Ex_Libris

Chapter 4 – If only a little more

Scientist

Good. The subject had been subdued. This one was more resilient than the others. Interesting, he will prove a powerful subject. The scientist walked forward and brought out a pocket scanner and scanned the unconscious boy. Fascinating if only a little more and he would be able to produce his own abilities on his own only what 12 – 16 sequences that aren’t evolved enough. The scientist then signalled to two drones. The drones bobbed noiselessly and stood between the subjects and then surrounded him in a stasis field and they then bobbed back into the shadows.

Down in Independence Port the scientists had swatted in an abandon warehouse. Once the doors were opened then the dead and dusty outside was very different from the inside. Though the walls were old and rusty, the floor was snaked with wires of various thicknesses from the size of a human wrist to wires that looked like cheese wire. Each of the wires that snaked the dusty floor were linked up to various computers and various pieces of scientific instruments. All of this was centred around a large tube that about the size of a large swimming pool.

The scientist stopped and clicked his fingers twice. Firstly the drones that were carrying the test subject stopped leaving the subject hovering. Then the whole lab, which had already been a hub of activity, seemed to then turn into a frenzy of activity and an electricity of anticipation seemed to fill the air. Two scientists seemed to float to the scientist that had just come in.

“Take him and prepare him for the treatment” The scientist that came in said
“Yes Doctor Temco” One of the scientists said and gave a low bow. And processed to take the weight of the subject after the drones let off the stasis field and the flew off to the drone bay.

***

After two or three hours the subject was ready and was being wheeled through the warehouse on a trolley completely stripped of clothes and hair. The subject also had the necessary implants in his body. They then moved the limp body of the 15 year old into the large glass vat and strung him up with several large pipes that went into the plugs and several hundred electrodes that covered his body. After the subject was secure they but a respirator on him and the scientists climbed out of the vat and sealed the vat up. They were ready to do another one.

Doctor Temco was standing over the technician of the procedure and was looking over the various waves that came up on various monitors of vital statistics such as heart rate and brain waves however on another monitor was more lines and data but it was about machines that were in the base of the vat. He turned to the technician and said.
“Begin the Procedure,” He said in his cool and almost mechanical voice.
The technician fingers began to the fly over the keyboard but then stopped and pressed the microphone into the ear and spoke quietly. Within a few seconds another technician appeared and both were hunched over a screen covered with vitals of the test subject. After a urgent discussion they both turned to the doctor.
“Sir, we believe that the subject is about to wake” The technician sitting at the console said. Temco turned his head sharply
“I though you were to sedate him for several hours” he said in a harsh cold voice
“I – I – I did sir” The other technician spluttered “I calculated for his height, weight, genetic resistance but it seems that his body is more resistant than the information showed”
Temco considered for a second.
“Continue as planned” he said and turned towards the vat that was filling with a green gel.
“But sir” The Anaesthetist protested, “If we continue with the procedure there is a high probability of killing him”
Temco turned his head slowly and evenly his glasses hiding his eyes.
“You know what our benefactor wants and we must get results as they want results” Temco seethed
“But at what cost sir” The technician at the console asked tentatively
“At any cost” Temco hissed “Now begin the procedure before I test it on you”
The technician began to type commands into the console when it began to bleep wildly. The technician turned and said
“He’s now awake”
Temco said then very philosophically “Lets hope that fate is on his side then”

Embalancer

Tired, groggy and with a feeling that my head was cleaved in two. That was how I remember waking up I felt sluggish, slow and dim witted. At first I though I had the mother of mother of all hangovers, but then gradually it occurred to me that I hadn’t drunk anything the night before. My senses then began to sharpen up again. I was still moving sluggish but not because of my muscles but I was in some sort of thick gel I tried to open my eyes but whatever it was stunk my eyes. Though I could hear nothing because of the pressure of gel on my eardrums I suddenly heard a sound like the start of a turbine.

