Welcome to New Athens, a city of adventure and intrigue on the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina. In New Athens, a hero is made every day and a villain every night. A thriving metropolis, New Athens is a modern city built in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and extending to the Atlantic Ocean with several valleys and one large river that connects to the coast. Over the years the city thrived with coal mining being it's main source of revenue however New Athens quickly became a leading industrial city on the eastern 'States with several noteworthy corporations' factories and plants. Westman Chemical Plant, Napier Valley Ammunition Plant, Pepsi Cola Bottling Company, and Wells Helicopter are just a few of the reasons people choose to live and work in the grand city of tomorrow. The Olympian Gazette is widely known for its stories of new superhumans and celebrities, as well as the general local news. Midtown is where most of the action is, as well as the Mercury Mall. Subdivisions, landmarks, and schools include Lee Heights, the Kirby River, Shuster Elementary School, Universal Avenue [one of the longest streets in America], Simon Middle School, Kubert High School, Riverview [ghetto subdivision], Highland Park, Warpath State Park [in the mountains], the Museum of Tomorrow [tech museum], etc. The city sees a number of tourists as well, all trying to get a glimpse of superhumans in action. New Athens has more superhumans than any other major metropolitan city in America with a general population of over three hundred and sixty thousand residents with an estimated fifteen thousand superhumans possibly within city limits. And who are these superhumans?

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Rules:

1.) No back-to-back posting.

2.) PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND SET-UPS!!

3.) Make sense. If we can't make heads or tails of your posts they're likely to get skipped over.

4.) Get permission before using another player's character in your posts if it involves changing the scene or making actions. Everybody will take beatings in this game in battle however, so don't get pissed if you get punched or blasted into a wall by the bad guys! Namely me controlling the badguys...

5.) Problems with the game or players should be sent directly to me through PM's. I don't want a bunch of bickering in the OOC.

6.) Abandoned characters will be used as NPC's or killed off within the context of the story.

7.) “I was waiting for [insert player/character] to make a move” is not how this game is played.

8.) There is no rule #8.

9.) My word is law.

10.) Obey the law.

11.) In the event that I'm offline for any period of time, the Co-GM @Aro will take control and HIS word will then be law.

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May 3rd, 11:52 am...

A young man with glowing yellow eyes rode a mechanical snake towards the city New Athens on the coast of North Carolina. Arkylius had tried to be a hero in the undersea city of Atlantis, but his friend, and main mode of long distance transportation 'Jake', was the reason he left to be a hero abroad. The King had ordered the robot creature dismantled by the Royal Guard and the young Atlantian chose to flee. Ark was only about a half mile out from the beach now, and put the stealth mode on Jake activating his invisibility tech that Ark also possessed in his would be supersuit.

The twenty-four year old young man swam to shore the rest of the way at a remarkable speed, and on foot immediately began looking around with wide eyes and dreams of having a life of his own on the surface. The Atlantian walked into a shop on the boardwalk and wanted regular surface dweller clothing and a bag for his gear. He walked out with black swim trunks and a white t-shirt with something spray painted on it. And some sandals that looked like they were made for a teenager with some sort of ridiculous image printed on them. The bag he purchased to carry his gear in also had flowers on it, as the boy had much to learn about the surface world. When it came time to pay he simply put down a handful of gold coins and a large bottle cap sized jewel. The owner looked completely happy as the stuff probably only costed him ten or fifteen dollars total. The jewel by itself would go for about twenty times that alone.

Ark continued up the boardwalk with his bag in hand. Aside from not really knowing what anything was supposed to be on land, he seemed to fit in effortlessly. He came upon 'UNIVERSAL AVE.' that had a sign close to it on a bus stop reading 'The Longest Street In The Nation. EST 1882'

There was no reason for Ark to go in either direction of this famed street. However in the distance he saw for the first time the Appalachian Mountains. He wanted to go towards those, but on Universal all kinds of things transpire. The longest street in the nation goes right through downtown and midtown, as well as towards Westman Chemical's quarter of the city.

1:37 pm...

Shayd the Indestructible Man awaits in the Kirby River upstream from Westman Chemical plotting his next strike. The black behemoth didn't know that STRIKE was watching him from their hidden mountain fortress with satellites only the smartest minds in the world could operate.

~KL~

"Thank you." Shinji answers as a waitress delivers his coffee to the pick-up desk.

This cafe, The Daily Grind, was Shinji's favorite place to hunker down and relax. Just 37 minutes ago, he had witnessed a thief, going by the name "Black-Dragon", steal a purse from an innocent redhead woman. Hearing the scream of desperation, he quickly pursued the man who stolen said purse. It was a tough chase, with the thief pushing stuff in his way and attempted to loose Shinji through crowds of people, as well as hiding in an alley way, yet it was no use. Only when the boy secretly transformed into the hero Sentinel, was he finally able to catch up with him, ultimately knocking him out cold with a single metal punch at the back of the head. The hero was then able to retrieve the purse and gave it back to the redhead, who thanked him gratefully for his help. She even said she heard about Sentinel and in fact wanted an autograph. This was his first time being asked that believe it or not, but regardless he signed his initials on a photograph of him, and with a quick nod, he flew away into the sky.

Shinji takes a quick sip of his coffee as he recalls the events and how it unfolded through his mind. He was currently wearing a regular brown coat, with a tie and a white undershirt. Nothing too special really, and it's not necessary a disguise either. After all, he never showed his face when on hero duty, with the mask covering his entire face. Nobody, other then his own father, knows about his superhero identity... well, yet that is. Who knows, maybe one day he'll get caught with his mask down and be known through the whole city, or even the world, on who Sentinel really was. He'd be famous yes, but he didn't really want to be caught with the paparazzi all the time, taking pictures of him, wanting more autographs, questions, etc, etc. It wasn't the life he wanted to live, he says, at least not yet.

