Coile

The Silent Tempest hangs out, does missions and other nifty stuff tho right at the moment the organized part is in the air. We have at least three people missing, one defected, one's dead, no make it four missing atm, or maybe five... On top of which my computer situation makes it impossible for me to be online every night until I get a new laptop.

I come from SWG too, btw. Farstar. Good RP environment with nice game mechanics backing (emotes, moods, player houses). Too bad the game itself was shot to manal with NGE which as far as I am concerned stands for "Now Gaming Elsewhere".

(( IC for the Silent Tempest and the Fletched Alliance members. It is intended that this is a secured message thread available to persons in each team. All replies unless otherwise stated are IC open to everyone concerned.

Please don't take this as an absolute OOC truth. It is how Coile sees the situation. ))

To help get the coalition forged between our groups we need to get to know one another. I suggest a meeting sometime soon but even before it is good to know at least who is involved.

This is a listing of all persons related to the Silent Tempest. I would appreaciate a similar list about all Fletched Alliance members. Consider this my personal assessment. Not all entries contain the same type of information.

Coile
Real name: Andre Kraft
Date of birth: 2.8.1986
Identity: Not secret
Legal status: Citizen of USA with no criminal record
Place of birth: Andros City county, North Dakota
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: Andrea Kraft (sister), Zirgei Kraft (father), ND-x (registered maternal unit, no information on biological mother)
Base of operations: The Silent Tempest HQ, Paragon City
Current address: Nadia Forester's apartment on Talos Island
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: Founder and co-leader of the Silent Tempest.
Powers and training: Coile is a mutant who can blast at targets from range with energy bolts. Powers emerged six years ago. Directed training ever since. Flight capability manifested itself after arriving to Paragon City and currently includes the ability to fly a few nearby people as well.

Coila
Real name: Andrea Kraft
Age: 18
Identity: Not secret
Legal status: Citizen of USA with no criminal record
Place of birth: Andros City county, North Dakota
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: Andre Kraft (brother), Zirgei Kraft (father), ND-x (registered maternal unit, no information on biological mother)
Base of operations: The Silent Tempest HQ, Paragon City
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: Founder and co-leader of the Silent Tempest.
Powers and training: Energy blast, protective shielding that can be erected on others as well, flight. There was an incident which sort of affected her powers.

Kitia Shi'hardi
Real name: Kitia Shi’hardi
Age: 18
Identity: Not secret
Legal status: Citizen of USA with no criminal record
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: mother (deceased), father (deceased), Kitalia (twin sister, falsely presumed dead)
Base of operations: The Silent Tempest HQ, Paragon City
Current address: Unknown. Vanished.
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: Founder, healer
Powers and training: Formidable abilities in healing physical injuries, emphatic link to Tempest members with varying strength

Subaiku
Real name: Unknown
Base of operations: The Silent Tempest HQ, Paragon City
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: Founder, hunter, tracker
Powers and training: Good in hand to hand combat, can seemingly vanish and also leap great distances. She is the best tracker that we have.
Notes: Subaiku hunts alone a lot. Main targets seem to be Circle of Thorns.

ND-3 / ND-4
Model name: ND-4
Shell version: 4
Date of birth: N/A, earliest known record of an ND-unit dates back to two decades.
Processor/software version: N/A (Unknown)
Aliases: Nadia. 'Mom'
Base of operations: The Silent Tempest HQ, Paragon City, varies
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: ND operates mostly on her own
Powers and training: Abilities vary greatly from built to built and depends on several operation exo-skeletons.
Notes: Mom went through two complete chassis overhauls in a span of three months. That is extraordinary and unprecedented. I have no idea when our father will construct ND model 5.

Sword of Truth
Real name: Nadia Forester
Age: 26
Legal status: Citizen of USA with no criminal record, DECEASED
Occupation: Lawyer
Family: Mother and father who moved away from paragon City after the Rikti war, brother (deceased)
Home: Talos Island
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest, The Hero Corps
Position and rank: Sword of Truth was a valued and accomplished member.
Notes: Sword of Truth died on 23.6.2006 in an avalanche.

Steel Guard
Real name: Thomas Irons
Age: 31
Family: Both parents alive, no siblings
Home: Outside the city walls. Large home, lab in the basement.
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest, the Hero Corps
Position and rank: Technology expert
Powers and training: Steel Guard uses a combat armour that has varying ranged abilities, including flight

Azure Sting
Real Name: Ripmind
Powers and training: Mental assault. Could be she needs physical contact for this. Do NOT allow her to come at touch range! Just... I don’t want her to attack anyone else.
Notes: Azure Sting is an existing registered hero. However she never was a member of the Silent Tempest. A criminal known as Ripmind impersonated her, infiltrated the group and escaped. She is still at large. After the incident we have begun making extensive background checks on recruits and affiliates.

Rakila
Real name: Rakila Mohkavee
Age: 14
Family: Parents, three brothers
Home: The Silent Tempest HQ
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: Student of Coile, helps to maintain technical things under the tutelage of Steel Guard
Powers and training: Possible superhuman abilities are yet to be determined. Rakila has started an extensive martial arts training.

Phaine
Real name: Inhilde Faile
Age: 17
Family: Parents, three brothers
Home: The Silent Tempest HQ
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: Student of Coile, no official connection to Silent Tempest
Powers and training: Telepathic blast.
Notes: Inhilde is wanted for questioning regarding the death of her parents. A lesson with me went wrong and as a result she left for Rogue Isles. She is now wanted also by Longbow. If you happen to meet her the instructions are clear – ask her politely to follow and bring her to me. Not to Longbow. I know what’s the right thing to do and apprehending her is not it. I can solve it with her but mustn’t be mistakes about it.

Phiseeque
Real name: Phiseeque
Aliases: Phi
Age: 15
Family: father works as a police in Steel Canyon
Home: Steel Canyon
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: Student of Coile
Powers and training: Telepathy

Kitalia
Real name: Kitalia Shi’hardi
Age: 17
Family: Kitia (twin sister)
Home: The Silent Tempest HQ
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: recent recruit
Powers and training: Kitalia has undergone the same form of cat mutation as her twin, only years earlier. Kitalia maintains an emphatic link to Kitia and fills Kitia's role as a healer. I expect their powers to resemble one another quite a lot seeing both mutations look similar.

Nucliscious
Real name: Dawn Perez
Age: 28
Family: None surviving
Home: Paragon City
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: recent recruit, while she’s not a student as such I’ve promised to help obtain a better control with her powers.
Powers and training: Some healing abilities and she can release radiation.

Star Crusader
Real name: impossible to pronounce correctly in human way, closest equivalent is Phalxan.
Aliases: Paul, Pierre, Star, Xan
Age: unknown
Family: unknown
Home: A solar system 1200 lightyears away.
Group affiliation: The Silent Tempest
Position and rank: recent recruit
Powers and training: Star Crusader can raise a force field that can take a lot of damage.
Notes: Xan has come to Earth to help combat the Rikti. That matches with a personal mission of mine.

Very good action. I had no trouble at all seeing the surroundings and the hunters trying to catch their prey. There wasn't too much stuff in the way so the story flowed nicely. What I found wonderful was the sense of the thrill of the hunt.

Three technicalities that I spotted:

- It's better to write numbers in letters, mostly. 2 -> two
- They don't use commas that much in English. I know that in Finnish I'd use commas to pace the structure of the sentence but in English that is not done to nearly that extent si I have the exact same problem. The reader is expected to pause the flow of the sentence without external cues.
- In one paragraph you started to refer the creature as a "he" while it previously had been an "it". I didn't off the cuff see any clear reason for this.

By the way, short as the piece was your characters already seemed like people, not just cardboard heroes. I look forward to reading more about them.

Oh, one special commendation - there was no infodumping. All that we learned was incorporated into the story neatly. It all came natural.

Keep up the good work, mate!

What do you like to see in a piece of fan fiction?

When I read something I want to be entertained. I want it to be worth my while. It can be comedy, drama, action – pretty much anything as long as it’s done with quality and good writing skills.

What puts you off reading the stories published on the boards?

Bad formatting is the first indication that it might not be good. Grammar should be at least in the ballpark. Likewise with spelling. Capital letters, sensible sentences. If I get a feeling, correct or not, that the writer didn’t care about the text enough to appeal to readers the non-caring is induced to me too. If they can’t be bothered to spend their time making their stories look good, I won’t be bothered to read them.

Tragically also length is an issue. I don’t have all that much time to just read so I risk it easier with shorter stories. The tragedy lies in that I expect most people to behave in similar manner at least to an extent and I can write damn long pieces myself.

One tip is to make the first paragraph or first sentence so exceptionally good that the reader’s interest is caught. Publishing houses have slush piles where all submissions end up. Some poor soul checks them all out but as they can’t read it all they only read the beginning. If the first paragraph or two don’t say “I’m really really worth reading the whole first page!” the submission gets tossed out. Even a good story can be a miss if the beginning doesn’t make the reader want to read it all.

What types of story do you like and is there a specific genre that you feel fits well within the COH/COV universe?

CoX is about superheroes but as comic books show it’s not all about battling the villains. What for me makes it an interesting story is an in-depth protagonist. The lead character(s) have to have multiple sides to them to be interesting. Multifaceted personalities can yield some good drama. That drama can be embedded into a tale about an epic fight against the adversaries. If I read something about the good guys going after the bad guys I’d like to know what motivates them all. Why exactly are they doing it?

What mistakes do you think have been made in the past (no names please, unless it's your own )?

It depends on the goal. It’s possible to write an origin story that’s no story at all, more like an infodump about the situation and powers explained. If the reader is after a story arc and doesn’t find it it can be said to be a mistake. Bad formatting with [censored] spelling and grammar I’ve also seen.

If the story was provided as a PDF (so that formatting could be maintained like a proper book) would you see that as a benefit or would it put you off reading the story?

If it was an option , an alternative, it would be good! I could choose to read it on the forum, or get the pdf, print it and read at home while slacking off on the sofa.

Do you prefer serialisations or one self-contained story, no matter the length?

Both work. Even if they are one-shots about the same character I’d like to see the connection to previous stories. The situations affect the character in question. I don’t mean any specific references to past events unless they fall into place seamlessly. It’s mostly inside my own head.

Given that we are concerned with writing for the COH/COV universe, how close to the action in game do you expect a story to be?

The story can be a depiction of an In-Game mission, or pure dialogue of two characters sitting in a café and arguing about the true nature of the multiverse. For me it’s about the characters, not the world. The world is what happens to the characters.

How much artistic leeway do you, as a reader, allow the writer to have before you give up on a story?
For example: A story has Statesman in and reveals something about him that is not mentioned anywhere else, nor is likely to be again.

To be honest I find it in most cases boring if established heroes are used. Of course there can be a very plausible reason but by my experience all the people who served under Captain Kirk or get their orders directly from Darth Vader use the big names only because they haven’t stopped to think about the alternatives. Usually using especially that big name is not crucial to the story and could be replaced by someone not of such high standing. Chances are the kahunas are used to just bring glory to the protagonist.

Adding elements to said recognized heroes is one step further to the land of improbabilities. It gets easier for the suspension of disbelief to fail and the story has to be damn good to work with such elements. Unfortunately that oh so rarely is the case.

(( As this story is across this thread in three pieces I compiled it into one whole in the Creative section. If you have anything to say about the story please reply to it in Creative and tell what you thought of it, and especially why. I'm interested to know what was seen as good and what clearly needed improvement.