And then I felt the pain. This pain that I felt could not be described in words or compared to anything it can only be felt. It was a deep pain a pain that was beyond physical and mental it was a pain that tore at the deepest part of your soul. My back arched as my muscles contacted, my brain receiving messages from my sensory neurons that they were on fire and with such an overload of information the brain could shut off and I had to endure the pain.

Cold and wet water splattered my face. I opened my eyes slowly I was in a cold and wet alleyway in the early morning as at the end I could see the sky turning a pre-dawn grey and it was beginning to rain. I tried to get up but my muscles ached horribly I managed to stagger up and weakly stagger about I got to the main road I didn’t know where I was. This is where a car horn sounded and I was bathed in a dazzling light then blackness descended upon me again.

Chapter 3 – Crescent inside a circle

One of the things that you must remember is that Paragon is as powerful, strange and mysterious as deepest Asia. It is so strange that it could be a completely different world. One of these things is the pressure of being in adolescence. Normal adolescents have the pressures of drink, drug, sex, the occult and the occasional mutant. Paragon meanwhile seems to magnify certain aspects. There are different types of drug available only in Paragon with the added kick of temporary super powers. Magic seems to be stronger than any other place with the whisper of the ancient city of Oranbega was underground. Magic cults also were more numerous in Paragon. We also aren’t so dismissive of these sorts of cults in the city as the city has a multitude of powerful heroes that are Wizards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, Witches, Spell Wielders and many more. Also there were several gangs that seemed to be more powerful than normal and try to recruit the meanest and dim into their rank and file. The number of mutants was also much higher that normal. How while on a school exchange trip when I was 15 there was something else stirring in the teenagers of Paragon. Fear.

There was a under current of fear that swept the youth population of Paragon. They fear the ‘snatchers’. Who or what the snatchers were was anyone’s guess. They seemed to take random teenagers do some sort of lobotomy on them and then leave a brand on the back of the left shoulder. The brand is of a circle, which was 3 cm in diameter with a crescent inside. The snatchers had everyone on edge (except the mutants, they had super powers) for no one new when they would strike or whom they would take and the skill of the snatchers was good, very good. They left nothing of their handy work; bar the brand they leaving nothing useful like fingerprints, DNA, even a psychic trace. Nothing.

Why did I come back to Paragon then? Well I came as a chance to see my friends on the cheap as my school was hosting an exchange with one of the high schools in Paragon. Paragon has always been one strange cookie in the world but it never shows it more than in it’s teenage population. Mutants were more respected and numerous in Paragon. Views of mutants in Britain are mixed from total loathing and branding them to ‘unholy’ and ‘freaks’, to reverence. The reason for reverence also varied, some people used mutants especially the ultra strong ones who weren’t too bright for there own means. Others knew that the mutants they know are going to be famous and attempt to exploit that. However there were those in a small minority that respected them for a person and not a genetic evolution, but as people. The occult usually takes a small percentage of any teenage population transforming into Goths however this percentage increases dramatically in Paragon they usually huddled into a corner with old dust volumes that never saw the best sellers list even when they were first published hundred of years ago and boards with pentagrams covered in them. You couldn’t help but laugh yet deep inside you envied then because if they did get successful then they be able to tap into a very powerful vain of power.

I entered the social area of Paragon High school on a bright and sunny July afternoon. All the little adolescent social groups were huddled in there respective areas the football team were restless as there social role of popularity enforcer was diminished as in wake of the size and power of the mutant population at the school. The Goths and Hippies were gathered in respective corners talking about what ever they talk about.
“Hey, Jerron” A voice barked from one place of the social area. I turned to see a small group of five of my friends that I’ve known since I lived in Paragon.

