond, his eyes still probing everything in the street while he continued to ponder and surf the internet for the location of the Ministry building. It was a sunny day.

[sinisnalp]

(WARNING! POST MIGHT BE A LITTLE DARK!)

It was an especially dark night, with no moon out and rather cloudy. A small family is just leaving a theater after enjoying a night out at the movies. The father was a rather strong looking man. Not overly muscular, but looked in shape. The mother was a kind looking woman with a gentle smile on her face. They were walking side by side holding hands with their child, a young girl, just ahead of them. They decided to cut through an alleyway as a shortcut to their car. It was a rather long night and they wanted to get home quicker, when they suddenly bumped into someone in the alley.

The father only stumbled a little, but the other person fell to the ground. She was a young girl, just a little older than their daughter. She had sky blue hair and her clothes appeared torn and was holding a rather worn looking teddy bear. The man decided to try and help the poor girl up. "Are you alright, lass?" he said reaching to help her up, but she recoiled away the instant he touched her. "Ye... yes..." she said in a barely audible voice, "Sorry to bother you." she added, trying to get away from the family and move on.

While he could barely hear her, he did notice one thing. She was terrified of something. Then he noticed something rather alarming. There was some blood on her clothes. "You don't seem to be alright. You have blood on you. Do you need to go to the hospital?" he said, reaching for his phone.
"N... NO!" she said, just a little louder, the panic in her voice becoming a little more apparent. "Please... Just... leave me alone..."
She backed away from them a bit. She was scared of something... but it didn't seem to be of them... What was she so scared of?
"Please, get away from me! Before she sees you!" She was practically pleading with them now to go away. She was being chased? By who?
"Before who sees us?" the wife asked, but before any response could come, a number of strange black ropes came out of the shadows and grabbed the entire family and the strange girl.

"Now Mia, how many times do I have to tell you not to talk to strangers for help." a voice said, coming out of the shadows. It was an older teenager, probably around 17, with blond hair and red eyes. The other girl, named Mia looked as if she was staring at a monster straight out of someones nightmares.
"N.. no... Evie... I..." she said, trying to get away from this person that knew her, when the father remembered something he saw in the paper. "Wait, Evie? That wouldn't happen to be short for Evelyn would it? Evelyn Geran? The famous killer one?" He said, starting to realize just how bad the situation was if that was true. The girl didn't look happy about him calling her that though, and slammed all four of them against the wall, with the Mia girl on the opposite wall. "Don't call me Evelyn! It's Evie! Evie Geran!" She said, clearly mad at him. "You never were a fast learner, little sister." she said to the girl behind her. "How many times do I have to tell you that you can't escape from me?"

-------------------------
No. Not again Mia thought. Why did this have to happen? She just wanted to get away from the pain. Now these poor people had to pay for it just because they bumped into her.
The woman and the young girl were about to scream when Evie created a band of her Qi energy* over their mouths. "No no. can't have you calling for help now, can I?" Evie said before turning back to Mia. "After all, it wouldn't be a very fun if I just killed you all right away..." She said, looking back at them with the most sinister grin any of them had ever seen. By then, Mia was weeping. She knew what Evie was about to do. She was going to kill them. Slowly. One at a time. While she could only watch as they died. Died because she dared to hope she could run away... Died because of herself...

Mia started weeping a little. "Please... Don't hurt them!" she pleaded with her sister. "I wasn't asking for help! I was telling them to go away! Please! I promise I won't try to run again!" She begged her sister with tears in her eyes, before a sharp claw of Qi energy slapped Mia, cutting her cheek, followed by another band of energy covering her mouth.
"I can't do that, Mia. You need to learn your lesson. You decided to run away, and now they must pay the price. And die. Because of you." she said, in a eerily calm voice, before turning back to her captives in this dark alley