CLICKY to the story in Creative. ))

In the comics the interesting conflict rarely comes from the powers. It's always people opposing one another for some reason. The powers are either inconsequential or merely secondary to the conflict.

If you're looking for a challenge consider what is your hero's weak point and give your villain an exploit. If hero isn't ranged, make the villain that. If the hero has only super speed, give the villain the ability to strike from high. And so on.

(( IC to Silent Tempest (including new recruits) and Ghost Tiger Investigations ))

Silent Tempest status report 28.6.2006

New members

Me and Coila talked and decided to accept three new members into the Silent Tempest. Nucliscious, Kitalia and Star Crusader. All three handled themselves well in a combat situation, seemed fine during the brief interview and their Hero Corps background checks show green. However, that's not good enough. I want a more thorough check done by GTI. Pyranha, this is your ballpark. Coila already commissioned one on Kitalia, now please add Nucliscious to your list. Star Crusader too if you happen to have interstellar contacts.

The new people will have an access to past reports but not yet into the classified sections. Team uniforms should be available today along with communications gear. Tune up on the Tempest frequency.

Inhilde

I met Phaine again last night. It wasn't a clear victory but it doesn't feel like such a defeat either. She's going to stay with Echo and her group. However there's still a bond between us. She is my student and I'm her teacher. She will return one day. I'll see that she does. She'll of course have to face the consequences of her actions but I'll be there to help her through. I'm not giving up on her.

Kitia

Kitalia says that Kitia is alive but something's amiss. She may have gone feral. Kitalia still thinks she's fine for now. I'll take her insight for an action plan for the time being.

The Fletched Alliance

Me and Coila met with Akkarin and Alfred Bester. Alfred can be considered to be an advisor and is together with a woman named Kitmarch, nicknamed Kit. I can see the misunderstandings taking place already... Seconds in the chain of command are Kathena, Veskit and Luminous Phoenix. Steel Guard called them advisors and Alfred a consul. Lets use the terms they themselves use.

They seem eager to form a strong bond with us. In principle that's good. Allies is what we need. However this is no rush job. If we hook up with them in a major way we'll go up in the league. Our targets are mostly street thugs, with Requiem being the exception, but even he is only a man. These guys have taken on Satan. In Hell. I don't know if it was a Satan or the Satan but maybe that doesn't matter. That's the level they play at. While we would gain very powerful allies who could solve some of our cases with ease we'd also bring on us enemies we might not be capable of dealing with.

All that and I want a check made on each member. Pyranha, can you do twenty three on top of new Tempest recruits?

I'm positive about this but I want certainties. A possible rogue member we can deal with, it's an internal issue. Making and breaking alliances is also about the public image. We can't make mistakes there.

Pyranha, it would make sense if Tempest allies worked together as well. If we end up hooking up with these guys, do you think you could prod Zania to talk with them as well? Where is she anyway? I haven't heard from her in ages.

(( IC for Silent Tempest and Ghost Tiger Investigations ))

Silent Tempest status report 27.6.2006

Phaine

I met Phaine last night in Pocket D. She goes by her actual name now. Inhilde. She has gone to Rogue Isles. Remember that succubus, Echo? Inhilde thinks her a friend. She kills for Echo. Kills. Pocket D is off-limits but if I see her elsewhere I'll take her in. No one escapes justice. Not even a student of mine. That being said I still consider her my student. I'm not giving up on her. She was worried that she'd damaged me permanently. She has a conscience but she's lost. She can be saved. Somehow I'll do that, and train her like I promised.

Nucliscious

Last night Hero Corps sent to our strike team an addition to tend to the possible damage sustained during the mission.Her codename is Nucliscious, tho I call her Dawn. Easier. She's even more rookie than me and Coila. She didn't know Family, for example. When I took her for a flight to our mission location she actually kept up. She faced a Council warwolf and despite being shaken did her job on the spot. In short I want her in Tempest. Check her out in the coming days and I'm running a background check on her. Unless there're objections I'll give her our broadcast frequency so she can participate easier on possible missions.

Akkarin and Fletched Alliance

I talked to Akkarin last night briefly and confronted him about his intentions. He confirmed he was looking for serious allies. So, it's not a theory any more. It's on the table and we have to react. I was supposed to talk to the man last night more about this but my run-in with Phaine left me a bit stunned. I'll contact him tonight. Whatever we do we'll do it cautiously. I want checks run on all of them before we commit to anything. I think we all agree that Azure Sting taught us a valuable lesson about this. Trust no one at face value alone. Thank the sky goddess Steel Guard was one of the good guys.

Requiem

Our mission last night wasn't a complete success. The man we were after gave us a slip. He was standing right next to a teleport and stepped through the second he got a whiff of things cooking. Personally I could have done better. Aerial attacks. I'm calling for a training session on the Arena this week.

Rikti

Apparently Coila has thrown a weird blue-skinned alien man my way. Thanks sis. He's looking to fight the Rikti. That's good enough in my book. He'll provide me with information about them. I've wanted a piece of them ever since the war. Sword had a grudge against them too. Now it looks like my chances at striking against them increase. If he isn't single-mindedly targeting only Rikti and he checks out in action he might make an addition too. We'll see. Which brings me to the last item.

Decline

People, we're taking a beating. Sword is dead. Phaine defected. Kitia is missing. Mom is rarely ever around and is again out of town. Our numbers are thinning and we botch jobs. Coila was abducted straight from Galaxy Girl statue without people so much as noticing! We targeted Crown for an operation and in less than three days they [censored] one of ours! Does that sound like professional to you? I mean on our side.

There's a homeguard group being pulled together to watch over the city while the big guns go dimension hopping. Consider signing up. Or get onboard one of those actual strike missions like Coila did, and before that Sword and Subaiku. We need to move, the targets won't just come to us, or if they do we'll just get smacked around.

I want allies and I want new blood. We used to be a force. Now we're just sitting put and taking hits.If I don't hear opinions I'll start assuming there aren't any and just start making choices. First of all I'll look into the Fletched Alliance myself and see if they're the right kind. Then I'm inclined to sign up at least Dawn and Kitalia into the team. Maybe also that alien hunter if he has what it takes.

C'mon people, I'm tired of losing and taking losses all the time. Aren't you? Let's pull our act together. Prove me that this is just our team slogan put in action. Silence before the storm.

(( IC for Silent Tempest and Ghost Tiger Investigations ))

Silent Tempest status report 26.6.2006

It's been over a week since the last report. A lot of things have happened. The most notable is the passing of the Sword of Truth.

Sword of Truth

I'm going to call her Nadia for most times now. Don't get confused even if me and Coila call our mom Nadia too, for her built code ND-x. I went with Nadia to Tien Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan to test my powers. We climbed Khan Tengri which is 7010 meters high. From there we flew up a few more kilometers. On our way down we came across a Requiem watch post. They knocked me down and her out. I managed to fight back and invaded their hidden post. There was a trapdoor on the floor but it was boobytrapped.

The explosion caused an avalanche that swept Nadia away. I spent a lot of time searching for her. I couldn't fly at the time so going to get help wasn't an option. When I could I returned to base camp and contacted Hero Corps. They sent their searchers and Kitia through a teleport to look for her. By that time it was already too late. We crisscrossed over the area for three hours but Kitia didn't sense Nadia. As said, she was dead by then. Her body is still somewhere there under the masses of snow. Hero Corps spent two days searching for it and also investigating the Requiem activity in the area. The shaft from the post was caved in as intended. Whatever they found or not they have relayed directly to Doctor Temporis.

Mom went to look for Nadia's body. And also for Kitia, who has apparently also gone missing.

Hero Corps have informed Nadia's law firm. I visited her parents personally. I don't know the arrangements about her apartment. I will keep it up for now.

We held our own memorial already. There's going to be a proper funeral later. I will talk to her parents about that. It might take a long time for the government to declare her dead unless her body is found.

ND-4

I met mom again today. She has undergone a complete chassis overhaul. Her model is now ND-4 and she is very human looking. First such model that father has created to my knowledge. She has been doing some tasks that father gives to her. Now she is at Khan Tengri and said she wouldn't come back until Nadia's body was found. The devastation was enormous. Even if she requires no sleep and temperature is not an issue it can take a long time.

Kitalia and Kitia

In Sword's memorial Steel Guard told us about a girl who looked like Kitia. It seems very likely that the girl in question is Kitalia, Kitia's twin sister who was thought dead along with their mother. It was after that that Kitia moved from desert to next to us. Almost ten years ago. Kitalia has also undergone the same mutation that happened to Kitia recently. She is a cat-like being. Apparently she has worked for Hero Corps for years now.

Kitalia says that she stopped sensing Kitia yesterday. Hero Corps personnel thought she had left for home. Now Kitia has gone missing. Mom is looking for her but I think Kitia just wanted some time off and has somehow masked herself from Kitalia. Unless something alarming comes up I don't see a real cause for worrying just yet.

Coila will call for a background check on Kitalia from Pyranha. She's done good job on those in the past.

Coila

During my absence Coila was abducted right in the middle of Galaxy City by Crown, taken somewhere, the Vahzilok-based virus that she had was removed, she woke up, found the real Azure Sting, busted both of them out and made their way back to Paragon City from Bloody Bay. And there isn't a single report about any of this in our grid. Why?

Crown

There was a huge war effort building at the time I took the time out. What are the current plans? I want Ripmind out of business.

Requiem

He's our top priority. Concentrate on his operations. We don't play at the dimension hopping level like some heavy hitters but when we hit, we too hit hard. Pyranha said she had a lead on one operation and promised to take me along.

Fletched Alliance

Steel Guard provided a report but that's not all that I wanted. I want us to mingle. If we're considering allying us with them I want to know what they are like as persons, so go and mingle. Tug their sleeve and talk. I want to know what sort of people they are. I met Alfred Bester last night and he seemed like a nice guy, eager to help. Deep, too. Now, get to it.

TO: Doctor Temporis
From: Coile, the Silent Tempest
Time: 24.6.2006 09:58
Subject: Encounter with Requiem forces

While climbing a mountain called Khan Tengri in Kyrghyzstan we came across a watch post high on the mountain. It had two Requiem soldiers in it. There was a hatch on the floor but opening it triggered a bomb. The shaft below must have caved in. I don't know what is below the ground.

The Sword of Truth is dead. She perished in the ensuing avalanche. I searched for her for quite some time before contacting Hero Corps. They brought searchers as well as our team mate Kitia Shi'hardi on the scene. Kitia has a strong emphatic link to Sword and despite a hours long search she was not able to sense her. Nadia Forester is gone.

There is some sort of Requiem operation in progress there. When the time comes to strike at it I want to be in it.

Bringing Requiem down is a priority to the Silent Tempest.

(This story is preceeded by and linked to A for Android: Pantheon of Beauty)

A for Android: Touch the Sky

Heroes present: Coile (Andre), the Sword of Truth (Nadia)
Time: 2 am, 18.6.2006 (US East Coast) – 11 am local time
Location: on a plane to Biškek, Kyrgyzstan

Andre kept his gaze steady. Nadia was breathing evenly with her eyes closed. Andre was glad that she was finally sleeping. With all the refuels and the storm front over Austria this was stretching to be a twelve hour flight. In half an hour they would be in Kyrgyzstan’s capitol Biškek. The connecting flight to Karakol would leave in an hour after that. Then there would be a helicopter ride to Karakara which was the permanent base camp where there was a canteen, a café and a sauna. By the end of the trip there they would both be beat from all the traveling. Still he himself refused to sleep.