There were five of them. Three lads and two girls.
“Hey Max” One of the girls the girls said in her high breathless voice. She was called Jodie, I thought that she was hot and in my more sentimental moment I wonder what would have happened if … but there’s no need to think about the past there are thinks that I’m not proud of and Sarah is one of them.
“Hey, Jodie”
“Yo Jerron” The second woman of the group cut in. This was Rebecca Collins who in fact was mutant and became the heroin ‘Gravel storm’. She was a large Afro-American woman with large mass of black curly hair and wonderful oaken colour eye.
“You wont guess what?” she said and clapped me on the arm. One of her mutant powers was that she has super strength and a simple clap on the arm was like being hit but a baseball hat.
“I’ve go a powder for a Humorous” I said while coaxing some feeling into my arm.
“Very funny” Rebecca said flexing her fingers “No” She came closer and all of us came closer and in a hushed conspiratorial voice Rebecca began.
“They got another one”
“Who?” said Jason asked blankly. Jason was not the sharpest knife in the draw and usually was in his own little world. He had a long horse like face and an untidy mop of white blonde hair.
“Who do you think moron?” Rebecca snapped “The baseball talent agency? No the snatchers” Even though I had been in Paragon for a less than a week I, like the others shivered in spite of the warm day.
“Who was it?” I asked
“A 15 year old kid goes to the other high school in founders falls” Sarah said, “what’s up?”
Sarah said seeing the look of deep thought on my face.
“I’m trying to see the pattern in these snatches”
“Anything good” Said Michel. This was one wise *** if you ever were going to meet one. A cynical SOB if ever there was one. He had a round tennis ball like face with vivid red hair and lots of freckles, masses and masses of them.
“Well, lets go over the facts” I said giving Michel a scathing look. “All six”
“Seven” Michel piped in
“Seven” I corrected my self “Victims were all in there late teens, they are from different parts of Paragon and have never met”
“And that’s about all we know” Sarah said. I sighed I remember feeling helpless yet something was really nagging at me I just couldn’t put my finger on it you knew but couldn’t put it into words.
“Never mind about that” Richard said in the moment of silence. He was tall as in tall as in tall basketball player tall. He was also very twig like with very pointy shoulder and elbows and with mousy brown hair and small dark eyes that were set in a slightly sneering expression.
“My parents are out for the whole week so we can do what ever the hell we want how about it”
There was a general murmur of consent.
***

The remaining seven of us bustled out of the house with three of them still strongly under the influence of alcohol several hours later.
“You know what” slurred Sarah “forget the snatchers it not likely that they will get us especially with our own mutant with us” At that she violently flailed her arm in Rebecca’s direction. She then turned on me. I can always say that I did have some drink earlier it had all but warn off.
“And you Jerron” she said and fell on top of my chest as she was a good head short that I was
“What about me?” I said feeling the blood vessels in my face began to expand and my face burn
“You Max” She said will poking me “you Max” She repeated and again poked me “I …”
“This is my turning” I interrupted and pointed down a dark and dingy alley. Sarah looked real put out
“Oh, ok”
“See ya all” I said and headed down the alley.

Then it happened on the rest of the group were out of sight and earshot an immeasurable agony gave over me inside my head. The pain was blinding it felt as though someone had put a white-hot needle in my head. I staggered with the pain in my head; my mind began to shut down in an attempt to minimize the damage. I hit the floor with arms that were shaking and felt like lead I tried to reach my mobile phone. With shaking phones I tired to ring someone, but it was no good through watery eyes I could make out a figure coming from the shadows before I blacked out of the pain.

I would never have a normal life from then on.

Chapter 2 – the Beginning

Where did all this begin? Good question. Human philosophy states that everything that moves through space-time must have a start and an end. The universe. Everything. I’m lucky. I have two beginnings. The first that springs to mind is me in a huge glass vat, surrounded by a green liquid and with tubes sticking into me.

No, I need to go back to the beginning where it all started. My birth. I was born on the 22 May in Paragon City. I was christened Maximilian Alexander Jerron. My family consisted of my parents and my older sister Megan we all lived in on of the suburbs in the north of the city.

My parents were OK I suppose. My mother was called Rose. She was a tall and thin fussy woman. She worked as a mechanical engineer at a local engineer firm that was designing a battle suit for the military. My father was a manager for a storage site for Crey Biotech. He was a quiet man who was a superb listener and was incredibly subjective. Then there was my older sister Megan. When we were younger I always found her annoying, inhumanly stubborn and disruptive. Yet when she was older she became the fearsome crime fighter the ‘black lady’ and I saw she had become a righteous and headstrong young woman.