Regardless, he takes another sip of his coffee, as he looks outside the glass wall, watching regular civilians and cars go by. Everything seems pretty normal out there, with civilians going about their business and cars zooming by. It's just regular New Athens so far...

(Jotunn Draugr/Pirouette)

May 2nd, 9:31 pm, Downtown New Athens

The sun had set behind the nearby mountain range, and the sky was growing darker by the minute. On the rooftop of 'Jake's Model Ship Emporium', a black-clad Xi Xiu crouched, rifle in hand, waiting for a sign. Weeks of preparation had gone into this operation. From smuggling unmarked weapons into the city, to tapping into police records, to the countless stakeouts. Gunrat couldn't wait for the hunt to finally be over. She could nearly taste it.

"Zhang", she whispered to her earpiece, "any sign of it yet?"

"I've got my eyes on every camera within three blocks of your location, ma'am, still nothing."

"Hmmm, where are you", Xiu pondered. "Come out, come out, you filthy rodent."

Moments passed, and Xiu was beginning to doubt her informant's information. The Ghoul was supposed to be heading this way. Every night there was another attack, and the creature was moving in a steady line westward. Could something have spooked it? Perhaps it was lead in a different direction, for one reason or another.

"Ma'am!", Gunrat's earpiece chirped. "I see it!"

"Where?"

"The morgue at West and Pender", Zhang replied, "just behind the superstore."

"How fitting", she spat, rising to her feet and breaking into a full sprint along the rooftop.


Two blocks away......

"♫ One bod, two bod, three bod, four! ♫" A rather soft, cheery voice echoed in a darkened room, lit only by the glowing full moonlight creeping in through the small upper windows of the small tiled morgue. The moonlight illuminated the blue-haired singer as she pranced around the room, weaving in between the cold lifeless bodies all laid out on metal tables in the center of the room.

"♫ Five bod, six bod, seven bod, more! ♫" The blue-haired singer continued but her prancing finally stopped as she hovered a sloppliy placed corpse. The singer's eyes appeared to twinkle in the moonlight as she licked her lips in anticpation for what was about to come... and then it did.

The blue-haired singer reached around to draw a dirty looking scalpel and waved it just over the corpse as if teasing it with what was about to come. Then she harshly jabbed the scalpel into the eye of the corpse, twisting and digging causing stagnat fluids to slowly drip out. Once she was pleased with her work, she excitedly leapt to the next body to perform the exact same procedure and so on as she continued for each of her corpses, 7 in total.

Finished she discarded the scalpel and skipped over towards the corpse where she had begun. She reached down to pick up her second tool, a hammer, and inspected it carefully as if this would have more precision than her scalpel. The hammer apparently passed her test and raised it up, waving it in the air like it was trophy. Then without any second thought she bent down to place her head on the metal operating table and began bashing the side of her skull with her own hammer. Bits of her brain exploded out as her superstrength wrecked her head but after after a few hits she stopped, apparently pleased.

She lifted her broken skull but remarkably, it was rapidly putting itself back together. Sections of her brain were replaced by a sudden resurgance of new biomaterial before her head was back to normal.

Once she recovered, she reached around and rubbed the side of her head to inspect that everything was right where she wanted it. Satisfied, she returned to the operation at hand. She gathered up all the little bits of her brain and delicately placed a piece into each of the corpes' eyes. It took only a minute for each corpse to register the foreign anomality and they suddenly sprang to life with pained, gasping moans. The dead had risen and they were ready for their newfound lives.

"Very good everyone!" Margaret, the blue haired singer, cheered as the zombies staggered to their feet. They fell in line behind her and she marched out of the morgue and into the streets. Those few that were still outside at this hour quickly deduced the situation and fled, but they were small fries in comparison to what Margaret was expecting. "Positions everyone! Chop! Chop!" She clapped her hands and the zombies shuffled from sight into dumpsters, sewers, or even under cars. Then she waited, even smiling for the street camera, knowing full well what was coming.

Still catching her breath, Gunrat rested her eye at the end of her rifle's scope.

"Mark", she mumbled to herself.

BANG!

One of the newly awoken shamblers tumbled to the ground, a sizable hole now present in its head. Xiu had to pause for a moment, and sneer at the scene unfolding before her. It was one thing to kill a man. It was another to have to re-kill a not-so-recently deceased corpse. And this creature, this "Ghoul", was magnitudes of foulness above the rest of them.

And there she was, swaying back and forth like a drunken lunatic, beneath a yellow street light. Xiu fiddled with her rifle's bolt, ejecting the old cartridge. Keeping one eye on her target, she rummaged through one of her ammo pouches for another bullet. Once in hand, she slid it into the chamber.

RAT-TAT-CLICK

Xiu was good to go. This thing had caused her enough strife over the past few months. It was time for this chapter to end. Taking a deep breath in, she lined up her target.

"Steady", she mumbled, "aaaaaaaand..... mark."

(Jotunn Draugr/Pirouette)

Margaret didn't even jump as the head of her undead companion was blasted by a far off shot. "Tch" Margaret scoffed as she watched the body crumple. Gunrat, as she apparently called herself, just wasted her freebee shot killing some poor zombie instead.

Margaret lingered a bit longer, rocking back and forth on her feet, counting in her head. It was a short count, only seconds before she finished. Once she had finished her count, she bent down and hastened off in an inhuman sprint. A mere moment after she had moved, a second loud bang echoed out and Margaret's hair whisked away from the shockwave of the passing bullet, missing her just. She tried her best to guess where the shooter was but she didn't have much a mind for guns. She did, however, have a mind for Gunrat, as the past few months of squaring off with the would-be hero had provided Margaret a lot of information on this fight.