It wasn’t that he was standing vigil over Nadia. They were in an airplane and just sitting awake would benefit her in no possible way. He didn’t dare to close his eyes because he was afraid. Andre brushed the sweat off from his forehead and bald head with one motion of his hand. When he closed his eyes he saw fingers, fingers that were freezing cold but still burned. The touch of the fake Azure Sting.

He almost let out a shout and recoiled from the memory. Tears were flooding his eyes again and he bent forward almost doubling over. Luckily no stewardesses were near and nearby passengers were all sleeping. He wanted to wake Nadia up so badly but she had earned her brief rest. She had comforted him once already during this flight. He merely put his hand gently on Nadia’s hand and was engulfed by the anxiety that Ripmind had uprooted.

Past the swirling turmoil regret, shame and repent pushed a blue flower. Andre tried to grasp the image but it was elusive, more an idea of a flower than a real image.

When he next was aware of his surroundings they were starting the descent to the airport.

Time: 4 pm, 18.6.2006
Location: base camp on Karakara, a canteen

Nadia and Andre carried their steaming bowls to the table and sat down. Outside it was raining heavily. Lightning cracked right across the sky with the bellowing thunder following after almost immediately. The storm was right upon them. Andre cleared his throat and dipped his spoon into the stew. ”So, how do you like it so far?”

Nadia blew air into her stew and smiled. ”A lot more green that I had thought.” Andre grimaces apologetically. ”I guess I didn’t tell you much about this trip in advance, did I?” Nadia kept smiling. ”No you didn’t, but it’s okay. Why don’t you tell me now?”

Andre’s panicky expression was softening already. ”Karakara camp is just two kilometers from sea level and flush with nature. Trees, meadows, horses roaming freely.” Andre let silence drift in for a moment. ”Of course you know all this since you’ve seen it youself already.” Nadia nodded encouragingly. ”Go on, Andre.”

”This is a staging area for expeditions around the whole area, Khan Tengri, Pobeda Peak, Bayncol peaks and others. We’ll spend a day or two acclimating around here. Let our bodies get used to the altitude and thinner atmosphere. So, after sleeping a little we’ll go for a walk and then retire for the night. Tomorrow I think we could go hiking further and maybe riding. Or flying.”

Nadia ate slowly since the food was still quite hot. She giggled a little at the thought. She liked it when Andre took her along to fly. ”I assume you want us to practice flying using the ropes and harnesses?” Andre nodded seriously. ”Yes. When we fly to Lord of the Spirits we could be hit by winds that are hurricane strength. My flight field extends only so far. I want to be certain that you keep close enough at all times. I have thought this trip through, Nadia.” Again she just smiled. ”Of course.”

Then they ate in silence until Nadia looked up as she remembered something. ”You told me to ask you about someone named Emmily when we are here.” Andre’s mood darkened immediately. Clear mental images began assaulting him, memories bashed at his senses and the overwhelming feeling of failure and inadequacy knotted his stomach tightly. He opened his mouth in an attempt to make those feelings words but they clogged in his throat. It felt like swelling shut. Andre forced a deep breath and shook his head. He wasn’t ready for this after all.

Nadia took his hand between hers firmly and spoke levelly. ”Andre, you don’t have to.” The hands were calming him, giving him something good to focus on. ”Later, okay? When we’re alone. It’s not that I don’t want to share it with you, but it’s hard. Not now.” Nadia observed the man closely for a moment. No crying this time, it seemed. ”Whenever you are ready.”

Just to steer the conversation elsewhere Andre brought up a subject that he had meant to ask about already. ”How did your mission against Requiem’s forces go?” Nadia left the table, brought back two cups of coffee and sat down again. ”We defeated his men and freed his captives. Two of us sustained injuries. Volt Master and Kata. She was hospitalized for her wounds. I thought of going to visit her after we return if she is still under care.”

Staring into his own cup of liquid offered no divine answers. ”I want to do my part. Protect the people the best that I can.” Again she merely smiled at him from beyond her darkened glasses that she had on still. Andre had never seen her without them or the visor, not even early in the morning. ”Finish your coffee, Andre. We still have to pitch the tents before we can get any sleep.”

Outside the rain had subsided. The ground was of course still wet but neither paid it much attention. The scenery around them was breathtaking and the air was so clean and fresh compared to Paragon City. Andre crouched by the heap that was their various gear and pulled out a large wrapped package. ”This is our tents.” Then they headed a bit further off to erect them.

The afternoon sun was greeting them as Andre opened the package and browsed through the contents. Then he frowned and picked up the instructions sheet. ”Problems?”, Nadia queried while she looked around. She loved this place already. Andre didn’t reply, only went through the contents again, this time with a frenzied look in his eyes. When he did that for the third time and looked really horrified Nadia became concerned. ”Andre?”

Andre almost jumped at the voice and looked up. He tried his best to look for the right way to express this. ”We have only one tent.” Nothing like blurting out the shocking truth at the unsuspecting victim. Tact or smarts had never been his strong points. Nadia looked at him not even remotely amused. ”What?”

He tried to shrink under the cold edge in the voice. ”I don’t think I ever mentioned to the camping store clerks that we wanted two separate tents. They only knew we were going together.” Nadia took her time digesting the situation. ”We are far from any stores, the helicopter will not return in days and we have only one tent. Am I supposed to sleep with you in that one tent?” Andre inhaled sharply. ”I can sleep outside!” Nadia shook her head. ”Here maybe, not when we go to the mountains.”

Slowly the situation sunk in with both. Like it or not, this was the reality and neither could do a thing to change it. In the face of a situation she would have no power over Nadia sighed. It couldn’t be that bad. Andre had behaved himself in the apartment. He wouldn’t get any funny ideas now only because they slept in the same confined environment. In their undies. She smiled to lighten to mood and said playfully, ”Maybe this is a conspiracy, Andre?”

The sheer terror on his face required no words to explain. Humour in these situations was wasted on him. He took everything so seriously. ”I know you didn’t plan this Andre. You are too much of a gentleman for it. Shall we get the tent ready? I am tired.” Andre mumbled something and started putting the tent together quickly. ”I hope we have at least two sleeping bags.”, remarked Nadia as she helped to hold the ropes.

Andre muttered a barely audible “yeah” and remembered what the clerk had said. How had he missed it then? The sleeping bags could be combined to make one big sleeping bag. This was one trivia that he decided to keep to himself.

Time: late morning of Friday, 23.6.2006
Location: Camp Three, Khan Tengri, altitude of 5900 meters

Nadia opened the tent’s sleeve just enough to get some idea what kind of weather it was outside. A gust of cold air hit her nose. At the height of almost six kilometers the air was quite thin and temperature freezing making it impractical to go outside without warm clothing. She considered her options carefully and sighed inaudibly. Again a matter she could not affect. Taking care not to make excessive noises she removed her top and gave her skin a quick sponge bath with a cloth and some water that had been snow the previous evening. Andre was breathing calmly not ten inches from her.

She was tired despite sleeping long and her head was aching. Andre had said to expect it. They had flown under their own power from Karakara Base Camp to Khan Tengri Base Camp, from two kilometers to four. That had taken all Monday. From there they had advanced to Camp Site One and then Two all the way up to five and half kilometers during the next two days. The goretex clothing had replaced their more casual wear to insulate against the dropping temperature and the thinning atmosphere was inducing altitude sickness, a common malice to mountaineers. They were packing extra oxygen just in case. The last ascent yesterday to Camp Site Three had been just four hundred meters.

Turning away from her slumbering companion she removed her glasses, washed her face and then put the glasses back on. She felt better but the headache was still bothering her. Briefly she rested her head to her hands and just looked at the man sleeping there. He appeared so serene and at peace. This was how she wanted him to be. Gone were the daily worries that were etching lines on his forehead. Gone was the deer-like fright at the approaching car lights look that he had sometimes, mostly around her. And most notably gone was the frequent terror and despair that Ripmind had bestowed upon him. Briefly she wondered what it must be like to have all the bad choices, mistakes, shameful acts and deep traumas made afresh, sharpened to the point of absolute clarity and to live through them day after day. Then she just shook her head. She was glad that she could be there for him when he needed it.

A wave of small nausea shook her back to reality. Nadia put her clothes back on. Still quietly she brushed her hair. She was ready. Andre stirred as she moved to the tent entrance. Readjusting her glasses she smiled at him and slipping outside greeted him briefly. ”Good morning, Andre.” Outside the sun was shining.

The air was stinging crisp. The cityborn woman was taking deep breaths each prickling her lungs. They had stayed on their trip longer already than intended and still it was too short a time for the body to adapt. Andre had preferred that they go without using the extra oxygen until the last stage, whatever that was. Nadia turned the portable heating unit on and made coffee. She wasn’t hungry. Her personal expedition leader joined her after a while.

In an hour they had eaten what little breakfast they were going to. For Nadia it had meant forcing down a chocolate bar. Andre hadn’t eaten much more. Then they packed up the camp and loaded their belongings into the two backpacks that they had. Andre brushed some snow off of Nadia’s collar as she looked at the looming peak. Down at this altitude there was snow all over. Near the peak there was also stone visible. A slow sweep to their right revealed the northern arm of magnificent glacier of Engilchek, Little Prince. They stood there side by side for a while taking in the vastness of existence.

”I hope you are enjoying the trip?” Andre felt a slight urge to take the hand of the woman who had come to look after him but there was no real need. With her it was imperative to stay totally honest and ask for closeness only when it was required. Nadia looked at him with a smile which was her prevalent facial expression these days. ”You keep asking me that daily.” The smile turned to slightly teasing kind. ”Sure I enjoy it. I have never been this far from home, or this high up. This is in fact a wonderful experience, Andre.”

The young mutant took his hood down for one moment and let the coldness scrape his bald head. He put the hood back on quickly. ”If you want more experiences we can still go from here to Yucatan. While you still have vacation.” His unrequited love shook her head. ”I said before we can go there next year.” Andre felt his heart skip a beat. ”We? We can go?” She didn’t reveal anything more than mild mysterious amusement. ”Perhaps. Who knows? We will see.”

Then the moment reached its end and it was time to prepare for the final leg.

Both made checks first on their own harnesses and then they checked one another. Even if they weren’t climbing the traditional way there was no margin for error in mountaineering. One had to respect the mountain in order to conquer it. They strapped the backpacks on. Andre attached the nylon coil to the harnesses and tested the winch system. Both tugged the gloves better on, wrapped the hoods tighter and then stepped closer to each other.

Andre concentrated and felt the pull of the ground. In his mind he shut it off from him and then from his brown-haired travel mate. Both hovered half a meter above the ground as if suspended in liquid. Then Nadia glided a little forward and up circling slowly around her protégé taking care that the coil did not get tangled. She giggled as she descended. Andre felt joy over the fact that he could bring some happiness in her life even if it was just by allowing her to fly sometimes.

He drifted up himself and made some distance between them. Keeping them both afloat required concentration but was this early on relatively easy. Nadia made slow slides a meter above the ground. Andre motioned to her and pointed towards the peak. ”Let’s fly.” Then they propelled upwards.

The weather was great. There was almost no wind which was remarkable luck considering it was summertime and northern wind could get quite heavy. The pair flew five meters above the ground following its shapes. Their distance had grown to almost ten meters and the coil hung loosened between them.

Andre was feeling relaxed inside. He still had his bad moments but being practically separated from his life in Paragon City was proving to have a soothing effect. In fact he had with him the one part of his hero life that he wanted. That he needed. He looked to his right at the dark-skinned woman and managed for the moment push from his mind the maelstrom of unwanted memories.