Because we lived in Paragon we were saturated in the glory of heroism and what every kid wanted be when he or she left education was to be a hero. Luckily my sister and I had a better chance than a lot of the kids, as we had mutant relative this meant that were most likely had mutant genes. The only thing that determined it was how strong they were (The irony with this was that because of my mutant genes I was snatched, but that’s later on). The mutant in my family was my mum’s younger brother called Frank Seldorn, he was a member of the Freedom Phalanx and was given the alias ‘Silverflash’ as he wore a silver costume and possessed super human speed. I remember that he would sometime when things were on the quite side take me and Megan flying around the city when we were kids.

I though that my life was complete. We were one fairly happy family living in Paragon City the famed city of heroes. I had friends, doing well in school and I though that nothing could go wrong. Funny, how your best plans can get screwed up by one event.

The event was my Mum getting laid off from the work; the military decided to pull the plug on the battle armour projects across the world due to admistrative cut backs. I can trace my life seeming to go into a downward spiral from then on.

After my Mum got fired she began to binge drink. She loved her job and she said that it was one of the hardest things in her life to accept. At first her drinking habit was secretive and none of us suspected anything. However the demons that were fed by her habit got stronger and possessed her more strongly demanding more. So she drank more frequently and heavily. Looking back it was sickening to see the changes in her from a bright and lively woman to the sad, mopping creature that she transformed into. When my dad found out my mums habit then the arguments began. They were never pretty, and always ended with at least on vase getting broken (After the first few me and Megan hid the nicer vases yet they always seemed to be at least one vase lying around while in the argument).

Soon after that my dad filed a divorce. He had had enough of the constant battle with mum. He quit his job and was snapped up by a London and firm. He gained custody of me, but Megan being over 18 and her usual stubborn self decided to stay with mum and try to help her. This meant that when I was 12 I had to leave my mum and friends to go to the Great Britain and restart my life. Though I regularly visited my friends and my Mum (When dad did leave it sobered her up pretty quickly) but on one trip was the turning point of my life, which was on an exchange trip at 15.

Part one – When power is given

Chapter 1: a step too far?

Quote from local Paragon News Program

[ QUOTE ]
‘We are here live from the headquarters of Crey Industries in down town Paragon. Which has recently turned into a blazing inferno for unknown reasons. Many eyewitness to the event have reported that there has been intense gunfire and the guards acting strangely such as flying from high storey windows and standing still to begin with. We are unsure of the source the disturbance but shortly after the building exploded a ball of green light was seen leaving the building and with eyewitness statements experts have confirmed that it was from the countess’s office and we can only hope that she is all right. But there are many, many questions still unanswered such as whom or what caused the guard’s to act so bizarrely and was it after countess Crey? Or for some other reason was the building attacked? We will bring you news as soon as we can get any definite facts’

[/ QUOTE ]

The inferno at Crey’s lit up down town paragon like a Christmas tree making every shadow sinister and warped. As I left through the window I could feel it. I knew it would happen the second I decided to do this. I could feel darkness creep into my soul. I could see the dark seed taking root and spreading into every part of my being and battling within me. Had I gone to far? Was I now as bad as her? Was I still on the side of light? Or had I finally stepped over to the other side. The side where the law was just advice and Justice was a formality. I never wanted this I never asked to be snatched, I never asked for my Uncle and Sister to become heroes and get killed in the Rikti war. I never asked for this, but after all this time I knew on thing. I was not one of them. I was no true hero. I was some mug in a costume and helping people out but to be a true hero you need to put your heart and soul in it. I didn’t.

I stared into the blaze and considered. Crey wasn’t dead. I knew that much and she would wriggle out of it with one in cover up and she would not incriminate me either. I know too much. Something like her wouldn’t die. She was like a bad itch that no matter how hard and often you scratch it wouldn’t go away. She was like the stray dog that followed you every no matter how hard you get rid of it. Crey’s ability to avoid death and the law was remarkable. Well not unless she was a fool and if I know one thing about Countess Clarissa Crey she is no fool.