Margaret scurried through alleyways, all the while dodging obstacles, before finding a way up one of the taller buildings in the area. A fire escape hung to the side of the building and the Ghoul quickly made her way up the stairs, curious to see if her hunch was right on whether or not Gunrat was up there.

"Wo-cao", Gunrat hissed. The shot missed, and now that monstrosity was in full sprint. She fumbled through her pouch again, trying frantically to load another round in before the damned monster was out of sight. She successfully loaded the next round in, but The Ghoul had already ducked into the alley, out of sight. Xiu could only assume it was coming straight for her, and a long-range rifle would be nearly useless. Slinging it over her shoulder, she pulled out two 44. Magnum pistols from holsters within her jacket.

"This'll leave a dent", she snickered, scanning her surroundings for a shadow. "Zhang, send backup quick. Make sure Jiao has gasoline, in case it goes well, and a medkit in case it doesn't. Copy?"

"Copy ma'am", Zhang answered, just as Xiu heard the metallic shaking of the fire escape out of her other ear. It was already making its way up to the roof.

"Hao-ba-mei-nu-ren", she sang in her native tongue, pointing both barrels at the building's edge. "Time to die."

Up and up Margaret went as she scaled the building's fire escape until eventually she reached the top of the staircase. She leapt up, clearing the distance from the fifth floor to the roof. She didn't even have a time to land on her feet before she came under fire. Gunrat opened fire with her .44 magnums and at this range, she was deadly accurate.

Margaret landed just as a chunk of metal lodged itself into her leg. Her face tightened from the sudden shock but she didn't linger and quickly continued her charge towards her opponent. She raised her arms and covered her face as she darted forward, closing the gap quickly but not without injury as several bullets pierced Margaret's body, each hitting her with an impact to slow her down but not stop her.

Close enough, she lashed out swinging her powerful arms out hoping to smack Gunrat with her super strength.

Gunrat braced for the impact, as the freakish girl-thing came barreling down on her. Dropping one of her revolvers, she thrust her left arm out in an attempt to block the attack. It landed square on her forearm with a deep CLANG, ricocheting off her metalic under-skin plating. Still, the force was enough to send her flying backward.

Gunrat hit the roof hard, but managed to tuck into a roll. Tumbling to a bruised stop, she looked up at the monster, suffering no major effects from the several bullets currently lodged into her body. As The Ghoul continued its approach, Gunrat jumped to her feet, drawing a combat knife to replace her lost pistol. As the creature wound up for another swing, she dove forward, aiming her blade directly at The Ghoul's eye.

Margaret's feet slid to a stop as she tried to be more defensive as Gunrat leapt for her. Instinctively, Margaret raised one of her arms to cover her face which turned out to be a prudent move as Gunrat's knife lodged itself into the Ghoul's arm, slicing all the way through to come out the other end, almost reaching her face.

With Gunrat this close, Margaret cocked her other arm in prepartion for her attack. Her hand stretched back as the fingers were forcibly folded back on themselves revealing the bone in her forearm suddenly grew to a sharp point. She thrusted this arm forward towards Gunrat's stomach in hopes of piercing her armor and skin.

Gunrat gave one instinctual heave with her left hand, attempting to free the knife now burried in her opponant's arm. It was no use, and she left herself wide open as the Ghoul thrust its bone shiv toward her. Reacting quickly, she attempted to sidestep out of the way. The shiv found its mark in Xiu's side with a great deal of force. Thankfully, her leather jacket also carried steel plating, like her arms and legs. The collision landed with a deep crunch, as a couple of her ribs shattered under the sudden impact.

A groan of pain escaped her mouth as she again fell backward. Landing square on her back, breathless, she lined up her remaining revolver. It still had a few rounds left in it. If she lined the shot up correctly, it would still make it through the beast's knife-stuck arm, and burry itself in its brain.

Her eyes grew wide as she focussed, measuring the angle as best as she could. The shambling monstrosity still moving in.

"Hnngh, mark!"

Margaret raised her arm with its bone shiv and attempted to leap down onto her opponent, aiming to plant the shiv right into Gunrat's face but the sudden defeaning sound of gunfire rang in Margaret's ears.

Gunrat hit her mark as her bullet barreled through Margaret's arm and went right through before finding Margaret's eye. The bullet painfully lodged itself somewhere inside Margaret's head as she stumbled backwards covering her eye. As her flesh began healing around it, she hissed in pain as she could feel the bullet agitate the area around it. In pain, Margaret retreated to the edge of the building. She lingered for a moment before jumping off the building and onto the fire escape that she had ascended earlier. She took the oppurtunity to escape from plain sight as well, and leapt through one of the windows, glass shattering as she tumbled through, and into a lofty apartment.

The Kane Corp. Skyscraper, Downtown

“Ah, Miss Legrand! Welc…” She butts in, guttural, low. “It’s Marionette.” Even so, that million dollar smile that Kane sported never faltered. “Yes, aliases are rather popular these days, aren’t they?” No response, just that same look of agitation that the girl was known to show. Marionette seemed to think that intimidation would win the day; but in this case, in Mr. Kane’s office with at least a half dozen armed guards equipped with military equipment… Darius wasn’t worried in the least.

“I hope your trip here wasn’t uncomfor…” Again, an interjection; this one louder and fiery. “Uncomfortable? Like that prison cell your goons stuffed me in? Or did you mean uncomfortable like the invasive tests that your scientists subjected me to?!” She takes a step forward. “Don’t you talk to me about comfort you…” Maria yelps helplessly, falling limp after Kane signals to the woman that waited patiently by the door. Her head clashes with the hard marble tiling, something Kane couldn’t help but chuckle at.