He was smiling despite the strain that he was starting to again feel. He was doing better than he had thought. The climb from Karakara to Khan Tengri BC had been a long journey but he had managed that fairly well considering that his starting point had been the sea level only one day before. Now the actual legs were quite short but the thinning air made each one still a feat. All that and he was flying the love of his life too! Feeling jubilant he steered to west.

The southern face was the first to grant access to the top back in the thirties. It was referred to as the classic route. Western face was perhaps the most dangerous due to heavy winds from the north whereas the northern face was a technically the most difficult rising straight up for two kilometers with a series of marble ribs going for a kilometer from the top down. Since the weather was favouring them Andre decided to circle around the western face and come up from the north.

The most important virtue a climber could have was humility. There had to be a balance between being dauntless and cautious. It was not unheard of for the weather to deteriorate rapidly from crystal clear to a storm in less than an hour. The pair made slow almost hopping progress as the sky grew darker.

It hit without a warning. A squall landed on them as they glided from behind a ledge and threatened to smash them down. Andre released the stop from the winch and the mechanism rolled the coil in fast. The young lawyer almost slammed against him. However this was what they had practiced for hours at Camp One. He wrapped his arm around Nadia’s shoulders and took a hold of the harness handle while she slipped her left arm through a few hoops on Andre’s harness. Gripping tightly their respective supports they formed one mass point rather than two. Andre took them to the ground.

They crouched down and huddled together faces almost in contact. They had to shout their words or the violent winds would have rendered them inaudible. Having lived most of her life in Boomtown and not being a frequent traveler she was slightly shocked by the abruptness of the climatic assault. ”What now, Andre? Can we go on?” The vacationing Silent Tempest leader took a moment to consider before answering. ”We’ll have to see. I’d like to press on a while longer and see how it goes.” He saw the slight worry on the face of the woman that meant so much to him. ”Hey, I said I’ll be sensible about this. For a mountaineer the reward is the attempt. Reaching the top is just a bonus. Any other attitude and you don’t live long. If we can’t go on, we’ll go back.”

Gliding almost in contact with the ground they started making slow advancement. The direction was up and slightly to the south. This was the hardest challenge yet and Andre pretty much forgot Nadia’s presence despite gripping her tightly as he fought against the gravity and winds that might have as well been hurricane strength. Maybe they were.

Trying to counter Earth’s grasp commanded almost his total attention now. Still that was something he couldn’t do. There was also the howling reach of the world, the fury of the whole of Tien Shan range that was lashing at them with the full blinding rage of the mother nature. A few times he shouted out, screamed at the storm trying to drown it out with his own determination. Stopping was now not an option and resting was impossible. The game was about one of them lasting out the other, and the other just dying out.

Muscles burning as if in fire the unyielding youngster clutched at his lady friend. Once a particularly powerful squall almost pried her off from his protection. Andre felt anger rising within simply refusing to let go, his will succeeding where his body almost gave up. He had never in his life held onto anything with such ferocity. No harm would befall on Nadia if he could help it.

It took them three hours of excruciatingly slow crawling before the winds let up. Both were exhausted to the bone marrow by the end of it. Somehow they managed to erect a resting camp.

Dusk was already falling painting the peak red. After compelling himself to eat one sandwich Andre broke the silence that had gone on from the moment they set down. ”In the old days this mountain was called Khantau. The Blood Mountain.” Nadia smiled as she cradled a mug of coffee between her hands. ”Delightful names.” He narrowed his eyes and pointed towards the western edge of Khan-Tengri not indicating any particular point in the landscape. ”Pobeda Peak resides amidst Forbidden Mountains and gets hammered by winds from Takla Makan that the locals call Thousand Devils. Names in the old world seem often to connect to beliefs.” Then he fell silent again.

He was feeling completely beaten and his head was light. Altitude meter was showing that they were only three hundred meters from the top. The temperature was somewhere below minus thirty degrees Celsius. The air was incredibly arid and thin. Andre inspected the woman that he would trust his life with. She was putting on a brave face but could not really conceal her utter exhaustion all that well. Back down they would go with their oxygen masks on, beside which the gravity would be for a change helping their journey. With a dragooned effort Andre pushed himself up and offered his hand to Nadia. ”Time for the final leg. The Lord of the Spirits awaits.” He had waited for a chance to use that line.

Along with the steadily approaching peak their excitement grew. Andre had decided to pass the final stage without stops but that lasted only for a minute. There was not enough oxygen to keep the body going on on such high gear for any lengthy period of time. They had to pause about every twenty meters to catch their breath. Once or twice he felt almost like passing out but Nadia caught him and again they rested. Then finally the moment was upon them.

The peak itself was about the size of a tennis field with some snow and mostly stone. Every other mountain top was below them. The twilight was rapidly falling but some scattered rays of the sunlight painted the snowy peaks below crimson red. The wind had died into a breeze.

The very world lied at their feet. It was an incredible rush. The immense fatigue melted into the background being for the moment nothing but a slight nagging reminder of the energies spent to achieve this feat. There had never been any certainties about getting there. Still they had. Andre felt like a king. He reached to his right and took the hand of his queen.

He turned to her with a decisive look on his face, looked deeply into her the eyes and smiled. She looked back at him with a curious frown. Slowly reaching he took also her other hand. There was an unfamiliar intensity in his gaze. He pulled her a little closer. Still frowning she let him.

”This is what we came here for.”

Nadia was holding her breath feeling suddenly uncertain what was going on. She didn't allow the slight uneasiness penetrate to the surface. She replaced the upcoming nervous grimace with a smile. All this save the smile escaped his comprehension completely.

Resolutely Andre put his oxygen mask over his mouth and pulled the goggles down over his eyes. Without asking or even saying anything she followed suit. There was a joyous tinge in his voice. ”Time for the real test.” He grinned widely behind his mask and let out another line he had thought of for this occasion. ”Let’s climb high and touch the sky.” Then he launched up tugging her gently along.

The small patch of ground that they had stood on receded fast. The waning light shone around them but the sky above was turning dark. Stars came out and the massive range of Tien Shan first blended into itself, then melded into nothingness. They climbed steadily up. Soon for Andre nothing else existed except his mortal goddess.

For some time now he had had this weird feeling that there might after all be some special feelings that Nadia felt for him. Why else would she leave all of her affairs and go with him to the other side of the world? Letting him live with her in her apartment was explained by her wanting to help a friend to recover from an ordeal but this surely went beyond any call of duty to a team member, or even leader. He had wanted to ask about that. If he was going to this would be the time and place.

Still going higher he paused in his mind to think, to truly think. He already lived with the woman of his dreams. When he needed a shoulder to cry against or a hand to hold on to she was there. If he was going across the globe on a quest he himself didn’t fully understand she would follow him if he only asked. What more could he ask for? This was the perfect friendship, the ultimate companionship. Whether or not there were mutual feelings would finding out be worth the risk? Why spoil the divine thing that hey had with a chance for romance?

This was not the time nor place. Maybe later, somewhere. Perhaps. Who knows? We’ll see.

The target of his affections squeezed his hands. ”Andre, how high up are we?” He slowed down and stole a glance at the altitude meter. ”Just a little over twelve kilometers.” Nothing like blurting out the truth at the unsuspecting victim. The victim paled and increased the force with which she was holding his hands. ”Isn’t this high enough? If you have tests to perform please do so now, and then let’s go back down.”

He started to spin slowly around their common centerpoint. Above them the stars revolved. This was the time when Nut, the goddess of the skies, met with her brother-lover Geb, the god of the earth. Although Nut had said that she was the last of her kind to walk the World. She of course wasn’t there in person but in Andre’s mind his two goddesses Nut and Nadia were meeting. Not that they hadn’t seen each other before, but that was back in the mundane world. This was the true domain of the sky goddess.

Some rarely functioning insight made him sense a disruption within his flying partner. Maybe a sliver of fear? Hoping it was the right thing to do he pulled her closer and held her in a reassuring embrace. ”We can go back now.”

For Nadia the sudden closeness sparked an unexpected reaction. She was suspended between earth and sky. She was hanging in emptiness, hanging onto the man who had professed his undying love to her time and again despite receiving no positive response or encouragement. She closed her eyes and concentrated on what was her topmost feeling. It was safety.

Andre was rash, jumped to conclusions of his own making, reacted in unpredictable ways and currently could break to pieces at any given moment at the suitable stimuli. Still up there totally dependent on him she knew she was under the best care in the world. Having no power over the situation she acknowledged that the man in whose arms she was had that power. It felt good. Other situations would be different, depend on the circumstances but right now she trusted him with her life.

Inside she placed her fate into his mercies and felt free. She knew that upon return to Paragon City she would have her responsibilities but for a fleeting moment she had the freedom to be just a woman. She opened her eyes and spoke softly. ”We can stay a while longer.”

Slowly she reached her hand and moved her fingers over the metallic plate that surrounded his right eye, going from cheekbone to brow. ”You took us to your mountain. You took us this high up. Always go higher, Andre. As I said, the Silent Tempest is but another mountain. You have it in you to succeed if you believe in it. You have done well. I am proud of you.”

In the grip of their painfully slow helix dance they held each other. This moment could become even more if they so wished but neither felt the pressure. They had both gained something precious as if gifted by the very sky above them. Surrounded by the infinite stars they were happy.

No further words were spoken as the could-be lovers descended back to among the mighty and ancient mountains.

More by luck than design they found their way back to Khan Tengri. The newly risen moon was illuminating the rugged scenery. Without so much as stopping Andre headed to northern edge and dived. They fell free past the magnificent marble chimneys that rose from the depths. They were both laughing. As the slope started losing steepness Andre steered towards east, the last face they hadn’t been on yet. For the first time since leaving the top they drifted apart.

Soon all around there was snow again. Their direction pointed to south and Khan Tengri Base Camp. The pace was slow. There was no hurry in the world. They had achieved what they set out to do. The short eternity up high in the sky would live in their minds for the rest of their lives. They should have made a camp but they just drifted on.

Nadia tugged the coil and pointed down. She wanted to stop. They fell knee deep into the snow blanket stretching into all directions. Andre watched her unload the backpack and take off the harness. He turned politely away as she vanished behind a boulder uphill. He dropped his own gear and took a deep breath of the local air.

The landscape by moonlight was simply breathtaking. He was used to snow and frost but Dakota lacked these kinds of mountains. This high there was no animal noises. It was quiet aside from the occasional winds. Except for a high pitched sound as if something was closing in fast. Andre had half a second to be alarmed. There was a puff of snow to his right. And an explosion.

Andre landed on his back and rolled a few times. Groggily he lifted his head and saw Nadia running from behind the boulder. She was shouting something but his ears were ringing too much to make out the words. There was a new puff right behind her. Even dazed as he was he thought he saw the light reflecting off of some kind of a shell before it impacted into the snow. The following burst of light and energy sent her flying through the air, over him and downhill against another big rock. She wasn’t moving. For some reason a picture of Kitia being struck and falling to ground flashed through his mind.

His eyes moved wildly. Instincts commanded him to go to his fallen comrade and tend to her but the combat sense that had been instilled during first the five years of training on the farm and then the weeks in Paragon City’s streets told him to locate and neutralize the threat. All that was around was white snow and deep shadows. Then he spotted a wisp.

It was faint and coming from behind a massive rock to left and down of him. Now that he knew where to look he saw, just barely, a slit in the rock. The whiff of smoke came from there. It was a watch post of sorts. Taking a more balanced stance he pointed at the rock with his right hand. His left one sought the right one out to support it. There was a rapid energy build-up somewhere inside. He let it gather for a few seconds and let it go. This all happened by reflex, not touching his conscious mind.