I continued to stare into the blaze meditatively from a nearby skyscraper the heat intense on my skin and it was being absorbed by my costume like some huge black sponge. The rain came down suddenly as though a faucet was opened up by the big guy up stairs. I continued to stare small shapes began to appear. The heroes of Paragon had arrived to deal with my mess. But was there any other way? I didn’t think so this was the reason I didn’t want to do this - I couldn’t make the choices when it mattered.

My meditations were interrupted when I heard it. I heard the footsteps approaching. Was it a hero or a villain I didn’t care by now they were becoming one and the same. I turned to be faced by a mammoth of a man, which was clad in cold blue armour, and carry in a huge sword on his back.
“Why aren’t you helping?’ A strong puzzled voice came over muffled behind the helmet”. On the tip of my tongue was “because I started it” however considered that was a good an idea as playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded pistol. I thought quickly and came up with the lousy excuse
“I’m no use on fire control”
“But you must be able to help in some way” He said exasperated.
I sighed this was my opposite in the world of heroes the guy who did it for the honour and for righteous reasons who used his talents for a single mind task. To do good in the world. I looked over quickly at the building. The fire was still going strong and a large number of heroes and the fire brigade were fighting it.
“With all the heroes here parts of Paragon will be have less protection” I said brushing pass the guy who was twice my size.
“But …”He began. I had already flew off into the night

I had no intention on going back to crime fighting tonight. In fact it was almost dawn. The sky was beginning to lighten from black to a murky grey. I flew to a partly run down part of Paragon and through an open window into my apartment. I landed silently and waved my hand and the light flicked on. It showed a basic room with the few pieces of crime fighting that I have ever got hung on the wall – press cuttings, medals and so on. A computer stood there in the corner humming contentedly. I stopped and stretched the battle through Crey’s defences was tough, but it seemed that I was tougher. I staggered across the apartment. I was exhausted. Every nerve was turning off my muscles screamed to stop. I pulled back the hood of my costume and threw off the latex mask, which landed over a chair. I entered into my bathroom and turned on a tap and let it run into my cupped hands and threw the water into my face and looked into the wall mirror. Reflected was the same 6 foot 4 figure muscular figure. The same long lank face with the cold penetrating grey eyes and expressionless features. On top a mass of jet-black spiky hair with that shock of white that made me look like a skunk. I stared long and hard trying to find something but I couldn’t. Nothing came. I didn’t know what I was looking for. I went to my bed and collapsed and thought ‘how did this all begin?’

ok be warned this is a long origin i think there is about 25 chapters to it and it is an on going project but i hope u enjoy also all comments (good or bad) will be appreciated

Now back within the safe confines of the factory, the Newborn wrestled with these new sensations of doubt and conflict while the lesser clockworks around him went about their assigned task of creating more of their kind. His gears clicked and whirred in a most inefficient manner.

"Why father? Tell me why we fight the beings of flesh." his thoughts went out with hopes of an answer.

"It is not for you to question, child." came the reply, "Know only that it is my WILL that they be destroyed."

"And what of my will, father?" the Newborn pleaded.

"YOU HAVE NO WILL! YOU ARE MY CREATION! YOU WILL OBEY ME!" The force of the King's anger bore down on the newborn, forcing him to his knees. The other clockworks stopped in their tasks and looked on coldly.

"But you gave me thoughts of my own... The fleshlings have thoughts too... are we so different that we must fight?"

"Perhaps... you were... a mistake..." The weight of those thoughts was crushing to the mind of the Newborn. Sorrow, a new sensation, flooded through him. There was a murderous gleam in the eyes of the other Princes. The clockworks dropped their tools and turned to face the newborn. The sounds of their electrical capacitors powering up began to fill the air. The Newborn felt a deafening silence enter his mind. He had been severed from his father's thoughts. The Newborn was prepared for destruction, kneeling on the ground in despair, when a terribl crash interrupted the execution....