“Unfortunate that we must be so uppity, hm?” Darius walks around his desk and kneels beside the mechanical form of his newest asset. “But now you know what will happen if you ever get another bout of bravado that goes against my associates and I.” He gives another signal, and this time two guards haul Marionette’s body onto her knees so that the two can meet face to face. “You can’t keep me…” Giving her a taste of her own medicine, Kane forcibly stops the girl from speaking by grabbing ahold of her jaw, squeezing ever so tightly.

“I’m afraid you will be staying under the employment of this company Ms. Legrand. See, the only reason that your worthless body is even able to function properly is because you’re using technology that belongs to me; therefore, you belong to me.” She can’t help but whimper now, and tears form at the corners of the girls eyes. Kane had won, for now. He removes his grip and returns to a stand. “Take her away. And have a pleasant day, Miss Legrand.”

INTRODUCTION MUSIC

New Athens NC
May 2, 11 AM

The sun's morning light brought with it warmth and atop one of New Athens' tallest buildings, Stuart sat overlooking the city below him with his wings at rest on his back. Ever since he had gained the ability to fly like a wasp, the beauty of being a man able to fly was now his and it felt amazing and uplifting. There was now almost no heights that he couldn't obtain and the only thing that kept him on the ground was his normal life. Almost every week he stood up here to watch the sunrise and take time relax before rejoining the busy life of the normal human on the ground.

Stuart's wings came to life and started flapping at incredible speeds as he took off from the roof of the building and into the air. The wind blew past him as he darted through the sky and wonder of flight just never seemed to get old for him. Flying also helped calm down his nerves after doing hard hero work and many times his nerves were on edge after taking one bad guy after the other. Stuart wasn't still sure if he could handle to hard life of a hero, the powers were incredible, but he feared about the consequences that his actions would bring him and the responsibility that came with his great abilities.

Even before he had found the primordial ooze, Stuart suffered from paranoia, which was probably a side effect of his bad encounter with the wasps from his childhood. He regularly thought of things that made him afraid for what could happen in the future because of his actions like if he had done the right thing or if he had been faster in acts of heroics. He obviously couldn't be everywhere at once, but he still felt responsible for keeping as many people as safe as possible. Stuart made sure to train his powers as much as he time to do and hone in on his martial art skills to increase his speed with taking down enemies.

"Another day in the life of Yellow Jacket" he said to himself as he flew over the city, looking down at the cars and civilians below. His incredible sense of smell could pick out all of the different scents and aromas that covered the city and those of food were especially pleasant for him. He would have to stop and get a bite to eat soon and his mind wondered what he have for lunch. Even though he was super-powered being, he was still a man and still needed to fulfill the needs of his human side.

New Athens NC
May 2, 11 AM

Paul had woken up from his nights of sleeping in the park under the stars. He didn't really have a home as despite him being a hero and american legend, he made no money and could not afford a place to live. Not to mention that since he had no secret identity he would have a hard time finding a job anyways. Paul had started the morning off however by playing with a few of the children in the park who were there with their parents.

Eventually Paul though Paul started to wonder off towards the slums of the city, once there he saw what he had been hoping not to see this early in the morning. A gang war was getting started it seems. Many of these people in the gang war seemed to be quite young as well, all of them willing to die for 'turf' though they had no legal ownings in the area.

As Paul approached he could hear a buzzing over head, he looked up to see Yellow Jacket flying over head. Paul had met the hero a few times before and he understood the heroes strengths. Paul was rather slow and wouldn't be able to catch all of these thugs before they started to run away. "Hey! Yellow bee! Could use some help down here!" Paul bellowed loudly into the air, at this point all of the thugs had turned their attention and guns towards Paul who was blissfully unaware.

Paul turned to look down as all of them looked to be aiming their guns at him. "You wouldn't hit an american Legend Paul Bunyan now would you? Why don't you all put down your guns and we can talk this out peacefully." Paul said to them with a rather innocent look on his face as he slowly approached them all. The only answer he got though was a bullet to chest, which thanks to his skin being as strong as steel, didn't do much. Of course a shot to the head would knock him out. And poison would do even worse things to him. "Could use some help Bee!" Paul shouted to the sky hoping that Yellow Jacket would hear him despite getting the heroes name wrong.

Paul then started to charge towards the thugs who opened fire on him, most of them rather inexperienced in handling a gun and either hitting his chest or missing him and hitting a building. This fight was already starting to get out of hand though with glass shattering and people looking for cover.

@Weird Tales

May 3rd, 1:40 pm

Roast and Toast Cafe

Jen took a sip of her coffee, a smile flitting across her face at the taste. A good drink always made her feel better. She looked over the street at her target, the main office of the New Athens Banking Company. The way Jen saw it, the NABC was one of the keystones of this city, and the whole country in fact. If she could cause havoc in the headquarters, one of the most well guarded facilities in the city, then not only would it strike fear into the general populace, there was a chance it would destabilise the infrastructure of the cities economical system. She stood up, shrugging her shoulders a little as she walked out of the cafe. She paused at the doorway.
"Thank you for the coffee," She said to the owner, who gave her a smile.

She walked out of the door and made her way to the edge of the street, quickly crossing over in a break in the traffic, pulling up her mask as she did. She started to walk up the stairs, cracking her knuckles as she came to the door. The security guard put a hand out.
"I'm sorry ma'am, only employees are allowed in," He said with a calm voice, not scared by the 5'7 girl.
"It would be better for both of us if you took the rest of the day off," She said coldly, her fist clenching up.
"Is that a threat?" He said, crossing his arms in an attempt to look more intimidating.
“Yes,” She said simply, before punching him in the chest.
There was thoom sound as the guard was sent flying backwards through the glass door, landing on the ground with a thump and a groan as Jen stepped through the door, her eyes quickly surveying the lobby. She spotted another guard quickly making his way over, reaching for a gun in his holster.
"Too close," she said, firing a shockwave at him, sending him skidding into the welcome desk behind him, flipping over it and landing on the other side.
She gave a glare to the receptionist who was reaching for the phone, sending another blast at the poor girl to knock her out, the chair she was sat in spinning around slowly.