"Now, I guess I'll start with you" she said to the father, still struggling to get out of the grip of Evie's power. "Based on the look in your eye and your grunts, I'm guessing your saying something about how you are sorry for calling me Evelyn? or maybe your just pathetically begging me to leave your family alone. But don't worry little man" she said in a creepy tone. "You won't have to live to see what I'm going to do to them!" she said, finishing with an insane grin, forming claws of Qi energy around her hand and plunging them into his chest. He tried to scream in pain, but they were only muffled by the restraint around his mouth. His family looked in horror as the father had his liver ripped out and shown to him. "Huh, I was hoping for a spleen." she said, still with the grin on her face. "Lets try again, shall we!" she said, again reaching into him, pulling out organs one by one, until most of them were piled on the ground in front of him in a gruesome mess, at which point, the energy restraining him against the wall dissipated and he fell to the ground into his own innards.
The other two were in tears and terrified as Evie walked up to the mother. Mia was whimpering on the other side of the alley, making muffled pleas for her to stop. "Now, what should I do to you?" She asked herself, looking at the woman's husband. "I already disemboweled him today... I know!" She said as several sharp knives of energy formed in her hands. "How about I just cut you up a bit? I'll admit, it is one of my favorites to slowly tear someone apart with a sharp object of my own creation." she said, as she reached first to the woman's left eye and slowly cut it, as the woman muffled screams continued, then moved to the right eye, then cutting off her ears, followed by part of her nose, then cutting up her arms, her torso, and finally, after taking her time to make sure she stayed alive the whole time, finally jamming the Qi knife into the woman's neck. After a few seconds, the energy on her dissipated, dropping her into a bloody mess on the ground.
"Oh how cute. A small child." She said, turning to the last member of the family, a look of terror on her face, tears running down her face. "Do you miss your mommy and daddy, little girl?" she said, mockingly gently stroking the side of the girl's face. "Don't worry little girl, you will be seeing them soon" she said, with a look of fake sympathy on her face before she just full on kneed the girl in the stomach. "I'll be nice for you. No cutting. No disemboweling. Just a good old fashion beat-down." she said, gaining a wicked smile again, and a simple stick of Qi energy formed in her hand. She then proceeded to smack at the girl repeatedly, breaking bones, and bruising organs. She just kept going and going as the girl cried, until the girl stopped moving after a final hit to the head snapped her neck. She was then dropped to the floor like the others.

She walked over to Mia and let her fall to the ground. "Please... Stop..." she kept whimpering to herself in tears on the ground, as rain started to fall on them. "So have you learned your lesson?" She said with a smirk. "It is of no use to run away anymore Mia. I will always find you. Anyone who tries to help you will only die because of you." she said, lifting Mia up and starting to drag her back toward an old building in a run down neighborhood. "You are my favorite play thing. my favorite toy. And you belong to your family. And me." she said, smiling in wicked joy.

(*Qi energy means Ostrakinesis in case anyone didn't know)
(WOW! I feel terrible just even writing that!)

[CalPal]

The doors slid open as the administrator continued to lead the visitors to the other sections of the facility, now covered in protective bio-hazard suits as a precaution. Making their way down the hallway, many of the visitors were busy discussing among themselves regarding their stance on the project, while the military officer and member of the Ministry were more interested in understanding more about what the facility was and how it could produce these Raptor drones.

"So, is every one of these raptors a clone of Drake, or just copied from one of those Utahraptor DNA strains you have?" the military officer started to ask.
"Well, we actually have a few full strands of DNA which we can use to ensure the Raptors live" the administrator began to explain. "Each drone is a clone of either one of those strands, to ensure that there is some diversity among the clones."
"You wouldn't bother with that, unless you planned on breeding these things."
"There are things that we cannot refine in a lab on our own. Some of the best traits can only be earned through evolutionary progress. We believe that not just was it unnecessary and risky to remove the sex genes of every clone, but also that breeding the best of our in-field drones would then lead to better traits which we could then analyze and incorporate into our next generation of drones."
"Interesting," the member of the Ministry mused, "that certainly makes a lot of sense. But in the event that a few of these drones escape into the wild -"
"I can assure you," the administrator interrupted as she turned to him, "that our facility would never cut corners around security. We established an underground facility with only one exit and many features which would make escape near impossible."
"Near impossible, ma'am."
"Nothing is perfect. You know that as well as I do. That being said, we do not take unnecessary risks."
"While I appreciate your concern, I'm worried that the Ministry would not support this project unless we had greater assurances that -"
"You want eyes in this place, son" the military officer interrupted. "You're just angry you don't have your ministry fellows running around and making the decisions in a facility you never even knew existed prior to your arrival."
"Gentlemen, please!" The administrator intervened, still maintaining a professional demeanor as the two men seemed more prone to a heated argument, "I ask that you keep your voices down, we are approaching our next phase of Project Dragon. Our next prototype is... more volatile than Drake."
"Is that so?" The ministry member asked as his eyebrows raised. "I'd love to see this for myself."
"I bet you would" the officer retorted.

As the two men gave each other heated glances, the administrator led the men to another room behind closed doors, this one holding multiple raptor drones on the right side contained within massive growth tanks, seemingly conscious and multiple tubes being run down their throats. At the end of the room, however, stood a tank that appeared colossal compared to the smaller growth tanks. In this tank was a massive, bulky reptillian-like creature. If it was a raptor, it would have been impossible to identify it as such had the administrator not explain the origins of Project Dragon. Even more tubes ran down its throat, as well as tubes connected to the arms, legs and chest of the beast.