If it's helpful at all for those of you on dial-up, you can turn off portraits in your user settings for the forums. Under "Main Configuration", click "Edit" next to "Display preferences, number of shown threads, languages, colors... ". Select "No" for "View user's pictures with their posts?", the second to last option on the following page.

((Well done Mr. Cade, A gripping start to a story.))
*Tips hat*

Defenders and Controllers don't get a bonus for maneuvers.

[ QUOTE ]
Hi !

I installed Speed on Demand, awesome work !
I have a non-flying character. I selected super speed as primary and sprint as secondary, and i have a problem: In run mode, superspeed toggles on when i move, but when i stop, sprint toggles on. I tried to reset, switch modes, but no luck. What did i do wrong ?

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Let me guess... you chose not to use Unqueue, the command that puts away a drawn weapon? As soon as I saw your post, I realized that it would cause your problem.

Ok, if you're a super speeder, or if you have a prestige power, AND you don't want to use unqueue because you draw either a sword or something else, then do this:

1 When asked for your primary power, hit enter to choose NONE.

2 When asked for secondary power, type in "SUPER SPEED" (without quotes, but replace with prestige power if you want to use that insead of SS or Sprint) and hit enter.

3 When asked for your base path, choose a different directory than that used for your other characters, maybe c:\coh\charname. Run the in-game bind_load_file command to point your speeder to this new set of binds, but leave your other characters pointing to the old one.

4 Choose No when asked if you want to use unqueue, as before.

What allowed me to call sprint AND superspeed, was that the powexecs were followed by the unqueue, so even if sprint was off, and calling it queued it to be turned on, the unqueue would remove it.

Try that, and see if it works for you.

Gnarly

I did the whole damn auto toggle thing posted it on this forum and was shunned for it... oh its to complicated, so n' so has a better on, but it was not a hover/fly auto toggle,bla bla bla... but it worked and it worked well.

CGameProgrammer - GET BENT! your [censored] is taking up more bandwith than any of their Avatars. SHUT THE HELL UP!

Before the heroes could reply to the the tiny primate a distant crackeling could be heard from above and getting alot closer. The air was filled iwth static electricity and having just heard of Babbages attack on Atlas Park the heroes we all poised to strike. A ball of electricity was headed right for them. At its center was a young man of 27 with long white hair and goatee, dressed in a black armor with glowing blue viens of electricity pulsing through it. He hits the ground with a violent thud. A fraction of a moment after the crash to earth another crackeling could be heard from above. This time it was from several deactivating Oscilators that land next to the man. He raises his head and glances at the little robots. "Got you." he says just before his head falls back to the ground with a thud.

(( what's up everybody. after much procrastinating i've finally decided to release my origin. Here is just the first chapter, so you dont have to read 4 pages at once if you dont want to.
I'm on about chapter 9, so i'll be updating every few days until i have to start writing again. Enjoy, and dont be shy to send me a PM if you like it or wish to give criticism.))

Everything was cold. Dark. Lazy. Different hues of blue, gray and black swirled around in an all-encompassing, hazy spiral; a spiral that appeared to have no focus. It was as if everything was clear yet murky, sleeping yet awake. In a word, it was Nothingness. This paradox is my eternity. I lie here, free from pain, yet in the most excruciating agony imaginable.

But then again…what do you expect when you’re dead?

However, sometimes spirits can’t let go. The mind is an interesting thing. Sometimes, it refuses to admit defeat after the body has thrown in the towel. Sometimes there is business left unfinished…and I just can’t accept that.

His eyes snapped open wildly. He let out a terrified scream; a scream that went unheard. Mark Cannons suppressed the overwhelmingly sickening urge to vomit. Everything was completely dark. Panic-stricken, Mark frantically felt out his surroundings with his hands. Then…he remembered. He remembered everything.