A bolt of contained energy darted from his extended hand and collided with the post. Snow on it was knocked clean off. Part of the top of the rock caved in. Not wanting anyone to have the time to catch their breath Andre swooshed through the air and entered the small space inside the rock ready to deal damage. There were two men there. They were knocked out cold. The emblem on their uniforms generated a feeling of familiarity.

The small space within the sizeable boulder had only two chairs, a console and a collection of various weapons including some high tech looking shell launcher. All of the weapons seemed to be designed to ward off an assault from the outside. Just having this kind of a watch post in the middle of nowhere didn’t make any sense. There had to be a reason. There was a trapdoor visible on the floor. His urges screamed at him to go to Nadia but if he allowed additional forces to enter the scene through the hatch right now he might doom them both. He yanked the trapdoor open.

There was a quiet beep as the defense mechanism activated arming a bomb and countdown lights started to go out. He had no doubt missed a hidden button which would have disabled the defenses. Now it was too late. Andre rushed out and flew himself into the snow twenty meters away just as the watch post went sky high. A recognition flared through his brain.

It had been Requiem’s emblem.

He rose to his feet slowly and tried to clear his head by shaking it. He suspected he had a concussion. A distant rumble that had been going on for a small while started to bother him. He looked upslope. His heart sank.

There were masses of snow and ice striking towards him. The whole mountainside was seething all the way up as far as he could see and the front was hundreds of meters wide. If there were any mountaineers on this face they would have no chances at all. Terror gripped his stomach. Nadia. He turned to look where she had landed only to see her still form in that exact same spot. Gravity ceased to matter to him and he flew.

He was exhausted from the climb, the storm and ascension to the sky. The brief fight with Requiem’s men had all but wiped out his last energy reserves. He was slow. He strived up to get to his love before the crushing wall of white death reached her. The closer that he got to her location the more the fear was strangling him. He knew he wouldn’t get there in time.

The last two seconds occurred in slow motion. He reached with his hand even if there still was a gap between them. The first tentative shredded edges of the snow front touched Nadia, tickling and caressing her, prodding the body to a slight movement. Then the world turned to complete white and dark. Andre made the last desperate attempt to grasp at the most important person in his life.

There was nothing. Nothing tangible. Just the swirling snow around him. He turned to follow the flood and tried to outrun it but soon he had to push upwards and pull out of the avalanche. He floated just above ever-moving surface darting from spot to spot calling out his vanished partner by name.

The destruction spread all around him. The whole mountain face had shifted. The moonlight wasn’t much and his night sight had been momentarily destroyed by the explosion. Nevertheless he made an assessment of the disaster area. It was multiple square miles. Even the part where Nadia could possibly be was terrifyingly huge. Fear was constricting his chest trying to implode him.

Andre tried to look for any sign, a glimpse of the clothing, a hand emerging, anything. He got nothing. Desperation was shredding him from the inside. He flew in widening circles over the location he somehow wished the love of his life would be at. Never in his life had he been so alone.

All the times he had pushed himself to his limits and over were beginning to take effect. The pull of the ground became stronger. It was increasingly hard to stay airborne. He started to make involuntary dives off which he pulled back up just barely until the last time when he didn’t. He crashed into the snow headlong.

Dizzy and almost delirious he pushed up. Maybe he couldn’t scout for now but he could still keep searching. Nothing would be allowed to stop him. He had to find her. Alternatives scared him too much. He started to plow through the snow with his hands, digging and still calling out for her from time to time.

Soon he realized he could actually do more. He excavated himself a deep hole and started blasting. Energy bolts ripped crevices into the snowmass sending the white solid water high into the air. He did not dare to acknowledge his actual chances to succeed. If there were no results with one blast, then surely with the next. She was there somewhere, just waiting to be found. All he had to do was to deliver on the promise to see her always safe.

Afterwards he couldn’t say how long he kept at it. On the other hand it didn’t matter. The bottom line was that he did not find her. At some point the hopelessness of his endeavour dawned on him. Alone he stood no chance at all. It was like emptying an ocean with a cup of his hands. No matter how hard he tried it would be in vain. All that was staring at him was failure.

By foot it would have taken a day or more to reach the base camp. His only way was to fly down. With an immense effort he fought off the almost debilitating fatigue and the gravitational snare. More plummeting down along the slope than flying he headed to the direction he believed to be south. Inside he felt dead already. Just as dead as Nadia was. The lack of oxygen and the freezing cold were facts. So was her demise.

Coloured lights were flashing on the edges of his vision and beyond them was the beckoning darkness. Resting would be fatal he knew. Resting would be stupid. Resting would rob Nadia of whatever chance she still had of being rescued. Still, just a moment, a little while? He slowed down. The closer he got to the camp the farther he got from the woman who meant the world to him and her being gone felt all the time more real. The devouring emptiness lacked the capability for tears.

There was a stream of steam coming from an unlikely spring. For no reason Andre landed there. A patch of warmth in this cold existence. He did not feel it. Instead there was a hotness behind his eyes. It swelled and coagulated and pushed out. It took the form of droplets of water running down the cheeks. Leaning his forehead to his hand he rocked to the rhythm of violent sobs. When he hit the ground he did not even notice it.

As with the previous time he could not later say if it had been a mere dream or something more, or even what had exactly happened. There was a hand that landed softly on his shoulder. He looked up and there was a being in the shape of a woman but who was so much more. Nut, the Egyptian goddess of the sky smiled at him sadly. There were no words spoken but Andre still felt like Nut was telling him things. He listened.

The Lord of the Spirits had claimed something of his. There was nothing that Nut could do to reverse it of affect the situation. With immense sadness she said that Nadia was gone now. Such was the way of mortal beings. The weak would be crushed by loss, but the strong would find the strength to go on. He still had a task. There was a flower that bloomed only once in every hundred years. He was to take that flower to Paragon City and plant it while it was still in bloom. Andre would know where. He bowed his head and when he looked up again she was gone. He opened his eyes.

The moon was behind the mountain. Only starlight illuminated the spring by which he was curled up. He inhaled. In the air there was the faintest of fragrance, a mysterious scent that to him was otherworldly. It did not remove the sadness or pain. It in fact deepened them, gave them even more meaning. But somehow the hurting void became sorrow and the despair changed into deep longing. Andre smiled through his new tears.

Next to him a blue flower was reaching for the skies.

(I would like to thank FaeryFire aka Sword of Truth aka Nadia for providing invaluable insight, feedback, constructive critisism and in the end good suggestions to the extent where I feel it proper to name her as a co-author of the story. The plot and words are mine but her involvement made the story so much better than I would have ever managed in solitude.

As always, comments are welcome.)

Time: late morning of Friday, 23.6.2006
Location: Camp Three, Khan Tengri, altitude of 5900 meters

Nadia opened the tent’s sleeve just enough to get some idea what kind of weather it was outside. A gust of cold air hit her nose. At the height of almost six kilometers the air was quite thin and temperature freezing making it impractical to go outside without warm clothing. She considered her options carefully and sighed inaudibly. Again a matter she could not affect. Taking care not to make excessive noises she removed her top and gave her skin a quick sponge bath with a cloth and some water that had been snow the previous evening. Andre was breathing calmly not ten inches from her.

She was tired despite sleeping long and her head was aching. Andre had said to expect it. They had flown under their own power from Karakara Base Camp to Khan Tengri Base Camp, from two kilometers to four. That had taken all Monday. From there they had advanced to Camp Site One and then Two all the way up to five and half kilometers during the next two days. The goretex clothing had replaced their more casual wear to insulate against the dropping temperature and the thinning atmosphere was inducing altitude sickness, a common malice to mountaineers. They were packing extra oxygen just in case. The last ascent yesterday to Camp Site Three had been just four hundred meters.

Turning away from her slumbering companion she removed her glasses, washed her face and then put the glasses back on. She felt better but the headache was still bothering her. Briefly she rested her head to her hands and just looked at the man sleeping there. He appeared so serene and at peace. This was how she wanted him to be. Gone were the daily worries that were etching lines on his forehead. Gone was the deer-like fright at the approaching car lights look that he had sometimes, mostly around her. And most notably gone was the frequent terror and despair that Ripmind had bestowed upon him. Briefly she wondered what it must be like to have all the bad choices, mistakes, shameful acts and deep traumas made afresh, sharpened to the point of absolute clarity and to live through them day after day. Then she just shook her head. She was glad that she could be there for him when he needed it.

A wave of small nausea shook her back to reality. Nadia put her clothes back on. Still quietly she brushed her hair. She was ready. Andre stirred as she moved to the tent entrance. Readjusting her glasses she smiled at him and slipping outside greeted him briefly. ”Good morning, Andre.” Outside the sun was shining.

The air was stinging crisp. The cityborn woman was taking deep breaths each prickling her lungs. They had stayed on their trip longer already than intended and still it was too short a time for the body to adapt. Andre had preferred that they go without using the extra oxygen until the last stage, whatever that was. Nadia turned the portable heating unit on and made coffee. She wasn’t hungry. Her personal expedition leader joined her after a while.

In an hour they had eaten what little breakfast they were going to. For Nadia it had meant forcing down a chocolate bar. Andre hadn’t eaten much more. Then they packed up the camp and loaded their belongings into the two backpacks that they had. Andre brushed some snow off of Nadia’s collar as she looked at the looming peak. Down at this altitude there was snow all over. Near the peak there was also stone visible. A slow sweep to their right revealed the northern arm of magnificent glacier of Engilchek, Little Prince. They stood there side by side for a while taking in the vastness of existence.

”I hope you are enjoying the trip?” Andre felt a slight urge to take the hand of the woman who had come to look after him but there was no real need. With her it was imperative to stay totally honest and ask for closeness only when it was required. Nadia looked at him with a smile which was her prevalent facial expression these days. ”You keep asking me that daily.” The smile turned to slightly teasing kind. ”Sure I enjoy it. I have never been this far from home, or this high up. This is in fact a wonderful experience, Andre.”

The young mutant took his hood down for one moment and let the coldness scrape his bald head. He put the hood back on quickly. ”If you want more experiences we can still go from here to Yucatan. While you still have vacation.” His unrequited love shook her head. ”I said before we can go there next year.” Andre felt his heart skip a beat. ”We? We can go?” She didn’t reveal anything more than mild mysterious amusement. ”Perhaps. Who knows? We will see.”

Then the moment reached its end and it was time to prepare for the final leg.

Both made checks first on their own harnesses and then they checked one another. Even if they weren’t climbing the traditional way there was no margin for error in mountaineering. One had to respect the mountain in order to conquer it. They strapped the backpacks on. Andre attached the nylon coil to the harnesses and tested the winch system. Both tugged the gloves better on, wrapped the hoods tighter and then stepped closer to each other.

Andre concentrated and felt the pull of the ground. In his mind he shut it off from him and then from his brown-haired travel mate. Both hovered half a meter above the ground as if suspended in liquid. Then Nadia glided a little forward and up circling slowly around her protégé taking care that the coil did not get tangled. She giggled as she descended. Andre felt joy over the fact that he could bring some happiness in her life even if it was just by allowing her to fly sometimes.

He drifted up himself and made some distance between them. Keeping them both afloat required concentration but was this early on relatively easy. Nadia made slow slides a meter above the ground. Andre motioned to her and pointed towards the peak. ”Let’s fly.” Then they propelled upwards.