Jen made her way over to the elevator, pressing the button and walking in. She pressed the button for the top floor, knowing she would be stopped along the way.

New Athens NC, May 2, 11 AM

Yellow Jacket was doing a patrol of the city and on the lookout for any suspicious activity, some new problem always seemed to pop up in this city and it was his job to solve it. With there being other costumed heroes guarding the New Athens, Yellow Jacket's job wasn't insanely difficult, but it still took a good amount of work and skill to avoid being one of the heroes that bit the dust do poor skills or bad training.

While he was flying over one of the slums of the city, some familiar scent caught Stuart's attention and then he heard his named called from the ground below. Looking towards the source of the voice, Stuart recognized the large lumberjack-looking man otherwise known as Paul Bunyan, his axe was also a bit of a give away as well. Looking at the surrounding area, Stuart noticed the gang war going on and decided that it would be best to have two heroes deal with these thugs than one.

He didn't like the man calling him Yellow Bee, a wasp was a different type of insect, but Stuart would have to correct him later, right now it was time to take some scumbags down before they killed people with their stupid war. He watched as the hulking man charged at the thugs head on and Stuart rolled his eyes at the simplicity of the hero's methods. Yellow Jacket went into an extremely fast dive picking up speed with every second and on a course directly for the criminals. First he had to disarm or incapacitate the thugs carrying fire arms before their got someone killed, and Stuart proceeded to fire off his sting bolts, which upon impact would cause great pain and stun an enemy. He aimed them directly at the scumbags with guns particularly their weapon arms.

Unlike most flyers, Stuart's incredible aerial maneuverability allowed him to pull out of the sharp dive and with his incredible momentum he kicked out with both of his feet while in mid-air and landed two powerful blows on two thugs standing side by side. The hit sent them flying backwards and Yellow Jacket did a back-flip in the air before landing gracefully on the ground with his right knee and fist on the ground in a power pose. His 360 degree field of vision allowed him to almost instantly size up number of his and Paul's foes, and he liked the odds.

With some of the gunmen stunned by his Sting Bolts, Yellow Jacket quickly proceeded to land fast strikes on several different thugs. His main focus was on taking down the gunmen first since they posed the most threat to civilians and him as well. He made Stingers grow out of his knuckles and made his enemies scream in agony at the awful feeling of being stung by his barbs.

"I hope I'm interrupting your dishing out of justice Paul, but I don't mind a challenge and two heroes are better than one as they" he said to the Maker of America as he kicked several teeth of a thug's mouth and then shot a stinger right into a enemy's shoulder causing him to drop his gun out of sheer pain. This fight was a good chance to develop his martial art a bit and The Way of The Yellow Jacket was great for combating multiple foes.

@Cuccoruler

---

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The briefing room was full of young men and women dressed in pressed black and white suits, ties, and skirts. There were ten S.T.R.I.K.E. operatives each—five of the best young men and women working for the organization. They were seated in comfy, black leather chairs around a narrow elliptical wooden table. They chatted leisurely among themselves until their conversations were interrupted by a grizzly man who strode into the room. All the agents fell silent and abruptly stood from their seats out of respect. The man merely waved a dismissive hand at them as the agents retook their seats.

The man who stood at the head of the table hadn’t been wearing a fancy-smancy black and white suit as the rest of them. He was wearing half of a suit with a white shirt, light-blue tie, and khaki pants. His short, military-cut hair was a mixture of blonde—the color that once occupied his head in his youth—and white—alas his age was catching on. The long-time veteran’s jaw was covered in stubble as he completed his tireless appearance with a cup of coffee. The man’s name was Bill Hadley, and despite his appearance, he was the most respected man in the agency behind the S.T.R.I.K.E. Force Director.

“Mornin’ boys and girls, did everyone get their Silver Dollar (Starbucks) coffee and their bagels?” he asked facetiously.

The agents remained silent, giving him expectant stares. Bill’s blue eyes rose from his coffee to return the empty stare.

“Jesus Christ, agents. What did I walk in on, Stacy’s mom?”

The agents chuckled softly, lightening the mood a little.

Setting down his coffee, Bill sighed, which hadn’t been a sound the agents wanted to hear.

“All right; I won’t pull yer legs anymore. Let’s just get straight to the point. G. I. Joe has a field test this mornin’ and y’all were selected to act as Op4 (Military term basically means “Opposing Force”).”

Several moans chorused throughout the brief and a forehead struck the table. Bill waved his hand dismissively again.

“I know, I know, it sucks, but everythin’ you do for S.T.R.I.K.E. is appreciated. Y’all have free health insurance and you get paid more than any federal agent workin’ for someone else.”

One of the female agents chimed in with a question: “So, what are we supposed to do? Walk around with rubber duckies (Army term for “water guns”) and shout ‘bang,’ ‘bang?’”

“No; this ain’t gonna be like anythin’ you’ve ever experienced before. All y’all will be given actual weapons and you’ll be expected to try and kill him to the best of yer ability, but he is not allowed to kill you in return.”

“What the!?” an agent exclaimed before he grasped his forehead as though the instructions he heard had given him a migraine “You want us to try and kill Soldier of Fortune?”

Bill narrowed his eyes at the agent. “What’s so hard to understand, son?”

“But…well…It just doesn’t make sense! Aren’t we supposed to be the good guys?”