Mark let out another scream. However, this one was filled with anger. Rage. He slammed the coffin lid with incredible strength, reducing it to mere splinters…

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

A group of Hellions were carousing the graveyard this dark and starry night. They were laughing and hooting as they kicked over the path lanterns which illuminated the walkway, and used spray cans to deface the monuments of the deceased.

“Oy! Nice one Bruno!” one Hellion called to another as he used his baseball bat like a golf club and sent a path lantern flying off into the night. Snickering ensued as the gang continued to make their way to the small caretaker’s shack in the middle of the cemetery for some “real fun.”

However, one stopped short as he caught sight of one tombstone in particular. “Hey Bruno! Come take a look at this!” the gang member called out. “Mark Cannons? Isn’t that the guy that-”

“Yeah. Yeah it is.” Bruno replied, interrupting him.

“Wonder what he’s doing here?” one asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Bruno said with a devilish grin, “It only matters what we are going to do to him now that he is.” With that, Bruno walked up to the tombstone and unzipped his pants, looking to desecrate the grave of his sworn enemy. The other gang members responded with hoots of laughter. However, that laughter ended quite abruptly.

“W-what was that?” one asked as they felt a large thud come from the ground underneath the grave.

“I-I don’t know” Bruno replied, obviously shaken. “Lets just get out of here!”

Almost on queue the grave erupted, like a volcano, spewing forth anger and power in its wake. The anger and power took the form of a large, extremely well muscled man with long blonde hair and a matching clean beard, who triumphantly emerged, letting loose a bestial, victorious howl. Bruno was flung backwards and the other Hellions were left scrambling, all in awe of this incredible show of power. Mark looked upon the Hellions with faint recognition, and the howl of victory quickly turned into one of fury.

The Hellions, however, definitely recognized this man. A few of them even let out a scream of their own. However, unlike that of Mr. Cannons it was not one of rage or even victory. It was one of pure, unbridled fear. The Hellions, wide-eyed and panic-stricken turned tail and ran as fast as they could in every direction, away from the tremendous man.

Mark stood there, breathing heavily. He knew he was in trouble. His vision started to cloud over and he felt the darkness creeping up on him once again. However, this was the darkness of fatigue, not the cold grip of death. Mark swooned and passed out on the soft cemetery grass, not ten yards away from where he had originally lay ‘dead’.

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Awesome. What she casting?

[/ QUOTE ]

Accelerated Metabolism. The bread and butter of a Radiation Defender. I put her back up.

[ QUOTE ]
First, anyone who replied to this thread on dialup?

Second, anyone here using such an old browser that you must wait for pics to load before you start reading?

Finally, you only load it once then its cached either on your PC or at your ISP.

But point taken. I am working on optimising the anim now. Gif Animator has a few options I am looking at without reducing frame rate. But is a bit more complex.

Thanks all.

[/ QUOTE ]
Nevermind framerate; just reduce what you show. You don't need to show your character just standing there with the fiery hands; cut that short. And you don't need all the frames of Burn; make it shorter.

[ QUOTE ]
Gnarly:

Your binds are awesome!

I have a request: would it be too much of a hassle to modify your program to have multiple, duplicate keys for some (if not all) functions?

Specifically, I use the 'A' key and button4 both for autorun, because sometimes I only use the mouse, and other times I just use the keyboard. I had to add this by hand (and Visual Studio macro) to all 257 (or so?) files. I imagine that there is an application for multiple keys for follow as well.

Also, is it related to the code that you have to have a key for fly mode and then another key for run mode? Would it be possible to have one key toggle between flying and running?

[/ QUOTE ]

Adding multiple direction keys just isn't practical, as adding even one means doubling the number for files. As for adding mode keys and such (which is what I think you mean), that would be doable, but it's a lot of work for what would only be a handful (if that) using it. It adds to the program's complexity, instructions, size etc. I'm still open to new ideas, but I'm resistant to add too much that isn't useful for many people. At some point I have to stop making options for everybody's setups, and you need to adapt your fingers to learn the new way

But if your fingers are really stubborn, you're not completely out of luck... I did include the .bas BASIC file for a reason. Feel free to play with that, and change it to fit your own specific play style. Keep in mind, changing the .bas doesn't do anything until you compile it. Download Liberty Basic (www.download.com is one place you can get it). Or, you can do as you already did, it sounds like, and use a separate macro or script to add to the binds.