"That thing is massive!" a Member of Parliament spoke out. "That almost looks like a T-Rex my kid plays with!"
"Gentlemen, it's my pleasure to present you to project 'Big Daddy'. This is our prototype, Umar."
"'Tank' in Irish... I think I can speak for us all when I say that is a massive understatement. What is that thing even bred for?"
"Umar and his drone copies were bred for heavy combat scenarios which involve heavier fire power, such as with heavy tanks or anti-personnel mines."
"How do you even control such a massive thing?" the member of the Ministry asked.
"In here, we pump Umar with heavy amounts of tranqulizers and other powerful sleeping agents to keep him under control. We constantly adjust for his size as he continues to grow."
"It keeps growing? You mean it NEVER stops growing?"
"A side-effect of one of its genes."
"Do you plan on terminating that thing before it becomes uncontrollable?"
"We have the situation under control. In the meantime, however, Umar is a critical blueprint for our Big Daddy drones; it would be a terrible loss of knowledge to simply kill him now. Him living gives us necessary knowledge to improve the efficiency of our drones."
"For Britain's sake, I hope you do whatever it is you do here well" the Member of Parliament remarked.

Simply smiling back at the Member of Parliament, the administrator led the visitors to a glass panel holding an aquarium inside. Before he joined the others, however, the Member of Parliament took one more look at the massive creature known as Umar, noting the large talons, teeth and massive muscles bulging underneath all the scales. Then, he looked into its eyes as it was staring back down at him. It would have been terrifying enough on its own had it not done something even more upsetting: it looked down on him and snarled at him, bubbles creeping from its mouth and nose. Shivering from the goosebumps, the Member of Parliament quicky ran back to find the rest of the group, leaving Umar to ponder within his tank.

[KnightShade]

As his fingers brushed across the braile of the form Michael had to smile, it seemed the bureacrats ran the ministry these days. Not that their was anything wrong with bureacracy, paperwork was what seperates the man from the beast and the men from the boys. Without it society would break down into an anarchy of eugenically minded supes battling it out to annihilate each other by creating nuclear blasts and black holes from their hands. Licensing and registration controlled power and those who controlled power ruled the world. All the same a risk assesment for a covert operation seemed a tad extreme.

Risk of scrapes and abrasions

Check

Risk of chemical burns

Check

Risk of damage to the eyes

Not for me

Other

A smile touched his lips again as he filled out this field. Risk of animal bites he wrote into it

What measures shall be taken to prevent these risks

I'll be careful

He submitted the form to his secretary then left a message for Mark on his Q-Phone to see whether he could be relied on for this assignment, otherwise he would have to get one of the spooks in. Either that or dress up some guy from IT in a suit so he looked the part, that would be prefferable to dealing with the stern faced agents, he was dealing with a man whose best power seemed to be being half rat. How hard could it be. But he was always prepared for the possibility that he under estimated a foe so before he picked up his stick he grabbed an ancient phone that still worked on the old network from his drawer, it had one number in it and no-one monitored calls on the old network anymore. Michael was always on the lookout for new converts to his cause.

[Megafire7]

"Do you think you own me?" Frank asked, outrage clear in his voice.
"Yes," Shift said simply. "You owe your life to me, and I already own a significant part of your establishment, even if you were unaware of it. Henceforth you will work for me, and owe me a reasonable ten per cent of your profits."
"And if I say no?" In an instant, three guns were aimed at him. Guns belonging to men he thought he could trust.
"That was an entirely pointless question," Shift pointed out, his voice still as void of emotion as before.

"I will keep a close eye on your organisation and I will inform you of any changes you need to make in your policy."
"You can't just ask me to overhaul my entire production!" Frank exclaimed.
"And I am not going to. If your production offended my sensibilities to such an extent you would have been eliminated. We are discussing this because I approve of you enough to consider you a potential employee."
"That's what I am now? What do I get out of this deal?"

"Did you already forget about the assassination attempt?" Shift asked him. "I doubt one failure will convince the one behind this to stop trying."
"I don't need your help with fucking Victor, thank you very much," Frank snapped.
"And Victor clearly has the means to convince Jake Sanders to kill you," Shift noted. "You have attracted the attention of far bigger players, mister Morington and you will need to associate yourself with one of them."
"Or else what?"
"I hear Death is a rather large player as well, and you are free to take your chances with him."