“We are the good guys, son. As I said before this is training. We gathered you ten here because y’all are the best this agency gotsta’ offer. The Director is gonna be watchin’ the whole thing so you best not hold back.”

“But what if we actually kill him?”

Bill frowned. “I don’t doubt y’alls skill, but this ain’t his first test run, and I know what I’ve seen’im do. Y’all won’t be able to kill’im, but we hope he won’t kill y’all. Y’all are about to enter some guy’s imagination and you ain’t comin’ out of it until it’s all over. So don’t hold back. If any of you attempt to hold back, you’ll be demoted.”

The eyes of the S.T.R.I.K.E. Force agents were wide with shock and tension.

“Shit,” an agent cursed under his breath.

Bill grabbed up his coffee and raised it up to the agents in cheers. “See y’all in the simulation room. Instructions are bein’ transferred to yer PDAs as we speak. We’re givin’em to you now because if we gave’em to you beforehand, some of y’all would chicken out or make excuses for not showin’ up. So I’ll see y’all down there. Take plenty of Tylenol before you come.”

The Assistant Director left the room in dreaded contemplative silence a complete contrast from what it had been minutes before.

May 2nd, Night

Gunrat clamoured to her feet with a raspy groan.

"Ahhh, ta-ma-de." she hissed to herself, as she began checking her limbs for damage.

"Ma'am! What's your status?" her earpiece chirped.

"Minor injuries, Zhang. Pursuit is still hot. Where is my damn knife?", Xiu barked authoritatively.

"Still within the same block, ma'am. Signal's weak, so I'm guessing it's indoors." Zhang explained.

"Ngh, good" Xiu commented, walking to the building's edge to look down the fire escape. Splatters of blood decorated the railings, but there was no sign of the Ghoul. "How far out is Jiao now?"

"E-minus fifteen minutes, ma'am."

"Tell him to move his ass," she commanded, "I'm gonna need some painkillers before this fight is over."

"Yes ma'am."

"Out!"

".... Out, ma'am."

Gunrat walked back to the scene of the fight in order to grab her missing revolver. The floor was covered with a great deal of blood, and it certainly wasn't hers. The Ghoul seemed unfazed, but Xiu was familiar enough with the creature to know that it would be moving much slower after sustaining so much damage. The goal now, was to find the creature's hiding spot, where it would be attempting to regenerate. This was the hunting opportunity she'd been waiting for, where she could track it while it was injured and cornered.

Hopping over the ledge, and making her way down the fire escape, she kept her eyes wide open, looking for possible exit-points. There was a minor trail of blood leading down the alley, but that could have been made when the creature first approached. No, Xiu wanted something a bit messier. Another flight down the fire escape, there it was. The window was bashed it, large shards of glass still hanging from the frame, and the blood droplets were far more numerous. Using one of her pistols to clear out the remaining shards of glass, she leapt through, into a dark, spacious apartment.

Holding her pistols in front of her, ready to fire, she slowly made her way further inside. The Ghoul had made a considerable mess, shambling and scratching her way in. All Xiu had to do was follow the trail. Down a hallway, to the left, into the kitchen......

There! There was her knife, laying on the kitchen counter-top, neatly placed next to the rest of the kitchen knives.

"The hell is wrong with this thing?", Gunrat thought to herself. "A joke? Maybe that last shot finally scrambled its brain."

Regardless, Xiu made her way up to the counter, and reclaimed her knife. Wiping the blade off, she took another glance around, for any sign of her prey. Nothing....

"Wo-cao", she grumbled under her breath.

When Yellow Jacket came down to help him Paul gave a big toothy grin to the boy. "Always on time! Just like a worker bee!" Paul said with a smile on his face. He then turned towards a few of the gang members starting run away. "Hope you don't mind going after the stragglers, you know I'm not as fast you." Paul added before stepping infront of Yellow Jacket all of a sudden when a gun was fired at him. Paul was able to stop the bullet from hitting Yellow Jacket. "Be sure to keep watch though." Paul added.

With his last comment Paul started to run at a few of the gang members and was able to pull a move on them where he put an arm on each of their necks before slamming them into the concrete. One thing that Paul had learned over the years of him simply being a ghost was wrestling. And it was one of his favorite sports, though boxing and curling had gotten his attention as well.

Paul then turned to got after another one of the braver gang members. "Come here boy! I wanna show you this new move I've learned!" Paul yelled out to the gang member who started to panic then started to run away after dropping his gun. This was where Paul had a rather large flaw. He was slow, and his heavy body didn't help much either with his speed. There were about five other gang members trying to run away now. Some of them firing backwards as they ran though trying to escape. It was about the last five who were trying to escape now as well.

@weird tales

Universal Avenue

“If you attempt to do anything to damage the image of Kane Corporation in the eyes of the public then we are at liberty to shut down your prosthesis to prevent further harm. If you attempt to leave the boundaries of New Athens without approval, your prosthesis will be shut down to prevent theft of property. If you choose to continue to act unaccordingly your employment may be terminated and your prosthesis will be confiscated. Do you understand?” Yeah, the setup was simple enough. Maria plays the Girl Scout for Mister Kane and keeps the ability to locomote as a reward; whoopie. She didn’t need the rulebook read out to her by this bitch- or Violetta as Darius called her, the woman that was to be Marionette’s “handler”. Hell, if so much wasn’t at stake she’d already have leapt across the limousine and had her metal digits wrapped around Violetta’s pretty little throat. She was delicate, it would be easy. However, it wasn’t worth it. Not yet anyway. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Good, we shouldn’t have any problems then.” From her side the woman pulled a pistol, small, plain, looked to be a nine millimeter, and the way she held it you could tell she’d never shot the thing. It interestingly wasn’t intended for her use as it were, Violetta handed the firearm to Marionette who couldn't help but have a grin on her face as she thought of all the different things she could do with it. “You know I could…” Her opposite just snickered to herself at the implication. Not that she found it funny, but more absurd than anything. “What, shoot me Miss Legrand? Yes, I’m sure you could, but then you’d have A.E.B.L after you for murder of a fellow employee; we wouldn’t want that would we?”