As for having one key for Run and one for Fly... Read the directions. You can set them both to the same key if you want a toggle - it's been that way since 1.0 Just enter "X" for both Run and Fly modes.

Gnarly

Okie dokie...think I found one.

Hmmm....every place that I try to put it on, I get "access forbidden" errors and crap...can anyone please help me out with an idea on some webspace that's easier to use?

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Where exactly do you host the file at? That's the only part I'm seeming to have any trouble with...

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You've got to come up with your own space for hosting the picture.

Where exactly do you host the file at? That's the only part I'm seeming to have any trouble with...

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Personally, I think "between two avatars, the size of the page download just increased by over 1 mb." Am I the only one who finds this unacceptable?

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I didn't really think about the bandwidth issue. My bad. I'm now using a 3k file, instead of a 350k file. Hope that helps.

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Personally, I think "between two avatars, the size of the page download just increased by over 1 mb." Am I the only one who finds this unacceptable?

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No you're not, but the second one is 355KB while the first is 802KB. Even smaller sizes can be done. I think the idea of capping your character, animated, is a neat one, but you'll have to use short animations. That Accelerate Metabolism one should be the maximum.

By the way, the concerns of dial-up users are not very important on this particular board, because while some do play CoH, it's a bad idea so most CoHers (and other modern MMORPGs) are broadband.

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Gnarly,

I don't know if you've heard of Hero Logger (http://www.benziegler.com/HeroLog/default.htm) but what it does is to log information on your Hero. To do this it requires some keys to contain 'copychat_t 999'.

I, and maybe others who enjoy both your Bind and Hero Logger, would appreciate an option for adding '$$copychat_t 999' to the end of all Jump-commands to enable the use of both things.

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Actually, I haven't heard about this... it copies the chat logs out, and then parses them to extract info? Anyway, if you need keys to do this, I don't see why you couldn't just put them on different keys than your movement keys, or other keys used in my binds. My binds don't bind everything, just movement. So if you have a bind bound to 'P', and don't configure my program to do anything with P, then P should function the way it did.


Syndre,

Yes, that problem is resolved... as I said a few posts back, we've come a long way since then Follow the link at the bottom for my most recent version, or read backwards up, and you'll soon find a link to Ahzurdan's binds.

Gnarly

The harvesting was going swiftly. Under cover of night the clockworks moved swiftly and quietly. Each of the sprockets was laden with bundles of metal. Precious scrap that would allow the creation of more brothers. This "junkyard" seemed to be a gift from above. A quiet repository for the stuff of life.

With a thought or a gesture the sprockets moved at the newborns command. It was a satisfying sensation. He felt he had a purpose. He was at peace. The King new the way and his will would be carried out by the Newborn. Then... the disturbance...

There was a sound. A new sound. A sound not of metal, and not of the King's will. The newborn spun about to see 2 figures standing dumbfounded nearby. They were shaped liked him, but they were not made of metal. They were of flesh. Somehwere in the back of his mind the newborn knew these were humans. And they were the enemy... but there was no explanation as to why.

The sprockets sprung into action, loosing bolts of lightning at the intruders. They fell to the ground quickly, twitching from the electrical jolts. The newborn was confused. Metal was gathered to create more of the clockworks, there was reason for that. He was created to lead the lesser clcokworks, there was reason for that, but there was no reason for the destruction of the humans.

"Do not hesitate!" the Kings voice rang out in his mind, "They will try to stop us!"

"But why father? They were... afraid... of us."

"More will come. Swiftly now. Back to the factory!"

The Newborn and his entourage made for the entrance to the warrens beneath the street, carrying their burden of scrap metal, while the newborn now bore the burden of doubt...