---

"Only fifteen minutes," Jade told Shift as the latter exited the building. "That has to be a record, right?"
"He was oddly cooperative once he saw one of his men shot next to him," Shift replied. "A rather smooth operation, I believe. What do you have?"
"You had an audience of two, sniper on the roof opposite to make sure our new friend is actually dead and a guy who's really interested in you," Jade chuckled. "I could set you up for a date, if you want."
"I will take care of that myself, thank you," Shift noted drily.

"The sniper?" he asked.
"No idea who hired him," Jade told him. "He's been remarkably focused on his mission. Good man, really."
"Do follow him and let me know where he goes."
"Our friend's safe?"
"Mister Morington was informed of another exit and is most likely leaving as we speak.

"I take it I know exactly who my stalker is working for?"
"No surprises there," Jade told him. "You really need to talk to her, because this is getting embarassing. I'm telling you this as your wingman, you understand."
"Your concern has been noted. I will have Lisa make an appointment with her after I take care of this one."
"Splendid! I'll talk to you once I've found something."
"Good."

Jade had not even seen Shift, as such. Nor had he seen any of the two watching the building he had been in. This had the added advantage of neither of them having seen him. Jade was a telepath, and a really good one, which meant he could have conversations with Shift without having to use any electronic medium (which could be bugged and/or traced) or do something as stupid as talk to one another face-to-face in the middle of the street.

He also used it to spy on everyone and everything with a working thought process. And also on the majority of the population, which clearly did not. That sniper watching the building was a bit of a curiosity, though. He was remarkably single-minded, every thought spent on his mission. It sounded extremely boring to Jade, but then, different people, different interests. That did make it a lot easier for Jade to sneak up on him, though. The man just needed to ignore the man in white clothes leisurely making his way over to his position. Another thing Jade had no problem with doing.

---

"It's a nice evening, isn't it?" a voice said right behind him.
"What the-?" the sniper dropped his rifle and pulled a pistol, aiming it at a dark-skinned bald man wearing nothing but white, aside from his green shades. How did he fail to notice him? The man in white was also carrying a cane, placed next to his right foot. He was leaning on it slightly. A weakness?
"Oh, you are a professional, aren't you?" the man in white told him. He was having trouble remembering any features of the guy, even as he was looking straight at him.
"What do you want?" the sniper demanded.

"Right down to business, I like that," the man replied. "I just want to find out who you work for."
"Give me one reason I shouldn't shoot you right now?" the sniper snapped.
"I'm not your target?" the man said. "I don't know, I'm awful at this sort of thing. Might make a bit of a mess to clean, though. I guess the best reason is that it'd be a waste of bullets."

He didn't have time for this. With his mission compromised he had to get out as soon as possible. He pulled the trigger and the bullet went right through the man.
"See?" he said triumphantly.
An illusionist! With that realisation, the illusion flickered for a moment, before the man responsible for it abandoned the ruse.

A blade pierced his hand from the side and both the shock and pain caused him to drop his gun, just before a revolver was pressed against his temple.
"You're good!" the man in white declared, a grin on his face.. "Now, there are two options here, either you tell me who you work for and I figure out if you're lying or not, or I pry it from your brain myself. One of these will be relatively painless, the other most certainly won't be. It's your choice."

[CalPal]

The workers, wearing protective suits and handling large harpoons, dragged a bucket of what appeared to be tuna and tossed them into the water, specifically so that they land closer to the windows. The visitors, now interested to see what kind of creature Project Dragon bred this time, were leaning closer towards the aquarium glass like a group of curious youngsters on a school trip. Standing back with the administrator, the military officer and the member of the Ministry continued to bombard her with more and more questions, specifically regarding what this new specimen was capable of.

"So, you're telling me you've designed these raptors to breathe underwater?" The officer asked with genuine interest. "Like a fish?"
"Our prototype was grown to have gills like a fish, yes" the administrator responded, "But due to her growth process, Deep Six - or Daggermouth, as we call her - never fully developed them, so we performed surgery and gave her larger scales. Because of this surgery, she develops irritation in her throat whenever she has to switch between gills and her lungs. We held off on growing new batches with fish DNA and simply went with crocodile DNA. We store all drones and Daggermouth in one massive aquarium that also draws water from the ocean while we hammer out all the details regarding the gills growth process. Until then, these raptor drones at least have increased lung efficiency that allows them to hold their breath underwater for incredible lengths of time."
"Aren't raptors kind of, well, territorial?"
"For the most part, as long as they're fed, they're pretty calm, and they seem to be smart enough to not fight with each other, but otherwise, we have what is essentially the equivalent of a shock collar on these drones in case they act wildly."
"Have you had any attempts to remove them?" the Minister asked.
"None that we have observed."
"But..."
"We were relatively quick to find loose collars and put them back on the raptors."
"So they could remove them in, say, combat scenarios or -"
"The only reason why they would be removed" The administrator quickly interrupted, with a hint of insult behind her voice, "is that we cannot monitor these drones inside such a large aquarium. Otherwise, were there to be greater levels of observation from military and police institutions, I highly doubt this would be a problem that could escalate without human error. Our system is designed for extreme, horrific accidents like the ones you're imagining to not happen."
"I think the military is more than equipped to handle such drones" the military officer noted. "We're always ensuring our equipment and canines are always in perfect condition."
"Fascinating! Have you considered -"
"Look, here they come!" A lower-ranked officer shouted out.