The weather was great. There was almost no wind which was remarkable luck considering it was summertime and northern wind could get quite heavy. The pair flew five meters above the ground following its shapes. Their distance had grown to almost ten meters and the coil hung loosened between them.

Andre was feeling relaxed inside. He still had his bad moments but being practically separated from his life in Paragon City was proving to have a soothing effect. In fact he had with him the one part of his hero life that he wanted. That he needed. He looked to his right at the dark-skinned woman and managed for the moment push from his mind the maelstrom of unwanted memories.

He was smiling despite the strain that he was starting to again feel. He was doing better than he had thought. The climb from Karakara to Khan Tengri BC had been a long journey but he had managed that fairly well considering that his starting point had been the sea level only one day before. Now the actual legs were quite short but the thinning air made each one still a feat. All that and he was flying the love of his life too! Feeling jubilant he steered to west.

The southern face was the first to grant access to the top back in the thirties. It was referred to as the classic route. Western face was perhaps the most dangerous due to heavy winds from the north whereas the northern face was a technically the most difficult rising straight up for two kilometers with a series of marble ribs going for a kilometer from the top down. Since the weather was favouring them Andre decided to circle around the western face and come up from the north.

The most important virtue a climber could have was humility. There had to be a balance between being dauntless and cautious. It was not unheard of for the weather to deteriorate rapidly from crystal clear to a storm in less than an hour. The pair made slow almost hopping progress as the sky grew darker.

It hit without a warning. A squall landed on them as they glided from behind a ledge and threatened to smash them down. Andre released the stop from the winch and the mechanism rolled the coil in fast. The young lawyer almost slammed against him. However this was what they had practiced for hours at Camp One. He wrapped his arm around Nadia’s shoulders and took a hold of the harness handle while she slipped her left arm through a few hoops on Andre’s harness. Gripping tightly their respective supports they formed one mass point rather than two. Andre took them to the ground.

They crouched down and huddled together faces almost in contact. They had to shout their words or the violent winds would have rendered them inaudible. Having lived most of her life in Boomtown and not being a frequent traveler she was slightly shocked by the abruptness of the climatic assault. ”What now, Andre? Can we go on?” The vacationing Silent Tempest leader took a moment to consider before answering. ”We’ll have to see. I’d like to press on a while longer and see how it goes.” He saw the slight worry on the face of the woman that meant so much to him. ”Hey, I said I’ll be sensible about this. For a mountaineer the reward is the attempt. Reaching the top is just a bonus. Any other attitude and you don’t live long. If we can’t go on, we’ll go back.”

Gliding almost in contact with the ground they started making slow advancement. The direction was up and slightly to the south. This was the hardest challenge yet and Andre pretty much forgot Nadia’s presence despite gripping her tightly as he fought against the gravity and winds that might have as well been hurricane strength. Maybe they were.

Trying to counter Earth’s grasp commanded almost his total attention now. Still that was something he couldn’t do. There was also the howling reach of the world, the fury of the whole of Tien Shan range that was lashing at them with the full blinding rage of the mother nature. A few times he shouted out, screamed at the storm trying to drown it out with his own determination. Stopping was now not an option and resting was impossible. The game was about one of them lasting out the other, and the other just dying out.

Muscles burning as if in fire the unyielding youngster clutched at his lady friend. Once a particularly powerful squall almost pried her off from his protection. Andre felt anger rising within simply refusing to let go, his will succeeding where his body almost gave up. He had never in his life held onto anything with such ferocity. No harm would befall on Nadia if he could help it.

It took them three hours of excruciatingly slow crawling before the winds let up. Both were exhausted to the bone marrow by the end of it. Somehow they managed to erect a resting camp.

Dusk was already falling painting the peak red. After compelling himself to eat one sandwich Andre broke the silence that had gone on from the moment they set down. ”In the old days this mountain was called Khantau. The Blood Mountain.” Nadia smiled as she cradled a mug of coffee between her hands. ”Delightful names.” He narrowed his eyes and pointed towards the western edge of Khan-Tengri not indicating any particular point in the landscape. ”Pobeda Peak resides amidst Forbidden Mountains and gets hammered by winds from Takla Makan that the locals call Thousand Devils. Names in the old world seem often to connect to beliefs.” Then he fell silent again.

He was feeling completely beaten and his head was light. Altitude meter was showing that they were only three hundred meters from the top. The temperature was somewhere below minus thirty degrees Celsius. The air was incredibly arid and thin. Andre inspected the woman that he would trust his life with. She was putting on a brave face but could not really conceal her utter exhaustion all that well. Back down they would go with their oxygen masks on, beside which the gravity would be for a change helping their journey. With a dragooned effort Andre pushed himself up and offered his hand to Nadia. ”Time for the final leg. The Lord of the Spirits awaits.” He had waited for a chance to use that line.

Along with the steadily approaching peak their excitement grew. Andre had decided to pass the final stage without stops but that lasted only for a minute. There was not enough oxygen to keep the body going on on such high gear for any lengthy period of time. They had to pause about every twenty meters to catch their breath. Once or twice he felt almost like passing out but Nadia caught him and again they rested. Then finally the moment was upon them.

The peak itself was about the size of a tennis field with some snow and mostly stone. Every other mountain top was below them. The twilight was rapidly falling but some scattered rays of the sunlight painted the snowy peaks below crimson red. The wind had died into a breeze.

The very world lied at their feet. It was an incredible rush. The immense fatigue melted into the background being for the moment nothing but a slight nagging reminder of the energies spent to achieve this feat. There had never been any certainties about getting there. Still they had. Andre felt like a king. He reached to his right and took the hand of his queen.

He turned to her with a decisive look on his face, looked deeply into her the eyes and smiled. She looked back at him with a curious frown. Slowly reaching he took also her other hand. There was an unfamiliar intensity in his gaze. He pulled her a little closer. Still frowning she let him.

”This is what we came here for.”

Nadia was holding her breath feeling suddenly uncertain what was going on. She didn't allow the slight uneasiness penetrate to the surface. She replaced the upcoming nervous grimace with a smile. All this save the smile escaped his comprehension completely.

Resolutely Andre put his oxygen mask over his mouth and pulled the goggles down over his eyes. Without asking or even saying anything she followed suit. There was a joyous tinge in his voice. ”Time for the real test.” He grinned widely behind his mask and let out another line he had thought of for this occasion. ”Let’s climb high and touch the sky.” Then he launched up tugging her gently along.

The small patch of ground that they had stood on receded fast. The waning light shone around them but the sky above was turning dark. Stars came out and the massive range of Tien Shan first blended into itself, then melded into nothingness. They climbed steadily up. Soon for Andre nothing else existed except his mortal goddess.

For some time now he had had this weird feeling that there might after all be some special feelings that Nadia felt for him. Why else would she leave all of her affairs and go with him to the other side of the world? Letting him live with her in her apartment was explained by her wanting to help a friend to recover from an ordeal but this surely went beyond any call of duty to a team member, or even leader. He had wanted to ask about that. If he was going to this would be the time and place.

Still going higher he paused in his mind to think, to truly think. He already lived with the woman of his dreams. When he needed a shoulder to cry against or a hand to hold on to she was there. If he was going across the globe on a quest he himself didn’t fully understand she would follow him if he only asked. What more could he ask for? This was the perfect friendship, the ultimate companionship. Whether or not there were mutual feelings would finding out be worth the risk? Why spoil the divine thing that hey had with a chance for romance?

This was not the time nor place. Maybe later, somewhere. Perhaps. Who knows? We’ll see.

The target of his affections squeezed his hands. ”Andre, how high up are we?” He slowed down and stole a glance at the altitude meter. ”Just a little over twelve kilometers.” Nothing like blurting out the truth at the unsuspecting victim. The victim paled and increased the force with which she was holding his hands. ”Isn’t this high enough? If you have tests to perform please do so now, and then let’s go back down.”

He started to spin slowly around their common centerpoint. Above them the stars revolved. This was the time when Nut, the goddess of the skies, met with her brother-lover Geb, the god of the earth. Although Nut had said that she was the last of her kind to walk the World. She of course wasn’t there in person but in Andre’s mind his two goddesses Nut and Nadia were meeting. Not that they hadn’t seen each other before, but that was back in the mundane world. This was the true domain of the sky goddess.

Some rarely functioning insight made him sense a disruption within his flying partner. Maybe a sliver of fear? Hoping it was the right thing to do he pulled her closer and held her in a reassuring embrace. ”We can go back now.”

For Nadia the sudden closeness sparked an unexpected reaction. She was suspended between earth and sky. She was hanging in emptiness, hanging onto the man who had professed his undying love to her time and again despite receiving no positive response or encouragement. She closed her eyes and concentrated on what was her topmost feeling. It was safety.

Andre was rash, jumped to conclusions of his own making, reacted in unpredictable ways and currently could break to pieces at any given moment at the suitable stimuli. Still up there totally dependent on him she knew she was under the best care in the world. Having no power over the situation she acknowledged that the man in whose arms she was had that power. It felt good. Other situations would be different, depend on the circumstances but right now she trusted him with her life.

Inside she placed her fate into his mercies and felt free. She knew that upon return to Paragon City she would have her responsibilities but for a fleeting moment she had the freedom to be just a woman. She opened her eyes and spoke softly. ”We can stay a while longer.”

Slowly she reached her hand and moved her fingers over the metallic plate that surrounded his right eye, going from cheekbone to brow. ”You took us to your mountain. You took us this high up. Always go higher, Andre. As I said, the Silent Tempest is but another mountain. You have it in you to succeed if you believe in it. You have done well. I am proud of you.”

In the grip of their painfully slow helix dance they held each other. This moment could become even more if they so wished but neither felt the pressure. They had both gained something precious as if gifted by the very sky above them. Surrounded by the infinite stars they were happy.

No further words were spoken as the could-be lovers descended back to among the mighty and ancient mountains.

More by luck than design they found their way back to Khan Tengri. The newly risen moon was illuminating the rugged scenery. Without so much as stopping Andre headed to northern edge and dived. They fell free past the magnificent marble chimneys that rose from the depths. They were both laughing. As the slope started losing steepness Andre steered towards east, the last face they hadn’t been on yet. For the first time since leaving the top they drifted apart.

Soon all around there was snow again. Their direction pointed to south and Khan Tengri Base Camp. The pace was slow. There was no hurry in the world. They had achieved what they set out to do. The short eternity up high in the sky would live in their minds for the rest of their lives. They should have made a camp but they just drifted on.

Nadia tugged the coil and pointed down. She wanted to stop. They fell knee deep into the snow blanket stretching into all directions. Andre watched her unload the backpack and take off the harness. He turned politely away as she vanished behind a boulder uphill. He dropped his own gear and took a deep breath of the local air.

The landscape by moonlight was simply breathtaking. He was used to snow and frost but Dakota lacked these kinds of mountains. This high there was no animal noises. It was quiet aside from the occasional winds. Except for a high pitched sound as if something was closing in fast. Andre had half a second to be alarmed. There was a puff of snow to his right. And an explosion.

Andre landed on his back and rolled a few times. Groggily he lifted his head and saw Nadia running from behind the boulder. She was shouting something but his ears were ringing too much to make out the words. There was a new puff right behind her. Even dazed as he was he thought he saw the light reflecting off of some kind of a shell before it impacted into the snow. The following burst of light and energy sent her flying through the air, over him and downhill against another big rock. She wasn’t moving. For some reason a picture of Kitia being struck and falling to ground flashed through his mind.