A.E.B.L? That rumor that Darius was creating a security force out of a private military firm armed with the most advanced technology and weaponry money could buy? There was no way what Violetta suggested could be true. “A.E.B.L doesn’t exist. There’s no way Kane could have pulled that disaster together.” The car stopped with the two locked in each other's vision, only breaking once the driver had opened the rear door and motioned for Marionette to exit. “The advanced electronic battle legion is real miss Legrand. And we will be watching.”

Reaching back to her side, Violetta yet again pulled out an object, this time, a smartphone. “We’ll use this to contact you whenever we have a job prepared. Inside you’ll find the address to the apartment Kane Corporation is providing you to stay in. Also, Mister Kane expects you to come into our labs for a monthly evaluation; you’ll also find the scheduled dates for those in that phone.” Marionette tensed up at the thought of “evaluation”. She wasn’t in the best condition the last time Kane Corp. ran tests; she hoped these would be different. “Otherwise, you’re free to do what you please here in New Athens.”

Finally, freedom. The girl didn’t take her time getting out of the car, and she never wanted to see it or the woman inside again. However, before she could make it to the sidewalk Violetta made Maria glance back around; not through force, but by what she said. “Marionette, Mister Kane can make life under his employ very lucrative for you. Trust me; he can get you things you wouldn’t believe. Money, power, maybe even information? At least think about it before you destroy that cell phone and try running away, hm?” Marionette’s eyes narrowed, how could she have known that she was planning on doing that?

They didn't wait for a reply and the car pulled away leaving Marionette dumbfounded. She stared at the phone for a moment in contemplation and then stuffed it in her pocket. This next week was going to be rough, she could tell. "Yeah, we'll see."

Stuart nodded when Paul gave him his instructions, but before he took off after the fleeing criminals, he spoke a little sternly to Paul Bunyan, "I am not a bee, Yellow Jackets are wasps."

And with those words, Yellow Jack took off at high speed towards the running thugs and drop-kicked the leading coward causing the poor man to fall flat on his face. He then quickly spun around and connected his foot with next man's skull nailing him with a powerful spinning roundhouse kick. One thug managed to pull out a gun and graze Stuart's should with a shot before he retaliated by shooting three Sting Bolts into the thug's weapon arm. The sheer pain of Stuart's stunning attack caused the man to drop his weapon and Stuart wasted no time in propelling himself at incredible speeds and close lining his attacker.

Stuart then created two Sting Blades, which he duel wielded and took on a fencing stance as he faced the scumbags in front of him. He could see the looks of fear on their faces and he understood that, they should be afraid. Still their fearful faces didn't stop them from attacking him and Stuart responded in kind. He stabbed one in the leg, making sure to miss arteries, but a stab from his Sting Blade was still incredibly painful, a lot more painful than a stab from a knife.

The criminal fell on his back in agony and Stuart quickly kicked him on the head to knock him out. Using the momentum he built up from the kick, Stuart spun around and stabbed another thug in the bicep, forcing him to drop his knife that he had planned to stab Stuart with. Stuart then slammed his knee into the scumbag's face and knocked the wind out of him with a strong side-kick to the gut. He then grabbed onto the shoulder of the last thug that tried to flee from him and Paul, and quickly lifted up into the air. Stuart then proceeded to slam him repeatedly against the wall of buildings before slamming him back down onto the ground.

"When you mess with a wasp, you get stung" he said to his unconscious little friend. He wondered how his new teammate was doing, Stuart hoped that he was having fun.

@Cuccoruler

As people went about their day getting from one place to another in the normal dog-eat-dog world of man, Chok-Lad strode down the sewers at a fairly slow rate as he listened to some muffled tunes from his Walkman and patted his little Turtle on the shell who was perched atop his head. "Picasso." the beast said happily to his tiny companion who didn't give much of a response to the lumbering giant. Eventually he found his way to his home filled with various destroyed books, a flashlight and a small fish tank fitted for his turtle.

Carefully Chok-Lad picked up his small friend off his head and placed him in his bowl shaped home so that Chok-Lad could go out and get some food to eat. One wouldn't think that a huge pile of chocolate would need to eat but the Beast of the River felt hungry from time to time and acted accordingly. Chok-Lad ran down the sewer at a decent pace before stopping under a man-hole cover and firing up through it by contorting his body into a pillar. Chok-Lad regained his form outside the Daily grind, in the middle of the street and quickly looked around for his target. The Chocolate man hated coming above ground for a great many of reasons, one of which being cars which made a lot of noise when the Meats inside honk on the horn or when they crashed into something. Finally the demonic Chok-Lad found his target and lunged for it.

Chok-Lad crashed through the window of the local deli and began trashing the place as he scooped up various deli meats and began eating them as quickly as he could until his hunger subsided or one until one of those shooting Meats showed up. Things were going well for Chok-Lad as he filled up but today just seemed like it was going to be different for the Chocolate man, mostly because he had never hunted during the day. He had kept himself pretty secretive for quite a few years but today Chok-Lad just didn't feel like waiting until it was dark out.

May 3rd, 2:05 pm...

Arkylius walked out of a Silver Dollar Coffee spot on the corner of Universal avenue and Pine street. Tasting caffeine for the first time had the Atlantian's mind all over the place as the rush he now commanded was intense. Drinking fluids rather than living in the ocean and absorbing them would take some getting used to, but the liquids he now consumed were anything but regular salt water. Some time later the young man felt a rumbling in his stomach and he knew he needed to eat something, so he approached a hot dog vendor and asked...