Sure enough, one, then two, then multiple amounts of raptors could be seen swimming into view towards the tuna fish dumped into the tank. The visitors would notice that each raptor seemed to have some sort of webbing on their hands and feet, along with a tail that seemed to be perfectly shaped for swimming. Along with those features, there was a thin, almost shiny coating on the skin of the raptors, apparently designed to make them more rapid underwater. Just then, a slightly larger raptor swam into view, given space by the other raptors. This one had fully-developed gills on its throat and regular scaly skin, completely different from the other raptors. It swam up close to one raptor, close to its neck, then swam away to eat a tuna fish.

"What one was that?" the Member of Parliament asked.
"That one was Daggermouth, the prototype for our Deep Six clones. She was examining that one's neck to figure out if it had gills. She's... being choosy with who she wants to mate with."
"Huh. All right, then we might as well move on and discuss -"

Just then, a scientist ran over to the administrator and tapped her on the shoulders. Looking towards him, she was handed a clipboard and read something that was on it. Taking her glasses off, she looked back towards Umar's tank, noting something that was not obvious to the visitors.

"Ma'am?" The member of the Ministry asked, "Is there something -"
"No, nothing at all" The administrator responded, smiling as she turned towards the Ministry member. "Now, shall we all head towards the next room?"

She quickly led the others to the next room, while scientists could be seen scrambling about. Meanwhile, inside the massive tank, Umar continued to stare at the group of visitors, a snarl still smeared across his face...

[Black Icee]

The weather... well the weather wasn’t something that HardeWare could really comment on in his laboratory, mainly due to the lack of windows and the fallibility of weather reports (years of super technology and they can still never get it right.). Anyway, the room was stark white with an occasional green stripe across the walls but they could hardly be seen behind the mountains of crates and boxes.
It was called a laboratory but it was mostly a workshop, of sorts, the room was divided into multiple parts, a large open area with all sorts of robotic arms and jacks, something that was more recognisable as a laboratory with all the trimmings, another wide open area with several scorch marks and bullet holes, there were several other workstations and large pieces of equipment but all those seemed to pale in comparison to the lounge like area with an L shaped black couch, sizable television and taking precedence in the center of the room, a round desk with several computer screens and a large black leather chair in which sat the quintessential quirky genius, HardeWare.

The day felt almost as it was dragging along, the morning hadn’t been very eventful, the news was pretty normal as per usual. HardeWare stared the glass screens as they scrolled through recent events, each screen showing something different.
Ezekiel pushed himself out of his chair and wandered over to the collection of crates.
“Heidi, when did these get here?”
Lights in the corners of the room flicked on and began to project an image of a young woman, who was entirely green except for a dark grey outline, onto seemingly thin air.
The woman materialised a clipboard in her hands and looked down the details. The action wasn’t necessary in the slightest but Heidi liked to give the persons around her an idea of what was going on in that web of responsibilities that the AI had.
“Three weeks ago.” she responded
“Huh... What’s in them?”
“The gravity tech you ordered... three weeks ago.”
“Oh... Cool! I was thinking about making part of the lab zero-G to make the larger builds easier.”
“I know Sir, you told me.”
“Oh... Right.”

HardeWare took a step back to take in the scale of his purchase.
“What time is it?”
“13:47, Sir” She said, a hint of reluctance in her voice.
“About time for lunch I think.”
“I wouldn’t know, I don’t eat.”
HardeWare shot the hologram a look as if to say ‘Really?’
“Leave the jokes to me okay.”
“Of course Sir, I look forward to seeing you at open mic night.”
And with that the hologram disappeared, returning to her other duties around the building.
HardeWare sighed, shaking his head into a light chuckle.
“Yeah, food sounds good.”