His eyes moved wildly. Instincts commanded him to go to his fallen comrade and tend to her but the combat sense that had been instilled during first the five years of training on the farm and then the weeks in Paragon City’s streets told him to locate and neutralize the threat. All that was around was white snow and deep shadows. Then he spotted a wisp.

It was faint and coming from behind a massive rock to left and down of him. Now that he knew where to look he saw, just barely, a slit in the rock. The whiff of smoke came from there. It was a watch post of sorts. Taking a more balanced stance he pointed at the rock with his right hand. His left one sought the right one out to support it. There was a rapid energy build-up somewhere inside. He let it gather for a few seconds and let it go. This all happened by reflex, not touching his conscious mind.

A bolt of contained energy darted from his extended hand and collided with the post. Snow on it was knocked clean off. Part of the top of the rock caved in. Not wanting anyone to have the time to catch their breath Andre swooshed through the air and entered the small space inside the rock ready to deal damage. There were two men there. They were knocked out cold. The emblem on their uniforms generated a feeling of familiarity.

The small space within the sizeable boulder had only two chairs, a console and a collection of various weapons including some high tech looking shell launcher. All of the weapons seemed to be designed to ward off an assault from the outside. Just having this kind of a watch post in the middle of nowhere didn’t make any sense. There had to be a reason. There was a trapdoor visible on the floor. His urges screamed at him to go to Nadia but if he allowed additional forces to enter the scene through the hatch right now he might doom them both. He yanked the trapdoor open.

There was a quiet beep as the defense mechanism activated arming a bomb and countdown lights started to go out. He had no doubt missed a hidden button which would have disabled the defenses. Now it was too late. Andre rushed out and flew himself into the snow twenty meters away just as the watch post went sky high. A recognition flared through his brain.

It had been Requiem’s emblem.

He rose to his feet slowly and tried to clear his head by shaking it. He suspected he had a concussion. A distant rumble that had been going on for a small while started to bother him. He looked upslope. His heart sank.

There were masses of snow and ice striking towards him. The whole mountainside was seething all the way up as far as he could see and the front was hundreds of meters wide. If there were any mountaineers on this face they would have no chances at all. Terror gripped his stomach. Nadia. He turned to look where she had landed only to see her still form in that exact same spot. Gravity ceased to matter to him and he flew.

He was exhausted from the climb, the storm and ascension to the sky. The brief fight with Requiem’s men had all but wiped out his last energy reserves. He was slow. He strived up to get to his love before the crushing wall of white death reached her. The closer that he got to her location the more the fear was strangling him. He knew he wouldn’t get there in time.

The last two seconds occurred in slow motion. He reached with his hand even if there still was a gap between them. The first tentative shredded edges of the snow front touched Nadia, tickling and caressing her, prodding the body to a slight movement. Then the world turned to complete white and dark. Andre made the last desperate attempt to grasp at the most important person in his life.

There was nothing. Nothing tangible. Just the swirling snow around him. He turned to follow the flood and tried to outrun it but soon he had to push upwards and pull out of the avalanche. He floated just above ever-moving surface darting from spot to spot calling out his vanished partner by name.

The destruction spread all around him. The whole mountain face had shifted. The moonlight wasn’t much and his night sight had been momentarily destroyed by the explosion. Nevertheless he made an assessment of the disaster area. It was multiple square miles. Even the part where Nadia could possibly be was terrifyingly huge. Fear was constricting his chest trying to implode him.

Andre tried to look for any sign, a glimpse of the clothing, a hand emerging, anything. He got nothing. Desperation was shredding him from the inside. He flew in widening circles over the location he somehow wished the love of his life would be at. Never in his life had he been so alone.

All the times he had pushed himself to his limits and over were beginning to take effect. The pull of the ground became stronger. It was increasingly hard to stay airborne. He started to make involuntary dives off which he pulled back up just barely until the last time when he didn’t. He crashed into the snow headlong.

Dizzy and almost delirious he pushed up. Maybe he couldn’t scout for now but he could still keep searching. Nothing would be allowed to stop him. He had to find her. Alternatives scared him too much. He started to plow through the snow with his hands, digging and still calling out for her from time to time.

Soon he realized he could actually do more. He excavated himself a deep hole and started blasting. Energy bolts ripped crevices into the snowmass sending the white solid water high into the air. He did not dare to acknowledge his actual chances to succeed. If there were no results with one blast, then surely with the next. She was there somewhere, just waiting to be found. All he had to do was to deliver on the promise to see her always safe.

Afterwards he couldn’t say how long he kept at it. On the other hand it didn’t matter. The bottom line was that he did not find her. At some point the hopelessness of his endeavour dawned on him. Alone he stood no chance at all. It was like emptying an ocean with a cup of his hands. No matter how hard he tried it would be in vain. All that was staring at him was failure.

By foot it would have taken a day or more to reach the base camp. His only way was to fly down. With an immense effort he fought off the almost debilitating fatigue and the gravitational snare. More plummeting down along the slope than flying he headed to the direction he believed to be south. Inside he felt dead already. Just as dead as Nadia was. The lack of oxygen and the freezing cold were facts. So was her demise.

Coloured lights were flashing on the edges of his vision and beyond them was the beckoning darkness. Resting would be fatal he knew. Resting would be stupid. Resting would rob Nadia of whatever chance she still had of being rescued. Still, just a moment, a little while? He slowed down. The closer he got to the camp the farther he got from the woman who meant the world to him and her being gone felt all the time more real. The devouring emptiness lacked the capability for tears.

There was a stream of steam coming from an unlikely spring. For no reason Andre landed there. A patch of warmth in this cold existence. He did not feel it. Instead there was a hotness behind his eyes. It swelled and coagulated and pushed out. It took the form of droplets of water running down the cheeks. Leaning his forehead to his hand he rocked to the rhythm of violent sobs. When he hit the ground he did not even notice it.

As with the previous time he could not later say if it had been a mere dream or something more, or even what had exactly happened. There was a hand that landed softly on his shoulder. He looked up and there was a being in the shape of a woman but who was so much more. Nut, the Egyptian goddess of the sky smiled at him sadly. There were no words spoken but Andre still felt like Nut was telling him things. He listened.

The Lord of the Spirits had claimed something of his. There was nothing that Nut could do to reverse it of affect the situation. With immense sadness she said that Nadia was gone now. Such was the way of mortal beings. The weak would be crushed by loss, but the strong would find the strength to go on. He still had a task. There was a flower that bloomed only once in every hundred years. He was to take that flower to Paragon City and plant it while it was still in bloom. Andre would know where. He bowed his head and when he looked up again she was gone. He opened his eyes.

The moon was behind the mountain. Only starlight illuminated the spring by which he was curled up. He inhaled. In the air there was the faintest of fragrance, a mysterious scent that to him was otherworldly. It did not remove the sadness or pain. It in fact deepened them, gave them even more meaning. But somehow the hurting void became sorrow and the despair changed into deep longing. Andre smiled through his new tears.

Next to him a blue flower was reaching for the skies.

I have heard good things about EVIL, and have had one pleasent co-op run-in with them so far. By what I saw I would recommend them.

Without so much as asking the rest I'd hazard a guess that the Silent Tempest is interested in this sort of thing. We already did a little something with EVIL resulting one of us defecting to Rogue Isles...

Global is @Coile. Let's talk shop.

First of all, welcome aboard.

I think in general while people prefer IC they still go easy with small pieces of OOC. And if there is a way to address the people through for example the team chat there's not even a breach of IC.

Do your best, don't stress, have fun. That's the way to go about it. The last bit being the most important one.

See you in-game.

I'd go with Zig being a secure place. The CoV breakout is a one time event so there isn't a constant flood of prisoners walking out.

As for named villains, there we run into game mechanics as said. If we seek validation from within genre we can consider The Vault and Arkham. Neither is impossible to break out from.but still both are used. OOC readers know that they hold only as long as writers need them to, but IC the characters trust them enough to put the bad guys inside them time and again.

Same could apply here. Characters trust Zig to hold the villain and it does until such time that plot calls for a release.

Then again there's the different scales in power to be considered. Putting Stiltman behind bars makes more sense than locking up Silver Surfer. If the villain is strong enough it might be that even a max security facility can really keep them for long.

Time: 4 pm, 18.6.2006
Location: base camp on Karakara, a canteen

Nadia and Andre carried their steaming bowls to the table and sat down. Outside it was raining heavily. Lightning cracked right across the sky with the bellowing thunder following after almost immediately. The storm was right upon them. Andre cleared his throat and dipped his spoon into the stew. ”So, how do you like it so far?”

Nadia blew air into her stew and smiled. ”A lot more green that I had thought.” Andre grimaces apologetically. ”I guess I didn’t tell you much about this trip in advance, did I?” Nadia kept smiling. ”No you didn’t, but it’s okay. Why don’t you tell me now?”

Andre’s panicky expression was softening already. ”Karakara camp is just two kilometers from sea level and flush with nature. Trees, meadows, horses roaming freely.” Andre let silence drift in for a moment. ”Of course you know all this since you’ve seen it youself already.” Nadia nodded encouragingly. ”Go on, Andre.”

”This is a staging area for expeditions around the whole area, Khan Tengri, Pobeda Peak, Bayncol peaks and others. We’ll spend a day or two acclimating around here. Let our bodies get used to the altitude and thinner atmosphere. So, after sleeping a little we’ll go for a walk and then retire for the night. Tomorrow I think we could go hiking further and maybe riding. Or flying.”

Nadia ate slowly since the food was still quite hot. She giggled a little at the thought. She liked it when Andre took her along to fly. ”I assume you want us to practice flying using the ropes and harnesses?” Andre nodded seriously. ”Yes. When we fly to Lord of the Spirits we could be hit by winds that are hurricane strength. My flight field extends only so far. I want to be certain that you keep close enough at all times. I have thought this trip through, Nadia.” Again she just smiled. ”Of course.”

Then they ate in silence until Nadia looked up as she remembered something. ”You told me to ask you about someone named Emmily when we are here.” Andre’s mood darkened immediately. Clear mental images began assaulting him, memories bashed at his senses and the overwhelming feeling of failure and inadequacy knotted his stomach tightly. He opened his mouth in an attempt to make those feelings words but they clogged in his throat. It felt like swelling shut. Andre forced a deep breath and shook his head. He wasn’t ready for this after all.

Nadia took his hand between hers firmly and spoke levelly. ”Andre, you don’t have to.” The hands were calming him, giving him something good to focus on. ”Later, okay? When we’re alone. It’s not that I don’t want to share it with you, but it’s hard. Not now.” Nadia observed the man closely for a moment. No crying this time, it seemed. ”Whenever you are ready.”

Just to steer the conversation elsewhere Andre brought up a subject that he had meant to ask about already. ”How did your mission against Requiem’s forces go?” Nadia left the table, brought back two cups of coffee and sat down again. ”We defeated his men and freed his captives. Two of us sustained injuries. Volt Master and Kata. She was hospitalized for her wounds. I thought of going to visit her after we return if she is still under care.”

Staring into his own cup of liquid offered no divine answers. ”I want to do my part. Protect the people the best that I can.” Again she merely smiled at him from beyond her darkened glasses that she had on still. Andre had never seen her without them or the visor, not even early in the morning. ”Finish your coffee, Andre. We still have to pitch the tents before we can get any sleep.”

Outside the rain had subsided. The ground was of course still wet but neither paid it much attention. The scenery around them was breathtaking and the air was so clean and fresh compared to Paragon City. Andre crouched by the heap that was their various gear and pulled out a large wrapped package. ”This is our tents.” Then they headed a bit further off to erect them.