"What is that incredible odor?" Ark asked wide eyed looking at the condiments and food that the over weight vendor handed to another customer.

"Probably smelling the chili, kid. It's my own recipe and the reason I can make enough greenbacks to survive on..." the man responded.

"I would love to try one of these 'hot dogs' but I'm afraid I don't have any greenbacks. Will this suffice?" Ark replied putting down three large gold coins that had the vendor's eyes growing wide now as well.

"You ever eat a hot dog, kid?" the vendor asked taking the coins.

"I have not..." Ark replied.

"Let me make you one how I like to eat them with chili, mustard, ketchup, and a little relish," the vendor began saying, "Here ya go kid. Can't believe you ain't never had a 'dog before..."

The young Atlantian took a bite and was amazed at the flavor of surface dweller food.

"I'm not from around here, I only recently picked up your lang age." Ark continued carrying on a conversation with the vendor while eating the hot dog.

In the distance on a rooftop a mercenary was scoping a target when he caught the dopey young man paying for a hot dog with what appeared to be gold coins from a lost city.

"Interesting..." thought the Reaper as he continued moving down the street with his scope looking for his mark.

Across town...

Shayd the Indestructible Man moved up the Kirby River towards Westman Chemical. A load of materials just came in on the train, and something on it had the interest of the mammoth of a man.

The hidden mountain fortress of STRIKE...

"He's on the move, sir. Probably targeting something or someone on the train entering Westman Chemical. Should we send in a team?" asked a young man in a tucked in white dress shirt with military looking patches and pins on it.

"Negative. Shayd isn't as dumb as he looks, we need to know what sort of game he's playing." responded the Director of STRIKE, a man known as Gary Frank.



"We need to know more about this bastard so we can take him down once and for all. Westman is currently developing some new bio-weapons the military plans on using in case those aliens ever return to Earth... and we can't have him wrecking everything they've been working on..." he continued speaking to the young man at the computer.

~KL~

May 3rd, 2:00 pm

NABC Headquarters

Everything was going as planned. The elevator had been stopped three times, each time being opened to a set of security guards. Each time Jen had quickly dispatched of them, causing minimal bloodshed along the way. There had been a few shots fired off, only one grazing her shoulder, leaving a small red line which occasionally dripped a dot of blood. Jen ignored it. She was on the top floor now, letting out a small grunt as she punched the last guard into a wall, a trail of bodies behind her. She shoved the doors open, the heavy pieces of wood slamming against the wall with a loud thud. The man behind the desk let out a squeal, cowering down as the woman that had single handedly taken out his whole security team made her way towards him, her eyes cold and holding no remorse.

She grabbed him over the desk and pulled him up, staring him dead in the eyes.
"Johnathan Sterals?" She said in a calm and icy voice, betraying no emotion.
"Y-Yes?" He said quietly, trembling all over.
"Your company is responsible for funding a military research project. You're going to tell me who is in charge of it. Now," She said, a hint of threat creeping into her voice.
Johnathan's trembling increased tenfold.
"I can't, I'm sorry, I don't know," He said, blubbering as he started to cry, "Please don't hurt me!"
"What do you mean you don't know?" She said in an ominous tone, her grip tightening.
"I-I didn't know any of the details. I paid the government, and they distributed the funds, not me!"
Jen drew a fist back, her eyes narrowing.
"Too bad for you," She growled.
"Wait wait wait!" He said quickly, waving his hands, "I overheard something whilst I was arriving to a meeting."
"Overheard what?" She said, her fist still held up.
"Something to do with K. Konda? Kana? Yes, Kana. If you're looking for anything it'll be there," He said nodding his head frantically, "Now please let me go. I have kids."
Jen put her fist down, letting the man stand up straight. He brushed himself off slightly.
"Thank you," He said, "Who are you?"
"My name is Dissonance," She said, "And you're welcome."
She raised her hand, a look of fear passing over the mans face, before she shot out a blast, the force of it sending him flying backwards through the floor to ceiling window, a shattering sound in symphony with his scream as he fell to the streets below. Jen turned around and walked away, leaving nothing but an empty room.

By this time, Shinji has just finished his coffee and began to walk out the brista. He pushes the glass door open, looking down at the ground, and suddenly a roar of panic hits him. He quickly looks up, alert and awake (thank you coffee), and begins to assert the situation. People were running to the right of him, with some cars honking furiously, even having one flip over after a hard turn to get out of the way. The man then sees a trail of brown substance that leads into a deli store, where he can hear the faint mumbling of something devouring the meat from within. Whatever this thing was, it was hungry...

REALLY hungry...

There was no time to loose. No heroes seemed to be present at the time, so it seems he has to do something to stop that thing. Shinji goes into a nearby alley way, safe from the eyes of the public. He quickly takes out a small red and white cube from his backpack and presses a blue button on one of it's sides. The button beeps, and it then begins to unravel and expand, clenching onto Shinji's torso. In mere seconds, it was already beginning to spread to his arms, waist, legs, and feet, ending at the face. As the finishing touch, a mask forms on Shinji's face, which lights up in a very pale yellow as Shinji Yazaki turns into the famous Sentinel!

Sentinel turns to his right and makes a big leap onto the rooftops of a building, running quickly to the scene of the crime. After approaching the deli rooftop, he jumps off, facing the entrance of the shop, and lands on the ground with a thump, fist on the ground like a classic superhero pose. He gets up and looks at the monstrous blob that continues to eat the deli products.

"Lunchtime's over," he says as he stares at the blob, "Get back to where you belong."