The afternoon sun was greeting them as Andre opened the package and browsed through the contents. Then he frowned and picked up the instructions sheet. ”Problems?”, Nadia queried while she looked around. She loved this place already. Andre didn’t reply, only went through the contents again, this time with a frenzied look in his eyes. When he did that for the third time and looked really horrified Nadia became concerned. ”Andre?”

Andre almost jumped at the voice and looked up. He tried his best to look for the right way to express this. ”We have only one tent.” Nothing like blurting out the shocking truth at the unsuspecting victim. Tact or smarts had never been his strong points. Nadia looked at him not even remotely amused. ”What?”

He tried to shrink under the cold edge in the voice. ”I don’t think I ever mentioned to the camping store clerks that we wanted two separate tents. They only knew we were going together.” Nadia took her time digesting the situation. ”We are far from any stores, the helicopter will not return in days and we have only one tent. Am I supposed to sleep with you in that one tent?” Andre inhaled sharply. ”I can sleep outside!” Nadia shook her head. ”Here maybe, not when we go to the mountains.”

Slowly the situation sunk in with both. Like it or not, this was the reality and neither could do a thing to change it. In the face of a situation she would have no power over Nadia sighed. It couldn’t be that bad. Andre had behaved himself in the apartment. He wouldn’t get any funny ideas now only because they slept in the same confined environment. In their undies. She smiled to lighten to mood and said playfully, ”Maybe this is a conspiracy, Andre?”

The sheer terror on his face required no words to explain. Humour in these situations was wasted on him. He took everything so seriously. ”I know you didn’t plan this Andre. You are too much of a gentleman for it. Shall we get the tent ready? I am tired.” Andre mumbled something and started putting the tent together quickly. ”I hope we have at least two sleeping bags.”, remarked Nadia as she helped to hold the ropes.

Andre muttered a barely audible “yeah” and remembered what the clerk had said. How had he missed it then? The sleeping bags could be combined to make one big sleeping bag. This was one trivia that he decided to keep to himself.

Heroes present: Coile (Andre), the Sword of Truth (Nadia)
Time: 2 am, 18.6.2006 (US East Coast) – 11 am local time
Location: on a plane to Biškek, Kyrgyzstan

Andre kept his gaze steady. Nadia was breathing evenly with her eyes closed. Andre was glad that she was finally sleeping. With all the refuels and the storm front over Austria this was stretching to be a twelve hour flight. In half an hour they would be in Kyrgyzstan’s capitol Biškek. The connecting flight to Karakol would leave in an hour after that. Then there would be a helicopter ride to Karakara which was the permanent base camp where there was a canteen, a café and a sauna. By the end of the trip there they would both be beat from all the traveling. Still he himself refused to sleep.

It wasn’t that he was standing vigil over Nadia. They were in an airplane and just sitting awake would benefit her in no possible way. He didn’t dare to close his eyes because he was afraid. Andre brushed the sweat off from his forehead and bald head with one motion of his hand. When he closed his eyes he saw fingers, fingers that were freezing cold but still burned. The touch of the fake Azure Sting.

He almost let out a shout and recoiled from the memory. Tears were flooding his eyes again and he bent forward almost doubling over. Luckily no stewardesses were near and nearby passengers were all sleeping. He wanted to wake Nadia up so badly but she had earned her brief rest. She had comforted him once already during this flight. He merely put his hand gently on Nadia’s hand and was engulfed by the anxiety that Ripmind had uprooted.

Past the swirling turmoil regret, shame and repent pushed a blue flower. Andre tried to grasp the image but it was elusive, more an idea of a flower than a real image.

When he next was aware of his surroundings they were starting the descent to the airport.

(( Posted IC on Saturday 17.6.2006 at 13.30 o'clock. ))

Pieces fell in place. Flights, visas and other arrangements are meshing. Me and Sword will leave today in two hours. We'll be gone a few days. It's likely we'll be out of reach.

Fly safe.

Something little:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Recluse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnos

TO: Doctor Temporis
From: Coile, the Silent Tempest
Time: 16.6.2006 05:28
Subject: Joining the fray

I wish to inform you that Silent Tempest is available to combat this threat. Here is the list of members and affiliates:

Name: Coile
Position & status: co-leader, active, available
Security level: 23
Skills: Just clobbering the bad guys, flying (also a few people close enough)
Personal note: Currently it is safer if I don't get into enemy contact with telepaths.

Name: Coila
Position & status: co-leader, active, available
Security level: 26
Skills: protective shielding, teleportation
Personal note: Coila would benefit from helping out in something major.

Name: Kitia Shi’hardi
Position & status: healer, active, available
Security level: 16 (lowered temporarily due to changes in her nature)
Skills: healing abilities connected to the nature, some other abilities of which I’m not quite sure. Her recent mutations have touched her abilities too.
Personal note: Her connection with nature in Paragon City has transformed Kitia from a human girl to a feral cat. She works better if lead on the field while being offered a supporting role.

Name: Sword of Truth
Position & status: Irreplaceable member, active, available
Security level: 35
Skills: While acting under the guidance of Truth and Justice she is very skilled (and dedicated) with her sword.
Personal note: Sword of Truth is the most skilled and capable of all the Tempest. A real asset for any team she fights alongside.

Name: Subaiku
Position & status: Accomplished member, active, available
Security level: 22
Skills: good at close quarter combat, jumps a tall building and can vanish into thin air.
Personal note: Suby is a hunter. A reliable fighter. Very much on the level.

Name: Steel Guard
Position & status: Technology expert, active, available
Security level: 21
Skills: Steel has a flight capable ranged combat suit. He also has commercial assets that he himself knows best. Remarkable technological knowledge.
Personal note: I don’t know the guy, but he is helpful and hasn’t messed up anything. He’s quite good with machines and has built every major system in our base.

Name: ND-3
Position & status: member, semi-active, unavailable
Security level: 8
Skills: various
Personal note: ND-3 is a mother to me and Coila. She isn’t around much. I think dad keeps upgrading her and just never tells us he’s turned mom offline.

Name: Rakila
Position & status: apprentice, student, active, available within limits
Security level: 8
Skills: undetermined. Rakila’s likely powers are yet to manifest properly.
Personal note: Rakila is just 14 years old and has no combat experience. She is my student and will take part on a mission only with me or some other Tempest member as a part of her training program.

Name: Phaine
Position & status: student, fugitive, active, unavailable
Security level: unknown
Skills: telepathic blast that can wipe mind clean
Personal note: Phaine is my first actual student and currently on a run. She is a suspected killer and any sighting of her should be reported to any Tempest member the soonest. She shouldn’t be actively dangerous but aggravating her might prove fatal. Talking is the way. Do not engage unless lives are at stake.

Name: Phiseeque
Position & status: student, active, available within limits
Security level: 5
Skills: telepathy, telekinesis
Personal note: Phi is the newest of my students. She is new to her powers and requires active training and supervision. She may take part on a mission along another Tempest member.

We have no special resources save for what Steel Guard can provide. What we have is willing people who have the desire to protect.

I am about to take a trip to Tien Shan mountain system in Kyrghyzstan. I will be around Engilchek glacier on the Tengri-Tag range and climbing (after a fashion) at least on Khan Tengri and possibly on Pobeda Peak also known as Mt. Tomur. If by any chance there is anything of interest around there I will be happy to look into it. Sword of Truth will be accompanying me. The trip might start real soon and last up to five days. I expect we’ll be out of contact during that time but will report on return. Also, if there is a job to do around there, a more practical form of transportation than airplane would be appreciated.

Can't say nothing about the old posse. However there was last night the first gathering of the new new kids on the block.

Teen heroes

At any rate, welcome back!

Same time next week? It was fun, less powerful people, youngsters or young adults, chatting and arguing about the world.

(( As per usual, IC to Silent Tempest. Starting from this post all Coile's reports will be also IC to coalition members, unless otherwise stated. OOC to rest, naturally. ))

Missions for the Silent Tempest

I have compiled a list of things to attend to.

Saturn Corporation
Background: They are by some means responsible for the state of Skorpanok and have most likely created the helmet that he had. The helmet combines technology and mystical elements.
Mission: We need to find out what it is that they do behind the scenes. Affiliations, goals, the works.
(( OOC: Contact Skorpanok for research results. ))

Fletched Alliance
Background: They are a group of registered heroes. Their leader Akkarin is looking into Skorpanok’s helmet for us. He seemed to probe waters for a coalition between our groups.
Mission: Find out everything. Talk to people, use the net, check the papers. We need membership roster, agenda, general attitude. Strengths and weaknesses. What I especially want to know is if they play it clean. Heroes don’t kill.
(( OOC: This is pure IC mission. ))

Phaine
Background: I took her as a student and she was under consideration into the Silent Tempest on the same grounds as Rakila. She assaulted me with her mind powers after killing a Skull member.
Mission: Locate Phaine. Detain her. If it looks plausible, talk to her, meka her stand down and come quietly. If that seems like a bad idea just take her down. She can be dangerous. Don’t get killed.
(( OOC: Phaine herself knows the whereabouts of her character. ))

Mindrip and Crown
Background: Azure Sting was following a lead on Lullabye when she went missing. Mindrip impersonated her and stole some relics.
Mission: Capture Ripmind. Free Azure Sting. Coila is drawing a plan along the lines we discussed last night. We will be using a phony company that Steel Guard can provide with legal help from Sword of Truth. We’ll also see if we can buy Azure Sting back from Crown. It may come to infiltrating the enemy group but that is very risky. But as they are hiring new hands we could get a covert operative in. Telepathic shielding from someone called Telepath was suggested. I hope that the shielding is strong.
Mission: We would benefit from a Crown’s base location. I’ll ask Pyranha to use her contacts for this.
(( OOC: Crown info can be obtained from Coile or Subaiku. An OOC post for creating Crown operatives will be posted on Tempest forum. ))

Requiem
Background: A recording has been delivered to us. Requiem is out to destroy the world, or the universe. Regardless of if he can or can’t do it he can still do great damage.
Mission: The Silent Tempest is in on this. I will contact Doctor Temporis and inform him that we are available for the fight.
(( OOC: Doctor Temporis is the contact for this massive plot. I try to keep up to date and have the relevant info for us but feel free to do as you feel best. ))

Khan Tengri
Background: My decision to test my powers in exotic surroundings seems even more sound with the interdimensional nature of our missions against Requiem. Sword will come with me. I, hum, you saw last night that I still tend to react strongly sometimes with things regarding the fake Azure Sting alias Ripmind. Sword will make sure that I don’t... that I come back.
Mission: I will go to Tien Shan mountain range and go to Khan Tengri for high altitude testing. Maybe visit Pobeda Peak too, it’s not far. The trip is likely to take from three to five days.
(( OOC: I had some story elements in mind for this before Sword said she’d go too. I’ll run them as planned, still. Sorry Sword. I will also ask Nut for any directions regarding the flower and if she had anything planned. Those plans will obviously override mine. ))

[ QUOTE ]
(( Hmmm... I do hope that anyone attempting this bounty is well prepared for ICAICC! Tiger Dark is extremely dangerous and doesn't pull punches, slashes, or throat rippings!! ))

[/ QUOTE ]

(( Just to be on the OOC level - what is Tiger Dark's bodycount so far, and how many of them are player characters?

If one searches Hero Corps' database with "Tiger Dark", what information would be available IC?

"Be IC prepared - at least you know what killed you." ))